Sony Pictures Imageworks

Background

Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group.

The company has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars for their work on Spider-Man 2 and the computer-animated short film The ChubbChubbs!, and received many other nominations for their work.

SPI has provided visual effects for many films; most recent include The Meg, Men in Black: International, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. They also provided services for several of director Robert Zemeckis' films, including Contact, Cast Away, The Polar Express, and Beowulf (2007).

Since the foundation of its sister company Sony Pictures Animation in 2002, SPI would go on to animate nearly all of SPA's films, including Open Season, Surf's Up, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and films in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Smurfs and Hotel Transylvania franchises, in addition to animating films for other studios such as Arthur Christmas for Aardman Animations (co-produced by SPA), Storks and Smallfoot for the Warner Animation Group, The Angry Birds Movie and its sequel for Rovio Animation, Over the Moon for Netflix Animation, Netflix and Pearl Studio, and The Sea Beast for Netflix Animation.

1st Logo (July 3, 2002-May 9, 2003)

Logo: On a black background, we see the words "sony pictures imaGeworKs" in red, surrounded by a wide blue/purple halo and with "sony pictures" atop "maGe". "PRESENTS", also in red, can be seen below.

Variant: The logo would also be showed without "PRESENTS" and the blue halo.

Technique: None.

Audio: The opening theme.

Availability: Used on early Sony Pictures Imageworks shorts.^[Examples?]

2nd Logo (July 21, 2006-)

Monster House (2006)
Open Season (2006)
The ChubbChubbs Saves Xmas (2007)
Surf’s Up (2007)
Beowulf (2007)
Open Season 2 (2009)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Open Season 3 (2011)
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
Vivo (2021)

Logo: We zoom out from a black background. We zoom quickly to a waterdrop on an eyelash. Waterdrop falls into the eye electring and becoming fire. After that 26 different size plates, which do from themselves a circle, gets really far from camera in space and the flies away. Camera quickly zooms into the big hole in a universe, where also the plates comes. They put together again in a circle and "SONY PICTURES" (in white) "IMAGEWORKS" (in red) appears next to the circle.

Variants:

An in-credit variant exists.
There is also an in progress version of this logo. We zoom on the eyelash and zoom back from the eye lighting this. Then, the eye opens and the camera zooms slowly to the eyeball by the flashes and effects. Zooming around the plates we see a natural circle from the normal logo. The shape zooms back and stops and a name of company comes next to the shape and it fades out. During the logo, the counter is underneath and it counts 1 minute and 13 seconds. Counter also fades out along with the logo.

Technique: CGI by Prologue.

Audio: A piano and violin fanfare first, which becomes more beautiful, loud krople drop, loud whooshes and magical sparkles.

Audio Variants:

For the in-credit variant, the closing theme of the movie.
The prototype logo features a human singing a solute and a whoosh.

Availability:

The in-credit variant appears at the end of some Sony Pictures Animation films which are: Open Season, Surf's Up, Open Season 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Open Season 3, Hotel Transylvania 3ː Summer Vacation, The Mitchells vs the Machines and Vivo. This is also seen at the end of Monster House, The ChubbChubbs Saves Xmas and Beowulf (2007).
Progress version is unused.