Lightstorm Entertainment

Background:  Lightstorm Entertainment is the production company of writer/producer/director James Cameron. It was founded in 1990. Its first production was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The studio never used a logo until 1993.

1st Logo (1993, 2009)
Nicknames : "The Bowman", "The Print Bowman"

Logo : On a black background, we see a white stylized abstract drawing of a man, which is holding it with a bow and a stylized lightning bolt, which is also holding it as an arrow, in place of fancy stylized lines where they are holding as an arrow in real life. Below everything else it is the stacked text "LIGHTSTORM" in spaced-out letters, and in a plain Helvetica Extended font, with "ENTERTAINMENT" is shown below, also in spaced-out letters, and in the same font, but only the word is smaller than "LIGHTSTORM".

Variants :
 * On the Nintendo DS port of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, the entire text is in a Futura font (the same font used for the next two logos).
 * At the end of the "Making of" documentary for Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the words "A" and "PRODUCTION" are above and below the logo, with the copyright disclaimer "© 1993 Carolco Pictures Inc./Pioneer LDC, Inc." is shown underneath the logo. Plus, the bowman is smaller and the text is bigger.

Trivia : The bowman logo appears in the Entourage episode "The Boys are Back in Town", in which a plot point is Emily being hired by the Lightstorm company.

FX/SFX : None.

Music/Sounds : The opening/closing theme of the trailer or movie, or none.

Availability : Ultra rare. The standard version appears on the 1993 promotional video for the Special Edition release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It also appears at the end of the "Making of" feature on the Terminator 2: Judgement Day: Special Edition LaserDisc release. It is likely one of the two placeholder logos created by the company.

2nd Logo (1994)
Nickname : "The Bowman II", "The Steel Bowman"

Logo : A white flash appears, revealing the 3D version of the stylized bowman from the previous logo on a black background, but this time there's less outling shown on the lighting bolt, which is displayed as an arrow, and the logo is in blue-tinted metallic colors, slowly zooming out. Then a blue flash appears, and it dies down, revealing the silver 3D text "LIGHTSTORM" in a Futura font, and in spaced-out letters. Below it is the words "ENTERTAINMENT" in the same font, but also in spaced-out letters, and it was smaller than "LIGHTSTORM".

Variant : A still version appears on various TV spots for True Lies.

FX/SFX : The flash, the logo zooming out.

Music/Sounds : The opening theme of the trailer.

Availability : Rare. Only seen on the trailer for True Lies, as it was likely the other of the two placeholder logos used for the trailer.

3rd Logo (July 15, 1994-)
Nicknames : "The Bowman III", "The CGI Bowman"

Logo : On a time-laspe cloudy sky background, we see lasers moving toward the direction, followed by lights, which also move, stars and comets, showing from the direction above a steel-like structure, which resembles mountains, and it was reflected over the background. There are fireworks moving toward the cloudy sky background, and there are blurry circular lights. The cloudy sky background then briefly turned into a moving highway-like background with lights, before the camera pans down over and then the structure zooms back and rotates slightly over to a black background and it reveals that it is the stylized bowman from before, then upwards and to the left, and only the logo was more metallic. It eases out and as it shines, "LIGHTSTORM" in spaced-out letters, and in the same font as before flashes in letter-by-letter with a light effect below the bowman, and then "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in, briefly flashing below, also in smaller and in spaced-out letters.

Variant:
 * The logo is still on TV spots of Strange Days, Solaris and at the end of Alita: Battle Angel (also the company's first release in a decade).
 * There's a short version that features only the name flashing below.
 * On pan-and-scan prints of True Lies and Strange Days, the words are in smaller, the whole thing is spaced out between the metallic bowman and the words "LIGHTSTORM", and the words was more spaced out between "LIGHTSTORM" and "ENTERTAINMENT". Also, the logo is videotaped, and it was more smoother than usual.

FX/SFX:  The lights, the camera, the company name appearing. Impressive for 1994, and still looks amazing over 20 years later.

Music/Sounds : A quiet, but powerful orchestrated fanfare. There are violin sounds throughout. When "ENTERTAINMENT" appears, there is a chime that reverberates for the duration. A portion of the theme shows up in the climax of True Lies (the movie on which this logo made its debut, along with the 2020 20th Century Studios logo). The music was composed by Brad Fiedel, best known for composing the music for the first two Terminator movies. The still version is silent.

Availability : Seen on True Lies and Strange Days. The short version is seen on trailers and James Cameron's Avatar: The Game. This logo doesn't appear on Titanic, Avatar or Terminator: Dark Fate.

Editor's Note : An amazingly well animated logo for its time, would've been more popular if more movies used this.