MGM Logo 3 Roar 2008 Restoration

[Shawnaluvsoc]

If you pause at 0:03, you'll see the lion's ear getting out of the ribbon!

[MrTikitube]

@Shawnaluvsoc VERY OBSERVANT of you, that was done on purpose to add a subtle bit of depth. Was actually my idea when we were compositing the elements. We also tried to have his other ear come in front as well, just didn't look/feel right. First time that was done in the history of the logo.

[moonodude17]

@Shawnaluvsoc Oh God... so Leo is the new Pinkie Pie? If so, then one day... he (and Pinkie) will be free.

[RenMartin2210]

I was suprise that this logo showed up on the trailer to G.I. Joe 2

[SylentIntensity1122]

Lions...some bone-crushin', blood-drinkin' KILLAS!

[kachoo2135]

I tell my cat Bailey that Leo is his distant cousin.

[FromtheWordsofBR]

Man...If Leo was my pet...man would bullies run out of the playground screaming "AAAAAHHH!!!! MGM LION!!!!!"

[Glenn1967ful]

Wonder what he got paid for roaring at the start of hundreds of films? 

[XxaphextwiniscoolxX]

lol I understand the joke pokey means bussiness and yeah i love earthbound

[BADASS100ification]

THIS LION MEANS BUSINESS!!

[eblackadder3]

I'm glad that the long version has been restored, but I wish that the original roar could have been used somehow. I also would like to see a total revamping with a new lion or else a retro-version with Tanner, if that is at all possible.

[c4rl1t0x1]

when i see this, i think the leon is saying... "copy this and i'll fuck you up!!...bitch.."

[sarahjne]

OMG AAAH HELP!

[MultiGakka]

My scepter is in my hand!!!! My scepter is my scepter!!!!! You don't even know how to use it!!! My fist of Heaven!!!!!!

[SheepEatCookies]

i always loved how my initials were MGM

[ToughXArmy69]

The MGM logo is a very important asset to MGM. Pan Am was at one time the number one logo, what is the No 1 business logo today? Nike? Apple?

[cobolsaurus]

Legend has it that the original Leo the lion was so gentle that they let him roam around the backlot from time to time.

[MrTikitube]

@cobolsaurus I never heard any stories like that. While he was around people and well trained, he was always on a chain. BTW, there were 5 lions, all but the one in the current logo, had names other than Leo. It was actually "Jackie" the 2nd lion that was first nick named "Leo The Lucky", as he survived a fire at the studio, a couple of earthquakes, a boat sinking and even a plane crash.

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

@MrTikitube The were 7 lions, not 5.

[MrTikitube]

@ChiuahuaTubeALT Nope, Slates, Jackie, Tanner, George and Leo are considered the 5 official lions on the logo. This was a result of nearly 18 months of research when we restored the logo, while i worked at MGM. There were a few others here and there, done as tests or variants, but officially, those were the only 5.

[utzworld]

@MrTikitube So the lion used in the 3 strip technicolor toons from the 30's doesn't count (the one with the scary roar that looks like he's gonna eat somebody)? That's on quite a few cartoons.

[MrTikitube]

@utzworld That was Tanner!! 

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

@MrTikitube Well, 7 lions were used total. Slats, Jackie, Telly, Coffee, Tanner, George, and Leo. MGM also needs to update their logo history video. They said Jackie was from 1924, Coffee was from 1935, and George was from 1956!

Jackie - 1928

Coffee - 1932

George - Early 1957

[MrTikitube]

@ChiuahuaTubeALT Don't know where you are getting your information, but I never heard of a Lion named "Coffee". The lion that replaced Slats was Jackie. Spent over a year researching this with the MGM Archivist while I was working at MGM. I didn't do the video history on their site. Slats was retained for a period of time when the merger took place in 1924.

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

@MrTikitube Search "MGM - Coffee The Lion, 1932" on YouTube. Coffee was a lion that had a vicious roar that scared lots of kids. But Coffee is a cool lion.

[MrTikitube]

@ChiuahuaTubeALT I don't know what logo that is, may very well be a variant test, as they did many of those over the decades with different lions. You also listed another named "Telly", his name never came up either in all the research we had done. Can tell you this, however, that the logo is a very early logo design because the marque is still at the bottom of the frame. Would like to know which movies this logo appear on.

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

@MrTikitube Coffee is seen on "Wild People" and "Roast Beef And Movies". Telly is on "The Mysterious Island" (B&W) and "The Viking" (Color)

[DollasyneChase]

KING OF THE WORLD, NOT JUST THE FU€KIN' JUNGLE

[ytube7762]

Thumbs up if you're autistic.

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

Dadadadadadada. Da, DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (MGM/UA Fanfare)

[EmoLover367]

My brother is so scared of this! haha

[josepasillas530]

Lion Roar: "ROAR ROAR ROAR" *tun tun tun..tun tun tun..tun tun tun tun !

[MacJARedd]

In MGM, I like this lion the best. It looks calm and satisfied. :)

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

I like the new MGM roar, better than the 2001 version

[happyies129]

that scared me when i was younger

[sackmahboi]

@happyies129 I used to have nightmares of Leo growing up. Not joking. :)

[Bankallday]

@happyies129 Pussy

[kaitlinan]

I grew up hearing that roar :)

[civilhistoryfan1981]

now that's what a real lion should sound like and act like, not a dog, not a bear, but a real lion.

[dizzydiggy98]

SHUT UP LEO!!!

[morganhath]

I'm thinking about handmaster722 making a sparta remix out of this.

P.S. If you want to know who handmaster722 is, he's an AWESOME sparta remixer that uses bunches of freestyles. Sometimes he combines 2 or more freestyles in 1!

[jdrr03]

I Saw The 3 Roar Version From 1957

[Moisemo25]

The last roar sounds like something from Half Life oO

[cybertronization]

MrTikitube, thank you so much for uploading this remastered version of the epic 1957 MGM logo.

[MattTheSaiyan]

Such a cute kitty!

[bigdogonnet]

@MattTheSaiyan it is a lion u see

[Pain4urFace]

its so much fun to read about these many lions MGM used. and i really like the redone logo. its so crisp and clear!!! thanks for posting the vid mrtikitube~

[tbone2004]

More than likely, this new version of the MGM logo will be seen in the remake of Robocop in the coming years.

Whether or not the movie will be good, this logo would probably be there...

And if I may add, this logo looks badass!

[Beatlemark21287]

Yeah, once they get rid of their debt!

[neoprankster]

@Beatlemark21287 Spyglass has already taken over the studio, so now they should be able to get the Hobbit and Robocop films off the ground soon.

[andrew111806]

@tbone2004 there is not going to be one mgm filed for bankruptcy

[tbone2004]

@andrew111806 Oh well, it didn't deserve a remake anyway. The original was perfect.

[BluDevil93]

Nice work with the restoration!

[catbeast2007]

I think MGM should use this logo for there

85th anniversity.

[KentuckyFriedGunman]

@ catbeast2007

*facepalm*

[bossradio930]

There was one MGM film somewhere in 1957, (I don't know the name of the title) that aired on KTLA in Los Angeles back in the 1970s or '80s when I saw this logo but extended that almost freaked me out! It was this 'Leo' seemed to have a bad temper, sort of like yapping to the camera. As he calms down, he does the first roar, followed by the three standard fast roars movie goers are familiar with. The extended version lasted, say, 20-30 seconds. I only saw it once. Not on TCM yet.

[logostrikebeta2]

Then you saw an MGM logo with 4 or 5 roars?

[bossradio930]

Yep, from that one film I can't recall. May be QB VII. But you'd have to go back and look up all MGM color films from 1957. I do insist that it was from of the color films that had the logo. Maybe the negative's lost since local stations aired classic films before the tremendous growth in cable, video and DVD. I always thought stations edited copies of all films in their libraries leased by the studios. Some classics have the current logo edit seen today.

[MrTikitube]

Boss, doubtful that a station airing the movie would edit the logo, while I agree they do edit the movie for air timing. As far as our research, we weren't able to locate the original negative, unfortunately.

[MrTikitube]

That actually sounds like it was "Tanner", the lion that proceeded "Leo", from the description you gave.

[ChiuahuaTubeALT]

@MrTikitube Tanner lasted in 1956, so Leo is the 20-30 sec.of 1957.

@bossradio930 That would be great to find! It's probably from Silk Stockings.

[ColumbiaPicturesFan]

So if MGM makes a movie right now, I will see this when it comes out?

[MrTikitube]

Being that you a Columbia Pictures Fan, a Sony company, figured you would have seen "Quantum Of Solace", which is the film upon which this logo made it's world debut. Guess you weren't paying attention. Also has appeared a few other movies and will of course be on all the movies currently in production or post prod. at MGM.

[blofeld39]

For a lion filmed in 1957, you make him look surprisingly sharp; so much so, in fact, that I nearly mistook this for a new, identical-looking lion (possibly the same bloodline) in the theatre! Well done! :-)

[MrTikitube]

Thanks. We went back to a piece of film from 1958, actually the logo on the original negative for the movie "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof". Which we had scanned at a very high resolution to just start the restoration. We believe that the logo film attached to the movie was about 4-5 FILM generations away from the original camera negative from the production filming Leo for the logo.

[blofeld39]

So, the original camera negative no longer existed? Huh; considering it's the piece of film they've used for the last half-century, you'd think somebody might have preserved it, but I guess you restore what you can get -- which, in your case, turned out beautifully. :-)

[MrTikitube]

Can't say that for sure, just that no one actually knows where it is. Good chance it does exist, probably deep in a mine where they store many things, including film, to preserve. It's the paper trail that was the hard part. And the element we were able to find was almost as old as the O-Neg, so we weren't to far away. Glad you liked the results.

[blofeld39]

Was that the only part you worked on? The logo looked incredible, too.

[MrTikitube]

blofeld, I actually worked on every part of the restoration, supervised all of it. While my bosses wanted it done, I was the person who actually energized the process, to keep it moving forward. Not that I did it all myself. One of my co-workers, who primarily does print work was instrumental in making this happen. It was a team effort, by many to bring the logo back to the pristine condition it deserves.

[blofeld39]

Wow.

Well, how long did it take, all together?

[MrTikitube]

If you want to get technical about 18 months, but much of that was just looking for an element and out of my control. When we had all the elements in place, came together very quickly. Then was a period of waiting as there was a new management team, this wasn't a priority until right before Bond was to be released, right before Labor Day 08.

[blofeld39]

So... it finally came together a few days before September 5th?

[JB17Wagna]

@MrTikitube plz ask MGM to bring back the new roar PLEASE!!!!

[KentuckyFriedGunman]

Wasn't that lion footage initially made for the MGM logo for "Raintree County"?

[MrTikitube]

I don't believe that Leo, our current Lion, was introduced specifically for that movie, while it is possible that it was the first he appeared on. The year is correct, 1957, but never came across which was the first film he appeared on. Very possible though.

[TheDaVinci030]

Nice one.

[segasonic623]

That is absolutely brilliant!

[MrTikitube]

Puck, this restoration was actually done at a 4K resolution, more then twice that of HD video. Digitial films themselves are typically produced at 2K.

There are 2 small adjustments made to the logo during this restoration, have your figured them out yet?

[puck220]

Sorry for the delay in replying lol

Well, I can see everything, including the drama mask, is gold now - probably to match the print logo...

The rest, I don't notice right yet...mind pointing them out? :P

[MrTikitube]

Puck, you got one. Wasn't really done to match the print logo, just thought it was time to lose the "Al Joelson" red/black mask.

The other is that Leo's screen left ear actually crosses in front of the film ribbon as he moves his head back and forth. That never happened before. We actually had to re-create the tip of his ear.

[puck220]

Wow, indeed...

Was this an in-house job or are you part of like Hothaus or Giant Octopus and got contracted for the job?

[MrTikitube]

I actually work for MGM in the Marketing Department. Joined the company a few years ago. At that time, there were many comments from my bosses about the quality of the logo elements we were using for our theatrical trailers. So I, along with a few other people, began the effort to search out high quality elements with which we could rebuild this historic logo from scratch, including finding the original audio elements used in 1982, when the first stereo version was created for "Poltergeist".

[puck220]

Nice...bet it's a good job.

Two things though; how long did the project take and did the 1982 version have three roars too, or did the third roar have to be synthed for this version?

[MrTikitube]

Finding the elements actually took much longer then actually restoration work. Leo was originally filmed in 1957. The rest came from various elements we had from high rez files or a painting we uncovered.

No it didn't, really. In 58 when this leo was intro'ed, the logo was :14 long, with three full head movements as he roared. About 59-60 is was cut to :10 using the 2nd 2 head turns of the 3. However a third audible roar was used at times.

[MrTikitube]

Puck, send me your email address, I wrote an article for MGM's company letter that goes into much greater detail then I can type here.

[puck220]

Check your messages.

[malikscifi92]

wow man i'm impressed with the result, but it probably wasn't possible to use the sound of Tanner's roar, was it?

[MrTikitube]

No, couldn't use or even find elements that went back that far. Also Tanner would have been mono. The sound used for this logo was taken from the original tracks used back in 1982, when the first stereo track was mixed. Up until then, all the logo sound was mono. These tracks were also used in 1995 for the first 5.1 mix. We found the guy who did both and had him go back to the original 82 elements which were cleaned up and remixed.

[MisterConan90]

@MrTikitube Question: The roar heard here hasn't been used in movies since 2009. On films like Fame, Hot Tub Time Machine and Zookeeper, the 1995 roar is used. Did you all decide to retire the new roar and just stick with the 1995 roar?

[puck220]

is there a HD version of this? (I ask because of HDCamSR and 1080...yes, i'm observant lol)

[ShaDeed329]

Now you see what I mean between this one and Eric's version?

[puck220]

yes, i gotcha...btw, you coulda just hit me up on Messenger lol

[MrTikitube]

Nextg, this particular footage of just the "LEO" element was scanned from the original composite negative of the 1958 "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof"  The rest of the logo was composited from various bits and pieces from other logo elements.

[nextg]

Very nice! Thanks for posting this rarity!

By the way, the only time I've ever seen three roars in actual usage was at the end of "That's Entertainment, Part 2" (1976).

[ShaDeed329]

Man that first lion roar sounds vicious!