Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment (UK)

Background : In 1979, music group EMI merged with electronics company Thorn and subsequently renamed from EMI Films to Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment in 1983. Both the Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment company and library were sold to businessman Alan Bond in 1986 (who had already gained the Associated Film Distribution library as well), who, in turn, sold them to Cannon Films a week later. The film library was subsequently sold to Weintraub and Lumiére Pictures before the latter company was bought by Canal+ in 1996, while the same year Thorn EMI split. The Elstree Studios backlot is now owned by the BBC.

(1983-1986)

Nickname : "Zooming Inverted T"

Logo : On a blue background, a white box containing an upside-down "T" (which resembles a thumbtack) with a smaller rectangular section underneath that reads "THORN EMI" zooms in for a nanosecond and then stops in place. This is basically the corporate logo of Thorn EMI with no film indicator whatsoever.

FX/SFX : The warp-speed zoom-in.

Cheesy Factor : No effort whatsoever.

Music/Sounds : None, or the film's opening theme.

Availability : Very rare, due to U.S. prints being distributed by different owners, along with the ownership shifts explained above. This plastered over the previous EMI Film Distributors and Associated British IDs on most library prints it issued to the U.S. market. You would have to search for EMI Film Distributors library titles issued by Thorn EMI Video during the 1980s or off-air videotapes of any EMI-owned movie. On some films, it is preserved following the StudioCanal logo. This is retained on the Trimark DVD release of All of Me, the trailer for Supergirl on the WB DVD of said film, and Clockwise, among others. It may or may not have appeard on UK theatrical prints of Highlander.

Scare Factor : Minimal.