Cinema International Corporation

Cinema International Corporation (CIC) was a film distribution company founded by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures on April 9, 1970 to distribute the two studios' films outside the United States, as a response to declining movie-going audiences and national antitrust laws. It even operated in Canada and the Caribbean Basin before those territories were considered part of the "domestic" North American market. CIC was registered in England and Wales, but was headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company began operations on January 1, 1971. In 1973, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios closed down its distribution offices and became a partner in CIC, which took over international distribution for MGM's films; however, United Artists took over the North American distribution of MGM films. In 1981, MGM purchased United Artists, which had its own international distribution and sales unit. However, CIC refused to let MGM drop out of the venture at the time, which led to MGM merging UA's international distribution and sales unit with CIC, setting the stage for the reorganization of the company as United International Pictures.

Walt Disney/Buena Vista also distributed its films through CIC in Italy (inherited from Universal) until 1987 (under UIP). Additionally, they distributed Buena Vista releases in Brazil during the 1970s until the mid-1980s. CIC also distributed Warner Bros. releases in South Africa before the studio moved to Nu Metro.

CIC also entered the home video age, with its subsidiary CIC Video. MGM, however, had its own home video distribution unit (originally a partnership between MGM and CBS Video Enterprises).

1st Logo (1971-1981)

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Visuals: Against a blue background, the letters "CIC" (in a slightly lighter shade of blue) are drawn in simultaneously, with the first "C" drawn in counterclockwise, the last "C" clockwise, and the "I" from the middle. The letters take up almost the entire screen. Then, the letters zoom in towards the bottom, away from the screen, and a large chain link in a "S" pattern in drawn in, with the outer links colored the same as "CIC" and the middle link colored a very pale blue color. As the chain slowly zooms out, the white text "Cinema International Corporation" (in Helvetica) zooms out from below.

Variants:

• A B&W variant of the logo exists.
• On films distributed to France by the company, the logo is in black and white (or sepia toned, in some cases) with "Cinema International Corporation" to the left of it and "distribué par" above it. Depending on the movie, the logo may have effects or animation applied to it.
• On the first Italian releases of Disney movies, including The Aristocats, the logo is similar to the French variant, except that the chain is in full color, "Cinema International Corporation" is arranged differently, and "distribuzione" is also above it.
• On a Soviet bootlegged copy of Last In, First Out, a version similar to the Italian/French variants above is used, but with the text in Russian.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Audio: A brass/string tune ending in a dramatic three-note fanfare. It was made for the Universal movie A Gathering of Eagles (1963) and composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Audio Variants:

• Sometimes, the logo is silent.
  • However, movies such as The Slipper and The Rose and Monty Python's Life of Brian would have the opening themes of movies play over it.
• A variant where a patriotic music replaces the normal music exists.

Availability: This logo was usually seen on theatrical prints of Paramount, Universal and MGM films outside of North America.

• Examples include Demon Seed, The Slipper and the Rose, Jaws, Earthquake, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Grease, and The Eagle Has Landed (an ITC production, although Universal may have been the distributor in some territories).
• This logo was also seen on the Italian theatrical prints of Disney/Buena Vista productions from 1971 until 1981, with examples being reissues of Peter Pan and Bambi, and appeared on further reissues as late as 1984.
• Most current prints of these films use domestic prints, so this logo is long gone.
  • However, it survives fully intact on the following: most current prints (including The Inception Media and Shout Factory Blu-ray releases) of The Slipper and the Rose, the trailer for Lacombe Lucien, and the U.S. Criterion DVD release of Die Verlorene Ehre Der Katharina Blum (aka The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum).
• The French variant can also be spotted on the recent prints of Doucement les basses, Murmur of the Heart, César et Rosalie, and Themroc.

2nd Logo (1981-1983)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a closeup of a realistic version of the same chain link with a silver sheen. The background changes to blue as the chain link zooms out until it reaches a comfortable distance. Finally, the text "Cinema International Corporation" (in the same font as the last logo) pops in below the chain link.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: None.

Availability: This came out near the end of CIC's existence before it was reorganized into UIP.

• It was seen on an Italian print of The Fox and the Hound, and Italian 16mm prints of Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• It was also seen on Nach Mitternacht and Segni particolari: bellissimo.
• This logo also makes an appearance on a French trailer of Jaws 3-D (titled Les dents de la mer 3).

3rd Logo (Early 1980s-1983)

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  Variant with Italian distribution text
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  Variant with Portuguese distribution text
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  Italian blue variant.

Visuals: Over a black or black/green gradient background is the chain link, this time colored blue, green and red respectively. To the right is the company name and a distribution text in yellow, both of which are stacked on top of each other.

Variants:

• The distribution text changes, depending on the country.
• An all blue variant also exists.

Technique: A printed card.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: So far, it has been spotted on some Italian and Portuguese prints of Disney films, specifically reissues and television airings of films such as Alice in Wonderland although most titles from Disney had the standard CIC logos.

Cinema International Corporation

United International Pictures