Moviestar Pictures

Background: Moviestar Pictures was founded in 1986 by Douglas Bloom. It was a small distributor of independent and foreign films, animated films (including Canadian/American animation and anime) and children's movies. Until the summer of 1993, most of its films were distributed on VHS and laserdisc by IVE/Family Home Entertainment with some releases handled by other distributors depending on deals made by the producers of the film. That year, home video rights were transferred to Fox Video/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment until its demise in 1997, when it closed down due to bankruptcy.

1st (only) logo

(1986-1997)

Nickname:"The Star and the Flash"

Logo: We fade into a yellow background, which quickly zooms out to reveal a yellow star rotating. When it reaches a comfortable distance close to the right of the screen, a bright flash occurs and dims to reveal a blue gradient behind the star. The white words "Moviestar" and "Pictures" slide in from the left and right respectively, positioned like this:

MOVIESTAR

P I C T U R E S

They meet with the last three letters in front of the star with another flash and the logo shines.

Cheesy Factor/FX: The star rotating, the bright flash, the words sliding, the second flash and the logo shining. Typical 80's logo animation which doesn't look too bad, although it started to look dated by the early/mid 90's, never mind 1997 when it was last used!

Music/Sounds: An ominous synth drone followed by a whoosh sound and a six-note jingle similar to the "V of Doom" music accompanied with another whoosh and a shining sound.

Availability: Common, seeing how very few home video distributors or TV networks have bothered to plaster over it. It can be seen before the Hemdale Film Corporation logo on any copy of Alice's Return to Wonderland(including its 1993 VHS and Laserdisc release by Hemdale, 1995 reprint by FHE and 2010 DVD release) and after the 1994-2009 20th Century Fox logo on most post-1995 copies of Trebleclef Alley: The Movie.It was also seen on The Star of Cottonland, Angel's Egg, Son of the White Mare andHeroic Times among other films.

Scare Factor: Low, the flashes and ominous sounding music may bother some, but it's well-liked by some.