The Disney empire definitely has its fans, but devout viewer TheDeadlySquid has compiled a video that features “every single variation of the Walt Disney Pictures logo, starting from 1985’s The Black Cauldron and going all the way until 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns.” The logo usually kicks things off with the Cinderella castle—stamped with Walt Disney’s signature—and a shooting star that, in olden times, used to be a spark from Tinkerbell’s wand.
The above video shows that the Disney creators enjoyed playing with the simple logo, no matter the theme of the film—see the robotic version used for Inspector Gadget or the countrified ones for The Country Bears and Home On The Range. Sometimes the logo change focuses on color, as in the neon version before The Lizzie Maguire Movie, or sounds, like the puppy barks in the background of 101 Dalmatians II. But as time passes, the logo gets more high-tech. It lands on a Christmas ornament in Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas, and turns into a doghouse-like structure for The Shaggy Dog.
The clip also notes that Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was the first film to use the all-CGI intro, turning the castle into a three-dimensional, heavily detailed structure surrounded by fireworks. That version went on to appear in films like Beverly Hills Chihuahua and High School Musical 3. In 2011, The Muppets became the first all-CGI intro to change the title from Walt Disney Productions to the simpler “Disney.”
Overall, the clip makes for an interesting journey through graphic design and technology, tracking the evolution of a certain company’s branding as it’s in the process of taking over the entertainment world.
28 Comments
That first logo takes me back to my childhood, watching all those Disney VHS classics that came in the white clamshell case. For those releases, they all seemed to have that logo on the front.
You have to include the Wonderful World of Color days from TV.
Wow, that was a quick bit of time travel back to my grandma’s living room where I watched TV like Linus from Peanuts (sitting on the floor, three feet from the screen).Now that I think about it, I’d probably subscribe to their new service if they made all the “Wonderful World of Color” episodes available. Some of them were briefly available on DVD in the early 2000s and I picked up a couple from before my time that I always wanted to see ( “Dr. Syn,” “Man In Space”) and they are wonderful.
You have Dr. Syn? I loved that one. My first McGoohan. Though I see in IMDG that it was from 1963 and I wasn’t born until 1965. I must have seen it on a rerun. I know for sure that I had the book.
I have the Man in Space set too. The Disney Treasures were too good to live!
I am simultaneously impressed by the creativity of the logo design throughout the years, and also agog at how many sequels Disney has popped out throughout the years. Speaking of which, I’m still holding out for sequels to The Black Hole or The Black Cauldron.
“Video unavailable”. Whoops.
It seems like the worse the movies were, the more elaborate their take on the logo was.
It’s like an early warning system to any poor souls stuck watching some of these disasters. A quick shit on the logo to let you know just how bad your next hour will be.
Still can’t not read “Walt Gisney.”
And now, neither can I. Thanks for that.
Legit until I was embarrassingly old I thought it said “walt disnep” and couldn’t understand why.
Speaking of “The Black Cauldron”, Disney should really, really get to work making the Prydain books into a movie series / TV show.It’s kind of remarkable that this hasn’t happened yet.
Agreed, especially if they gave it the Pete’s Dragon treatment and commit to making it radically different from the original (ie more like the books and less like the 85 movie).
In case anyone thinks watching a 22+ minute video to see all of two and a half logo changes, the bits to watch are at the start; at the 8:49; and the 11:49.Unless you want to watch the same three logos appear for nearly a half-hour, which is fine too.
Unless you want to watch the same three logos appear for nearly a half-hour…That’s every video I do on Twitch, if instead of three logos repeating it was me eating mac & cheese right out of the pot and crying.
If my cholesterol levels allowed me to eat mac & cheese right out of the pot, I wouldn’t be crying.
My son is autistic and this pleased him greatly. He decided quickly to guess as soon as possible. Of the movies he’s seen he was incorrect twice. He’s happy.
Again, I never said no-one should watch the whole 22 minutes. I said I didn’t feel the need to, given the lack of suspense.
No I was not disagreeing with you. I just wanted to let folks know that some people might be totally down with the entire thing.Frankly I got tired of holding my phone for him, but it was worth it in the end.
Was waiting for Tron, was not disappointed.
that’s my favorite
The logo doesn’t actually change. It just gets bigger as it eats all the other logos.
You can actually see other logos crying in the background on the later examples.
Why didn’t Disney as the largest Logo not simply eat all the other Logos?
My ten year old son is autistic.We just watched this entire thing and he was thrilled every time he guessed correctly.When John Carter popped up I said, “John Carter. We haven’t seen it yet. But soon.” He said, “Woohoo!”Just from the Intro.John Carter is our Friday Night Movie this week.
Atlantis. *Chef’s kiss*
Seems like the 3D expanded ones didn’t leave much room for creativity. Enter: The Incredibles 2
Was waiting for I’ll Be Home For Christmas, was not disappointed. Called suicide hotline anyway. They told me to do it.