Jim Henson Pictures/Summary

Not to be confused with the Disney-owned Jim Henson Productions.

Background

Jim Henson Pictures was a motion picture subsidiary unit of The Jim Henson Company, formed on July 21, 1995 as a joint venture alongside Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was led by Henson's two eldest children, Brian and Lisa Henson. After several box office failures and their contract with Sony expiring, Brian Henson terminated the partnership and the unit went defunct in 2004.

The rights to the studio's films as a whole reside with The Jim Henson Company, with home media distribution rights spread out between Sony Pictures (Buddy, Muppets from Space, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, MirrorMask), Universal Pictures (Rat), MGM (Good Boy!) and Warner Home Entertainment (Five Children and It).

1st logo (1997)

Nickname: "Kermit the Cameraman"

Logo: Against a sunset sky background, Kermit the Frog is seen sitting on a large crane with a motion picture camera. Under it is the word "Jim Henson" in its 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: Extremely rare. These only appear on trailers for Buddy, with the main logo below being used on the film itself.

Editor's Note: This is a prototype still variant of the logo below, using the print logo's design of the camera and crane having a different appearance.

2nd logo (May 27, 1997 - October 6, 2000; June 5, 2001; November 29, 2005)

Nickname: "Kermit the Cameraman II"

Logo: The logo starts by zooming out of a motion picture camera lens with lasers flying about. The camera is being operated by Kermit the Frog himself, who is seen sitting on a large crane extended way up into a sunset sky and laughing. As the crane moves away and Kermit goes 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.

Variants:

• There is an extended version where after the logo is formed, the crane (operated by Animal off-screen) suddenly takes a hard drop, notably startling Kermit. This was seen on Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
• On full screen prints of Buddy, Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, the camera's field of view is rendered in wide angle lens.
• Short and still variants exist on trailers, where a little bit of the black framing on top is shown.

Closing Variant: The superimposed closing variant features the print logo in white on a black background.

FX/SFX: The lasers whooshing around, the crane moving, Kermit laughing, the drop on the extended version. Excellent CGI effects, animatronics and Muppet performances.

Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestral movie score with sounds for the lasers flying around and Kermit's laugh when he appears. There are sounds of frogs croaking and crickets chirping at the end. This was composed by Hans Zimmer.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• The extended version on Muppets from Space has Kermit yelp with the crane drop, with Animal (voiced by Frank Oz) saying "Sorry!" offscreen, followed by Kermit whispering "Hmmm. Sheesh."
  • On The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Animal does not say his line.
• On Buddy, the orchestral score is absent, with only Kermit's laugh and the sound effects being heard.

Availability: Rare.

• It was first seen on Buddy and ended regular use on Rat.
• The version with the crane-drop gag was only used on Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
• Later DVD and streaming prints of The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and several other Jim Henson classics have the logo added on at the beginning.
• The logo does not make appearances on their final three films, Good Boy!, Five Children and It and MirrorMask.

Editor's Note: Even though the "crane-drop" gag can potentially be startling to unexpecting viewers, this is an otherwise brilliantly-produced and entertaining logo.