Lionsgate Home Entertainment (Warning Screens)
North America
1st Warning (1980-1984)
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Warning: On a black background, we see a reddish-white box with another white box, reading "FBI," inside it. Next to it is "WARNING" and the warning text.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Extremely rare. Originally seen on Caballero Control Corporation Home Video porn releases, like the original VHS releases of Sensations and Insatiable. It was also seen on a Family Home Entertainment VHS of Les Miserables.
2nd Warning (1981-1982)
Warning: We see a white outline box, with a white filled box with "FBI" in black. Below it is a black box, with the word "WARNING" in red, which blinks on and off, and below it is the following text in white:
this copyright material without prior
licensing is forbidden by federal law.
Violators may be subject to cival and/or
criminal penalties.
Variants:
- Early tapes with this logo had slightly different warning text that was capped off with the copyright year and was in all caps. It's also more compressed to make room for "CABALLERO CONTROL CORPORATION" at the bottom of the black box. The text above it says:
THIS COPYRIGHT MATERIAL WITHOUT PRIOR
LICENSING IS FORBIDDEN BY FEDERAL LAW.
VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. COPY.
RIGHT ©1983.
Also, "WARNING" blinks at a faster rate and blinked 23 times as it is done fading out.
- On U.S.A. Home Video releases, the warning screen splits into quarters, which exit to all four sides of the screen. It then segues into the U.S.A. Home Video logo.
- Later Monterey tapes with this warning screen had this split in half at the end and the two halves move toward the left and right edges of the screen to make room for the Monterey Home Video logo.
- On some prints of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, the word "WARNING" text is strangely deleted.
- A still version of this was spotted on Monster Madness Volume 1.
- A variant exists where the word "WARNING" isn't blinking, the text is all set in Times New Roman font and fades in and out smoothly. This variant appeared on Palm Beach Entertainment releases.
- On King Bee Video tapes, the word "WARNING" isn't blinking, and the background is blue, except the box.
Technique: Computer animation.
Music/Sounds: None.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- On the U.S.A. Home Video variant, after 7 seconds of silence we hear a loud synthesizer blare that segues into the U.S.A. Home Video logo theme.
- On Magnum Entertainment releases, the first second of the logo theme begins at this warning's final second.
Availability: This warning screen was first seen on most FHE/USA/IVE releases from 1983-1988. It has also appeared on various other companies' tapes too, some of them not affiliated with IVE, FHE, or USA (i.e: Tenth Avenue Video, Magnum Entertainment, V.E.C., VCA Pictures, and Classic Family Entertainment). The warning remained on FHE releases until 1990 and can also be seen on early King Bee tapes. It is also seen on tapes from Caballero, especially the earlier variant, which can also be seen on the Monterey Home Video release of Deadly Games, among possible others. However, later prints have the normal version instead. The variant with the Times New Roman font appeared on Palm Beach Entertainment releases from the mid '90s.
3rd Warning (October 6, 1988-2003?)
Warning: We see the word "WARNING" in red, and in 3D. Below it is the warning text in white, and in italics.
Variants:
- On some tapes, the top text is changed to "FBI WARNING".
- Some IVE and Live Home Video releases, as well as Vidmark Entertainment releases, have a gap between the two sentences, as well as smoother text.
- The 2003 Extreme Edition DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day has the whole text in 2D.
- Disc 2 places this variant over a blue electric field.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None, though the first Vidmark releases to use this warning had the warning text read by a voiceover.
Availability: This warning screen is currently present on all late IVE, Live, Artisan, FHE, and Lionsgate releases. On VHS and LaserDisc releases, it is usually at the beginning; whereas on DVDs it is usually after the film. Also appears on later Vestron Video releases after Live Entertainment acquired Vestron. Also seen on Pioneer Entertainment, C/FP Video, Cineglobe Video, Palladium Books, and Vidmark Entertainment releases as well. The warning appeared later on FHE releases in 1990 and on Baby Einstein VHS tapes from 2000 to 2002.
4th Warning (June 17, 1997-October 11, 2005)
Warning: Same as the Canadian Warner Home Video warning scroll, except the background is dark red-pink gradient and the text is slightly thinner.
Variant: On the 2003 Extreme Edition DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the text is in a different font and does not scroll, no French translation is used, and the background differs by disc as well:
- Disc 1: An orange-black gradient that runs in a different direction
- Disc 2: The same electric field as the Disc 2 variant of the second warning.
Technique: Computer animation.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen at the end of all Live and a lot of Artisan DVDs (the exceptions being Out of Sync, Dummy, the original release of The Last Unicorn, and Bluehill Avenue, which only show one warning screen), such as Cutthroat Island, Critical Care, the original releases of The Return of the Pink Panther and Capricorn One, Basic Instinct, Bad Lieutenant, Dark Command, The Doors, Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Ultimate Edition, The Stand, Wishmaster, Made, The Center of the World, Cujo, Jesus of Nazareth, Boat Trip, Noah's Ark (1999), Merlin, Pi, Suicide Kings, Hamburger Hill, the first volume of Speed Racer, Joan of Arc (1999), Startup.com, The Miracle Maker, Lock Up, Dr. T and the Women, Permanent Midnight, The Langoliers, The Miracle Maker, Lock Up, Dr. T and the Women, The Jazz Singer (1980), Knight Moves, Requiem for a Dream, and Drop Dead Fred. It was also used on some Lionsgate DVDs, such as Saw and The Punisher (2004), and the 2005 UMDs of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and High Tension.
5th Warning (1999-2000)
Warning: On a black background, we see the text "INTERPOL WARNING" and the standard warning text below.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on reprints of Stickin' Around tapes (the ones that use the Lions Gate Home Entertainment logo with music from the Avalanche Home Entertainment logo in place of the Cinepix logo).
6th Warning (2003-2012)
Warning: We see the white text "WARNING" in a smaller font than in the 1988 screen, below it is the same text from the aforementioned screen.
Variants:
- In the end of some Blu-Ray's, the text is in a different font. It is also used at the end for some Magnolia Home Entertainment DVDs.
- On some Blu-Ray's the warning also has a customized variant and alternate font from the movie. Examples include;
- In the 2006 Blu-Ray of Terminator: Judgement Day, the warning appears over a background of a Terminator.
- In the 2006 Blu-Ray of Total Recall, the warning appears over a background of a scene of Douglas Quaid (portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger).
- In the 2006 Blu-Ray of The Devil's Rejects, the warning is on a blood, over a light red background.
- In the 2008 Blu-Ray of The Eye, the warning appears on a green background next to the main character, Sydney Wells (portrayed by Jessica Alba).
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on all Lionsgate Home Entertainment releases until late 2012, such as the 2006 DVD release of Employee of the Month, the 2007 DVD release The Invincible Iron Man, and the 2009 DVD release of My Bloody Valentine. French-language Lionsgate releases use the Astral Video warning screen instead. Starting in late 2012, Lionsgate used the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning screens from other studios.
7th Warning (2009-)
Warning: On a black background with Lionsgate logos, we see the strange word "WARNING" colored white along with white warning text.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Common. It mostly appears at the end of Lionsgate Blu-Ray's. Until 2012, this was the only warning seen on the disc.
8th Warning (2012-)
Warning: Same as the other companies warning screens at this time.
Variants:
- On Blu-Ray releases of The Hunger Games sequels, it uses a custom variant, with an alternate font and text, and placed on either a red background (Catching Fire), or a blue background (Mockingjay).
- The Blu-Ray of Ender's Game also uses a custom variant, with a different font and background.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None
Availability: Current.
- Seen on most Lionsgate Blu-Ray's and DVDs, along with Ultra HD Blu-Ray's such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the Divergent films, John Wick, Sicario, The Expendables 3, and Knives Out, among others.
- On some films such as Fear of Rain and Draft Day, these screens are shown after the film.
United Kingdom
(2011-)
Warning: We see the warning text in a plain white Calibri Bold font.
Variant: Post-2019 releases have the text in a Helvetica Condensed font.
Technique: None.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Current. Appears on all UK DVDs that were released by Lionsgate, and on some U.S. Blu-Rays as a hidden file. It's more common on more recent releases, such as Wonder, Fighting With My Family, The Hitman's Bodyguard, My Little Pony: The Movie, the third and fourth Hunger Games films and Valerian: the City of a Thousand Planets among others. Also seen on Ratchet & Clank, which is actually a Gramercy Pictures film.
