Warner Village Cinemas

Credits

Descriptions by
zman1997, imacomputergeek, DannyTheMuppetMan and TheLogoFan2004

Captures by
RedheadXilamGuy and DannyTheMuppetMan

Editions by
zman1997, AlmightyKingPrawn and DannyTheMuppetMan

Video captures courtesy of
Phil Brown and tony359

Background

Warner Village Cinemas was a European multiplex cinema chain that combined Warner Bros. Cinemas with Village Cinemas. Their locations were primarily based in the United Kingdom, with other locations in countries like Germany and Italy. The chain was created in November 1996 and expanded for several years, opening two cinemas in Taiwan, but in the 2000s, other cinema chains bought and re-branded their locations, including Vue Cinemas. Italian operations lasted all the way until October of 2009, when Warner Village Cinemas S.p.A. merged with Medusa Cinema to form The Space Cinema. Other "Warner" cinemas, similar in branding and overall look, opened in other countries, such as Japan (Warner Mycal Cinemas, 1993), Portugal and Spain (Warner Lusomundo Cinemas, 1992 in Portugal). Warner Mycal operated until 2013, when AEON acquired the remaining shares in the company and Warner Lusomundo lasted until the mid-2000s in both Portugal and Spain.

1st Logo (November 1996-2000)

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Visuals: On a moving space background with stars and purple mist, the sun appears with a lens flare, a hand, and a rotating blue globe with gold continents and white latitude/longitude lines; the globe is levitating over the hand and is projecting a white star-like shape onto the hand. The camera zooms into the globe as several filmstrips encircle the globe. Most of the filmstrips disappear except for three of them, which land onto the United Kingdom, Germany (Deutschland) and Italy (Italia), respectively; each filmstrip is accompanied by silver text and the flag of the nation that a filmstrip lands on. The WB shield without the banner then rotates around the globe to face the camera as the globe moves off-screen. The shield moves to the left to make room for the Village Roadshow "V" on the right, and the text "WARNER VILLAGE CINEMAS" to wipe in; WARNER VILLAGE is in their companies' respective fonts, while CINEMAS is white and smaller. As this is happening, a pink/white light appears below the logo with a purple spiraling filmstrip, and 4 white lights swirling around it. The logo and filmstrip zoom past the screen as the light and purple mist disappear, and the moving background slowly stops. Two metal M's form, which make room for smaller text and a line to create the phrase "INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM". The text is then blown to pieces by an explosion, and when the smoke clears, Bugs Bunny appears in a basketball jersey reminiscent of the jersey from Space Jam, and spinning the globe from earlier on his finger like a basketball. The text "Now Our Feature Presentation" in blue and in script appears below Bugs' face as a Looney-Tunes-esque circle closes in on his head. He winks before the circle closes, and the blue text becomes blue mist, which zooms past the screen. The entire logo lasts for approximately 50 seconds.

Variant: A variant for the Japanese Warner Mycal Cinemas existed at the time, in which their own logo (The Warner Bros. shield above the Mycal wordmark used by said company) replaces the Warner Village Cinemas logo. This was spotted in a commercial from the 90s for said cinemas. It was also used by Warner Lusomundo Cinemas in Portugal.

Technique: A mix of computer animation and 2D animation done by Cinema Concepts and Flying Foto Factory.

Audio: A soothing, synthesized orchestra tune is heard as the logo starts with bass drum hits, cymbal rolls, and bell chimes up to the point where the shield appears. When the shield faces the screen, a synth horn/woodwind melody that is somewhat reminiscent of the ending melody from the first "Warner Bros. Cinemas" logo is heard, as well as a high-pitched synth string chord and synth bells to accompany the filmstrip spiral. A strange spaceship-like humming noise is heard as the logo and filmstrip spiral zoom past the screen. Metal noises and electric sounds are heard as "INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM" forms, followed by an explosion. When Bugs Bunny is on screen, a remix of "Merrily We Roll Along" is heard with cartoon sound effects, and a whoosh when the blue text zooms past the screen.

2nd Logo (November 1996-October 2009)

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Visuals: This short logo is just recycled animation from the 1st logo on a black background. The WB shield without the banner moves to the left as the Village Roadshow "V" appears from behind it and moves to the right. In between the two company logos, the text "WARNER VILLAGE CINEMAS", in the same fonts, colors and sizes as before, wipe in.

Technique: CGI, in the last known collaboration with Cinema Concepts and Flying Foto Factory.

Audio: A short, dreamy synth tune.

Availability: Seen before the Italian-dubbed Looney Tunes policy trailer until the chain was shut down in 2009.

3rd Logo (2000-October 2009)

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Visuals: Over a sunset background, there are 4 cranes with cameramen on them. The screen zooms past them as four searchlights emit from the city in the background, a la Searchlight Pictures. The sequence then fades into more searchlights that start to emit as well. The camera starts panning down facing upward where a rollercoaster-like structure builds itself into a swirl where a fireball shoots up from behind. The camera then starts to go zooming up at a sonic-boom type of speed where the searchlights straightened themselves up and make a tunnel. During the tunnel zoom, some Looney Tunes countdown leaders start to play around the tunnel. As soon as the countdown leaders get to 1, the Warner Bros. shield from the full color 1985 Warner Home Video print logo and the Village Roadshow logo are seen. The fireball hits the shield where it explodes into many pieces of popcorn. The screen zooms back into place as the logos go from left to right respectively. The text "WARNER VILLAGE CINEMAS" wipes in while the curtains open. When the curtains do, Bugs Bunny appears from behind them. He then zooms backstage. Then the Looney Tunes characters come down from a hanging platform where they build the words "and now our Feature Presentation" in a puff of smoke, brawling with each other as they do with objects such as mallets, carrots, and Tweety's head poking out of the smoke at times. The entire logo lasts for approximately 39 seconds.

Variants:

• An Italian variant exists where "and now our Feature Presentation" is replaced with "e adesso il film di oggi", meaning "And now today's film".
• As with the previous logo, variants for other Warner cinemas around the world such as Warner Mycal Cinemas and Warner Lusomundo Cinemas exist.

Technique: Mostly CGI, with hand drawn animation for the Looney Tunes characters.

Audio: A triumphant orchestral piece, which, at the end of the logo, turns into cartoon music that takes cues from "The Merry Go Round Broke Down". Sound effects, such as a Hanna-Barbera "running away" sound and a cat yowl, complement the cartoon antics.

Availability: By this point, the cinemas were bought by Vue and virtually all of the Warner Village Cinemas were being rebranded as such. Italy still used this ident until their departure in 2009. Japan also used this ident, but it is unknown if they used it until AEON acquired the remaining shares of the company from Warner Bros. in 2013.

References

◄ Warner Bros. Cinemas Village Cinemas

Warner Village Cinemas