Summit Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Summit Entertainment is a film studio that was originally founded in 1991 by Bernd Eichinger, Arnon Milchan, and Andrew G. Vajna to handle foreign sales, and officially launched in 1993 by Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsburger as a limited partnership (LP). The studio was originally a production/distribution/sales organization, which usually co-released and internationally released films by other studios (such as Touchstone Pictures, 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios), and Warner Bros.), but they became fully independent in 2006; their first film as a fully independent studio was P2 in 2007. The next year, Summit released Twilight (based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer), which spawned a film series spanning four sequels and brought a huge success for the studio. On January 13, 2012, Lionsgate Films acquired Summit for $412.5 million.



1st Logo (October 4, 1996-October 5, 2007)


Visuals: On a black background, there is a moving blue ribbon. The ribbon slowly floats down, and it falls. The ribbon then moves up to become an outline of a mountain. The mountain moves back, and the company name in Trajan Pro fades in below.

Variant: On later releases with this logo, the company name fades in slower.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A whoosh sound on some sort of flute, then a dreamy synth tune with a tympani beat at the end and a synthesized flute. Otherwise, it's silent.

Audio Variants:

  • On Bound (the first movie to use this logo), the fanfare is mixed differently.
  • On some prints of Bound, and Keeping Mum, it uses a dramatic orchestral fanfare.
  • On Splendor, some prints of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Stark Raving Mad, and Wrong Turn, it uses wind sounds followed by a different sounding flute.

Availability: It appears on some releases internationally, such as Racing Stripes and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The last movie to have this logo was Michael Clayton.

2nd Logo (November 9, 2007-June 21, 2019)


Visuals: On a black background, a light shines, showing the outline of a mountain. The resulting mountain outline gradually zooms out, and the light gradually gets brighter until something akin to a flash appears on the screen. The background becomes ice blue, the mountain's outline becomes white, and this zooms out until the logo becomes an ice blue rectangle with a mountain outline. The light fades out in the distance, and the rectangle is on a blue/white gradient background. The company name, in the same manner as the previous logo, fades in below the mountain on the rectangle.

Bylines:

  • November 9, 2007-February 24, 2012: Bylineless
  • July 27, 2012-June 21, 2019: "A LIONSGATE COMPANY"

Trivia: This was done by Intralink Film Graphic Design, who also did the 1998 Warner Bros. Pictures logo for their 75th anniversary.

Variants:

  • A still version exists, sometimes on a black background.
    • The movie Fly Me to the Moon has the background in blue with "presents" and without the mountain.
  • An enhanced variant debuted on The Cold Light of Day, released on September 7, 2012. Here, the light in the beginning is more blue, the flash is brighter and more realistic, the logo zooms out further, the gradient background has been replaced with a white gradient background, and a Lionsgate byline fades in (which previously debuted on Step Up: Revolution).
  • Starting with Draft Day, released on April 11, 2014, the Lionsgate byline is larger and zooms in. "LIONSGATE" is also now in its corporate font. The larger byline first appeared on Divergent in a variation.

Technique: CGI by Kelly Carlton.

Audio: A soft and dramatic orchestral fanfare that gradually becomes more majestic. Composed by Jamie Anderson at J Trax Music. Most films with this logo have it silent or the opening theme of the movie is used.

Availability:

  • It appears on all of Summit's films from the era, such as the Twilight films, Fly Me to the Moon, P2, Sex Drive, Astro Boy, the first two John Wick films and Warm Bodies.
  • The still variant can be seen at the end of some films and also appears on the Scene It: Twilight video game.
  • The last film to use this logo was Down a Dark Hall, released on August 17, 2018, but it later appeared on Anna, which was intended for release that year, but was delayed following sexual misconduct allegations against director and EuropaCorp founder Luc Besson.

3rd Logo (April 19, 2018-)


Visuals: On a sky background in the middle of several moving clouds, the company name with "SUMMIT" in Lionsgate's corporate font floats in the middle of the screen. The text then rotates to reveal the stacked text "A LIONSGATE COMPANY", with "LIONSGATE" in the same corporate font.

Technique: CGI. This was done by Devastudios, who also did the current Lionsgate logo.

Audio: Same as the previous logo, but sometimes the opening theme plays over it.

Availability: First seen on the trailer for Blindspotting.

  • The fully animated version debuted on Escape Plan 2: Hades, and it appeared on some new releases from the studio (John Wick: Chapter 4 being one notable exception).
  • Although this logo is infrequently used, the previous logo is credited at the end of Summit-produced movies, such as Hellboy (2019), John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and Fatale. The Lionsgate logo currently appears in front of current Summit releases.

Legacy: This logo has gained criticism due to its simple and uninspiring animation, the removal of the mountains, and also the fact that the Lionsgate byline takes up more time than the company name.

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