Wolf Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Wolf Entertainment is the production company of Dick Wolf, best known as the creator of the Law & Order franchise. The company was founded in 1988. It was formerly known as "Wolf Films".

Wolf Films

(September 21, 1989-May 16, 2019)


Logo: We see a silhouette of a wolf in the distance howling at the moon while standing on a dark, black ground against the dark red sky background with few stars over it. On the screen, we see the blue text:

WOLF
F I L M S

Variants:

  • The color of the sky may vary. For example, there's an early version of this logo in which the sky looks like a night sky, but starting in 1990, the sky is more like a sunset. There could also be a mixture of a sunset turning into a night sky.
  • The logo was enhanced for high-definition in 2011.
  • An earlier animated version exists on earlier Wolf productions like Christine Cromwell and Nasty Boys. We see the text starting from black, but starting from a purple night sky, the moon is rising, and the wolf is animated, howling to the screen. The text then later turns blue, and the sky also turns to a normal night sky.
  • The height of the hill may vary.
  • On the Mann & Machine episode "Truth or Consequences" and the season 3 Law & Order episode Jurisdiction, the moon is seen rising to its spot.
  • On Law & Order: UK, the Wolf Films logo is seen on the lower left with the NBC Universal Television Studio logo on the right and the Kudos Film & Television logo with the Shine Group byline below above the Wolf/NUTS logos with the letter "A" above the Kudos logo and the word "Production" below the logos. On season 7, it's the current Kudos logo with the Shine Group byline below the Kudos logo. Except below the Wolf/NUTS logo, the word "For" is also seen below followed by the 2013 ITV logo below.
  • On the short-lived reality show Stars Earn Stripes, "F I L M S" is replaced by "R E A L I T Y LLC".

Technique: None. A mix of live-action and early computer animation for the earlier animated variant.

Music/Sounds: A soundbite of a wolf howling and crickets chirping.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • For the earlier animated variant, we hear more crickets chirping sounds, as well as an owl hooting.
  • NBC and CBS play their own generic music over the logo instead, both having done so since 1994, as well as ABC since 1998.

Availability: Common, as it appears on all of Dick Wolf's productions for almost 30 years.

  • Currently it's mainly seen on all of the series in the Law & Order franchise, which consists of the original Law & Order, its made-for-TV movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie, its spinoffs Special Victims Unit, Criminal Intent, Trial by Jury and Los Angeles, and the foreign adaptation Law & Order: UK.
  • Other Dick Wolf series featuring this logo includes the Chicago franchise which also consists of Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and Chicago Justice.
  • It was also seen on other shows that Dick Wolf created such as Nasty Boys, Players, 3AM, New York Undercover, The Wright Verdicts, Mann & Machine, the short-lived reality series Arrest & Trial, the 2003 revival of Dragnet, the 1993 TV series Crime & Punishment, and the first season of FBI on CBS.

Wolf Entertainment

1st Logo (April 7-September 10, 2019)


Logo: Same as the previous logo, but with a few changes: as the logo fades in, we see the familiar setting in a more realistic fashion, with the added nebula, the detailed moon, now in between the text and the wolf, and being slightly less saturated as a result. the text is also smaller, with "E N T E R T A I N M E N T" in place of "F I L M S" and in a different font, which is now animated, fading and slightly zooming in after the first second before it stops moving a second later. The wolf is no longer between the L and F of "WOLF" and is now at the far right of the logo, and is also animated, now howling throughout the logo.

Variant: On First Responders Live, the logo moves differently. Here the text wipes in, while the wolf is howling.

Technique: A mix of live-action and 3D computer animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as before.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • The howl is slightly different on First Responders Live.
  • Fox airings of the aforementioned show also used a generic theme.

Availability: Seen on the Oxygen original series Murder for Hire, and First Responders Live on Fox.

2nd Logo (September 24, 2019-)


Logo: On a night sky, we see the moon, with a silhouette of a wolf howling in a distance, animating (similar to the early variant of the Wolf Films logo). On the screen we see the text "WOLF" with "ENTERTAINMENT" down below in black. The moon rises, and the text turns blue (similar to the early variant of the Wolf Films logo). The background then turns black, leaving only the moon and the text.

Trivia: This logo was designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv of New York, a firm also responsible for the six-feathered NBC Peacock, the 1984 PBS logo, the Viacom "Wigga Wigga" logo, the 1965 Screen Gems Television logo, the 2014 RatPac Entertainment logo, the Warner Bros. Discovery logo, among other designs.

Variant: Starting with season 4 of FBI, season 3 of FBI: Most Wanted and season 1 of FBI: International, the moon and the wolf are in different positions.

Technique: A mix of live-action and 2D computer animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the first two logos, but slightly different.

Music/Sounds Variant: NBC and CBS airings used their generic themes.

Availability: Current.

  • First seen on the second season of FBI on CBS, then seen on the fifth season of Chicago Med, the eighth season of Chicago Fire, the seventh season of Chicago P.D. and the 21st season of Law & Order: SVU on NBC.
  • It is also seen on new shows that Dick Wolf created like FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order: Organised Crime and FBI International, and should also be seen on Dick Wolf's future projects like On Call.
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