Paramount Pictures/Summary

Background

Paramount Pictures traces its history back to May 8, 1912, when it was originally founded as Famous Players Film Company by Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor. He had been an early investor in nickelodeons (film theaters that cost 5 cents for admission), and saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman, he planned to offer motion pictures that would appeal to the middle class by featuring leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan "famous players in famous plays"). By 1913, Famous Players had completed five films and Zukor was on his way to success. That same year, fellow aspiring producer Jesse L. Lasky opened the Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (later known as Samuel Goldwyn). The Lasky company hired Cecil B. DeMille, a stage director with virtually no film experience, as their first employee; DeMille would find a suitable location site in Hollywood for his first film The Squaw Man.

In 1914, the former company was renamed Paramount Pictures Corporation, as the second oldest-running movie studio in Hollywood, with Universal Pictures being founded only eight days earlier. Lasky left Paramount in 1932 with Zukor blaming him for the studio's financial issues at the time. In 1948, Paramount was taken to the United States Supreme Court. This case, known as United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., resulted in studios being forced to divest themselves of their theater holdings and, in addition to the concurrent rise of television, would mark the beginning of the end for the old "studio system". In 1959, Adolph Zukor stepped down from running the studio and assumed the role of chairman, which he held until 1964. On March 24, 1966, Paramount was acquired by Gulf+Western Industries, which later became Paramount Communications on June 5, 1989. As part of the acquisition by Gulf+Western, Lucille Ball's Desilu Productions and the Desilu lot were brought under Paramount's control and, in 1967, Desilu was renamed to Paramount Television. On March 11, 1994, Paramount Communications was merged with Viacom. On December 31, 2005, Viacom split into two companies: one retaining its original name (inheriting Paramount, MTV Networks and BET Networks) and the other being named CBS Corporation (inheriting Paramount's television production and distribution arms, currently known as CBS Studios, CBS Media Ventures and Paramount Global Content Distribution, respectively), with both companies owned by National Amusements. One year later, Stage M, where movies and TV shows such as Wild Things, City Hall, The Wedding Singer, Executive Decision and Star Trek: The Next Generation scored there, permanently closed and was demolished two years later to house a new post-production facility.

Television rights to Paramount's library are currently handled by Trifecta Entertainment & Media. Paramount relaunched its Paramount Television division (now known as "Paramount Television Studios") on March 4, 2013. On August 13, 2019, it was announced that Viacom and CBS would reunite and merge to form ViacomCBS; the merger was completed on December 4, 2019. On February 16, 2022, ViacomCBS was renamed Paramount Global (or Paramount for short).

Famous Players Film Company

(1912-1916)

Nicknames: "Pre-Paramount Mountain", "The Masks"

Logo: On a black background, we see two masks alongside a mirror or a simple oval, which reads:

PRODUCED
BY THE
FAMOUS PLAYERS
FILM CO.
ADOLPH ZUKOR
PRES.

The text "Distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation" appears below.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the "Distributed by Paramount" notice doesn't appear.
• On Poor Little Peppina (and possibly other films), the masks and the mirror are different and a different font is used.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the film's opening music.

Availability: Ultra rare. Can be found on Snow White and Poor Little Peppina, among some other films of the time.

Editor's Note: Despite the company's first rebrand in 1914, this logo continued to be in use until two years later.

Paramount Pictures Corporation

1st Logo
(July 12, 1912, September 14, 1914-1917)

Nicknames: "The Original Paramountain", "Paramount Mountain"

Logo: On a black background, we see a mountain above a few clouds surrounded by stars. There is text over the mountain reading:

Paramount
Pictures

Variant: Depending on the film, the colors are different.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the film's opening music.

Availability: Ultra rare.

Editor's Note: This marks the first use of the studio's famous mountain, though it may look strange to those familiar with the later designs.

2nd Logo
(1917-February 15, 1927)

Nicknames: "The Three Mountains in the Credits", "Three Paramountains", "Paramount Mountain II"

Logo: We see one of the following bylines at the top of the screen:

• "ADOLPH ZUKOR PRESENTS" (films produced on the East Coast).
• "JESSE L. LASKY PRESENTS" (films produced on the West Coast).
• "ADOLPH ZUKOR AND JESSE L. LASKY PRESENT" (films produced on both coasts).

Below this, we see the title of the film and a little more info. Somewhere on the screen, we see a snow capped mountain poking out of a cloud at the bottom. The mountain is surrounded by a ring of stars. We see the text overlapping the mountain reading "A Paramount Picture".

At the bottom of the screen is a box. On either side of the box, there are two Paramount pseudo-logos. Each has a ring of stars inside a ring. On the pseudo-logo on the right, we see the words "Paramount Pictures". On the pseudo-logo on the left, we see some writing. At the top of the box, we see "COPYRIGHT [YEAR]". Inside the box, we see the words "FAMOUS PLAYERS-LASKY CORPORATION" in a large font. Below this, in a slightly smaller font, we see the words "ADOLPH ZUKOR, PRESIDENT". Below Zukor's name, we see the words "NEW YORK CITY". Below the box, we see, in a large font, "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED".

Variant: On some of Paramount's earlier movies, the pseudo-logo "A Paramount Picture" is nowhere to be seen in the movie's title, keeping only the two small pseudo-logos below the title. Instead, the full "A Paramount Picture" logo is seen after it. After a few seconds, the movie's credits overlap the logo. It can be seen on movies like Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926).

Closing Title: We see the words "THE END" on the screen. At the top of the screen is the title of the movie. Below "THE END", we see the opening logo.

Closing Variants: On some films like the above described, the "A Paramount Picture" logo appears after the movie ends. After a few seconds, the "THE END" overlaps the logo and fades out. Another variant, from Stage Struck (1925), shows the "THE END" in white script with the "T" and E" in fancy lettering. After a few seconds, the "A Paramount Picture" pseudo-logo is seen on a reddish pink background.

FX/SFX/Trivia: None. It was actually a painting that was filmed by a cameraman.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare.

• Most of Paramount's silent output featured its print logo over the opening and ending titles, while later films featured the onscreen logo fading into the film's title card.
• Like most silent films before 1924, the rest are in public domain or have passed on to other companies that released versions with copyrighted music scores. Most of these versions use new opening titles due to lost material for the original credits (the current version of Metropolis is an example of this); however, some films such as such as the restored version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan have survived with the original Paramount tags intact.
• A picture showing the filming of this logo can be found on page 71 of the book A Pictorial History of the Western Film.
• The variants are ultra rare, although it was kept intact on the Grapevine Video DVD of Love 'Em and Leave 'Em.

Editor's Note: Despite being similar, the 1917 logo is actually different from the 1914 version, due in part to the different cloud design.

3rd Logo
(January 18, 1926-May 17, 1955)

Nicknames: "Dark Mountain", "Paramount Mountain III", "Ben Lomond Mountain"

Logo: We see a snow-capped mountain against a dark sky, with clouds that look like smoke. Encircling the mountain are 24 stars, accompanied by the following text in a majestic script font overlapping the mountain:

AParamountPicture

At the end of the movie, we see "The End", in script, overlapping the company name. On many movies, "The End" fades out, leaving only the logo and "A Paramount Picture".

Variants:

• Sometimes, the clouds around the mountain are foggier.
• Although the same general design of this logo remained the same, there were subtle changes from 1929 to 1931, including brighter stars and drop shadow text on some films released from 1927 to 1930, or a slightly different design on films from 1935 to 1939. From 1939 to 1942, the words "A" and "Picture" fade out a little, and the word "PRESENTS" fades in below "Paramount".
• There are also sepia variants.
• In earlier color films released from 1931-38, the logo is colored in blue/purple. Starting in 1941, the logo is more colorized.
• On the infamous Koch Media widescreen DVD and Blu-ray of the 1939 animated film Gulliver's Travels, the opening Paramount logo is still on a (poorly) retouched widescreen background, then the "filmed" portion of the mountain stretches and morphs as its fades into the opening title card. The closing variant is similar to the opening version as well, morphing and all.
• Sometimes, the word "Release" replaces "Picture", although The House That Shadows Built uses the word "Program" instead.
• On Horse Feathers and Now and Forever, the text is in a noticeably different, smaller font. Also, one star is missing.

Trivia: Legend says the mountain was doodled by W. W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Adolph Zukor. Hodkinson said it reminded him of his childhood in Utah.

FX/SFX: Just the gliding clouds.

Music/Sounds: The beginning/end of a movie's theme. Starting with the 1930 feature Paramount on Parade, almost all of the Paramount feature films used the fanfare "Paramount on Parade" (written by Elsie Janis and Jack King).

Availability: Uncommon, but it's still retained on films of the era.

• On old prints of Paramount films distributed by MCA TV, they are usually plastered with the MCA-TV logo of the time. On current prints that Universal owns from the MCA package, any of their logos may precede it.
• Starting in late 1950 until 1953, it was used in tandem with the 5th logo, with this logo being used primarily on black and white releases.
• The last film to use this logo was Forever Female.
• The logo makes a surprise appearance at the beginning of later prints of Broadway Bill (originally a Columbia Pictures release that Paramount acquired the rights to years after they remade it as Riding High).

Editor's Note: The darker and more detailed mountain seen here is known to unnerve a few.

4th Logo
(1934-1949)

Nickname: "The Popular Science Mountain", "Paramount Mountain IV"

Logos:

• 1934-1936 Variant: We see a mountain shooting above a cloud deck, with a ring of 19 or 24 stars (similar to the 5th logo). In an unusual font, we see the words "A Paramount Picture".
• 1936-1949 Variant: We see a brown mountain with a brownish sky. This is similar to the Paramount movie logo, except the word "Paramount" is slightly below the top of the mountain, which has 30 stars.

Openings:

• Popular Science: We see a cartoon airplane zooming toward us. After the plane passes, we see either "ADOLPH ZUKOR PRESENTS" or "PARAMOUNT PRESENTS" while we're looking down at the airplane. The words "POPULAR SCIENCE" are seen on the airplane's wings. At the bottom is a copyright notice and a Paramount pseudo-logo. Also present may be another copyright notice for Shields Pictures.
• Unusual Occupations: On a shining red background, we see the above words, except the words "UNUSUAL OCCUPATIONS" are seen.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds:

• Popular Science: A variation of the Paramount on Parade fanfare accompanies the sound of the airplane passing.
• Unusual Occupations: A patriotic theme is heard, which leads into a medley of "I've Been Working on the Railroad", "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".

Availability: Near extinction. The aforementioned shorts have had barely any exposure since AMC stopped playing them over a decade ago (when they aired them under the umbrella title AMC Short Cuts). It can be found on a GoodTimes Entertainment DVD release of Popeye: When Popeye Ruled The World, which contains a short featuring behind-the-scenes footage of a Popeye cartoon.

5th Logo
(December 23, 1950-October 7, 1953)

Nicknames: "Ugly Mountain", "Early Blue Mountain", "Paramount Mountain V"

Logo: Same as the 3rd logo, but this variation looks more marble and uneven in appearance. The sky background is a bit lighter as well.

Variant:

• On films from up until the April 23, 1953 release of Shane, the logo appears closer up.
• A German version has been spotted at the end of The War of the Worlds and at the beginning of When Worlds Collide.

FX/SFX: Same as the 3rd logo.

Music/Sounds: Usually the opening music/audio of any given film. Sometimes it is silent, and on rare occasions, it uses the Paramount on Parade theme.

Availability: Uncommon.

• This was used on color films from the period in tandem with the 3rd logo. Films that have this logo include Branded, When Worlds Collide, The Greatest Show on Earth, Shane, Arrowhead, and The War of the Worlds, among others.
• The last film to use this logo was Here Come the Girls.
• It makes a surprise appearance at the beginning of the Duckman episode "The Road to Dendron."

Editor's Note: The lopsided mountain makes this one an eyesore, especially with the stars now being disconnected.

6th Logo
(May 27, 1953-September 24, 1975)

Nicknames: "VistaVision Mountain", "Perumount", "Paramount Mountain VI", "Gulf+Western Mountain"

Logo: We see a more realistic mountain than the last one, with canyon scenery and trees around it. The sky is more distant in depth and is very contrast. Everything else is pretty much the same as before here.

• 1953-1968: The text on the mountain reads "A Paramount Picture" or "A Paramount Release" (written in the Paramount corporate font).
• 1968-1975: "Paramount" (in the same font) is seen on the mountain's peak with the stars encircling the mountain. The byline "A Gulf+Western Company" appears on the bottom.
• 1970-1975: Sometimes, the font for "Paramount" is slightly different.

Trivia:

• This logo was originally created for Paramount's 3D process "Paravision" and later modified especially for widescreen.
• The mountain seen here is known as "Artesonraju", located in Peru.
• The painting of the mountain was created by matte artist Jan Domela.

Variants:

• On Paramount's first 3D film (and the first to use this logo overall), Sangaree, the text and stars are bigger and the mountain is seen from afar. The words "A Paramount Picture" fade a few seconds later to the words "in 3 Dimension". At the end of the movie, the "The End" text appears by itself in front of the mountain, then fades to the company name a few moments later.
• On films shot in VistaVision, the stars and text fade out, followed by the text "in", which itself fades out and is followed by a big "V" zooming in (a la the Viacom's "V of Doom"). The words "VISTA" and "ISION" appear on either side in a wiping effect. Then the words "MOTION PICTURE" appear under "VISTA", followed by "HIGH-FIDELITY" under "ISION".
  • On the first film to utilize VistaVision, White Christmas, "Paramount (with the "P" written in their corporate font) proudly presents the first picture in" first appears over the mountain, followed by the VistaVision logo without any other text. The rest of the logo then plays as usual.
• The logo has appeared in Spanish ("Paramount Films Presenta"), French ("C'est un film Paramount", or "Distribué par Paramount"), and German ("Ein Paramount Film", or ''Im Verleih der Paramount'').
• On movie trailers, another version is used where we see the 24 stars, followed by "COMING FROM Paramount Pictures" (or "COMING FROM Paramount" since 1968) appearing one by one in the center, with the Gulf+Western byline appearing below in the latter variation. This was used until around 1977; however, the trailers for Harold and Maude use the normal version instead.
• There is a variation used in 1974 that has two of the stars clipped away. The mountain looks the same as it does in the second version, but the stars are bigger. Also, "A Gulf+" slides in from the left and "+Western Company" from the right. The script name also had a few variations of its own. At least two movies from 1974 (The Great Gatsby and Death Wish) featured the TV version of this logo, as well as prints of Brother Sun, Sister Moon; the standard 1974 logo features the print variation, which remains from this day forward.
  • A rare version of this variant has the byline in a different font. This was seen at the end of a French print of The Godfather - Part 2.
• On War and Peace, the mountain is simply a drawing in orange and brown.
• Some films such as Lady Sings the Blues and The Italian Job have a still version of this logo where the clouds don't move.
• Sometimes the text and stars have a more noticeable drop shadow. This version can be found on True Grit and the 2002 DVD release of Big Jake (a Cinema Center Films production).
• On some films, such as Alfie, the clouds move a bit faster than in the normal version.
• Is Paris Burning? has a different drawing of the mountain in the ending. Also, the stars are kept intact and instead of "A Paramount Picture", we see "THE END" in white overlapping the mountain.
• On Barbarella, the Gulf+Western byline is slightly off-center.
• Sometimes the 1968-1974 logo appears zoomed in. This variant appears on the 2001 widescreen DVD release of Charlotte's Web, and possibly on other films from the period.

FX/SFX: Same as the last logo. The stars appearing on the "COMING FROM" variant, followed by each word one by one and then the G+W byline (or "Pictures" in the corporate Paramount font on trailers prior to 1968).

Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening/ending music from the film. On most films shown in VistaVision, the logo has a majestic fanfare composed by Nathan Van Cleave (except Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Strategic Air Command and Vertigo, which instead use their respective opening themes).

Music/Sounds Variants:

• The VistaVision fanfare was sometimes specially rearranged for films such as The Desperate Hours (Gail Kubik and Daniele Amfitheatrof), The Tin Star (Elmer Bernstein) and Artists and Models (Walter Scharf, also in a lower pitch).
• On White Christmas, the final notes of the Paramount on Parade fanfare are heard, followed by the sound of a bell.
• For the "COMING FROM" variant, a rhythmic timpani sound is heard for each word that appears, followed by a drum beat.
• On Money from Home, a different brass fanfare is heard, composed by Leigh Harline.
• Some TV movies such as Seven in Darkness have an extended version of the 1969 Paramount Television "Closet Killer" theme from the era.
• On Charlotte's Web, a 13-note orchestra fanfare featuring part of the opening song "Deep in the Dark" is heard (the music starts before the logo fades in and finishes when the logo fades out).

Availability: Common. Again, preserved on most Paramount releases of the period.

• It made its debut on Sangaree and ended on Three Days of the Condor.
• The VistaVision version is often seen on Western films (such as Last Train from Gun Hill, the Magnetic Video release of which preserves the logo in its entirety; also on the film's Starmaker Video VHS release) and is also seen on White Christmas (the first film to use the VistaVision variation) and Vertigo.
• It was plastered by the 1963 Universal logo at the beginning of four Alfred Hitchcock films that Paramount merely released: The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, and Rear Window. Recent remastered prints of those films restore the Paramount logo on their current DVD and Blu-ray releases. Also, Psycho, another Hitchcock production released by Paramount, preserved this logo on its initial MCA Videocassette release, as well as all releases from 1989 onward. It is unknown whether this logo and/or the Universal logo appears on the DiscoVision release.
• Among the titles released with the 1968-74 variation were The Godfather (usually only at the end, though it also appears at the beginning on the 1990 VHS. Most prints have either newer Paramount logos or none at all), Catch-22, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Charlotte's Web, Paint Your Wagon, Harold and Maude, and Rosemary's Baby. Also seen at the end of the 2001 DVD release of The Godfather Part II and Chinatown, which had the 2nd logo at the beginning. It also appeared at the beginning of Escape from Zahrain when it was streamed on the Paramount Vault YouTube channel in 2016; it is unknown if it plastered the 1953-69 version.
• BBC One UK airings of the original 1969 version of The Italian Job retain the logo, sometimes after the Wonderful World of Disney intro.
• Original theatrical prints of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory contained the 1968-74 logo, but the rights were sold to Warner Bros. after that film initially underperformed at the box office; so most newer prints plaster this with a variety of Warner Bros. logos, most prominently the various 1990s Warner Bros. Family Entertainment logos. However, the 2021 UHD of the film restored the original Paramount logo after nearly 50 years of plastering.
• The 1974-75 variation can be found on The Great Gatsby, The Longest Yard, The Godfather Part II (at the end; like the first movie, a newer logo is usually seen at the beginning or none at all), The Day of the Locust, Bug, Nashville, Framed, and Three Days of the Condor, and also plasters the 1968-74 variation on many current prints of Goodbye, Columbus.
• Newer prints of Danger: Diabolik and Such Good Friends, the 1995 VHS release of Charlotte's Web, and earlier DVD releases of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II have this logo plastered with the 1986 logo, while many current prints of Once Upon a Time in the West, Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy (going as far back as the 1980 VHS), Ace High, Downhill Racer, Fear is the Key, Three Days of the Condor, and Murphy's War have it plastered with the 1968-74 variation of the 6th logo (although this logo is kept at the end of Barbarella, as well as at the start of a 2020 HDNet Movies airing of Condor as well as Blu-ray releases).
• The logo surprisingly appeared at the beginning of the first four Indiana Jones films, Big Top Pee-wee, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Elizabethtown, Zodiac, and Nebraska as a throwback.
  • On the first three Indiana Jones films, the earlier "A Paramount Picture" variant is used with the Gulf+Western byline added in underneath, with the logo fading to a mountain featured in each film. Big Top Pee-wee and Tucker: The Man and His Dream also use this variant, but without a byline on the former film. On current prints of Tucker, the logo is oddly plastered by the 1971 American Zoetrope logo.
  • On Elizabethtown, Zodiac, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the later variant with just the "Paramount" text is used with the Viacom byline in a rounded Arial font.
  • Nebraska has a black and white version of the "A Paramount Release" variant with a very small Viacom byline appearing underneath.

Editor's Note: This is one of the more famous logos of Paramount, and is a favorite among fans of their older catalogue. Also, the mountain seen here would later serve as a template for all future Paramount logos.

7th Logo (October 8, 1975-December 12, 1986, May 24, 1989)

Nicknames: "Blue Mountain", "Abstract Mountain II", "Fading Mountain", "Perumount II" "Print Mountain II", "Paramount Mountain VII", "Gulf+Western Mountain II", "Barry Diller Mountain", "Pre-Viacom Mountain"

Logo: We see the same mountain from the 6th logo, only slightly less detailed. 22 white stars encircling the mountain fade in all at once, followed by the word "Paramount" on the mountain's peak (in a redone script font). The Gulf+Western byline (this time with each word stacked) and a registered trademark symbol ("®") also appear at the same time below it. The scene then crossfades to a navy blue version of Paramount's print logo (with the stars still in white) on a light blue background.

Trivia:

• The final product is similar to the Paramount Television logo of the period, only with slightly darker colors.
• The design of this logo allowed it to be used as a full closing logo rather than a simple still variant.

Variants:

• Depending on the film, the size and the color tint of the logo varies, as well as the distance between the words and the mountain tip.
• Sometimes, the logo may lack the registered trademark symbol.
• An early variant has the navy blue portion of the final logo appear further away than usual, with the "Paramount" script slightly smaller than usual and the stars and Gulf+Western byline drastically larger. This rather strange (if not ugly) variation was seen on Hustle, Leadbelly, The Last Tycoon, and Lifeguard. A less ugly version with resized text (but still keeping the smaller mountain) appears on films such as The Bad News Bears, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Lipstick, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, Reds, and Thieves. It can also be seen in black and white on The Shootist.
• On films produced in 2.35:1 and some 1979-86 films shot in 1.85:1, the stars fade further down the mountain than usual, and "Paramount" overlaps the mountain's peak. This usually does not affect the end product.
• On 35mm uncropped film scan prints of films such as Saturday Night Fever, Starting Over, Airplane!, Airplane II: The Sequel, Flashdance, Footloose, Beverly Hills Cop, Young Sherlock Holmes and Children of a Lesser God, the logo zooms out to a much farther distance.
• At the end of Up in Smoke, it cuts in from the end of the credits.
• A variation of this logo was used as a bumper for trailers for upcoming films with the words "Coming From" above. However, trailers for Popeye, D.A.R.Y.L. and other films use the normal version instead.
• On a promotional film for the studio, a circle of stars is seen and the logo is revealed, but is completely white.
• On some French releases, the finished product looks more like the previous logo. The Gulf+Western byline is larger, in a different font, and moved up the mountain.
• On Rockstar Games' The Warriors (2006) and the 2010 reissue of Grease, the logo has the "Wigga-Wigga" Viacom byline.
• On a December 21, 1986 LWT airing of Trading Places (1983), this logo fades into the 1986 LWT endboard.

FX/SFX: The clouds moving, the stars, company name, and byline fading in.

Music/Sounds: None or the film's opening/closing theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• In some cases, a new orchestral fanfare by Jerry Goldsmith based loosely off Paramount on Parade was used for the "Coming From" variant on trailers for films like Islands in the Stream, Saturday Night Fever, Foul Play, and Airplane!.
  • Starting Over used this fanfare at the beginning of the film.
• On Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, another orchestral fanfare by Neal Hefti was used, which sounds similar to the Paramount on Parade theme.
• Pre-1998 and post-2018 prints of Grease use a theme which seems to be a horn re-orchestration of the intro to "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" or the 1976 Paramount Television fanfare.
• On the promotional film variant, a male announcer says, "In 1985, Paramount has a whole new attitude." The song that plays in this variant is the fittingly titled "New Attitude" by Patti LaBelle, from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.

Availability: Common.

• The first film to use this logo was Mahogany and was last used on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It made one final appearance on The Golden Child (at the end - the next logo made its debut at the beginning).
• It can be found on most release versions of Paramount's mid-'70s-mid-'80s output. Most films released on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray, as well as TV prints, have this logo intact or restored as well. Some well-known movies that used this include The Bad News Bears, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, The Warriors, Escape from Alcatraz, the first four Star Trek films, the first six Friday the 13th films, Airplane!, An Officer and a Gentleman, 48 Hrs., Flashdance, Trading Places, Terms of Endearment, Footloose, Beverly Hills Cop, Pretty in Pink, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Crocodile Dundee.
• The logo was restored on the 2007 Sony Pictures DVD release and TV airings of Meatballs, which previously plastered it with the 9th logo. It is also intact on the Lionsgate Blu-ray release.
• It also appears at the end of the first two Indiana Jones films (as well as current prints of the third film), the 1980 film Popeye, and Hulu's print of Bug, which all had the previous logo at the beginning.
• The early variation can be found on Lipstick, The Bad News Bears, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, the 1996 VHS release of Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Gallipoli (although the 2015 Region 4 DVD release and a Nine Network broadcast of the film had it replaced by a remastered per frame screen), US prints of Bugsy Malone, and current prints of Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
• Some films plaster this with the next logo in any of its three byline variations, such as Grease from its 1998 video releases until 2018, the 1976 version of King Kong (except on the Scream Factory Blu-ray and newer digital prints), and the 2007 DVD release of Mahogany (all with the Viacom variant). Early video releases and most 2004-2012 prints of Top Gun retain this logo, though all other copies plaster it with either the next logo (although the 1987 VHS retained this logo at the very end, as it was plastered by the "75th Anniversary" variant of the 7th logo at the beginning) or the 10th logo for most post-2013/3D prints (confirmed to not be plastered on the 2020 4K UHD release). Late 1990s American TV broadcasts of Dragonslayer briefly plastered this logo with the Viacom byline version, but recent broadcasts retain the original logo as well as home media releases. The 2001 Director's Cut DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture also replaced this logo with the 1986 version, although it's retained on copies of the theatrical cut as well as the 4K UHD release of the Director's Cut.
• Of the films released during Paramount's distribution pact with Lorimar, only An Officer and a Gentleman has this logo retained on all prints due to it being financed and owned outright by Paramount. Lorimar films now owned by Warner Bros. such as the 1981 version of The Postman Always Rings Twice, (Escape to) Victory, S.O.B., and The Sea Wolves all have it either cut out or replaced by a WB logo on most current prints (since Paramount only had North American distribution rights). Night School, however, had this and the Lorimar logo intact on a recent Movie Channel airing, and on the widescreen laserdisc, with WB's "Shield of Staleness" preceding it.
• The "Coming From" variant is usually preserved on trailers for films such as Flashdance, Saturday Night Fever, and Islands in the Stream on their DVD and Blu-ray releases. Even though the 9th logo plasters this (but retains the original fanfare) on the iTunes and Blu-ray trailer for Airplane!, the DVD release retains the original logo.
• This logo is seen on the 1982(?) Paramount Home Video Gateway Video VHS release of the Star Trek episode "Space Seed", following the 1979 Acid Trip warning and preceding the episode (the Betamax version precedes the episode with a trailer for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan after the warning, instead of the logo).
• Strangely, this appears after the credits on the screener VHS of Jailbait (aka Streetwise).
• This may have been seen on Canadian theatrical prints of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films such as The Transformers: The Movie.

Editor's Note: This is also another famous Paramount logo, and the only one that is fully abstract, though the earlier variants look really awkward and ugly with their odd differences in size.

8th Logo
(December 12, 1986-October 7, 2003)

Nicknames: "CGI Mountain", "'80s/'90s Mountain", "Perumount III", "Paramount Mountain VIII", "75 Years of Paramount", "Gulf+Western Mountain III", "Paramount Communications Mountain", "Viacom Mountain", "Majestic Mountain"

Logo: As the logo fades in, We see a model of a mountain with a CGI lake in front of it and a light blue/yellow gradient sky with a yellow sunset behind it. As the sky darkens to red/blue, the camera zooms towards the mountain as 22 silver CGI stars fly from the bottom left and encircle the mountain. The "Paramount" script, redone in a shiny silver color, then fades in on the peak of the mountain, along with a registered trademark "®" symbol. One of the three bylines (as seen below) fades in below.

Trivia:

• The logo was designed and composited by Jay Jacoby of Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation), who went on to produce the logos for Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Fox Sports in 1990 and 1994, respectively. The CGI stars were created by David Sieg at Omnibus/Abel on a III Foonly F1 computer and the mountain scenery was a physical model created and filmed by Apogee, Inc. The 1999 version is alleged to have been animated at Pixar Animation Studios, though this remains unconfirmed.
• Paramount used a painting commissioned for its 75th Anniversary from artist Dario Campanile as a basis for this logo.

Bylines:

• December 12, 1986-August 30, 1989: "A Gulf + Western Company" (which fades in with the Paramount script and looks the same as it did in the previous logo).
• September 22, 1989-January 13, 1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" (with a line above it) fades in after a few seconds.
  • For its first year, the byline faded in with the Paramount script like the Gulf+Western version and was colored gold.
  • On video releases from the era, the color scheme of the logo is more washed out than normal.
• February 17, 1995-October 7, 2003: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in white, with a line above it in the 1990 \/I/\CO/\/\ "Wigga-Wigga" font)
• Some theatrical trailers, TV spots, and a few international variants had the logo bylineless.

Variants: While there have been some variations of the logo depending on the movie, and of course the three byline variants, there are two main variants of this logo:

• December 12, 1986-December 18, 1987: For this logo's first official year (1987, even though it debuted in 1986), the words "75th Anniversary" appear over the mountain, between the Paramount script logo and the Gulf + Western byline. "75th" is in silver with "75" bigger and "th" smaller and "Anniversary" in gold. A trademark ("™") symbol was also used instead of a registered trademark ("®") symbol.
  • On The Golden Child (the first film to use this logo), Hot Pursuit and the theatrical trailer for Beverly Hills Cop II, a prototype version of this was used with smaller 75th Anniversary text and the byline in a bolder font.
  • A black-and-white version appears on the 1987 VHS of The Docks of New York.
• February 5, 1988-August 30, 1989: The "75th Anniversary" wording is removed, and the Gulf+Western byline is shifted up slightly.
• March 2, 1990-October 7, 2003: The logo is slightly enhanced, and the stars have a lighter color.
• May 21, 1993-January 13, 1995: The clouds and stars are slightly darker, and the Paramount Communications byline now has a shadow.
• February 17, 1995-February 4, 2003: The logo was enhanced again. On some releases, if you watch very closely, the animated clouds (and consequently, the logo) become still once the Viacom byline appears, which is chryoned-in. This usually occurs on VHS releases of TV shows and specials, and sometimes plasters older logos on VHS and DVD. Examples of this are the 1999 and 2004 DVD releases of Star Trek: Generations. This also occurs on the first few films to use the Viacom byline in 1995, such as The Brady Bunch Movie and Losing Isaiah.
• June 30, 1999-June 28, 2002: The same basic concept is here, but the logo was enhanced once more to look nicer. The stars are thicker (with golden sides), shinier, and have a motion blur effect. Their reflection can now be seen in the lake in front of the mountain, and the Paramount script logo and the Viacom byline now shine. The mountain now also turns dark, and the cloud background is slightly enhanced. Also, the "®" symbol now fades in at the same time as the byline. These additions are subtle, but add a lot to the logo nevertheless. This version debuted on South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, and made its final appearance on Crossroads.
  • Some films that were shot in scope have the stars, text and byline somewhat smaller than in the normal flat variant in order to match the aspect ratio.
  • On a few scope films, such as Bringing Out the Dead, Mission: Impossible II, Shaft (2000), and Rat Race, the logo starts with a still picture of the mountain before animating normally, much like its home video counterpart. It also has a bit of a brownish or bluish color scheme.
  • An extremely rare videotaped version exists. In this variant, the mountain doesn't turn dark. This can be seen on some Paramount VHS trailers from 2000-02, as well as the "Now in Theaters" bumper from the same timespan.
  • On Double Jeopardy, the "®" symbol fades in with the Paramount script.
  • On Runaway Bride and Wonder Boys, the "®" symbol and Viacom byline fade in with the Paramount script, much like the original Gulf+Western variant.
• On CIC Video's The Paramount Movie Show segments, VHS trailers for Chinatown and A Place in the Sun, theatrical trailers for I.Q., The Brady Bunch Movie, Star Trek: Generations, and Braveheart, a TV spot for Milk Money, the teaser trailer for The Indian in the Cupboard, and the second trailer for Forrest Gump, the logo is bylineless.

Closing Variants:

• At the end of movies and video releases, the logo appears still. This version also appears on syndicated airings of Death Wish 4: The Crackdown before the Cannon logo, on the 2001 VHS of Road Rage, and on the 2002 DVD of Rugrats: Decade in Diapers.
• Despite replacing the 1995 variant as an opening logo, the 1999 variant was seldom used as a closing logo, with most films released from 1999-2002 instead using the 1995 variant at the end.
  • Some of the few films that use the 1999 variant as a closing logo include South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Mission: Impossible II, The Score and Zoolander.
  • On Mission: Impossible II and The Score, the logo fades in without the Viacom byline, which fades in after about a second.

FX/SFX: The stars circling the mountain, the zoom in, and the text fading in, all in a beautiful mixture of CGI and practical effects that have held up remarkably for over 35 years.

Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening theme of the movie, although a few films such as Fatal Attraction, Crocodile Dundee II, The Blue Iguana, Hot Pursuit, Pet Sematary, Black Rain, Almost an Angel, Wayne's World, Tropical Snow, Bobbie's Girl (a 2002 made-for-TV movie from Showtime), the demo VHS of Hawks, and post-1998 prints of Grease have synthesized chimes segueing into the 1976 fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On Event Horizon, a rearranged, slower and more "powerful" version of the 1976 fanfare, composed by Michael Kamen, is heard, with the final note held out as everything but the background disappears and the camera zooms into space to segue into the opening credits.
• On Campus Man, a different fanfare composed by James Newton Howard plays.
• On Stepping Out, a different fanfare composed by Peter Matz plays.
• On The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, a different fanfare composed by Ira Newborn plays.
• On Harriet the Spy, we can hear (if you listen hard enough) some soft-sounded chimes sampled from Mrs. W's garden.
• On Snow Day, wind from a snowstorm is heard throughout the logo.
• On a Spanish TV airing of Titanic, the 1994 20th Century Fox fanfare is heard due to the airing using an international Spanish audio track.
• On the 1998 reissue of Grease, the fanfare is given a more "powerful" remix with louder cymbals.
• On a French print of The Next Best Thing, the Lakeshore Entertainment theme is heard over the logo due to a sloppy editing job where the order of the logos are reversed but the audio isn't.
• On the UK Second Sight Films Blu-ray of Creepshow, the 1994 Warner Bros. Television fanfare plays over the closing variant.
• On European TV airings of Braddock: Missing in Action II, the 2001 MGM lion roar is heard over the Viacom byline version of the logo in one of the sloppiest plastering jobs ever. This is likely due to those airings using a Paramount-owned TV print with audio from an MGM-owned master.

Availability: Very common, even though the logo has been officially retired for over 20 years. While it has been plastered on some TV airings and video releases of Paramount films as well as some remastered or restored prints, most of these still retain their original logos.

• The first film to use this logo was The Golden Child, released on December 12, 1986, and the last was Crossroads, released on February 15, 2002. It continued to appear on a few Nickelodeon VHS releases afterwards up until The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Sea of Trouble, released on October 7, 2003.
• The 75th Anniversary variant appears on films released in 1987, such as Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Fatal Attraction, Some Kind of Wonderful, Beverly Hills Cop II and The Untouchables. The final film to use it was Eddie Murphy Raw.
  • The prototype variant can be seen on The Golden Child, Hot Pursuit, and the trailer for Beverly Hills Cop II (which is preserved on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video).
  • On 1987 video releases of Top Gun, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Whoopee Boys, Crocodile Dundee, Children of a Lesser God, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this logo plastered the previous one. It would also be plastered itself with its later variations for several years starting with some video releases of the 1987 films listed above. However, Paramount nicely restored this variant past the VHS era, as it now appears intact on nearly all current prints of 1987 films.
• The normal Gulf+Western variant can be seen on films from 1988 to mid-1989, such as She's Having a Baby (the first film to use it), Coming to America and Scrooged (both as variants), The Accused, Major League, The Naked Gun, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Friday the 13th Parts VII and VIII, among others. It made its final appearance on Shirley Valentine.
  • It can be found on video releases from 1988-89, and makes a surprise appearance on the Razor Digital DVD of Puppet Master.
  • It can be seen at the end of Big Top Pee-Wee and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which both have the 5th logo at the beginning (though strangely enough, current prints of Last Crusade have the previous logo at the end instead).
• The Paramount Communications byline variant debuted on Black Rain, and can also be found on films from late 1989 to 1994, such as Ghost, The Hunt for Red October, both Wayne's World films, The Naked Gun's two sequels, Star Trek Generations and Forrest Gump. The final film to use it was I.Q..
  • The early Paramount Communications variant with the byline in gold can be found on Black Rain, Fat Man and Little Boy, Harlem Nights, We're No Angels, Internal Affairs and Flashback.
  • The Viacom variant of this logo sometimes plasters this variant on post-1995 VHS releases and a few DVD and Blu-ray releases of films released in late 1994. For example, on the 1999 DVD and 2004 Special Edition release of Star Trek: Generations, the Viacom variant appears at both ends instead. On post-2009 releases of the film, the Paramount Communications variation is preserved.
  • It plasters the 1982 Orion Pictures logo on Spike TV airings of First Blood. It was also found on video releases from 1989 to 1995, and also makes a surprise appearance at the end of American prints of Sleepy Hollow, with the standard 1999 logo at the beginning. It also makes surprise appearances on the Mexican DVD release of Demonic Toys (Juguetes Demoniacos) and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment's DVD releases of Puppet Master 5, likely due to being sourced from older VHS masters. The tail end of it also makes a surprise appearance at the beginning of the rough cut of the final pre-reboot Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, Diabolik (AKA: Danger: Diabolik), while the actual episode itself cuts it out. It also makes a surprise appearance plastering the closing billing block at the end of the Amazon Prime Video print of the trailer for Paulie.
• The 1995 Viacom byline variant debuted on The Brady Bunch Movie, and can be seen on films from 1995 to 1999 such as Clueless, Star Trek: First Contact, Mission: Impossible, domestic prints of Titanic and Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and The Truman Show.
  • Paramount has used this variation in all logo plasters and TV movies, such as those made for Showtime.
  • Also seen on video releases from 1995-03, and at the end of AMC airings of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Prancer.
  • It was plastered by the "100 Years" variant of the 10th logo on the 2012 domestic Blu-ray and 3D prints of Titanic, but is preserved on all other domestic releases.
  • Strangely, this was spotted after the split-screen credits of Nickelodeon airings of Barnyard. This was the result of a credits error that resulted in Nickelodeon instead using the ones for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which was also an O/Paramount movie.
  • A silent version was used on Hulu prints of The Lorax and The Cat in the Hat, preceding the 1973 CBS Special Presentation logo, as well as at the end of the Amazon Prime Video print of the trailer of Wayne's World 2.
• The 1999 enhanced version debuted on South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and can be found on films from late 1999 to early 2002 including Mission: Impossible II, Save the Last Dance, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Zoolander.
  • This logo appears on DVD, digital, and Blu-ray prints of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, as well as TV airings, but is plastered with the 90th Anniversary version of the next logo on its original VHS release.
  • The 2002 DVD and VHS releases of Orange County plastered this variant with the 90th Anniversary variant of the 9th logo, while the 2022 Blu-ray restores it.
• This appears on ThisTV's prints of Wild Geese II plastering the Cannon logo, and That Championship Season on the same station, as they used a Paramount master. Also appears on Screenpix Action airings of Avenging Force.

Editor's Note: Much like some of its predecessors, this logo is a favorite within the logo community thanks to its seamless use of models and CGI, as well as its fanfare and appearance on many popular films in the late '80s and '90s.

9th Logo
(March 1, 2002-June 5, 2012, November 9, 2012, August 25, 2015)

Nicknames: "2000s Mountain", "CGI Mountain II", "Perumount IV", "Space Mountain", "Decade Mountain", "90 Years of Paramount", "Paramount Mountain IX", "Viacom Mountain II", "Mount Paramount", "Ultra Majestic Mountain", "Majestic Mountain II"

Logo: From a black background, we pan down from a starry sky to a set of clouds. As the camera slowly zooms backwards, a few comet-like objects fly down and reveal themselves as the trademark Paramount stars that zoom past the camera. The familiar "Paramount" script (with a gold border) zooms out to show we had been watching a reflection (à la the 1998 Warner Bros. Pictures logo) (which fades to white) all along as a total of 22 stars shoot past the script and encircle the mountain behind it. The script continues to zoom out before taking its place at the peak of the mountain. The Viacom byline (once again, with a line above) then fades in below the logo.

Bylines:

• March 1, 2002-March 26, 2010, 2015: "/\ \/|/\CO/\/\ CO/\/\PANY" in its 1990 "Wigga-Wigga" font. This version last appeared on She's Out Of My League and the 2015 movie Capture the Flag (for the full animation variant) and How to Train Your Dragon (for the closing and distribution variants).
• May 7, 2010-June 5, 2012: "A VIaCOM COMPANY" in its 2005 font. This version first appeared on Iron Man 2 and last appeared on The Adventures of Tintin.

Variants:

• March 1-December 20, 2002: For its first year of use, the words "90TH ANNIVERSARY" in gold with "90" bigger and "TH" smaller and on the top right of "90" and "ANNIVERSARY" below, fade in with the Viacom byline, sandwiched between the peak of the mountain. Again, the trademark symbol ("™") is used in place of the registered trademark symbol ("®") in this variation.
  • A prototype variant of the 90th Anniversary logo was spotted (and only appeared) on the video game The Sum of All Fears, where the "90TH ANNIVERSARY" text appears bigger and shinier.
  • On earlier films released with the 90th Anniversary variant (such as Hey Arnold!: The Movie, Serving Sara, Extreme Ops, and The Hours), the stars in the sky at the beginning are blue, the clouds in the sky and around the mountain appear less realistic, ghosts of the stars can be seen, the stars circling the mountain are behind the script, some of the stars encircling the mountain are darker, and the camera settles at a lower angle at the end. The logo's general shade of color is also brighter and more cartoonish, and also fades in after the camera pans down from the starry sky. This version was reanimated to look more natural starting with The Sum of All Fears; the version used on that film would later become the regular version that was introduced the following year.
• On We Were Soldiers (the first movie to use this logo), the camera settles at a higher angle at the end (which would later be used for the later 2002/2003 revision).
• This logo can open in two ways the logo could fade in already in the clouds (usually used for earlier variants) or we pan down from a black background into the clouds.
• Also, on Hey Arnold!: The Movie, Clockstoppers, Serving Sara, Extreme Ops, We Were Soldiers, Changing Lanes, K-19: The Widowmaker, Abandon, and The Hours, there is an error on the portion where the script zooms back.
• A still version of the logo was spotted on international prints of Sleuth.
• A variant is used at the end of just about every trailer for Paramount's movies on online movie stores. We see a still version of the Paramount logo with the words "(Now) Available from Paramount." Below it is a copyright stamp. It has also been seen zoomed in (so the copyright and the "now available" text is not seen, as on Amazon Prime Video's prints of the 48 Hrs. and Clockstoppers trailers), on an iTunes print of the trailer for Airplane!, where the logo plasters the 1975 "COMING FROM" version (while keeping the music intact), and plastering the closing screens (mostly billing blocks) on Prime Video prints of the trailers for Hardball, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Airplane II: The Sequel, Switchback, Wayne's World, The Saint, The Core, Shaft (2000), True Colors, Mother, Hard Rain, Breakdown, In Dreams, Along Came a Spider, Clockstoppers, and Hey Arnold!: The Movie (with the closing audio intact in most cases). Starting in 2012, the "Now" was removed, as seen on Amazon Prime's prints of the trailers for Twisted, Testament, and Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story.
  • It exists in 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1, and windowboxed versions. The 1.33:1 variant was used on the trailers for Heller in Pink Tights and Popeye, the latter of which was in non-anamorphic widescreen.
  • Sometimes, this variant fades in and cuts out, like on Prime Video's versions of the trailers for The Dead Zone, Beverly Hills Cop, Fatal Attraction, Escape from Alcatraz, Mommie Dearest, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs, Night Falls on Manhattan, Breakdown, Jennifer 8, In Dreams, Jade, The Accused, Witness, The Score, School of Rock, and Deterrence. On the trailers/clips for Bad News Bears, Enemy at the Gates, Major League, The Core, and The High and the Mighty, it cuts in and out, and on the trailers for Varsity Blues, The Island (2005), The Ten Commandments (1956), Hard Rain, Clockstoppers, Catch Me If You Can, and Red Eye, it only fades out partially before cutting out entirely.
  • A later variant exists, with the Viacom byline in its 2005 font. This can be seen on Prime Video's prints of the trailers for Gallipoli, Beverly Hills Cop III, The Hunt for Red October, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Relic, American Gigolo, and Dreamer: Inspired By a True Story.
  • On the trailer for Intersection, the "zoomed-in" version is used, but with the left and right sides cut off, resulting in a rather ugly sub-variant.
• A short version exists that starts when the stars fall from the sky. This is mainly seen on video releases.
• On video releases from the company, the logo is videotaped and often in open-matte.
• Late 2005-March 26, 2010: The logo has been slightly enhanced.
• November 16, 2007: The logo was enhanced again. It's basically the same as the 2010 variant (see below), but with the Viacom byline in the "Wigga-Wigga" font and no errors. This can be seen on U.S. prints of Beowulf, which uses the standard closing variant at the end.
• May 7, 2010-June 5, 2012: The logo was enhanced once more with sleeker stars and shinier text, and the Viacom byline is switched to its 2006 font. There is a noticeable error in this variant where the stars from the first half of the logo are visible behind the "Paramount" text as it zooms out where the text should normally obscure them.
• On full screen DVDs of Paramount movies shot in 2.39:1, the logo is incredibly zoomed in, since it is in the 4:3 ratio. On matted films, as well as films shot in Super 35, it is either zoomed in halfway or in open matte.

Closing Variants:

• Only the finished product of the logo, with the only animation being the clouds moving westward in the background. It's basically the same as its pre-2006 television counterpart, but slightly extended and silent. Plus, the logo always fades in and fades out.
• On The Eye and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (both 2008), the logo is completely still and often in open-matte on 4:3 full-screen prints.
• 2006-October 28, 2011: When distributing films from another company, the words "DISTRIBUTED BY", in white, are seen above the logo with the Viacom byline and the line. Usually seen at the end of DreamWorks and DreamWorks Animation films beginning in late 2006. Also oddly appeared at the end of Iron Man, before the Marvel Studios logo.
• The text "DISTRIBUTED BY" was updated along with the Viacom byline starting in 2010.

FX/SFX: The stars, the camera, and the text. Incredibly breathtaking CGI by BUF Compagnie; very reminiscent of the more majestic and stylized 1940s and '50s mountains.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the film.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On Mean Girls, the 1987 fanfare (which actually fits very well with this logo) is used as a tribute to its composer, Jerry Goldsmith, who passed away shortly before the film's release.
• On the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, a different fanfare composed by Teddy Castellucci plays.
• On an AMC airing of Rambo III, this plasters the Carolco logo and keeps the low-pitched version of the theme, in an incredibly bad plastering job that rivals that of Braddock: Missing in Action II (as described above).
• On Twisted, wind is audible throughout the logo.
• On Jackass Number Two, a loud jet sound is heard along with wind when the stars fly down, whooshes and the stars pass by the screen, then a final whoosh sound when the Viacom byline fades in.
• On a French Paramount Channel airing of Assassination, the 1984 Cannon Films theme plays over the logo.
• On some TV airings of films, the next logo's fanfare is strangely heard.

Availability: Common. Seen on films from the period, as well as video releases from 2002 to 2006.

• The 90th Anniversary variant was first seen on We Were Soldiers and last appeared on The Wild Thornberrys Movie. It sometimes plastered old logos on 2002 video releases, as well as the TriStar Pictures logo on Encore airings of Rambo III.
• The normal variant without the "90TH ANNIVERSARY" wordings debuted on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and made its last regular appearance on The Adventures of Tintin; its final appearances overall were on the 2012 restorations of Wings and Hondo, and the 2015 movie Capture the Flag. The 2004 logo also made an appearance on the Brazilian theatrical compilation film of the animated series Peixonauta: Agente Secreto da O.S.T.R.A..
• It appears at the end of Grease Sing-a-Long (a re-release of 1978's Grease), which retains the 7th logo at the beginning.
• It also appears at the end of IMAX prints and all international prints of Watchmen; on North American IMAX prints, it is followed by the Warner Bros. Pictures closing logo.
• It plasters the Weintraub Entertainment Group logo on an Encore airing of My Stepmother is an Alien, retaining the film's opening music.
• It plasters the 1982 Orion Pictures logo on HBO, Comedy Central and IFC airings of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (also plasters the closing version of the logo at the end, with the following Nelson Entertainment logo kept at the beginning), and the 1995 MGM logo on older HBO airings of House Arrest.
• Surprisingly, the full version appears at the beginning of a few early episodes of Hogan's Heroes on MeTV, including the pilot episode and the HD remasters on Universal HD.
• It is seen at the end of DreamWorks Animation films released from 2006-11, but not at the beginning of them, unlike 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures. It did, however, appear on the VCD release of Flushed Away before the DreamWorks Animation logo. Some later prints of these movies like the 2018 Blu-ray of Over the Hedge have this plastered with the 2012 Universal logo.
• It plasters the 1973 Warner Bros. logo on a VCD release of Cujo due to Paramount gaining the rights to that film when Taft Entertainment was merged into Republic, which became part of Viacom.
• Disney has retained this logo on current prints of Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, all of which Paramount distributed on behalf of Marvel Studios until 2013.
• The "(Now) Available from" variant strangely doesn't appear on Prime Video's prints of the trailers for Ghost, Old School, and House of Sand and Fog, which instead use the normal logo at the end, Dead Man on Campus and Snow Day, which instead have customized "AVAILABLE FROM PARAMOUNT" ending cards, and Sunset Boulevard and Raiders of the Lost Ark, which end with no logo (it's also not on the Wayne's World 2 and Paulie trailers, as described in the previous logo). It, however, makes surprise appearances (complete with respective 2012 and 2008 copyrights) after the trailers for Top Gun (included to promote its UHD) on the 2020 Paramount DVD of The Rhythm Section, and for The Tenant on its 2020 Scream/Shout! Factory Blu-ray.
• Don't expect this logo at the beginning of Strange Wilderness, though the "Distributed by" variant appears at the end. It's been speculated that this was a result of that film's overwhelmingly negative reception.

Editor's Note: A worthy successor to the previous logo with much-improved CGI animation, though it's too bad that the 1987 fanfare was only used once, as it fits very well with this logo.

10th Logo
(December 16, 2011-)

Nicknames: "2010s/2020s Mountain", "CGI Mountain III", "Perumount V", "Centennial Mountain", "Decade Mountain II", "100 Years of Paramount", "Paramount Mountain X", "Century Mountain", "Sunset Mountain", "Viacom Mountain III", "ViacomCBS Mountain", "Mount Paramount II", "Ultra Majestic Mountain II", "Majestic Mountain III"

Logo: On a dark cloudy background, we see several stars fly down, a mirrored reference to the previous logo. As the third star flies towards us, the camera follows the star as it pans upward to reveal the reflection of a lake. We follow two of the stars as they skim the lake and create long straight ripples. We continue to fly forward as a total of 22 stars line up and encircle the mountain ahead. The "Paramount" script zooms out to take its place on the mountain, which is situated on a cloudy sunset landscape. The byline then fades in below.

Bylines:

• December 16, 2011 - November 8, 2019: "A VIaCOM COMPANY" in the 2006 Viacom font
• January 10, 2020 - May 13, 2022: "A ViacomCBS Company" in Gotham Bold font
• Mid-2021 - March 29, 2022: "A ViacomCBS Company" in custom ViacomCBS Raisonné font (Only used on trailers and promotional material)
• April 26, 2013, June 3, 2016, March 12, 2022 - Present: Bylineless

Variants:

• For the logo's first official year (2012, even though it debuted in 2011), a bright light shines to reveal the text "100 Years" with "100" bigger and "Years" smaller, before a smaller Viacom byline fades in underneath. It first appeared on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and made its final appearance on Jack Reacher, both starring Tom Cruise in lead roles.
  • A still open matte version of the 100 Years variant was spotted when the Paramount Movies app on Xbox 360 was launched in both fullscreen and widescreen.
• A few films have the logo animate faster than usual, with the first seconds of the fanfare being cut if used.
• On Daddy's Home 2 and a recent French print of Easy Down There! (1971), the byline fades in earlier than usual when the "Paramount" script zooms back. This can also be seen on trailers and TV spots for some Paramount films.
• An open-matte version exists. This was spotted on later 2012 reissues of Wings and the Australian trailer for Jackass Forever.
• On the ViacomCBS byline variants, the trademark symbol ("™") is used in place of the registered trademark symbol ("®"). Starting with Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and on Paramount's Facebook cover image, it was removed.
• A version of this logo exists where the camera angle is slightly different, the mountain has slightly less light reflection, the stars have a lighter color, the "Paramount" script is darker, and some of the clouds above the mountain are not visible. This can be seen on movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, both Sonic the Hedgehog films (as variants), Coming 2 America (also as a variant) and The Lost City, and home video releases from the company starting in late 2020.
  • A version of this variant exists for the 100 Years variant of this logo, where the byline is shifted upwards. This can be seen on Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, Katy Perry: Part of Me, and the 2012 3D reissue of Titanic (North America only, the 2012 international reissue has the 2009 Fox logo with the 1994 fanfare) and the 2013 3D reissue of Top Gun. It also appears at the end of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rise of the Guardians, the last two DreamWorks Animation films to be distributed by Paramount.
• On movies such as Transformers: Age of Extinction and some trailers of Forrest Gump, the logo is slightly enhanced. Noticeable changes include a more bluish sky and brighter clouds.
• On The Avengers, Iron Man 3 (studio credits only, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, The Tomorrow War, Top Gun: Maverick, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, short films, and trailers and TV spots for many Paramount films, the logo is cut down to its last few seconds. In the case of the latter five films, it is also sped up.
• On Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, an even shorter variant is used where it's simply the "Paramount" text finishing its animation of settling into place.
• A black-and-white version of this logo exists. This can be seen on newer prints of older films now owned by Paramount, and current ones such as Overlord and the trailer for Nebraska (the film itself uses a throwback variant of the 6th logo).
• After ViacomCBS renamed itself to Paramount Global in February 2022, the byline was completely dropped, making the Paramount logo officially bylineless for the first time since 1968.
  • Two films released well before this change, Pain & Gain and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, also had the logo bylineless.
• On YouTube advertisements from the side of a video (done after a video ad), the logo appears without a byline and has a dark blue and black gradient on the sides.
• A French variant exists with the byline reading "UNE SOCIÉTÉ VIaCOM ". This was merely a corporate variant and never actually appeared on French prints of films.
• In one instance there would be a version that would be missing one of the stars.
• As with the last logo, an end-of-trailer variant exists, featuring a still version of the logo and "Available from Paramount" above it. This can be found on Prime Video's prints of the trailers for The Parallax View, The Last Castle, The Sum of All Fears, Juice, Flesh and Bone, Little Darlings, and Next (Atlantic City also carried it, but it has since been replaced with a stretched variant of the Gulf+Western byline version of the 8th logo, with the end of the trailer's closing theme playing over it).
  • On the trailer for Tropic Thunder, the top and bottom portions are cut off.
  • On the trailer for Yours, Mine & Ours, "Available from Paramount" is missing and the color scheme is duller.

Closing Variant: Same as the last logo; sometimes "DISTRIBUTED BY" appears above. Sometimes, the logo fades in and out; other times, it cuts in and out.

FX/SFX: Beautifully crafted CGI that combines elements from the last two logos, which still holds up well over 10 years later. Designed by Devastudios and animated using Terragen from Planetside Software. Devastudios also used Terragen for the current Warner Bros. Pictures logo.

Music/Sounds: A light bell and string piece which rises in intensity to become more majestic and orchestral, with the final note also using a brief choir, scored by Michael Giacchino (composer of Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol). In other cases it's silent, uses the opening theme of the movie, or has a different fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the first film to use this logo, there is an alternate version of the fanfare with some slight changes, in the note of the orchestration, making it sound more powerful. An unused alternate version is heard on its soundtrack album that features a very different, more sweeping, and even more powerful orchestration.
• On Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Zoolander 2, Baywatch, and the 2019 4K Blu-ray release of Pet Sematary (1989), whooshes are added to the logo over either the fanfare or the opening theme of the movie when the stars and the text fly by.
• None for the closing variant. Sometimes the closing theme of the movie would be used instead.
• At the end of a Starz print of Hero and the Terror, a Cannon film, the Viacom "V of Steel" jingle plays over the end variant of this logo due to a plastering error.
• On some TV airings of films, the 1987 fanfare is used, due to sloppy plastering.
• On The Lost City, a different theme composed by Pinar Toprak is used, syncing with the logo's animation.

Availability: Current. Seen on all Paramount movies since Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

• The 100 Years variant debuted on the aforementioned film and made its final appearance on Jack Reacher, released on December 21, 2012.
• The normal variant with the Viacom byline first appeared on Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, released on January 25, 2013, and ended on Playing with Fire.
• The ViacomCBS byline first debuted in 2019 on a Spanish TV spot for Sonic the Hedgehog and made its theatrical debut a year later on Like a Boss. It made its final theatrical appearance on Jackass Forever, and overall on Senior Year. Although the ViacomCBS byline in the ViacomCBS Raisonné typeface debuted on the UK trailer for Clifford the Big Red Dog and trailers for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, it was never used on an actual film.
• The bylineless version first appeared on 2013's Pain & Gain, and also appeared on 2016's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (as a variant). It started being used regularly in 2022 on TV spots for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and has been used theatrically since The Lost City.
• It's been used as a de-facto home entertainment logo on Paramount's 4K UHD Blu-ray releases starting in 2016 with Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, and on regular Blu-rays and DVDs starting in 2019 with Bumblebee.
• It also appears on the first four films from Paramount Animation (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Monster Trucks, Sherlock Gnomes, and Wonder Park) before the division got their own logo in 2020. This still appears as a closing logo, although this could change in the future.
• This also appears at the end of most (if not all) international prints of recent Brad Krevoy Television TV movies, such as the Crossword Mysteries series, the Wedding March movies, A Valentine's Match, and Christmas Encore, among others.
• It's also seen at the end of some TV shows distributed by Paramount Worldwide Television Licensing & Distribution (the distribution unit of Paramount Television Studios), such as Spin City on Pluto TV and Viaplay.
• The "100 Years" variant is seen on post-2012 and 3D US prints of Titanic, plastering the 8th logo; and post-2013 and 3D prints of Top Gun, plastering the 7th logo. Both films would retain their original logos on their respective 4K UHD releases in 2023 and 2020, respectively.
• The "DISTRIBUTED BY" closing variant appeared at the end of and the trailers of the DreamWorks Animation films Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rise of the Guardians (the latter of which was the last DreamWorks film to be distributed by Paramount). It's sometimes plastered by either the 2009 20th Century Fox logo or, more commonly, the 2012 Universal Pictures logo on some recent prints.
• It also made an appearance at the end of Paramount Players' Body Cam, and more recently on international prints of High Flying Romance, a Johnson Production Group TV movie.
• Despite The Avengers and Iron Man 3 both being distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (which was credited at the end of both films), the latter film has the Paramount logo at the beginning and end, while the former has this logo only at the beginning.
• It strangely plasters the 2009-2020 20th Century Fox logo on BBC prints of the five DreamWorks Animation films that TCF distributed (How to Train Your Dragon 2, Penguins of Madagascar, Home, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls), even though Paramount never actually distributed them. In a similar case, this is also seen after the 2009-2020 20th Century Fox logo on BBC prints of the two films that TCF also distributed (The Boss Baby and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie), in which they never actually co-distributed those two and the 2020 "DISTRIBUTED BY" logo also strangely appears at the end of a BBC print of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World instead of the current Universal logo, which was originally in front.
  • In the case of the former two and the second latter, the BBC wanted consistency with the previous Paramount-distributed entries.
• This can be also seen sometimes at the end of modern prints of DreamWorks Pictures films, such as on a Netflix print of The Cat in the Hat and the Blu-ray of Mouse Hunt.
• The ViacomCBS variant has been spotted on a TCM airing of a newer print of The Senator Was Indiscreet, as well as newer prints of My Fair Lady, Adam at 6 A.M., The Big Operator, and The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, where it plastered the 1990 Paramount logo.

Editor's Note: This is a true masterpiece of a logo, with its powerful, majestic theme, perfect CGI, and the sheer power it radiates. It's certainly a worthy successor to all the 100 years' worth of Paramountains before it.