Colossal Pictures (also styled as (Colossal) Pictures or (C)P) was an American entertainment company that developed and produced television programming, advertising, network branding, and visual effects.
1st Logo (November 5, 1976)[]
Nicknames: "The Man and the House", "The Desk", "The Journal"
Logo: We see a man shoveling the snow off the walk to his house and his dog was watching him, sitting down on the snow. Then, a giant snowball falls onto his house and completely destroys it. The dog runs off barking in a panic as the man does a double take. After a few seconds, the photorealistic footage turns into a sketch on a piece of parchment as it rotates, revealing the old journal which zooms out, over a brown desk with sheet music, an old flute, a candle wax, a bottle of ink and its tip, a scroll, a paint set. The text "COLOSSAL PICTURES" (this time in ivory) fades in from the top.
FX/SFX: The man shoveling the snow off the walk to his house, the snowball falling onto the man's house and completely destroying it, the dog running off in panic, the man doing a double take, the footage turning into a sketch, the journal zooming out, and the text fading in. It was directed and storyboarded by Edward Muhl.
Music/Sounds: A light whistling tune that abruptly stops when the house gets destroyed by the snowball, and then changes to a tuba/whistling theme with a choir singing at one point.
Availability: Seen only in the company's first film, Silver Streak.
Editor's Note: It's a huge favorite of many for its simplicity.
2nd Logo (May 25, 1977-May 25, 1983)[]
Nicknames: "The Reflection of the WB Backlot", "The WB Water Tower", "The Daffy Duck Logo"
Logo: We see Daffy Duck running on what appears to be a cartoon version of the WB backlot (complete with the famous water tower), as the camera slowly brightens and a piece of comic page floats down. However, he royally bumps, slips, and crashes into the shower of light in the logo, which turns out to be cardboard cutouts on a film set. Daffy trips over a blob of poo and crashes into the screen, revealing an extreme close-up on him. Daffy pulls himself off the screen and hangs onto the text from the first logo on a black background, causing the cloud to turn into the familiar geometric design. Daffy swings a bit on it and then smiles at the screen.
FX/SFX: 2D animation and early CGI visual effects. It was produced by Robert Abel and Associates on a Silicon Graphics computer with Softimage software.
Music/Sounds: Dramatic orchestral music that starts getting messed up as Daffy Duck trips, along with yelping from the foolish anthropomorphic bird as he bumps and stumbles around the set. The music builds up as the rhino crashes into the screen, segueing into a rap-style jingle.
Availability: Only seen on the first three Star Wars films, which were Episode IV – A New Hope (May 25, 1977), Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (May 21, 1980), and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (May 25, 1983).
Editor's Note: This logo should please some Star Wars fans.
3rd Logo (September 7-November 30, 1985)[]
Nickname: "The Man and the House II"
Logo: Starts off similarly to the first two logos, however this time, instead of simple WB backlot, a stereotypical French man was shown raking leaves in front of his house in the autumn season, and the Eiffel Tower can be seen in the background, which was far away from his house. After a few seconds, it continues the same way as the first two logos, with the "TT" journal turning upright as it zooms out like the first logo, revealing a steel blue desk. The text "COLOSSAL" (in a respective order: apple green, orange, denim blue, dodger blue, red, yellow, and plain green) fades in on top of the journal.
FX/SFX: An extraordinary mix of live-action and CGI animation. This was directed and storyboarded by Eyvind Earle.
Music/Sounds: An accordion playing the light whistling tune, followed by an accordion/tuba theme.
Availability: It was only seen on the first season of both Star Wars: Droids and Ewoks.
Editor's Note: Like the first logo, it's a huge favorite of many for its simplicity, especially considering that the peak laziness was an appropriate succesor to the first logo.
4th Logo (September 13, 1986-September 14, 1990)[]
Nickname: "Disney Castle"
Logo: On a black background, we see the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, with fireworks appearing one-by-one. After a few seconds, the slab-serif text "Colossal Pictures, Inc.", as well as the banner reading "COLOSSAL PICTURES/USFX/BIG PICTURES", appear overlapping the castle, as the castle fades out.
FX/SFX: The fireworks and the text appearing. Like the second logo, it was produced by Robert Abel and Associates.
Music/Sounds: The song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South. Starting with the Ewoks season 2 episode "Gone with the Mimphs/The First Apprentice", the music was changed to hip-hop mix of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", accompanied with a tuba "wah-wah" sound effect that reverberates.
Availability: Seen on the second season of Ewoks (September 13-December 13, 1986), Lethal Weapon (March 6, 1987), Matterhorn Screecher (September 7, 1988), The Abyss (August 9, 1989), Bird on a Wire (May 18, 1990), and The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island (September 14, 1990).
Editor's Note: It was an extraordinary stylish logo, and a favorite of many gamers.
5th Logo (September 14, 1990-June 18, 1993)[]
Nicknames: "The Dog Spot", "The Dog's Nose"
Logo: We see a forest on a sunny day as when it was seen in the grass. Then, the curious nose of a white dog with black splotches appears sniffing the screen. After a few seconds, the dog licks the screen, turning it black.
FX/SFX: A spectacular mix of live-action and CGI animation, all done and created by Riverstreet Productions and 2/8/0-Design. The film was shot in Super 35, a process that created a widescreen image by cropping the top and bottom portions of the frame.
Music/Sounds: Before the dog appears, we hear the sounds of children playing, followed by sniffing and grunting sounds from the dog.
Availability: Can be seen on such films as White Hunter, Black Heart (September 14, 1990), Curly Sue (October 25, 1991), Innocent Blood, (September 25, 1992), and Falling Down (February 26, 1993).
Editor's Note: This logo has some pretty impressive animation during that time.