Jim Henson Pictures/Summary

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.

===1st logo (1997)=== Nickname : "Kermit the Cameraman"

Logo : Against a sunset sky background, we see Kermit the Frog sitting on a large crane with a motion picture camera. Under it is the word, "Jim Henson" in it's corporate font with "PICTURES" in spaced-out letters under it.

Variant : On a trailer for Buddy, Kermit and the movie camera are inside a box with the company's name outside and under it.

FX/SFX : None.

Music/Sounds : The beginning of the trailer's theme.

Availability : Both of the variants only appear on trailers for Buddy.

===2nd logo (May 27, 1997-2001, 2005, 2013)=== Nickname : "Kermit the Cameraman II"

Logo : We zoom out of a motion picture camera lens with lasers flying about. The camera is being operated by Kermit the Frog himself (laughing) seated on a large crane extended way up into a metallic sky. As the crane moves away from us and Kermit and the crane go into 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. When the logo is formed, suddenly the crane takes a hard drop, notably startling Kermit. "Sorry!" is heard from Animal (voiced by Frank Oz) offscreen, followed by Kermit whispering "Hmmm. Sheesh."

Variants :
 * There is a version without the crane-drop gag.
 * On 4:3 versions of the films Buddy (the first film with this logo), 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 the still logo, a little bit of the black on top is shown.

Closing Variant : The superimposed closing variant features a silhouette of the logo on a black background.

FX/SFX : Excellent CGI effects, animatronics and Muppet performances.

Music/Sounds : A majestic orchestral movie score with sounds for the lasers flying around. There are frogs croaking and crickets chirping at the end. Kermit's laugh is also heard when he appears.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * On The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Animal's "Sorry!" was removed.
 * Buddy only had the sounds and not the music.

Availability : To date, the version with the crane-drop gag was only used on two films: Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, which both are still in print. Later DVD and streaming prints of The Muppet Movie and other Jim Henson classics have the logo without the crane drop gag, as does Buddy (the first film to feature this logo). The company also produced Good Boy!, but the logo itself never appeared on it.

Editor's Note : Despite the "crane-drop" gag poentially being startling, this is a brilliantly produced and entertaining logo.