Finnkino

Background

Finnkino Oy is a Finnish film distributor and the biggest cinema chain in Finland. It was established in 1986 as a union of 34 companies working in the film industry. In 1994, Finnkino was acquired by the Rautakirja Group, which became a division of the Sanoma Group in 1999. Finnkino operates a total of 15 cinemas in eleven cities. It also has subsidiaries in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, operated under the names of Forum Cinemas and Forum Distribution. In early 2017, Finnkino and other Scandinavian and Baltic cinema chains were acquired by AMC Theatres.

1st Logo (1986-1995)

Nicknames: "The Kino Globe", "Traces Of Man", "Finnkino's Blue Period", "The Blue K"

Logo: On a dark blue background, the 1st Finnkino logo can be seen, which is 1/3rd of a circle and a hemisphere combined to form a "K", both in a blue color. It then slowly revolves around once, giving off traces of a globe on both sides. As it finishes its revolution, "FINNKINO" fades in below.

Variant: An alternate version exists with a black background and circle and the hemisphere colored yellow.

FX/SFX: The revolution, the streaks in the globe. Looks like it was made with early CGI.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy synth-chime tune.

Availability: Scarce. Quite many VHS tapes distributed by Finnkino from this time period have the original, blue variant. The black and yellow variant is found on a couple of theatrical films at the time such as The Winter War, and it is seen in the VHS reprint from 2001 despite the existence of the 3rd logo in it.

Editor's Note: This is an amazing logo with great animation and beautiful music.

2nd Logo (1994-1998)

Nicknames: "The Ringed F", "Howling Burning Space Ballerinas", "Ballet of Hell", "The Surrealistic Finnish Movie Experience"

Logo: On a space background, a rotating planet gets revealed by light. It then converts into a creature's eye with 2 ballet dancers jumping up. The eye then converts back to the planet before the ballet dancers become dust and fly away. The current Finnkino logo, which is a circle with the letter "f" in it, appears in red, along with the text "FINNKINO" stacked on each other being briefly seen. The planet and stars disappear, as the logo appears.

FX/SFX: Some neat CGI, with the ballet dancers being live-action and chroma-keyed over the logo.

Music/Sounds: A very dramatic string theme with a wolf howling through the middle, and a loud "DING!" when the Finnkino logo appears.

Availability: Very rare due to its short time period.

Editor's Note: This logo may creep some people out.

3rd Logo (1999-2010)

Nicknames: "The Ringed F II", "The Yellow Ring"

Logo: On a black background, a blue streak revolves and forms a silver ring. It then starts to rotate up as another streak forms another silver ring. As this happens, the space between the rings turns orange and an orange streak forms the "f" with a spotlight revolving around it. The "f" then shines, inverting the color placement and giving off a glow. "F I N N K I N O" then appears below and shines.

FX/SFX: Bright special effects on the yellow ring logo and highly detailed letters. Great CGI.

Music/Sounds: An ominous soundtrack with electrical sounds throughout the logo and a drum roll at the end.

Availability: Originally very common at its time, but has since then become slowly uncommon.

Editor's Note: The CGI is nice and slow, and the music definitely fits in.

4th Logo (2010-)

Nicknames: "The Ringed F III", "The Simple Ring", "Flashing Camera Lens", "Finnkino Illuminates Your Path"

Logo: On a completely black background, we see a glimpse of a straight film roll moving forward on the right side with lighting seen on the back of the roll. The film roll disappears to the darkness for a second, only to be seen fully, forming a camera lens edge. The film roll keeps rotating around it as we can see the glow of the lens formed with dark green background barely seen. Inside the camera lens, we can see the "f" fading slowly in, causing quick flashing while illuminating the entire background around the logo. The sudden impact releases series of green waves from the logo, which makes the "F I N N K I N O" become more visible below the logo. The bright flashing effect breaks in two opposite directions on the text and bursts out of it as gold dust. The logo also becomes more visible with edges and the "f" colored yellow and the base colored black. At the same time, green waves coming from the logo get absorbed into the dark green background.

Variants: A pair of variants include one with a 4:3 standard ratio and a separate letterboxed variant with the same aspect ratio.

FX/SFX: The straight film roll, the camera lens, the green background, the flashing logo, and the text with flashing effect and golden dust. Splendid animation all around!

Music/Sounds: Dramatic and mystical orchestral music, that becomes more optimistic-sounding after the loud impact sound caused by the flashing logo.

Availability: Current. Seen on every film since its debut.

Editor's Note: Another lovely logo from Finnkino; the CGI is very nice and is quite creative.

Cinema Logos

Note: The following logos are/were only presented in theaters owned by the company.

1st Logo (June 15, 2012-June 2013)

Nicknames: "The Ringed F IV", "The Golden F", "Computed Theaters", "The Flying Numbers"

Logo: We have a large chunk of solid 1's and 0's moving around like nanobots on a black background. Gray flair can be seen around when the nanobots get separate and form red cinema chairs and a floating popcorn pack with the rest of them lying on the ground. The camera pans on the popcorn pack, as they scatter and fly to the other side of the room and form a Hollywood sign and replica of the Jussi Awards statue in front of it. We then see them scattering and flying to the left side, as the camera follows them forming a couple of Finnkino cinema tickets. The camera quickly rotates around the thing, as the nanobots then scatter again and form the company logo, which becomes solid as it comes for a better view. We also see letters being formed below the logo stating "AINUTLAATUINEN.", then "DIGITAALINEN." and then flip around to view "FINNKINO".

FX/SFX: Stunning CGI animation all around with a perfect concept to boot.

Music/Sounds: A low humming sound, with sounds of the numbers rubbing against each other.

Availability: Extinct. Seen in Finnish theaters owned by the cinema chain at the time.

Editor's Note: A well-done logo.

2nd Logo (June 2013-)

Nicknames: "The Ringed F V", "The Primitive F"

Logo: We see the company logo with a yellow five-pointed star outline around the stylized "f", dashing slightly sideways and turning to a better view. "AINUTLAATUINEN" wipes in below the flashing logo, as it then forms into a speech bubble with three smaller ones seen behind it, the stylized "f" remaining in it and the word is changed to "PUHUTTELEVA". The logo then changes with smaller speech bubbles hiding behind the main one, as outlines around the bubble cut off, forming the rings of Saturn around the Finnkino logo with the word now changed to "VALTAKUNNALLINEN". A yellow rocket is seen flying around the logo before the Saturn rings merge back to the round logo, which then becomes a map marker used in Google Maps with a couple of its clones landing behind it and the word changed to "PAIKALLINEN". The logo then becomes a yellow gun sight moving drastically around the "f" with the word wiped to one stating "KOHDENNETTAVA". The gunsight settles down to its original position and changes to a pumping heart with the word changed to "VAIKUTTAVA". The heart then changes into the company logo with the word "ELOKUVAMEDIA" seen below before it becomes "FINNKINO MEDIA".

FX/SFX: 2D animations of the logo and the text, with minor lightning effects, and the 3D rocket.

Music/Sounds: A low ambient tune with the regular sounds of the subdued whoosh, rocket dashing, a plunk, the gun sight moving, and the heart pumping heard respectively.

Availability: Current.

Editor's Note: Not as amazing as the previous logo due to the corporate aesthetics, but it's understandable as Finnkino wanted to modernize itself with the more simplistic-looking design trends of today.