Touchstone Home Entertainment/Summary

Background: Touchstone Home Entertainment (formerly "Touchstone Home Video") was the home entertainment arm of Touchstone Pictures established in 1985 to distribute all Touchstone releases on video. Although the brand was retired in 2017, some Touchstone titles were later licensed to Kino Lorber Studio Classics for Blu-ray release, some of which were previously issued by Mill Creek Entertainment.

1st Logo (1984-86)
Nicknames : "Still Thunderball"

Logo : On a white background, we see the Touchstone thunderball from the first movie logo. Below it is "TOUCHSTONE ", with "HOME VIDEO " underneath. The logo fades out after fifteen seconds.

FX/SFX : None.

Music/Sounds : None.

Availability : Extremely rare. Seen only on early video releases of the first Touchstone movies, such as Splash, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, and My Science Project. Strangely, Country does not have this logo.

2nd Logo (1986-1987 [US]; 1986-Early 1990s [UK])
Nicknames : "Flashing Thunderball"

Logo : At the bottom of the screen is a circle beside the words "TOUCHSTONE HOME VIDEO ", all made out in 80s computer effects. The text lights up section by section, like a flashlight, and when the "light" reaches the circle, the circle flashes and the gold stone appears on top.

Variants :
 * On a few videos, this logo was seen with the words "COMING SOON FROM " in blue above the main logo. In addition, the music was slightly sped-up and louder.
 * On Australian releases the logo is positioned in the middle of the screen. For the closing variant, the logo is in the same position with the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" in white below it. After the music ended, it cuts out, so the Australian video distributor, Roadshow Home Video logo plays as normal.

FX/SFX : The 80s computer effects, the "light" effects.

Music/Sounds : Same as the theatrical logo, albeit slightly distorted and there is no reverb. Also, the music begins late and cuts off early.

Preview Voiceovers:
 * On the original VHS release of Down and Out in Beverly Hills (on which this logo first appeared), Brian Cummings says "From Touchstone Home Video, the special preview of a hit feature starring Judge Reinhold and Meg Tilly: Off-Beat!" The Off-Beat trailer then follows.
 * Likewise, on Off-Beat, Cummings says "And now here's a look at the Touchstone Home Video smash comedy hit: Down and Out in Beverly Hills."
 * On Tin Man, the theme from the trailer for Ruthless People starts over it as Cummings says "And don't forget these other great titles from Touchstone Home Video." Then it cuts to the start of the actual trailer.

Availability : Rare. Only seen on 1986-87 Touchstone videos, such as Ruthless People. This was used into the early 1990s on UK releases such as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. However, later prints of Ruthless People delete this logo as well as the preceding Video Dealer Announcement screen.

3rd Logo (April 18, 1989-May 4, 2004; 2005; March 14, 2006; January 23, 2007)
Nicknames : "The Snake", "Thunderball III", "Touchstone Thunderball III", "Thunderball Snake"

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

Variants :
 * The "HOME VIDEO" version has two different types of fadeouts: video-style on VHS, film-style on Laserdisc and DVD.
 * The positioning of the logo varies.
 * Starting in 2002, a new variant was made to coincide with the introduction of the DVD format. The picture quality was improved over the earlier variant, and the words "HOME VIDEO " were replaced with "HOME ENTERTAINMENT ". Oddly, a small majority of DVDs feature this variant as most use the earlier Home Video version, though it appeared on VHS towards the end of 2003, as well as on a 2002 reissue of Nothing to Lose.
 * "NOW YOU CAN OWN YOUR FAVORITE HIT MOVIES..." appeared over the logo on various releases.
 * On a home video trailer for The 13th Warrior, the logo starts from the snake forming and cuts out as soon as the flash shrinks.
 * On a home video trailer for Summer of Sam, the logo starts from the letters shining and fades out quickly once the flash shrinks.
 * On the 2000 UK rental VHS of Shanghai Noon, the fully-formed logo is positioned further up, with "PRESENTS," in gold, underneath.

FX/SFX : Same as the movie logo. None for the "PRESENTS" variant.

Music/Sounds : Same as the movie logo. Up until 2002, the same distorted audio mix from the second logo was used; sometimes the music abruptly stops before the logo actually ends.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants :
 * Occasionally, the "HOME VIDEO" version will have Brian Cummings saying "Now you can own these hit titles from Touchstone Home Video!" over it.
 * On the 1990 VHS of Stakeout, a different announcer says "Now you can own this hit title from Touchstone Home Video."
 * On the 1991 VHS releases of Taking Care of Business, Arachnophobia, and White Fang (demo version only), Brian Cummings says "Coming from Touchstone Home Video."
 * On the original VHS release of Pretty Woman, the logo has the standard version of the music, because it plasters over the Touchstone Pictures logo! The 1995 Mexican VHS of The Lion King (Spanish-subtitled) [which is a Walt Disney Picture], and some pre-"HOME ENTERTAINMENT" DVDs, such as the 2000 releases of Shanghai Noon and High Fidelity, the 2001 release of Pearl Harbor, and the 2002 release of Captain Ron, have this as well, although the Touchstone Pictures logo is intact on these releases.
 * On the 1999 Australian VHS of The Waterboy, the film's opening theme starts over it (plastering the film's opening logo).
 * On the 2000 DVD of Adventures in Babysitting, the 2002 Criterion Collection DVD of The Royal Tenenbaums the 2001 UK VHS release of Pearl Harbor and the 2002 UK VHS of The Count of Monte Cristo, it is silent.

Availability : Common. The "HOME VIDEO" version was first seen on Cocktail, and can be seen on most Touchstone releases like Ransom, 3 Ninjas, Beaches, Phenomenon, Adventures in Babysitting, The Insider, Play it to the Bone, Nothing to Lose, D.O.A., The Good Mother, and Captain Ron. The "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" version is rare and can be found on some DVDs and later VHS releases like Bringing Down the House, the 2003 release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the 2002 VHS reissue of Nothing to Lose. The logo's last regular appearance was on the 2004 DVD of Noises Off!, although the "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" version also appears on the 2005 UMD release of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the 2006 DVD reissue of Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, and most surprisingly, during the trailer for The Prestige on the 2007 DVD of The Guardian.

4th Logo (January 20, 2004-January 24, 2017; September 21, 2021)


Nicknames : "Thunderball IV", "CGI Golden-Light Thunderball", "Touchstone Thunderball IV", "CGI Touchstone Thunderball"

Logo : Same as the 2002 movie logo, only "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" replaces "PICTURES".

Variant : In 2011, the logo changed to just a still variant with the thunderball shining. This is only seen as a screensaver on Blu-rays from 2011-17, similar to the Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment screensaver variant.

FX/SFX :
 * 2004-17 (DVD: 2004-17; Blu-rays: 2006-11; VHS: 2004-05): Same as the current movie logo.
 * 2011-17 (Blu-rays): Just the thunderball shining.

Music/Sounds : The previous logo's theme (even though this hasn't been heard on theatrical releases post-2003).

Availability : Appears on more recent Touchstone releases. On VHS, titles that have this include Open Range (the first release to use it in general), Under the Tuscan Sun, The Village, Mr. 3000, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and A Lot Like Love (Touchstone's final VHS release). Also seen on the 2005 Criterion Collection DVD of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. This logo reappeared on the re-encoded Blu-ray disc included with the 2021 4K Ultra HD of Unbreakable (UHDs from Disney labels have no logos at the start).