Engigo's What If?/Steamboat Willie's Logos: Improved Prototype WB/New Line Cinema

## Background

New Line Cinema (also known as "New Line Productions, Inc." and formerly known as "New Line Cinema Corporation") originally started in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne, as an indie/low-budget film studio. They did not use a logo until the early 1970s. New Line was acquired by Turner Broadcasting on January 28, 1994; both merged with Time Warner (now "WarnerMedia") on October 10, 1996. Their most successful films are *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively. In 2008, New Line became a genre and low-to-mid-budget unit of Warner Bros. Pictures, shutting down as an independent studio under Time Warner after CEO Jeff Bewkes fired Shaye and Lynne as a result of the American box office failure of *The Golden Compass*. The last movie produced by New Line Cinema as an independent company was *Semi-Pro*.

### 1st Logo

(1973-April 18, 1987)Nicknames: "The (Creepy) Red Line", "A Nightmare on New Line Street", "Flashes of Doom", "Pre-Filmbox", "Where's Filmbox?"

Logo: On a black background, a red line stretches out across the screen. It then "flashes" rapidly, seeming to vibrate and form more lines above. The lines eventually form the words "NEW LINE CINEMA", and when the text is completed the screen begins to flash red. When the flashing is finished, the logo is now red with black segmenting (a la the CBS/Fox Video logo), and the word "FROM" can be seen above and to the left of the logo. The logo is "wiped" away at the end.

Variants:

* Sometimes, it is grayscaled.
* There is also a high-contrast version with a dark blue background and "FROM NEW LINE CINEMA" in pink. It was seen on the Magnetic Video Corporation VHS release of *The Seduction of Mimi*.
* New Line used a different logo in print and at the end of trailers and movies from 1967 to 1987; it is the letters "NL" connected together. As far as we know, this was never used as an actual New Line logo.
* On some scope films, the logo is stretched to 2:35:1.

FX/SFX: The Scanimate "flashing" and the line effects.

Music/Sounds: Sometimes, it has its own music: a synth calypso jingle followed by a deep electric guitar riff and two drumbeats at the end. Usually, it is silent.

Music/Sounds Variants:

* On Toei Company productions (such as *The Street Fighter* and *Bronson Lee, Champion*) it would use the second half of the specialized theme that played over the Toei logo.
	+ Strangely, *The Street Fighter's Last Revenge* (at least the Wizard Video release) uses an edited version of the second half of the specialized jingle from *The Street Fighter*.

Availability: Rare. Can be seen on the first two *Nightmare on Elm Street* movies. Strangely, this is seen on the 1999 and 2005 DVDs of *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* (which originally used the next logo). This was also used on the first *Critters* movie, as well as *Xtro*. Early prints of *Alone in the Dark* didn't have any logo. The 1980 MGM/CBS release of *The Streetfighter* and the 1982 Wizard Video release of *The Streetfighter's Last Revenge* use this logo, but not the 1981 MGM/CBS release of *Return of the Streetfighter*. It is also featured on the 1987 HBO/Cannon Video release of *The Evil Dead*, though is completely absent on recent releases of said film; it is unknown if it's intact on the original Thorn EMI Video release or the Congress Video reprint. It is also unknown if this appears at the start of the 1978 Media Home Entertainment releases of *Tell Your Children* (under the title *Reefer Madness*), and *Night of the Living Dead* (which was in the public domain), as well as the 1985 Media Home Entertainment release of the first mentioned film. It does not appear on the Media release of *Magical Mystery Tour*. The high-contrast version can be seen on a VHS of the 1976 version of *The Cars That Ate Paris*, as well as the Magnetic Video release of *The Seduction of Mimi*. This is also intact on the Image Entertainment DVD of *Quiet Cool* after the 4th logo, as well as the 1984 Warner clamshell of *Hurray for Betty Boop*. This can also be found on the Vestron Video CED and Media Home Entertainment VHS of *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*, but it is unknown if it is kept on the Wizard Video VHS. It is also unknown if this is seen on the Lightning Video VHS of the 1984 thriller *Blind Date*, the Media Home Entertainment VHS of *Creepers* (the cut version of Dario Argento's *Phenomena*) or the Wizard Video VHS of *Mountain of the Cannibal God* (AKA: *Slave of the Cannibal God*). It is confirmed to be on the 2019 Shout! Factory Blu-ray of *The Street Fighter Collection*. It may be seen on the Force Video VHS of *Immoral Tales*.

Editor's Note: A very grindhouse-esque logo genre, which is quite fitting as that's how New Line Cinema got it's start. The ugly font, red/black color scheme, and flashing are likely to put some viewers off. Not suitable for viewers that are prone to epilepsy.

### 2nd Logo (February 27/April 19-August 28, 1987)

Nicknames: "The Filmbox", "Box and Filmstrips", "The Ladder", "The Earlier Ladder", "The Original Filmbox", "New Line Filmbox"

Logo: On a black background, we see a box, connected with 2 filmstrips. It glows blue, and "**NEW LINE CINEMA**" is below, glowing in blue as well. Basically a still of the next logo, but the words are in black.

Variant: On *My Demon Lover*, the glow is in grayish-pink.

FX/SFX/Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare. Seen on the first video releases of *My Demon Lover* and *Quiet Cool* (on the latter, it plasters the previous logo) as well as the *Critters 2* and *Hairspray (1988)* trailers. It may have also appeared on U.S. theatrical prints of *Summer Night*, but the IVE release doesn't use a logo.

Editor's Note: Because this was only used for a short time, it's probably a placeholder.

### 3rd Logo (August 28, 1987-April 26, 1995)

Nicknames: "The Filmbox II", "Box and Filmstrips II", "The Ladder II", "New Line Filmbox II", "Pre-CGI Filmbox"

Logo: On a blue/white ethereal background, a black box zooms and twirls from the screen. In the background, several filmstrips float by, as the box is connected by two filmstrips. One of the filmstrips attaches itself to the side of the box, and the other filmstrip tilts to half a right angle and attaches itself to the top right of the box. The background fades to black, with the box/ladder "glowing" blue at the end. The words "NEW LINE CINEMA" fade under the logo.

Variants:

* Some showings in Australia have the Roadshow Television logo before this, which morphs into the black box in the beginning of the New Line logo.
* Beginning around 1991, there is less of a glow around the box and filmstrips, and it has a more purplish tone to it.
* There is a 2.35:1 scope variant where it is cropped from the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This appears on *Glengarry Glen Ross*.

Closing Variants

* The first closing variant is basically the same as the opening logo, except the box and filmstrips are in white. This appears on *A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master*.
* The ending logo has the word "From" between the logo and the company name. From 1993-94, the "From" was removed.
* *Monkey Trouble* has a in-credit closing logo with "RELEASED BY NEW LINE CINEMA" with the box and filmbox logo next to it.

FX/SFX: The spinning box and filmstrip.

Music/Sounds: Usually none or the opening of the film. However, *A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child* has a quiet flute and string jingle with bells and chimes. The Roadshow Television variant has an extended version of the 1992 Village Roadshow/Roadshow Entertainment jingle playing over it. On the Shout! Factory Blu-Ray of *Man's Best Friend*, it has the theme from the next logo, due to a reverse plaster.

Availability: Rare.

* Current prints of most films replace it with the next logo, though older prints will have this logo. Notable examples include older prints of the fourth, fifth and sixth films of the *Nightmare on Elm Street* series.
* This can be found on all pre-2002 releases of the second and third *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* films. The first film, however, deletes this and goes straight to the opening credits on most U.S. VHS & DVD releases, while the Blu-ray of the second film contains the 4th logo (though it's retained on current international prints, except the 2006 Magixeyes VCD, after the 1981 20th Century Fox logo).
* The end variant without "From" can be found on *The Mask*, *Corrina, Corrina*, *Wes Craven's New Nightmare*, *Dumb and Dumber* and *Friday*.
* This logo made its last appearance on *Corrina, Corrina*, though it is plastered on early home media releases with the next logo.
* This is retained on most home video releases of *Drop Dead Fred* such as the original 1991 LIVE Home Video VHS (later reissued by F.H.E. in 1996), the 2003 Artisan DVD (after the Artisan logo), the 2002 Universal DVD from the UK (after the 1997 Universal logo), and the UK 25th Anniversary Blu-ray from Final Cut Entertainment (after the 1990 Universal logo). However the original UK rental VHS edits this out and goes straight to the opening credits. It is also unknown if it would have been retained on the planned Severin Films U.S. Blu-ray.
* It also appeared on the theatrical U.S. release of *Babar: The Movie*, but most home video releases delete this and go straight to the opening credits (the first VHS from Family Home Entertainment and possibly eOne's 2014 DVD release have the closing logo intact, however).
* The MGM DVD release of *Amos & Andrew* has this plastering the Columbia Pictures logo before going to the Castle Rock Entertainment logo. However, a 1998 MGM/UA Movie Time VHS and one On Demand print had the New Line, Columbia and Castle Rock logos present, while most HD streaming masters and the Olive Films Blu-ray have the 2012 MGM logo plastering over the New Line and Columbia logos.
* It also may have been seen on U.S. theatrical prints of *Communion* (1989), but the Canadian Cineplex Odeon and U.S. MCEG Virgin VHS skips the logo entirely, although it is on the packaging.
* This is also retained on the Shout! Factory Blu-ray of *The Lawnmower Man*, the Warner Archive Blu-ray of *The Hidden*, and the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of *Deep Cover*.
* Strangely, the opening variant appears after the closing variant on recent HBO airings of *The Mask*.
* Don't expect this to show up on the Cinetel Films releases they distributed into theaters.

Editor's Note: Very good 2D animation, albeit a little dated.

### 4th Logo (July 29, 1994-September 3, 2010)

Nicknames: "The CGI Filmbox", "The Filmbox III", "Box and Filmstrips III", "The CGI Ladder", "The Ladder III", "New Line Filmbox III", "Pre-WB/New Line Combo"

Logo: A black box rotates out from an extreme close-up, with a blue light in the background. Various filmstrips zooms past the box as two more filmstrips rotate in, one attaching itself to the side of the box, and one attaching itself to the top-right to form the familiar logo. The blue light dies down to create a glowing effect around the "ladder" as "**NEW LINE CINEMA**" zooms-out from below in ITC Garamond Cond Book font. The respective company byline fades-in underneath.

Bylines:

* July 29th, 1994-1995: "A TURNER Company"
* 1995-97: "A Turner Company"
* 1997-2001, Summer-November 7, 2003: "A Time Warner Company" (This byline was last used on *Elf*)
* January 26th, 2001-Mid-2003: "**An AOL Time Warner Company**"
* December 17, 2003-September 3, 2010: "**A TimeWarner Company**" (This byline debuted on *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*)
* At the end of some films, the logo is bylineless.

Variants:

* From July 29, 1994 to September 1995, a prototype variant of this logo was used. The differences are the light moves all around the logo, before settling into its usual place, and the New Line text (in Times New Roman Condensed) zooms out with a trail effect (and starts out black before fading to white); the finished product looks very similar to the 3rd logo's finished product. The Turner byline is used here, sometimes chyroned in on some releases. This may or may not have been a placeholder logo, but it was only used on *Wes Craven's New Nightmare* (although newer prints plaster it with the 2003 version) and *The Swan Princess* (the US theatrical release only, all home video copies in the United States plaster it over with the Nest Entertainment logo, though it's still intact on the UK Columbia/Tristar VHS/DVD as well as Hulu and TubiTV prints of the movie). However, this version was also used to plaster the 1987 logo on *The Endless Summer II* (at least on the original Columbia TriStar Home Video VHS release, as well as the Turner Home Entertainment VHS reprint), *The Mask* (although some earlier theatrical releases used the 1987 logo), and *Corrina, Corrina* (on early home video releases, since newer releases restore the original 1987 logo). The second version would make its debut on *Dumb and Dumber*, released on December 16, 1994.
* Some films from the Turner years shown in 1.85:1 aspect ratio have the logo more zoomed in. Also, the blue light has a larger "radius". Later 1.85 films used an open matte version, which is more zoomed out.
* There is a videotaped variation of this logo where the animation runs at a smoother frame rate. This can be seen on original VHS releases of *Mortal Kombat* and *Now and Then*.
* On 3D movies, including *Journey to the Center of the Earth* and *The Final Destination*, the filmstrips, ladders, and text zoom-in.
* At the end of some movies, such as *Elf*, the print logo is shown with the words NEW LINE CINEMA in a bold Times font to the right of it, and with the TimeWarner byline below; this scrolls up with the credits.

Closing Variants:

* Earlier films that used this logo reused the previous closing logo.
* At the end of later films released during the Turner era, it is the tail end of the animated opening logo without the Turner byline.
* Starting from when the 1997 Time Warner byline was used, the logo is still and has the respective byline. Despite replacing the early TW variant as an opening logo, the later TW variant was almost never used as a closing logo, with most films released from 1998 to 2000 instead using the early TW variant at the end.
* Some movies such as *Elf* have the print logo shown with the words "NEW LINE CINEMA" in a bold Times font to the right of it, and the TimeWarner byline below; this scrolls up with the credits.
* Some films may have the credit "A NEW LINE CINEMA RELEASE".

FX/SFX: CGI animation of the filmstrips and the box, and the zooming out of the text.

Music/Sounds: A beautiful string fanfare composed by Michael Kamen. It begins with a high violin note that rapidly but calmly descends with many notes, ending with a quiet chime/string theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

* Some movies use a shortened version of the theme.
* On *The Wedding Singer*, there is a re-orchestrated and double-pitched version of the logo's theme, which is echoed more and has a different flute note.
* On *All About the Benjamins*, we can hear (if you listen hard enough) crickets chirping over the logo.
* On the 2003 VHS of *How to Deal*, the Focus Features music is used over the logo (possibly because Focus was a co-producer on the film), while its DVD counterpart has the correct music.

Availability: Common. Much more prolific than their past logos, given their higher-profile status thanks to the Turner and Time Warner acquisitions. The version with the Turner byline is a hard find, but not too hard. Turner-era New Line Home Video releases can still be found on the markets if you look harder enough. On newer issues of Turner-era releases, the Turner byline has been replaced with a Time Warner byline, but it's nothing major. This logo has even been sighted plastering the 1987 logo on several films (including recent video streaming/TV editions of *Drop Dead Fred*, which has the 2003 version, although the Artisan DVD retains it). The Turner byline variant can be seen on *Se7en*, *Mortal Kombat*, *Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery* and *The Mask*. Also seen on some video games based on New Line Cinema properties, mainly the *Lord of the Rings* franchise. This precedes the first logo on recent prints of *Quiet Cool*. Current DVD releases of pre-2003 films plaster the logo with its 2003 counterpart. This logo premiered on *The Mask* and was last seen on *Going the Distance*. It was also seen on the theatrical release of *The Swan Princess*, but on U.S. home entertainment editions, the Nest Entertainment logo plasters it at the start of the film (the end of the film has no logo altogether), although it is retained on the UK VHS and digital editions.

Editor's Note: The definitive New Line Cinema logo, due to its longevity, its effectiveness as a logo, and its prevalence. However, as with the other TimeWarner properties, the version with the 2003 TimeWarner byline can be notorious to some due to it plastering the previous logos (and earlier variations of the same logo) on current releases of older films. Nonetheless, this is a favorite of many.

### 5th Logo (January 28, 2011-November 26, 2020)

Nicknames: "The WB/New Line Combo", "The Transition", "The WB Shield/New Line Filmbox Transformation", "The WB/New Line Transition", "The CGI Filmbox II", "The Filmbox IV", "The Golden Filmbox", "Box and Filmstrips IV", "The CGI Ladder II", "The Ladder IV", "New Line Filmbox IV", "Golden New Line Filmbox", "From Shield to Filmbox", "Pre-AT&T Filmbox", "Filmbox in the Sky", "Filmbox in the Night Sky"

Logo: We travel through the clouds to see the 1998-2020 Warner Bros. Pictures shield with the byline of the era fading in below, both zooming in toward the screen. The shield then breaks up into pieces, leaving the blue part of the shield and the byline. While this happens, the camera pans from a daytime sky to a cloudy night sky (with the sun appearing during the transition for a split-second). The gold pieces of the shield turn into the filmstrips and squares (now rounded at the edges) of the New Line Cinema logo while all the letters of "NEW LINE CINEMA" in a new, custom font, appears flipping in, as it shines and the byline fades in below.

Bylines:

* January 28, 2011 - June 15, 2018: "A TimeWarner Company"
* September 7, 2018 - November 26, 2020: "A WARNERMEDIA Company"

FX/SFX: Amazing CGI with a great day into night transition.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme to the movie.

Music/Sounds Variants:

* On *If I Stay*, the WB/New Line themes playing over respective logos, with the latter's theme slightly abridged.
* On *New Year's Eve*, the logo has the customized fanfare which syncs up to animation.

Availability: Common. Since 2008, New Line Cinema is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., hence the fact that the WB shield appears in the beginning. Nonetheless, it is seen on all releases from the studio from 2011 to 2020, starting with *The Rite*. A still version appears at the end of the said title mentioned above. The TimeWarner byline last appeared on *Tag*. In contrast, the WarnerMedia byline first appeared on the trailer for *Shazam!* and the fully animated version first appeared on *The Nun*. This does not appear on *Creed II*, as the standard Warner Bros. logo is used instead, and New Line only got a studio credit for said film. The last film to use this logo was *Superintelligence*.

Editor's Note: While not as popular as the previous logo, this logo has garnered a following over the years that it has been used. However, New Line Cinema would later carry their design over to the next logo, which is described below.

### 6th Logo (April 8, 2021-)

Nicknames: "The WB/New Line Combo II", "The Transition II", "The WB Shield/New Line Filmbox Transformation II", "The WB/New Line Transition II", "The CGI Filmbox III", "The Filmbox V", "The Silver Filmbox", "Box and Filmstrips V", "The CGI Ladder III", "The Ladder V", "New Line Filmbox V", "The Warner Bros/New Line Logos II", "Pentagram Filmbox", "2020s Filmbox", "From Daytime to Sunset", "Filmbox in the Sunset Sky", "From Shield to Filmbox II", "The AT&T Filmbox"

Logo: Same concept as the previous logo, but the 2020-present Warner Bros. Pictures logo is now used instead (with the black background already here), and in a similar fashion to the last logo, the shield breaks up to transform into the New Line Cinema logo on a more realistic version of the background from the 4th logo (using the same design from before, but the line between the text and byline is removed), now in silver this time to match with the 2020 WB shield. The current WarnerMedia byline fades in below (although much earlier this time just as it finishes forming).

Closing: Same concept as the previous logo. See Warner Bros. Pictures.

FX/SFX: Same as the last logo, but with updated visuals and effects. Awesome CGI done by Devastudios, who also worked on the other related on-screen 2021 WB logos.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Current. It was first seen on the trailers for *Mortal Kombat* (2021) and *Those Who Wish Me Dead*, and made its first theatrical appearances on those films.

Editor's Note: A great update to the previous logo. Only time will tell if the WB and New Line themes will be used for their respective logos.