Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/Summary

Background: Universal Studios' home entertainment unit descended from MCA's "DiscoVision" system, which was created to develop the laserdisc system and entered the market in 1978 after development that started in the late 1960's, and the first demonstration of the system in 1972. Despite DiscoVision being riddled with issues, numerous films were released from Universal, with Disney, Warner Bros., and Paramount also licensing titles to the label. With DiscoVision failing, MCA entered the home videocassette market in late 1980, creating "MCA Videocassette" to market releases to VHS and Betamax. DiscoVision was finally folded as a software label by MCA in 1981 reorganizing the division as "MCA Videodisc", and also expanded their videodisc operations to cover RCA's "SelectaVision" videodisc format. However, the "MCA Home Video" moniker was applied to both VHS and disc releases and became simply known as "MCA Home Video", alternating with the "MCA Videocassette" name until 1984. In 1990, MCA Home Video renamed itself as "MCA/Universal Home Video" to capitalize the Universal Studios name and to coincide with Universal's 75th Anniversary, alternating with the "MCA Home Video" name in 1992 or 1995. In December 1996, it renamed itself as "Universal Studios Home Video" when MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios and in 2005 changed once again into "Universal Studios Home Entertainment". In 2016, the home entertainment division was restructured and was renamed as "Universal Pictures Home Entertainment". In January 2020, it was announced that Universal and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment would be partnering to form a brand new home media joint venture, which will see new and library titles from both companies being released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD under one entity; the venture launched in early 2021 under the name Studio Distribution Services.

MCA DiscoVision

1st Logo (1977)

Nickname: "Glowing V-LaserDisc"

Logo: We start out with a glowing blue light in the center. The glowing light shrinks until it is the size of a small yellow circle embedded in an orange upside down triangle split vertically in the center. The white "MCA DISCO-VISION" appear on top of the triangle, and while the circle turns as orange as the triangle, the "©" symbol appears on the bottom right area.

FX/SFX: The shrinking of the light.

Music/Sounds: An 8-note percussive string tune followed by a dramatic orchestral finish.

Availability: This was only used in a 1977 test pressing that was used as a public display by MCA.

Editor's Note: Because this was only used on a test pressing, this logo was a surprise find.

2nd Logo (December 15, 1978-1981)

Color (1978)

Color/Copyright stamp (1979-1981)

B&W

MCA DiscoVision (Full HQ Logo)-Universal Pictures (1981)

Nicknames: "Big V", "Majestic V"

Logo: The words "DISCOVISION" crawl across the entire screen in a rainbow of colors like a kaleidoscope, and rows of vertical orange lines appear on the screen. The center lines open up in a rainbow of colors to reveal a white "V", with "DISCO" and "ISION" appearing on the left and right sides of the "V", respectively, appearing on a blackish background with a large Bondi blue streak in the middle. The DiscoVision logo sparkles for a second and then an abrupt cut to black.

Variants:

• On 1979-81 releases, a copyright stamp appeared underneath "DISCOVISION". This version was also seen on later copies of Saturday Night Fever, while earlier copies had the copyright-less version.
• Black and white DiscoVision movies featured it in B&W (although the extended-play [CLV] edition of Psycho strangely has the full color bumpers).
• Most of the later Laserdisc players will skip over most of the animation on most DiscoVision titles due to DiscoVision's decision to encode the start frame halfway through the bumper on most titles. Some titles will play the full opening, such as the 1978 standard play version of The Sting.
• The last few seconds are cut off on the CAV edition of The Jerk.
• On Rooster Cogburn, the logo is presented anamorphically, but squeezed wrong.

FX/SFX: The crawling of the "DISCOVISION" letters, the appearance, splitting and sparkling of the logo, all in Scanimation.

Music/Sounds: A flute tune accompanied by a lavishly orchestrated theme.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On 1979-1981 releases, a copyright stamp appeared underneath the DiscoVision logo.
• Black and white DiscoVision movies featured this logo in black and white.
• On some releases, such as Bustin' Loose, it's silent.
• On DiscoVision's eight releases of The Undersea World of Jacques Costeau, the theme distorts as it was recorded at a hotter level.
• On Fleetwood Mac Documentary and Live Concert, the music appears to be out of phase.
• The last few seconds are cut off on the CAV edition of The Jerk.

Availability: Seen on every DiscoVision release from 1978 to 1981. To find them, look for packaging where the print logo is on a gray background with the space around the “V” peeling to both sides, revealing the movie that is printed on the disc. It premiered on the initial slate of Discovision titles as launched in Atlanta, GA in December 1978 (including Smokey and the Bandit and the recalled first version of the extended-play version of National Lampoon's Animal House) and was last used on The Four Seasons, the final DiscoVision title (although it was retained on the 1982 MCA Videodisc reissue of 1941, which was pressed in Japan and replaced the original DiscoVision labels with MCA Videodisc ones).

Editor's Note: A great logo. However, it is tough to find a good copy of, as poor manufacturing practices have caused most DiscoVision discs to degrade over the years.

MCA Videodisc

(1981-83)

Nickname: "Flashing MCA Rainbow (of Doom)"

Logo: On a black screen, the words "A PRESENTATION OF" zoom-out in the 1980 MCA font in yellow before dissolving in the center. Following that are streaks of rainbow color that zoom out to the middle of the screen and flash to form...

MCA
VIDEODISC

...all in the MCA logo font. More rainbow streaks of light shoot out of the words and then settle back in.

FX/SFX: "A PRESENTATION OF" zooming out, the rainbow streaks.

Music/Sounds: A synth drone that culminates in a dreamy siren-like sound, ending with some synth bass notes to fade.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's seen on all MCA Videodisc releases, on both laserdisc and CED. Some MCA Home Video releases from early 1983 on both formats, such as Psycho II, may have this instead of the MCA Home Video logo at the start. This appears on a pre-production United States VHD of Smokey and the Bandit, but VHD never made it to commercial release in the US.

MCA Videocassette Inc.

(May 1980-October 1983)

Color

B&W

Nicknames: "The Arc", "Videocassette Inc. MCA"

Logo: On a black background, the MCA logo appears in the center of the screen colored in blue. The white "VIDEOCASSETTE INC.", in a white segmented font appear in an arc formation, surrounding the MCA logo through "iris in" effect.

Variants:

• Black & white movies (except for Duck Soup, Dracula, and This Gun for Hire) featured it in monochrome.
• Surprisingly, a still version was seen on the DVD release of Duck Soup at the end of the film's theatrical trailer.
• On The Seduction of Joe Tynan, instead of fading out, this logo cuts to the start of the feature.

FX/SFX: The rising in of "VIDEOCASSETTE INC."

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on every MCA Videocassette release from 1980-83. However, your best bet is to find it on an early MCA Home Video reprint; details of some of these cases are below.

• Their first release was Animal Crackers, which has the black & white variant. Other early releases were Jaws, National Lampoon's Animal House, Psycho (which also has the black & white variant), Smokey and the Bandit, and 1941.
• This was also used on some PolyGram Pictures movies distributed by Universal, such as An American Werewolf in London, Missing, King of the Mountain, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, and Endless Love.
• A few early MCA Home Video titles, like Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (which surprisingly retained this as late as 1993), Eddie Macon's Run, Psycho II, and Somewhere in Time, feature the latter logo on the packaging, but retain this logo both on-screen and on the tape labels.
• Other reprints have the exact opposite: the 1984 reprint of To Kill a Mockingbird (originally released 1981, in print into late 1985) reuses the 1981 box art and tape master, but has updated tape labels.
• Later reissues have both updated logos on the packaging and labels, but still preserve this logo on-screen due to reuse of older tape masters. This is the case with American Graffiti (1985 release, in print into early 1986) and The Bank Dick.
• Despite similar circumstances to the releases above, the 1984 reissue of 1941, which reuses the 1980 box art, has the logo below.

Editor's Note: This logo is much more basic than the MCA Videodisc logo, probably due to MCA's heavy investment in videodisc at the time. Also, "VIDEOCASSETTE INC" really shouldn't be shown above "MCA."

MCA Home Video

1st Logo (November 1983-May 10, 1990; June? 1991 (Canada))

Standard version

With byline

B&W with byline

Image Entertainment byline variant

End variant

Other Titles variant

Trailer variant

Nicknames: "The Gold MCA", "The Zooming MCA", "MCA in Space", "Earth Yellow MCA", "VHS Assembly", "The MCA VHS Assembly"

Logo: On a CGI starry background, we see the MCA Home Video logo (in Earth yellow-gold color). This logo has the usual MCA logo and the words "HOME VIDEO" (in a sleek, smaller font that has the same width as "MCA") in a box that resembles a videotape (but "MCA" overlaps this box on the top, making it "cut open"). The logo zooms in slowly, like the Universal globe at the time. The logo fades out to the starry background for a second, which then fades to black.

Variants:

• Some releases precede the logo with text reading "Stay Tuned For A Preview Of Coming Attractions From MCA Home Video Immediately Following This Program" on the same starry background, which fades out after a while.
  • A black and white version of this appears on the 1987-89 releases of The Wolf Man, The Lost Weekend, and The Cocoanuts.
• MCA releases co-released by GoodTimes Home Video have "UNDER LICENSE TO" at the bottom of the screen. The GoodTimes logo of the period would follow. A black & white version of this can be found on The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
  • On co-releases with Image Entertainment, the MCA Home Video logo fades out, and "Under License To" would instead fly in from the top of the screen and settle toward the bottom, segueing into Image's logo. This was found on the 1987 Laserdisc of Shenandoah.
• On some French-Canadian tapes such as A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child, a French warning will appear before the logo.
• On the 1985 Laserdisc of Spartacus, the logo fades out earlier.
• On some early 1980's VHS tapes featuring this logo, the logo fades in at the bottom, along with "Other Titles Available From" or "More Programming Available for You From" at the top, then the screen fades out afterwards.
• Some black and white movies would have this logo in B&W, such as The Wolf Man, Destry Rides Again, and The Cocoanuts. (Others, such as Scarface, The Mummy, Who Done It?, and Son of Dracula, instead feature it in color.)
• Some releases, such as Jaws 3 and Rear Window, often had this logo segueing into the 1963 Universal logo. It was last seen on the September 1990 screener VHS of Back to the Future: Part III, as a surprise appearance prior to the October '90 trailer reel.
• Side opening bumpers on some MCA Home Video Laserdiscs between 1984 and 1986 used the stars by themselves, with "Side 2", "Side 3", etc., appearing by itself in the center of the screen, and then a fade out back to the stars. The Laserdisc releases of Rear Window and The River feature this bumper.

FX/SFX: The stars and the zooming in of the logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Uncommon. Check your thrift stores for tapes featuring this logo on the cover.

• It was seen on tapes such as the 1988 video release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the 1989 release of The Land Before Time (1991 and 1996 reprints use the first MCA/Universal logo). Others include the mid-late '80s releases of Back to the Future, a 1987 reprint of Play Misty for Me (which reused 1981 box art), An American Tail, *batteries not included, and Dragnet.
• Since MCA Records was one of the U.S.' largest record companies of the time, it also can be seen on music related tapes that predate the founding of MCA Music Video, such as Olivia Newton-John: Twist of Fate, U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, and Jimmy Buffett: Live by the Bay.
• Among the last releases to use this logo were Harvey, Dad, and reissues of eleven James Stewart films.
• It can also be found on Canadian Alliance Releasing Home Video releases of Nightbreaker, Deadly Innocents, State of Mind (AKA: Private War), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, American Boyfriends, Iron Eagle II, Cameron's Closet, Nukie, A Whisper to a Scream, Final Cut (AKA: Lights! Cameras! Murder!), Bedroom Eyes II, Reason to Die, and Hot Times at Montclair High, among possible others.
• Some tapes up until 1991 with the MCA/Universal Home Video print logo on the cover may still have this due to being reprints of earlier MCA titles, such as Arabesque.
• It was also spotted on the 1991 Canadian Cineplex Odeon Video VHS release of The Grifters.
• However, this does not appear on the French Canadian International Video Entertainment release of Eddie et les Cruisers II: Eddie est de retour (Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives).

Editor's Note: The CGI is actually decent for its time.

2nd Logo (1986-1990)

Nicknames: "Zooming/Sliding MCA", "VHS Assembly II", "The MCA VHS Assembly II"

Logo: The MCA Home Video logo appears in chrome (usually zooming in or sliding into the view). There are different variants:

• On the VHS trailer for An American Tail, the logo is gold on a black background. This variant is nicknamed "The Gold MCA II", and is also compared to the main logo.
• On the VHS trailer for Talk Radio, the logo is silver/chrome on a oatmeal gray background. It flashes red (to accompany the sound of the drumbeats used in the background music). This variant is nicknamed "The Silver MCA".
• On the VHS trailer for The Land Before Time, the logo is bright red on a black background. This variant is nicknamed "The Red MCA".
• On the VHS trailers for Phantasm II and Uncle Buck, the logo is sky blue and slides in from the left on a black background. This variant is nicknamed "The Blue MCA".
• On the VHS trailer for Shakedown, the logo is silver on a blue-black gradient background.
• On the VHS trailer for Hellgate, seen at the end of a Canadian VHS of Reason to Die, we start with a shady gray background of diagonal bars with several "MCA HOME VIDEO" logos appearing inside the bars (like a wallpaper pattern). A sky blue logo fades in the center and slowly zooms in while rotating/straitening itself into view. This variant is nicknamed "The MCA Wallpaper". This also plasters the New World Pictures logo originally seen in this film's trailer.

FX/SFX: Typical late-80's computer effects/animation.

Music/Sounds: The music or theme from whatever movie is being advertised.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen primarily on trailers for MCA Home Video releases at the time. Most MCA Home Video releases of this era went straight from their logo to the movie.

MCA/Universal Home Video

1st Logo
(May 24, 1990-January 20, 1998)

Nicknames: "The Clean Globe", "Shiny Globe", "MCA Globe", "Shiny MCA Globe", "90s Globe", "90s MCA Globe"

Logo: On a black background, we see the following text all centered:

MCΛ
UNIVERSAL
H O M E　　　　　V I D E O

with "MCA" in its similar corporate font from before and has a white gradient texture on it and "UNIVERSAL" in the same font as the movie logo from 1990-1997, but has a gradient texture on it. The text shines (à la the 1985 Warner Home Video logo) and soon afterwards, a globe (showing only the Americas) fades in the center. Then a starfield background fades in behind everything else, then the text shines again (and as it fades out, two pings appear on the "L" in "UNIVERSAL").

Variants:

• On the demo tape of Back to the Future Part II, the text doesn't shine at all.
  • On subsequent releases, the logo fades out early on the pings portion.
• On some GoodTimes Home Video releases (i.e. Car Wash), the logo plays normally. The background, however, has moving stars from the 1983 MCA Home Video logo in the background (as opposed to the regular version where the background stays static). At the end, the words "UNDER LICENSE TO" pops up, peeking above the globe as the logo fades out. The GoodTimes Home Video logo would follow.
• Some MCA/Universal releases have a GoodTimes byline at the bottom.
• On The Making of E.T., it is sped-up.
• A black-and-white version appears on some releases of black-and-white films.
• A longer version appears on the original 1990 VHS of Back to the Future Part II.

FX/SFX: The slow appearances of the globe and the starfield background and the sparkling of the logo.

Music/Sounds: None. However on The Making of E.T., the opening theme plays over the logo, and on DVS VHS's containing this logo, a narrator is heard describing it.

DVS VHS Variants: A DVS narrator describes one of the following before reading out the company name:

• On Field of Dreams, Rena Baskin describes "A logo appears over a flat, unmoving globe".
• On Beethoven, Rena Baskin describes "Now, a title appears over a blue planet Earth in a star-filled sky".
• On Parenthood, a male narrator describes "Now, a bright blue globe appears against a dark star speckled sky. A logo reads MCA Universal Home Video."
• On Do the Right Thing, The Nutty Professor, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, a female narrator describes "A gleaming logo appears of the planet Earth in outer space." Rena Baskin describes this on The Nutty Professor and a young female narrator (Kria Sakakeeny) on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
• On The Land Before Time, Chloe Leaman describes "Now, behind the words MCA Universal Home Video, the Earth appears in space."
• On Psycho, Peter Haydu describes "Now, the black & white Earth in starry space".
• On To Kill a Mockingbird, Rena Baskin describes "A logo. In outer space, the Earth appears filmed in black & white behind the words MCA Universal Home Video."
• On Apollo 13, strangely, Rena Baskin doesn't describe the logo, instead reading out the format screen over it, likely because the opening of the regular release was sped up for the DVS version.

Availability: Common.

• This can be seen on almost all of the releases from MCA/Universal during the era, like An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Jurassic Park, the Back to the Future sequels, 1991 and 1996 reprints of The Land Before Time (and its first four sequels), Exo-Squad, Earthworm Jim, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, and Happy Gilmore (also makes a surprise appearance on its 2001 Universal Comedy Greats reprint).
• This made its first appearance on Back to the Future Part II, and also appears on a reprint of the original release.
• The logo continued to be used well into 1998 on some VHS releases, despite the 1997 Universal print logo appearing on their packaging. Some of the last releases using this logo include Liar Liar, The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie, The Chipmunk Adventure, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper: Spooky and Poil Meet the Monsters/Dead of the Class, A Christmas Peril/Three Ghosts and a Baby, Leave It to Beaver, and the Extended Edition VHS of Steven Spielberg's 1941.
• This also makes surprise appearances on the Canadian Cineplex Odeon VHS of Beyond the Law and the Canadian Alliance Releasing Home Video VHS releases of Lauderdale, Hellgate, Made in L.A., Playroom, Quest for Love, and The Emissary, among possible others.
• The black and white variant can be found on the 1991 VHS of To Kill a Mockingbird. It also appears before the Paramount logo on current Starz Encore Westerns airings of The Virginian (1929).
• This makes surprise appearances at the end of The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy documentary on the 2002 DVD and 2010/15/20 Blu-ray releases of Back to the Future Part III (as part of the trilogy sets from those respective years) and the beginning of The Making of Jurassic Park documentary on the 2000 Collector's Edition DVD of Jurassic Park. Both of these were likely sourced from Laserdisc masters (especially since the latter actually has the Laserdisc warning screen intact).
• Surprisingly, on a later VHS reprint of Fletch, the MCA/Universal logo and even the Universal Pictures logo in the film were both replaced with the 1997 logo.
• It is surprisingly retained at both the beginning and the end of all episodes of The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth on Peacock.

Editor's Note: The name on this logo became outdated in late 1996, as MCA ceased operations by that point, even more so when the movie division updated its logo several months later. Otherwise, this logo has decent animation for its time and is a favorite to those who grew up with it.

2nd Logo
(Summer 1990-1998)

Nicknames: "Airplane Passing Globe", "The Raining Filmstrips", "Rotating Globe", "90s Globe II", "MCA Globe II", "Morphing MCA Globe", "90s MCA Globe II", "From Classic to MCA Globe"

Logo: On a space background, we see the rotating globe in the 1930's style rotating. Coming from behind is an airplane passing over the globe, as usual, which flies through the screen, as the propeller becomes rainbow. Suddenly, rainbow filmstrips are seen falling over the logo before the nebula sky forming from filmstrips. Over the globe, while it changes into its 1990s style and in color, we see these words coming from the left and right sides of the screen (respectively) in their same corporate fonts:

MCΛ
UNIVERSAL

A few seconds later, as "MCA" and "UNIVERSAL" go into their positions in front of the globe, a red orange/yellow gradient fire flies through the screen, forming the words "HOME VIDEO" underneath, with a line above it and the globe stops rotating afterwards. When the logo forms, either the "®" symbol or the "™" symbol fades in on the bottom right of the screen.

Variants: There are four variations of this Logo:

• There is a version where the both the line and "HOME VIDEO" fade in as the comet flies through. This version was seen on the demo VHS of Bird on a Wire.
• There is a short version in which the airplane and filmstrips parts of the logo are cut out and begins with the words zooming and rotating in.
• There is a still version of the logo without music.
• On a promotional trailer for Matinee, the logo starts off in black-and-white, but turns color.

FX/SFX: Early 90's CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually the theme from whatever movie is being advertised, but the sound effects of the airplane are heard. Sometimes, it used a shortened version of the Universal theme (from that era). The trailer for the Back to the Future trilogy has the titular film's theme. On promotional VHS releases, a voiceover advertising upcoming releases is heard, with the Back to the Future theme underneath.

Availability: Uncommon. It was seen primarily on home video trailers and promotional VHS tapes at the time, as early as a demo tape for Bird on a Wire. The still version appeared on some trailers for The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth videos, especially the promotional trailers for demo VHS tapes of the show and on the In-School Lesson video of it. Also seen on the trailer for The Shadow. The short version can be found on the 1995 release of The Little Rascals.

Editor's Note: Once again, the name became outdated by the end of 1996. Plus, this is a pretty wasted effort, as it was mainly used for promotional releases.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

1st logo (1997-1998)

Nickname: "CGI Globe", "Still CGI Globe", "Boring CGI Globe", "Universal Pulling A Columbia TriStar"

Logo: Just a still picture of the 1996 Universal Pictures logo without the copyright info.

Trivia: This was used on the start-up page of the Universal Studios website in 1996 which can be viewed here.

Variant: A darker zoomed in version can be found on a home video trailer for the Hercules & Xena Video Collection on the 1998 VHS of Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie.

FX/SFX: None.

Availability: Rare. This can be found on Universal's earliest DVDs, such as Kindergarten Cop, Beethoven, Backdraft, Waterworld, Happy Gilmore, The Shadow, Twins, Parenthood, Timecop and The Nutty Professor. This can be also be found on the original DVD releases of Liar Liar and National Lampoon's Animal House, both of which were rereleased the same year on DVD as part of Universal's Collector's Edition series and would use the next logo.

Editor's Note: This is obviously a placeholder logo (a la the 1st, 2nd, and 7th logos of Columbia TriStar Home Video). Eventually, this was replaced by the movie logo, as seen below.

2nd Logo (1997-2012)

Nickname: "CGI Globe II", "Animated CGI Globe"

Logo: Only the 1997 Universal Pictures logo, except it zooms back a little.

Trivia: The logo does not appear on the 2006 DVD of Curious George, but can still be accessed by going to "Title 33" on the disc.

Variants:

• On UK releases (mainly from Right Entertainment, which were distributed by Universal), the logo has the Universal City Studios byline as well as the URL.
• An anamorphically enhanced widescreen version was created and used on all widescreen DVDs and some full screen DVDs of all pre-1997 Universal films. Strangely this isn't used on the 2002 2 Disc Limited Collector's Edition DVD of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial or the 2000 Collector's Edition DVD of Jurassic Park, likely due to those using their own variants of the 1997 Universal logo before the main menu. However, the 2003 "Double Secret Probation Edition" DVD of National Lampoon's Animal House still uses this while using its own variant before the main menu.
  • On the 2001 DVD of Rear Window, this variant is presented in the 1.66 aspect ratio of the movie.
  • Strangely, on the 2000 DVD of But I'm a Cheerleader, the logo is presented in 2.35, despite the movie being 1.85.
• The original 1997 fullscreen version of this logo is videotaped, while the 1999 versions are filmed.
• On Russian tapes, the normal Universal Pictures logo will play, and on the end, the Premier Multimedia logo (which consists of letters "PM", with "P" slightly bigger than the "M", with "ПРЕМЬЕР" (PREMIER) on the top, and "МУЛТИМЕДИА" (MULTIMEDIA) on bottom, and everything is inside a green box) moves like a filmstrip in the film projector, and one of the Premier Multimedia (Universal's Russian distributor) logos zooms in on the screen. From 1999-2002, it only zooms in through the Universal logo.
• Two non-anamorphic widescreen versions exist, respectively presented in the 1.77 and 1.85 aspect ratios.
  • The 1.77 version can be found on Universal DVDs distributed by Image Entertainment such as Firestarter, Sixteen Candles, Midnight Run, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie and Weird Science.
  • The 1.85 version can be found on the DVDs of The Breakfast Club, The Wiz, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors and the Collector's Editions of The Blues Brothers, 1941 and John Carpenter's The Thing.
  • A cut short version of the 1.85 variant can be found at the beginning of The Making of Jaws.
  • Surprisingly, this is used at the beginning of the documentary Beware the Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London.
• A cut short version can be found at the end of most "making of" documentaries for VHS and DVD. It was also used at the beginning of GoodTimes VHS editions of Universal films, such as Jaws: The Revenge, as well as Universal's own 1999 VHS of Torn Curtain.
• There is a variant of the short version where the URL "www.universalstudios.com/home" appears at the bottom. This was used on several "making-of" featurettes, such as The Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers and Duel: A Conversation with Steven Spielberg. The 1997 Universal Studios copyright may or may not appear in the bottom right. Surprisingly, the Conan Unleashed featurette on international DVD/Blu-ray releases of Conan the Barbarian from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment retain this variant at the end.
• At the end of the documentaries on DVDs from 2002-05, the logo appears already formed.
• A black and white version exists. This can be seen on some tapes of B&W movies, such as You're Telling Me!.

FX/SFX: Same as the Universal logo from 1997.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Universal logo from 1997.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes it has the opening theme.
• A silent version is used at the end of The Stories Behind The Making of The Blues Brothers, and at the start of a 2002 French VHS of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
  • This makes a strange appearance on Shania Twain: The Platinum Collection, except the full logo is used.
• At the beginning of Making An American Werewolf in London, the music is higher toned.
• On the short and documentary variants, the Universal Television theme is used.
• On Spotlight on Location: The Making of About a Boy, the closing theme plays over the logo.

Availability: Very common. This was used as the de-facto home video logo. Appears on many Universal and Focus Features releases, direct-to-video films, DVD versions of older, pre-1997 Universal movies, and made-for-TV family movies such as Balto III: Wings of Change, Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, The Land Before Time V-XIII, An American Tail sequels from The Treasure of Manhattan Island to Mystery of the Night Monster, LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers, the 1971-1982 Dr. Seuss/DFE animated specials, the Barbie direct-to-video films from Barbie of Swan Lake to Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2, Coraline, Despicable Me, and Hop, among others. The NBC Universal byline variant was seen on An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars. It also made a surprise appearance on the Australian DVD of U2: The Best of 1990-2000. This also made a surprise appearance on Pontoffel Rock, Where Are You? (Pontoffel Rock & His Magic Piano on later video releases) on the 2012 Warner Home Video Deluxe Edition of The Lorax, due to an oversight on Universal's part (the program is sourced from a 2003 master). Surprisingly, this appeared at the start of the Descriptive Video VHS of Shrek before the DreamWorks logo (at the time, Universal was a distributor of DreamWorks material).

Editor's Note: This logo began a long-running trend of Universal using their movie logo as their home entertainment logo. However, for some reason, none of these logos seem to have the phrase "PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT" on the bottom of the word "UNIVERSAL", which therefore creates confusion and causes many people to scratch their heads all the time.

Universal DVD

(April 28, 1998-March 26, 2002)

Nicknames: "CGI DVD Globe", "DVD Globe"

Logo: A series of clips from various Universal Studios-owned films plays (some were being recorded off a TV screen). Between clips, the animation of the 1997 Universal Studios logo is seen. The logo then finishes as normal, only the globe rises up and the DVD logo fades in underneath.

Trivia: This logo was used as an advertisement for Universal Studios Home Video DVD releases. However, in this version the titles of various films are shown to promote their releases.

Variant:

• The clips in the Universal sequence may differ depending on the country, year or brief period of time that the DVD was released in.
• On 2001 releases in the Alfred Hitchcock Collection, such as Rear Window, the footage is replaced with clips from Hitchcock's Universal-controlled movies, and at the end of the logo, a yellow light shines through.

FX/SFX: The flashes between the film clips and the Universal Studios logo and the fading in of the DVD logo.

Music/Sounds: A sample from "Ecosystem" by John Pratt and Michael Alemania.

Music/Sounds Variant: On Slap Shot: 25th Anniversary Special Edition (the last release to use this logo), sound effects from the movies are heard.

Availability: Can be seen on DVD releases by Universal Studios Home Video from the era.

• Some examples include The Little Rascals, Major Payne, Babe: Pig in the City, Winning, The Hurricane, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, Slap Shot: 25th Anniversary Special Edition, and the Collector's Editions of The Flintstones, the Jurassic Park trilogy, National Lampoon's Animal House, 1941, and Street Fighter.
• Strangely, this doesn't appear on the 1998-2001 DVDs of The Blues Brothers, Jaws, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Universal Studios Home Video Special Editions

(1998-1999)

Nicknames: "Special Edition Globe", "Filmstrip Globe"

Logo: A scene from an upcoming release of a film is shown and zooms out onto CGI-animation of a filmstrip. Another film strip appears and the text "SPECIAL" (on the left) and "EDITIONS" (on the right) appear with silver bars appear on the top and bottom of the filmstrip and the letters are spaced out. The 1997 Universal Studios logo appears in the center. A copyright for Universal Studios Home Video, Inc. appears underneath.

FX/SFX: The CGI-animation of the filmstrip and the appearing of the text and globe.

Music/Sounds: A male announcer (Jerry Houser) says "Universal Special Editions, add them all to your video collection."

Availability: Can be seen on special edition releases from Universal Studios Home Video, such as The Sting, American Graffiti, National Lampoon's Animal House, Field of Dreams, and The Blues Brothers.

Universal Studios Home Video Widescreen Edition

(1998)

Nicknames: "Widescreen Globe"

Logo: The 1997 Universal Studios logo appears and zooms out slightly onto a yellow background that has a flowing effect on it. The words "WIDESCREEN EDITION" are underneath the Universal Pictures logo and is in white.

FX/SFX: The zooming out of the Universal Pictures logo and the flowing background.

Music/Sounds: A male announcer says "The Universal Studios Home Video Widescreen Collection."

Availability: Like the Special Edition logo, it appears on Universal Widescreen Collection tapes, and also makes an appearance on Primary Colors.

Universal HD-DVD/Blu-ray Disc

(April 2006-March 2008 (HD-DVD); July 22, 2008-March 2012 (Blu-ray Disc))

Logo: Here are the variants used on HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc:

• HD-DVD: An updated edition of the 1997 logo. The logo plays normally but with updated animation and several dots coming out of the globe instead of streaks. At the end, the logo zooms back to reveal it is being reflected in a giant HD-DVD logo in the same space background. The logo shines.
• Blu-ray Disc: Same as above, except the "HD-DVD" logo is omitted.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1997 logo, except the end on the HD-DVD version.

Music/Sounds: The 1997 Universal fanfare.

Availability: Seen on Universal HD-DVDs and Blu-rays from the eras.

Final Note: Beginning with the release of Safe House (released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 5, 2012), all Universal DVDs and Blu-rays (except for Neon releases) began using the 2012-present theatrical logo as a de-facto home video logo.

Other

For related logos and images, See: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/Other