Warner Bros. Pictures

Background
Warner Bros. Pictures was founded in 1918 by the Warner brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack - Polish-Jewish brothers who emigrated from Krasnosielc, Poland to Ontario, Canada. It is the third-oldest American movie studio in continuous operation, after Paramount Pictures was founded on May 8, 1912 as Famous Players Film Corporation, and Universal Studios founded on June 8, 1912. Warner Bros. incorporated on April 4, 1923. The studio has been the subject to numerous acquisitions over the decades. Warner Bros. merged with Seven Arts Productions in 1967, renaming it to "Warner Bros.-Seven Arts". The studio was purchased by Kinney National Co. in 1969, which was later reincorporated as Warner Communications in 1972 when it spun-off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations. Since 1989, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner (WarnerMedia since 2018), formed as a merger between the conglomerates Time, Inc. and Warner Communications. In 1992, Time Warner formed "Time Warner Entertainment" by merging all of its entertainment operations for the first time. Internet giant AOL merged with Time Warner in January 2001, renaming the company as AOL Time Warner, but in summer 2003, the conglomerate name was reverted back to Time Warner (often with no space in between the words) due to lawsuits and losing $99 billion from the collapse of the dot-com bubble. AOL officially split from Time Warner in 2009. In 2018, after numerous legal hurdles, AT&T acquired Time Warner. Subsequently, it was rebranded "WarnerMedia". The status of the acquisition was settled in February 2019 when it was upheld on appeal and the Justice Department declined to pursue their case against the acquisition any further. Today, with the exceptions of some films WB merely distributed, such as Sayonara (currently owned by the estate of the producer), Moby Dick (currently owned by MGM), Rope (currently owned by Universal Studios) and Hondo (owned by Batjac Productions with distribution exclusively handled by Paramount), the pre-1950 catalog is held by WB subsidiary Turner Entertainment Co.

1st Logo (November 17, 1925-August 30, 1929)


Nicknames: "Brain Shield", "Studio Shield", "Brain WB Shield", "The Early Shield"

Logo: On a black background, a large, bizarrely shaped shield is seen, with a very wide top. The top part of the shield shows a picture of the original Warner studio in Hollywood CA (now known as "Sunset Bronson Studios"), the bottom having a squashed, stylized "WB". "a WARNER BROTHERS" is above the shield (with "WARNER BROTHERS" in an arc around the shield, a la the first Columbia logo), with "CLASSIC of the SCREEN" below. Starting in 1926 or so, it changed to "PRODUCTION".

Closing Titles: There are two closing titles for this WB era:

1st Closing Title: We see the words "THE END" all in capitals on both sides of the WB shield, with "THE" on the left and "END" on the right. The "T" on "THE" and the "E" on "END" are bigger than the other letters. Below the shield, we see "A WARNER BROTHERS CLASSIC OF THE SCREEN" in big capital letters. But on some movies, the WB shield was omitted. For example, Beau Brummel (1924) had a BG with some books and two candles on both sides of the screen. Above the books, we see the "The End" in a small, fancy white script arched above a small "A WARNER BROTHERS "CLASSIC of the SCREEN"" text. 2nd Closing Title: The second variant is the one you are seeing on the 3rd photo from left to right. On The Jazz Singer (1927), it was superimposed on a marble-like BG.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or a film's opening theme.

Availability: Extremely rare. This logo was thought to have been extinct for years. Evidence of it was seen on a Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary trailer on 1998 Warner videos. However, it has appeared at the start of the film The Jazz Singer, and was kept intact on the 75th Anniversary DVD as well as on the 1981 Magnetic Video release, where it's preceded by a United Artists "Transamerica T" logo. This is retained on all extant silent-era Warner Bros. films shown on TCM such as The Better 'Ole. The logo premiered at the beginning of Clash of the Wolves and made its final appearance on Gold Diggers of Broadway.

Editor's Note: The first design of the WB shield, it's noted by modern viewers for having a strange look to it. However, the addition of the WB Studios inside the shield wouldn't be referenced again until the 1998 logo.

2nd Logo (November 7, 1929-August 29, 1936)


Nicknames: "Vitaphone Shield", "Shield and Flag"

Logo: The words "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc." appear, and below that "& THE VITAPHONE CORP." appears in a much smaller font, with the "VITAPHONE" using "electric" style letters. Below that is a very small WB shield (using the stylized WB seen in the 1st logo), and in script, "Present". Behind it there is the drawing of a flag, "waving" so it looks like it is in three sections. On the first one, "WARNER BROS." appears, followed by the electric-letter "VITAPHONE" logo and on section 3, "PICTURES".

Closing Title:

The closing variation has "The End" instead of "Present". A colorized version exists, in which the logo (the text, the flag, and the shield) are colored yellow and appear on a blue BG.

Trivia: The First National Company also used this logo, but modified with the words "FIRST NATIONAL" instead of "WARNER BROS. PICTURES". Also, on some features, only a very big banner saying "VITAPHONE", was shown, omitting the First National or the Warner Bros. logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: It's preserved on any film from Warner Bros. from this era, including pre-1999 video releases by Magnetic Video, CBS/Fox Video, Key Video, and MGM/UA Home Video. However, on the DVD version of G-Men, it has usually been replaced with the 1948 shield logo, although this logo is kept at the end of G-Men. The logo premiered on Paris and made its final appearance on Anthony Adverse. Also seen on Svengali.

3rd Logo (July 21, 1934-December 18, 1937)
Nicknames: "Zooming Shield", "Zooming WB Shield"

Logo: Over a cumulonimbus cloud setting, a superimposed WB Shield design zooms in to the screen. The words "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc. Present" appear over the shield.

Variants:

For colorized releases, mainly Captain Blood, the cloud background is blue and the shield is yellow. On Here Comes the Navy, Housewife, and Dames (all 1934), the shield is seen on a white backdrop. Instead of the shield zooming into the camera, the opposite takes place. On The Woman in Red (1935), the shield appears without the words. On The Goose and the Gander (1935), the shield is a still image, and is shaped extremely bizarrely.

Closing Title: We see, on a special BG, superimposed on the last scene of a movie or the cloud background of the opening logo, the words "The End" in a fancy script font, with either the WB or the FN logos and "Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.", or rarely "Warner Bros. Productions Corporation", or "First National Pictures, Inc." below. Later, the disclaimer changed to either "A First National Picture" or "A Warner Bros. Picture" and the font for "The End" would change different times.

FX/SFX: The shield zooming in.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie.

Availability: It's seen on films from the period and occasionally seen on TCM. Its first known appearance is on Here Comes the Navy and made its final theatrical appearance on She Loved a Fireman.

Editors Note: Elements of this logo (the zooming shield especially) have been implemented in the opening of Looney Tunes cartoons, which are regarded to be iconic. The zoom-in of the shield is rough, which is typical for logos made before the Scanimate era.

4th Logo (November 27, 1937-July 3, 1948)


Logo: Inside a shield, a more realistic version of the stylized "WB" as seen in the previous logo appears. Over the shield is a banner that reads "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." Below the logo is the word "Presents" in script.

Variants:

For color releases, the shield was bronze colored and the background was red. Starting in 1942, "JACK L. WARNER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER" was seen below the Warner Bros. Pictures banner. Starting in 1944, the word "PRESENTS" is now in the same font as the Warner Bros. Pictures banner. A colorized version of this logo with a blue background, a gold shield and a red inside exists on The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, among others. An ornate hand-drawn version of the shield against a parchment-like background was seen on some films, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.

Closing Title: Superimposed on a special background or sometimes on the last scene of the movie, the huge words "The End" (with font varying on a movie) fade in, with the "WB" shield bug and "A WARNER BROS. PICTURE" in small letters below, but sometimes, due to the deal between WB and First National Pictures, the disclaimer was "A WARNER BROS.-FIRST NATIONAL PICTURE", or it was sometimes shortened to "A FIRST NATIONAL PICTURE" with the WB shield bug intact.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Usually the beginning of the movie's theme, or a majestic horn sounder, composed by Max Steiner. On at least three films, To Have and Have Not, Confidential Agent and Dark Passage, a different fanfare, composed by Franz Waxman, plays.

Availability: Fairly common. It's seen on Warner releases of the period, like Casablanca on TCM. It premiered on Submarine D-1and made its final appearance on Romance on the High Seas.

Editors Note: Perhaps the second most well known version of the shield, due to preceding classics such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of Sierra Madre, all starring Humphrey Bogart, who was rated as the Greatest American Movie Star (Men's Category) by the American Film Institute in 1998.

5th Logo (July 31, 1948-November 1, 1967)




Nicknames: "The Classic Shield", "The Golden Shield"

Logo: Same as before, only the design has been cleaned up a bit. The border of the shield, banner, text, and "WB" are now gold, and the inside of the shield is now blue. The banner phrase is now changed to "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" and is now gold. "Presents", in the same font as the previous logo, usually appears below. Also, the background is now a cloud skyline (much like the logos of 1984 on). For the later years, this logo was usually superimposed onto the titles of Warner features of this period.

Variants:

A color version of this logo appears on color releases, such as Rope, among others. There were many different cloud background variants throughout the years. A sepia-toned variant of this logo can be found on Jack and the Beanstalk and Bonnie and Clyde. Some movies, most notably The Crimson Pirate and The Master of Ballantrae, had this logo on a different cloud skyline. On 3D films and some 2D films that were originally planned to be made in 3D like House of Wax, Hondo, Dial M for Murder, Them!, The High and the Mighty, Rebel Without a Cause, and Drum Beat(where this variant is presented in CinemaScope), the WB shield looks more three-dimensional. This variant was used from 1953 until 1956. It was also used for logo plastering, as was the case for reissue prints of the 1951 film Force of Arms (aka A Girl for Joe). One film that had the "Presents" text absent is Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn. Some movies, most notably Battle of the Bulge and Cool Hand Luke, had the logo on a black background. Sometimes, the banner reads "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC." like the previous logo, except the "INC." is really tiny and seen on the very right. This version can be seen on some movies, most notably The Prince and the Showgirl.

Closing Titles:

1st Closing Title: Was the same as above, seen only with the "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" and "A First National Picture" text. 2nd Closing Title: Superimposed on the last scene of a movie or a special BG, the words "The End" with font varies on that movie fades in with the WB shield bug between two thick lines below. Sometimes, the following disclaimers were used:

"Produced and Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc." "Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc." "Produced and Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures" "Distributed by Warner Bros."

These texts are seen sandwiched below "The End" and above the WB shield bug.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The Max Steiner fanfare from the previous logo was used initially, and it was gradually phased out in favor of the movie's opening theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: On New York Confidential, the logo had a different fanfare, composed by Joseph Mullendore.

Availability: Seen on many of the Warner Bros. movies on AMC and TCM. It has also been plastered onto the DVD version of G-Men. It premiered on Key Largo and the final movie to use this logo was Cool Hand Luke (but copyrighted to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, as the merger had finished by the time the film was completed). Sometimes, this may be preceded by a later logo, as seen on the earliest home video releases of Them! (where the 10th logo preceded this one). This also appears on the VCI release of Drum Beat.

Editor's Note: The most well known version of the Warner Bros. Shield. This particular design, still in use, was listed as the 12th best corporate logo by Complex Magazine, for its longevity and "iconic" status.

6th Logo (September 28, 1967-November 12, 1970)
Nicknames: "WB-7", "W7", "Lucky Number 7 on WB", "W7 Shield"

Logo: Just a superimposed, stylized shield which can be white, yellow or red. The shield features a combination of a "W" and a "7", representing Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. The "W7" is often drawn on-screen, a la the NBC Snake, although it's a still logo on a few films. Below the shield, "WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS" is seen. The word "Presents" usually appears under the shield.

Variants:

A couple of movies, like Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), have a still version of the logo. A couple of European movies, that were distributed by Warner Bros., like Alexandre le bienheureux (1968) and The Bastard (1968), have only the letters without the shield outline. On The Bastard, the logo is on a cloudy background like the previous logo.

Closing title: After the words "The End" and the credits, the words "Distributed by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts" are seen in the screen superimposed in the last scene of the movie or a special BG with the W7 shield bug below.

FX/SFX: The "trace"; sometimes done over the backdrop of a specific movie.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening of the movie.

Availability: Rare. It's seen on some Warner Bros. films of the period, though WB usually replaces it with a newer logo. Examples of this include pre-1998 prints of Bullitt, which were plastered by the 1984 Warner Communications "Shield of Staleness" with the exception of the 1980 WCI Home Video release, and the WCI release of The Green Berets, where the "Big W" plasters it. The current DVD/Blu-ray release of Bullitt, and current prints of Charro and The Wild Bunch have their logos intact/restored. Also seen after the 1984 Warner Communications shield logo on The Arrangement, which aired on an international version of TCM. It occasionally plastered the previous logo, such as on early VHS releases of East of Eden. It premiered on The Bobo and made its final appearance on The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer.

Editor's Note: This is the first time the WB name (and its logo) has been altered in its 50+ year history.

Wb1971.png
Nicknames: "Gasoline Shield", "Shield Stretch", "The Kinney Shield", "Long Shield", "The Kinney WB Shield"

Logo: Over a blue screen is an abstract shield (like those seen on WB movie posters in the '60s) in a golden color with a dark brownish color inside. A simple lettering of the WB appears at the upper part and a rectangle of the same colors appear at the lower part of the shield, with the Kinney byline inside. The word "PRESENTS" appears underneath the logo.

Bylines:

May 13, 1970-June 25, 1971: "A KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY" April 18-May 1, 1971: "A KINNEY SERVICES COMPANY" June 17-September 30, 1971: "A KINNEY LEISURE SERVICE" December 19, 1971-February 25, 1972: "A KINNEY COMPANY"

Variants:

At the end of the film, we sometimes see the byline "Distributed by WARNER BROS." or "Distributed by WARNER BROS. INC." on top of (or in the case of THX-1138, underneath) a superimposed rendition of the company logo. (On earlier films from 1970, such as Chisum and The Battle of Cable Hogue, there is no banner/byline on the superimposed version.) Some films (including There Was a Crooked Man... and THX-1138) had the logo on a black background. Others (such as The Omega Man) had it superimposed over the opening credits. Dirty Harry and Billy Jack do not have the "PRESENTS" text. Some films, including McCabe and Mrs. Miller, had a two-dimensional version of the shield appearing in white over a black background. On the 1970 re-release print of the 1956 movie Giant, the Kinney Shield was set over the classic WB clouds. It is unknown if this appears on any home video release.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Again, the opening/closing theme of the movie's theme or silence.

Availability: As we all know, Warner was incredibly shoddy with logo preservation until recently. AMC and TCM showings of Warner movies MAY include this logo, but expect one of the more recent WB shield logos, most likely the Warner Communications and Time Warner (not Time Warner Entertainment) variations. No logo is seen at all on the 2007 DVD/Blu-ray release of A Clockwork Orange, though it is seen on the earlier 2000 issue. Is seen on the Encore Westerns print of the John Wayne film Chisum, and on the legendary Visconti movie Death in Venice (1971). On AMC, it can be found on Dirty Harry (also seen on the Dirty Harry Ultimate Collection Box Set and DVD releases of the said movie afterwards). The logo is also seen on the DVD releases of The Omega Man, The Cowboys, Billy Jack, and THX-1138, as well as an early VHS release of the former. Also found on the Image Entertainment Blu-Ray of Billy Jack and There Was a Crooked Man... It premiered on The Ballad of Cable Hogue and made its final appearance on Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (What's Up, Doc?, the next film WB released, instead uses the classic WB shield as an in-credit logo and would be the first film to use the Warner Communications byline). It appears the reason why this was plastered so often is because Kinney still existed as a company at the time, having spun off Warner Communications following a parking scandal, similar to what happened with United Artists and its Transamerica logos.

Editor's Note: The shield's simplistic design reflected the style of other logos produced in this time frame.

8th Logo (November 24, 1971)
Nicknames: "Alternate Kinney Shield", "Off-Kilter Shield"

Logo: On a background similar to the last logo, a bannerless WB shield is seen, with the design closer resembling the classic WB shield. "A KINNEY LEISURE SERVICE" is seen below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Silent, or in the case of The Man in the Wilderness, the opening audio.

Availability: Seen on The Man in the Wilderness, which is preserved on the Warner Archive Blu-ray. May have been seen on other films from this time period, but it's hard to say between Warner's rampant plastering habits and more common usage of the 7th logo. Not helping matters is that even The Man in the Wilderness used the Kinney Shield as its closing logo.

Editor's Note: The shield looks very ugly.

9th Logo (May 7, 1972-January 31, 1973)


Nicknames: "WCI Shield", "Early WCI Shield", "Tiny Shield", "Mini Shield", "Bannerless WB Shield"

Logo: The standard WB shield logo, without the banner. It is on a blue background with "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" underneath. "Presents", in script, may appear below.

Variants:

On some Warner VHS releases of titles like Deliverance, the aspect ratio of the logo would be squeezed into 4:3 full screen from a wider ratio. On Get to Know Your Rabbit, a dark version of the logo is seen, and it is slightly tilted to the left. On the 2007 DVD and Blu-ray of Deliverance, "Presents" underneath the byline is not present. This is likely due to that release using the original negative as the basis for its restoration as opposed to a 35mm inter-positive.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Silence or the beginning of the movie's theme, though Get to Know Your Rabbit uses a horn-driven theme with a flute mixed in towards the end.

Availability: Ultra rare. This was another placeholder logo only used on a few films to begin with, with notable ones being Deliverance, The Candidate, and Super Fly. However, due to Warner Bros.' logo plastering habits, this was subject to being replaced with ether the next logo below, or the 1984 shield logo and its later variations. This is currently intact on the DVD release of The Candidate, and the 2007 DVD and Blu-ray release of Deliverance, along with airings on TCM Australia and Fox Classics. The logo is also preserved on Warner's 1986 VHS and Betamax release of Rage, along with the 1994 VHS and Warner Archive Blu-ray of Dracula A.D. 1972 and the Warner Archive Blu-ray release of Super Fly. It premiered on Jeremiah Johnson and made its final theatrical appearance on Steelyard Blues.

Editor's Note: An attempt to bring back the classic WB shield. Scraped in favor to include the corporate logo a year later.

10th Logo (February 7, 1973-September 28, 1984, 1984-1989)


Nicknames: "The Big "W"", "(\\')", "The Worms", "The Round W"

Logo: On a black background, a red abstract "W" consisting of two slanted elongated circles and a shorter elongated circle zooms in towards us. Around halfway through, the words "WARNER BROS" (in the Warner Communications custom typeface) appear below it. The red logo overtakes the screen as a smaller white "W" zooms in. It stops at the middle of the screen and a black square field, whose corners have been rounded and softened, fades in around the logo. "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" in the same font used for "WARNER BROS" fades in below. Most of the time, "PRESENTS" fades in below after that (in Helvetica).

Trivia: The Big \\' was designed by Saul Bass (1920-1996), who also designed the Geffen "G" logo. The "Worms" nickname is attributed to an audio commentary on the movie Gremlins, which brought back the shield logo.

Variants:

On the 1976 film All the President's Men, the logo is in black-and-white and "PRESENTS" is absent. This variant is preserved on the DVD of the film. On old VHS releases, including the 1980 WCI release and the 1991 letterboxed French Canadian Warner release, the color is simply faded. On some films (including Oh, God!, The Frisco Kid, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, Just Tell Me What You Want, Private Benjamin, The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Firefox, The Man with Two Brains, National Lampoon's Vacation and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island), "PRESENTS" fades in at the same time as the Warner Communications byline. On Superman: The Movie and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, a white (\\') zooms in on a black background and stops in the middle. The words "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS" fade in below. (Superman retained this on early video releases, but it was replaced by the regular version on later releases, and the 1984 version of the shield on later video releases. It was restored on the film's DVD and Blu-ray releases. Current prints of the film as seen recently on Encore, HBO, and VUDU remove it and replace it with the variant seen on Flags of Our Fathers). On some other outside productions released by WB (including Superman III, among others), "RELEASED BY WARNER BROS" replaces "WARNER BROS" at the beginning of the logo (this version was retained on the original video release of Superman III). On Exorcist II: The Heretic, there is a still image of a black \\' inside a red square field, with "WARNER BROS, A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" below in red. On Night Moves and Dog Day Afternoon, the word "PRESENTATION" appears below the Warner Communications byline, making the phrase "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY PRESENTATION". On the 1984 VHS release of Class of '44, the logo's 2.35:1 aspect ratio was squeezed into 4:3 full screen. On trailers for re-releases, the logo has a copyright notice at the bottom, while on the top it says " A RE-RELEASE FROM WARNER BROS.". This has been seen on reissue trailers of Superman: The Movie and Around the World in 80 Days. There's a short version that starts with the white \\' zooming in. This can be seen on the trailer for McQ.

Closing Variants:

The closing "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS" logo has the colors inside out, with the "W" in black and the field in white. This was seen as late as 1988 on Evil Angels., with an in-credit variation appearing as late as 1990 on The Witches. An early version of this logo had a different font for the text as well (this version appeared at the beginning of some prints of The Shining). A black-and-white version appeared at the end of TCM's print of Onionhead, followed by the 2003 Warner Bros. Television logo. An ITV overnight showing of the 1968 film The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in early September 1996 had its original W7 logo at the beginning, but this logo, with "PRESENTS", oddly appeared at the end. Some early WCI Home Video releases have this closing variant sloppily tacked on at the end of some features, and replacing the Warner Bros. distribution logo at the end of early video prints of Mister Roberts (1955) and replacing the National General Pictures distribution logo at the end of the WCI print of Executive Action (1972).

FX/SFX: The zooming in of the "W". None for the closing variant.

Music/Sounds: Usually silent, but some movies have the beginning of the movie's theme playing over it. Oddly, on Warner Archive's Blu-ray release of The Drowning Pool, it has the second half of the 1999 fanfare playing over the logo, due to a plastering error.

Availability: Rare.

It premiered on The Train Robbers and made its final theatrical appearance on Irreconcilable Differences (as seen on the Vestron Video release and the 2009 Lionsgate DVD, as it uses the same VHS master). Warner Bros.' editing bug in the '80s and early '90s meant that Warner Communications and Time Warner shield logos were seen over this logo and, ironically enough, that this did some plastering of its own back when it was the current logo, as seen on early WCI/Warner VHS and Betamax releases of The Green Berets (originally had the 6th logo) and The Candidate (originally had the 9th logo). WB continues to plaster this logo with newer ones, even into the 21st century, this is due to the fact that Warner Music Group uses the \\' as their logo. Examples include The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie,The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island, which all have it replaced with the extended 2004 WB Family Entertainment logo. On the 2008 DVD and 2016 Twilight Time Blu-ray of Bobby Deerfield (a co-production of Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros.), this logo is plastered by the 2003 logo; however, the 1976 Columbia logo (which comes before the Warner Bros. logo) is kept, resulting in one of the strangest logo combos ever. It should be mentioned that the original VHS release, however, only has this logo, as no Columbia logo is seen. A few movies on Encore contain this logo (Oh, God! is one) after the 1992 WB logo. The 2007 remastered edition of the Led Zeppelin movie The Song Remains the Same retains this logo, and you can find this logo on early VHS, Laserdisc and Betamax releases by WCI/Warner Home Video. The 1986 VHS of Superman: The Movie has that film's variant plastered by the "PRESENTS" variant of the 1984 logo, though early video prints as well as DVD and Blu-Ray prints keep this intact; however it is unknown if any TV airings in the past or present retain this as well. The 1980 WCI Home Video videocassette, 1991 letterboxed French Canadian Warner Home Video videocassette, and 1997 Warner Home Video DVD releases of All the President's Men preserve the B&W/color-faded variant. On AMC's prints of the Dirty Harry films Magnum Force, The Enforcer, and Sudden Impact, this logo is retained, though the latter two films have their logo edited due to time, though these said films have the logo intact on recent DVD releases. Also seen intact on the HBO Family print and Amazon release of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, the 1999 VHS releases of Badlands (also on the DVD release) and Twilight Zone: The Movie, most WCI releases, earlier and some later WHV releases, and the 2-disc DVD of Enter the Dragon. Also preserved on DVD releases of Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales. Can also be seen on the DVD releases of Uptown Saturday Night and Outlaw Blues, which were released under their Warner Archive label. It is also preserved on DVD releases of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Barry Lyndon, and Mean Streets. This logo is also seen on the 1984 WHV print of The Great Race, as well as the 1985 U.S. and 1987 Canadian WHV print of Them! (where it precedes the 5th logo). It remains intact on the 2005 extended edition DVD of The Outsiders (although the original theatrical version is still plastered by the "Shield of Staleness"). It has recently been seen in Australia on airings of The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Taxi Driver, and Badlands on Fox Classics (an Australian cable channel). It also appeared before the CBS Theatrical Films logo on all CBS theatrical releases from Table for Five to Finders Keepers (the last film to use this logo before the "Shield of Staleness"). Strangely, the distribution logo was seen at the end of the first two volumes of Beetlejuice (the animated series) tapes from 1990. This logo was retained on the 1997 Warner Home Video region 1 DVD release of Mad Max 2, as well as on the Australian Roadshow Entertainment DVD from the 2000s (that particular release was also later used in a trilogy set along with Roadshow's DVDs of first and third films). This logo also makes an appearance on the Warner Archive Blu-Ray release of The Satanic Rites of Dracula, though it is absent on all older releases. It also appeared on the original 1984 WHV VHS of Never Say Never Again; it would later be plastered by the 1984 shield on later VHS reissues and recent prints open with the 1997 Orion Pictures logo instead. It may be seen on foreign prints of, among others, Mad Max and Friday the 13th. This makes strange appearances on the pay TV and WCI VHS releases of Orion's The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu and the original WHV release of Filmways-owned The Amityville Horror.

Editor's Note: This logo was noted as "drastically simpler" than the previous Warner Bros. logos, and was even considered to be a touch "Nazi-like" by Fast Company magazine. Despite that, it is a favorite of some in the logo community and the movie industry, including Ben Affleck and Steven Soderbergh, who opted to use this logo on their respective movies, Argo and Magic Mike.

11th Logo (April 13, 1984-February 2, 2001)




Nicknames: "The Shield Returns", "Shield of Staleness", "Shield in the Sky"

Logo: Over a set of clouds (exactly the design of the clouds used in some versions of the 1948 logo), the WB shield appears (including the banner reading "WARNER BROS. PICTURES"), with the name of the owner at the bottom.

Bylines:

June 8, 1984-September 14, 1990: "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" March 9, 1990-February 26, 1993: "A TIME WARNER COMPANY" August 14, 1992-February 2, 2001: "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY"

Variants:

For some of their earlier films, and for films that had this logo plastered on over older logos, the word "PRESENTS" faded in a couple of seconds afterward, like on WB films that originally used the 9th logo. This logo was also seen in black and white when added to the beginning of some films, such as Onionhead. Scope films used a different cloud background, which was also used for this logo's television counterpart during the Warner Communications era.

Closing Variants:

1984-1998: The end logo, seen at the end of most movies, features a simple superimposed WB shield (without a banner), much like the short lived logo from mid-1972. The phrase "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS." appears above the shield with the owner byline at the bottom. On films from 1984-roughly 1989, it would use the "Big W" logo, such as Swing Shift,Gremlins, Cannonball Run II, The NeverEnding Story, Purple Rain, Tightrope, Oh, God! You Devil, US prints of Razorback, City Heat, Protocol, Fandango, Vision Quest, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, The Goonies, Pale Rider, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, American Flyers, Better Off Dead, Krush Groove, Spies Like Us, The Color Purple, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Wildcats, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Cobra, Under the Cherry Moon, Club Paradise, One Crazy Summer, Ratboy, Over the Top, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Innerspace, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Surrender, Empire of the Sun, Moving, Stand and Deliver, Hot to Trot, Running on Empty, Imagine: John Lennon, Clara's Heart, Feds, Dangerous Liaisons, Bert Rigby, You're a Fool, Lean on Me, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, Cookie, Next of Kin, Second Sight, and The Witches (completed in 1989, but not released until 1990). A few movies had a variant where the "Big W" logo was bigger than normal. This appeared on Deadly Friend, Lethal Weapon, Funny Farm, Crossing Delancey, Tequila Sunrise, The Accidental Tourist, and Dead Bang. On films from 1986-1990, such as Heartbreak Ridge, Burglar, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, The Witches of Eastwick, The Lost Boys, Who's That Girl, Nuts, Frantic, Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, Above the Law, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, The Dead Pool, Caddyshack II, Clean and Sober, Stealing Home, Bird, Her Alibi, Pink Cadillac, Lethal Weapon 2, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Driving Miss Daisy, Tango & Cash, Hard to Kill, and White Hunter, Black Heart, the credit logo used the previous logo font with a WB shield. A variation of the credit logo can be seen at the end of The Bonfire of the Vanities and Curly Sue with the WB shield and below that "Distributed by Warner Bros., A Time Warner Company". December 8, 1988-March 22, 2000: Another ending variation features the movie logo, but modified with the words "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS." above the shield. This was also used for the beginning of Freejack. May 12, 2000-February 2, 2001: Only the words "DISTRIBUTED BY" appear above the shield; the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" text is redone. Some releases like The In Crowd, Get Carter, and Miss Congeniality have the banner reading simply "WARNER BROS.". Also added is the URL byline, "www.warnerbros.com", below the owner disclaimer. There is also the print closing logo, but it's very rare and was seen on Invictus.

FX/SFX: None, except for the "PRESENTS" text fading in on the original Warner Communications variation.

Music/Sounds: In most cases, silent or the beginning of the films audio is used. For some of their first features (such as Gremlins), the 1930s/40s Max Steiner fanfare is heard.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the Warner Archive DVD-R release of How Sweet It Is!, the logo is accompanied with the National General fanfare (the original distributors of the film) due to a sloppy plaster job.

Availability: Extremely common. The 1992 logo is the easiest to find, as it is usually the one that plasters older logos. WB has eased up on this somewhat, and older logos have been seen more often in recent years on newer prints/masters.

The "PRESENTS" version can be found on Gremlins (the first film to have this logo and to also use the classic Max Steiner fanfare), Vision Quest, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, American Flyers, Cobra, Ratboy, Instant Justice, Everybody's All-American, and the 1986 VHS releases of Superman: The Movie and National Lampoon's Vacation. The one with the Warner Communications byline can be found on the 1997 DVD release of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (the 2003 DVD has the 1998 logo with the AOL Time Warner byline), current DVD and Blu-ray prints of The Dead Pool with Clint Eastwood, TCM's print of The Goodbye Girl and the Blu-ray of Full Metal Jacket, but is not as easy to spot as the 1992 logo, as many DVDs and Encore/Starz prints have it plastered with the Time Warner Entertainment byline, such as on the DVD of Pee-wee's Big Adventure or even with the next logo below (occurs on the Police Academy films and Moving). This variant unfortunately plasters the 6th logo on the 1990s VHS re-issue of the Elvis Presley movie Charro!. Even the 1990 Time Warner byline has been plastered on 1990-92 films with the next logo on most of Encore's prints, though the Time Warner byline version is intact on the Blu-ray of Goodfellas, the 1999 DVD and 2017 Warner Archive Blu-ray of My Blue Heaven and the 2000 Director's Cut DVD of Lethal Weapon 3. One instance where the Time Warner byline does some plastering of its own was on The Ballad of Cable Hogue, where it plasters the Kinney Shield on current prints. The logo is plastered by the 1985 Warner Home Video logo (w/ Time Warner Entertainment byline) on a '90s VHS release of Razorback. The movie ending variation can be seen on films such as Joe Versus the Volcano, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Quick Change, Presumed Innocent, GoodFellas, Memphis Belle, US prints of Hamlet (1990), Ricochet, Strictly Business, Under Siege, The Bodyguard, Forever Young, The Man Without a Face, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, On Deadly Ground, Natural Born Killers, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, US prints of Twister, My Fellow Americans, Vegas Vacation, and Conspiracy Theory, as well as the original VHS releases of Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park. Strangely, the logo does not appear on most prints of the 1985 film Ladyhawke (a co-production with 20th Century Fox), aside from an older pay-TV copy that aired on Cinemax in 1987. A silent version of the "PRESENTS" version can be seen (in color) on the 1989 VHS of Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court and (in black and white) on TCM's broadcast of the 1958 film Onionhead, followed by a black & white "Big W" closing logo at the end, and the 2003 Warner Bros. Television logo in color after that. The logo premiered on (as mentioned above) Gremlins and made its final appearance on Valentine. The variant without "PRESENTS" first appeared on Cannonball Run II, the second film to use this logo. Don't expect to see this on most video prints at least of CBS Theatrical Films releases of this time, though it is retained on the CBS/Fox VHS and Kino Lorber Blu-Ray release of Grandview, U.S.A. (without "PRESENTS"). The Warner Communications "Distributed by" variant can be found at the end of the 1999 DVD release of The American President (a 1995 Castle Rock film) of all places, likely due to a printing error when editing out the Columbia Pictures in-credit closing logo. It also appears on the U.S. theatrical and VHS releases of The Nutcracker Prince, but the GoodTimes DVD release trims off this logo and only contains the Lacewood logo. The most likely reason was because it used a master prepared by the new rights holders that removed Warner references and added overseas opening credits (sourced from a VHS master) onto a higher quality U.S. master. It may have been seen on theatrical prints of the Handmade Films productions Checking Out and How to Get Ahead in Advertising, but video prints remove this logo. It can also be seen on Freeform airings of Rankin-Bass specials such as Rudolph's Shiny New Year (though the ending to that special before the compressed credits used the 1998 Warner Bros. TV logo), and at the end of Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. Strangely, it appears on a 1988 reissue of the AIP film Grayeagle, after the Warner Home Video logo.

Editor's Note: A throwback to the 50s shield, though a bit too frequent as well, due to this logo plastering other older logos.

12th Logo (January 16, 1998- )




Nicknames: "CGI Shield", "Shield in the Sky II", "CGI WB Shield"

Logo: A picture of the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA is seen with a gold tint. The picture "ripples" slowly for a bit and then rotates, revealing that it is the WB shield, redone in CGI and reflecting the studio. The cloud background is more computer generated. The logo rotates towards us and zooms out to its usual position, with the company byline fading in underneath.

Trivia: This logo was created by Intralink Film Graphic Design.

Bylines:

January 16, 1998-February 2, 2001: "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" February 16, 2001-September 12, 2003: "An AOL Time Warner Company" November 5-December 5, 2003: "A Time Warner Company" December 12, 2003-August 24, 2018: "A TimeWarner Company" (with "TimeWarner" in its own logo font, called Bodoni Bold, while the rest of the byline is in the FF Meta typeface) September 23, 2016-September 22, 2017: "A TimeWarner Company" (with "TimeWarner" in its own logo font, called Bodoni Bold, while the rest of the byline is in the Proxima Nova font and is smaller than the Time Warner logo). This was only used on the Warner Animation Group films Storks, The Lego Batman Movie, the teaser trailer for The Lego Ninjago Movie, the trailers for Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and the trailers for Smallfoot. July 21, 2018-: "A WARNERMEDIA Company" (with "WARNERMEDIA" in its own logo font, called "AT&T Aleck Sans Bold", while the rest of the byline is in the standard variation of the same font) 2019 (tentative): "a WarnerMedia company" (with "WarnerMedia" in its own logo font, while the rest of the byline is in the standard variation of the same font)

Variants:

January 16-December 18, 1998: For this logo's first year, when the logo is zooming out, "75" and "YEARS" appear from behind the shield and move away to surround it. "Entertaining The World" fades in underneath, followed by the Time Warner Entertainment byline in white instead of orange. Also, the shield and the background are slightly enhanced. This was used on Fallen, Sphere, Dangerous Beauty, U.S. Marshals, City of Angels, Major League: Back to the Minors, Tarzan and the Lost City, Quest for Camelot (uses the Family Entertainment variant), Almost Heroes, A Perfect Murder, Lethal Weapon 4, The Negotiator, The Avengers (1998 film), Wrongfully Accused, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Without Limits, Practical Magic, Soldier, Home Fries, Jack Frost, and You've Got Mail. A somewhat enhanced WB shield in 3D was spotted on NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, Clash of the Titans, Hubble 3D, Born to Be Wild 3D, and 3D international releases of Beowulf. The animation revealing the shield is quicker, the flash reflection on the banner when the shield is revealed is not as bright, the inside of the shield is a brighter blue, the banner around the shield is shinier, the cloud background is further back, and the shield zooms out further more. A version of the logo exists in which Bugs Bunny walks from the shield, does a Vanna pose, and eats a carrot, but the banner still reads "WARNER BROS. PICTURES". This version was used for Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for a short time. Starting with Dolphin Tale, the shield is sleeker, the banner is shinier, the byline is orange-yellow, and the animation revealing the shield is enhanced. Though some films like The Dark Knight Rises, Gangster Squad, and most foreign films released by the company at the time uses the 2003-2011 version.

Closing Variants:

1998-February 2, 2001, May 17, 2002, March 5, 2004: Same as the previous logo. February 16, 2001- : This closing logo features the 1984 shield with the banner inscription updated to match that of the current opening logo; the words "Distributed by" appear over the shield with the URL address underneath the byline. This is pretty much a modified version of the 2001 Warner Bros. Television logo. A scope version of the closing logo has a much zoomed out shield, much like the IMAX variant. This was spotted on We Are Marshall.

FX/SFX: The scenery ripples, a golden shield appears and focuses into view.

Music/Sounds:

January 16-December 18, 1998: The original 75th Anniversary version of this logo used a wind-blowing chime fanfare. February 12, 1999- : An 8-note piano tune that builds into a powerful, moving fanfare, based on the theme from Casablanca, "As Time Goes By". In other cases, it uses the opening theme of the movie from a soundtrack or silence.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On current prints and HBO airings of U.S. Marshals and The Negotiator, the 2003 version of this logo with the TimeWarner byline uses the wind-blowing chime fanfare from the original 75th Anniversary version. The 1999 DVD and 2009 Blu-ray of the latter retain their original 75th Anniversary logo. On current prints of Innerspace and Caddyshack II, this plastered the Warner Communications version of the previous shield, but kept the horn fanfare.

Availability: Very common. It's seen on most WB films from 1998 onwards, starting with Fallen. Several classic films, including the first two Lethal Weapon films (current prints of Lethal Weapon 3 still retain the Time Warner variant of the 1984 logo), Superman II, The Exorcist, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (though the "Big W" has been retained on the original 1997 DVD release), The Lost Boys, Blazing Saddles, All the President's Men, Falling Down,Return of the Living Dead Part II, and current prints of the National Lampoon's Vacation series (with the exception of European Vacation) have had their old logos plastered with this one in lieu of the "Shield of Staleness", though this one is mainly found on the most recent releases. The 75th Anniversary variant can be found on the aforementioned movies above. In most cases, the logo uses music, especially post-2001 when the AOL Time Warner byline version was used. The one with the AOL Time Warner byline can be found on pre-2003 films like Exit Wounds, Scooby-Doo, and The Powerpuff Girls Movie, among others. The WarnerMedia byline version first appeared on the teaser trailer for Aquaman, and made its first official appearance on Teen Titans Go! To the Movies; the Time Warner byline made its last appearance at the end of the IMAX re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey. May or may not be plastered by the Toho logo on Japanese prints of Godzilla. This logo's time is currently debatable as Warner Bros. introduced a new variant of their shield logo as a print logo in 2019, although it's still been seen on trailers.

Editor's Note: It held up remarkably well over the past twenty-two years it was used.

Copyright Stamps
Here is some information about the copyright stamps on the Warner Bros. films:

1923-1967: Copyright © by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. 1934-1936: Copyright © by Warner Bros. Productions Corp. 1926-1960 :Copyright © by The Vitaphone Corp. (short subjects only) 1967-1970: Copyright © by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. 1970-1992: Copyright © by Warner Bros., Inc. 1992-2003: Copyright © by Warner Bros. 2003-: Copyright © by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.