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.

(June 4, 1999-February 10, 2012)


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 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 him on a black screen with "ENTERTAINMENT" wiping in at the bottom.

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, Stay Alive, Underdog, Evan Almighty and The Love Guru 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 /white 3D lettering with a golden outline, and the water ripples on the ocean are more realistic.
 * On widescreen 16:9 movies with the above variant, the mountains appear further away.
 * On No Strings Attached, the logo cuts, rather than fades, to black.
 * On the TV show Miracles, the logo is shortened to the final few seconds.

Technique: 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 added.
 * On The Count of Monte Cristo and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, 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 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 films produced by Spyglass from 1999 to 2012. It also appeared on the company's website.

Legacy: A wonderful successor to the Caravan Pictures logo that lasted 13 years.

(July 26, 2019-)
Logo: It's basically an enhanced and more realistic version of the previous logo. Like its predecessor, the ocean is reflected in the telescope lens, with the mountains being further back this time around. The "SPYGLASS" text is now glassier/silvery in the Garamond font and appears behind the man's telescope as opposed to the background. The water in the ocean is more realistic and becomes -toned as soon as the box starts zooming out. Finally, the words "MEDIA GROUP" fade in with a wiping effect (also in silvery 3D) replacing "ENTERTAINMENT" from the previous logo.

Variants:
 * An early television variant exists that debuted on season 17 of Project Runway with a different ocean backdrop. As the box zooms out on a black background, the camera inside the box zooms out of a 2D silhouette of the man and his telescope. The company name wipes in between the box.
 * A still version of the aforementioned variant also appears as a closing logo starting with Scream (2022).
 * Season 18 of the aforementioned series has a short version of the theatrical logo that starts when the box zooms out, and the first second is sped-up.

Technique: Stunning CGI animation. It's a fantastic update to the 1999 logo.

Music/Sounds: A new orchestration that mixes the power of the 1999 and 2010 themes together, with the same key as the former, as well as a bell sound at the end, 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.
 * On Hellraiser (2022), the logo is silent.

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

Legacy: The updated CGI and music in this logo is a great way to revive the Spyglass brand into the 21st century.