Starmaker Entertainment

Background
Starmaker Entertainment was a budget video distribution company founded in 1989. The company mostly released public domain films, as well as budget releases of New World Pictures' releases, and some television shows.

In 1994, Starmaker Entertainment was acquired by Handleman Co. and merged with Video Treasures, with both companies folding into the newly-formed Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1995. The Starmaker label remained in use until being completely folded by 1998.

In the early-2000's, the Starmaker brand was purchased and is currently owned by the unaffiliated Starmaker II, LLC.

1st Logo (October 1, 1989-1998)
Logo: We start out with a dark blue starry sky background which is almost the same as 1987 Academy Entertainment logo or 1988 CIC Video warning. A silver/gray octagonal rectangle shifts up. Then "STARMAKER" in a stylized font with a line under it, but the bottom V of the M overlaps it, making it "cut open", shifts down to on the rectangle. The name then shines with pings.

Technique: 2D cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A synth chord, then a repeating series of synth beeps and 3 "pings" in sync with the shining.

Availability:
 * Can be found on tapes from the period, such as budget versions of the post-1984 New World library, among others, and some tapes of TV shows, most notably Crime Story, Faerie Tale Theatre, and Saturday Night Live. Also seen on budget tapes such as Heathers, Transformations, and Last Train from Gun Hill. Some Starmaker tapes were later re-issued by Video Treasures/Anchor Bay in the late 1990s, but the logo still appears on the tapes. This also makes surprise apperances on the Amazon Prime Video and Tubi prints of The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James. Its first appearance was on The Little Mermaid (specifically the 1975 adaptation by Toei), acquired from GG Communications and released to ride on the coattails of the Disney film of the same name.

2nd Logo (2008-2009)
Logo: On a black background, we see the print version of the previous Starmaker logo in a white box zoom in toward us. Then it stops once it's in view.

Technique: Simple animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. Seen on one of the Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories DVDs.