Paramount Animation

Background

**Paramount Animation** is the feature animation division of American film studio Paramount Pictures. It was founded in 2011 after the box office success of Nickelodeon Movies' CGI film *Rango* and in the wake of the studio's split with DreamWorks Animation in 2012. Its first film, *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, was released in 2015, with its latest release being *Rumble*. Upcoming films from the division include *Under the Boardwalk* (initially titled *Jersey Crabs*), and many others.

**Note:** Until 2019, only the 2011 Paramount Pictures logo appeared on its films. In 2019, Paramount Animation unveiled an onscreen logo, which debuted with *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*.

## (September 19, 2019-)

**Logo:** In a valley with a forest and a mountain in the distance, we see a young girl named Star Skipper (who bears a striking resemblance to June from *Wonder Park*), wearing a yellow shirt and purple pants and standing on some rocks next to the valley's lake. She skips a rock across the lake. As the camera follows the rock, it transforms into a golden star. It continues to fly through the forest and up the hills, until we reach a colorful version of the Paramountain in an orange morning environment surrounded by clouds. The other 21 stars, also in gold, encircle the mountain, and the "***Paramount***" script, in purple, zooms out and takes its position. The final star thrown by the girl swoops by, forming the word "***Animation***" in a handwritten script font on the bottom as the star takes its place.

**Alternate Descriptive Video Transcription:** A girl skips a stone across a blue lake in front of a pyramid like mountain with a snow covered peak. The stone becomes a star and it zooms up the wooded slope of a mountain. It turns into a row of stars which form an arch over the mountain: Paramount Animation.

**Trivia:** The logo and Star Skipper were designed by Christopher Zibach, who worked on DreamWorks Animation's *Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie* as a lead visual development artist and art director. According to president Mireille Soria, the studio chose Star Skipper as their mascot because she "captured the magic" of the division. Zibach's work can be seen here.

**Byline(s):**

* September 19, 2019-: Bylineless.
* November 14, 2019: "A VIaCOM COMPANY" in a blue color, set in the 2006 Viacom font.
* January 29, 2020-December 15, 2021: "**A ViacomCBS Company**" in a white color, set in Gotham Bold.
* November 26, 2021: "**A ViacomCBS Company**" set in ViacomCBS Raisonné.

**Variants:**

* An open-matte 4:3 version exists.
* A faster, abridged version is seen on international Netflix prints of *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*.
* Starting in 2020, the background's shading is different, grass was added next to the tree on the right, the star now leaves a sparkling trail as it flies through the forest and up the hills to the mountain, the word "Animation" is in a lighter blue color, and it has a more noticeable shine effect. This means that the original version that was published in the Variety article may have been a prototype.
* A blue ViacomCBS byline can be seen on the home page of Paramount Animation's official website, and as of November 2022, it still appears on the site despite ViacomCBS rebranding as Paramount Global back in February.

**Technique:** CGI animation from Reel FX and ATK PLN.

**Music/Sounds:** We hear birds chirping and nature sounds, followed by water sounds, and some whooshes. Sparkling sounds are heard when the stone transforms into a star and when "Animation" appears. The 2011 Paramount Pictures fanfare by Michael Giacchino plays throughout.

**Music/Sounds Variants:**

* The ViacomCBS variant features different nature sounds. Wind is also audible and more sparkling and whoosh sounds are heard as the star flies through the forest. Then as the other 21 stars encircle the mountain, whooshes are heard. Also, the fanfare's last note has a longer echo. This can be heard on ATK PLN's Vimeo account, and it later debuted on *Rumble* (2021).
* Some future releases may instead use the opening theme of the movie or silence.
* On international Netflix prints of *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*, the fanfare is out of sync.

**Availability:** Current. It first appeared in an article published by *Variety*.

* The Viacom byline only appeared on the first trailer for *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*.
* The ViacomCBS byline debuted on the Super Bowl trailer for the aforementioned film, and technically made its theatrical debut on said film. It can also be seen on the trailers for *Rumble* (and the film itself) and on the About section of Paramount Animation's official website.
* The ViacomCBS byline in the ViacomCBS Raisonné typeface only appeared on the second trailer for the aforementioned *Rumble*.
* This does not appear on *PAW Patrol: The Movie* and *Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank*, as Paramount Animation had no involvement with either of these films; instead, both films use the 2011 Paramount Pictures logo.
	+ On an related note, this also does not appear on *The Loud House Movie* and *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie*, as they were both distributed by Netflix instead (though the former was originally intended to be released by Paramount Animation before it was removed from their release schedule).
* The bylineless version appeared on ATK PLN's website.

**Legacy:** It's seen as a fantastic logo that pays homage to the old Paramount Cartoons logo.