Paramount Home Media Distribution

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### Background

Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly "Paramount Home Media Distribution", "Paramount Home Video", and "Paramount Video") is Paramount Pictures' home media division and was formed in 1979 (some sources claim late 1975). The company owns the home media rights to films and shows owned by Paramount and shows from sister company ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks (under individual labels such as MTV Home Video and other subsidiaries). The company also licenses the right to release material from CBS Corporation (now known as ViacomCBS) (such as CBS Studios/CBS Media Ventures and Showtime Networks material released through CBS Home Entertainment, although CBS Films material is released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Home Entertainment) and several independent studios. They formerly released DreamWorks Animation material through DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment until 2014, when the latter acquired distribution rights to their library and transferred the rights to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. On September 27, 2011, Paramount Home Entertainment was renamed Paramount Home Media Distribution after merging with Paramount Digital and Television. Starting in 2012, the Republic Pictures library and select Paramount films were licensed to Olive Films and Kino Lorber. From 2013-2016, the company licensed the home media rights to most of the Paramount Pictures (with some exceptions) library to Warner Home Video. Paramount continues to release licensed material and material from sister companies. In May 2019, Paramount Home Media Distribution was renamed back to Paramount Home Entertainment.

## Paramount Home Video

### 1st Logo (September 1979-September 30, 1980 [end of production], July 22, 2016 [discontinued])

**Nicknames:** "Still Mountain", "Boring Mountain", "Blue Mountain"

**Logo:** On a Template:Font color background, we see "Paramount" in the famous script, and "HOME VIDEO" below that in a wide Microgramma Bold font in between two lines, one above and one below. To the right of that, we see the 1968 Paramount print logo to the right, complete with the Gulf+Western byline. A moment later, a warning screen (also on a Template:Font color background) fades over this logo.

**Variant:** A black and white variant exists on releases of some black and white films, such as *Sunset Boulevard*.

**FX/SFX:** None, unless you count the fade to the warning screen.

**Music/Sounds:** On some tapes you can faintly hear audio from other Paramount films, such as *Paper Moon*, in the background.

**Availability:** Extremely rare. Because VHS and Beta were in their infancies at the time, releases were in lower quantities and are harder to find.

* This logo appeared primarily on Betamax releases. This should appear on a few VHS releases from 1979 and 1980 including the first two *Godfather* films, *Saturday Night Fever*, *Grease*, *Heaven Can Wait*, *True Grit*, *Goin' South*, *Play It Again Sam*, *The Bad News Bears* (1976 version), *Gunfight at the O.K. Corral*, *Sunset Boulevard*, *Prophecy* and *Catch 22*.
* Among the last releases to use this logo were five volumes of *Star Trek* episodes as part of the "Television Classics" series on VHS and Betamax in Summer 1980 (Those releases are out of print, having been replaced in 1985 by Paramount's single-episode releases, and are hard to find). Other final releases with this logo were tapes of *Escape from Alcatraz*, *North Dallas Forty*, *Mandingo*, *Malicious*, and *Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman*.
* This surprisingly appears on a late 1983 pressing of *The Odd Couple* (usually, releases printed around that time started with the "Acid Trip" warning screen, followed by the Paramount Pictures Logo).

**Editor's Note:** One of the first home video company logos ever made; it's very simple, but they had ways to go.

### 2nd Logo (January 1, 1980-January 23, 2001, May 22, 2001, August 14, 2001, August 27, 2002, October 29, 2002, 2003, January 26, 2006, September 21, 2021-)

**Logo:** Only a light gray background.

**Variant:**

* A low pitched prototype version from 1980 has the light gray background with a light green version.
* A version with the top and bottom red bars appears with the static and the 5th logo on pre-1990 copies of EP/SLP Mode tapes, such as *Kidsongs*: What I Want to Be, *A Very Merry Cricket*, *Heathcliff: Heathcliff Gets Framed* and *Heathcliff: Heathcliff's Mom*.
* On the fourth version of The Little Drummer Boy, the logo cuts to a black screen for a second, following by the 5th logo.
* On the fifth version of the aforementioned tape and a clamshell copy of Tom and Jerry: The Movie, the first Music/Sounds Variant is heard before the 5th logo.

**FX/SFX:** None, unless you count the fade to the static or the 5th logo.

**Music/Sounds:** Same as the SMPTE color bars.

**Music/Sounds Variants:**

* On some tapes, such as the second version of the 1988 VHS of Charlotte's Web, the audio repeats each second.
* On the second version of Nick and Noel, the audio is high pitched.
* On the third version of ET and the second version of *Bob the Builder*: Can We Fix It (which was also the only HiT Entertainment tape to use this logo), the logo is silent.

**Availability:** Very common.

* This logo appeared primarily on the third version and fourth versions of the 1989 VHS of *Batman*, *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* tapes and pre-Kimi Rugrats tapes but does not appear at the end of the fourth copy of ET, the yellow tape of The Godfather: Part III, the white tape of Ghost or the red tape of The Hunt for Red October.
* This last appeared on a 2001 pressing of *Bear in the Big Blue House: Early to Bed, Early to Rise*, a 2001 pressing of *Bob the Builder*: Can We Fix It, a 2002 pressing of *It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown*, a 2003 pressing of *Forrest Gump* and a 2006 pressing of *Woody Woodpecker: Wild and Woody* (usually, 21st century releases only have the static at the end until 2020). Also appears on Metro Goldwyn Mayer releases starting with *Snake Eyes*, due to their new logo in March 2021.

**Editor's Note:** None.

### 3rd Logo (October 1980-January 1981, 1984, March 21, 2006-)

**Nicknames:** "Mountain Silhouette", "Scanimated Mountain of Doom", "Black Mountain", "Rising Mountain", "Cheesy Mountain", "In the Shadow of Paramount"

**Logo:** On a Template:Font color background, we zoom out on a silhouette of a mountain. After we zoom out to a comfortable distance, a bright flash occurs behind the mountain, and white "stars" (they look like circles or lens flares) appear, as well as "Paramount" (in a school bus yellow script, but closer to the pre-1975 Logos). A saffron-colored trapezoidal trail zooms out from the base, and "HOME VIDEO" (set in the same font as the previous Logo) zooms out soon after, tacked onto the saffron-colored trail. As that happens, the blue background gets extremely dark (looking like federal blue). The end result looks like the pre-1967 print logo.

**Trivia:** The second half of the logo was once used as the 1977 Paramount Television Service Logo. "PARAMOUNT TELEVISION SERVICE" was featured at the bottom, which explains the chyron for "HOME VIDEO". The original version of the Logo was produced by the design firm of Sullivan & Marks.

**Variant:** On *Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!*, the logo cuts to the last half of the film's Paramount Logo.

**FX/SFX:** The flash and the effects are pure Scanimate (or film/cel) effects.

**Music/Sounds:** A pounding backbeat as the mountain zooms out, then a synth chord mixed with a brief explosion sound and synthesized "sizzling"

**Availability:** Like the first logo, this is also extremely rare, but more because of the fact that this was only used on two batches of releases and re-releases.

* Seen on VHS/Beta releases of the time, which are not that easy to find, especially since the logo was usually taken off of post-1981 prints. However, since this was on a decent variety of movies, it may help a little.
* Among the releases are *Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)*, *Death Wish*, *Escape from Alcatraz*, *Breaking Glass*, *Friday the 13th*, *Star Trek: The Motion Picture*, *Airplane!*, *Charlotte's Web*, *Little Darlings*, *Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!*, *Barbarella*, *Starting Over*, *American Gigolo*, *Urban Cowboy* and *Shogun*.
* Some, if very little, post-1981 prints surprisingly keep this logo intact.
* Also seen on certain Hi-Fi re-releases of Paramount's early releases (such as *Downhill Racer* and *Death Wish*) from 1984, and the original Hi-Fi VHS release of *True Grit* (1969 version).
* Don't expect this logo on LaserDisc releases, as it was replaced with the Laservision Logo.

**Editor's Note:** It shares the same amount of cheesiness from the Paramount Television Service, with the added edition of the cheap cut to it and the chyroned "HOME VIDEO" text. It is also known to creep out some thanks to the ominous music and nature. On the other hand, it's a favorite to those looking for the tapes that have this logo, and it is definitely a very unique logo.

### 4th Logo (January 14, 1983-May 3, 1989, 1990, 1992, March 11, 1997-December 1, 1998, August 14, 2001, October 29, 2002, September 27, 2005-February 7, 2006)

1997-1998 version2005-2006 version

**Nicknames:** "Growing Mountain", "Blue Paramount", "Zooming Logo"

**Logo:** On a black background, we see the abstract mountain logo, with "Paramount" in black script in the light blue circle like the other Paramount logos, and the "A Gulf + Western Company" byline at the bottom in Template:Font color. It begins to zoom up on us, as the stars (which are followed by light trail-streaks) and byline zoom past, and both the mountain and circle grow bigger until we are literally right on top of the peak of the mountain, with "Paramount" centering in, filling the middle of the screen. When the peak hits the bottom and "Paramount" fits the center, "Paramount" begins to shine, then there is a very bright flash, and it dies down to reveal the Paramount script logo (in Template:Font color) and a small "VIDEO" (shining a bit) between two Template:Font color lines.

**Variants:**

* A black-and-white variant exists.
* A rare, slightly longer variant exists, which starts with a still shot of the blue Paramount print Logo. After a little over a second, the music starts and the Logo animates as normal.
* At the end of an April 1998 Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) airing of *The Devonsville Terror*, the animation is slowed down but plays as normal until all there is is "Paramount" and the mountain, when the logo freezes in place and the rest of the music is heard. It's unknown if this was used on any home media releases of the film, or any others.

**FX/SFX:** The growing mountain and the flash are pure Scanimate effects. Certainly a large improvement over its predecessor.

**Music/Sounds:** A building set of synthesized strings, ending in a new-age synthesizer tune. Composed by Richard J. Krizman.

**Music/Sounds Variant:** On the 1983 RCA CED videodisc release of *An Evening with Robin Williams*, this follows the RCA SelectaVision logo, but is silent.

**Availability:** Very rare.

* Most Paramount films used the logo used on the film, but most television series (such as *Star Trek*, with the exception of the 1984 Television Classics Laserdisc release of the two-parter "The Menagerie", which uses no logo), comedy specials (such as *Paramount Comedy Theater: Volume 1*), and licensed material (such as *Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!* and *The Adventures of the American Rabbit*) have this logo.
* It was also on most prints of the 1982 VHS release of *Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol* (the earliest prints, from around 1982 to early 1983, are confirmed to not have this), and a 1990 reprint of it retained the logo.
* It is also on the 1992 release of *A Dog of Flanders* (along with the warning that preceded it), also likely a reprint itself.
* The black and white version can be found on a VHS release of *The Untouchables* pilot "Scarface Mob" and *Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back*.
* This was also surprisingly seen on the early 1990s re-release of *Strong Kids, Safe Kids*, after the 5th logo.
* Other releases that have this include *Teen Wolf* and *Call to Glory*.
* This logo, as well as the multi-colored copyright warning, appear on the 1991 VHS print of Toho Entertainment's *The Wizard Of Oz* (1982).
* Paramount Video would produce 1984 to 1986 episodes of *Brothers*, a sitcom which aired on Showtime from 1984 to 1989. This would appear on 1984 to 1986 episodes, while 1987 to 1989 episodes would be produced by Paramount Television.

**Editor's Note:** This logo is a favorite of many, thanks to its soothing music and rather high-tech animation for the time.

### 5th Logo (May 5, 1986-May 6, 1997, October 21, 1997, March 1, 2016)

**Nicknames:** "Pull My Finger"

**Logo:**

* May 5, 1986: The logo is shown at the beginning of the tape.
* May 12, 1986-August 11, 1988, October 1, 1996-October 21, 1997: The logo is shown after the 2nd logo.
* September 12, 1988-August 6, 1996: The logo is shown at the end of the tape.

**Variants:**

* On the 1989 VHS of The Berenstain Bears: No Girls Allowed and the 1990 VHS of *Heathcliff: Heathcliff Gets Framed*, a siren sound is heard at the beginning of this logo.
* The audio quality may vary.
* On the second and third version of *The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas*, the second version of *Sesame Street: Don't Cry Big Bird* and the second version of *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Shredder is Shredded*, the logo is slowed down.
* On the 1990 VHS of *Shirley Valentine*, the second version of *Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade*, the second version of *The Simpsons Christmas Special*, the fourth version of *Batman* and the recorded copies of *An American Tail* and *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Friends Across Equestrio*, the logo is shown twice.

**FX/SFX:** None

**Music/Sounds:** A moaning sound plays.

**Availability:** Very rare.

* It was first used on the 1986 VHS of *White Nights*, released on May 5, 1986.
* Despite claimed recently, it does not appear on any Disney or DreamWorks tapes and the last tape to use this logo was the 1997 VHS of Rugrats: Tommy Troubles, which was released on March 11, 1997, DreamWorks didn't exist until September 28 of that year, Toy Story 2 didn't exist until 1999, Robots and Madagascar didn't exist until 2005 and the last VHS to be released by Disney was Cars, which was also the last retail VHS to be released, before Inside Out existed in 2015. Disney and Dreamworks releases are also only produced by Technicolor, and the only owners of this logo were Deluxe Video Lavatories (formerly Bell & Howell Video Systems) and Universal International.
* This logo makes a surprise appearance on a 1997 pressing of Rocko's Modern Life: Rocko's Modern Christmas after the second logo on September 8, 2021.
* It also returned on 1997 pressings of *The Adventures of Coudoury: Home* and *The Association Beaaru* after the 2nd logo.
* Though this logo was also claimed to be appear on Top Gun, there was a black screen after the 2nd logo, the 2nd logo appeared before the static or there's no static at the end of the tape but it does not have this logo on the tape.
* It can also be seen on the third version of ET after the 2nd logo.

**Editor's Note:** It can be seen on the fourth version of *Batman* and the second version of *An American Tail* if you play them on all VCRs, but other tapes don't play this logo on some VCRs.

### 6th Logo (April 1987-March 5, 2019)

**Nicknames:** "CGI Mountain", "90s Mountain", "Perumount"

**Logo:** It's the 1986 Paramount Pictures logo with no video indicator whatsoever. The difference here from the theatrical version is that the logo is videotaped; the picture quality is somewhat sharper and the color scheme is brighter than normal. On occasion, the logo begins much earlier than the theatrical variant.

**Variants:**

* Like its parent logo, at the end of tapes, only the finished product is seen, with the clouds moving in the background.
* There is also a short version of this logo on screener tapes from Paramount.
* A televised version existed, as evidenced by the video-generated fade-ins and fade-outs. It starts with an almost fully static logo (only the clouds move), but a few seconds later, the animation starts normally. The color scheme also has a bit of a brownish/earthy tone to it. This variant can be seen on 1995-2000 VHS releases, such as *Snoopy The Musical*, the Paramount Family Favorites release of *Charlotte's Web* (1973) and *Rugrats: Dr. Tommy Pickles*.
* Some tapes with the Viacom variant have the clouds become still once the Viacom byline appears.
* A still version is seen at the end of some tapes. This version also appears on the 2002 DVD of *Rugrats: Decade in Diapers*, the 1992 VHS of *Demonic Toys* (before the Full Moon logo) and before trailers on certain Paramount releases from 2000 to 2002.
* The Viacom variant is slightly shifted up on some PAL DVDs.
* On the 1996 VHS of *Mission: Impossible*, the logo is played at warp speed. Near the end of the logo, we also hear Nick Tate saying, "Coming to theaters this holiday season from Paramount Pictures."
* Even though Paramount debuted an updated version of their movie logo in 1999, they only used the 1999 variant for home video releases of Courage the Cowardly Dog.

**Bylines:**

* April 1987-1989: "A Gulf + Western Company". 1987 releases used the 75th Anniversary variant, while 1988-89 releases used the standard version.
* 1989-1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" with a line above the byline fades in. 1989-90 releases had the byline and line above it in gold, while 1990-95 releases had them in white.
* 1995-March 5, 2019: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in the 1990 \/|/\CO/\/\ "Wigga Wigga" font) with a line above the byline fades in, again, in white.

**FX/SFX:** Same as the 1986 Paramount Pictures logo.

**Music/Sounds:** None or the opening theme of the movie.

**Music/Sounds Variants:**

* Following a retailer promo for Drop Zone on its demo VHS, the 1987 Paramount Television theme plays.
* On *The Blue Iguana*, the Season 12-16 Paramount Pictures theme song is heard.

**Availability:** Extremely common.

* This was used as a de-facto home video logo, and can be seen on every VHS and Laserdisc release from that period -- this also includes television series (such as the original *Star Trek*), comedy specials, and third-party acquisitions like *Nutcracker: The Motion Picture* (where this plasters the original Atlantic Releasing Corporation logo), *Teen Wolf Too*, and *The Garbage Pail Kids Movie*. Combine this with its 16-year span, and this may be the most common home video logo period.
* Look for either the 75th Anniversary print logo, or the standard Gulf+Western print logo (with no mention of "HOME VIDEO") on the packaging and labels.
* The 75th Anniversary logo plasters over the "Blue Mountain" logo on the 1987 home video releases of *Ferris Bueller's Day Off*, *Crocodile Dundee*, *Children of a Lesser God*, *Top Gun*, and *Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home*. Meanwhile, the standard Gulf+Western version plasters over the 75th Anniversary Logo on the 1988 releases of *Beverly Hills Cop II*, *The Untouchables*, *Back to the Beach*, *Fatal Attraction*, and *Planes, Trains, & Automobiles*. International VHS release of these films (all released by CIC Video, with the exception of *Crocodile Dundee*) will likely have the film's original logo intact.
* This was also used on all 1994-2004 *Peanuts* VHS releases and all Nickelodeon VHS releases from 1996 to 2003. The 75th Anniversary variant was also used on a Showtime broadcast of *Hamburger Hill* from March 1991.
* It was also seen on the direct-to-video films *The Little Bear Movie* and *Blue's Big Musical Movie*.
* Also seen at the start of VHS releases and non-USA Network airings of TV movies from Wilshire Court Productions of the era.
* Made an unexpected appearance on a number of demo VHS tapes from as late as 2019, despite its discontinuation on commercial releases in 2003. These include George Lopez: Why You Crying?, *Jakers: Piggly Gets Into Trouble* & *The Wonder Pets: Save The Wonder Pets*, released in 2005, 2006, and 2007 respectively.
* Occasionally, this will appear before the opening previews on certain tapes. One example of this is the Paramount reissue of *Rugrats: A Baby's Gotta Do What a Baby's Gotta Do* and some other Nickelodeon tapes from 1996.
* It was preserved on Echo Bridge Home Entertainment's DVD release of *Puppet Master 5* and the Mexican DVD of *Demonic Toys*, each before the Full Moon logo, most likely due to older VHS masters being used.
* The Viacom version was also spotted at the start of Disney Channel/ABC Family (now Freeform) airings of *Teen Witch* as well as Trifecta's syndicated prints of *There Goes the Neighborhood* and *Another 48. Hrs*, among others.
* Seen at the start of *Blue's Clues: Meet Joe* on VHS, while the closing 7th logo plays at the end.

**Editor's Note:** Same as the 1986 Paramount Pictures Logo.

### 7th Logo (May 17, 1989-January 21, 1997, December 15, 1998-September 20, 2005, February 28, 2006-December 18, 2007 [last game], March 5, 2019 [end of production])

1989 version #11989 version #21989 version #31995-1996 version1998-2005 versionRare 2006-2019 version

**Nicknames:** "Feature Presentation", "Abstract Mountain", "The Bumper-esque Logo"

**Logo:** On a background filled with Template:Font color/Template:Font color squares, we see a Template:Font color square with the Paramount print logo in Template:Font color. It shines, then moves and zooms away as the squares behind it move off, revealing the stacked words "Template:Font color" in Template:Font color zooming in on a heliotrope gradient background. The words shine, and after that, it zooms towards us at breakneck speed. Just when the text engulfs the screen, it cuts to a warning screen, which has a pattern of Paramount mountains in the background.

**Bylines:**
This used whatever byline Paramount was using at the time:

* May 17-October 16, 1989: "A Gulf + Western Company" (used for only six months that year)
* November 9, 1989-May 16, 1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" (the "Feature Presentation" versions have a different font for the Paramount Communications byline: sans serif)
* June 13, 1995-January 21, 1997, December 15, 1998-September 20, 2005, February 28, 2006-March 5, 2019: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in the same font as the 1990 Viacom logo)

**Variants:**

* There was a special bumper used for previews on tapes with this logo from 1989 to 1996, with the words "COMING ATTRACTIONS" over the heliotrope gradient background, which cuts off after the zoom in.
* On the 1989 re-releases of *Sunset Boulevard* on VHS (reissued from the 1988 printing) and *The Courageous Dr. Christain* on Laserdisc (reissued from the 1987 printing), the logo and warning screen is in black and white.
* There is a very rare long version of the Gulf+Western logo where once we fade in, the logo doesn't actually start for a few seconds. Also, once the "FEATURE PRESENTATION" text zooms in, there is a tan screen for a split-second, then the warning screen appears.
* On the 1989 releases of *Coming to America* (the first release to use this bumper) and *Distant Thunder*, the logo cuts to black after "FEATURE PRESENTATION" zooms in, then the warning screen fades in.

**FX/SFX:** The CGI squares moving away and the animation on the Paramount square, which held up pretty well throughout the logo's lifespan, and was pretty advanced for 1989.

**Music/Sounds/Voice-over:** The 1987 fanfare (originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith), with a male voiceover (possibly Hal Douglas) saying "And now, we're pleased to bring you, our feature presentation."

**Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants:**

* A variation exists where Brian Cummings says "Paramount is pleased to bring you our feature presentation". This was used with all three byline variants, and can be found on Laserdisc releases, as well as VHS releases which have no previews before the film (such as the 1989 releases of the first four *Star Trek* films, the 1998 release of *A Separate Peace*, the 2000 release of *South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut*, the 2001 release *Nick Jr.'s Imagine That!*, any promotional copies of movies released by Paramount (with the exception of *Harriet the Spy*, *The Ghost and the Darkness*, *The General's Daughter*, *Coach Carter, The Longest Yard, Aeon Flux, A Night at the Roxbury*, *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, *Teletubbies: Naughty Noo Noo!*, *Boohbah: Hot Dog*, and *Nickelodeon Super Toons*), and the 1998 widescreen VHS release of *Forrest Gump*, while the full screen version has the standard voice-over). This variant also appears on tapes made and sold exclusively through Columbia House (usually identifiable by the presence of an orange sticker on the cover). On rare occasions, this variation did appear right after previews, such as the 1996 VHS of *Ferris Bueller's Day Off* and its 2000 reprint, and two of the releases from the series of the four videocassettes sold as part of a 1993 McDonald's promotion, *The Addams Family* and *Ghost* (these four releases have the Rank Video Services America print logo on one of the spines on the slipcovers for those films and a face label on the four tapes with a special red, yellow, black and white color scheme). It was also seen on the 2006 VHS of *Yours, Mine & Ours* (2005 remake), which was the last Paramount tape to have no previews until the 2015 VHS of *PAW Patrol: Meet Everest*.
* On the "COMING ATTRACTIONS" variant, the announcer says "Here are some exciting coming attractions from Paramount."
* The 1991 screener VHS of *Subspecies* and *Dora the Explorer: Puppy Power* had a silent version, probably an error on Paramount's part.
* On *Transformers* and the 2007 screener VHS of *Wonder Pets: Save the Reindeer!*, the 2005-2009 KTLA voiceover is used, probably another error on Paramount's part.

**Availability:** Very common. It appears on most Paramount video releases.

* The original Gulf+Western variation (which is the least common) made its debut on the May 1989 home video release of *Coming to America*, and can be found on releases such as the first four *Star Trek* films, *Distant Thunder*, *The Experts*, *The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live*, *Cousins*, *The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!*, *Major League*, *Pet Sematary*, and *Puppet Master*, among others.
* The Paramount Communications variation (which is easier to find) debuted on the November 1989 VHS release of *Scrooged*, and is also on the 1990 VHS release of *Grease*, the 1991 VHS and Laserdisc releases of *Ghost* and *Rock with Barney*, both *Wayne's World* films, the 1993 release of *Charlotte's Web*, and the 1998 widescreen VHS release of *Forrest Gump*.
* The Viacom variant is extremely common and appears on nearly every Paramount VHS release from 1995 onwards, starting with the June 1995 VHS release of *Drop Zone* and the last Paramount film released on VHS and to use this variant as a retail tape was the 2006 VHS of *Yours, Mine & Ours* (2005 remake), the last retail tape to use it was the 2006 VHS of *Go Diego Go!: Diego Saves Christmas*, which is also the last retail Paramount VHS released until 2022, and the last tape to use it altogether was the 2019 recorded VHS of *Instant Family*. This bumper still continued to be used until 2007 with the screener VHS releases of *Wonder Pets: Save The Wonder Pets!*, *An Inconvenient Truth, Stardust* and *Next*. However, the last tape to use the "COMING ATTRACTIONS" version of this variant was the 1997 VHS of *Escape from L.A.*, and the last Paramount Pictures film to be released on VHS with this logo that contains previews was the 2005 VHS of *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*.
* On the 1991 LaserDisc release of *Apocalypse Now*, the 1991 VHS of *Raiders of the Lost Ark*, the 1998 VHS release of *Titanic*, and most French Canadian Paramount tapes after Malofilm Video ceased distribution of Paramount titles, this logo is not shown at all, it just goes straight to the warning screen, while on the 1997 releases of *The Godfather* trilogy, the Logo cuts to a black screen before the 1995 THX Logo, as the warnings are placed at the beginning, separate from the Logo.
* The normal version strangely appears on the original 1989 VHS release of *Major League,* the 1991 *Star Trek: The Movies* VHS box set (pan and scan version only; the widescreen edition of the box set uses the other voiceover), certain prints of *Paycheck,* the 2004 VHS releases of *Mean Girls* and *School of Rock*, and the promotional copy of *Rugrats in Paris: The Movie*, despite all of those releases having no previews before the film.
* The "COMING ATTRACTIONS" and alternate voiceover versions very rarely appear on the same tape. One tape where this happens is the 1993 release of *Delicatessen*.
* This and the preceding Stay Tuned After the Movie bumper make surprise appearances on British VHS releases that have special features at the end of the tape, such as *The Italian Job* and *Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life*.
* This appears on demo and screener VHS tapes of PBS Kids shows from 2004 to 2006, such as *Boohbah*, *Caillou*, and *Teletubbies*. The normal releases just start with the warning screen used on Paramount DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
* Used in tandem with the 12th logo on 2002 releases, this was seen on *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: Halloween*, *Clockstoppers*, *Blue's Clues: Meet Joe*, *9/11: The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition*, *Rugrats: Halloween*, the original releases of *Crossroads*, *Vanilla Sky*, and *Orange County*, the Special Edition VHS release of *Rat Race*, the retail VHS of *Hey Arnold!: The Movie*, the demo VHS of *SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories* and *We Were Soldiers*.

**Editor's Note:** Perhaps one of the most famous logos in home video history, and has become a favorite of many.

### 8th Logo (October 24, 1989-October 6, 2020)

**Nicknames:** "Leo the Lion III", "Still Leo the Lion II", "(CGI) MGM Rainbow", "Gold Ribboning III"

**Logo:** Just the MGM/UA Home Video logo with a copyright stamp on the bottom, against a space background. In the background, there is a pattern of the "MGM/UA HOME VIDEO" text, slanted at an angle, which scrolls from right to left while changing in many different colors. The following changing colors are: gray, red, teal blue, fuchsia, blue, and green.

**Trivia:**

* This logo was inspired by the hologram stickers that was used on most VHS releases from MGM before this logo came out.
* Sometimes, this logo is absent either at the beginning or end of tapes.
* From 2003 to 2020, this logo is only seen at the end of tapes.

**Variants:**

* 1989-1992 releases show the copyright stamp in a slightly different font, arranged to the left.
* Some late '90's-2000 releases had a screen freeze of this logo.
* The beginning of the 2000 VHS of *Tea With Mussolini* has the logo almost entirely freeze-framed and only starts moving three seconds before it cuts to black!
* On the 1992 VHS of *Fiddler on the Roof*, this logo used a 1992 copyright at the beginning of the tape, but a 1990 copyright at the end of the tape. *Fiddler on the Roof* was probably released on videocassette originally in 1990; when they reprinted it in 1992, they changed the copyright info at the beginning, but they forgot to change the copyright info at the end.
* The size of the logo and the color changing arrangements varies.
* On rare releases, there's a rare extended version (with the ending part in place either at the beginning or end of the tapes) where we see the colors: rose pink, golden yellow, violet, and navy blue in place.

**FX/SFX:** The changing colors, and the scrolling of the "MGM/UA HOME VIDEO" text.

**Music/Sounds:** None.

**Availability:** Common. It can be seen on MGM/UA movies of the VHS era (excluding LaserDiscs) at both beginning and end of their videos such as *All Dogs Go to Heaven* and all the *007* VHS releases of the era and all Barney Home Video releases from *Down on Barney's Farm* to *Playground Fun*. The first tape to use this logo was *Leviathan*, and the last tape to use this logo was *Valley Girl*; which was released on October 6, 2020, the same day *Woody Woodpecker: The Movie* was released. All MGM films released on VHS as a retail tape after that used the 2nd logo instead of this logo.

**Editor's Note:** For some reason, there was never a copyright stamp with the years 1991, 1994, 2005, 2007, 2008, or 2018 on it. 1991 VHS tapes had the 1990 copyright stamp, 1994 VHS tapes had the 1993 copyright stamp, 2005 VHS tapes had the 2004 copyright stamp, 2007 and 2008 VHS tapes had the 2006 copyright stamp and 2018 VHS tapes had the 2017 copyright stamp. Also, it's weird that this was used into the MGM Home Entertainment days, with the name changes.

### 9th Logo (August 1, 1992-January 13, 1998)

NormalStill versionOval version, yellow textKindervision message version

Nickname: "Turner Mansion"

Logo: Same as the movie logo, only "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" replaces "PICTURES".

Variants:

* There is a still version of the logo that appeared on some early releases. A different font is used as well.
* Some promos would have the mansion in an oval, just like the print logo.
* Another promo variant exists where it has the mansion in the oval but after the animation ends, the Turner Home Entertainment text turns brown just like the Turner Pictures logo. This can be found on the 1996 VHS of *Jonny Quest Vs The Cyber Insects*.
* There is another promo variant where it has the regular logo but it's still and has has "Also from" above it. It can be found on the 1996 VHS of *Classic Jonny Quest*.
* A variant exists where "Coming Soon To Home Video From..." in yellow appears in a black background, then it fades to the Turner Home Entertainment logo.
* A variant where the logo is next to the Hanna-Barbera logo exists.
* Another variant exists where the logo is small during a promo.
* Yet another promo variant exists where in a yellow-blue gradient background, we see "And now an important message from KINDERVISION AND TURNER HOME ENTERTAINMENT", along with the mansion animating like usual.

FX/SFX: Same as the movie logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the movie logo.

Music/Sounds Variants: The still version is silent. The version with the oval and the text turning brown has a "rattling" noise, followed by a cartoony "plunk" sound effect. The "Coming Soon To Home Video From..." variant has an announcer but no background music.

Availability: More prolific than the movie logo, but still rare.

* It can be seen on several early-mid '90s Cartoon Network Video tapes and Barney Home Video tapes from Barney's Birthday to It's Time For Counting, which are your best bet as several were released in the channel's early years (with some remaining in print after the Time Warner merger).
* New Line Home Video releases from this period have this logo too, such as *Mortal Kombat*, *Safe Passage*, *Sev7n*, *The Mask*, *Dumb and Dumber*, *Friday* and *The Adventures of Pinocchio*.
* Also seen on 1994-1997 PBS Home Video releases such as *Adventures from the Book of Virtues* and the Ken Burns documentary *Baseball*, and on *The Swan Princess*.
* The still version is seen on most RKO Video Collection releases from this period, as well as some *Flintstones* tapes, *In Search of Dr. Seuss*, and the two-tape VHS release of *Gettysburg*.
* The "Coming Soon To Home Video from..." variant is seen on the VHS of *Timeless Tales: The Emperor's New Clothes*.
* The variants with the Hanna-Barbera logo are seen on promos for Hanna-Barbera releases.
* The Kindervision variant can be seen in a promo on the VHS of *A Flintstones Christmas Carol*.

Editor's Note: None.

### 10th Logo (December 1993)

**Nicknames:** "Lined Mountain", "Perumount II"

**Logo:** On a black background with blue filmstrips, "Paramount" is seen being written in a gold color in its trademark font. As this is occurring, the background is opening up in segments to reveal the 1986 Paramount Logo, without a byline and the stars in a light gold color.

**FX/SFX:** The background opening up, "Paramount" being written, and the Paramount Pictures Logo being revealed. All of this is very nice CGI.

**Music/Sounds/Voice-over:** A male announcer (Gene McGarr) says, "Paramount Pictures, bringing you the finest in holiday entertainment, and the best of the new year". All of this is said against a bombastic fanfare, an excerpt from the end theme of *The Untouchables*, composed by Ennio Morricone.

**Availability:** Very rare. This logo was seen on VHS releases by the company from the era around the Christmas season of 1993 that were available in McDonald's restaurants. The releases included *Charlotte's Web*, *Ghost*, *The Addams Family*, and *Wayne's World*.

**Editor's Note:** None.

### 11th Logo (November 12, 1996)

**Nicknames:** "Gold Mountain", "The Best Show in Town"

**Logo:** On a gold background, we see the text "Paramount" move into its usual position onto the company's print logo, which is engraved onto the background. Once the text settles, the Viacom "Wigga-Wigga" byline fades in underneath.

**FX/SFX:** The text zooming back.

**Music/Sounds:** A male announcer (Nick Tate) says, "Paramount Pictures, the best show in town!" In the background, the same music from the previous logo (albeit abridged) is heard.

**Music/Sounds Trivia:** The tagline is a nod to Paramount's slogan in the 1920s: "If it's a Paramount picture, it's the best show in town."

**Availability:** Rare. Seen only on United States and Canada prints of *Mission: Impossible*.

**Editor's Note:** None.

### 12th Logo (1999-2002)

Template:YouTube

**Nicknames:** "CGI Disc Mountain", "Perumount V"

**Logo:** It starts with the 1999-2002 enhanced Paramount logo with the stars encircling the mountain. After a few seconds, a DVD disc flies in from the bottom zooms towards in-front of and behind the mountain. The "Paramount" script zooms out from the top of the screen to take its position above the mountain, like the 2011 Paramount Pictures logo. Then a brilliant flash of light appears underneath, revealing the "DVD" text, as the 1995-2010 Viacom byline fades in below it. The background fades to black as a laser scans the disc, turning the mountain into black-and-white.

**Variant:** A short version of this exists on a 2002 TV spot for the *Rat Race* DVD. It starts with the "DVD" appearing out of the flash and the Viacom byline fading in under it.

**FX/SFX:** None.

**Music/Sounds:** None or the opening theme of the TV spot.

**Availability:** Very rare. Was seen an early Paramount DVDs, as they jump to the warning screen at the beginning instead.

**Editor's Note:** Its existence was debated for a while, since its rushed look (particularly the "DVD" text) does make it look like a fanmade logo. This may have been a placeholder for the next logo below.

### 13th Logo (May 7, 2002-September 18, 2007)

Videotaped versionFilmed version**Nicknames:** "CGI Mountain II", "Mount Paramount", "2000s Mountain", "Perumount III"

**Logo:** Same as the 2002 movie logo, but it's videotaped and zoomed out (also known as open-matte). Releases from 2002 used the 90th Anniversary logo, while releases since 2003 use the standard one.

**Variants:**

* There is a shorter, more common version which starts with the stars zooming down through the clouds.
* Even though the clouds in the movie logo were updated on the movie *The Sum of All Fears*, Paramount still used the second variant of the 90th Anniversary logo for the rest of the home video releases. However, the version with the finalized clouds was seen on *Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure*, the only home video release to use the first variant.
* A filmed version of the 2003 variant exists.
* At the end of tapes, the finished product is seen, with the clouds moving westward in the background.

**FX/SFX:**: Same as its movie counterpart.

**Music/Sounds:** None or the opening theme of the movie.

**Availability:** Fairly common. This was used as another de-facto home video logo.

* The 90th Anniversary version is used on 2002 VHS and DVD releases such as *Trading Places*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories*, *MTV Yoga*, *Dora the Explorer: Move to the Music*, *The Day Reagan Was Shot*, *Flashdance*, *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius* (on the VHS only, where this oddly plasters the 1999 Paramount logo that the film used), *Black Sheep*, *Vanilla Sky*, *Major League*, *Damaged Care*, *Bleacher Bums*, *My Horrible Year!*, all 3 *Jackass* volumes, *Rugrats Christmas*, *Clockstoppers*, *Hey Arnold!: The Movie*, and *K-19: The Widowmaker*.
* The standard version is used on almost every Paramount VHS released from 2003 onwards. It also appears on the 2007 VHS of *The Backyardigans: Super Secret Super Spy* and the European versions of *SpongeBob SquarePants* DVDs *Nautical Nonsense and Sponge Buddies* and *Halloween*.
* The standard version plasters the previous variants of the Paramount Pictures logos on pre-2021 VHS copies of *Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*, *Extreme Ops*, *The Wild Thornberrys Movie*, *Crocodile Dundee*, *Vanilla Sky*, *Star Trek: Nemesis*, *Fatal Attraction*, *Hawks*, *Star Trek: Generations*, *Drop Zone*, Top Gun*,* Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home*,* Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*,* Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure*, and* The Hours*.*
* The still version is seen at the end of all Paramount VHS releases from 2002-2007.

**Editor's Note:** Same as its movie counterpart.

### 14th Logo (May 21-December 10, 2002)

**Nicknames:** "Feature Presentation II", "CGI Mountain III", "Mount Paramount II", "Perumount IV"

**Logo:** An enhanced version of the previous "Feature Presentation" logo. A full color version of the 2002 Paramount Logo appears in a square that overlaps a background of four purple squares. A line of light passes over it, and then the Logo flies off and the squares peel off, pretty much like before. They reveal "FEATURE PRESENTATION" in a gold-yellow font flying into place, each word from a different end. The words now float against a dark cloud background, eventually zooming out towards the screen in a trail of gold light. The warning post appears as always, but with a dark blue background in place of the usual logo wallpaper.

**FX/SFX:** Same as the 5th logo, albeit with a moving cloud background and added flashing effects.

**Music/Sounds/Voice-over:** Same as the 5th logo.

**Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant:** There is a very rare variant which uses the Brian Cummings voiceover. The only releases with this variant were *Damaged Care*, *Bleacher Bums*, *My Horrible Year!*, *Bobbie's Girl*, the demo VHS tapes of *SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Bash*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: Deep Sea Sillies*, *Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Band*, *Rugrats: Mysteries* and *Hey Arnold!: The Movie*, and *The Day Reagan Was Shot*. Again, these are releases with no previews before the film. However, the demo VHS of *Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat* is the only release to have this after the previews.

**Availability:** Rare, as this logo was only used for less than a year.

* The first release to use this was the female VHS print of *Vanilla Sky*. Seen on certain other 2002 Paramount Home Video VHS releases from the time frame after that, such as *SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories*, *The Sum of All Fears*, *Lucky Break*, *MTV Yoga*, female prints of *Crossroads* and *Orange County*, *Dora the Explorer: Move to the Music*, *The Day Reagan Was Shot*, *Damaged Care*, *Bleacher Bums*, *My Horrible Year!*, the demo VHS tapes of *Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Bash*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: Deep Sea Sillies*, *Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Band*, *Rugrats: Mysteries* and *Hey Arnold!: The Movie* (the second versions have the 5th logo), all 3 *Jackass* volumes, *Rugrats: Christmas*, *Dora the Explorer: Christmas*, and *Little Bill: Merry Christmas, Little Bill*. The last tape to use this was *K-19: The Widowmaker*.
* Some 2002 releases, strangely, have this logo's print version on the label and packaging, but do not have this logo on the tape, as they use the 5th Logo instead. See the list above for details.
* Some prints of *Changing Lanes* do have this logo, but it cuts to the 1995 warning screen instead of the 2002 one (this is probably due to the fact that the other ones and the demo VHS use the previous Feature Presentation screen instead of this one).

**Editor's Note:** A worthy successor to the 5th logo, even if it was short-lived.

### 15th Logo (January 7, 2003-March 5, 2019)

Template:YouTube

**Nicknames:** "CGI Disc Mountain II", "Dark Mountain of Steel", "Dark Perumount", "Perumount VI"

**Logo:** It starts off with the 2002 Paramount logo animation with the stars flying through the clouds, the zoom out of the "Paramount" script, and the stars coming in and circling around the mountain. When we are at a comfortable distance, a DVD disc flies in from the bottom, glides and settles behind the summit and the Paramount script. Then, a bright flash underneath the peak brings forth "DVD" with a line below it, and the Viacom byline (in the same font as the 1990 Viacom logo) below the line. The background fades to black, and a white laser scans the disc in a downward motion, turning the entire DVD Paramountain silver. The finished product almost resembles the Paramount DVD print logo.

**Trivia:** This logo appears on the original Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DVD releases of *The Avengers* and *Iron Man 3*, alongside the Marvel logo and in place of the current WDSHE logo. This is because The Walt Disney Company (owner of the films' production company Marvel Studios) and Viacom came to an agreement for the films' distribution to transfer from Paramount Pictures to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, but Paramount still had two films left in their six-movie contract with Marvel. So, Paramount's logo would appear on the films and promotional material for legacy credit.

**Variant:** At the end of the logo, a menu would appear with two selections which are "PREVIEWS" and "MAIN MENU", both of which would take you there. When either one was selected, the Paramount logo fades out, with the selections disappearing a second afterward. This was seen on some early DVD releases with this logo, such as *The Italian Job* (2003 version), *How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days*, *Rugrats Go Wild*, *SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete First Season*, *The Ren & Stimpy Show: The First and Second Seasons* and *All Grown Up: Lucky 13* (the last release to use this variant). Also seen on some CBS DVDs from 2006, like the Season 1 DVD of *NCIS*.

**FX/SFX:** The DVD disc gliding on the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo animation.

**Music/Sounds:** It starts off silent, but when the stars fly by some whooshing sounds are heard, culminating in a synthesized explosion effect with a thunderclap. As the white laser scans down, a humming sound can be heard.

**Music/Sounds Variant:** On the post-menu-selection variation, a soft "bong" is heard as the logo fades out, followed by a whirling sound when the selections disappear.

**Availability:** Very common.

* It's seen on many post-2003 DVD releases released by the company, starting with the 2003 DVD releases of *Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown* (even though the print logo on the cover has "90th Anniversary" tacked on to it) and *SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Bash*.
* This logo was seen on DVD releases of Paramount Television-owned series from 2003 to 2006 (when the rights went to CBS Home Entertainment after Viacom and CBS Corporation became separate companies), such as the 2004 releases of season 1 of *Happy Days*, and season 1 of *The Andy Griffith Show* and the 2005 release of season 2 of the latter.
* After 2004 on Nickelodeon TV shows on DVD, this logo doesn't show up, however non-Nickelodeon shows kept using this logo.
* Don't expect to find this on 2006-2012 DreamWorks Animation films on DVD or 2006-2010 DreamWorks Pictures films on DVD, as they use their own logo.
* Some DVD releases have "90th Anniversary" added on to this logo's print version, but they just contain the normal logo. Examples of this are the 2002 DVD releases of *SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories*, *Clockstoppers*, *Flashdance*, *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*, *Black Sheep*, *Vanilla Sky*, *Trading Places*, *Hey Arnold: The Movie*, and *K-19: The Widowmaker*, among others.
* This logo continued to be used until 2019, as seen on such releases as *Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown*, *Project Almanac*, *Boyhood*, *Selma*, *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, *The Gambler* (the Mark Wahlberg version), *Interstellar*, *Capture the Flag*, *Monster Trucks*, *Baywatch*, and *Sherlock Gnomes*, even though Paramount Pictures debuted a new logo in 2011.
* The last release to use this logo was *Instant Family*, released on March 5, 2019.

**Editor's Note:** Even though Viacom changed their byline in 2010, and the Paramount logo in 2011, this logo continued to be used throughout the 2010s. It's a great logo overall, with the DVD near-seamlessly blending into the main logo. However, some have been rattled by this logo's rather loud sound effects.

### 16th logo (2006-March 5, 2019)

Template:YouTube

**Nicknames:** "Digital Mountain", "From SD to HD", "Digital Paramount", "Perumount VII"

**Logo:** We first see the effect of a television getting switched on, zooming out from one of the stars and transitioning to the middle of the 2002 Paramount logo in poor image quality. When the star reaches the mountain's peak, two white lines appear and move across the picture vertically from the center, sharpening the picture and forming the silver text:

*HIGH*
*DEFINITION*

which zooms out into place. The Viacom byline (without the line) from the previous three logos fades in below and the HD text shines.

**Trivia:** This logo appears on the original Disney Blu-ray releases of *The Avengers* and *Iron Man 3* (see the Trivia section for the previous logo).

**FX/SFX:** The television static, the zooming away from the star, and the revelation of the text.

**Music/Sounds:** Some television static sound effects and a few loud whooshes and shining sounds.

**Availability:** Very common. It's seen on Paramount's Blu-ray releases from 2006 to early 2019.

* It was also seen on Paramount HD-DVD releases from 2006 to 2008, such as *Four Brothers* and *The Italian Job* (2003).
* Starting sometime in 2007, Paramount's high definition releases were exclusive to HD-DVD until the format was discontinued. When Toshiba announced they would discontinue HD-DVD, Paramount Home Media Distribution, like all other home media companies, became Blu-ray only. Their first film on Blu-ray since HD-DVD's discontinuation was *The Spiderwick Chronicles*.
* Again, this does not appear on 2006-2012 DreamWorks Animation films on Blu-ray, as they use their own logo.
* This logo can be found on releases with the print version of this Logo on the box art. It was also found on the 2008 Blu-ray release of *Last Holiday*, in which the print logo was absent on the box art, meaning this logo was still in use, but no longer a has print counterpart.
* This logo does not appear on UHD 4K Blu-ray Discs, as they use the 2011-present film logo.
* This logo continued to be used until 2019, as seen on such releases as *Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown*, *Project Almanac*, *Boyhood*, *Selma*, *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, *The Gambler* (the Mark Wahlberg version), *Interstellar*, *Capture the Flag*, *Monster Trucks*, *Baywatch*, and *Sherlock Gnomes*, even though Paramount Pictures debuted a new logo in 2011.
* The last release to use this logo was *Instant Family*, released on March 5, 2019.

**Editor's Note:** Another great logo, though like the DVD version it's still puzzling why this remained in use after Paramount changed their main movie logo.

## Final Note

Beginning with the releases of the 2019 DVD and Blu-Ray of *Bumblebee* and the 2019 VHS of *Wonder Park*, all Paramount VHSs, DVDs and Blu-rays began using the 2011 and 2021 theatrical logos and the 3rd logo.