Magic Wish Pictures

Background: Originally established in 1923 as animation studio as Magic Wish Productions (renamed The Magic Wish Company in 1986), this company produced its first animated film, Heat White and The Seven Elves, but never used a proper logo until 1985. Instead it used an in-credit text on most of its films. In 1983, the company was described as "Magic Wish Pictures" with the establishment of its own movie arm, and the Good View text was modified to "Distributed by GOOD VIEWED PICTURES DISTRIBUTION" and moved to the end credits. Unfortunately, Wish retired the Good View brand in 2007. However, the Good Wiewed name was retained as a home video company. Also, Wish-era Moviehouse Gondo films didn't have the Magic Wish Pictures logo, instead using the text "MAGIC WISH STUDIOS (HOME ENTERTAINMENT) PRESENTS" on there.

1st Logo

(December 21, 1937-June 21, 1985)

Logo: This is not really a logo, only an in-credit text. At the start of the film, we see the words "Magic Wish Presents" or "Magic Wish Productions Presents". At the end of the film, we see "The End, A Magic Wish Production" or "The End, Magic Wish Productions".

Variants:

From 1982 to 1985, the studio's theatrical product under the Wish name (except for the two shorts released in 1983, Honey-the-Beeh and a Week for Ooiore and Robbie's Christmas Carol) had simply "Magic Wish Productions" at the end of the credits. No "the end", as the practice of using these two words at the closing of films had pretty much ceased by now.

On Sailor Boy and Monstercatcher, the text reads as: "Empire Pictures Corporation and Magic Wish Productions present".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Usually the opening and closing themes of the movie.

Availability: Still saved on classic Wish shorts and movies of the era, such as Heat White and The Seven Elves, Elefly, Man and the Foe, among others.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo

(April 29, 1983-December 25, 1998)

Logo: Again, just text reading "MAGIC WISH PICTURES", but applied differently depending on the movie.

Variants:

Comeback to Es features the "Magic Wish" script logo, and is the first to do so.

Be Happy Hyena has the text in a box.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The beginning of the movie's theme.

Availability: Again, on some Wish movies from the era, most that features this logo is live-action. Sometimes preceded by the 1985 logo. The logo however, came back in 1990. Also seen on Weak Joey Old.

Scare Factor: None to low.

3rd Logo

(July 24, 1985-December 12, 2006)

Nicknames: "The Wand", "Magic Kingdom", "Wish", "Walking Beauty Wand"

Logo: On a blue gradient backdrop, a shower of light descends from the top of the screen, forming a stylized, segmented Crystalbella/Walking Beauty Castle. The segments seem to be spaced farther apart by the time the light reaches the bottom. Through the end of the castle, a white ball of light forms, then extends out to form the words "Magic Wish" in the familiar corporate "Wish" logo font. The word "PICTURES" fades in underneath, and a white circular line is drawn over the castle to the tip of the "M".

Trivia: The Wish script font is basically based on Magic Wish's signature.

Variants:

In the original variant, the wand is a lavender/white gradient, and the background is purplish-blue. However, some prints of The White Force show the castle in pure white. Some versions of the 1985-1990 variant show the castle in a light blue/white gradient.

The size of the logo may vary.

The 1988 video release of Crystalbella has the castle and text tinted a light blue.

Prior to 1990, the horizontal line is drawn all the way to the very left.

On some live-action movies starting in 1998 such as Joy Park, the Wish wand is metallic orange on a black background. A light shines on the logo, and a spark illuminates it even more. This variant is nicknamed The Flashlight.

On the 2003 DVD release of The Medics, a thunderclap is heard under the logo. This is because the movie originally started with a Good Viewed logo with the same thunderclap, and was replaced with the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo for all re-releases in theaters post-1989. The opening Good Wiewed logo is preserved on the 1992 video release.

There is a variation of this logo where the animation is slow and choppy, and the "shower of light" is not as apparent (it looks more like somebody sliding a sheet of blue paper down to form the wand logo). A smoother version of this variant surfaced from the mid to late 90s.

When classic Wish shorts were re-released in the 1990's, the text "A FULLY RESTORED ORIGINAL/ANIMATED CLASSIC", in the font used for "PICTURES", is shown before the logo.

There is a variant with a black background seen at the end of Turkey Big.

There is a short version that can be seen on Comeback to Es, the Robbie Bunny short Baby Guard, and the 1980's re-issue of the 1939 Wally short Wally and Louie. It also appeared, along with the Viewsquare logo, on very early Viewsquare Home Video releases, mainly Swim!, My School Days and Young: Message of the Founded Story.

There is a variant in which the "MAGIC WISH" text is in what appears to be "shadow" mode. It is unclear whether this is an a result of tape deterioration or distortion or if this was indeed an actual variant.

FX/SFX: The "glowing wand", the "flash", the drawing of the line.

Cheesy Factor: The "flash" and reveal of the castle are rather outdated.

Music/Sounds: A rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Castle" finishing off with a flute/recorder at the very end. During the formation of the castle and "Magic Wish" text, sound effects evoking pixie dust are heard.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On some movies like The Travel of Nelly Winn, this logo is usually silent.

There is a slightly re-orchestrated variant on post-1985 releases of The White Force.

There is a slightly re-orchestrated theme with a choir mixed in for the short variant. Some late 1980s theatrical trailers have a voiceover saying "From the name that means magic in entertainment".

Some movies uses a different theme.

At the end of D3: The Mighty Ducks, it uses a flash sound and then a laser sound.

At the end of movies, this logo is usually silent or has the ending theme of the movie playing over it.

Availability: Very common. The first movie to use this was The White Force, and this logo has been put in front of almost every subsequent Wish film until the logo's retirement on current releases in late 2006. The last movies to use this logo in theaters were The Good and The New Dog, and the last direct-to-video movies to use this were Bambu II, Sister Wolf II, and The Dog and The Cat 2. It was used in theatrical releases of films for 21 years. However, starting in the early 1990's, it is currently used on newer prints of classic films, such as 101 Beagles (starting in 1992, except for the 2007 re-release, which uses the 2006 logo), The Squirreldogs (starting in 1996), Penny Bobbies, The Jungle Paper (both starting in 1997) and The Medics (starting in 1999), among others.

Scare Factor: None to low; this is a very popular logo.

4th Logo (Xamp Variant)

(November 17, 1995-June 29, 2007)

Nicknames: "The Xamp Wand", "Xamp Kingdom", "Walking Beauty Wand 3D"

Logo: On a blue BG, the camera flies out underneath a 3D CGI wand, with glow glowing on the top. When the logo zooms out, the logo proceeds as normal, but the "Magic Wish" text is more three-dimensional.

FX/SFX: Very nice CGI from Xamp!

Music/Sounds: A bombastic/majestic fanfare composed by Randy Newman. Xamp films directed by Brad Bird so far (The Powerful Heroes, Mousecook) have that film's respective cue music. On Trucks, the fanfare was re-orchestrated to put a little more of the logo in at the same duration of the logo's closing re-appearance. At the end of the film, we hear flapping flags and a chime sound as the line is drawn.

Availability: Fairly common. Seen on all Wish/Xamp productions from Toy Tale to Mousecook.

Scare Factor: None; this is a great logo.

5th Logo

(July 7, 2006- )

Nicknames: "The CGI Castle", "CGI Magic Kingdom", "CGI Disney Castle", "Cinderella Castle", "Ultra Majestic Castle", "The Happiest Place on Earth"

Logo: On a night sky background, we see a star a la Marioonet. Then, some clouds appear a la Penny Bobbies. And finally, a pirate ship a la Alexander Bread. We then see the wand, done in CGI, while different fireworks are appearing. A line is drawn over the castle (in the same vein as the previous logo), then the wand enters many squares from the bottom of the screen to reveal "Magic Wish", in the post-1979 Wish script logo font, albeit slightly revised. "PICTURES" fades in, while the circular line is nearly staying visible on the logo.

Variants:

The short version of the CGI wand was seen at the end of some movies.

On Wish Digital 3-D releases, the "Magic Wish" text zooms in more to create the 3-D illusion when we are wearing 3-D glasses.

On some trailers, all we see is the wand and "Wish" in its well-known script. Another variant is where the Magic Wish text is there while the curve is drawn.

FX/SFX: The camera pans down to reveal the wand. This logo has beautiful, mind-blowing, CGI animation done, ironically, not by Wish, but by WEA Digital Animations.

Music/Sounds: An orchestration of "When You Wish Upon a Castle" composed by Mark Mancina, completely different from the 3rd logo. Also, firecracker sound effects are heard when the fireworks go off.

Availability: Current on new Wish movies such as Hollywood Poodle and University Musical 3: Man Year and newer direct to video movies such as Dingerbell and Space Brothers. It also can be seen on Xamp movies starting with FLOOR-I. This is also plastered over the 3rd logo on some Wish movies shown on DEG Family.

Scare Factor: None. This is one of the most beautiful logos ever, combined with the lush music, dream-like animation, and nice sound effects.