- 1984 Private Defense Contractors
- 21 Laps Entertainment
- 3 In The Box
- 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
- A Band Apart
- Access Motion Picture Group
- Action Adventure Network
- Allan Carr Productions
- All Pro Productions
- Alfred Higgins Productions
- Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
- American Cinema Marketing
- American Eagle Films Corporation
- Amsell Entertainment
- Analysis Film Corporation
- Anonymous Content
- Apatow Productions
- Apollo Pictures Inc.
- Apparition
- Aquarius Releasing
- Arc Entertainment
- Arista Films
- Arman Julian Productions
- Arrow Film & Video
- Arthur Sarkissian Productions
- Ascendant Pictures
- Astor Pictures Corporation
- Atlantic Streamline
- Atlas Entertainment
- Atmosphere Pictures
- August Entertainment
- Autonomous Films
- Avenue Pictures
- Aviron Pictures
- Bad Robot Pictures
- Barnholtz Entertainment
- Batjac Productions
- Battleplan Productions
- Bauer Martinez Studios
- Beacon Group
- Blake Edwards Entertainment
- Bless Bless Productions
- Blind Wink
- Blinding Edge Pictures
- Bloody Earth Films
- Blue Moon Productions
- Blumhouse Productions
- Boxing Cat Films
- Bregman/Baer Productions Inc.
- Brain Damage Films
- Bruce Cohn Productions
- Brooklyn Films
- The Bubble Factory
- Caballero Entertainment
- Cal Vista International
- The Canton Company
- Carsey-Werner Films
- Centropolis Entertainment
- Channel 83 Films
- Cheyenne Enterprises
- Chicago Pictures
- Cinema Shares International Distribution
- Cinemation Industries
- Cineville
- Clarius Entertainment
- Color Force
- Commercial Pictures
- Cougnar Productions Inc.
- Cow Creek Films
- Crown International Pictures
- Cross Creek Pictures
- Cruise/Wagner Productions
- Cube Vision
- D'Souza Media
- Dark Fall Productions
- Darko Entertainment
- Dead Alive Productions
- Denver & Delilah Productions
- Depth Entertainment
- Distributors Corporation of America
- DMG Entertainment (See countries)
- Dog Eat Dog Films
- Dog Eat Dog Productions
- The Donners' Company
- Dream Entertainment
- Edward Small Productions
- Electric Entertainment
- Electric Pictures
- Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films
- Endgame Entertainment
- Enoki Films USA
- Epsilon Motion Pictures
- Erry Vision Films
- Escape Artists
- Everyman Pictures
- F/M Entertainment
- Fairway International Pictures
- Favorite Films Corporation
- Film-Makers International Releasing Company, Inc.
- The Filmgroup
- FilmColony
- Fine Arts Pictures
- Friesen/Meyer Productions
- Garson Productions
- Gary Sanchez Productions
- General Film Corporation
- GGRC International
- Ghost House Pictures
- Gibraltar Releasing Organization
- Gigapix Studios
- Glass Eye Pix
- Gold Circle Films
- Golden Films
- Golden Path Entertainment
- Graphic Films Corporation
- Grand Am
- Grand National Pictures
- Green Diamond Entertainment
- Green Hat Films
- GreeneStreet Films
- Grindhouse Releasing
- Groundswell Productions
- The Halcyon Company
- Halcyon Days Productions
- Harpo Films
- Hart Sharp Entertainment
- Hemisphere
- Herts-Lion International
- Highland Park Classics
- Hi Point Pictures
- Hollywood Media Bridge
- HSX Films
- Hybrid LLC
- Hyde Park Entertainment
- Independent-International Pictures Corporation
- Indian Paintbrush
- Inter-Ocean Films
- The International Picture Show Company
- International Spectrafilm
- International Vision Inc.
- Intrepid Pictures
- I.R.S. Releasing
- Jack Russell Film Productions
- Janus Films
- Joseph Green Pictures
- Juniper Releasing
- Kanbar Entertainment
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- The Kennedy/Marshall Company
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- Kings Road Entertainment
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- Lot 47 Films
- Major League Baseball Productions
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- Pull Down Your Pants Pictures
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- Pyramid Films
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- Red Hour Productions
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- Seven Arts International (See countries)
- Seymour Borde and Associates
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- Shock Film Company
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- Starbucks Entertainment
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- Zombastic Productions, Inc.
- Zucker Brothers Productions
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ABC Motion Pictures
Nicholas Aczel
Captures by
TangoWhiskeyDelta
Editions by
VofDoom, universalxdisney172, indycar, and Donny Pearson
Video captures courtesy of
ifrequire, Xpk951Logos and Peakpasha
Background
ABC returned to theatrical film production in May 1979 as ABC Motion Pictures; it was incorporated by June 11, 1980.[1] ABC Motion Pictures was a boutique production company, and only made a few theatrical films a year. The studio's films were released by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation (now 20th Century Studios). The studio's president was Brandon Stoddard, who figured that ABC would succeed in movie production as there were additional revenue sources from VHS and cable on top of theater ticket and broadcast TV sales.[2]
The studio didn't start production on its first slate of three films until two years after its formation. Although it mainly made films, it also produced TV movies, series and mini-series. One of the studio's films, The Flamingo Kid, was pulled from release by Fox so the company could stop spending money on advertising, despite the movie doing well.[3]
With networks getting better ratings for their own movies of the week over films released by cable and cassettes, they reduced licensing of theatrical films. Additional boutique production companies entered the market at the same time, crowding the market and increasing filming costs. With films distributed by a major studio, ABC's films were slotted in less desirable release dates.
ABC shut down the studio's theatrical motion picture operation on October 28, 1985, after the release of only 6 theatrical films[4]; the move came within weeks of rival CBS shutting down CBS Theatrical Films. The unit released one more movie, SpaceCamp, already produced in the summer of 1985.[5] ABC continued producing TV movies and mini-series while increasing TV series output through ABC Circle Films. A Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation media analyst forecast ABC's losses on its theatrical operations for 1985 to be $5 million.[6] The company elected to terminate its agreement with Mercury Entertainment in March 1986.[7]
The Walt Disney Company owns the rights to the ABC Motion Pictures library (and currently own the library through 20th Century Studios after that company was brought by Disney in 2019). Disney has licensed the home media rights to Kino Lorber Films, after being previously licensed to Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Image Entertainment, Anchor Bay, and MGM Home Entertainment.
Logo (October 29, 1982-June 6, 1986)
Visuals: On a black background, some moving shots of sparkling transparent crystals are shown. Then a crystal "T" slowly zooms backwards, and more letters are revealed. Finally, when the words
MOTION
PICTURES
all appear in sparkling crystal, the logo stops in the middle of the screen.
Trivia: The logo was designed by Universal Hartland Visual Effects in North Hollywood, which also created special effects work for the original Battlestar Galactica series. According to studio employee Kenneth A. Larson: "The letters were made from highly polished faceted jewel-like glass crystal. They were glued to a plate of glass. No one knows how to attach them without bubbles showing. A fellow employee came up with a solution and this logo was shot on a Hartland stage."
Technique: Live-action.
Audio: A lush synth orchestral fanfare with twinkles. Sometimes it is silent. On some co-produced films, a more generic theme was used.
Availability:
- It was seen on films produced by the company, such as SpaceCamp, Prizzi's Honor, Young Doctors in Love, and the international cut of The Day After (which was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment in the 1980s and laserdisc by Image Entertainment in 1995; the U.S. broadcast print was released by ABC's Summa Video label in 1995).
- Most releases of their films put out by Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video and Anchor Bay Entertainment have this logo intact, but DVD releases by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios have it removed and/or plastered with the 2001 MGM logo.
- This and the 1981 20th Century Fox logos are retained on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray releases of Prizzi's Honor, The Flamingo Kid, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Impulse, and Young Doctors in Love.
- This logo was also seen on international prints of some ABC TV movies, including Who Will Love My Children? and The Day After.
References
- ↑ https://appext20.dos.ny.gov/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_nameid=713902&p_corpid=632661&p_entity_name=ABC%20Motion%20Pictures&p_name_type=%25&p_search_type=BEGINS&p_srch_results_page=0
- ↑ https://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-11-21/features/8503200730_1_abc-motion-pictures-movie-boutiques
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/29/business/abc-discontinues-movie-operations.html
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/29/business/abc-discontinues-movie-operations.html
- ↑ https://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-13/entertainment/ca-5454_1_abc-entertainment
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/29/business/abc-discontinues-movie-operations.html
- ↑ "Mercury, ABC Pics Terminate Contract". Variety. 1986-03-05. p. 4.
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