About
Production Logo Parodies are spoofs of vanity cards used by film and television production companies, which are typically shown in the opening or closing credits to brand content.
Origin
The earliest known production logo parody was made by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) in a spoof of their own Leo the Lion logo shown in the opening of the 1935 Marx Brothers comedy film A Night at the Opera (shown below).[2]
Spread
In the 1961 Tom and Jerry cartoon “Switchin’ Kitten,” Leo the Lion is substituted with the cat Jerry in the MGM production logo (shown below).
In the 1971 Monty Python film And Now for Something Completely Different, a version of MGM’s Leo the Lion logo is shown with a rabbit substituted for the lion (shown below).
On March 28th, 2007, YouTuber Aslam Husain uploaded a parody of the Universal Studios opening production logo (shown below, left). On September 16th, 2008, YouTuber VJGeorgeFraggle uploaded a music remix video using the 20th Century Fox opening logo (shown below, right).
On October 15th, 2011, YouTuber ChampmaniacPictures uploaded the 20th Century Fox opening production logo sequence with a saxophone playing the background music (shown below, left). On January 31st, 2012, YouTube BaconGitt15 reuploaded the saxophone video with the addition of a recorder flute playing the background music (shown below, right). On May 24th, a compilation of 20th Century Fox production logo parodies were highlighted on the Internet news blog Slacktory.[1]
On April 30th, 2013, YouTuber syujsunil1989 reuploaded the recorder flute version of the 20th Century Fox video, receiving more than 1.69 million views and 770 comments in two years. On July 8th, YouTuber fatawesome uploaded a comedy sketch in which the Universal Studios production logo circles the entire earth and blocks out the sun (shown below, left). On September 10th, CollegeHumor uploaded a parody of the Pixar opening production logo animation, in which a jumping lamp murders the letter “I” (shown below, right). In the next year, the video gathered upwards of 5.4 million views and 16,600 comments.
Notable Examples
Scary Logos
Scary Logos refer to a variety of vintage television production company logos that were used as bumper sequences between the 1960s and early 1990s.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Slacktory – The 9 Best Bad Versions of the 20th Century Fox Fanfare
[2]Wikipedia – Leo the Lion#parodies