ImageMovers

Credits

Descriptions by
Logoboy95 and EnormousRat

Captures by
Logoboy95, EnormousRat and SubparMario63

Video captures courtesy of
4R Geo, Evan's Media Archive, ifrequire, EnormousRat and The DMB Network

Background

ImageMovers, L.L.C. was founded as the in-name-only "South Side Amusement Company" in 1984 by Robert Zemeckis. It was officially incorporated as ImageMovers, L.L.C. in 1997 by Zemeckis along with producers Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey. They didn't use an animated logo until What Lies Beneath and Cast Away, which were both released in 2000.

Logo (July 21, 2000-)

• 
  On-screen logo
• 
  4:3 version, from What Lies Beneath

• 
  The Polar Express variant
• 
  Example of the closing print logo from Pinocchio (2022)

• 
  Season 1
• 
  Season 2 & 3

Visuals: On a black background, a light shines through the lower-middle-left of the screen. It later dies down, revealing a train that bears a resemblance to the Reading Streamlined Crusader that moves forward, with the text "IMAGEMOVERS" slowly swinging in and stretching underneath the train. When the train gets fully to the screen, the screen flashes, and the text appears fully underneath the train in a gold-silver color, as the train becomes a still image and has the back trains on it turning into filmstrips. The logo slowly zooms out when it is completed.

Variants:

• There is also an early version where the train and text are more brown and silver looking, and the flash is faster, and not as bright.
  • On 4:3 prints of What Lies Beneath, another possible early version exists (only in 16:9 for the logo itself along with the DreamWorks Pictures logo, while the rest of the film is in 4:3) where the logo is overall the same, except the flash dying down has an additional lens flare, and the "IMAGEMOVERS" text has a more reflective texture to it, as opposed to the flatter texture of the normal text in the logo.
  • Starting with fullscreen versions of Cast Away, an open-matte version of the normal logo is seen.
• On some films (such as Beowulf), as well as ImageMovers' only television credit, The Borgias, the finished product of the on-screen logo is still.
  • At the end of Matchstick Men, the logo is off-center, and it's also in a blueish tint.
• At the end of Flight, the music and sound effects are slightly off-sync with the logo, making the first major impact of the music take place as soon as the train reaches the screen, as opposed to when the flash dies down.

Print Logo Variants:

• At the end of The Polar Express, the logo is smaller and tinted in gold (like the preceding closing credits).
• At the end of The Walk, the print logo scrolls up with the rest of the credits.
• At the end of The Witches (2020), Finch and Pinocchio (2022), it's still.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dramatic fanfare with some train sounds, composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri (who has also scored the majority of Zemeckis' films).

Audio Trivia: The score for this logo appears as the first track of Varese Sarabande's Deluxe Edition reissue of the What Lies Beneath soundtrack, entitled "ImageMovers Logo".

Audio Variants:

• The still version is silent.
• On The Walk and The Borgias, the closing theme plays underneath.

Availability: The regular version can be seen on What Lies Beneath, Cast Away, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, Monster House, and Flight. Sometimes, like on Last Holiday, Real Steel, Allied and Welcome to Marwen, this logo isn't shown. The on-screen logo (or it's last few seconds) also makes an appearance at the start of the trailer for Here (2024).