Taft Entertainment Pictures

Background

In 1980, Taft Broadcasting acquired Sunn Classic Pictures and two additional Schick divisions. Sunn Classic Pictures was reincorporated as Taft International Pictures after the purchase, although the former studio continued to exist through 1987, when this studio folded. Paramount Pictures owns the studio's films via Republic Pictures (and is copyrighted to Melange Pictures LLC, a holding company created by Paramount for copyright purposes on the Republic library) and CBS Studios owns the television output through Spelling Television.

1st Logo (January 30, 1981-1987)

Nicknames: "The Swirling Star", "Taft Swirling Star", "Bronze Taft Swirling Star"

Logo: On a starry background, we see an orange light streak, then the light streak turns at the left and a bronze swirling star (also used for the 1979 Hanna-Barbera Productions logo, which was owned by Taft at the time) emblem appears. Then the words:

TAFT--------------
INTERNATIONAL
PICTURES--------

appear on the right in a futuristic font.

Variant: On The Capture of Grizzly Adams, the byline "TAFT ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" appears in gold in a 2D version in Denmark font and the background is blue.

FX/SFX: The metal swirling star, the lights, the words, and the logo shining are all advanced for 1981.

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare that was one of the many fanfares from the 1974 Sunn Classic Pictures logo. In The Capture of Grizzly Adams variant, there is a 5-note trumpet fanfare sounding similar to the 2nd WQED logo.

Availability: Extremely rare. Still preserved on current prints of The Boogens after the Paramount Pictures logo and The Capture of Grizzly Addams, the latter which was kept on the Decades network in a 2017 airing.

Legacy: You may be shocked to see that the Hanna-Barbera "Swirling Star" was used somewhere else in the Taft organization.

2nd Logo (February 6-December 18, 1987)

Nickname: "The Diagonal Bar"

Logo: We see a diagonal bar flashing at the middle of the screen. Then the text "TAFT ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES" slides from the centre to left, and the text "KEITH BARISH PRODUCTIONS" slides from the middle to right.

Variant: There is a variant on which "TAFT" and "KEITH BARISH" slides first, and then "ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES" and "PRODUCTIONS".

FX/SFX: The diagonal bar flashing and the text sliding.

Music/Sounds: Some whoosh sound effects.

Availability: Rare. Seen on The Running Man, The Monster Squad, Light of Day and Ironweed.