Sunn Classic Pictures

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams, Eric S., and others

Captures by
Eric S. and others

Editions by
DisneyInternationalFan

Background

Sunn Classic Pictures was founded in 1971 as a subsidiary of the razor company Schick. The company was among the many that popularized the concept of “Four Walling”, in which a studio goes from town to town leasing theatre space for a limited engagement, saturates the local market with advertising, and rakes in all the box-office grosses instead of sharing it with the individual theatres. Sunn Classic also used computerized market research to develop its films. Its niche was in speculative documentaries and family-friendly narrative films such as Grizzly Adams. Sunn was acquired by Taft Broadcasting in 1980, and years later, folded into Taft Entertainment. Currently the library is owned by Paramount Global through Paramount Pictures (feature films) and CBS Media Ventures (TV programs). However, their post-1983 TV movies and miniseries are distributed on home video by Warner Bros., which they inherited through Lorimar.

1st Logo (November 13, 1974-1981)

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Visuals: On a zooming out space background, a black ball with flames erupting behind it (supposed to represent a stylized solar eclipse) zooms out slowly from the top right of the screen. As it moves to the center, the eclipse is covered up by a stylized sun drawing represented by a red-orange disc surrounded by a halo of white flames and "SUN" or "SUNN" in a bold font inside it. Below it, one of the following texts appears in an orange Helvetica font:

• 1974-1979: "SCHICK SUN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS" or "SCHICK SUN CLASSIC PRODUCTIONS"
• 1975-1978: "SUNN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS"
• 1978-1981: "SUN CLASSIC PICTURES"

Variants:

• While the company was owned by Schick, their name is placed above "SUN(N)" in a yellow font.
• A short version used as a closing logo which cuts to the logo fading in exists.
• Another closing version has the logo already formed with the background still zooming.
• During 1978-1981, the sun is smaller and has a notable orange gradient on the flames.

Technique: Scanimate for the space background, and stop-motion for the flames on the eclipsed sun.

Audio:

• The opening variant often featured a triumphant orchestral piece, the opening somewhat sounding like the iconic "Sunrise" portion of Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra..
• In other cases, a more orchestrated version with bells and percussion sounds was used.
• On In Search of the Historic Jesus, a long version of the Taft International Pictures logo jingle was used.
• The closing logo featured a majestic sounding orchestral piece made of strings. Another variant of the same jingle was also used, but using piano and brass as the main melody.

Availability: It appeared on Vestron Video releases of Greatest Heroes of the Bible: The Story of Esther, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and Battle Beyond the Street, and the Starmaker Video release of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, among others. Was plastered with the Taft logo during the '80s when they owned the company. If any of these films are ever shown or released on DVD, it's unknown if the logo will be preserved or a Paramount or Republic Pictures logo will plaster this one.

2nd Logo (1982)

Visuals: Over a white background, there are 4 raindrop shapes in an orange gradient color around a yellow circle, with their ends curled inwards to form a perfect circular shape, representing a stylized sun. The text "Sunn Classic Pictures" in a black font is below the logo, with a small Taft Entertainment byline below it.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Has been seen only on Laugh Trax so far, which hasn't been released on home media. It's unknown if it has appeared on any other shows.

Legacy: This logo's existence was only brought to light in 2019.

Final Note

In 1982, Sunn Classic Pictures was re-established by Taft to produce TV movies and miniseries for network television. There was no logo for this incarnation, just a in-credit mention of Sunn Classic with a Taft Entertainment byline. Taft closed the division once again in 1988 and sold the home video rights of its programs to Lorimar.