Kinowelt

Background
Kinowelt Medien AG was founded in 1984 by Rainer and Michael Kölmel. The company specialized in distributing relatively unknown films for German arthouse cinemas. By 1999, it had a market value of over 1 billion euros. After a bidding dispute with RTL Group however, in which television rights for 70 Warner Bros. films were sold, Kinowelt started to decline and filed for bankruptcy in December 2001 with a debt of 500 million euros. However, the Kölmel brothers managed to retain the old name for their newly founded Kinowelt GmbH in 2003, thanks to private investments. In January 2008, Kinowelt was sold to French film distributor StudioCanal and was renamed to StudioCanal GmbH in September 2011.

1st Logo (Mid 90's-1998?)
Nickname: "The Universal Hoax", "World Cinema"

Logo: TBA.

FX/SFX: A couple synthesized slash-like effects.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized basketball-like rhythm.

Availability: Extremely rare, seen on old German prints.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1998?-2001)
Nickname: "World-Wide Robot", "World Cinema II"

Logo: Zooming to the Earth, we see a TV-faced robot standing on the North Pole, jumping once and catching a flagstaff with the Kinowelt logo on it. A DVD flies out of nowhere and the robot takes it with his other hand. We zoom into a starry space through the screen of the robot. The white word "KINOWELT" is wiped over it, surounded by Earth-like shape, which shines. There are other words below: "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" and "EN UNTERNEHMEN DER KINOWELT MEDIEN AG".

Variant: There is an alternate version used on VHS releases where we pan past Earth and the robot doesn't appear. After Earth zooms out of the picture, we see a comet fly to a bright light in space, causing an explosion of colors. The rest of the animation continues as normal.

FX/SFX: Simple animation of the robot, flying disc and logo appearing.

Music/Sounds: It begins with dramatic space music turning into a techno beat once we go in the screen.

Availability: Extremely rare, seen on old German prints usually preceded with the StudioCanal logo. It was known to appear on the Ultimate Edition DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Maximum Overdrive. It was also found on Stargate.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (2000?-Late 2000s?)
Nickname: "World Cinema III"

Logo: On a black background, a light slowly reveals the Kinowelt logo. After it is fully revealed, the background lights up to a dark blue color.

Variant: Sometimes, the words "FILMVERLEIH" or "INTERNATIONAL" will appear below, alongside a Kinowelt Medien AG byline (which is in German for the former version and English for the latter).

FX/SFX: The logo appearing.

Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestral fanfare.

Availability: Probably also seen on older German videotapes and DVDs from the time.

Editor's Note: For over a decade (since around 2006), the theme was once claimed to have been an alternate theme for New Line Cinema until it was confirmed to have been the work of a user's fan-video that fooled people, leading to one of the biggest logo hoaxes around.

4th Logo (2001-2008)
Nickname: "World Cinema IV"

Logo: We see the Earth figure zooming and rotating over a starry background. The word "KINOWELT" zooms in letter-by-letter and places itself upon the planet. The light from below changes name colors to white, then the motion freezes.

FX/SFX: Everything in CGI, still good-looking.

Music/Sounds: The same fanfare from the last logo, with additional whooshes at the beginning.

Availability: Was seen on German-released DVDs like Murder by Decree. Cannot be found outside said country.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (2008-2011)
Nickname: "Majestic Crystal Scope", "World Cinema V"

Logo: We see a few light effects playing on a series of crystal rings with a hole inside. The rings slowly move with the light beaming through them. The word "KINOWELT" zooms onto the rings, which become two arcs, similar to the planet seen in the previous logos.

Variant: A short version with the logo only revealing itself was used on trailers.

FX/SFX: All in CGI, the animation is outstanding.

Music/Sounds: A majestic synth fanfare.

Availability: Only available in Germany on Kinowelt's final DVDs and all Blu-rays. Since September 2011, the Kinowelt brand has been retired and now has the StudioCanal logo on German releases.

Editor's Note: None.