Jim Henson Pictures

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Credits
Descriptions by
Nicholas Aczel and Jeffrey Gray

Editions by
CuriousGeorge60 and Muzzarino



Background

Jim Henson Pictures was a motion picture unit formed on July 21, 1995 as a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company. It was founded by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson and run by Brian, his sister Lisa, and Martin G. Baker. Under their original deal, the Jim Henson Company undertook to produce around twelve films for Columbia Pictures, which would finance and distribute them, over a five year period. They had many ideas for feature films, including plans to do several Muppet movies, but in the end, only four films were made under the Jim Henson Pictures banner: Buddy, Muppets from Space, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (all of which were released by Columbia), and Good Boy! (which was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the United States and Canada and 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) internationally), all of which were box office failures. The studio closed in 2004 after the partnership ended with Brian Henson and Sony Pictures, which was around the time when The Muppets franchise was acquired by The Walt Disney Company.

1st Logo (1996-1997)

Visuals: Against a sunset sky background is a silhouette of Kermit the Frog sitting on a large crane with a motion picture camera. Under it is "Jim Henson" in its corporate font with "PICTURES" in spaced-out letters under it.

Variants:

  • There is a variant with "Jim Henson" in white.
  • On one trailer for Buddy, Kermit and the movie camera are placed inside a box on a black background, with the company's name outside and under it and "PICTURES" in gold. The sky is bluer and looks different, and the movie camera also takes on a different appearance.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: The opening theme of the trailer.

Availability: Only appears on trailers for Buddy.

2nd Logo (May 27, 1997-October 1, 1999)


Visuals: The screen zooms out of a motion picture camera lens with lasers flying about. The camera is being operated by a laughing Kermit the Frog (performed by Steve Whitmire) seated on a large crane extended way up into a sunset sky and rocky land. As the crane moves away from us while Kermit and the crane go into a slight silhouette, a laser writes the text "Jim Henson" (in its familiar font) as the word "PICTURES" in bright metallic letters spaced to fit the width of "Jim Henson", zooms and turns to settle below. The logo either cuts to black or has the crane suddenly take a hard drop (startling Kermit and causing him to look to the left before looking back to the right and whispering "Hmmm. Sheesh.").

Variants:

  • On current prints of classic Jim Henson movies like The Muppet Movie, the logo freeze-frames before the crane-drop gag occurs.
  • On trailers, the logo is either shortened or still.
  • On 4:3 and 35mm open matte film scan versions of Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the camera's field of view is rendered in wide angle lens.
    • On some trailers containing either the shortened or still variants, the logo's view is so wide that a round, dark area can be seen above the background.
  • The closing variant features the print logo using the same silhouette of Kermit and the movie camera from the previous logo. Kermit and the movie camera are put inside a circular outline and are above the "Jim Henson" wordmark. Underneath the "PICTURES" text is copyright information.
    • A different version of the closing variant appears at the end of Buddy. Here, Kermit and the motion picture camera are placed next to the text. The copyright info doesn't appear in this version.

Technique: A mix of CGI, animatronics and Muppet performances by Imaginary Forces and Prologue Films. Scrolling or fading effects for the closing variants.

Audio: A majestic, synthesized orchestral movie score with whooshes and stock chimes for the lasers flying around. There are frogs croaking and crickets chirping at the end. Kermit's laugh is also heard when he appears. The crane-drop gag variant also uses the appropriate sound effects, as well as Animal (voiced by Frank Oz) saying "Sorry!", followed by Kermit's dialogue. The theme was composed by Hans Zimmer.

Audio Trivia: If you have a stereophonic audio system or headphones, you can hear Animal's "Sorry!" coming from your left speaker/headphone.

Audio Variants:

  • On Buddy, a choir sounder is heard instead of the normal music (when the logo forms), but the sound effects are intact.
  • On The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the crane-drop gag variant omits Animal's "Sorry!"
  • Post-2013 reprints of The Great Muppet Caper have the music but not the sound effects, provided the English language track is played; on the alternate language tracks, French and Spanish, the music and sound effects are kept intact.
  • For the closing variant, the ending theme of the movie.

Availability:

  • This logo first appeared on a TV spot of Buddy and later appeared on the film itself.
  • The version with the crane-drop gag has only been seen on two films: Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (the latter of which doesn't have Animal's "Sorry!").
  • The closing variant appeared at the end of Buddy, Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
  • Current DVD, Blu-ray and streaming prints as well as TV reruns of The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and other Jim Henson classics, as well as Buddy, have the logo without the crane-drop gag.
    • However, the 1990s VHS releases of The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper contain the Laser Kermit logo.
  • It doesn't appear on Good Boy!, MirrorMask, Rat, and Five Children and It, all of which were released by studios other than Sony.
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