18 Great Film Studio Logo Openings

Going to the cin­ema has always been mag­i­cal for me. Per­haps the The­atre is truly the abode of the divine Diony­sus. As a child, my fam­ily would take my sis­ters, assorted friends and myself to this mag­i­cal cel­lu­loid realm. We would get some pop­corn and wait impa­tiently for the film to begin. Even­tu­ally, I would start play­ing a game, I would squint my eyes slowly to mimic the effect of the lights dim­ming. I would do this over and over, pre­tend­ing the movie was start­ing. I still do this, except, now I keep them shut, mostly so I can ignore the annoy­ing pre-show adver­tise­ments that plague the cin­e­mas like gum under the seats.

Even­tu­ally the lights would actu­ally dim, and (not to sound like a grumpy old man) in my day the cur­tains would part reveal­ing a large white rec­tan­gle where a culture’s dreams, hopes, fears and fan­tasies were pro­jected at 24 frames a sec­ond. But first there were the trail­ers, often times the best part of the movie going expe­ri­ence, then at the cin­e­matic event hori­zon, when the film would actu­ally start, you are treated to the film stu­dio and dis­trib­u­tors iden­ti­fi­ca­tion spot. I love this, when you see the Twen­thy Cen­tury Fox logo with it’s brassy fan­fare it gives me chills. It is impor­tant to note that these often are changed with dif­fer­ent musi­cal and col­oration or spe­cial effects, this helps set the mood for the upcom­ing film. I’ve noted some of these.

Here is a list of some great film stu­dio logo open­ings. I know I’ve left a bunch off, let me know what ones you like.

New Line Cinema

I like the use of the cin­ema logo falling into place with the swelling music.

Para­mount Pic­tures

This is a clas­sic one. I only wish I could find the one for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Mor­gan Creek Productions

I’ve always enjoyed the ani­mated curves on this one.

DNA Films

A newer one, and it shows, that it makes great use of mod­ern com­puter ani­ma­tion. Con­sid­er­ing the stu­dio makes hor­ror and intense films it is very fit­ting.

Mar­vel Comics

A very excit­ing one that sets the audi­ence up for a ride. Plus I love designs that harken back to some sort of his­tor­i­cal roots. The use of halftone dots, flip­ping pages and close ups of char­ac­ters and thought bub­bles is fan­tas­tic.

Warner Bros. Pic­tures (matrix variation)

This is one of my favorite ver­sions of a stu­dio logo that aids the style of the film. Com­pare to the Reg­u­lar & Looney Tunes vari­a­tions.

Warner Bros. Pic­tures Reg­u­lar ver­sion (1997):

Com­pare the Matrix Ver­sion to this and you can see how much more effec­tive it was in stet­ting the tone of the film than if they would have used this much more pro­saic ver­sion.

Warner Bros. / Looney Tunes variation

Another great riff on the WB

RKO Radio Pic­tures (1930’s version)

This is a great logo. So disct­inc­tive and telling. It makes me feel so nos­tal­gic for King Kong, and the Rocky Hor­ror Pic­ture Show, where Dr. Frankenfurther’s mon­ster Rocky climbs up a 35 foot RKO Radio Tower, in heels no less!

Lions Gate Films

I like the Lions Gate Logo because it’s is great to see the Lion’s Gates of Agamemnon’s Palace at Myce­nae live again. Plus I like the clock work that is resides behind the magic of film. It is the most colb­o­rate of the arts, and the ani­mated logo hints at this fact. That the great and pow­er­ful Oz of Hol­ly­wood is a big machine behind the curt­ian. This one is from the hor­ri­ficly bad Saw fran­chise, but it does set the tone.

Lions Gate Films

Com­pare the Saw ver­sion to this nor­mal ver­sion and you can see how the Saw fla­vors the movie with dread from the first frame:

MGM
In a list like this you have to include the famous lion!

MTV Films Logo

A very clever use of the astro­naut and the ima­gry of the movie the­atre.

Pixar
Whimsy that harken’s back to the dawn of Pixar and the com­puter ani­ma­tion rev­o­lu­tion.

Uni­ver­sal Pic­tures (1930’s Version)

The older logos, like RCA & Para­mount are icons.

Uni­ver­sal Pic­tures: a con­tem­po­rary version

This one always seems to get my cin­e­matic juices flow­ing when I see a Uni­ver­sal film. It’s so clas­sicly Hol­ly­wood, using a globe to high­lght the uni­ver­sal lanu­gae of film and the film stu­dios narcissism.

Walt Dis­ney (New Logo)

If any film stu­dio logo open­ing sums up the ideals of a stu­dio bet­ter than this one I can’t think of it. It’s so full of imag­i­na­tion and child like won­der, plus it sells the iconag­ra­phy of the stu­dio like no other. Not only is it an trade­mark for the com­pany, it’s also ad for the theme parks. It is also an homage to Peter Pan; note the third star to the right in the open­ing shot and Hook (or is it Jack Sparrow’s) Pirate ship on the river

Twenty Cen­tury Fox

I’m sav­ing the best for last, maybe because I was such a fan of Star Wars, this will always be the quis­sential movie open­ing for me.

Related posts:

1. Design Some­thing Every Day 19/365: MIS Logo