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Background[]

Lucasfilm Ltd., LLC is a company founded by George Lucas. Lucasfilm formed THX (later spun-off in 2002), Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, and Lucas Digital Ltd. On October 30, 2012, The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. Walt Disney owns the rights to most films produced by the studio that were released by both 20th Century Fox and MGM (while Lucasfilm retains the copyright). Paramount owns the distribution rights to Lucasfilm-produced films that they released with Lucasfilm retaining their copyright. Universal owns all rights to the films that they released, as does 20th Century Fox in the case of Star Wars. With Disney's purchase of the studio, distribution of the studio's future films will be handled by Walt Disney and the studio's television output is controlled by Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution (although CBS Television Distribution controls the distribution of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles).

1st Logo (August 2, 1973-May 4, 2020)[]

Nickname: "The Neon Text"

Logo: On a black background, some neon green text reads:

A
LUCASFILM LIMITED
Production

Variants:

  • This text was often shown in different languages depending on the country, sometimes in all-capital letters and different fonts. It may also be referred to as Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucasfilm or Lucasfilm, Ltd.
  • The first film with the logo, American Graffiti, reads "A LUCASFILM LTD/COPPOLA CO. PRODUCTION"
  • The original Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark featurette has the red text.
  • The trailers for Raiders of the Lost Ark superimposes the "A LUCASFILM LIMITED Production" text in yellow over the opening scene for the trailer.
  • On some fullscreen copies of the original Star Wars trilogy, the logo is squished to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio.
  • On several pre-1997 foreign releases of Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, the logo is sometimes in yellow.
  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and movies have a superimposed version, in white and a different font, reading "A LUCASFILM LTD. Production in Association with AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT" below (the Indiana Jones films never showed or credited Amblin, though an old documentary on The Last Crusade superimposes the Amblin logo).
  • On Radioland Murders, the closing version is the same as the above, except it's in green and Amblin isn't credited.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: On the original Star Wars trilogy and the Ewok television films, the second half of the 1953 20th Century Fox fanfare. Silent on More American Graffiti, Radioland Murders, and the 1995 CBS/Fox Video Hong Kong LaserDisc of Return of the Jedi (where the Fox logo was removed in favor of the CBS/Fox Video logo); the opening theme is used on other films.

Availability: Can be seen on the original (pre-1997) theatrical versions of the original Star Wars trilogy (preceded by the 20th Century Fox logos), American Graffiti and the sequel More American Graffiti (the latter two precede by the Universal "Zooming Globe" logo).

  • Post-1997 prints of the original Star Wars trilogy now use the 3rd logo. However, on 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's 2006 Limited Editions of the original versions, this was intact.
  • This logo was not seen on the original Indiana Jones films, Twice Upon a TimeLabyrinth, Howard the Duck or Latino; an in-credit text notice was used instead.
  • The "remastered" version appears on the last four episodes of the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Editor's Note: A rather plain logo compared to what followed.

2nd Logo (May 20, 1988-July 3, 1996)[]

Lucasfilm (1988)

Nicknames: "Logo Shining", "CGI Logo Shining"

Logo: On a black background, we see some gold text that reads:

A
LUCASFILM
Ltd
PRODUCTION

The text is written in a fancy Art Deco font with "A" and "PRODUCTION" in normal font respectively. "Lucasfilm" is arched and two symbols representing bolts or something are between "Ltd".

FX/SFX: The shining of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Silence or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Seen on Lucasfilm movies from the time frame, such as Willow and Tucker: The Man and His Dream. It's final appearance was on early trailers for Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition.

  • It doesn't appear on Radioland Murders despite having the print logo on promotional material.

3rd Logo (November 22, 1996-March 5, 2018)[]

Nickname: "Logo Shining II"

Logo: On a black background, we see the dark green glowing outlined version of the previous logo. It begins to sparkle, changing the color on the text from black to silver, as the outline fades away. When the logo finishes sparkling, the color changes to gold.

Variants:

  • On Star Wars: The Clone Wars (excluding director's cuts and some standard episodes) and Star Wars: Rebels, the logo is sped up, usually with a copyright notice below it.
  • Conversely, a slower version was used on Red Tails.
  • In 2011, this logo was enhanced for 3-D. The logo turns to silver, via shine effect, and it goes from silver text to gold text with a green shadow, hovering in a certain angle.
  • On Strange Magic (including the trailers), the imp dances across the screen spreading love potion around.

FX/SFX: The shining and color-changing effects.

Music/Sounds: Same as the first two logos.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • On Star Wars: Clone Wars, lightsaber noises are heard.
  • At the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and at the end of The Clone Wars (both the movie and the show), it is silent.
    • On the Clone Wars film, it has the Clone barter quotes heard over it before it stops when the opening text fades in.
  • From the 2015 digital releases of the live action Star Wars films (except the original SW, later subtitled Episode IV - A New Hope, still owned by 20th Century Fox) to 2019, the normal version has the shortened version of the last verse of the music from the end credits of Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back by John Williams. It was replaced by 4th logo when Disney+ began streaming the first six films in 2019.
  • The Strange Magic variant has the Imp's vocals and sounds corresponding to the animation.

Availability: Can be seen on the Star Wars prequel trilogy and 1997-2015 prints of the original trilogy, as well as other Star Wars media today including the DVD of the Ewok before the 20th Century Fox logo. Also appears at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (before the customized Paramount Pictures logo) and on all 1997/1999 prints of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television films (some prints of Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen remove it), Empire of Dreams (after the Fox Television Studios logo), and Red Tails. The enhanced version was seen on the 2012 3D reissue of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Strange Magic. It might've appeared on the planned 3D reissues of the (then) remaining Star Wars films, which were eventually released at Star Wars Celebration VII (it's unknown if they contained this logo).

4th Logo (April 15, 2015-)[]

Nicknames: "Logo Shining III", "Enhanced Shining", "Metallic Shining"

Logo: Same as the previous logos, basically more enhanced in chrome silver text with a moving effect inside of the "LUCASFILM" text that appears to be a pale green.

Variant:

  • On the Star Wars: Trials of Tatooine teaser trailer, the logo is above the ILMx LAB logo, the URL, and the Skywalker Sound logo, all of which are in chrome. Also, the pale green moving effect is gray.
  • In the Star Wars: Visions trailer, the logo transitions with brush strokes and hints of blue.

FX/SFX: The moving effect inside of the text.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variants:

  • On trailers & TV spots, the music starts/plays over it.
  • At the end of Rogue One and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the closing theme ends over it (It is silent at the beginning).

Availability: Debuted on the second teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and later appeared on the film itself, as well as on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

  • It also appears on EA-published Star Wars games including Battlefront (2015), Battlefront II (2017), Jedi: Fallen Order, and Squadrons, as well as on Disney+ releases of the Star Wars trilogy and prequels from 2019 onward, which restore the 20th Century Fox logo (albeit bylineless).
  • It's also seen on Disney+ Star Wars television series, starting with The Mandalorian, the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and The Book of Boba Fett.


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