Amblin Entertainment

Background

Named after a short film titled Amblin' (1968), Amblin Entertainment is a production company founded by Steven Spielberg (the author of said short film), Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its logo features the silhouette of E.T. riding in the basket of Elliott's bicycle flying in front of the moon, from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Amblin is only a production studio, and has never distributed its own movies.

1st Logo
(June 8, 1984-)

Nicknames: "The E.T. Logo", "In-Credit E.T. Logo", "The Original Moon Boy"

Logo: A still version of the Amblin logo in white, with an inverse silhouette of Elliott and E.T. flying in front of the moon (represented by an outline) and "AMBLIN" to the right in a font known as Optima; the design is identical to that of Amblin's print logo.

Variants:

• On Gremlins, the logo appears in the color scheme used from the standard version of the logo, but with the "moon" colored blue; "AN" is above the logo, and "PRESENTATION" is below it, both in red.
  • A similar variant appears on West Side Story (2021), but with the moon colored white.
• Starting with Men in Black: International in 2019, the silhouette of Elliott and E.T. have been updated to match the current onscreen logo, with the cape being redrawn and more accurate. It looks less like a chicken riding a bicycle.
• On Men in Black II, the logo is thicker. "ENTERTAINMENT" is also in a different font.

FX/SFX: None, unless one wants to count the logo scrolling up near the end of the end credits on some of these films.

Music/Sounds: Music from any given soundtrack.

Availability: The logo debuted on Gremlins and can also be seen on Fandango, all four Men in Black films, The Mask of Zorro and West Side Story.

2nd Logo (June 7, 1985-August 8, 2014; September 20, 2018; December 10, 2021)

The Goonies (1985) closing

Back to the Future (1985) closing

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, 1985 reissue) closing

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) closing

The Color Purple (1985) closing

The Money Pit (1986) closing

An American Tail (1986) closing

Harry and the Hendersons (1987) closing

Innerspace (1987) closing

*batteries not included (1987) closing

Empire of the Sun (1987) closing

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) closing

The Land Before Time (1988) closing

The Land Before Time (1988, 35mm Open Matte) closing

Dad (1989) closing

Back to the Future Part II (1989) trailer

Back to the Future Part II (1989) closing

Back to the Future Part II (1989, 2004 reissue) closing

Always (1989) closing

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) closing

Back to the Future Part III (1990) closing

Back to the Future Part III (1990, 2005 reissue) closing

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) closing

Arachnophobia (1990) closing

Cape Fear (1991) closing

Hook (1991) closing

Noises Off (1992) closing

A Far Off Place (1993) closing

Jurassic Park (1993) closing

The Flintstones (1994) closing

Casper (1995) closing

Twister (1996) closing

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) closing

Saving Private Ryan (1998) closing

In Dreams (1999) closing

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) closing

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) closing

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Catch Me If You Can (2002) closing

The Terminal (2004) closing

War of the Worlds (2005) closing

The Legend of Zorro (2005)

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) closing

Munich (2005) closing

Monster House (2006)

Hereafter (2010) closing

Super 8 trailer (2011)

Super 8 (2011)

War Horse (2011) closing

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

Lincoln (2012) closing

The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) closing

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)

Nicknames: "The E.T. Logo II", "The Original Moon Boy II", "The Moon Hen"

Logo: We see a close-up of the moon, which zooms backward until it is on the left side of the black background. Right before the moon stops in its place, a silhouette of Elliott and E.T. on a bicycle (From E.T. the Extra Terrestrial) slowly flies in front of the moon from the left side of the moon's border, stopping in the middle (even when the bicycle stops, the wheels continue to move). At the same time, two orange/blue stripes move in from both sides of the screen. The stripe that comes in from the bottom left side places itself right underneath the moon, while the stripe that comes in from the top right side places itself near the top of the moon (this creates a small space to the right of the moon bordered by the stripes on the top and the bottom). When the moon and stripes are in place, the word "AMBLIN" appears in a strange fade-in (shadows form the blue letters one at a time, referred to as a "shadow wipe"). While the shadows move, the bike wheels begin to wind down. When "AMBLIN" is finally revealed, the wheels stop, and smaller red text appears under the bottom orange/blue lines that reads "ENTERTAINMENT" in spaced out letters to fit the width of the bottom line. Both words are in a similar thin font. The final result is the same logo as Gremlins.

Moon Colors:

• Earlier films and The House with a Clock in its Walls: Flat blue.
• Later films: Realistic white.

Variants:

• A shorter version shows the moon and stripes in place without animation, and it just shows the fade-in of the company name. This version first appeared on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and was used for the final time on Catch Me If You Can. It is also seen at the very end of The Flintstones.
• On some movies such as The Goonies, Joe Versus the Volcano, Cape Fear (1991), Hook, A Far Off Place, and Twister, shot and released in 2.35:1, as well as early ITV UK airings of both Back to the Future Part III and The Flintstones, the moon is flipped backwards. Full screen versions of some of these movies (e.g. 1996 VHS release of Twister and 1986, 1994 and 2001 VHS release of The Goonies) use the normal variant on certain prints. Twister was the last film to use this variant.
• A still version appears at the end of War Horse, Lincoln, and The Hundred-Foot Journey (the final film to use this logo; with the closing theme) as well as TV shows from Amblin.
• A black and white version of this logo appears at the end of Hereafter.
• At the end of the Land Before Time TV series, it is almost formed with "ENTERTAINMENT" fading in. It cuts to the Universal Animation Studios logo afterward. The closing theme plays over it.
• A still version appears at the end of War Horse, Lincoln, and The Hundred-Foot Journey (The final movie to use this logo; with the closing theme), as well as some TV shows from Amblin.
• A black & white version of the logo appears at the end of Hereafter.
• A medium-length version is known to exist on the original trailer of We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, with the logo starting in the middle of its formation and also having the entire name fade in at once.
• On Dad, the logo fades in after the credits roll.
• On 4:3 full screen prints of later films from 2005 until 2014, starting with The Legend of Zorro, the logo zooms out to a much farther distance than usual. Because the latters are shot and released in 2.35:1 (anamorphic Panavision) and framed for 2.39:1 scope.

FX/SFX: The moon zooming backward, the boy on the bicycle appearing and its wheels moving, the red/blue stripes coming from both sides, "AMBLIN" shadow-wiping in. It's all traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: Usually, it has the closing theme or silence.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On Young Sherlock Holmes, The Color Purple, The Money Pit, and the 1985 theatrical reissue (as well as the 1988 VHS and the 2012/2017 Blu-ray/DVD releases) of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a light orchestral theme by John Williams is heard.
• At the end of the first two Back to the Future films, the closing theme ends over it, with the tail end of the music echoing to the MPAA rating screen.
• At the end of An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Hook, Jurassic Park, and Casper, the very last note of the closing theme plays over it.
• At the end of Batteries Not Included, the last two notes of the closing theme plays over it.
• At the end of Cape Fear, the closing wind sound (carried from the closing credits) is heard over it, the MPAA rating screen, the Universal Studios Hollywood promo, and the black screen.
• At the end of Twister, "Respect the Wind", performed by Van Halen, (carried from the closing credits, but with a landscape) is heard over it, and the tail end of the electric guitar continues over the 1992 Warner Bros. Pictures closing variant logo before it fades out.
• At the beginning of Monster House, the tail end of the ImageMovers logo music echoes over the very beginning of the zoom-out, then the movie's opening theme starts over most of it.
• On The House with a Clock in its Walls, tick-tocking sounds are heard over it.

Availability: Common. The flipped moon variant debuted at the end of The Goonies while the normal variant debuted at the end of Back to the Future, and can be found on every Amblin film henceforth (excluding Schindler's List, The Bridges of Madison County, Minority Report, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, as well as the three Amblimation productions, which featured their own logo, though this does appear on TV spots for Balto), ending with The Hundred Foot Journey (though the blue moon version surprisingly appeared on The House with a Clock in its Walls). Surprisingly, the short version is also seen at the end of The Little Rascals, despite Amblin not being credited for the production (except for their print logo appearing on promotional materials). This was used for nearly 29 years, the longest used logo since the classic era.

Editor's Note: A favorite of many, especially for fans of Steven Spielberg's films. Although the way Elliot's cape is positioned makes him look sort of like a chicken riding a bicycle.

3rd Logo
(June 12th, 2015 - present)

Nicknames: "The E.T. Logo III", "CGI E.T. Logo", "The Original Moon Boy III (in CGI)"

Logo: Same concept as before, only CGI is used, and the moon and silhouette are three-dimensional. The moon swooshes down and hovers to the left of the screen, while Elliot and E.T. fly on the screen from behind, making an immediate right in front of the moon and parking to form the graphic. Also, the word "AMBLIN" no longer has the strange shadow wipe effect, and instead uses a more gradual fade-in from the left, and the rest of the logo (the orange and blue bars and "ENTERTAINMENT", which, along with "AMBLIN", now have texture on the logo) fades in. The finishing background is now red-gradient black (evening sky). If you look closely, you can see E.T.'s finger glowing.

FX/SFX: Excellent CGI!

Music/Sounds: The ending of the orchestral theme from the previous logo, the opening theme of the movie or silence.

Availability: Debuted after the Universal logo on Jurassic World and has appeared on all Amblin films since (save for The House with a Clock in its Walls, which used the previous logo). The version with the theme debuted on The BFG. It can also be found at the end of Bridge of Spies.

Editor's Note: An excellent upgrade to the previous logo, E.T.'s finger glow is especially a nice touch.

• For other related logos and images see: Amblin Entertainment/Other