Regency Enterprises

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Regency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based motion picture production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures with international sales being handled by Producers Sales Organization (with some titles being released internationally by 20th Century Fox), but the company's name was changed to Regency International Pictures to avoid confusion with Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio's Embassy Pictures' global division Embassy Pictures International.

In 1991, Milchan alongside Scriba & Deyle and Canal+ formed a joint venture between the three to finance 20 films in five years. As a result, Regency International Pictures was rebranded to Regency Enterprises and a subsidiary of the company known as New Regency Productions was formed, acting as its production and sales arm. Its films were distributed by Warner Bros. until 1998, and by 20th Century Fox (later under their parent company The Walt Disney Studios) from 1999 onward (with some released by Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Focus Features, A24, and Amazon MGM Studios, among others) and with the distribution deal (initially signed in 1997 and was extended twice), Fox bought a 20% stake in the company. This stake remained even after Fox's merger with Disney in 2019, with the deal extended again in late 2021 under Disney's watch.

International home video distribution was handled by Thorn EMI Video, which later became Cannon Video, which later sold the Thorn EMI library to Weintraub Entertainment Group. Warner Home Video, Weintraub's international home video distributor, later acquired the worldwide video rights outright from Weintraub, and today the library is distributed by Disney through the subsidiary now known as 20th Century Studios. RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video released the sole title Regency outright owned in North America during the '80s, The King of Comedy, and television rights were handled by Viacom International. Warner Bros. has retained distribution rights to select titles released during the Warner partnership, including JFK, Heaven & Earth, Natural Born Killers, and Tin Cup.

1st Logo (July 20, 1994-December 25, 2015)


Visuals: Over a black background, a blue glowing light draws a stylized "R". As the camera pans out, the glowing emitting from it slowly dims, and "REGENCY" turns toward the camera under it as the logo shines.

Trivia: On the audio commentary of Gone Girl (2014), director David Fincher comments at the beginning of the film that it became profoundly aware to him and others during editing that Regency needed to get a new logo (this being before the company did indeed debut a new logo).

Variants:

  • On the 2000 TV movie Noriega: God's Favorite, the logo freezes just before it shines.
  • Starting in 2013, the logo is in a lighter shade of blue, and the light is purple; also, the overall animation is smoother than in the original variant.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A mystical orchestral tune in D minor with a flute, which is transposed to C# major when the logo is done forming. A faint whoosh as the "R" is drawn and some cymbal crashes as the logo shines are also heard. This was composed by Danny Elfman, and is a truncated sample of the main title theme from the 1993 film Sommersby, a production from the company.

Audio Variants:

  • During the logo's early years, it is silent. The regular theme debuted on Bogus (1996).
  • On some films (e.g. Heat), the opening theme plays instead.
  • On Free Willy 3: The Rescue, the music starts a little earlier while the visual starts a little later.
  • On The Negotiator, the whooshing sounds are louder, a rumbling sound is heard when the text rises up, and a cymbal for the shine.
  • On a couple 1999-2002 films, the very beginning of the music plays alongside the tail end of the 20th Century Fox logo's music as said logo fades to black.
  • On Fantastic Mr. Fox, the music fades in a second before the visuals appear.

Availability: Seen on any film produced by Regency from 1994 to 2015. Also appeared on licensed games, such as Fight Club.

  • This logo first appeared on The Client, and made its final appearance on The Revenant.
  • It makes a surprise appearance as a de-facto home video logo on the PAL DVD release of Ridley Scott's Legend instead of the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo.
  • Another early Regency title, The King of Comedy, has this plastered over the 20th Century Fox logo on the Warner Home Video release.
  • Also appears at the start of the 2000 Showtime TV movie, Noriega: God's Favorite.

2nd Logo (November 10, 2016-)


Visuals: On a dark gray background with a light is the top of a redesigned "R" from the previous logo forming and it zooms down showing both the rest of the top and the bottom form and the logo zooms out to show the full thing, similar to the last logo, but silver color fills in. Then the company name in Blair appears from right to left in the same color.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The 1996 theme from the previous logo. Otherwise, none or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: First appeared on the trailer for the film adaptation of Assassin's Creed. The fully animated version debuted on both Rules Don't Apply and the aforementioned film itself and later appeared on every film since. The version with the theme debuted on Little Women (2019) and was later seen on Barbarian and Amsterdam.

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