Lorimar Film Entertainment/Summary

Background : Lorimar Productions began to produce movies in 1971, starting with the independent film The Sporting Club. Later on, the company acquired the Allied Artists Pictures library in 1980 when said company went under, but it didn't have its own movie arm until April 21, 1986 when Lorimar-Telepictureswas formed by the merging of Lorimar with Telepictures, forming "Lorimar Motion Pictures"; however, these television divisions became separate companies in 1988, and this film unit was reincorporated as "Lorimar Film Entertainment", closing definitively in 1990. Today, most of the Lorimar movie releases, with some exceptions, are currently held by Warner Bros. Entertainment.

1st Logo (1981-1986)

Nicknames : "The Orange/Red Line of Doom", "Script"

Logo : It's only the same as the 1978 TV logo, except the text is in orange-ish red, with "PRESENTS" below or "A LORIMAR Presentation", with the logo animated out in-between "A" and "Presentation".

Variants :
 * Sometimes the LORIMAR text is red.
 * Sometimes, it's bylineless.
 * On black and white movies, the logo is in black and white.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor : Same as the TV version.

Music/Sounds : Usually, the logo was silent, but sometimes, the same Elliot/Ferguson musical scale from the television logo was played.

Availability : Pretty rare. Warner Bros. has a poor habit of plastering their logo over this one, while Universal leaves it intact most of the time. The silent version after the 1963 Universal logo is intact on the DVD and recent TV airing of ''Tank. Also intact on the DVD of Escape to Victory (''with the Paramount logos removed). The first VHS, and recent DVD/Blu-ray of The Last Starfighter retain it after the 1963 Universal logo, but was plastered with the WB shield on old full-screen TV airings, and the 1997 Universal logo on the 1999 DVD release.

Scare Factor : Low to medium. A little tamer than the TV version, but still moderate. The silence that usually accompanied this logo helped, but with the uncommon use of that music, it could rise a bit.

2nd Logo (1986-September 9, 1988)

Nicknames : "Lorimar Sunburst", "L-T Sunburst"

Logo : Starts with a yellow flash with a white sunburst in the middle. As the flash fades, the logo slowly comes forward. It consists of the word "LORIMAR" with "MOTION PICTURES" under that. All the words are red with white and blue outlines. Under the "MOTION PICTURES" text is an upside down red triangle shape with white lines to give the logo a 3-D look. At the point of the triangle is a half circle shaped space, and as the logo forms, the sunburst becomes a little yellow flash of light that moves downward and enters the opening at the logo's bottom. Under the entire logo is the byline "A DIVISION OF LORIMAR-TELEPICTURES".

Trivia : Because of the usage of lights and flashes, this logo has been compared to the popular Columbia Pictures Television logo of 1976-82, hence it's also being called a "sunburst".

Variant : The first Lorimar movies using this logo had no white and blue outlines, making the logo almost entirely red.

FX/SFX : The moving logo and the light joining it.

Music/Sounds : Silent, or usually the film's opening audio.

Availability : Extremely rare. Most of their film output owned by Warner Bros. removes and/or plasters this on current prints. However, this is retained on the R2 widescreen DVDs of Gold (1974), the Warner Archive DVD-R of Orphans, and the Columbia TriStar/Sony Entertainment DVDs of Two Moon Junction(being that RCA/Columbia released the film on VHS/Laserdisc, since Lorimar only had theatrical distribution rights). This was originally seen on films such as The Boy Who Could Fly, The Morning After, Big Shots, The Fourth Protocol, Made in Heaven, Return of the Living Dead Part II, and international prints ofMoonwalker. Also found on the Lorimar Home Video releases of Action Jackson, including the late 90s Warner Home Video VHS and the Warner Archive Instant release. Scare Factor : Low, though the dramatics of the flash and those words slowly approaching may get to some. It does depend on the music playing over it, as one movie with the logo starts with a "SMACK" or explosion as the logo comes.

3rd Logo (September 9, 1988-August 24, 1990)

Logo : Technically more of an in-credit text. After 1988, Warner Bros. distributed Lorimar films and placed their 1984 logo in front of the prints. After the WB shield appears, either on a black background or in front of the main titles, we see the text "LORIMAR FILM ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS" in the style of the credits font.

Variant : On Dangerous Liasons (1988), the text reads "A LORIMAR FILM ENTERTAINMENT PICTURE".

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor : None.

Music/Sounds : Usually, the main title music plays over it.

Availability : Considering this is an in-credit logo, it won't be hard to find compared to the first and second logos. Examples include Running on Empty (with the 2nd logo preceding it), Dangerous Liasons (1988), Second Sight, Penn and Teller Get Killed and The Witches. The latter film later omitted the Lorimar text and replaced it with "Warner Bros. presents"; both versions are available.

Scare Factor : None.