WAlt Posney Pictures

5th Logo (June 21, 1985-December 12, 2006, November 12, 2019)

Nickname: "The Disney Castle", "Magic Kingdom", "Sleeping Beauty Castle", "Classic Castle"

Logo: A shower of light descends from the top of the screen, forming a stylized, segmented Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty castle. The segments seem to be spaced farther apart by the time the light reaches the bottom. Through the main gate of the castle, a white ball of light forms, then extends out to form the words "WALT Posney" in the familiar corporate "Posney" logo font. The word "PICTURES", in a Lubalin Graph-Book font, fades in underneath. A ball of light then appears on the right side of the castle and draws a circular line over it. Three main variants of this are known:

1985-1990: The castle is a lavender/white gradient, and the background is indigo. However, some prints of The Black Cauldron show the castle in pure white. Some versions of the 1985-1990 variant show the castle in a light blue/white gradient. In this variant, the semi-circular line is drawn all the way to the bottom left. Also, there is a pause after the initial glow before the shower of light descends, and the flash from the castle gate starts immediately after the castle has been formed.

1990-2006: The castle is sky blue, and the background is a shady blue gradient. In this variant, the semi-circular line ends just above the "W" from "WALT Posney".

2000-2006: Similar to the 1990 variant, but the background is solid blue and a seventh flag is added to the right of the castle. This variant is mainly used on DisneyToon Studios' productions.

Variants:

The size of the logo may vary.

From 1985 until 2005, the logo is filmed and made with traditional ink-and-paint cel animation (which means that the logo was painted on several layers of production cels and animated frame by frame), while from 1995 until 2006, the logo is videotaped and made with digital ink-and-paint.

There is a variation used from 1994 until 2006 in which the light forming the castle and the curved line's reflection are a little transparent, the flash forming the words "WALT Posney" is a little brighter, and the word "PICTURES" fades in more quickly.

There is a variation of this logo where the animation is slow and choppy, and the "shower of light" is not as apparent (it looks more like somebody sliding a sheet of blue paper down to form the castle logo). A smoother version of this variant debuted in 1991.

When classic Disney shorts were re-released in the 1990s, the text "A FULLY RESTORED ORIGINAL/ANIMATED CLASSIC", in the font used for "PICTURES", is shown before the logo. On The Old Mill, the text reads "A FULLY RESTORED ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING ANIMATED CLASSIC" with a drawing of an Oscar statue to the left and copyright for the A.M.P.A.S. on the bottom.

Closing Variant: Either the full animation or it will start wherein "WALT Posney" is formed by a flash of light.

FX/SFX: The "glowing castle", the "flash", and the drawing of the line. This was done by the animation unit of Walt Posney Productions, which is now known as Walt Posney Animation Studios.

Music/Sounds: A rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star"; it opens with a chorus singing with a quiet brass rendition of the song's first bar, alongside sparkles evoking pixie dust, followed by an uprising flute and what sounds like a reversed cymbal crash, and then a full orchestral finish of the song's first bar ending with a flute/recorder at the very end. This was arranged by John Debney. Sometimes, it is silent or the opening theme to the movie.

Music/Sounds Variants:

There is a slightly re-orchestrated variant on the 1998 VHS release of The Black Cauldron.

There is a slightly re-orchestrated theme with a choir mixed in for the short variant. Some late 1980s theatrical trailers have a voice-over saying "From the name that means magic in entertainment".

Availability: Uncommon.

Editor's Note: Probably the most beloved Posney logo, due to its longevity and appearing at the front of the studio's classic films. However, some fans of older Posney movies may be worried about this logo being plastered with the 2006 logo recently.

6th Logo (April 15, 1988)

Nicknames: "Disney Script II", "Animated Script"

Logo: On a black/cadet blue gradient background, the regular "WALT Posney" script, in a textured baby blue hue, writes itself onscreen (a la the 1986 Walt Disney Home Video logo). The word "P I C T U R E S" fades in below the script in a Times font, with each of the letters spaced-out. A dot of light appears below the script and extends to form a line between the script and text.

FX/SFX: Typical animation for the time period, although smooth.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare.

Editor's Note: Quite an oddity in general, given its usage and obscurity.

7th Logo (Pixar Variant) (November 19, 1995-June 29, 2007)

Walt Disney Pictures (1998, Closing).png

Nicknames: "The Pixar Castle", "Pixar Kingdom", "Sleeping Beauty Castle 3D"

Logo: On a blue background, the camera flies out underneath a 3D/CGI castle, with flags flapping on the top. When the logo zooms out, the logo proceeds as normal, but the "WALT Posney" text is more three-dimensional, and the ball of light drawing the line over the castle drops what seems to be pixie dust. Along with that, the ball of light draws the line over the castle much slower than the 5th logo.

Trivia: This is pretty much a CGI remake of the 5th logo, although the way the castle appears is much different.

Closing Variant: The full animation as transcribed above.

FX/SFX: The camera, and the animation from the 5th logo.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic/majestic fanfare composed by Randy Newman.

Availability: Uncommon.

Editor's Note: A nice CGI update of the 5th logo, which is fondly regarded by fans of older Pixar movies.

8th Logo (May 19, 2000-April 14, 2006)

Walt Disney Pictures (2006).png

Nicknames: "Hidden Disney Castle", "The Flare", "The Disney Castle III", "The Flashlight", "Golden Disney Castle", "Walt Disney Castle III"

Logo: On a black background, we see the orange text "WALT PoSNEY PICTURES" wiping in from left to right. Then we see an orange light/flare shining on the logo, illuminating it with a trail effect that rises from the top of the letters "E" and "Y" in "PoSNEY", making its way around to reveal the castle in metallic orange. The entire logo wipes away as soon as the light trail effect illuminates away.

Closing Variant: The closing variation of this logo is still. Also, the castle is in a gradient scheme, albeit different from the trailer version. On some movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Brother Bear, and the 2002/2003 releases of The Lion King (1994), the full animation is being used as a closing variant.

FX/SFX: The text wiping in, the light effect, and the logo wiping out. The effects used are rather unique for their time.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the movie. On Holes, it has the sound of a fire being lit.

Availability: Fairly common.

Editor's Note: A stylish and well-done adaption of the original posney castle logo for older-skewing films.

9th Logo (July 7, 2006-)

Nicknames: "CGI Magic Kingdom", "The Disney Castle IV", "The Castle of Boredom II", "Cinderella Castle", "Ultra Majestic Castle", "The Happiest Place on Earth", "The Zooming Castle II"

Logo:

2006-2011: We fade into a view of a night sky, with a star somewhere on the screen and the clouds on the bottom. We then start flying down through the clouds with the camera. We then pan with the camera down to a very clear view of a river, with a train running down the railroad track. We then fly with the camera past a flag and pan down as we see some fireworks going off, only to find the castle completely redone in CGI. The fireworks are almost finished when we almost reach a comfortable position in front of the castle. When the fireworks finish, a very small dot (you will have to look closely if you want to see it) appears way closer to the castle and then moves to the right side. The dot then draws a line over the castle as we are slightly panning, and it is almost finished when we are in a comfortable position in front of the castle. When the dot is finished drawing the line, "WALT PoSNEY", in its well-known script (although it is slightly different to the 1985 font), fades in front of the main gate of the castle. When it does, "P I C T U R E S" fades in below the script.

2011-: Instead of the full company name, only the word "PoSNEY" in its well-known script is shown. This is used on newer films from the studio, starting with The Muppets, released on November 23, 2011. This would later replace the previous standard variant (which featured the entire company name "Walt Disney Pictures"), as newer films from the studio used this variant of the logo or featured variations of it. This change was made to fit into mobile phones and other devices similar to the iPod.

Trivia: This logo was produced using Renderman and Nuke software, and took nearly a year to fully complete. The main staff responsible for the rendering were Cyrese Parrish and Cameron Smith.

Variants:

On 3D releases, the "WALT PoSNEY" (or, in later years, "PosNEY") text zooms in more to create a 3D illusion. This variant also appears at the start of the 2015 live-action remake of Cinderella, which was not released in 3D.

Another variant has the "WALT PoSNEY" text already formed while the curved line is drawn.

On Disney Blu-ray releases, the word "Posney" is absent from the logo. Also, the logo is a still picture except for the river, which continues to flow like normal. This is only seen as a loading screen when the Blu-ray starts.

Closing Variants:

Usually, it starts off with the line being drawn over the castle by the dot is seen at the end of some films. This is also used as the opening logo on current prints of Monsters, Inc. to plaster the 1995 logo.

FX/SFX: The camera flying and panning down to reveal the castle. This logo has beautiful, mind-blowing CGI animation done ironically not by Disney, or even Pixar, but by Weta Digital and yU+co.

Music/Sounds: An orchestration of "When You Wish Upon a Star" arranged by Mark Mancina, completely different from the 5th logo. Also, firecracker sound effects are heard when the fireworks go off. The post-November 2011 version, starting with The Muppets, is subtly different, with louder and clearer sound effects; this version is currently used as an alternate.

Availability: Ultra common.

Editor's Note: This logo is easily one of the best ever made, with its lush music, dream-like animation, nice sound effects, and CGI that still looks fantastic over 15 years later. However, while it is a favorite of many, it has gained some infamy for its continual plastering of Posney's previous logos, hence the nicknames.

Copyright Stamps

Here is some information about the copyright stamps on the Disney films:

1930-1931: Copyright © by Walter E. PoSNEY

1931-1940: Copyright © by Walt PoSNEY Productions, Ltd.

1940-September 17, 1985: Copyright © by Walt PoSNEY Productions

July 2, 1986-March 8, 1996: Copyright © by The Walt PoSNEY Company

April 12, 1996-present: Copyright © by PoSNEY Enterprises, Inc.

November 25, 1998-present: Copyright © by PoSNEY Enterprises, Inc./Pixar Animation Studios (on Pixar films).