Summit Entertainment

Background
Summit Entertainment is a film studio that was originally founded in 1991 by late German producer Berne Eichinger, Arnon Milchan, and late Carolco/Cinergi founder Andrew G. Vajna to handle foreign sales and officially launched in 1993 by Rob Friedman & Patrick Wachsburger as a limited partnership (LP). The studio was originally a production/distribution/sales organization, which usually co-released and handled the international releases of films by other studios (such as the now-defunct Touchstone Pictures, 20th Century Fox/Studios and Warner Bros.) In 2006, they became fully independent, and their first film as an indie studio was P2 (2007). On January 13th, 2012, Lionsgate acquired Summit for $412.5 million.

1st Logo (October 4, 1996-October 5, 2007)
Nicknames : "Peaceful Summit", "CGI Peaceful Summit", "Abstract Mountain", "Summit Outline"

Logo : On a black background, we see a moving blue ribbon. The ribbon slowly floats down, and it falls. The ribbon then moves up to become an outline of a mountain. The mountain moves back, and the words:

 S U M M I T E N T E R T A I N M E N T

fades in below.

FX/SFX : CGI.

Music/Sounds :


 * 1996-1999: A whoosh sound on some sort of flute, then a dreamy synth tune with a tympani beat at the end.
 * 1999-2004?: Various wind sounds followed by a different sounding flute synth theme.
 * 2004-2007: A dramatic orchestral fanfare.
 * Sometimes, the opening theme of the movie was heard or it was silent.

Availability : Uncommon. It appears on some Universal, Touchstone Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Alcon Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures releases internationally, such as Racing Stripes and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The first theme is rare, as it can be heard on international prints of earlier films like Bound and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The second theme appears on Breakfast of Champions, Stark Raving Mad (2002), Splendor, some prints of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Wrong Turn. The third theme is used on newer prints of Bound and Keeping Mum. The first movie to have this is Bound, and the last movie to have it was Michael Clayton.

Editor's Note: This logo is well liked by most people who have seen it.

2nd Logo (November 9, 2007-August 17, 2018)
Nicknames : "Peaceful Summit II", "CGI Peaceful Summit II", "Summit Outline II"

Logo : On a black background, a light shines, showing the outline of a mountain. The resulting mountain outline gradually zooms out, and the light gradually gets brighter until there is something akin to a flash on the screen. The background becomes an ice blue, the mountain's outline becomes white, and this zooms out until the logo becomes an ice blue rectangle with a mountain outline. The light dims out in the distance, and the ice blue rectangle is on a blue/white gradient background. The text in the same font as the previous logo, fade in below the mountain on the ice blue rectangle.

Variants :
 * A still version on a black background exists.
 * An enhanced variant debuted on The Cold Light of Day, released on September 7, 2012. In it, the light in the beginning is more blue, the flash is brighter and more realistic, the logo zooms out further, the gradient background has been replaced with a white gradient background, and a Lionsgate byline fades in (which previously debuted on Step Up: Revolution).
 * Starting in 2014, the byline is bigger and it zooms in to position while it fades in.

Bylines :
 * November 9, 2007-February 24, 2012: (Bylineless)
 * July 27, 2012-August 17, 2018: "A LIONSGATE COMPANY"

FX/SFX/Trivia : CGI. This was animated by Intralink Film Graphic Design.

Music/Sounds : A soft and dramatic fanfare that gradually becomes more majestic.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * Usually, it has the opening theme, the closing theme or silence.
 * At the end of the theatrical release and TV airings of Fly Me to the Moon, the music is intact, but home entertainment prints have it inexplicably silent.

Availability : Common. The normal version appears both at the beginning and at the end of Fly Me to the Moon. It appeared on the films of the era, and as the default logo at the beginning of their Blu-ray/DVD releases until the Lionsgate acquiration. It was also seen on the U.S. release of Deepwater Horizon, while international releases used the 2013 Lionsgate logo. It was also seen at the beginning of the American release of Early Man. The Lionsgate byline version debuted on the Extended Cut of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, made its first theatrical appearance on Step Up: Revolution, and was first seen with the enhanced variant on The Cold Light of Day. The last film to use this logo was Down a Dark Hall, released on August 17, 2018.

Editor's Note: Same as above.

3rd Logo (April 19, 2018-)
Nicknames: "The Lionsgate Sky Atmosphere", "Lionsgate Summit", "Summit from Heaven", "Summit in the Clouds", "Bland Summit", "Heavenly Summit"

Logo : On a sky background in the middle of several moving clouds, the stacked text "SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT" floats in the middle of the screen, in blue. The camera then rotates to reveal the stacked text "A LIONSGATE COMPANY", with "LIONSGATE" in its corporate font.

FX/SFX : The text floating and rotating. Animated by DevaStudios.

Music/Sounds : Same as the previous logo. Sometimes, it uses an opening theme of the film, or silence.

Availability : Current. First seen on the trailer for Blindspotting. The fully animated version debuted on Escape Plan 2: Hades and Uncle Drew, and appears on current Summit releases.

Editor's Note : While the CGI is high-quality as one would expect from a major studio, this is yet another major example of how brand unification can make your logo look bland. There is nothing in this logo that represents the company name, unlike the past few logos, and the animation itself is simple and uninspired. Plus, not only is the transition to the ridiculously large byline unnecessary (as the easier thing to do would be to simply put it below the Summit logo), but it also takes up more of the logo's duration (appearing on-screen for 11 seconds) than the name of the actual studio (7 seconds)! This logo is not a favorite of many, due to not having anything representing the company, the simple and uninspiring animation, and the fact that the Lionsgate byline appears longer than the company name.