Disney DVD

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Disney DVD is a brand name used on DVD releases from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. While it was introduced as a print logo with Disney's first DVD releases in 1997, and a semi-animated version of it appeared on some Disney VHS bumpers in 1999, it did not receive an official animated version until the 2001 Platinum Edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.



1st Logo (2000-2001)


Visuals: On a blue background, the Disney DVD logo forms itself. The logo consists of the text "DiSNEY DVD" (DiSNEY in its iconic font) inside of an incomplete oval in the same color as the text, which resembles a DVD disc.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The end of the promo's music.

Availability: Seen on early Disney DVD promos. It does not appear on any DVD releases.

2nd Logo (October 9, 2001-February 22, 2011)


Visuals: On a night-sky background, a spark shoots at the middle of the screen, forming a "D". It comes again forming a "V" and then another "D". A curved line (that looks like a DVD) is drawn, and "DiSNEY" in its corporate font goes on top of the text. The spark goes across the bottom, forming "Pure Digital Magic", and that spark appears to be a CGI Tinker Bell, who smiles at the viewer and takes off, leaving a trail of fairy dust that dissolves a moment later.

Trivia: The animation of Tinker Bell was recycled from a bumper for The Wonderful World of Disney (which was used between 2000 and 2006) and the pre-show introduction sequence for Disney Travel on Demand.

Variants:

  • The text "Pure Digital Magic" may be displayed in a different language depending on the region the DVD came from.
  • On a 2000 commercial for Disney DVD, the logo is on a black background and the bottom text is in yellow, all capitals and a different font. On a few international promos, the bottom text is in the country the promo is released on and the background is the normal blue.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A majestic and whimsical string/flageolet theme, with a few "swoops" when the sparks fly in.

Availability: Seen on pre-2006 Disney DVD releases, starting with the Platinum Edition DVD of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Several of them are still in print.

  • This slowly began to be phased out with the second logo's introduction in late 2005, with this logo making its final known appearance on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Treat DVD, released on August 28, 2007, though this logo continued to be used on Baby Einstein DVDs until February 22, 2011.
  • Strangely, this logo doesn't appear on the 2004 DVD of Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, most likely because Disney's FastPlay debuted at that time. It does, however, appear on other early FastPlay DVDs.
  • The logo continued to be used internationally even after the next logo was introduced. The language variants of this logo vary in availability:
    • The Greek, Hebrew, Mandarin and Czech variants could be seen on various Baby Einstein DVDs that were distributed by Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
    • The Bulgarian, Russian, Hungarian and Arabic variants could be seen on the Region 4 Special Edition DVDs of Mulan and The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
    • This logo and some of the international variants could also be seen in 2015 reprints of Disney DVDs from Australia and the United Kingdom.
  • This logo also makes a surprise appearance on PAL prints of the Collector's Edition DVD of A Bug's Life, but doesn't appear on US prints of the aforementioned DVD, nor on other 2002-2005 Pixar DVDs (Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles, as well as the 2005 prints of the first two Toy Story movies) due to only having the THX logo shown before the movie.
  • This logo also appears on the 2002 DVD of Bad Company, despite it being a Touchstone film. It does not play regularly, but can be found by title searching the DVD. It is on title 15.
  • Like the Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo, it also makes a surprise appearance on the 2013 UK DVD release of Make Mine Music, due to the disc master likely having been prepared for a 2006 release, but was delayed to 2013 for unknown reasons.
  • One of its last appearances on UK DVD releases was the UK Platinum Edition DVD of The Jungle Book.
  • One of its last known appearances on Region 4 DVD releases was the "Most Wanted" Edition DVD of Robin Hood.

3rd Logo (October 18, 2005-2015)


Visuals: On a blurry, cloudy dark blue background, a spark appears and forms the "D" in "DiSNEY", which flies around close to the screen. Another spark flies by in tune with the music. The "D" rotates backwards, and then revolves forwards while zooming out, revealing the rest of the text next to it. Once that happens, "DVD" flies out one-by-one by letter. An explosion of pixie dust forms an arc around the text, completing the logo. More pixie dust forms a white bar with the text "Movies, Magic & More". Tinker Bell (this time in traditional-style 2D animation) flies up to the screen momentarily before exiting.

Early Variant: On the logo's first years from 2005-2007, the logo looks darker, the spark effects are different, and Tinker Bell is in her original CGI from the 2001 logo. She also comes slightly earlier.

Variants:

  • Just like with the previous logo, the text "Movies, Magic and More" may be displayed in a different language depending on the DVD's selected language, albeit only being part of the subtitle track. These languages include:
    • Spanish (Latin American)
    • Spanish (European)
    • Portuguese (Brazilian)
    • Portuguese (European)
    • German
    • French
    • Italian
    • Russian
    • Czech
    • Hungarian
    • Croatian
    • Bulgarian
    • Slovene
    • Greek
    • Icelandic
    • Hebrew
    • Korean
    • Chinese (Mandarin)
    • Arabic
    • Thai
  • On international releases since the winter season of 2007-08, the “D” in “DiSNEY” zooms out and pans down to its original position during its appearance. The arc that is formed by the explosion of pixie dust also zooms out to its comfortable position.

Technique: CGI, with Tinker Bell using digital ink and paint from 2007 onward.

Audio: Same as the previous logo, with more whooshing sounds added when the "DVD" letters fly in.

Audio Variants:

  • On Tarzan: Special Edition, the extra swooshing sounds are omitted, using the earlier version of the theme instead.
  • On Air Bud: Special Edition, the theme (and noises) is off-sync with the logo.

Availability: It can be seen on any Disney DVD made between 2005 and 2014, with the first DVD to use this being Tarzan: Special Edition.

  • Later DVDs with this logo have the warning screens play before this logo, but DVDs before that had the logo play before the warning screens. Post-2014 releases just cut to the warning screens.
  • Also seen on 2015 Region 4 DVD reprints of various releases from 2008-14.
  • This does not appear on the original DVD of Cars (as said before, it does however appear on reprints) and North American prints of Ratatouille (it does appear on PAL prints); the former has the THX logo instead and the latter (as well as all Disney DVDs since 2014, including its 2019 reprint) just goes to the warning screens.
  • This also appears on most FastPlay DVDs.
  • This logo does not appear on DVDs of ABC Studios or ABC Family shows as those use the Buena Vista Home Entertainment logo (pre-2008) or the ABC Studios/ABC Family logos (post-2008). It does, however, appear on DVDs of Disney Channel/It's a Laugh Productions content.

Legacy: The original 2005 variant has been criticized for cheaply blending (and reusing) Tinker Bell's animation from the previous logo.

Final Note

Since 2015, Disney DVD no longer has an on-screen logo, and just goes to the warning screens. The first Walt Disney Animation Studios film with this manner was Big Hero 6 and the first Pixar film with this manner was Inside Out. However, Disney DVDs still use their logo on the DVD case and on the Disney's FastPlay menu.

Walt Disney Home Video
Disney DVD