Mandalay Pictures

Background: Mandalay Pictures (formerly "Mandalay Entertainment") is a film production studio founded in 1995 by legendary Hollywood producer, Peter Guber, a year after leaving as head of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In 1997, Lions Gate Entertainment purchased Mandalay until 2003, when it became independent again. In 2008, Mandalay formed "Mandalay Independent Pictures." Later in 2011, it was changed to "Mandalay Vision."

(August 16, 1996-present)
Nickname: "The Tiger", "Mandalay Tiger"

Logo: In a black-and-white video, we see the sun shining through trees in a jungle in Mandalay, Myanmar. The camera pans down towards the bottom of the jungle, where a tiger emerges in a vibrant, orange color. It walks towards the camera as a box zooms out and surrounds its head. In a "slashing" effect, the tiger's head turns into a stylized drawing of itself. The text "mandalay" appears above the logo (in a script font), and "ENTERTAINMENT" appears below.

Variants:
 * On The Fan (the first film from Mandalay), the logo is cut short and starts after the stylized tiger has fully formed. The international release starts with the normal long version instead (prior to the TriStar logo, instead of the other way around).
 * Starting in 1999, the word "PICTURES" replaces "ENTERTAINMENT".
 * Another variant shows nothing at the bottom.
 * From 1999-2003, the byline "A LIONS GATE COMPANY" was shown below the logo.
 * On Never Back Down, the text "INDEPENDENT PICTURES" is seen below the logo.
 * An in-credit version appears at the end of Into the Blue.
 * There is a shortened version of the logo where it begins with the tiger emerging from the jungle.
 * On some movies, the ending of the logo changes slightly. The stylized tiger is now in black and white while lightly splashed water appear below the logo which transform into the word "VISION" in a bubbly water font. On The Kids Are All Right, it's just the normal version with "VISION" below.

FX/SFX: The tiger emerging. Mostly live action, which is done in a really unique fashion. This was done by Picture Mill.

Music/Sounds: A jungle-like tribal theme, which turns into a majestic 6-note fanfare; a sword-drawing sound effect is heard as the tiger's head turns 2D. This theme was composed by Jonathan Elias. Sometimes it plays over the opening theme.

Availability: Common. First seen on The Fan. The short version of this logo can be seen on Mandalay's Netflix movies like Little Evil and on US prints of Sleepy Hollow. The long version can be seen on films such as Donnie Brasco, Seven Years in Tibet, Desperate Measures, Enemy at the Gates, The Score, Serving Sara, Beyond Borders, and non-US prints of Sleepy Hollow, among others. The "Independent" variant only appears on Never Back Down, while the logo with the Lions Gate byline still exists on some prints of earlier movies, such as Serving Sara. The "Vision" variant appears on The Kids Are All Right, Soul Surfer, Vanishing on 7th Street, Bernie and The Voices.

Editor's Note: This is a favorite of many.