Village Roadshow Pictures

Background

Village Roadshow Pictures is an American co-producer and co-financier of major Hollywood motion pictures, established in 1986. It is the American division of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is a subsidiary of Australian company Village Roadshow (parent of Roadshow Entertainment and Roadshow Films). It has produced over 100 films since its establishment, including co-productions with Warner Bros. (though co-productions with other major studios are not unheard of). Village Roadshow Pictures self-distributes its film entertainment through affiliates in several territories around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (the latter through Golden Village).

1st Logo (December 5, 1985-June 30, 1992)

Nicknames: "V of Gold", "Aussie V of Doom", "The Disappearing Byline"

Logo: Same as the Roadshow Films logo at the time, but the "V" is a darker shade of gold, the text "VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES" is farther from the "V" and the lasers don't form "VILLAGE ROADSHOW CORPORATION" and disappear instead.

Variant: A still version exists.

FX/SFX: Same as the Roadshow Films logo, minus the lasers forming the text. None for the still version.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Roadshow Films logo, otherwise either silence or the opening theme of the trailer. When run at 24 frames per second, the pitch is lower as opposed to PAL sped-up.

Availability: Extremely rare.

The still version was seen on trailers for Over the Hill (1992; can be found on the UK VHS of Strictly Ballroom) and Blood Oath (1990; can be found on the Australian VHS of The Fabulous Baker Boys).
The full version (without music) has been spotted on a Stan HD print of The Delinquents (1989), while the Australian DVD has the 1998 logo in its place.
A version in 4:3 with the jingle appears on the 1990 UK Warner Home Video VHS of the former.

Editor's Note: This logo was generally hard to find for the longest time, as most films VRP produced at the time did not use this logo and usually had the logo for the film's distributor. It wasn't until Stan HD's print of The Delinquents popped up, confirming what the logo was like. However, with the logo's discovery, many have found the inclusion of the lasers extremely pointless, given there is no text for it to form.

2nd Logo (March 8, 1992-July 1, 2000, April 10, 2003, September 14, 2007)

Nicknames: "The Other V of Steel", "V of Heaven", "Aussie V of Steel"

Logo: Same as the Roadshow Films logo of the time, but with "VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES" underneath the "V".

Variants:

This logo can be cut short or still for TV shows and mini-series.
There is a variation where it removes "PICTURES".
The TV version might have the text "A VILLAGE ROADSHOW COMPANY".
On The New Adventures of Flipper S1 episode "Treasure Hunt", a blue toned version of the above variant exists.

FX/SFX: Same as the Roadshow Films logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening or closing theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Night Man, it has the Tribune Entertainment music.
For the "Village Roadshow" version, it's a shortened version of the Roadshow Films music.

Availability: Rare.

For the most part, films produced by Village Roadshow that weren't distributed by them didn't use this logo, but the animated version is seen on The New Adventures of Flipper and Tarzan and the Lost City.
The still version can be seen on the mini-series Thorn Birds: The Missing Years, Tales of the South Seas, and the TV show Night Man, among others.
This also makes surprise appearances on Fat Pizza and December Boys. Don't expect this to appear on Fortress (1992) though.

Editor's Note: A notably wasted logo due to only appearing on TV series and made-for-TV movies produced by them from the era.

3rd Logo (October 16, 1998-June 8, 2018)

Later variant
Later variant (CinemaScope)

Nicknames: "The Other V of Steel II", "V of Heaven II", "Aussie V of Steel II", "Silver V of Steel" (Later variant)

Logo: Similar to the 1980s New World Pictures logo, we see rows of bars turning inward extremely close to the camera, from bottom to top. A spotlight lights up the background behind them. The spotlight fades as it zooms out to reveal the V in sky blue with a orange sheen on the left (different from the official logo). "VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES" fades in below.

Later Variant: The font for the company name is now in the Calibri font instead of the corporate one, the entire logo was remade in higher quality, and the color was changed to silver. First used on Dark Shadows.

FX/SFX: The forming of the "V". Great CGI from yU+Co.

Music/Sounds:

March 2, 2001-March 15, 2002: A shortened version of the Roadshow Films theme. First heard on See Spot Run.
February 10, 2006-April 20, 2012: The 1996 Roadshow Entertainment theme. First heard on Firewall.
February 24-September 23, 2016: A nice orchestral tune, recorded with a real orchestra in Australia, composed by Greg Dombrowski of Secession Studios with Immediate Music. First heard on The Brothers Grimsby.
On Rogue, the 2006 theme is high-toned.
Most of the time, it's silent or it uses the film's opening soundtrack.

Availability: Very common.

It first appeared on Practical Magic, and was later seen on many movies produced by Village Roadshow from the era such as Cats & Dogs, Three to Tango, Happy Feet, Zoolander, and No Reservations, among others.
Although the last film to use the original variant was The Lucky One, it later made a surprise appearance on American Sniper (albeit a variant).
The later variant was first seen on the aforementioned title above and made its last appearance on Ocean's 8.

Editor's Note: This logo is seen by a lot of people as memorable, especially in the case of the 1998 version.

4th Logo (October 4, 2019-)

Nicknames: "The White V", "Emerging V", "Boring V"

Logo: On a white background, we see the "V" logo emerging from the background, alongside "VILLAGE ROADSHOW" with "PICTURES" underneath, both aligned to the right also emerging, all in white as it embosses on the background.

Trivia: This logo is inspired by a variant from Collateral Beauty.

FX/SFX: The logo emerging from the background. Originally, it was a still logo.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Current. First seen at the end of Joker, while the animated version made its debut on the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections albeit a variant, then appeared on the actual film itself.

Editor's Note: Although it can be seen as rather boring compared to the previous logos, the animated variant at least does add something to it. Additionally, the normal animation of the logo debuted on TV first (through Village Roadshow Television) before the film logo arrived.