That still leaves the problem that the AHA has only certified 3 of the 15+ Amityville movies, and “It’s About Time” is not one of them. I suspect the accreditation for this particular movie was fudged just slightly.
Yeah, I almost wrote mistake or fraud, but I know nothing about the movie or how it was made, etc., so I didn’t go there. But I don’t doubt that that sort of thing has happened.
It’s also interesting looking at that logo site to see how the statement evolved over time, and see some variations.
Some just say the animal action was observed by AHA. Whereas, I think it was Homeward Bound, says both American Humane and the Oregon Humane Society monitored, and there was a statement commending the filmmakers.
Errors in movie credits are constant. Credits are seemingly prepared in haste and I suspect that even on large lavish productions, they are either farmed out to the lowest bidder or responsibility is handed off to some underpaid production assistant. If you look at actor’s early career credits on IMDB, you will frequently find a listing with some alternative spelling of their name in parentheses “(as …)” where the production credits list them wrong. Some I remember seeing over the years include:
Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Chiwetal Ejiofor) on one episode of Murder in Mind Chiwetel Ejiofor - IMDb
Lucy Liu (twice miscredited as Lucy Lui) Lucy Liu - IMDb
And a twofer - siblings John Cusack and Joan Cusack (as Cusak) in Broadcast News Broadcast News (1987) - IMDb
This is possible but the strength of American Humane’s entire program depends on the strength of their brand and they would have every incentive to strongly protect their trademarks (both their name and their “No animials were harmed” slogan) against unauthorized use. If they caught some shady producer just slapping that in the credits without paying for monitoring they would most certainly put a stop to it.
It seems that the AHA website doesn’t list all the movies they’ve accredited over the years. I doubt they keep a single master list and I seriously doubt they ever systematically updated the website with every covered movie. For example, according the The Hollywood Reporter article linked above, the Producer’s Guild contract with the Screed Actors Guild has required American Humane Association to monitor SAG productions since roughly 1980. And yet, the AHA website doesn’t list a single certified production in 1987. Either that was a spectacularly cruel year in movie making or the AHA list is missing some entries.
Thank you–that’s some pretty helpful background.
So:
-The AH needs a more comprehensive list of the movies they’ve monitored and given their imprimatur to. (seriously, this seems like a pretty basic bit of bookkeeping to have on file and to make available).
-The filmmakers probably did get accredited.
-The filmmakers should’ve proofread their credits better.
Does that about cover it?
That’s my hunch.