Vestron Pictures

Credits

Descriptions by
Supermarty-o, Logoboy95 and Sagan Blob

Captures by
V of Doom, BudTheChud1989, Sagan Blob, and Eric S.

Editions by
Supermarty-o and UniversalFlorida1990

Video captures courtesy of
jeffkostello, osdatabase, and rvideoprod

Background

Vestron Pictures was the motion picture arm of Vestron Video, set up in January 1986. Today, the Vestron library is owned by Lionsgate Films via their acquisition of Artisan Entertainment. Perhaps their best known and successful release is Dirty Dancing, released in 1987.

Logo (May 1986-1992, April 27, 2021)

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Visuals: On a black background, a small red sphere zooms into view. Zooming towards the sphere are several silver lines, forming a silver "V/Triangle" on the sphere. The sphere settles near the top of the screen and flattens into a circle. Zooming in below it are the words "VESTRON PICTURES" in a futuristic font resembling that used on the title of the '80s Transformers cartoon.

Variants:

• On Young Guns (1991 VHS release), the logo is slightly sped-up to plaster the 20th Century Fox logo.
• At the end of some films, a 2D print version of the logo is seen.
• Some movies have a purple tinted version of this logo.
• There exists a 2.35:1 scope version stretched from 4:3; it appears on some prints of Earth Girls Are Easy.
• There is an enhanced/re-animated version of this logo that can be seen on the 2021 Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Dirty Dancing. The sphere notably has a simpler shine to it, and the text is slightly thicker.
  • Variant Trivia: According to Blu-ray.com, the producers didn't have access to the original film print and were given a later one with the Lionsgate logo to work with; the re-animated logo was created and used instead to make it closer to the original theatrical release.

Technique: CGI. The logo was animated and designed by Jan Carlee, Christine Chang, and Ken Pelin (among others) at R/Greenberg Associates. All three were previously a part of the special effects team for the original TRON movie.

Audio: A synthesized chord followed by a few notes of piano and then a French horn-type sounder with a rising "ooooh" choir. This jingle was done by Roger Bellon. On some films such as Dirty Dancing, it's silent or has the film's opening theme over it.

Audio Variants: On some films like Cat Chaser, the VHS release of Over Her Dead Body (aka Enid is Sleeping), Backtrack (aka Catchfire), Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, and the 1991 Live/Vestron VHS of Ian Woosnam's Power Game, it uses the same jingle as the Vestron Television logo.

Availability:

• It can be seen on the original home video or laserdisc releases of films from this company.
• On some DVD releases from Artisan Entertainment and Lionsgate, either logos from the aforementioned companies plaster it.
• The original 1997 Live Entertainment DVD, the 2007 Lionsgate 20th Anniversary DVD and (surprisingly) the 2021 Lionsgate 4K Blu-ray releases of Dirty Dancing have this logo, but the 2002 Artisan Special Edition release plasters it with the Vestron Video logo (though the closing variant is still preserved), while the 2007 and 2012 Blu-ray double feature (and the Limited Keepsake DVD edition) plaster it with the 2006 Lionsgate logo; Bravo's earlier print of the film, however, preserves it after the Live Entertainment logo.
• The 1998 Artisan Special Edition DVD release of Earth Girls Are Easy also edits this out and goes directly to the movie.
  • However, it is restored on the 2022 Vestron Collector’s Series Blu-ray release.
• Other Lionsgate/Artisan releases with this logo are Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, The Unholy, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud, and Waxwork, which were released on a Lionsgate 8 Horror Movie DVD set in March 2012, as well as Cat Chaser and Twister (1989).
• This logo also appears at the end of a Live/Vestron VHS release of Ian Woosnam's Power Game.
• The 1991 U.S. Vestron Video release (and late '90s reprint from LIVE Entertainment, sourcing this master) of Young Guns have this instead of the Fox logo, using an international print.
• It's also preserved on Parents, which was released on a Lionsgate 6 Horror Movie DVD set also in March 2012.
• On Blu-ray, this is seen on the new Vestron Video releases of Lair of the White Worm, Parents, and Waxwork, among possible others.
• It is also said to have appeared on an Australian theatrical print of Red Scorpion, plastering the Shapiro Glickenhaus logo.
• It also appears on the Live Home Video screener tape of Code Name: Chaos (aka Spies Inc.), though it's plastered by the Live Home Video logo on the regular VHS release.
• It is unknown if this was seen on international prints of Communion (1989), Little Monsters, Blue Steel (1989) or Howling V: The Rebirth; Vestron had international distribution rights to those movies.