Mill Creek Entertainment

Background
Mill Creek Entertainment is an American home video company founded in 2002 by Ian Warfield, Robert Zakheim and Scott Moss in Minnetonka, Minnesota. They distribute budget DVD/Blu-rays from companies such as BabyFirstTV, The Carsey-Werner Company, DHX Media (now WildBrain), Genesis International, Mulberry Square Productions, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sonar Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, among others.

1st Logo (2002-2011)


Visuals: On a stylized background with hills, grass, and a barn nearby is an orange-brown waterwheel that makes filmstrips. A water wave appears below, with "MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT" on it, rising up.

Variant: A rare extended version exists.

Technique: Flash animation.

Audio: Some outdoor sounds, including the chirps of house sparrows. A few seconds later, a rooster crows.

Availability: Seen on Mill Creek DVDs from 2002 to 2011.

2nd Logo (2011-2017)


Visuals: A sky blue square flashes and zooms in quickly, simulating a TV being turned on. A series of static particles appear and fly in and then turn and white as they roll around and combine together. They then form a newer Mill Creek Entertainment logo, with a redesigned wheel, looking more like a gear, and the company name below in a different font. The logo slowly zooms in before it disappears in a TV switch-off effect.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A switch-on sound, an ascending droning noise, then a synth note and a switch-off sound.

Availability: Seen on all Mill Creek releases from 2011-17 such as re-releases of That '70s Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun. On some DVDs, the packaging may have this logo, but the previous logo appears instead.

3rd Logo (2017-)


Visuals: It starts with a flash. Then the screen zooms into some block-like objects and turn clockwise. It cuts to another shot where the objects reveal that it's the Mill Creek Entertainment logo. Here, the wheel is gone, and the "ENTERTAINMENT" text is slightly shorter. Another flash covers the screen, then there is the Mill Creek logo on a rough-like floor, which fades out, turning to a black background. After that, the logo turns, then , and blurs, waving like a flag as it fades out all at once.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A five-note synth-violin tune with the first three notes sustained and the fourth and fifth note's sustainment slightly extended.

Availability: Seen on all Mill Creek releases since 2017 starting with Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (2003).