Merrie Melody Theater Corp.

Background: This company was started in 1936. Today, it is owned by Time Warner's Warner Amusements (which was created in 1966 and includes this chain, Spotlight Cinemas and Townsville Theaters) and operates theaters in the 48contiguousUnitedStates as well as one in Washington, DC.

1st Opening

(1936-1964)

Merrie Melody Theater Corp. - CLG Wiki's Dream Logos

Logo: Exactly like in the 1936 Merrie Melodies series title, but "MELODIES" reads "MELODY", "PRODUCED BY LEON SCHLESINGER", "PRODUCED BY WARNER BROS. CARTOONS, INC.", or "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON." are all replaced with "THEATERS" and the Technicolor byline reads "OWNED AND OPERATED BY" with the bannerless WB shield on the right of "BY".

FX/SFX: The "zooming shield".

Cheesy Factor: From January 1936 until August 14, 1954, the shield looked rather off-model and poorly drawn.

Music/Sounds: "I Think You're Ducky" from January-September 1936. Starting in late 1936, the music changed to "Merrily We Roll Along", arranged by Carl Stalling, first heard during Eddie Cantor's scenes in the 1935 short "Billboard Frolics". In mid 1937, the WB shield has its sound effect--the famous "twanging" noise created by Treg Brown. In 1945, this theme was shortened somewhat.

Music/Sound Variants: Many. Here's a listing:

October 1936-January 1937: Fast-paced opening theme, which may be scary to some.

March-early July 1937: Slower-paced version of opening theme.

Late July-early September 1937: Opening theme now begins with the aforementioned (yet famous) "twang" sound.

Late September 1937-early January 1938: Opening theme now has a largely woodwind-dominated arrangement.

Late January-July 1938: Opening theme sparsely modified.

August 1938-early January 1939: Opening theme now dominated by brass and strings.

Late January 1939-early September 1940: Opening theme sparsely modified, again.

Late September 1940-March 1941: Opening theme modified somewhat, which sounds like a hybrid of the August 1938 and late January 1939 versions.

April 1941-March 1945: Most well-known version of "Merrily We Roll Along". Heavily modified opening theme.

May 1945-June 1955: Abridged opening theme.

May 1955-July 1964: Heavily modified opening theme.

Availability: Extinct, this logo was only seen when you went inside a local Merrie Melody theater during the mid-1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s, and the early-1960s.

Scare Factor: Low.

2nd Opening

(1964-1967)

Logo: Same as the 1963 Merrie Melodies series title, except "MELODIES" is spelled as "MELODY", "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" is replaced by "THEATERS" and "TECHNICOLOR" is replaced by "OWNED AND OPERATED BY", with the bannerless WB shield next to it.

Trivia: This logo was made at Warner Brothers in Burbank, CA, USA.

Variant: Starting in 1966, the"OWNED AND OPERATED BY WB" byline is replaced by "A WARNER AMUSEMENTS COMPANY".

FX/SFX: Same as the 1963Merrie Melodies series title.

Music/Sounds: A crazy remix of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".

Availability: Extinct; appeared only in Merrie Melody theaters before the start of a movie or trailers during the mid 1960's.

Scare Factor:Same as the 1963 Merrie Melodies series title.

3rd Open

(1967-1969)

Background: In 1967, Merrie Melody Theater Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As a result, they were forced to stop showing cartoon shorts featuring main/recurring Looney Tunes characters (such as Daffy Duck or the Road Runner). This caused a lot of bad luck and unpopularity. Fights broke out in many Merrie Melody theaters and quite a few Merrie Melody theaters were damaged or destroyed in the numerous riots that occurred across the United States at the time, the worst casualty was a Merrie Melody theater in Detroit, MI, which was destroyed with a bomb during riots there in mid-1967. Also, some newspapers stopped showing showtimes at local Merrie Melody theaters. This only made matters worse, which led to all Merrie Melody theaters being closed and shuttered in 1969. On the morning of September 21, 1969, Merrie Melody employees were not allowed in their workplaces. It was a very unusual way to close a business in America and is even considered rude in some states. Spotlight Cinemas and Townsville Theaters also suffered similar fates but did not have to close and shutter all their theaters.

Nickname: "Psychedelic MMT"

Logo: On a psychedelic background, the previous open plays, but there is another byline: below"A WARNER AMUSEMENTS COMPANY" is "A DIVISION OF WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS".

FX/SFX: Same as the previous open.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous open.

Availability: Extinct; appeared only in Merrie Melody theaters during the late 1960's.

Scare Factor:Same as the previous open.

4th Open

(1979-1986)

Background: In 1979, Merrie Melody theaters that remained finally reopened after being shuttered for 10 years. This was part of a plan by WB to resurrect the Merrie Melody theater brand which also involved the construction of 50 new Merrie Melody theaters across the country, but only a single-digit number of theaters were actually built. Be prepared, as you are about to see the resurrection of Merrie Melody Theater Corp.!

Nicknames: “Bugs & Daffy Projector”, “80's MMT”, “GCC Projector Rip-Off”

Logo: Same as the 2nd General Cinema Corporation open, except for a few differences: An outline of a real projector is used instead (with the heads of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in the reels) and “GENERAL CINEMA THEATRES” is replaced by "MERRIE MELODY THEATERS". The byline"A WARNER AMUSEMENTS COMPANY" appears below the projector.

Cheesy Factor: Medium. Why wouldn't Merie Melody Theater Corp. make their own open instead? At least they went back to original with the next open.

FX/SFX: Same as the 2nd General Cinema Corporation open.

Music/Sounds: A hybrid of the ones used in the 2nd General Cinema Corporation open and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".

Availability: Extinct; was only used in Merrie Melody theaters back in the early-to-mid 1980's.

Scare Factor: Same as the 2nd General Cinema Corporation open.

5th Open

(1986-1994)

Nickname: "LT Filmstrip"

Logo: We see a filmstrip with clips of classic Looney Tunes cartoons. Then we see the famous concentric circles. In those circles are the same projector as the previous open and the text "MERRIE MELODY THEATERS","A WARNER AMUSEMENTS COMPANY"and "Feature Presentation" (in a script font) appear above and below the projector respectively.

FX/SFX: All the animation in this open.

Music/Sounds: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" and some appropriate sound effects.

Availability: Once again, extinct, as it only appeared in theaters.

Scare Factor: Low.

6th Open

(1994-2004, 2010-)

Logo: Same as the Regal Cinemas policy trailer from 1995, but the words "Regal Cinemas" and the Regal Cinemas logo are replaced with "MERRIE MELODY THEATERS" and the disclaimers "A Warner Amusements Company" and "A Division of Turner Theatrical Service".

Variants:

In 2001,"A Division of AOL Time Warner" replaces "A Division of Turner Theatrical Service".

Starting in 2003, "A Division of Time Warner" replaces "A Division of AOL Time Warner", also Foghorn Leghorn, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Porky Pig, Daffy, Bugs, Sylvester, Tweety, Tom, Jerry,Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound & Scooby-Doo appear on the dashboard.

In 2010, the open was redesigned again in addition to being resurrected. The same characters that appeared on the dashboard now appear again at the end. It was resurrected just in time for the grand opening of the Jellystone Stadium 10 theaters in Woodhaven, MI, whose entrance was identical to the Jellystone Park entrance sign.

FX/SFX:All the animation in this open.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Regal Cinemas policy trailer from 1995, but the announcement has all mentions of "Regal Cinemas" replaced with "Merrie Melody Theaters" anda futuristic rock-likeversion of "Merrily We Roll Along" is added.

Availability: Is current again after being extinct for several years.

Scare Factor: Medium to high.

7th Open

(2004-2010)

Logo: Just a still "MERRIE MELODY THEATERS".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Regal Entertainment policy trailer from 2004, but with all mentions of "Regal Entertainment" replaced with "Merrie Melody Theaters".

Availability: Once current, now it's extinct. A possible reason why this open was used is because Merrie Melody Theater Corp. lost so much money after Looney Tunes: Back in Action flopped at the box office in 2003, they were forced to get rid of the newly-redesigned 6th opening (right when everyone was still getting used to it).

Scare Factor: None; this is mainly a boring logo, especially to those who got used to the previous open.