Metropolitan Films

Credits

Descriptions by
Logophile and EnourmousRat

Video captures courtesy of
lastgarlicfinger and rvideoprod

Background

Metropolitan Filmexport is a French film distribution company founded in 1978 by Morocco-born Samuel and Victor Hadida. They're notable for French (France) distribution of movies from studios such as Lionsgate, CBS Films, STX Entertainment, Open Road Films, Millennium Films, New Line Cinema (pre-WB merge era), Summit Entertainment (some titles), The Weinstein Company (some titles), Ghost House Pictures, FilmDistrict, Relativity Media, and DreamWorks Pictures (those produced by Amblin Partners) as well as produced films by the company.

1st Logo (1970's)

Visuals: There is a text "METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT" in stacked format with a filmstrip at the left. "présente" is below it.

Technique: A still superimposed graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on French tape releases like Il Dragon Verde.

2nd Logo (1980's)

Visuals: On a black starry space background, there is a red sun and in front of it is a white pegasus. Below, there is METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT" in white.

Technique: A still image.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on French tape releases like Black Eagle.

3rd Logo (August 1, 1990-2000)

Visuals: On a black background, the white top piece of a silhouette of a horse flashes beams of light as it eases back to the middle of the screen. As it does this, a red circle rises from the background and two more pieces of the silhouette (also flashing light) fly from the left and right. They meet with the background of the circle turning pinkish-white. Then an orange outlining of the pegasus eases back and goes to the circle. It flashes red and it turns into a painting of the pegasus behind an orange sun. Below that, it flashes red, and "METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT" appears below.

Variant: The background sometimes is black and blue.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synthesized high pitched triumphant fanfare.

Audio Variants:

• Sometimes, the theme would be played in regular/NTSC pitch.
• There is also a silent version.

Availability: It was seen on French video and theatrical releases in the late '90s. It was also spotted on a French DVD release of American History X and Canal+ France airing of Impulse (1984) before the 2nd Capital Cities/ABC Video Enterprises Inc. logo.

4th Logo (2000-)

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Visuals: The sequence starts with the wall of orange-yellow glass bars and the legs of Pegasus running somewhere. Then his head appears, seen from another point of view, and he rears in the color of light, which quickly forms the sun eclipse surrounded by red aura. The words "METROPOLITAN FILMS" fades and shines.

Variant: On most trailers from the company, as well as on a few films, like a Belgian VHS release of The Cell and a French TV airing of The Mask, there's a short version of this logo, starting with the Pegasus rearing.

Technique: CGI from BUF Compagnie. Directed by Seb Caudron, and designed in Flame by Christophe Richard.

Audio: It starts with sounds of horse hooves accompanied by a fast-paced drum theme. It concludes with a majestic 3-note synth fanfare and, some heartbeat sounds if you listen closely.

Audio Variants:

• There is also high and low tone versions of the theme. On French DVD prints of Office Christmas Party and Riddick, the theme is very low toned.
• In some movies, the opening theme of the movie is heard.
• On a Tubi print of the movie, The Phantom Lover, the Fitto Mobile Laser Distribution theme was heard due to the fact that the audio was from an old video print.

Availability: Seen on European distributed prints of films, like Reservoir Dogs and Here Comes the Boom.