Warner Home Video

*Logo descriptions by
 Day91821*

*Logo captures by
Sblloalex, Jacob Corey, Crazy Muzzarino, Agbsdisbsji, CalzoneManiac, Augi2000, LuckGoGreenIrishP-Head, Aboutround77*

*Editions by
 Day91821*

## Warner Home Video

### Fate:

Renamed to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

### Successors:

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

### Parent:

Warner Communications (1981–1990)
Time Warner (1990–1993)
Time Warner Entertainment (1993–2007)
AOL Time Warner (2002–2004)
TimeWarner (2007)

## Background

In 1980, amid the growth of the home video industry, WCI Home Video was renamed itself to Warner Home Video to distribute on video the film and television library of Warner Bros. Studios, and when Time Warner acquired them, programs from other Time Warner companies. Internationally, it distributed the titles from Weintraub Entertainment Group and Cannon Films. During the late 1980s and the early 1990s, it distributed titles from Cannon Video and MGM/UA Home Video. In Australia, it was one of the Magnificent Seven home video distributors. Currently, they also serve distribution for television and/or movie products released by BBC (w/ 2 Entertain), Lifetime, Cartoon Network, Turner Entertainment Co., Viz Media, TruTV, TNT, National Geographic Society, and MGM in the United States, as well as sports products from the NBA, NFL, and NHL. It was one of the last major studios to offer new releases on the Betamax format, doing so until well into the mid-'90s. In 2005, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was founded to bring together all of its parent company's businesses involved in the delivery of home entertainment content to consumers. The company structure includes subsidiaries such as Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The line was dissolved in 2017, with WBHE being used as the standard.

## 1st Logo (July 7, 1981-January 25, 1986)

Original version1983 Australian versionJune 1985 variant (opening)June 1985 variant (closing)

**Nicknames:** "The Big \\'", "\\' Bros.", "Zooming \\'", "The Big W", "Warner Bros. W", "Warner Communications W"

**Visuals:** Same as the 1980 WCI Home Video logo, but the text now reads "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**", which is smaller to accompany the width of the lines, the "Big W" symbol is a bit smaller and the film scratches are gone.

**Byline:** Referred to as "A Warner Communications Company" in the Helvetica font, with smaller "Big W" symbol next to it.

**Variants:**

* A version exists where the logo is white and the background is blue-purple. This variant is entirely still and the byline is in an alternative typeface. On Australian Warner Home Video releases of United Artists films, the "**\\'**" is even smaller and shifted to the top half of the screen with "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" underneath.
* A Spanish version of this logo exists where the logo zooms away and each section of the "**\\'**" animates, which is larger than usual on a black background. An "\*" and the text "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" appear (without a fade-in) below. The "\*" then refers to the phrase "Marca Registrada de Warner Communications Inc.".
* A French version of this logo exists where the original animation is intact, but smaller. Also, the byline now reads "**A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY**", and both the text and byline are in a different font.
* On some rental-only copies of *Rollover*, the FBI warning screen and this logo are slightly shifted upwards.
* The logo can sometimes appear with a "®" symbol next to the "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" text.
* A still version exists.
* Some Australian VHS tapes have a smaller "**\\'**" logo with the text below it in a larger font. The byline is not present in this version.
* Warner Music Group used a special variant of this logo for their first logo, which can be viewed here.
* Warner Video News tapes from 1985 have a special variant where we just see the "**\\'**" symbol without a field against a blue/black gradient background. This would wrap to the top right, showing the same shot, but with the text "WARNER HOME VIDEO PRÄSENTIERT" flying with a trail.
* A trailer tape from June 1985 has a variant where in an evening sky background, the "**\\'**" symbol spins and zooms toward us. Then, it stops at the logo and the background turns white and the "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" text zooms out to its position. Then, it would break into a cyan background with the words "Coming Soon".
* Another version exists in the same tape as the previous variant, but the background is already white and the "**\\'**" symbol and text quickly zoom to us, apart from each other.

**Technique:** Cel animation. Like the movie logo, this was designed by the late Saul Bass.

**Audio:** None.

**Audio Variants:**

* On a German Warner Video News VHS release, we hear a wavy synth sound with a male announcer saying "Warner Home Video präsentiert".
* The still version has another short synth tune playing with a male announcer saying "For more details, see the brochure in your promotional packing. It packs a lot of punch".

**Availability:** Used on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, and CED releases at the time. The first tape to use this logo was *Die Laughing*. It can also be seen on tapes, such as *Deal of the Century*, *The Road Warrior* and *Death Race 2000*. The last release officially to use this logo was *Just Tell Me What You Want*.

**Legacy:** Not a bad logo, but it doesn't leave much of an impact.

## 2nd Logo (December 6, 1985-November 20, 2007)

Prototype versionBylineless versionWarner Communications byline variant"**AUSBLICK 1986**" version1988 German "Warner Video News" version"The Shape of Video in the '90s" versionTime Warner byline variantTime Warner Entertainment byline variantWarner Home Video (1987) Company Logo (VHS Capture)Warner Home Video (1990)Warner Home Video (1993)**Nicknames:** "The Cheesy Shield", "CGI WB Shield", "Bombastic WB", "Primitive Shield", "Warner Bros. Shield", "Early '80s Shield", "CGI Shield", "Warner Communications Shield", "Time Warner Shield", "Time Warner Entertainment Shield"

**Visuals:** Over a time-lapsed set of clouds, the "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" text from the previous logo, only in gold and CGI zooms out and rotates. When the text finishes rotating, the WB shield from the 1953 Warner Bros. Pictures print logo, also in gold and CGI zooms out and rotates upright and the text and shield shine.

**Bylines:** Below the logo, one of these three bylines fade in:

* December 6, 1985-November 12, 1990: "**A Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Inc. A Warner Communications Company**" (in the Arial Bold font. The byline is written in two lines, with "**A Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Inc.**" above "**A Warner Communications Company**".)
* December 27, 1990-March 31, 1993: "**A Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Inc. A Time Warner Company**" (same vein as the Warner Communications byline, except that the byline "**A Time Warner Company**" is in place of the old byline "**A Warner Communications Company**", also in the Arial Bold font.)
* April 14, 1993-November 20, 2007: "**A Time Warner Entertainment Company**" (in the Helvetica Bold font.)
* An alternate version of the Time Warner Entertainment byline exists where the byline is slightly smaller and in a similar font to the first two bylines. This was used from 1993-1997.
* The Time Warner Entertainment byline faded in at the last note of the theme. The Warner Communications and Time Warner bylines faded in as the shield rotated to its final position.
* Many international releases outside of the United States, such as United Artists films like *A Fistful of Dollars*, some very early releases and some domestic releases during the Time Warner era didn't feature a byline.

**Variants:**

* There is a rare still version of the logo, found on the US release of *Batman Returns* and certain Kidsongs videos.
* On some UK rental tapes, when the logo is finished, the logo splits into two horizontally in the middle with a blue background with the yellow words "**COMING SOON**". This can be found on *Lost in America* and *Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment*.
* There is an extended version of this logo where the shield stays in its place for a few seconds, then the byline fades out and the shield slowly rotates and zooms in until it fills the screen. A slightly longer version exists on German Warner Video releases. Stills of this variant can also be seen on many trailers, plastering the Warner Bros. Pictures logo.
* Sometimes, on trailers, there is a prototype version where the finished logo and cloud background start where it ended on the regular logo. This cloud background is, in fact, additional footage from the regular logo.
* There is a very rare promo variant where the shield starts off close to the screen, but then zooms out and rotates without a company name or byline. A version exists where the shield disappears into the clouds. Warner Video News tapes have a copyright stamp placed on the latter variant.
* On '80s Australian videos, the logo fades out to a different sky background. It has "***At Home With the Hits***" and "**PREVIEW ATTRACTION**" squeezed between two sets of lines. Everything is gold and the cloud background eases back. On one occasion, the logo faded out before the text could even fade in.
* A B&W version exists on tapes, such as *Maverick*.
* On Mexican Spanish-dubbed tapes of *The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter* and *Space Jam*, we see the finished logo (with the Time Warner Entertainment byline, strange for the latter film), but the shield animates like the promo variant.
* A CGI reel variant from 1997 has a shiny version of the shield on a marble background. The words flip in place from the sides and center and the lines slide in from the sides.
* Sometimes, in Warner Video News VHS releases, either footages of movies appear over the WB shield, or promotional gold text appears (such as "**AUSBLICK 1986**").
* A rare trailer tape version exists, where the shield spins around on a black background.
* One trailer variant featured the words "Cincome Pictures Video Presentation" chyroned in below the shield. This can be found on the trailer for *Miles from Home*.
* A trailer tape has the last few seconds of the logo animation with the red words "**THIS YEAR WE MEAN BUSINESS**" underneath the "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" text"
* Some Polish releases distributed by ITI Home Video have a variant with "iti proponuje" flashing throughout the logo.
* Some Polish promos have an orange WB shield zoom toward us on a black background.
* Polish tapes have the 1985 Warner Home Video print logo slowly scrolling up on a blue background.
* Argentinian tapes have a variant where the blue WB shield zooms in with four searchlights (a la the 20th Century Studios logo) and the text "**PROXIMOS VIDEO ESTRENOS A.V.H.**" in yellow on a blue/grey gradient background.
* On French promos, the bylineless version is vertically off-center and at the end, the shield turns shinier than normal. On very rare occasions, at the end of the promo, this variant is reversed.
* Sometimes, before promos, on French releases, we see the still logo do a trail-like effect around the screen until zooming in with the words "**PROCHAINES SORTIES LOCATIONS**" on the left side of the logo.
* A Hebrew "Coming Soon" text version exists.
* A German Warner Video News version from 1988 exists, where the logo is on a building-like background with the logo on it and the shield a bit smaller.
* The "Shape of Video in the '90s" version has a black background with the shield zooming out and then in and then the text in white fades in below.

**Technique:** A mix of live-action footage and CGI for the normal variant, 2D computer animation for the UK "COMING SOON" and Australian "At Home With The Hits" variants, CGI for the spinning shield, disappearing shield Warner Video News city variant and Polish orange shield variant, analog computer effects for most text variants and scanimation for the French "**PROCHAINES SORTIES LOCATIONS**" variant.

**Audio:** A proud, bombastic synthesized rendition of the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures fanfare. Also, there is a short gust of wind when the logo zooms out. None for the still version.

**Audio Variants:**

* On German Warner Video News releases, there is different background synthesized music, with a male announcer saying "Warner Home Video präsentiert" and sometimes "Warner Video News".
* On the shiny shield off-center version, the fanfare starts off distorted, but then goes to normal.
* The trailer variants feature the opening/closing theme of the trailer.
* The "Shape of Video in the '90s" version has a different fanfare with a male announcer saying "Pick the winners and shape your future with ours. Warner Home Video, the shape of video in the '90s".
* The "**THIS YEAR WE MEAN BUSINESS**" version has the ending theme of the trailer with a male announcer saying "This year, we mean business".
* Sometimes, a different fanfare is used for some variants and/or sometimes a male announcer for some variants.
* The French variant has a male announcer saying "Warner Home Video vous presenté, un sélection de set prochaines sorties locations".

**Availability:** Common.

* The first tape to use this logo was the 1985 clamshell VHS tape of *Cheyenne Autumn*.
* The Warner Communications byline can be found on tapes, such as *Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome*, *The Goonies* and *Spies Like Us*.
* The Time Warner byline is a tough find, but it can be found on tapes, such as *My Blue Heaven*, *Presumed Innocent* and *Memphis Belle*.
* The Time Warner Entertainment byline can be found on tapes, such as *Demolition Man*, *The Fugitive* and *Dennis the Menace*.
* Despite being phased out completely in 1999, Argentinian VHS releases continued to use this logo until 2007.

**Legacy:** This is a home video logo both fondly remembered and noted by many for its bombastic music, animation, and cheesiness, hence the nicknames.

## 3rd Logo (December 22, 1995-February 12, 2019)

* 1995-1996
* 1996-2019

Bylineless versionOpen matte bylineless versionTime Warner Entertainment byline variant, with the banner plastered onto the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures logo75 years versionRare 2001 3D model variantPrototype AOL Time Warner byline variantOfficial AOL Time Warner byline variant2006 Blu-ray versionTimeWarner byline variant, with the banner plastered onto the 1998 Warner Bros. Pictures logo2010 version
Warner Home Video 1996 Logo FullscreenWarner Bros. 75 Years Entertaining The World-2Warner Home Video (2002) Company Logo (VHS Capture)
**Nicknames:** "CGI Invisible/Visible Shield", "Shield of Boredom", "Peaceful Shield", "CGI WB Shield II", "Warner Bros. Shield II", "'80s Shield", "CGI Shield II", "75 Years of Warner Bros.", "Anniversary Shield", "Time Warner Entertainment Shield II", "AOL Time Warner Shield", "TimeWarner Shield"

**Visuals:** On a different set of moving clouds, we see a clear shield from the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures logo with a wordless banner. The words "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**" wipe in on the banner as the shield slowly zooms out and fades in.

**Bylines:** Below the logo, one of these three bylines fade in:

* December 22, 1995-February 12, 2019: (bylineless)
* December 20, 1996-December 19, 1997: "**A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY**" (in the Warner Bros. 1984 font. This byline doesn't fade in.)
* December 17, 2002-December 28, 2004: "**An AOL Time Warner Company**" (in the Garamond font. The shield is a lot smaller in this version. Some DVD releases, such as *Scooby-Doo* and *The Powerpuff Girls Movie* use the regular version instead, even though their VHS releases use this variant.)
* November 20, 2007: "A **TImeWarner** Company" ("**TImeWarner**" is in the TimeWarner font, while the rest of the byline is in the FF Meta font. Like the Time Warner Entertainment byline, this byline also doesn't fade in.)

**Variants:**

* In 1998, like other Warner labels, a 75th anniversary version was used. Here, the banner reads "**WARNER BROS.**", zooms out even further, "**75**" appears behind it and the words "**YEARS ENTERTAINING THE WORLD**" appear below the shield.
* A rare version had the logo in the style of the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures logo with the banner reading "**WARNER HOME VIDEO**".
* A silent version with a previously formed shield can be found at the start of the featurette *Bruce Lee: In His Own Words* and the 1998 VHS of *Enter the Dragon*.
* On a French 1999 VHS of *The Iron Giant*, a darker version of this logo is seen.
* Some early tapes with the AOL Time Warner byline have the byline sloppily chyroned in onto the bylineless version. The byline is now close to the shield and the fade out is out-of-sync with the video behind it. This can be seen on *Uprising*.
* There is a fullscreen version of the AOL Time Warner byline variant where the logo is rendered with wide-angle lens. It is also videotaped without the byline in place. This has also appeared without the byline on several *Scooby-Doo* DVDs.
* On Blu-ray, HD-DVD and DVD releases since 2010, the sky background is zoomed in by 20%. For fullscreen releases, the shield is zoomed out by 10% and the open matte version of this logo (the one used during the AOL Time Warner years but without the byline) has not been seen on any post-2010 DVD releases. On some 2006-2009 Blu-rays, there is a scope version of this logo.
* French VHS tapes from the early 2000s start with a messy view of the logo. It then rotates and zooms out to the normal logo with the words "**PROCHAINES SORTIES LOCATIONS**" below it in a clear font.
* On some promos and TV spots, the logo is superimposed.
* On a 2008 TV spot for the DVD of *Nancy Drew*, the banner from this logo is chyroned into the 1998 Warner Bros. Pictures logo, with parts of the "**W**" and "**B**" from this logo still visible.
* There is a prototype version in 1995 seen on the TV spot for the VHS of *Batman Forever*.
* There is a rare 3D model version of this logo in 2001 on a black background.
* A clapperboard version of the logo exists.

**Technique:** A mix of live-action footage and 2D computer animation.

**Audio:** A quiet piano theme with two ending types, composed by Mad Bus Music:

* A calm string theme, seen on VHS, Laserdisc, UMD Video releases, and Stereo and Mono DVD releases. A few 5.1 DVD releases from 1999-2005 also use this tune.
* A synthesized version, introduced in 1997. All 5.1 DVD and Blu-ray releases use this variant. The piano section pans from the left channel to the right. On NTSC releases, it is dual, but does not appear on any fullscreen DVD releases.

**Audio Variants:**

* The 1995 prototype version has a male announcer saying "Now you can own...".
* On the AOL Time Warner version, a low tone version of the theme was used.
* A silent version exists.
* The French version has the same voice-over from the previous logo, with an added whoosh-like sound effect. Sometimes, the whoosh-like sound effect is not present.
* On the clapperboard variant, the announcer says what the clapperboard says.

**Availability:** Very common.

* Despite this logo being officially introduced in 1996, this actually appeared as early as 1995 on the VHS TV spot for *Batman Forever*.
* The first products to have this logo were in Japan. The first VHS release to use this logo in the US was the VHS of *A Time to Kill*.
* The bylineless version can be seen on releases, such as *Bogus*.
* The 75th anniversary version can be seen on releases, such as *Lethal Weapon 4*.
* The version with the AOL Time Warner byline can be found on most 2002-04 tapes, including *The Great Dictator*.
* The version with the regular string tune is very common.
* The last known release to use this logo was the 2018 DVD of *Tom and Jerry: Cute and Cuddly*. However, it made a surprise appearance on *Ben 10: Out to Launch*, likely due to an editing mistake.

**Legacy:** This is another fondly remembered logo from the good old times for its great CGI and music. This logo was very memorable and nostalgic to many people who grew up seeing this logo on VHS and other home media. It is also worth noting that it's one of the few logos that continued to carry the word "Video" when most companies moved on to using the term "Home Entertainment".

Warner Bros. Pictures

**Home Entertainment:**
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment | **Warner Home Video** | WCI Home Video

**Television:**
Warner Bros. Television Studios

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