Background[]
Davis Entertainment is an American independent film production company founded by John Davis in 1984.
1st Logo (March 25, 1990-June 22, 2001)[]
Nicknames: "Filmstrip D", "Davis D"
Logo: On a black or blue background, a blue "D" made out of a filmstrip spins around and zooms out to the middle. The words "DAVIS ENTERTAINMENT" fade in under the filmstrip, and the logo "shines".
Variants:
- There is a short version of the logo starting where the logo shines, and the company name is fading in. There is no spinning and zooming in this variant, the filmstrip D is already formed.
- On Dr. Dolittle 2, the whole logo is reanimated and has a light blue tint, while the text has a font similar to the next logo.
FX/SFX: The filmstrip spinning and zooming, the logo "shining".
Music/Sounds: None, or the opening/closing theme of the movie.
Availability: Rare. Seen on Gunmen, Fortress, and other films from the era. It also appears on TV movies as well like Silhouette.
2nd Logo (November 30, 2001-April 8, 2009, February 3, 2012)[]
Nicknames: "CGI Filmstrip D", "Filmstrip D II", "Davis D II", "CGI Davis D"
Logo: On a black background, the abstract "D" in a metallic blue color animates in a quite similar way as before, but the text below is now written in Tahoma. Also, the shining is more intensive.
FX/SFX: Same as before.
Music/Sounds: None, or the opening/closing theme to the movie.
Availability: Seen on all Davis productions, like Dr. Dolittle 2, Behind Enemy Lines, Garfield: The Movie, I, Robot, Flight of the Phoenix, Fat Albert, Dr. Dolittle 3, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts. It surprisingly made an appearance on Chronicle (on the extended edition, slightly different animation is seen), sans the company name.
3rd Logo (June 4, 2010-)[]
Nicknames: "Davis Wonderland", "The Mansion", "Gold Filmstrip D", "CGI Filmstrip D II", "Filmstrip D III", "Davis D III", "CGI Davis D II", "Gold Davis D"
Logo: The camera moves out from some clouds on a daytime sky to see a hot-air balloon (striped in red and yellow), alongside another one seen in the background with a zeppelin moving from the right side of the screen. Then, a red biplane passes by and goes behind the clouds. After that, the view pulls back on a peephole on a wooden door in a mansion, which emits a bright golden light on it. Just as the screen zooms out to the front, the company name in gold appears from below, as the filmstrip flies and arranges itself over it. The logo then encloses in a golden rectangular box on a black background, as the mansion view fades out alongside the box, leaving just the logo as it shines before fading out.
Variants:
- On Mr. Popper's Penguins, the company name is absent, and it transitions to the opening once it is done.
- A more common shortened version exists where the filmstrip spins into view as the text fades in. The rectangular box is already there.
- A still version exists.
- At the end of A Little Bit of Heaven, the logo is in black-and-white and scrolls up in the credits.
- The logo usually shares the screen with other logos on TV shows.
- On The Equalizer, only the shining is shown on the finished product, and it lacks the box.
FX/SFX: Great CGI animation.
Music/Sounds: A soft, ascending fanfare by Christopher Lennertz, with the sound of the biplane flying by at the start. In some cases, the logo is silent, or has the opening/closing theme of the show/film.
Availability: Seen on newer movies from the company starting with Marmaduke. This logo was strangely not seen on Chronicle, which used the below logo. It's also seen on TV shows such as The Blacklist, The Player, Dr. Ken, Timeless, and Alex, Inc. among others.
Editor's Note: This is a beautiful logo.
4th Logo (February 3, 2012-December 25, 2015)[]
Logo: On a black background, a blue filmstrip spins into view (with the same animation as the previous logo), Forming a blue D (similar to the 2nd logo). The logo shines a little.
FX/SFX: The filmstrip spinning.
Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: First appeared on Chronicle. Also appears on Victor Frankenstein, and Joy.