Lionsgate Films

Background: Named after a Vancouver landmark, the Lions' Gate Bridge (officially known as the "First Narrows Bridge"), Lions Gate Films (as of 2005, written as "Lionsgate") is a North American film production/distribution studio that was founded on January 12, 1998 by Frank Giustra. It was formerly known as "Cinépix Film Properties, Inc. (CFP)". It is currently a film division of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation.

1st Logo (1997-2000)

Nickname: "The Constellation"

Logo: On a black background, several stars join together at the right of the screen to form the constellation of the lion. As this happens, a stylized white drawing of a lion standing on its hind legs and looking to the right (in a heraldric "lion rampant" pose) fades in. "LIONS GATE" fades in the Bernhard Modern font, then "FILMS" and "PRESENTS".

Variant: On the trailer for Buffalo '66, it doesn't have the word "PRESENTS".

FX/SFX: The stars forming the constellation.

Cheesy Factor: Too cheesy by late 90's standards; the animation is too simple and why does "LIONS GATE" fade in before "FILMS"?

Music/Sounds: A majestic synth fanfare coupled with whooshing and shining sounds.

Availability: Seen on films of the era such as Stardom, Metroland, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Also seen on the trailers for Buffalo '66. This surprisingly appeared on the teaser of The Rules of Attraction.

Scare Factor: Low.

2nd logo (1998-2004)

Nicknames: "The Comets", "The Shining Constellation", "Leo in Space"

Logo: Against a dark blue starfield background, several stars swirl around to form the lion logo from before, which zooms out. Some more stars that turn from white to gold zoom-out and arrange themselves on the logo, and the words "LIONS GATE FILMS", in gold, flash in at the top right of the lion. A burst of light wipes in a white line with the byline "A LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" underneath it. The words sparkle a bit.

Variants:
 * It is either filmed or videotaped.

FX/SFX: The stars and sparkling.
 * On an international video trailer for Perfume, "INTERNATIONAL is placed in between "FILMS" and the byline.
 * Starting in 2003, "AMEX: LGF" appears underneath the byline ("AMEX" as in the "American Stock Exchange", not the "American Express").

Cheesy Factor: The text in "LIONS GATE FILMS" mixes-and-matches typefaces to no good effect; "LIONS" and "FILMS" are set in Bernhard Modern, and "GATE" is set in ITC Garamond. This sticks out very much.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo. Sometimes, it is silent or has the film's opening theme.

Availability: Common. Seen on Lions Gate films from the period. Don't expect this to appear films merely released by them such as O and Lantana.

Scare Factor: Low.

3rd logo (2004-2005)

Nickname: "LGF"

Logo: Against a dark sky with clouds and thunder, the letters "LGF", followed by "LIONS GATE FILMS" below, appear in a "flashing" effect. It zooms forth, and the Lions Gate byline from before gets wiped in from left to right.

Variants: FX/SFX: The clouds, thunder, and "LGF" appearing.
 * On some films, the logo is tinted green.
 * A print logo is used at the end of many films (same type for the previous logo).
 * on the punisher, the background turns red and the LGF, byline and text turn black and pages from the marvel logo flips until the marvel logo zooms and the background turns black and then the letters get punished.

Music/Sounds: Usually silent, but some films use thunderclap sounds with the sound of a sword being drawn and hitting another sword.

Availability: Uncommon. Can be seen on films such as The Punisher, Search for Bobby Long, and Saw. This also plasters the Kings Road Entertainment logo on the current releases of Kickboxer III: The Art of War (including the double feature DVD release with Kickboxer IV).

Scare Factor: Low to medium, due to the darkness, thunderclap, and sudden appearance of the logo.

4th logo (2005)

Nickname: "LGF II"

Logo: We see the black letters "LGF" with "LIONS GATE FILMS" below (all separated by two lines). The blue light spot passes on a background. Suddenly the words switch to blue, and background fades to black. The logo zooms in. Then the light streak draws the same byline as in the previous logo.

FX/SFX: Various light effects.

Music/Sounds: First we can hear the whoosh, then the vibration sounds, and finally the streak drawing.

Availability: Extremely rare. This was only used for a very short time. Can be found on In the Mix and Undiscovered.

Scare Factor: Low.

5th logo (2005-2013)

Nicknames: "The Lions Gate Sky", "Lionsgate Hero", "The Lions' Gates"

Logo: We fade in close to several gears and zoom out to a view of them rotating in a large Art Deco-inspired chamber. The camera then zooms all the way back and out through a keyhole, revealing an enormous pair of doors, with the company's "lion rampant" logo on both of them (intended to evoke its heraldry-inspired appearance) and a geometric pattern as well. The doors open and we see the name "LIONSGATE", now written as one word and with a metallic texture, over a heavenly sky background with clouds surrounding it.

Trivia: This logo was designed at DevaStudios, Inc.

Variants: FX/SFX: The animation of the gears and doors.
 * There is a version which appears on horror and action films (basically, wherever a "rugged" appearance is desired), where the gears and doors are rusted, and the "LIONSGATE" text appears over a hellish red sky, showing more wear than it does in the standard version. This version is known as "Lionsgate Horror".
 * On current prints of Star Kid, the logo plasters the Trimark Pictures logo and is sped up to accommodate the length of the original logo. The film's opening music is left intact.
 * The print version with black text on a white background is used on The Expendables 2 and Reservoir Dogsvideo games.
 * A shorter version starting from the zoom out through the keyhole has been seen.

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare (which takes cues from Danny Elfman's Batman theme) for the standard version. The horror version has the sounds of the gears cranking and door creaking, alongside sounds resembling a heartbeat and moaning. The short version uses mechanical noises. On rare occasions, both versions are silent or have the film's opening theme playing over them.

Availability: Common. The standard version can be seen on titles such as Akeelah and the Bee, the Tyler Perry film series, Employee of the Month, and releases from Pantelion Pictures, among others. The horror version can be seen on the Saw films starting with Saw II, The Descent, and action films such as The Expendables, among others. The short version was seen at the beginning of one of the Marvel DTV features, The Invincible Iron Man. The first film to use the "Heaven" variant is the Sundance Film Festival premiere of Hard Candy, and the last film to use this logo before the next logo was introduced was The Big Wedding. The "Horror" variant debuted on Saw II and was last seen on Texas Chainsaw 3D. It also plasters other companies logos on its titles released by Lionsgate, such as films formerly distributed by Trimark Pictures.

Scare Factor:It depends on the version shown. The standard version is low and is a favorite amongst users, but the horror version is medium to high due to the surprisingly reddish background and sounds (though it is meant to be unsettling).

6th logo (2013-)

Nicknames: "The Lions Gate Sky II", "Lionsgate Hero II", "The Constellation Returns", "The Return of the Constellation"

Logo: We see the horizon of the earth surrounded by clouds as it zooms away from us. Stars fly past us as they form a lion constellation based on the first two logos. As soon as the constellation forms, it is seen reflected on "S" of "LIONSGATE" in 3-D lettering as the word flies past through the clouds from the fifth logo. A light shines through the "S" and the "G" as the name is revealed in a deep blue. The clouds fade away and the light does the same after a few seconds before fading to black.

Variant: On Wonder, the logo is faster than usual.

Trivia: Like the previous logo, this was also designed by DevaStudios, Inc.

FX/SFX: Stunning CGI!

Music/Sounds: A triumphant fanfare. Like the last logo, sometimes it is silent or has the film's opening theme heard over it.

Availability: Common. First seen on the teaser for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The full logo debuted on the wide release of Mud (the TIFF release had the previous logo), and can be seen on newer Lionsgate films released after that.

Scare Factor: None.