Playtone

This is the production company of Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman formed in 1998. The company's name and logo originate from the fictional record label Playtone Records from Hanks' 1996 directorial debut, That Thing You Do!. The success of the film served as a springboard to launch an actual Playtone Records label.

1st Logo (September 9, 2001-)

ImagesVideos

Standard LogoLogo Variations

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  Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (IMAX 3D, 2005): On a black background, a blue light comes from the middle of the screen and going to the bottom of the camera. As it does so, it reveals a striped, rainbow-colored surface, which after the light finishes zooming out, is revealed to be a disc with a large hole in the middle, which immediately turns silver. The camera zooms out from the disc as the "PLAY•TONE" text appears in the middle of it. As the text reveals itself, the hole fades out as the disc shines.

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  Big Love (Season 2, 2007): Footage of the famous Hollywood sign plays, except "HOLLYWOOD" has been replaced with "PLAYTONE". As the screen zooms out, the action freezes and turns into a postcard reading "Pictures from Playtone, California". The postcard flips to reveal the regular oval logo. (1/2)
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  Big Love (Season 2, 2007): Footage of the famous Hollywood sign plays, except "HOLLYWOOD" has been replaced with "PLAYTONE". As the screen zooms out, the action freezes and turns into a postcard reading "Pictures from Playtone, California". The postcard flips to reveal the regular oval logo. (2/2)

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  Big Love (Seasons 3-5, 2009-2011): The oval (in brown) flips onto a wood surface. The "PLAY•TONE" text zooms out into its usual place. This was done by Wes Ball.
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  Starter for 10 (2006, opening): The oval has a pattern of the UK flag. The theme is extended (beginning over the preceding HBO Films logo) and is played with a bass and guitar.
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  Starter for 10 (2006, Closing): Essentially just the print logo on a black background.
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  Charlie Wilson's War (2007): The oval takes on the appearance of a spinning silver disc. The "PLAYTONE" text (in a gold color) emerges from the disc and then stands on it. This was done by Wes Ball.
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  The Great Buck Howard (2008): The logo is green and a big band arrangement of the theme is heard.
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  Mamma Mia! (2008): The logo is blue and it scrolls up with the credits.
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  City of Ember (2008, closing): Same as the Starter for 10 closing variant, but the logo is yellow instead.
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  Where The Wild Things Are (2009, closing): The logo resembles childish scribbling.
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  Larry Crowne (2011) and Electric City (2012, Yahoo!): The logo is formed from a silver drop of liquid and ends in a shiny silver color. A xylophone arrangement of the usual theme is heard, followed by the voice of Tom Hanks saying "Spectacular!" Electric City has the opening theme playing throughout, along with watery sounds for the waterdrop.
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  A Hologram for the King (2016): The logo has a sandy texture.
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  Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018): The logo is blue (similar to the previous film) with the text in white and is put on a light blue background.
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  My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood (2020): It snows inside of the oval and the dot in-between "PLAY" and "TONE" is replaced with a sleigh bell.

Visuals: On a black background, a colored oval with the text "PLAY•TONE" on it zooms in and shakes vigorously, then it stops and fades out.

Variants:

• On TV shows, the logo is still.
• Two main color schemes are used:
  • A green oval with the dot in between "PLAY" and "TONE" being blue.
  • A yellow oval with the entire text in black.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: It depends on the variant, but most themes involve a four-note ascending theme, followed by a held-out last note (based on the final five notes of "That Thing You Do!" written by Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger and performed by the fictitious band The Wonders):

• The My Big Fat Greek Wedding films: The drums are sampled from the original "That Thing You Do!" recording and the five-note theme is played on a mandolin, followed by a short accordion tune.
• The Ant Bully: A version of the above theme but played with different instruments.
• The Circle: The entire theme is sampled from the original "That Thing You Do!" recording.
• Otherwise, it uses the opening/closing theme of the movie/show, or silence.

Availability

Edit Table

Media Title	Date(s) of Release	Additional Note(s)
Band of Brothers	September 9-November 4, 2001	First appearance HBO mini-series Still variant
My Big Fat Greek Wedding	April 19, 2002	First theatrical appearance of the animated logo Custom audio variant
My Big Fat Greek Life	February 24-April 13, 2003	CBS series Still variant Uses CBS generic theme on original airings
The Polar Express	November 10, 2004
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon	September 22, 2005	Custom variant
Neil Young: Heart of Gold	February 10, 2006
Big Love	March 12, 2006-March 20, 2011	HBO series Season 1 uses the still variant Seasons 2-5 uses the custom variants
The Ant Bully	July 28, 2006	Audio variant
Starter for 10	November 10, 2006 (UK)	Custom variant (start of film) Print logo variant (end of film)
Charlie Wilson's War	December 21, 2007	Custom variant
John Adams	March 16-April 27, 2008	HBO miniseries Still variant
Mamma Mia!	July 18, 2008	Custom variant (end of film)
City of Ember	October 10, 2008	Custom variant (end of film)
The Great Buck Howard	March 20, 2009	Custom variant
Where the Wild Things Are	October 16, 2009	Custom variant (end of film)
Larry Crowne	July 1, 2011	Custom variant
Electric City	July 17, 2012	Yahoo series Custom variant
The Sixties	May 29-August 14, 2014	CNN miniseries
The Seventies	June 11-August 13, 2015	CNN miniseries
The Eighties	March 31-June 30, 2016	CNN miniseries
A Hologram for the King	April 22, 2016	Custom variant
The Circle	April 28, 2017	Audio variant
The Ninties	July 9-August 17, 2017	CNN miniseries
The 2000s	July 8-August 19, 2018	CNN miniseries
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again	July 20, 2018	Custom variant
The Movies	July 7-August 18, 2019	CNN miniseries
The 2010s	May 7-July 2, 2023	CNN miniseries

2nd Logo (September 25, 2008-)

ImagesVideos

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Visuals: On a black background, a brown Playtone logo made of scratched metal emerges from the darkness. It either is still or zooms in before stopping.

Technique: CGI. This logo was done by Wes Ball, who also worked on the Big Love and Charlie Wilson's War variants of the previous logo

Audio: None or the opening/closing theme of the movie/show.

Availability: Seen on City of Ember, Game Change, Parkland, Greyhound, and A Man Called Otto, among others. It was also seen on the miniseries The Pacific, Olive Kitteridge, and Masters of the Air. Used in tandem with the previous logo.