Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures was founded on May 8, 1912 as Famous Players Film Company. The name "Paramount Pictures" was adopted in 1914 and merged with Famous Players Film Company in 1916. Today, Paramount is the last of the "Big Six" major film studios still headquartered at Los Angeles, California, in the Hollywood district.

## 1914-1953

### 1914-1917

This was the very first logo to ever have the nickname "Majestic Mountain".

### 1917-1927

This logo was designed by William Wadsworth Hodkinson.

### 1927-1953

Examples of films that used this logo are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Alice in Wonderland (1933), and Gulliver's Travels (1939). You'll still see this logo if you're a fan of movies from the 1930s and 1940s. The last film to use the 1942 variant was "Little Boy Lost" (1954).

The first film seen on VHS with this logo intact was The Last Command (1928).

### 1942-1945

The mountain was changed to a creepy one and the rest of the clouds were added on bottom of the mountain

### 1946-1951

The clouds were removed, the mountain looks nicer and the rest of the clouds were added back on the sky.

### 1951-1953

Same as the previous version, but this variation looks more marble and uneven in appearance. The sky background is a bit lighter as well.

## 1953-1975

### 1953-1968

The 1953 logo marked the first time films released from Paramount were presented in widescreen format. This logo debuted with Sangaree, released on May 27, 1953, and can also be seen on other films like White Christmas (1954), which was the first film to be released in widescreen, The Ten Commandments (1956), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).

### 1968-1975

In 1966, Paramount was sold to Gulf+Western Industries Corporation. Since then, for more than 20 years, Paramount was known as a "Gulf+Western company", as seen on the byline in this logo. Films with the 1968 logo include Romeo and Juliet (1968), Love Story (1970), The Godfather (1972), and the family classic Charlotte's Web (1973). The logo ended with Three Days of the Condor, released on September 24, 1975 (which was the first film to have the blue mountain at the beginning).

## 1975-1986

In use since September 24, 1975, for 11 years, starting with Three Days of the Condor (1975), this next Paramount logo was seen on films from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. This logo was also the first to appear on original VHS prints of current films from back then.

The Golden Child, released on December 12, 1986, was the last film to use the 1975 logo, but only at the end of that film. Other films with this logo include King Kong (1976), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Friday the 13th (1980), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Ferris Buller's Day Off (1986).

Starting from this year onwards, television variants of further Paramount logos were also made.

## 1986-2007

### 1986-1989

During Paramount's last years as a Gulf+Western company, a brand-new logo was unveiled, which first appeared at the beginning of The Golden Child (1986). Like many other logos, the words "75th Anniversary" appear during the logo's first year, and was seen on films until February 5, 1988. Examples of other films with this logo containing the "Gulf+Western" byline are Fatal Attraction (1987), Planes Trains and Automobiles (1987), Coming to America (1988), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

### 1989-1995

When Gulf+Western was renamed to Paramount Communications, the byline for any newer films since September 22, 1989 also had changed to "A Paramount Communications Company". Of course, the byline was colored gold for its first year. Harlem Nights (1989) and Black Rain (1989) preserve this.

Movies with the white byline include The Godfather: Part III (1990), Wayne's World (1992), Addams Family Values (1993), and Forrest Gump (1994). On trailers of Paramount films released from late 1994 to early 1995, the logo is often seen bylineless.

### 1995-2007

After Paramount Communications was acquired by Viacom in 1994, all films and VHS tapes affiliated with Paramount Pictures contained the byline "A Viacom Company" from February 17, 1995 to April 24, 2007.

This is a very common logo, as it appears on movies such as Braveheart (1995), Mission Impossible (1996), Star Trek First Contact (1996), Good Burger (1997), Titanic (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Turman Show (1998) and Snow Day (2000) and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001). The last movie to use this logo was Crossroads, released on February 15, 2002.

## 2002-2011

### 2002-2010

For its first year of 2002, the logo contains the words "90th Anniversary", which first appeared on We Were Soldiers, released on March 1, 2002. Without the words "90th Anniversary" on the logo, it can be seen on films such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), School of Rock (2003), The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), and several others.

### 2010-2011

For the 2002 logo's last year, the Viacom byline was changed to its 2006 font. Films that had this byline on the logo include Iron Man 2, released on May 7, 2010, The Fighter (2010), and Rango (2011). These films were released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc from September 28, 2010 to March 13, 2012. Several trailers of films slated for an early 2012 theatrical release contain this logo.

## 2011-present

This logo is currently seen on new Paramount Pictures films in theaters. For its first 13 months from December 16, 2011 to December 21, 2012 (April 17, 2012 to May 7, 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc), starting with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and ending with Jack Reacher, the "100 Years" variant was in use. The standard variant began on January 25, 2013 (June 11, 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc) with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (though the movie was completed in late 2012). It can also be seen on Monster Trucks (2016), released in theaters in North America on January 13, 2017.

## Trivia

* Three events occurred to Paramount's films designed for family audiences alongside production of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:

1. My Little Pony Live: The World's Biggest Tea Party was released by Paramount Pictures on DVD in 2008.
2. A VHS tape with A Very Minty Christmas and a VHS tape with The Princess Promenade and Pinkie Pie and the Ladybug Jamboree were released by Paramount Pictures.
3. In 2022, parodies of Paramount VHS tape openings were re-edited as tapes by an unofficial Pinkie Pie company.