Spyglass Media Group

Background

Spyglass Entertainment was a production company founded by Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber in 1998 after the former left Caravan Pictures. In 2010, Barber and Birnbaum became co-Chairs and co-CEOs of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, just as the company was recovering from bankruptcy, and due to that Spyglass's releases became heavily scaled back before bowing out entirely in early 2012. On March 13, 2019, Barber and Lantern Entertainment relaunched the company as Spyglass Media Group, a successor to The Weinstein Company with Cineworld, Eagle Pictures USA, and later Warner Bros. and Lionsgate coming in as minority investors.

Spyglass Entertainment

(June 4, 1999-February 10, 2012)

Original version
Updated version

Nickname: "The Spyglass"

Logo: We see an ocean environment with mountains in the background on a portable telescope. The ocean then disappears, revealing that a man is looking through the telescope to the right on the ocean background. "SPYGLASS", in the Spectrum MT font and with a transparent 3D glass texture, appears from behind the mountains and moves above the man. Then a box zooms out, surrounding the man on a black screen with "ENTERTAINMENT" wiping in at the bottom of the screen.

Variants:

On Instinct (the first movie to use this logo), "SPYGLASS" appears in plain 2D (sans glass texture) from behind the mountains.
On movies shot in 2.39:1 scope, the logo zooms out towards the end to fit the aspect ratio. Some movies, like Eight Below and Evan Almighty use the 16:9 version cropped to 2.39:1.
A fullscreen open-matte version exists and was seen on a 4:3 print of Dinner for Schmucks.
On 4:3 fullscreen prints of films starting with Reign of Fire, the logo zooms out to a much farther distance than usual. This is because the film was shot in 2.39:1 scope.
Starting in 2010, coinciding with the music change, the glass texture on the "SPYGLASS" text is replaced with a shiny blue/white 3D lettering with golden outline, and the water ripples on the ocean are more realistic.
On No Strings Attached, the logo cuts to black rather than fading to black.
On the TV show Miracles, the logo is shortened to the final few seconds.

FX/SFX: Nice combo of live-action and CGI animation! This was done by Picturemill.

Music/Sounds: Either a wonderful dramatic piano/string tune (composed by Randy Edelman, who also composed the fanfare for Spyglass's predecessor, Caravan Pictures), silent or the opening theme of the movie.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On The Sixth Sense, the sounds of the water waving and water splashes are heard.
On The Count of Monte Cristo, the last note is trimmed to fit the logo's duration.
On The Invisible, the string portion of the theme plays about a second early.
On 27 Dresses, the theme is re-orchestrated and in a different key, segueing into the opening theme of the movie.
In 2010, starting with Leap Year, the theme is re-orchestrated again; it sounds more powerful and is also in a higher key than the above one.
On AMC's print of Shanghai Noon, the theme is low-pitched.
On Miracles, 4 piano notes from the theme are heard.

Availability: Very common. It's seen on Spyglass movies from 1999 to 2012. It also appeared on the company's website.

Editor's Note: A wonderful successor to the Caravan Pictures logo that lasted 13 years.

Spyglass Media Group

(July 26, 2019-)

Early television version and closing logo on Scream (2022).

Nickname: "The Spyglass II"

Logo: It's basically an enhanced and more realistic version of the previous logo. Like the previous logo, the ocean is reflected in the telescope lens, with the mountains being further back this time around. "SPYGLASS" is now glassier/silvery and set in the Garamond font; and appears behind the man's telescope as opposed to the background. The ocean background is more realistic and it becomes blue-toned as soon as the box starts zooming out. Finally the words "MEDIA GROUP" fade in with a wiping effect, in silvery 3D, replacing "ENTERTAINMENT" from the previous logo.

Variants:

An early television version exists that debuted on season 17 of Project Runway. This version has a different ocean backdrop. As the box zooms out on a black background, the camera inside the box zooms out of a 2D drawing of the man and his telescope. The company name wipes in between the box.
Season 18 of the aforementioned series has a short version that starts when the box zooms out, and is also sped-up.

FX/SFX: Stunning CGI animation. It's a fantastic update to the 1999 logo.

Music/Sounds: A new orchestration that mixes the power of the 1999 theme and the 2010 themes together, debuting on Scream (2022).

Music/Sounds Variants:

Sometimes, it is seen with the film's opening theme.
On Project Runway, the first 6 notes of the 1999 theme are heard.

Availability: It was first seen on international prints of The Current War, and was also seen on the film's US re-release. It was also seen on the trailer for Scream (2022), with its first complete appearance with theme showing up on the film proper. The television version appears on Project Runway starting with season 17. It is expected to appear on future releases from the company.

Editor's Note: This logo is a great way to bring the previous logo into the 21st century.