National Amusements

Background

National Amusements is an American cinema chain founded in 1936 by Michael Redstone. They bought out Viacom in 1986 following the founder's son, Sumner Redstone, arriving in the company. They made big purchases, including Paramount Pictures, and merging into CBS. However, in 2005, due to a stagnating stock price (among other factors, such as the infamous 2004 halftime show), NA decided to split Viacom into two companies. One retaining the Viacom name, owning the bigger companies, while the other part retained its pre-merger name, CBS Corporation, having the lesser companies. Financial troubles in 2008 caused them to sell off lots of stock and closing down locations. They merged Viacom and CBS back together in 2019 to form ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global). Sumner Redstone also died in 2020. The company is still around today, operating around 1,500 locations in different countries, although they focus more on other brands for them.

1st Logo (1980s-1995)

Logo: On a black background, many triangular shapes of different sizes rotate and slide in. The camera pans over them as they settle into a backwards, segmented "N", with the negative space being occupied by corresponding shapes. The camera then pans up to reveal the logo again, but in gold and facing forwards. Below it is "NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS" stacked while "FEATURE PRESENTATION" fades in below.

Variant: One that has "Coming Attractions" exists.

FX/SFX: The shapes sliding in, the camera panning.

Music/Sounds: A proud synth fanfare.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1995-2000)

Logo: TBA.

Variant: One that has "Coming Attractions" exists.

FX/SFX: A little bit of everything. These were top-notch CGI effects for the time.

Music/Sounds: Depends on the variant:

1995-1998: A Seinfeld-esque synth theme with comedic effects. The whole thing ends in a rather epic way at the end of it.
1998-2000: A Madonna-like generic synth theme.

Availability: Extinct in theaters.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1999-2010)

Logo: On a black background, we see a very bright light shine. The light dims down, revealing a cloudy red/blue swirl background. A dot is seen at the centre of the screen. More dots begin to appear as the camera begins to rotate to the right. The dots illuminate like spotlights and begin to take on the form of a cinema screen-like shape. The screen moves completely offscreen as the lights form the "N" logo from before, this time in a gold colour. "NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS" and "FEATURE PRESENTATION" appear below in the same colour.

FX/SFX: A lens flare and rather basic CGI effects.

Music/Sounds: A futuristic synth theme with space sounds.

Availability: Extinct in theaters. This logo was also only seen for the longest time from a bootleg camrip of Step Up 2: The Streets.

Editor's Note: None.

Final Note: National Amusements still exists, but their theater output is focused on their Showcase brand.