DreamWorks Animation, which is coming up to 30 years old as it was first founded back in 1994, has made the bold move of revamping its iconic opening intro. Starting with this December’s belated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the studio’s movies will no longer feature the traditional intro featuring the boy with the fishing rod chilling on the moon.
Instead, DreamWorks’ new logo animation celebrates many of the biggest and most popular franchises the studio has to its name, ranging from those that helped build the company from the ground up to those that have only appeared on our screens in more recent years. Unfortunately, fans are up in arms over the change, just as you would expect given all the nostalgia attached to what it’s replacing, but maybe they’ll get used to this new, slightly Marvel-inspired, intro in time.
Check out the new logo below and scroll down as we run through every DreamWorks movie and franchise that it showcases.
The Bad Guys
As you can see, the DreamWorks Animation intro now sees the fishing boy surf through space on his, er, moon surfboard. The first familiar characters he encounters are The Bad Guys, the anthropomorphic band of animal criminals from the movie of the same name. After its release this April, The Bad Guys became the second highest-grossing animated film of 2022, so we can presumably take their immortalization in this intro as a promise that a sequel is on the way.
How to Train Your Dragon
Next up, none other than Toothless, the last of the Night Furies, soars past. The adorable flying beastie is, of course, the star of the How to Train Your Dragon saga. Easily one of the most acclaimed franchises in DreamWorks’ library, the Dragon movie trilogy stretched from 2010 to 2019 and also comprises various spinoffs series. Peacock/Hulu’s DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms, which brings the story up to the present-day, is currently ongoing.
Kung Fu Panda
The DreamWorks boy then passes a floating island that’s home to two of the studio’s other famous heroes. First up is Po, the eponymous Kung Fu Panda himself. Jack Black’s unlikely master martial artist is the star of another acclaimed trilogy, with the KFP films releasing from 2008 to 2016. As it happens, though, Po will actually go one further than Toothless and company as Kung Fu Panda 4 is all set to arrive on DreamWorks’ 30th anniversary in 2024.
The Boss Baby
The other character depicted with Po is Ted from The Boss Baby movies. These exist on the other end of the DreamWorks spectrum as they haven’t achieved the same kind of love from critics as the Dragon and Panda franchises. Still, DreamWorks hardly cares when they’ve proven to be box office hits instead. The first chapter from 2017, featuring Alec Baldwin as a sharp-suited infant was followed up by Boss Baby: Family Business in 2021 with a third film currently in the works.
Trolls
The intro continues with the DreamWorks boy passing Princess Poppy of the Trolls franchise, who’s floating by in a bubble. While ’80s kids who remember the original ugly-faced trolls will no doubt balk at this day-glo reboot, it can’t be denied that the kids of today love it. The 2016 film starring Anna Kendrick has gone on to spawn 2020’s Trolls World Tour, which made waves as one of the first films to pivot to a digital-first release post-pandemic. Trolls 3 is coming in 2023.
Shrek
Of course, this run through DreamWorks’ greatest hits wouldn’t be complete without everyone’s favorite Scottish-accented ogre, as the DW boy’s final encounter sees him wave at Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey before returning to his place in the sky. The pop culture giant that is the Shrek franchise kicked off in 2002 but has actually remained dormant for the past 11 years since 2011’s Puss in Boots spinoff released. Seeing as Shrek really helped put DreamWorks on the map back in the day, it’s fitting its new era is kicking off with a relaunch of its very first super-successful brand.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish hits theaters on Dec. 21.