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Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits

Contributed by Patrick Concannon on Apr 15th, 2022. Artwork published in
July 1991
.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRRlbK5w8AE&ab_channel=MovieclipsClassicTrailers. License: All Rights Reserved.

Opening titles are typeset in Earth paired with Folio. There is also a brief use of Eurostile for credits featuring an ampersand. The main title, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is also typeset in Earth with a debossed steel effect. The infrared Terminator P.O.V. sequences feature type set in a somewhat crude redrawing (see Q and R) of what is probably meant to have been Bessellen, as used in the first Terminator film from 1984, with additional text typeset in Helvetica.

The graphic design of the main titles is credited to Paul Olsen, with supervision by Ernest Farino. The Terminator P.O.V., video and graphic displays were made at Video Image (Rhonda C. Gunner, Richard E. Hollander, Gregory L. McMurry, John C. Wash).

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits 2
Pacific Western Productions and Lightstorm Entertainment / Tri-Star Pictures. License: All Rights Reserved.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits 3
Pacific Western Productions and Lightstorm Entertainment / Tri-Star Pictures. License: All Rights Reserved.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits 4
Pacific Western Productions and Lightstorm Entertainment / Tri-Star Pictures. License: All Rights Reserved.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits 5
Pacific Western Productions and Lightstorm Entertainment / Tri-Star Pictures. License: All Rights Reserved.

Typefaces

  • Earth
  • Bessellen
  • Eurostile
  • Folio
  • Helvetica

Formats

Topics

Designers/Agencies

Artwork location

6 Comments on “Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) movie logo and opening credits”

  1. I’ve been curious, was the font used on the poster custom made?

  2. Quinn, good question. “Possibly” is the best answer I can give you. The typeface known as Earth is still a bit of an unkown in terms of its origins, designer and its other potential variants (see also, Earth Biform). It can be traced back to around 1974, as it can be seen in an ad in U&lc (Volume 1, Number 3). It was listed by both Lettergraphics and its subsidiary PhotoVision of California, Inc., and also by Castcraft under the name Eager.

    There are possibly other weights or styles of Earth that are not known at this time. I know that there is at least a more solid variant that must have been available as it has been used in many places. The T2 poster might be showing off a condensed or regular variant. This was also used in trailers for the film (see above) but I’ve yet to see it used elsewhere. The credit block on the poster is very close to the Sol Light. I have long suspected that there may be some connection between Earth and Sol, listed by VGC in 1973, but have yet to see any evidence to corroborate this notion. They might just be very similar. It’s possible that a designer customized Sol to resemble Earth as this was also done with Eurostile for the credit block in Theatrical Trailer #2, seen below.

  3. Also, Sol (aka Digital Sans) was used for the tagline on the Spanish version of the poster (see below, top). The credit block is kept mostly the same, but all Spanish portions appear to be using Eurostile. For the German version of the poster, Suisse Sans is used for both the tagline and credit block.

  4. This thread was quite helpful! I just decided “Fine, I’ll do it myself” and cooked up my own personal digitization using these posters and other Earth specimens as reference. This is just the beginning however.

  5. John Downey says:
    Jan 9th, 2024 10:17 am

    I’ve already done the title font, poster 2 fonts on it, the dvd menu font thats nearly done. But good information Patrick!

  6. Damian says:
    Feb 11th, 2024 9:35 pm

    Quinn! Any way you might be willing to share your personal digitization?

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