Senator Film (Germany)

Logo captures by Newwave

Video capture courtesy of PIFman092

Background: Senator Entertainment AG was a German film production and distribution company. Senator Film produced German and international films since the 1970's through its operating subsidiaries manufacture and Senator Film Distribution. In February 2015, Senator merged into Paris-based company Wild Bunch, becoming its German subsidiary.

1st Logo
(Late 1980's - Mid 90's)

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Nickname(s): Senator in Space, "1990's Senator logo", "1991: Just Like a Space Odyssey...... only in Germany", "An S-shaped Trail"

Logo: We see alayered blue figure on a dark sky background, which rotates to another side and then shows gray surface, where a light ray projects from beyond and starts to draw the letter "S" which is made as twice-folded film with a very extremely long tail. The ray draws the tail forward, which contains the words "SENATOR FILM" written over it, then the letter leaves off into the sky and shines.

FX/SFX: The logo is drawn, the dark sky background and the forming of the letter S which is being silver-painted.

Music/Sounds: Majestic trumpet fanfares, or no music at all.

Availability: Very rare. Was seen on very old German-released tapes of films that were either distributed or made by Senator during that era, for example Stalingrad (1993), Fried Green Tomatoes, Happy Birthdya, Türke!, Undine (1992), Braindead, Dust Devil (1992), The Crying Game and on German theatrical trailers for Army of Darkness (or Evil Dead III), Merta - Der Film (Merta - The Film), Ein Mann für jede Tonart, Rosnemill (1993), Shortcuts, Texas - Doc Snyder hält die Welt in Atem, Backbeat, The High Crusade, Once Were Warriors (1994), Heavenly Creatures, Die Sieger, Felidae, Mario und der Zauberer (Mario and the Zauberer), 00 Schneider - Jagd Auf Nihil Baxter (The Search for Nihil Baxter) as well as many other films that are either distributed or made by Senator in this era. The logo is retained on the 1998 DVD of Stalingrad (coming after the Fox Lorber logo) and most other European releases of said film.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo
(1996?-2007)

Nickname(s): Circle S-shaped figure", "2000's Senator logo"

Logo: We see the white oval with a black symbol which is very similar to the S-fold from the very previous logo, as well as the name "SENATOR FILM" below.

Variant: There is an animated version for their Production division. A white band with red sides appears. Then it folds twice, forming an S-shaped figure. The figure becomes black, goes inside the red oval and zooms out, followed by the name.

FX/SFX: None, only zooming. In the animated version, besides just zooming, it has the S-shaped figure being formed.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Was seen on German releases, such as The Actors.

Editor's Note: None.



3rd Logo
(2008-2015)

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Logo: We pan over a night-time sky with full moon and move down to the surface of water and clouds. The stretched word "SENATOR" appears, shines and compresses. Then the stylized gray filmstrip, as viewed from the side, flashes in below. The background then fades out.

FX/SFX: The logo forms.

Variants:

• For Home Entertainment version, there was no animation and black background.
• In some trailers only the name was seen over the water.

Music/Sounds: A calm xylophone-like melody.

Availability: Seen on German releases and several films produced by the company.

Editor's Note: None.