New Line Cinema

Logo descriptions by Matt Williams

Logo captures by Eric S., Logophile, V of Doom, and Mr.Logo

Editions by V of Doom, Hoa, Logophile, Wisp2007, and D.L. Chandell

Video captures courtesy of Sir Alvin, Juan Manuel V, osdatabase, Adverts & Tailers, and Eric S.

Background
New Line Cinema (also known as "New Line Productions, Inc." and formerly known as "New Line Cinema Corporation") originally started in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne, as an indie/low-budget film studio; however, they did not use a logo until the early 1970s. New Line was acquired by Turner Broadcasting on January 28, 1994, and all were merged with Time Warner on October 10, 1996. In 2008, New Line became a genre and low-to-mid-budget unit of Warner Bros. Pictures, shutting down as an independent studio under Time Warner after CEO Jeff Bewkes fired Shaye and Lynne as a result of The Golden Compass's failure. As the company itself, the last movie produced by New Line Cinema was The Final Destination.

1st Logo (1973-February 27, 1987)
Nicknames: "The (Creepy) Red Line", "A Nightmare on the New Line Street"

Logo: On a black background, a red line stretches out across the screen. It then "flashes" rapidly, seeming to vibrate and form more lines above. The lines eventually form the words "NEW LINE CINEMA", and when the word is completed the screen begins to flash red. When the flashing is finished, the logo is now red with black segmenting (think of the CBS/Fox logo), and the word "FROM" can be seen above and to the left of the logo. The logo is "wiped" away at the end.

Variants:
 * New Line used a different logo in print and at the end of trailers and movies from 1967 to 1987; it is the letters "NL" connected together. As far as we know, this was never used as an actual New Line logo.

FX/SFX: The Scanimate "flashing" and the line effects.
 * There is also a high-contrast version with a dark blue background and "FROM NEW LINE CINEMA" in pink.

Cheesy Factor: The logo looks very ugly. Secondly, the vibration and flashing effects are not well done.

Music/Sounds: None, and this increases this logo's scare factor. On Toei productions (such as The Streetfighter and Bronson Lee, Champion) it would use the second half of the specialized theme that played over the Toei logo. Strangely, The Streetfighter's Last Revenge (at least the Wizard Video release) uses an edited version of the second half of the specialized jingle from The Streetfighter.

Availability: Rare. Can be seen on the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies and the first Critters movie, as well as Xtro. Early prints of Alone in the Dark didn't have any logo. The 1980 MGM/CBS release of The Streetfighter and the 1982 Wizard Video release of The Streetfighter's Last Revenge use this logo, but not the 1981 MGM/CBS release of Return of the Streetfighter. It is unknown if this appears at the start of the 1978 Media Home Entertainment releases of Tell Your Children (under the title Reefer Madness), Night of the Living Dead (which was in the public domain), and Magical Mystery Tour (New Line during the 70s distributed all three in theatres). This can also be seen on the DVD and Encore Action airings of Quiet Cool. The high-contrast version can be seen on the Magnetic Video release of The Seduction of Mimi.

Scare Factor: Medium to high. The ugliness of the logo, the silence, and the black and blood red color scheme is hard to swallow. However, it's a low to medium for the movie theme variant; the music adds some zing and relaxation to this logo. This goes for the B&W version as well; the color scheme is not as unnerving.

2nd Logo (April 19-June 19, 1987)
Nicknames: "The Filmbox", "Box and Filmstrips", "The Ladder", "The Earlier Ladder", "The Original Filmbox", "New Line Filmbox"

Logo: Just a still of the 3rd logo with glows around the Box and Filmstrips logo and company name.

Variant: My Demon Lover has a grayish-pink glow around the logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare. Seen on the first video releases of My Demon Lover and Quiet Cool (on the latter, it plasters the previous logo) as well as the Critters 2 and Hairspray trailer. It may have also appeared on U.S. theatrical prints of Summer Night, but the IVE release doesn't use a logo.

Scare Factor: None. It's much better than the previous logo.

3rd Logo (August 28, 1987-July 22, 1994)
Nicknames: "The Filmbox II", "Box and Filmstrips II", "The Ladder II", "New Line Filmbox II"

Logo: On a blue/white ethereal background, a black box zooms and twirls from the screen. In the background, several filmstrips float by, as the box is connected by two filmstrips. One of the filmstrips attaches itself to the side of the box, and the other filmstrip tilts to half a right angle and attaches itself to the top right of the box. The background fades to black, with the box/ladder "glowing" blue at the end. The words "NEW LINE CINEMA" fade under the logo.

Variants:
 * The ending logo has the word "From" between the logo and the company name. About 1993-1994, the "From" is gone, though there is space between the logo and company name.


 * Some showings in Australia have the Roadshow Television logo before this, which morphs into the black box in the beginning of the New Line logo.

FX/SFX: The spinning box and filmstrip; excellent 2D animation.
 * Monkey Trouble has a in-credit closing logo with "RELEASED BY NEW LINE CINEMA" with the box and filmbox logo next to it.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. This logo is replaced with the newer New Line logo on current prints of most films, though older prints will have this logo. Notable examples include pre-2000 prints of the fourth, fifth and sixth Nightmare on Elm Street films, and second and third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. The first film, however deletes this and goes straight to the opening credits on most U.S VHS & DVD releases, although on the Blu-Ray, the 4th logo pops up. The end variant can be found on Dumb and Dumber and Friday. This made its last appearance on North.

Scare Factor: Minimal. This is a harmless logo.

4th Logo (July 29, 1994-September 3, 2010)
Nicknames: "The CGI Filmbox", "The Filmbox III", "Box and Filmstrips III", "The CGI Ladder", "The Ladder III", "New Line Filmbox III"

Logo: A black box rotates out from an extreme close-up, with a blue light in the background. Various filmstrips zooms past the box as two more filmstrips rotate in, one attaching itself to the side of the box, and one attaching itself to the top-right to form the familiar logo. The blue light dies down to create a glowing effect around the "ladder" as "NEW LINE CINEMA" zooms-out from below in ITC Garamond Cond Book font. The respective company byline fades-in underneath.

Bylines:
 * July 29, 1994-1995: "A TURNER Company"


 * 1995-1997: "A Turner Company"


 * 1997-2001, Mid-November 7, 2003: "A Time Warner Company"


 * 2001-2003: "An AOL Time Warner Company"


 * December 17, 2003-September 3, 2010: "A TimeWarner Company"

Variants:
 * At the end on some films, the logo is bylineless.
 * From July 29, 1994 to September 1995, a prototype variant of this logo was used. The differences are that the light moves all around the logo, before settling it its usual place, the New Line text zooms out with a trail effect (and starts out black before fading to white), and that the finished product looks very similar to the 3rd logo's finished product. The Turner byline is used here, sometimes chyroned in on some releases.


 * There is a videotaped variation of this logo where the animation runs at a smoother frame rate. This can be seen on original VHS releases of Mortal Kombat and Now and Then.


 * On 3D movies, including Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Final Destination, the filmstrips, ladders, and text zoom-in.

Closing: The logo is white during the end of the credits on most releases.
 * At the end of some movies, such as Elf, the print logo is shown with the words NEW LINE CINEMA in a bold Times font to the right of it, and with the TimeWarner byline below; this scrolls up with the credits.

FX/SFX: Well done CGI animation with detailed accuracy.

Music/Sounds: Composed by Michael Kamen, a scale performed with a flute or woodwind instrument followed by a quiet horn tune at the end. Shortened on some movies. Very understated and popular fanfare. In 2001, a different fanfare was composed that had a flute/choir theme. For this one, the New Line Home Entertainment logo was kept silent.

Music/Sound Variant: On The Wedding Singer, there is a reorchestrated and double-pitched version of the logo's theme, which is echoed more and has a different flute note.

Availability: Common. Much more prolific than their past logos, given their higher-profile status thanks to the Turner and Time Warner acquisitions. The version with the Turner byline is a hard find, but not too hard. Turner-era New Line Home Video releases can still be found on the markets if you look harder enough. On newer issues of Turner-era releases, the Turner byline has been replaced with a Time Warner byline, but it's nothing major. This logo has even been sighted plastering the 1987 logo on several films (including recent video streaming/TV airings of Drop Dead Fred, which has the 2003 version (although the Artisan DVD retains it). The version with the Turner byline can be seen on the films Seven, Mortal Kombat, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and The Mask. Also seen on some video games based on New Line Cinema properties, mainly the Lord of the Rings franchise. This precedes the first logo on recent prints of Quiet Cool. Current DVD releases are updating this logo with the 2003 version of it. This logo was first seen on The Mask and was last seen on Going The Distance.

Scare Factor: None to minimal. This is a very popular logo, especially with the accuracy of the CGI.

5th Logo (January 28, 2011-)
Nicknames: "The WB/New Line Combo", "The Transition", "The WB Shield/New Line Filmbox Transformation", "The WB/New Line Transition", "The CGI New Line Cinema - The Rite (2011)Filmbox II", "The Filmbox IV", "The Golden Filmbox", "Box and Filmstrips IV", "The CGI Ladder II", "The Ladder IV", "New Line Filmbox IV", "Golden New Line Filmbox"

Logo: We travel through the clouds to see the Warner Bros. shield with the banner reading "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" with a TimeWarner byline fading in below, both zooming in toward the screen. The shield then breaks up into pieces, leaving the blue part of the shield and the byline. We pan from a day sky to a cloudy night sky. The gold pieces turn into the filmstrips and squares (now rounded at the edges) of the New Line logo while all the letters of "NEW LINE CINEMA" in the new font, appears flipping in. Also, parts of the WB shield appear in the filmstrips and squares for three seconds. The logo shines and the TimeWarner byline fades in below.

FX/SFX: The WB shield breaking up and forming the NLC logo. Amazing CGI with a great day into night transition.

Music/Sounds: The WB/New Line themes playing for their respective logos. Otherwise, none or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Common. Can be seen on Hall Pass, The Rite, Final Destination 5, Horrible Bosses, and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, among other New Line releases since 2011, all distributed by Warner Bros. (since 2008, New Line Cinema is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., thus explaining the WB shield in the beginning).

Scare Factor: None to low. The gold logo on a dark, cloudy night sky is a little ominous. Other than that, it's a pretty neat logo.