Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Credits
Descriptions by
Jess Williams, Kris Starring, bmasters9, Supermarty-o, and BenderRoblox

Captures by
Eric S., V of Doom, Logophile, snelfu, VPJHuk, wisp2007, Shadeed A. Kelly, bmasters9, Muzzarino, Mr.Logo, BenderRoblox, Bree, and Logofan9890

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly, Wisp2007, Logophile, V of Doom, iheartparamount, mr3urious, Muzzarino, Jonathan Hendricks, CNViewer2006, FrozenHater (SmoothCriminal12), thehugetvfan, Logoblin (KirbyGuy2001), Logofan9890, UniversalFlorida1990, Bree, Jesse Coffey and MJ2003

Video captures courtesy of
Eric S., osdatabase, ilKoreano, YarcoTV, Jordan Rios and others


Background

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home entertainment distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, part of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese giant Sony Group Corporation.

The name change was made official on November 18, 2004. The logo (the third time an SPE division would publicly use the 1991 corporate Sony Pictures "bars" logo following Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment (now Sony Pictures Digital) and Sony Pictures Television), however, wouldn't debut on home media releases until March 24, 2005, finally ending the Columbia TriStar group name on its home entertainment banner. Like SPT's 2002 and 2020 "Studios" logos, the SPHE 2005 logo would mark the first time that no home entertainment VHS (produced until 2006), DVD, Blu-ray, PSP UMD (produced until 2009) or streaming releases which they distribute would ever include any references or emblems depicting the Columbia torch lady, the TriStar Pegasus or anything in relation to their natures.

SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures film and television library for home entertainment, mainly releases from Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, but also releases products from Sony Pictures Classics, Screen Gems, Destination Films, Stage 6 Films, Affirm Films, Revolution Studios, Sony Pictures Television, The Criterion Collection, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, selected miscellaneous output from independent companies, some titles from Morgan Creek Entertainment, and starting in mid-2024, The Walt Disney Company in the United States and Canada.

From June 20, 2007 to September 19, 2023, SPHE handled direct-to-video releases by the former Sony BMG kids label, Sony Wonder, although they absorbed it in late 2020.

Logo (March 24, 2005-)

Visuals: Over a set of purple clouds, a bright light with rays shooting outward appears, which start to create some lens flares. A set of white lines of light appear and zoom out to solidify into the 1991 Sony Pictures Entertainment logo, which gives off rays of light. As this happens, the background turns black. The rays die down and below, the text "SONY PICTURES" in the Sony font (called Clarendon Medium) appear below the bars (first as silhouettes before fully brightening up), a line fades in underneath that, and "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" fades in underneath word-by-word.

Trailer Variants: On 2005-2006 VHS releases by SPHE, one of the following phrases would fade in during the clouds portion of the animation with a male announcer (Nick Tate) saying the phrase. Afterward, the rest of the animation plays as normal.

  • Coming Soon to Theaters
  • Now Playing in Theaters
  • Coming Soon to DVD and Video
  • Now Available on DVD and Video

After the logo fades out, a trailer with one of the following features would be played. Unlike Sony's previous trailer bumpers, all of these bumpers use the full logo, even if more than one bumper appears on a specific tape.

Variants:

  • On all Blu-rays until 2017 and some DVDs from December 26, 2005 to late 2011, the logo is much more contrasted.
  • On Flight of Fury, the logo has a slightly dark blue tint.

Technique: CGI by Brian Castleforte and Sean Koriakin for Imaginary Forces.

Audio: Two timpani drumbeats, followed by an uplifting horn/string arrangement. Composed by Lee Sanders.

Audio Variants:

  • On some DVDs from 2005 to 2013, the theme is out of sync, having the timpani drumbeats play before going on to the animation.
  • Sometimes, the theme is played in a low tone.
  • On the double feature set of Annie/Annie: A Royal Adventure!, disc 1 (Annie), on both sides, has this logo with the music from the 3rd CTHV logo. That disc is likely a modified reprint of the original 1997 flipper DVD that has both widescreen and full-screen versions, which may explain this plaster oddity.
  • On the U.S. DVD releases of The Fog (2005, full-screen only), Zathura, The Squid and the Whale, and most PAL releases, the theme is in a high tone.
  • On Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, the opening theme plays over it.

Availability: This can be found on all videos released by the company from 2005 onward.

  • The print SPHE logo goes back to November 30, 2004 (first appearing on the DVD of Spider-Man 2), and these early SPHE releases (including reprints) still have either the 1993 CTHV logo, the 2000 CTHV logo, or the 2001 CTHE logo.
  • The animated SPHE logo made its debut on the PSP UMD of Spider-Man 2 in the spring of 2005.
    • The first DVD to have this logo was Are We There Yet?, released on May 24, 2005, and this has been present on every single Blu-ray released by Sony going back to the launch lineup on June 20, 2006.
  • It does not appear on DVD releases or reprints of MGM content from 2005-2006 as they re-use either the 1993 MGM/UA Home Video logo, or the 1998 or 2003 MGM DVD logos.
  • The trailer variants don't appear as much as they debuted shortly before SPHE discontinued releasing titles on VHS, but they appear on VHS releases by SPHE that were released between 2005-2006. They debuted on 7 Seconds and made their final appearances on Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (though they continued to release VHS releases in South Korea until late 2010).
  • This logo also appears on TV airings of direct-to-DVD films, such as Open Season 2 and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild.
  • It also appears at the end of Easy A if aired on any Corus Entertainment network, like Slice.
  • It does not appear on 2017 DVD releases of Morgan Creek films.
  • It doesn't appear on any Teletubbies DVD releases that they released, either.
◄ Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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