Warner Bros. Pictures

Background
Warner Bros. Pictures ' origins trace back to 1918, when brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner established a studio on Sunset Boulevard. Sam and Jack would handle the production of the films, while Harry and Albert were in charge of distribution. The studio was incorporated as "Warner Bros' Pictures Incorporated" on April 4, 1923, making it the third oldest American movie studio in continuous operation, after Paramount Pictures (founded on May 8, 1912 as Famous Players Film Corporation) and Universal Pictures (founded on June 8, 1912). Warner Bros. is one of the "Big Five" studios, alongside Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Pictures.

After remaining independent for its first 45 years in operation, Warner Bros. was subject to numerous acquisitions over the decades. First, the studio merged with Seven Arts Productions to become Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1967. Two years later, the studio was purchased by Kinney National Co., 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. In 1989, Warner Bros. became a subsidiary of Time Warner, a merger between Warner Communications and Time, Inc. In 1992, Time Warner formed Time Warner Entertainment by merging all of its entertainment operations for the first time. In 2001, internet giant AOL merged with Time Warner to become AOL Time Warner, but its name was reverted back to Time Warner two years later 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, telecommunications company AT&T acquired Time Warner, which was later renamed WarnerMedia in 2018. 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.

In May 2021, AT&T announced that it would spin-off its media properties to Discovery, Inc., creating the combined company Warner Bros. Discovery. 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), and Hondo (owned by Batjac Productions with distribution exclusively handled by Paramount), the pre-1950 catalog is held by Warner subsidiary Turner Entertainment Co.

1st Logo (August 1, 1925-March 24, 1929)
Opening Variants

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

Logo: On a background that looks like a forest, 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". "Times New Roman" is above the shield (with "Times New Roman" in an arc around the shield, a la the first Columbia logo), with "Times New Roman" below. Starting in 1926 or so, it changed to "Times New Roman".

Closing Titles: There are two closing titles for this WB era:
 * 1st Closing Title: We see the words "Times New Roman" all in capitals on both sides of the WB shield, with "Times New Roman" on the left and "Times New Roman" 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 see in the 3rd photo. 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. Evidence of it was seen on a Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary trailer on 1998 Warner videos. However, it 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 the United Artists "Transamerica T" logo. This is retained on all extant silent-era Warner Bros. films shown on TCM, such as The Better 'Ole. This logo premiered at the beginning of Kiss Me Again and made its final appearance on Queen of the Night Clubs.

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 "& THE VITAPHONE CORP." appears below in a much smaller font, with the "VITAPHONE" in "electric" style letters. Below is a very small WB shield (using the stylized WB seen in the 1st logo), and in script, "Times New Roman". Behind it we see a drawing of a flag "waving" so it looks like it is in three sections: on the first, "WARNER BROS." appears, followed by the electric-letter "VITAPHONE" logo and "PICTURES".

Variant: On some films, the NRA logo is shown on the bottom right.

Closing Title:
 * The closing variation has "Times New Roman" instead of "Times New Roman".
 * 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 with the words "FIRST NATIONAL" instead of "WARNER BROS. PICTURES". Also, on some features, only a large banner saying "VITAPHONE", was shown, omitting the First National or the Warner Bros. logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the film.

Availability: Common. It's preserved on any Warner Bros. film 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.

Editor's Note: This logo would mark the first appearance of the shield without the Warner Bros. building on the top of it, and is therefore the more recognizable version of the shield.

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. Times New Roman" appear over the shield.

Variants:
 * For colorized releases, mainly Captain Blood, the cloud background is blue and the shield is yellow.
 * On early films like 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 in the same style as the previous logo's shield.

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: Uncommon. It's seen on films from the period and occasionally seen on TCM or preserved on Warner Archive DVD releases. Its first known appearance is on Here Comes the Navy and made its final theatrical appearance on She Loved a Fireman.

Editor's Note: Elements of this logo (the zooming shield especially) have been implemented in the opening of Warner Bros. Cartoons (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), 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)
Opening Variants

Closing Variants

Logo: Inside a shield, a more realistic version of the stylized "WB" from the previous logo appears. Over the shield is a banner that reads "WARNER BROS. PICTURES, INC." Below the logo is the word "Times New Roman" 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-1 and made its final appearance on Romance on the High Seas.

Editor's Note: This is perhaps the second most well-known version of the shield, having preceded classics such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of Sierra Madre, all starring Humphrey Bogart, who was named 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 "Times New Roman" and is now gold. "Times New Roman", 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 films, 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, such as 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 is more three-dimensional. This variant was used from 1953 until 1956, and 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 or more film that had the "Presents" text absent appeared on Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn, New York Confidential, and the 1961 Canadian film The Mask.
 * There is an another rare version seen on some Scope Gem travelogues like Alpine Glory, when we see a WB shield on a different cloud background, then the 3D text "WARNER BROS. PICTURES PRESENTS" with "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" in a TCF CinemaScope-like font, zooms fast into the screen (a la Viacom's "V of Doom" logo) then stops after that.
 * Some films, most notably Battle of the Bulge and Cool Hand Luke, had this logo on a black background.
 * Sometimes, the banner reads "Times New Roman INC." like the previous logo, except the "INC." is really tiny and seen on the very right. This version can be seen on films such as The Prince and the Showgirl.
 * A German version exists where the "Presents" text is replaced with "zeigen", as well as the shield being outlined white. One case has "zeigen" chyroned over the "presents" text in the three-dimensional shield variant.
 * On the Japanese release of None but the Brave (1965), the company name is written in Japanese katakana.

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 majestic horn 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: Fairly common. Seen on prints of many Warner Bros. films on AMC and TCM and preserved on Warner Archive Collection or Warner Bros. Home Entertainment DVD releases. It has also been plastered onto the DVD version of G-Men. This logo made its first appearance in Key Largo and made its final appearance in Cool Hand Luke (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. The 1953-1956 variant logo was also made a surprise appearance on the 2021 film No Sudden Move.

Editor's Note: This is the most well-known version of the Warner Bros. shield, according to the Movie title stills collection Warner Bros. website. This particular design was listed as the 12th best corporate logo by Complex Magazine for its longevity and "iconic" status.

6th Logo (January 20, 1968-November 12, 1970)
Nicknames: "WB-7", "W7", "W7 Shield" "Lucky 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, "Impact" is seen. The word "Presents" usually appears under the shield.

Variants:
 * Some films, such as Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), have a still version of this logo.
 * Some European movies distributed by Warner Bros., such as 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 superimposed in the last scene of the movie or on 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 film's opening theme.

Availability: Rare. Seen on some Warner Bros. films of the period, though it's usually replaced with a newer logo, such as on 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 on the WCI release of The Green Berets (where the 1972 "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 feed of TCM. This occasionally plastered the previous logo, such as on early VHS releases of East of Eden. The plaster originally was not used in Reflections in a Golden Eye (the first film to be released under Warner Bros.-Seven Arts) and Camelot, but it debuted on The Vengeance of Fu Manchu and made its final regular appearance on Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, subsequently appearing on Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Moon Zero Two, Once You Kiss a Stranger, The Phynx, Crescendo, and 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.

7th Logo (February 4, 1970-February 25, 1972)
Opening Variants

Nicknames: "Gasoline Shield", "Shield Stretch", "The Kinney Shield", "Long Shield", "The Kinney WB Shield"

Logo: On a blue background, we see an abstract shield (akin to those seen on posters for 1960s Warner Bros. films) in a golden color with a dark brownish color inside. The word "WB" (this time not stylized) is at the upper part, and a rectangle in the same colors is at the lower part of the shield with the Kinney byline inside. The word "PRESENTS" appears underneath the logo.

Bylines:
 * February 4, 1970-June 25, 1971: "A KINNEY NATIONAL COMPANY"
 * April 8-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.)
 * German prints of There Was a Crooked Man... have a rare closing variant with the text in German and a cheaper version of the shield.
 * 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 print of the 1956 film Giant, the Kinney Shield appears over the classic WB clouds. It is unknown if this variant is preserved on any home video release.

FX/SFX: None.

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

Availability: Fairly common. Can be found on movies such as Chisum, Dirty Harry, The Omega Man, The Cowboys, Billy Jack, and THX-1138, as well as the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Death in Venice (where it was previously plastered by the 11th logo). This logo made its first appearance on Start the Revolution Without Me 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. As we all know, Warner was incredibly shoddy with logo preservation until ten years ago. AMC and TCM showings of Warner movies may include this logo, but expect one of its more recent counterparts, most likely the Warner Communications and Time Warner (not Time Warner Entertainment) variations. This logo is removed on the 2007 DVD/Blu-ray release of A Clockwork Orange, but is preserved on the 2000 DVD release. It appears that the reason why this logo 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. The cheaper German shield version was found on an ARD airing of There Was A Crooked Man... from August 28, 1982. The Kinney Services byline, the rarest of the byline variants, appeared on Billy Jack, and is also presumed to have appeared on Zeppelin and Summer of '42.

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

8th Logo (November 24, 1971-February 2, 1972?)
Nicknames: "Alternate Kinney Shield", "Off-Kilter Shield", "Bannerless WB 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.

Trivia: This logo is based on the print logo Warner used during the Kinney era.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or in the case of The Man in the Wilderness, the opening audio.

Availability: Seen on The Man in the Wilderness and preserved on the Warner Archive Blu-ray. May have been seen on other films from this time period (it's confirmed to also be on a later Kinney-era film, possibly Snow Job), but it's hard to say between Warner's rampant plastering habits and more common usage of the 7th logo. Not helping matters is how even the aforementioned Man in the Wilderness used the Kinney Shield as its closing logo.

Editor's Note: This particular shield looks very ugly.

9th Logo (May 24, 1972-January 31, 1973)
Nicknames: "WCI Shield", "Placeholder Shield", "Tiny Shield", "Mini Shield", "Bannerless WB Shield II"

Logo: The standard WB shield logo, without the banner, appears 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 is squeezed into 4:3 full screen from a wider ratio.
 * On Get to Know Your Rabbit, the logo is darker and 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 said release using the original negative as the basis for its restoration as opposed to a 35mm inter-positive.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the film, although 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, including Deliverance, The Candidate and Super Fly. However, due to Warner's plastering habits, this was subject to being replaced with either the next logo below or the 1984 shield logo and its later variations. It is currently intact on the DVD release of The Candidate and the 2007 DVD and Blu-ray of Deliverance, as well as airings on TCM Australia and Fox Classics. This logo is also preserved on the 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. This logo premiered on Malcolm X (the previous WB feature, What's Up, Doc?, used a variant) and made its final theatrical appearance on Steelyard Blues.

Editor's Note: An attempt to bring back the classic WB shield that was scrapped in favor of the more corporate logo a year later.

10th Logo (February 7, 1973-1989)
Nicknames: "The Big "W"", "(\\')", "The Worms", "The Round W", "The Saul Bass Logo"

Logo: On a black background, an abstract red "W", consisting of two slanted elongated circles and a shorter elongated circle, zooms 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 as "WARNER BROS", fades in below. Most of the time, "PRESENTS" also fades in below (in Helvetica).

Trivia: The "Big W" was designed by Saul Bass (1920-1996), who also designed the Geffen Pictures "G" logo. The "Worms" nickname is attributed to an audio commentary for the film Gremlins, which brought back the shield logo. The \\' logo was seen in several other shapes like a circle and a parallelogram, but these prototypes were scrapped. Although this logo has since been retired by the studio, it is still used by Warner Music Group (formerly owned by Time Warner).

Variants:
 * On All the President's Men, the logo is in black and white and "PRESENTS" is absent (this variant is preserved on the DVD release). 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 and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, a white "W" 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 replace it with the variant seen on Flags of Our Fathers).
 * On some other outside productions released by WB (including Superman III), "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 "W" 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 is squeezed into 4:3 full screen.
 * On trailers for re-releases, the logo has a copyright notice at the bottom, with " A RE-RELEASE FROM WARNER BROS." above. This has been seen on reissue trailers of Superman and Around the World in 80 Days.
 * There's a short version that starts with the white "W" zooming in. This can be seen on the trailer for McQ.

Closing Variants:
 * The closing "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS" logo has the colors switched, with the "W" in black and the circle 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. Sometimes, on redrawn Looney Tunes cartoons, it fades from the end cards.
 * 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 sometimes the film's opening theme plays over it. Oddly, on Warner Archive's Blu-ray release of The Drowning Pool, it has the second half of the 1999 fanfare playing due to a plastering error.

Availability: Used to be common, but due to it being plastered by the 11th and 12th logo (persumably the 14th one as well), it's now rare.
 * It premiered on The Train Robbers and made its final regular appearance on Lassiter, subsequently appearing on Finders Keepers and 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, 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 1984 VHS and some TV prints of What's Up Doc? has the "PRESENTS" variation of this preceding a variant of the logo.
 * The 1986 VHS of Superman: The Movie has the "RELEASED BY" variant plastered by the "PRESENTS" variant of the 1984 logo, though early video prints, as well as DVD and Blu-Ray prints, keep the former intact; it is unknown if any TV airings in the past or present retain this as well.
 * It is unknown if the "RELEASED BY" variant appeared in front of U.S. theatrical prints of Movie Movie (which was produced by ITC Entertainment and first released in North American theaters by Warner Bros.), although the 1980 Magnetic Video Corporation VHS release doesn't use any of the film's logos. While some DVD releases have the ITV Studios Home Entertainment logo at the end, the Scorpion Releasing Blu-Ray has the closing "DISTRIBUTED BY" variant at the end.
 * 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 drastically trimmed down 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, a 1997 reprint of the 1990 VHS of Oh, God!, most releases of Badlands, and the initial VHS releases of Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Enter the Dragon.
 * Remains intact on the DVD release of Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales and can also be seen on Uptown Saturday Night, Outlaw Blues, the extended edition of The Outsiders, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
 * It is also preserved on the original DVD releases of Barry Lyndon, and Mean Streets. The WHV Blu-ray releases of these films had the logo updated, while the Criterion Collection release of the former has it intact.
 * This logo is also seen on the 1984 WHV print of The Great Race (where it's surprisingly followed by the Academy leader), as well as the 1985 U.S. and 1987 Canadian WHV print of Them! (where it precedes the 5th logo).
 * 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 may have been seen on theatrical prints of Black Christmas (1974), but it's unknown as current prints skip to the film.
 * 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 Mad Max and Friday the 13th, among others.
 * This makes strange appearances on the Warner Archive Blu-Ray of Summer of '42, pay TV and WCI VHS releases of Orion's The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, and the original WHV releases of the Filmways-owned The Amityville Horror and the New World-owned Rabid.

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

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

Nicknames: "The Shield Returns (For Real This Time)", "Shield of Staleness", "Shield in the Sky", "Shield of Plastering", "Shield of Steel"

Logo: Over a set of clouds (the same set used in the 1953 variant of the 5th logo), the WB shield appears (including the banner reading "Times New Roman"), with the byline of the owner at the bottom.

Bylines:
 * June 8, 1984-September 14, 1990: "Times New Roman"
 * March 9, 1990-February 26, 1993: "Times New Roman"
 * August 14, 1992-February 2, 2001: "Times New Roman"

Variants:
 * For some earlier films, and for films that had this logo plastered on over older logos, the word "Times New Roman" fades in after a couple of seconds, 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, more stylized cloud background, which was also used for this logo's television counterpart during the Warner Communications era. The clouds in this background are more uniformly fluffy in appearance.
 * A French variant used an animation of the shield and byline (which strangely still uses the Warner Communications text, despite it being replaced by Time Warner by then) glowing on a black background before flashing to the shield and background, with the text "PROCHAINES SORTIES CINEMA" (French for "UPCOMING CINEMA RELEASES") zooming out and shining. An announcer says "Et maintenant découvrez en exclusivité les bandes annonces des prochaines sorties Warner Bros disponible d'ici quelques mois chez Warner Home Video" (roughly translating to "And now discover exclusive trailers for the next Warner Bros. releases, available in a few months from Warner Home Video").

Closing Variants:
 * 1984-1998: The closing logo, seen at the end of most movies, features a simple superimposed WB shield (without a banner), much akin to the logo Warner briefly used before the introduction of the "Big W" logo in 1972. The phrase "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS." appears above the shield with the owner byline at the bottom. Beginning with The Perfect Storm on June 30, 2000, the above text is changed to "DISTRIBUTED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES", and a URL is added below the byline.
 * Films released from 1984 to roughly 1989, including Gremlins, The NeverEnding Story, Purple Rain, The Goonies, Pale Rider, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Spies Like Us, The Color Purple, Cobra, Over the Top, Innerspace, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Empire of the Sun, Stand and Deliver, Running on Empty, Dangerous Liaisons, Lean on Me, and The Witches (completed in 1989, but not released until 1990), would use the "Big W" logo after their credits.
 * A few movies, namely Deadly Friend, Lethal Weapon, Funny Farm, Crossing Delancey, Tequila Sunrise, The Accidental Tourist, and Dead Bang, have a variant where the "Big W" logo is bigger than normal.
 * On films released from 1986 to 1990, including Heartbreak Ridge, The Witches of Eastwick, The Lost Boys, Who's That Girl, Above the Law, The Dead Pool, Caddyshack II, Clean and Sober, Lethal Weapon 2, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Driving Miss Daisy, Tango & Cash, and Hard to Kill, 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 with the words "Times New Roman" above the shield. This was also used at the beginning of Freejack.
 * May 12, 2000-February 2, 2001: Only the words "Times New Roman" appear above the shield, and the text on the banner is redone. Some films like The In Crowd, Get Carter and Miss Congeniality have the banner simply reading "Times New Roman". A URL is also added below the byline. There is also a 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: None or the opening theme or audio of the film.

Music/Sounds Variant:
 * On Gremlins and Innerspace, a lusher, re-orchestrated version of the 1930s/40s Max Steiner fanfare is heard, composed by Jerry Goldsmith. This can be found on the Warner Archive soundtrack release of the former movie (titled "Fanfare in C").
 * On the Warner Archive DVD-R release of How Sweet It Is!, the logo is accompanied by the National General fanfare (the original distributors of the film) as the result of a sloppy plastering job.
 * On a Kabel 1 airing of It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, the logo is accompanied by the 1985 Warner Home Video rendition of Max Steiner fanfare due to another shoddy plastering job. Surprisingly, this logo fits better with that fanfare.

Availability: Ultra common. In fact, the 1992 version is usually the one that plasters older logos (hence the nickname "Shield of Plastering"), and it's probably the most common movie logo ever. Fortunately, WB has eased up on this somewhat, and older logos have been seen more often in recent years on newer prints/masters.


 * This logo made its first appearance on the aforementioned Gremlins (released on June 8, 1984) and made its final regular appearance on True Crime (released on March 19, 1999). The closing version made its final appearance on Valentine (released on February 2, 2001).
 * The "PRESENTS" version can be found on Gremlins, 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 and National Lampoon's Vacation.
 * The Warner Communications byline version can be found on the 1997 DVD 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, TCM prints of The Goodbye Girl, and the Blu-ray of Full Metal Jacket. However, it's not as easy to spot as the 1992 variant, as many DVDs and Encore/Starz prints replace it with the Time Warner Entertainment byline variant, 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 logo appears on the original VHS release of Horror of Dracula, plastering the original Universal International logo, and also plasters the W7 logo on the 1993 VHS of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. It also makes a surprise appearance on a TV spot for the 1997 film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (released when the studio was owned by Time Warner Entertainment).
 * This variant unfortunately plasters the 6th logo on the 1990s VHS release of the Elvis Presley film Charro!.
 * Even the 1990 Time Warner byline variant has been plastered with the next logo on most of Encore's prints of films released from 1990 to 1992, but it 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 this logo does some plastering of its own was on The Ballad of Cable Hogue, where it plastered the Kinney Shield.
 * This logo is plastered by the 1985 Warner Home Video logo (w/ Time Warner Entertainment byline) on a 1990s VHS release of Razorback.
 * The 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, this 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" variant can be seen 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 and white "Big W" closing logo at the end, and the 2003 Warner Bros. Television logo (in color) after that.
 * The variant without "PRESENTS" first appeared on Cannonball Run II (the second film to use this logo).
 * An in-credit version appears after the Walt Disney Pictures or the Touchstone Pictures logos on films by those studios that were theatrically distributed through Warner in Italy, such as Ducktales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. The standard WB shield, however, never appeared at the beginning and the end of Disney/Touchstone films they distributed overseas between 1987 and 1992; it is rumored that only localized in-credit WB logos were used after the Disney logo in the end credits in certain territories, such as France and Germany, since the majority of the overseas Disney posters released at the time do not often show the logo and it is credited in text only, commonly in very small font size. However, there are instances that the WB shield logo can also be found in the original UK (and South Korean) theatrical posters and press kits of Beauty and The Beast, as well as on the late 1980s re-releases of Cinderella and Peter Pan. In line with Disney's full control regarding distribution of their material, other WB logos, such as the 50th anniversary logo featuring Bugs Bunny as well as showing of Looney Tunes shorts, are not allowed to be shown in Disney and Touchstone films.
 * Don't expect to see this on most video prints at least of CBS Theatrical Films releases of this time, though it's retained on the CBS/Fox VHS and Kino Lorber Blu-ray of Grandview, U.S.A. (without "PRESENTS").
 * The Warner Communications "Distributed by" variant can be found at the end of the 1999 DVD of The American President of all places, likely due to a printing error when editing out the Columbia Pictures in-credit closing logo.
 * It also appears on U.S. theatrical and VHS releases of The Nutcracker Prince, but the GoodTimes DVD release trims it off and only contains the Lacewood logo, most likely because it used a master prepared by the new rights holders that removed references to Warner 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, as well as 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.
 * The 1992 opening variant makes a surprise appearance at the end of the 2001 widescreen DVD of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, replacing the 2000 closing variant with URL (which the fullscreen DVD used).
 * The 1984 Warner Communications opening variant strangely plasters the New Line Cinema logo on the 2018 Criterion Collection DVD's of Female Trouble and Polyester.

Editor's Note: A throwback to the 50s shield. However, it's rather infamous (mainly the 1992 variant) for plastering so many older logos (hence the said nickname in the availability), and is disliked by some due to its Sony Pictures Television level of omnipresence.

12th Logo (January 16, 1998-March 18, 2022)
Opening Variants

Nicknames: "CGI Shield", "Shield in the Sky II", "CGI WB Shield", "Shield of Staleness II", "The Reflection of the WB Backlot", "Shield of Steel II"

Logo: A picture of the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank is seen with a gold tint, and "ripples" slowly before rotating to reveal itself as the WB shield over the quintessential cloud skyline, both of which are now redone in CGI. The shield rotates and zooms out to its usual position, with the company byline fading in underneath.

Trivia: If one pauses right before the transition from the backlot image to the shield animation, some posters can be seen on the studio wall, including those for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Friends and Space Jam, dating the image to somewhere between late 1996 and early 1997.

Bylines:
 * January 16, 1998-February 2, 2001: " A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY " (in the Garamond font in the normal variant, but in the Bodoni font in the 75 Years variant)
 * On some scope films starting in 1999, the byline is noticeably larger.
 * February 16, 2001-September 12, 2003: " An AOL Time Warner Company " (also in Garamond)
 * On some scope films such as Training Day, the byline is noticeably larger.
 * November 5-December 5, 2003: " A Time Warner Company " (in Adobe Garamond Pro)
 * December 12, 2003-June 15, 2018: "A TimeWarner Company" (with " TimeWarner " in its own custom font, called Bodoni BE Regular, while the rest of the byline is in FF Meta)
 * September 23, 2016-September 22, 2017: "A TimeWarner Company" (with " TimeWarner " in its own font, called Bodoni BE Regular, 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 and The LEGO Batman Movie.
 * July 27, 2018-November 26, 2020, March 18, 2022: "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. The shadow behind "MEDIA" is also absent.
 * October 29, 2019; March 24, 2021; March 18, 2022: "a WarnerMedia company", with "WarnerMedia" in its own logo font, called AT&T Aleck Sans (modified), while the rest of the byline is in the standard variation of the same font. (It was seen on Godzilla vs. Kong (albeit using a variant) and The Nan Movie. Strangely, the former film uses the 14th logo at the end. It was also spotted in the first trailer for the 2021 Tom & Jerry movie and at HBO Max's unveiling at WarnerMedia Day on October 29, 2019.)
 * Sometimes, the logo doesn't have a byline, like the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment logo. This was seen on the 2003 DVD of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Variants:
 * January 16-December 18, 1998: For this logo's first year, "Times New Roman" and "Times New Roman" slide out from behind the shield as it zooms out. "Times New Roman" fades in underneath, followed by the Time Warner Entertainment byline in white instead of orange. Also, the shield and the background are slightly enhanced. Sometimes, the banner may just read "Times New Roman" instead of "Times New Roman".
 * On the 75 Years montage intro, a version exists where a copyright stamp (uppercased in the Warner Bros. banner with a space between the copyright stamp and the company name) fades in with the Time Warner Entertainment byline (a la the 1997 Universal Pictures logo). This appears in both 4:3 and scope.
 * A French VHS promo has the "Times New Roman"-shield variant zooming out to its place, but it freeze-frames, and the text "Times New Roman" fades in.
 * February 5, 1999-2011: The logo is reanimated to remove the 75th Anniversary wordings. Also, the byline is now in orange. This version would stay the same until it was reanimated once again in 2011 (not counting the changes in bylines and color grading).
 * A somewhat enhanced WB shield can be seen 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. This version was used for Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for a short time.
 * Starting with Dolphin Tale in 2011, the shield is sleeker, the banner is shinier, the byline is orange-yellow, and the animation revealing the shield is enhanced. Some films like The Dark Knight Rises, Gangster Squad and most foreign films released by the company at the time used the 2003 version.
 * On a TV airing of Miss Congeniality, the byline underneath the 2001 version of the logo is blurred and reads " A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY " in the Arial font. It is unknown whether or not this variant was remade by technicians.
 * The intro video of Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood replaces "Times New Roman" into "Times New Roman" in both the normal version and the New Line Cinema version. In the normal version, a scene from Casablanca plays before transitioning into the logo, in black and white then in color.

Closing Variants:
 * 1998-February 2, 2001, May 17, 2002, March 5, 2004: Same as the previous logo.
 * February 16, 2001-November 26, 2020: This closing logo features the 1984 shield with the banner inscription updated to match that of the current opening logo; the words "Distributed by" (in the font depending on the version of the closing variant) appear over the shield with the "www.warnerbros.com" URL address underneath the byline (also depending on the version). This is pretty much a modified version of the 2001 Warner Bros. Television logo.
 * February 16, 2001-December 5, 2003 (AOL Time Warner and prototype Time Warner bylines): The text " Distributed by " is in Garamond, like its television counterpart, while the "www.warnerbros.com" URL address is in bold below the byline reading either " An AOL Time Warner Company " or " A Time Warner Company ".
 * December 12, 2003-August 24, 2018 (official TimeWarner byline): When the byline was changed to "A Times New Roman Company", the " Distributed by " is now updated to the custom Didot/Bodoni hybrid font with the URL in FF Meta. Also, starting with this version, the sky background is different.
 * July 27, 2018-November 26, 2020, March 18, 2022 (WarnerMedia byline): Once again, the text above and below the logo and the byline was changed in favor of the byline change to "A WARNERMEDIA Company". Here, both "Distributed by" and the "www.warnerbros.com" URL are now in AT&T Aleck Sans typeface. Like the opening variant, the shadow behind "MEDIA" is not there.
 * 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: Amazing CGI animation done by Intralink Film Graphic Design (for the original 1998 and 1999 versions) and Devastudios (for the 2011 version).

Music/Sounds:
 * January 16-December 18, 1998: The original 75th Anniversary version of this logo used a wind-blowing chime theme. This was done on an E-MU Emulator III.
 * February 12, 1999-March 24, 2021: An 8-note piano tune that builds into a powerful, moving fanfare, based on the theme from Casablanca, "As Time Goes By", originally used in the Broadway musical, Everybody's Welcome. It is a shortened version of an instrumental of "As Time Goes By" that appeared in a Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary promo that had been shown theatrically a year earlier. The fanfare made its debut in Message in a Bottle. The fanfare uses "Crescendo Finale" from Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestral Colors, and maybe an unknown cymbal sample (probably SampleCell II or Big Fish Audio Prosonus).
 * In other cases, it uses the opening theme of the movie or silence.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On current prints and HBO airings of U.S. Marshals and The Negotiator, the 2003 version with the TimeWarner byline is used with the original 75th Anniversary music.
 * On current prints of Innerspace and Caddyshack II, this plasters the Warner Communications version of the previous shield, but keeps that logo's fanfare.
 * A low tone version of the "As Time Goes By" theme was heard on an AMC print of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
 * The 16mm montage intro for the 75th anniversary of Warner Bros. uses an extended version of the "As Time Goes By" theme on the 75th Anniversary logo. The voiceover (voiced by Chuck Riley) thanks audiences around the world for celebrating 75 years.
 * On current prints of Stealing Home and Cookie, the theme is high pitched.
 * The intro video of Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood has "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca transitioning into the 1998 fanfare, as soon as Jack sings the phrase "The fundamental things apply...".
 * On pre-Disney prints of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film), clone trooper communication is heard.

Availability: Very common.
 * Seen on most WB films from 1998 until it was retired in 2020. The first film to use this logo was Fallen and the final films to use this logo on a regular basis were the HBO Max original The Witches (2020) and The Sun Does Not Move (2021). The final domestic film to use the 1998 shield design was Godzilla vs. Kong (as a variant) released in 2021, despite using the 14th logo at the end, while the last film to use this logo altogether is The Nan Movie (2022), a British film which was completed in 2019, but pushed back to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * The last film to use the closing variant of this logo was Superintelligence, while the last film to use this logo altogether is The Nan Movie (2022), a British film which was completed in 2019, but pushed back to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * The 75th Anniversary variant first appeared on Fallen and last appeared on You've Got Mail. However, probably due to the 75th Anniversary wordings, it is almost always plastered with the 2003 version on newer prints of such films, although some releases may retain it.
 * The 1999-2000 version was also spotted plastering older logos on some 1999-2001 prints of older films, such as the May 2001 DVD of Superman II (where it plasters the 1972 logo).
 * 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. It also plasters previous logos on some 2001-2003 prints of older films.
 * In most cases, the logo uses music, especially post-2001 when the AOL Time Warner byline version was used.
 * The prototype Time Warner byline was rare and first appeared on The Matrix Revolutions (as a variant). It last appeared on The Last Samurai. However, it makes a surprise appearance on The Polar Express (2004), where it uses a custom variant of the logo itself. It is the only 2004 film release to have the prototype Time Warner byline, as all other 2004 film releases use the later/official TimeWarner byline onwards.
 * The official TimeWarner byline debuted on Something's Gotta Give, and made its last appearance at the end of the IMAX re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Just like the AOL Time Warner version, this byline plasters previous logos on post-2003 prints of pre-2003 films (in addition, also plastering the 75th Anniversary, Time Warner Entertainment, and AOL Time Warner versions of the same logo).
 * 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 WarnerMedia byline version made its first official appearance on Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
 * This logo may or may not be plastered by the Toho logo on Japanese prints of Godzilla.
 * The Gintama anime movies and live action movies usually plays this logo multiple times, like 3 times in Gintama: The Movie for example.
 * The AOL Time Warner byline variant makes surprise appearances at the end of Amazon Prime Video's print of Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie and a TCM France airing of Ransom.
 * This logo appears at the beginning of pre-Disney prints to the feature-length pilot of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, before the Lucasfilm logo.
 * Strangely, this appeared on season 3, episode 10 of Suddenly Susan on The Roku Channel.

Editor's Note: A favorite of many thanks to its beautiful CGI and music, this has held up remarkably well over the twenty-four years it was used, though some people might be annoyed due to it (especially the opening and closing variants with the AOL Time Warner and the 2003 Time Warner bylines) plastering some older logos, just like its predecessor. Despite WarnerMedia updating their logo in October 2019, the variant with the previous WarnerMedia byline continued to be used until 2020 (possibly due to the debut of the newer logos shortly thereafter).

13th Logo (August 26, 2020-June 29, 2021)
Opening Variants

Nicknames: "CGI Shield II", "Shield in the Sky III", "The Reflection of the WB Backlot II", "Shield of Steel III", "The AT&T Shield", "CGI WB Shield II", "Bannerless WB Shield III"

Logo: It starts the same way as the previous logo, then we see the new 2019 Warner Bros. shield without a banner swing in fully upright from the left of screen against the same cloudy sky background as the previous logo. The "WB" text reflects various other clouds. As the shield zooms out into position, the sky background fades to black and the 2019 WarnerMedia byline now reading "a WarnerMedia company" in a modified AT&T Aleck Sans font fades in below. The shield shines throughout.

Trivia:
 * The new WarnerMedia logo was introduced on October 17, 2019 alongside with the byline, and was created by Wolff Olins.
 * The new WB shield was introduced on November 13, 2019, and was created by Pentagram.

Variant: On Judas and the Black Messiah, a still variant of the finished product was used. However, on Gintama: THE FINAL / Gintama: THE VERY FINAL, an animated variant of the finished product (where the shield just shines) was used instead.

Closing Variant: Just the finished logo, with "Distributed by" above and the URL below. This would be the final closing variant to feature these.

FX/SFX: Decent CGI.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie or none.

Availability: This debuted on Tenet and recently appeared on Wonder Woman 1984 albeit using a variant; it also appeared at the opening of Gintama: THE FINAL / Gintama: THE VERY FINAL, and the end of Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite!, and A Cinderella Story: Starstruck. A still of this logo can be seen on the opening of Judas and the Black Messiah.

Editor's Note: This is Warner Bros.' first attempt at an animated logo based on their current print logo, and while it's okay, it's far less grand compared to the previous logo due to the stiffer animation. It's also the first logo since 1972 to not have a banner around the shield. Because the films with this logo either use variants or only show the last portion, there is no actual original version of the full opening version of this logo (although recreations exist). However, this logo was only used as a placeholder, and it was eventually replaced by the next logo below.

14th Logo (January 14, 2021-)
Nicknames: "CGI Shield III", "Shield in the Sky IV", "Studio Over Sunset", "The AT&T Shield II", "The Reflection of the WB Backlot III", "Shield of Steel IV", "CGI WB Shield III", "CGI WB Backlot", "Bannerless WB Shield IV"

Logo: Starts off similarly to the last two logos, but this time, instead of a simple rippling image, the camera pans across a photorealistic CGI rendering of the Warner Bros. Studios backlot (which has the numbers on the sound stages, a red carpet outside the Steven J. Ross Theater, and the smoking roofs on top of various buildings), with the iconic water tower (displaying the "dimensional" version of the 2019 WB shield and "WARNER BROS. STUDIOS" in three rows on it, in the new corporate font, Warner Bros. Sans) taking center stage, a la the Searchlight Pictures logo. After a few seconds, it continues the same way the previous 2 logos did, with the same 2019 WB shield from the previous logo (now brighter and more realistic) turning upright as it zooms out like the 12th logo (with the letters and shield outline starting off in gold when it zooms out, a homage to its previous gold color, before subtly changing to the new platinum silver), revealing a new, more realistic and detailed cloud background. The WarnerMedia byline fades in below as the shield shines with a bright gleam on the shield's top left corner, like in the previous logo.

Trivia:
 * In Space Jam: A New Legacy, the still version of the logo without the WarnerMedia byline was shown in a boardroom monitor at the end of the Warner 3000 pitch, although showing in a different shield animation at the end of the pitch transitioning into the same logo as shown above. The same studio lot shown in the logo was also shown during the scene leading into the Warner Bros. Serververse. The cloud background in the logo (with the WB shield covered up by windows) was used as the desktop background in a Dell monitor on the Warner Bros. executive's computer.
 * The logo depicts the sun rising over the Cahuenga Pass to the south. In real life, the sun rises in the east, over the Forest Lawn cemetery and the Walt Disney Studios.

Bylines:
 * January 14, 2021-May 13, 2022(?): "a WarnerMedia company"

Variants:
 * Sometimes, the sun appears first, and then its glow and the rest of the footage of the studio lot fades in. This can be seen on films such as Space Jam: A New Legacy (with the Warner Animation Group logo) and others.
 * On films shot in scope (2.39:1), the shield and byline are smaller.
 * A version exists where the logo doesn't fade in or fade out. This version may or may not have music. This can be seen on Devastudios' website, on Dune (2021; albeit using a variant with a fade out), Sexo, Pudor y Lágrimas 2 (Sex, Shame and Tears 2) and the end of the 4K Blu-ray release of the director's cut of The Outsiders: The Complete Novel.
 * A "behind-the-scenes" version of this logo exists, showcasing the different production stages of the backlot, water tower, clouds, and the WB shield.
 * Sometimes on the closing variant, the logo is entirely still. This can be seen at the end of YouTube prints of Thir13en Ghosts, plastering the 12th logo.
 * The intro video of Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood follows the same transition from the 12th logo.

Closing Variant: The tail end of the opening logo with no extra text. Here, the logo stays on-screen for at least 4 extra seconds before fading out. This is the first time that the "Distributed by" text above is not used, and the first time since 2000 that the URL below is absent.

FX/SFX: Spectacular photorealistic CGI animation done and provided by the folks at Devastudios, who also did the 2011 Paramount Pictures logo, the 2005 and 2013 Lionsgate Films logos, and the enhanced version of the 12th logo in 2011. According to Devastudios themselves, the backlot was created using drone footage, original blueprints and available photography, all in order to reconstruct it in CGI. The sky and clouds were done using Terragen from Planetside Software. You can read more about how this logo was made here.

Music/Sounds: A re-orchestrated version of the 12th logo's theme, now played in a different key (this time in E♭ major). It has a more powerful build-up and the opening notes are now played on a guitar and flute as opposed to a piano. This was composed by Ludwig Göransson. It is unknown what samples are used (probably Spitfire Audio or Cinesamples).

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * Some films, most notably the first few films to use this logo, have either the opening theme of the movie or silence.
 * An upload of the logo on Billy Mallery's Vimeo page has an alternate fanfare which is based on the "As Time Goes By" theme, composed by Mallery himself. It wasn't used on any films as this was a "runner up" score.
 * On the intro video for Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, the 1998 arrangement of the fanfare is used, transitioning from "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca, as soon as Sam sings the phrase "The fundamental things apply...".

Availability: Current.
 * It debuted on the HBO Max original movie Locked Down, and has been seen on new Warner Bros. films since.
 * The logo with its fanfare debuted on Non Mi Uccidere and Rurouni Kenshin: Final Act - Part 1: The Final, released on April 21 and 23, 2021 in Italy and Japan respectively; and later made its North American debut with King Richard, released on November 19, 2021.
 * This also appeared at the end of Judas and the Black Messiah, despite using the previous logo at the beginning of the film, and also at the end of Godzilla vs. Kong, despite the 12th shield appearing at the beginning of the film.
 * This logo is also beginning to plaster said logo as seen on the 2021 director's cut of Justice League on HBO Max and the end of YouTube prints of Thir13en Ghosts, originally released in 2001.
 * It also appeared at the end of the 4K Blu-ray release of the director's cut of The Outsiders: The Complete Novel.
 * It is possible, though unconfirmed, that starting with Quatro Amigas Numa Fria, releasing on May 19, 2022 in Brazil or The Father of the Bride, releasing on June 16, 2022, the WarnerMedia byline might be replaced or removed from future films due to WarnerMedia and Discovery merging to make Warner Bros. Discovery.

Editor's Note: A much more fulfilling and worthy effort from Warner Bros. this time around, with more realistic effects, better animation and a fresh take on the fanfare, all of which makes this logo an appropriate successor to the 12th logo and a perfect way for the company to celebrate its upcoming 100th anniversary. As such, it’s a favorite to many.

Copyright stamps

 * 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.