DreamWorks Pictures

Main Logo Variations Trailer Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
JuniorFan88 and TheLogoFan2004

Captures by
JuniorFan88

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly, Jeff B., KirbyGuy2001 (Logoblin), MrThorax281, iheartparamount, indycar, AlmightyKingPrawn, TheLogoFan2004, and Tjdrum2000

DreamWorks SKG
Founded:	October 12, 1994 (30 years ago)
Founder:	Steven Spielberg Jeffrey Katzenberg David Geffen
Formerly:	DreamWorks, LLC (1994-2006) DreamWorks Studios (2009-2015) DreamWorks II Distribution, LLC (2011-16)
Key People:	Steven Spielberg (chairman) Jeff Small (CEO)
Location:	United States
Parent:	Amblin Partners
Website:	https://www.amblin.com/movie/dreamworks/

Background

DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks, LLC, and formerly DreamWorks Studios) is an American film production company originally founded in 1994 by Amblin Entertainment co-founder Steven Spielberg, former Walt Disney Studios charmain Jeffery Katzenberg, and Geffen/DGC Records founder David Geffen in an ambitious attempt to create a new Hollywood studio. In 1995, CJ Entertainment became an investor in the studio and began distributing and licensing select titles in Korea and Asia. Until 2005, DreamWorks usually released their own films domestically, although some titles were co-released or released internationally by another studio, most often Universal Pictures (who were their principal international distribution partner through UIP during their independent era) or Paramount Pictures (or, in some cases, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and even Buena Vista International for at least one film). DreamWorks Animation was originally the feature film animation subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures until the two split into separate companies on October 27, 2004. DreamWorks Pictures is now legally known as DW II Management, Inc., with the DreamWorks name and logo being used under license from DreamWorks Animation.

On December 11, 2005, the founders of DreamWorks Pictures agreed to sell the studio to Viacom (later ViacomCBS, now Paramount Global), making it a division of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed on February 1, 2006, but the studio became independent again in 2008. On February 9, 2009, the Walt Disney Company's Touchstone Pictures label made a deal with DreamWorks to release its films through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; the deal was effective from 2011 to 2016. In 2012, DreamWorks signed a deal with Mister Smith Entertainment to handle distribution of its titles in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

On December 16, 2015, Spielberg, Jeff Skoll, Anil Ambani of Reliance Anil Ambani Group and Darren Throp of eOne formed Amblin Partners, with DreamWorks Pictures becoming a subsidiary of the new company. Later on, Universal signed a deal to distribute titles from Amblin Partners, and by extension most of DreamWorks' further output once its deal with Touchstone expired (however, some of DreamWorks' films since then have been released by Paramount or Netflix, and at least once by Lionsgate).

Paramount currently owns the rights to DreamWorks's pre-2008 live-action films (which were previously held by Soros Strategic Partners LP and Dune Entertainment II LLC), including those that Paramount itself released until DreamWorks became independent in 2008, with US TV rights held by Trifecta Entertainment & Media. After DreamWorks' contract with Touchstone expired in 2016, the rights to the films that it released under Touchstone were acquired by Disney, with EMEA rights held by Mister Smith Entertainment. NBCUniversal, which acquired DreamWorks Animation in 2016, owns all of the studio's animated films.

Logo (September 26, 1997-)

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  1997 version, flat
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  1997 version with darker colors, flat
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  2002 version, flat
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  2002 version, scope
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  2002 version, open matte

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  Variant with darker colors

Visuals: It starts with a shot of blue clouds and a crescent-shaped moon at night. Then a bobber hooked to a fishing line drops down and splashes, revealing the scene to be a reflection in a lake. Then the camera pans upwards through a set of clouds to follow the fishing line, and it is revealed to be connected to a fishing rod held by a young boy sitting inside the moon from the reflection. A large "D" then fades in behind the moon (with the bowl of the "D" blending in with the crescent), and the camera continues to pan right as the rest of the letters in "DREAMWORKS" continue to form (albeit partially obscured by clouds). Then another set of clouds then swoop past the camera before giving way to reveal the white text "DREAMWORKS" with an underline below it separated by the initials "SKG" (both set in Minion Black), which settles in front of a final shot of clouds revealing the night sky.

Trivia:

• The idea for this logo came from a concept by co-founder Steven Spielberg, who originally wanted the logo to be CGI and for it to depict an adult man fishing on the moon, but his frequent collaborator Dennis Muren suggested a hand-painted logo instead. The very first sketch of the logo (with the man) was drawn for Spielberg by artist Gregory Weir-Quiton on a piece of tissue. Artist Robert Hunt was then commissioned to design the logo. Spielberg loved one of Hunt's designs—a young boy sitting on a crescent moon while fishing—and it was made into a full-motion CGI logo. The boy seen sitting on the moon is based upon Hunt's son William.
• This logo has run into legal trouble, with Michael Jackson's family accusing Spielberg of plagiarizing the logo for Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch.

Variants:

• A short version of this logo was seen on trailers for films and at the end of films released by Touchstone Pictures (except in EMEA and India), starting with I Am Number Four (2011) and ending with The Light Between Oceans (2016). Real Steel (2011) has the still version of this logo at the end.
• Until 2002, a trademark symbol ("™") appears next to the "SKG". Starting on December 25, 2002, with the release of Catch Me If You Can, the trademark symbol is replaced with a registered trademark symbol ("®"), as the company successfully registered their trademarks around that time.
• A 4:3 version of this logo appears on trailers and TV spots for early films such as The Peacemaker, Mousehunt, and Amistad (all 1997), with no trademark symbol next to the "SKG".
• Some films have the logo fade out early after it has been formed.
• Sometimes, the logo may be zoomed out further than usual.
• It remains unclear if a full-frame version of the entire animation exists, as the logo was often presented in its original aspect ratio, even on VHS and fullscreen/pan-and-scan DVD releases.
• Starting on July 30, 2021, with the release of Stillwater, the logo has been updated with enhanced animation of the clouds, water and text, and is also in a lighter shade of blue. This enhanced variant was created to accommodate 4K resolutions. A still version of this variation appears at the end of the 2021 HBO movie Oslo.

Technique: CGI by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), directed by animation supervisor Wes Takahashi; Hunt provided some of the resources for the logo. The boy sitting on the moon was live-action footage that was superimposed with the CGI moon. The animation for the 2021 enhanced variant was done at Technicolor; Archie Donato was the CGI supervisor, with James Marcus and Yinglei Yang handling the designing, modeling, animation, and rendering.

Audio: A peaceful theme composed by John Williams (known for scoring many of Steven Spielberg's films) that starts with a classical guitar riff, followed by a violin fanfare, then a more majestic horn sounder, before ending on a shorter guitar riff similar to the first one. The only sound effect heard is that of water splashing when the bobber hits the water.

Audio Variants:

• On MouseHunt (1997), the guitar at the end is replaced with a French horn playing the same riff. The sound of the bobber hitting the water is also slightly delayed, and the fanfare starts a little earlier. Considering that the end portion of this fanfare was previously used for the short version of the 1996 DreamWorks Interactive logo, it's possible that the audio originated from an earlier cut of the film dating to before September 1997 (when the final version of the fanfare was introduced in The Peacemaker).
• On some prints of Antz (1998) (such as the Region 2 and 4 DVD releases of the film), the logo is silent, even though original prints and the 1999 Australian VHS release use the opening theme of the film. This may have either been an error in production or distribution, but it could have been intentionally done so as not to affect the audio pause before the opening credits, which are automatically skipped if another language is selected on the menu. On foreign dubs of Antz, either the sound of the bobber splashing is muted or the fanfare is delayed.
• Some films have the logo play in silence or use the opening theme instead. Sometimes, the sound of the bobber hitting the water will remain, but it might be changed to a different splashing sound depending on the film.
• On the US DVD release of Evolution (2001), if the English 2.0 track is selected, the 1998 common fanfare for the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo will be heard instead. This is most likely due to the fact that the 2.0 English track from the Sony-owned international master was mistakenly used.
• On Old School (2003), the sound of the bobber splashing is somewhat different.

Availability: It premiered on the studio's first film The Peacemaker (released on September 26, 1997), and has appeared on nearly every DreamWorks film ever since.

• It was also seen on pre-2004 DreamWorks Animation films, until that studio introduced an onscreen logo of its own with the release of Shrek 2.
• This logo precedes the 1991 BBC Video logo on the DreamWorks Home Entertainment DVD release of three Wallace & Gromit short films; however, it was later removed from future prints of these shorts.
• Current prints of the studio's animated films and pre-2008 live-action films may have this logo preceded (or plastered) by a Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and/or a DreamWorks Animation logo.
• This logo also appears on the 2004 video game adaptations of Shark Tale and Shrek 2 (said films use the 2004 DreamWorks Animation logo), as well as on UK HDTV broadcasts of Chicken Run (2000), despite the latter having being released in the UK by Pathé.
• This was also used as a de-facto home video logo on some DreamWorks Home Entertainment releases outside North America.

Legacy: It's considered an iconic logo due to its animation, score, and 25+ year longevity.

Unused

1st Logo (1994)

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Visuals: Over a dark purple background is the DreamWorks Pictures print logo with clouds, the latter of which were responsible for the on-screen logo.

Technique: 2D animation by Robert Hunt.

Availability: Unused.

2nd Logo (1995)

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Visuals: Over a dark grayscale background is the DreamWorks Pictures print logo with clouds, the latter of which were responsible for the on-screen logo.

Technique: Digitally-manipulated graphic.

Availability: Unused.