Escape Artists

Background

Escape Artists is a motion picture studio formed in 2001 when Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal's Black & Blu merged with The Steve Tisch Company. The company's first production was A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger, but no on-screen logo was used until 2005, when The Weather Man was released.

1st Logo (October 28, 2005-August 8, 2012)

Logo: On a black background, a white silhouette of a running man shines itself in with light beaming towards the screen and eases back slightly. As it does this, a blue eye beams itself in as the man rests on the pupil. As the light begins to die down the word "ESCAPE" fades in below and each letter scrolls left and right respectively. As it shines, "ARTISTS" in a thin white font fades in below. The light from the eye still shines a bit during the rest of the animation.

Variant: On Hope Springs, the logo is shortened, fading in as the eye appears.

Technique: The running man, the eye, the beaming lights, the appearance of the company name.

Music/Sounds: A somber-sounding synth theme. The movie's opening theme is also used. Hope Springs has a sad piano tune.

Availability: Seen on The Weather Man, Seven Pounds, Knowing, The Taking of Pelham 123, and The Back-Up Plan.

2nd Logo (July 18, 2014- )

Logo: We see a glass of labyrinth with the red words "ESCAPE" in it, moving towards while a man is running. As the man continues running we zoom out from the labyrinth eye, then it zooms out to reveal the eye in full view turning the eye from glass to silver. The words "ESCAPE ARTISTS" appears below with "ESCAPE" still in red.

Variants:

A short version exists.
An in credit version also exists.

Technique: The labyrinth, done in very cool animation by ZERO VFX.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic fanfare. Sometimes it's silent or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Current. First seen on Sex Tape, then it later appeared both appear on The Equalizer movies and Troop Zero. Most films do not show this logo, such as Unfinished Business, Southpaw, Fences, the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven, Roman J. Israel, Esq. and The Upside. It is also seen on TV series like Dr. Death on Peacock.