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«Columbia Pictures Entertainment» redirects here. For the parent company of the same name, see Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Trade name	Columbia Pictures
Formerly	Columbia Pictures Corporation (1924–1968)
Type	Division
Industry	Film
Predecessor	Independent Moving Pictures Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation (1918–1924)
Founded	June 19, 1918; 104 years ago (as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation) in New York City, United States January 10, 1924; 98 years ago (as Columbia Pictures) in Los Angeles, United States
Founders	Harry and Jack Cohn Joe Brandt Spyros Skouras
Headquarters	Thalberg Building, 10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Sanford Panitch (president)
Products	Motion pictures
Owner	Sony
Parent	Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
Subsidiaries	Ghost Corps[1]
Website	sonypictures.com
Footnotes / references [2]

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group,^[2] a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony.^[3]

On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation, which would eventually become Columbia Pictures.^[4][5] It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968) went public two years later and eventually began to use the image of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, as its logo.

In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra. With Capra and others such as the most successful two reel comedy series The Three Stooges, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia’s major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant. In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio’s premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.

It is one of the leading film studios in the world, and was one of the so-called «Little Three» among the eight major film studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age.^[6] Today, it has become the world’s third largest major film studio.

The company was also primarily responsible for distributing Disney’s Silly Symphony film series as well as the Mickey Mouse cartoon series from 1929 to 1932. The studio is headquartered at the Irving Thalberg Building on the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (currently known as the Sony Pictures Studios) lot in Culver City, California since 1990.

History[edit]

Early years as CBC[edit]

The studio was founded on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack’s best friend Joe Brandt, and released its first feature film More to Be Pitied Than Scorned on August 20, 1922. The film, with a budget of $20,000, was a success, bringing in $130,000 in revenue for the company.^[7] Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studio’s early productions were low-budget short subjects: Screen Snapshots, the Hallroom Boys (the vaudeville duo of Edward Flanagan and Neely Edwards), and the Chaplin imitator Billy West.^[8] The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood’s famously low-rent Gower Street. Among Hollywood’s elite, the studio’s small-time reputation led some to joke that «CBC» stood for «Corned Beef and Cabbage».^[4]

Reorganization and new name[edit]

Columbia Pictures Corporation was founded by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, best friend Joe Brandt and his older brother Spyros Skouras on January 10, 1924.^[9] Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, one of the longest tenures of any studio chief (Warner Bros.’ Jack L. Warner was head of production or CEO longer but did not become CEO until 1956). Even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jack’s relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, «because it has so many Cohns».^[10]

Both Brandt and Skouras eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and in 1932 sold his one-third stake to Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Spyros Skouras, who took over from him as president.

Columbia’s product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the second tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists and Universal. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was a horizontally integrated company. It controlled production and distribution; it did not own any theaters.

Helping Columbia’s climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra. Between 1927 and 1939, Spyros Skouras constantly pushed Cohn for better material and bigger budgets. A string of hits he directed in the early and mid 1930s solidified Columbia’s status as a major studio. In particular, It Happened One Night, which nearly swept the 1934 Oscars, put Columbia on the map. Until then, Columbia’s existence had depended on theater owners willing to take its films, since it didn’t have a theater network of its own. Other Capra-directed hits followed, including the original version of Lost Horizon (1937), with Ronald Colman, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which made James Stewart a major star.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933, Columbia hired Robert Kalloch to be their chief fashion and women’s costume designer. He was the first contract costume designer hired by the studio,^[11] and he established the studio’s wardrobe department.^[12] Kalloch’s employment, in turn, convinced leading actresses that Columbia Pictures intended to invest in their careers.^[13]

In 1938, the addition of B. B. Kahane as vice president would produce Charles Vidor’s Those High Grey Walls (1939), and The Lady in Question (1940), the first joint film of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Kahane would later become the President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1959, until his death a year later.

Columbia could not afford to keep a huge roster of contract stars, so Spyros Skouras and Jack Cohn usually borrowed them from other studios. At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the industry’s most prestigious studio, Columbia was nicknamed «Siberia», as Louis B. Mayer would use the loan-out to Columbia as a way to punish his less-obedient signings. In the 1930s, Columbia signed Jean Arthur to a long-term contract, and after The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), Arthur became a major comedy star. Ann Sothern’s career was launched when Columbia signed her to a contract in 1936. Cary Grant signed a contract in 1937 and soon after it was altered to a non-exclusive contract shared with RKO.

Many theaters relied on westerns to attract big weekend audiences, and Columbia always recognized this market. Its first cowboy star was Buck Jones, who signed with Columbia in 1930 for a fraction of his former big-studio salary. Over the next two decades Columbia released scores of outdoor adventures with Jones, Tim McCoy, Ken Maynard, Jack Luden, Bob Allen (Robert (Tex) Allen), Russell Hayden, Tex Ritter, Ken Curtis, and Gene Autry. Columbia’s most popular cowboy was Charles Starrett, who signed with Columbia in 1935 and starred in 131 western features over 17 years.^{[citation needed]}

On January 10, 1944, Columbia Pictures celebrates 20 years. On January 10, 1999, Columbia Pictures celebrates 75 years. Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Sony Pictures Animation’s movie premiere «Ogres» awaits tomorrow — January 10, 2024.

Short subjects[edit]

At Harry Cohn’s insistence the studio signed The Three Stooges in 1934. Rejected by MGM (which kept straight-man Ted Healy but let the Stooges go),^[14] the Stooges made 190 shorts for Columbia between 1934 and 1957. Columbia’s short-subject department employed many famous comedians, including Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, Andy Clyde, and Hugh Herbert. Almost 400 of Columbia’s 529 two-reel comedies were released to television between 1958 and 1961; to date, all of the Stooges, Keaton, Charley Chase, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita subjects have been released to home video.^[15]

Columbia incorporated animation into its studio in 1929, distributing Krazy Kat cartoons taking over from Paramount. The following year, Columbia took over distribution of the Mickey Mouse series from Celebrity Productions until 1932. In 1933, The Mintz studio was re-established under the Screen Gems brand; Columbia’s leading cartoon series were Krazy Kat, Scrappy, The Fox and the Crow, and (very briefly) Li’l Abner.^[16] Screen Gems was the last major cartoon studio to produce black-and-white cartoons, producing them until 1946. That same year, Screen Gems shut down, but had completed enough cartoons for the studio to release until 1949. In 1948, Columbia agreed to release animated shorts from United Productions of America; these new shorts were more sophisticated than Columbia’s older cartoons, and many won critical praise and industry awards. In 1957, two years before the UPA deal was terminated, Columbia distributed the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Loopy De Loop from 1959 to 1965, which was Columbia’s final theatrical cartoon series. In 1967, the Hanna-Barbera deal expired and was not renewed.

According to Bob Thomas’ book King Cohn, studio chief Harry Cohn always placed a high priority on serials. Beginning in 1937, Columbia entered the lucrative serial market, and kept making these weekly episodic adventures until 1956, after other studios had discontinued them. The most famous Columbia serials are based on comic-strip or radio characters: Mandrake the Magician, The Shadow, Terry and the Pirates, Captain Midnight, The Phantom, Batman, and the especially successful Superman, among many others.

Columbia also produced musical shorts, sports reels (usually narrated by sportscaster Bill Stern), and travelogues. Its «Screen Snapshots» series, showing behind-the-scenes footage of Hollywood stars, was a Columbia perennial that the studio had been releasing since the silent-movie days; producer-director Ralph Staub kept this series going through 1958.

1940s[edit]

In the 1940s, propelled in part by the surge in audiences for their films during the war, the studio also benefited from the popularity of its biggest star, Rita Hayworth. Columbia maintained a long list of contractees well into the 1950s; Glenn Ford, Penny Singleton, William Holden, Judy Holliday, The Three Stooges, Ann Miller, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Doran, Jack Lemmon, Cleo Moore, Barbara Hale, Adele Jergens, Larry Parks, Arthur Lake, Lucille Ball, Kerwin Mathews, and Kim Novak.

Harry Cohn monitored the budgets of his films, and the studio got the maximum use out of costly sets, costumes, and props by reusing them in other films. Many of Columbia’s low-budget «B» pictures and short subjects have an expensive look, thanks to Columbia’s efficient recycling policy. Cohn was reluctant to spend lavish sums on even his most important pictures, and it was not until 1943 that he agreed to use three-strip Technicolor in a live-action feature. (Columbia was the last major studio to employ the expensive color process.) Columbia’s first Technicolor feature was the western The Desperadoes, starring Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford. Cohn quickly used Technicolor again for Cover Girl, a Hayworth vehicle that instantly was a smash hit, released in 1944, and for the fanciful biography of Frédéric Chopin, A Song to Remember, with Cornel Wilde, released in 1945. Another biopic, 1946’s The Jolson Story with Larry Parks and Evelyn Keyes, was started in black-and-white, but when Cohn saw how well the project was proceeding, he scrapped the footage and insisted on filming in Technicolor.

In 1948, the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust decision forced Hollywood motion picture companies to divest themselves of the theatre chains that they owned. Since Columbia did not own any theaters, it was now on equal terms with the largest studios, and soon replaced RKO on the list of the «Big Five» studios.

Screen Gems[edit]

In 1946, Columbia dropped the Screen Gems brand from its cartoon line, but retained the Screen Gems name for various ancillary activities, including a 16 mm film-rental agency and a TV-commercial production company. On November 8, 1948, Columbia adopted the Screen Gems name for its television production subsidiary when the studio acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded by Jack Cohn’s son, Ralph.^[17] Pioneer had been founded in 1947, and was later reorganized as Screen Gems.^[17] The studio opened its doors for business in New York on April 15, 1949.^[17] By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio and became a major producer of situation comedies for TV, beginning with Father Knows Best and followed by The Donna Reed Show, The Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Monkees.

On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions.^[18] On December 10, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. «Serials Inc.») and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers.^[19]

In 1957, two years before its parent company Columbia dropped UPA, Screen Gems entered a distribution deal with Hanna-Barbera Productions, which produced classic TV cartoon shows such as The Flintstones, Ruff and Reddy, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear, Jonny Quest, The Jetsons and others. Screen Gems would distribute until 1967, when Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting. In 1960, the cartoon studio became a publicly traded company under the name Screen Gems, Inc., when Columbia spun off an 18% stake.

1950s[edit]

By 1950, Columbia had discontinued most of its popular series films (Boston Blackie, Blondie, The Lone Wolf, The Crime Doctor, Rusty, etc.) Only Jungle Jim, launched by producer Sam Katzman in 1949, kept going through 1955. Katzman contributed greatly to Columbia’s success by producing dozens of topical feature films, including crime dramas, science-fiction stories, and rock-‘n’-roll musicals. Columbia kept making serials until 1956 and two-reel comedies until 1957, after other studios had abandoned them.

As the larger studios declined in the 1950s, Columbia’s position improved. This was largely because it did not suffer from the massive loss of income that the other major studios suffered from the loss of their theaters (well over 90 percent, in some cases). Columbia continued to produce 40-plus pictures a year, offering productions that often broke ground and kept audiences coming to theaters such as its adaptation of the controversial James Jones novel From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with William Holden and Alec Guinness, all of which won the Best Picture Oscar, as well as the free adaptation of George Orwell’s Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1956).

Columbia also released the made-in-England Warwick Films by producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli as well as many films by producer Carl Foreman who resided in England. Columbia also distributed some films made by Hammer.

In December 1956, Jack Cohn, co-founder and executive vice-president, died.^[20] In 1958, Columbia established its own record label, Colpix Records, initially run by Jonie Taps, who headed Columbia’s music department, and later Paul Wexler and Lester Sill. Colpix was active until 1966 when Columbia entered into a joint agreement with RCA Victor and discontinued Colpix in favor of its new label, Colgems Records.

1960s: After Harry Cohn’s death[edit]

Shortly after closing their short subjects department, Columbia president Harry Cohn died of a heart attack in February 1958. His nephew Ralph Cohn died in 1959, ending almost four decades of family management.^[21]

The new management was headed by Abe Schneider, who had joined the company as an office boy out of high school and become a director in 1929, rising through the financial side of the business.^[22] In 1963, Columbia acquired music publisher Aldon Music.^[23]

By the late 1960s, Columbia had an ambiguous identity, offering old-fashioned fare like A Man for All Seasons and Oliver! along with the more contemporary Easy Rider and The Monkees. After turning down releasing Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions James Bond films, Columbia hired Broccoli’s former partner Irving Allen to produce the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Columbia also produced a James Bond spoof, Casino Royale (1967), in conjunction with Charles K. Feldman, which held the adaptation rights for that novel.

By 1966, the studio was suffering from box-office failures, and takeover rumors began surfacing. Columbia was surviving solely on the profits made from Screen Gems, whose holdings also included radio and television stations.^[24] On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of the newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $24.5 million.^[25] Schneider was chairman of the holding company and Leo Jaffe president.
Following the merger, in March 1969, CPI purchased Bell Records for $3.5 million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining Larry Uttal as label president.

1970s[edit]

Nearly bankrupt by the early 1970s, the studio was saved via a radical overhaul: the Gower Street Studios (now called «Sunset Gower Studios») were sold and a new management team was brought in. In 1972, Columbia and Warner Bros. formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios, in which both companies shared the Warner studio lot in Burbank.

In 1971, Columbia Pictures established sheet music publisher Columbia Pictures Publications, with vice president and general manager Frank J. Hackinson, who later became the president.^[26]

In 1973, Allen & Co took a financial stake in Columbia Pictures Industries and Alan Hirschfield was appointed CEO,^[27] succeeding Leo Jaffe who became chairman. Stanley Schneider, son of Abe Schneider (who became honorary chairman before leaving the board in 1975) was replaced as head of the Columbia Pictures studio by David Begelman, who reported to Hirschfield. Some years later Begelman was involved in a check-forging scandal that badly hurt the studio’s image.

On May 6, 1974, Columbia retired the Screen Gems name from television, renaming its television division Columbia Pictures Television. The name was suggested by David Gerber, who was then-president of Columbia’s television division.^[28] The same year, Columbia Pictures acquired Rastar Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, the reincarnation of Rastar Pictures and it was acquired by Columbia Pictures in February 1980.^[29]

Columbia Pictures also reorganized its music and record divisions. Clive Davis who was hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures in 1974 and later became temporary president of Bell Records. Davis’s real goal was to revitalize Columbia Pictures’ music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures’ new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974 with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Columbia maintained control of the label until 1979, when it was sold to Ariola Records. In addition, Columbia sold its music publishing business (Columbia-Screen Gems) to EMI in August 1976 for $15 million.^[30] Both would later be reunited with Columbia Pictures under Sony ownership.

In December 1976, Columbia Pictures acquired the arcade game company D. Gottlieb & Co. for $50 million.^[31]

In 1978, Begelman was suspended for having embezzled money from Columbia. Hirschfield was forced out for his refusal to reinstate him.^[32][33] Begelman later resigned and was replaced by Daniel Melnick in June 1978.^[34] Fay Vincent was hired to replace Hirschfield.

Frank Price became president of production in 1978. In March 1979, he would become president of Columbia Pictures, succeeding Melnick.^[34] During Price’s tenure he was responsible for turning out 9 of the top 10 grossing films in Columbia’s history.^[35]

In fall 1978, Kirk Kerkorian, a Vegas casino mogul who also controlled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, acquired a 5.5% stake in Columbia Pictures.^[36] He then announced on November 20, to launch a tender offer to acquire another 20% for the studio.^[36] On December 14, a standstill agreement was reached with Columbia by promising not to go beyond 25% or seeking control for at least three years.^[36]

On January 15, 1979, the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Kerkorian, to block him from holding stake in Columbia, while controlling MGM.^[36] On February 19, 1979, Columbia Pictures Television acquired TOY Productions; the production company founded by Bud Yorkin and writers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein in 1976.^[37] In May, Kerkorian acquired an additional 214,000 shares in Columbia, raising his stake to 25%.^[36] On August 2, the suit trial opened at the Justice Department, however, on August 14, the court ruled in favor for Kerkorian.^[36] In 1979, Columbia entered into an agreement with Time-Life Video to release 20 titles on videocassette.^[38]

1980s: Coca-Cola, Tri-Star, and other acquisitions and ventures[edit]

On September 30, 1980, Kerkorian sued Columbia for ignoring shareholders’ interest and violating an agreement with him.^[36] Columbia later accused him on October 2, of scheming with Nelson Bunker Hunt to gain control of Columbia.

In 1981, Kerkorian sold his 25% stake in Columbia back to CPI.^[36] Columbia Pictures later acquired 81% of The Walter Reade Organization, which owned 11 theaters; it purchased the remaining 19% in 1985.

Around this time, the studio put Steven Spielberg’s proposed follow up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Night Skies, into turnaround. The project eventually became the highest-grossing film of all-time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Columbia received a share of the profits for its involvement in the development.^[39]

On May 17, 1982, Columbia Pictures acquired Spelling-Goldberg Productions for over $40 million.^[40][41] With a healthier balance-sheet (due in large part to box office hits like Kramer vs. Kramer, Stir Crazy, The Blue Lagoon, and Stripes) Columbia was bought by beverage company The Coca-Cola Company on June 22, 1982, for $750 million.^[42] Studio head Frank Price mixed big hits like Tootsie, Gandhi, The Karate Kid, The Big Chill, and Ghostbusters with many costly flops. To share the increasing cost of film production, Coke brought in two outside investors whose earlier efforts in Hollywood had come to nothing. In 1982, Columbia, Time Inc.’s HBO and CBS announced, as a joint venture, «Nova Pictures»; this enterprise was to be renamed Tri-Star Pictures.^[43] In 1983, Price left Columbia Pictures after a dispute with Coca-Cola and went back to Universal.^[44] He was replaced by Guy McElwaine.^[45]

In the early 1980s, Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures set up a film partnership with Delphi Film Associates and acquired an interest on various film releases. In 1984, Delphi Film Associates III acquired an interest in the Tri-Star and Columbia film slate of 1984, which will have $60 million offering in the financing of film production.^[46] Also that year, Columbia Pictures had bought out the rights to Hardbodies, which was once premiered on The Playboy Channel.^[47]

Columbia Pictures expanded its music publishing operations in the 1980s, acquiring Big 3 Publishing (the former sheet music operations of Robbins, Feist, and Miller) from MGM/UA Communications Co. in 1983, Belwin-Mills Publishing from Simon & Schuster in 1985, and Al Gallico Music in 1987.^[48][49][50]

On June 18, 1985, Columbia’s parent acquired Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio’s Embassy Communications, Inc. (included Embassy Pictures, Embassy Television, Tandem Productions, and Embassy Home Entertainment), mostly for its library of television series such as All in the Family and The Jeffersons for $485 million.^[51] On November 16, 1985, CBS dropped out of the Tri-Star venture.^[52]

Many changes occurred in 1986. Expanding its television franchise, on May 5, Columbia also bought Merv Griffin Enterprises, notable for: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dance Fever, and The Merv Griffin Show for $250 million.^[53][54] Months later on August 28, the Columbia Pictures Television Group acquired Danny Arnold’s Danny Arnold Productions, Inc. including the rights to the sitcom Barney Miller (Four D Productions) among other produced series such as Fish (The Mimus Corporation), A.E.S. Hudson Street (Triseme Corporation), and Joe Bash (Tetagram Ltd.), after Arnold dropped the federal and state lawsuits against the television studio accusing them for antitrust violations, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.^[55][56][57] Coca-Cola sold the Embassy Pictures division to Dino de Laurentiis, who later folded Embassy Pictures into Dino de Laurentiis Productions, Inc. and became De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Coca-Cola also sold Embassy Home Entertainment to Nelson Entertainment. Coca-Cola however, retained the Embassy Pictures name, logo, and trademark. HBO was the last partner drop out of the Tri-Star venture and sold its shares to Columbia ^[58] Tri-Star later expanded into the television business with its new Tri-Star Television division. The same year, Columbia recruited British producer David Puttnam to head the studio. Puttnam attempted to defy Hollywood filmmaking by making smaller films instead of big tentpole pictures. His criticism of American film production, in addition to the fact that the films he greenlit were mostly flops, left Coke and Hollywood discerned^{[clarification needed]} that Puttnam was ousted from the position after only one year.^[59] Puttnam then discontinued multi-picture pacts with various filmmakers, including Norman Jewison, who was permitted to expire before all of the promised product could be delivered.^[60] Under Puttnam’s control, he set up a $270 million package of in-house pictures and acquisitions, and the average lineup of 25 features is expected to be $10.78 million, about $4 million less of the cost at Columbia before Puttnam came on board, and a number of low-cost acquisitions such as Spike Lee’s $5 million picture School Daze, and Bernstein set up Columbia distribution and production parameters at 15-18 features a year in these two and the next two years would have an estimate of 15 pictures each, which include The Big Easy, on turnaround slate from distributor New Century/Vista Film Corporation, and a number of other features.^[61]

On October 22, 1986, Greg Coote was appointed by Columbia Pictures as key executive of the studio, in order to complement David Puttman’s pledge on Columbia Pictures to fix its sights over its international market.^[62] On December 17, 1986, the company acquired a 30% share in Roadshow, Coote & Carroll, a company Greg Coote is heading, and decided that they would pick up films and miniseries in order to put an effort to add it up to Columbia’s shares, and listed dozens of theatrical and television films and dozens of miniseries throughout the addition of the Columbia slate.^[63]

On June 26, 1987, Coca-Cola sold The Walter Reade Organization to Cineplex Odeon Corporation.^[64] On October 14, 1987, Coca-Cola’s entertainment division invested in $30 million in Castle Rock Entertainment with five Hollywood executives. Coke’s entertainment business division owned 40% in Castle Rock, while the execs owned 60%.^[65]

Columbia Pictures Entertainment era (1987–1989)[edit]

The volatile film business made Coke shareholders nervous, and following the critical and box-office failure of Ishtar, Coke spun off its entertainment holdings on December 21, 1987, and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures for $3.1 billion and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. were renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coke owning 80% of the company.^[66] Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.^[67] Puttnam was succeeded by Dawn Steel. Other small-scale, «boutique» entities were created: Nelson Entertainment, a joint venture with British and Canadian partners, Triumph Films, jointly owned with French studio Gaumont, and which is now a low-budget label, and Castle Rock Entertainment.

On January 2, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television were formed into the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed as ELP Communications. In early 1988, CPE set up a new subsidiary, Triumph Releasing Corporation, which handled administrative services related to distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star’s films for the North American market, while Triumph was responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star films under the direction of each individual studio internationally, with Patrick N. Williamson serving as head of Triumph.^[68]

On January 16, 1988, CPE’s stock fell slightly in the market on its first day trading in the New York Stock Exchange. Coke spun off 34.1 million of its Columbia shares to its shareholders by reducing its stake in CPE from 80% to 49%.^[69] On April 13, 1988, CPE spun off Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. as a reformed company of the Tri-Star studio.^[70] In April 1988, CPE sold its music publishing operations to the British company Filmtrax.^[71] (Filmtrax was acquired by Thorn EMI in 1990.^[72]) In June 1988, CPE announced the sale of Columbia Pictures Publications (consisting of the print music operations) to the investment firm Boston Ventures and was renamed CPP/Belwin.^[73] CPP/Belwin was acquired by Warner Chappell Music of Warner Bros. in 1994.^[74]

On February 2, 1989, Columbia Pictures Television formed a joint-venture with Norman Lear’s Act III Communications called Act III Television (now Act III Productions) to produce television series instead of managing.^[75][76]

Sony era (1989–present)[edit]

The Columbia Pictures empire was sold on September 28, 1989, to the electronics giant Sony for the amount of $3.4 billion, one of several Japanese firms then buying American properties.^[77] The sale netted Coca-Cola a profit from its investment in the studio.^[78][79] Sony then hired two producers, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, to serve as co-heads of production when Sony also acquired the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (the former game show production company, Barris Industries, Inc.) for $200 million on September 29, 1989.^[80] Guber and Peters had just signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. in 1989, having been with the company since 1983. To extricate them from this contract, Steve Ross, who at the time the CEO of Warner Bros.’s then-corporate parent Warner Communications, sued Sony for $1 billion.^[81] Sony completed CPE’s acquisition on November 8 and the Guber-Peters acquisition was completed on the following day.

On December 1, 1989, Guber and Peters hired a longtime lawyer of GPEC, Alan J. Levine, to the post of president and COO of Columbia’s newly formed company Filmed Entertainment Group (FEG).^[82] FEG consisted of Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Triumph Releasing, Columbia Pictures Television, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution, Merv Griffin Enterprises, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (internationally known as RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video), Guber-Peters Entertainment Company, and ancillary and distribution companies.

1990s[edit]

In 1990, Sony ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars, gave up a half-interest in its Columbia House Records Club mail-order business, and bought from Time Warner the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot in Culver City, which Warner Communications had acquired in its takeover of Lorimar-Telepictures in 1989, thus ending the Burbank Studios partnership. Initially renamed Columbia Studios, Sony spent $100 million to refurbish the rechristened Sony Pictures Studios lot. Guber and Peters set out to prove they were worth this fortune, but though there were to be some successes, there were also many costly flops. The same year, Frank Price was made as the chairman of Columbia Pictures. His company Price Entertainment, Inc. that he founded in 1987, was merged with Columbia in March 1991. Price left Columbia on October 4, 1991, and was replaced by Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton and reactivated Price Entertainment as Price Entertainment Company with a non-exclusive deal with SPE.^[83] Peters was fired by his partner Guber in 1991, but Guber later resigned in 1994 to form Mandalay Entertainment the following year.^[84] The entire operation was reorganized and renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) on August 7, 1991,^[85] and at the same time, TriStar (which had officially lost its hyphen) relaunched its television division in October. In December 1991, SPE created Sony Pictures Classics for arthouse fare and was headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom,^[86] whom previously operated United Artists Classics and Orion Classics. Publicly humiliated, Sony suffered an enormous loss on its investment in Columbia, taking a $2.7-billion write-off in 1994. John Calley took over as SPE president in November 1996, installing Amy Pascal as Columbia Pictures president and Chris Lee as president of the production at TriStar. By the next spring, the studios were clearly rebounding, setting a record pace at the box office.^[87] On December 7, 1992, Sony Pictures acquired the Barry & Enright game show library.^[88]

On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television merged to form Columbia TriStar Television (CTT),^[89][90][91] including the rights to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! after CTT folded Merv Griffin Enterprises in June.^[92][93] That same year, the company also purchased Stewart Television known for producing game shows like Pyramid and Chain Reaction among others. On July 21, 1995, Sony Pictures teamed up with Jim Henson Productions and created the joint venture Jim Henson Pictures.^[94][95]

In the 1990s, Columbia announced plans of a rival James Bond franchise, since they owned the rights of Casino Royale and were planning to make a third version of Thunderball with Kevin McClory. MGM and Danjaq, LLC, owners of the franchise, sued Sony Pictures in 1997, with the legal dispute ending two years later in an out-of-court settlement. Sony traded the Casino Royale rights for $10 million, and the Spider-Man filming rights.^[96] The superhero became Columbia’s most successful franchise:^[97] the first movie came out in 2002, and, as of 2021, there have been seven followup movies with US grosses in excess of $2.5 billion.^[98] Between the releases of the first and second sequels in 2004 and 2007, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM – giving it distribution rights to the James Bond franchise.

In 1997, Columbia Pictures ranked as the highest-grossing movie studio in the United States with a gross of $1.256 billion. In 1998, Columbia and TriStar merged to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (a.k.a. Columbia TriStar Pictures), though both studios still produce and distribute under their own names. Pascal retained her position as president of the newly united Columbia Pictures, while Lee became the combined studio’s head of production.^[99] On December 8, 1998, Sony Pictures Entertainment relaunched the Screen Gems brand as a horror and independent film distribution company after shutting down Triumph Films.^[100] In 1999, TriStar Television was folded into CTT. Two years later, CPT was folded into CTT as well.

2000s[edit]

In the 2000s, Sony broadened its release schedule by backing Revolution Studios, the production/distribution company headed by Joe Roth. On October 25, 2001, CTT and CTTD merged to form Columbia TriStar Domestic Television.^[101] On September 16, 2002, Columbia TriStar Domestic Television was renamed Sony Pictures Television.^[102] Also in 2002, Columbia broke the record for biggest domestic theatrical gross, with a tally of $1.575 billion, coincidentally breaking its own record of $1.256 billion set in 1997, which was raised by such blockbusters as Spider-Man, Men in Black II and XXX.^[103] The studio was also the most lucrative of 2004,^[103] with over $1.338 billion in the domestic box office with movies such as Spider-Man 2, 50 First Dates, and The Grudge,^[104] and in 2006, Columbia, helped with such blockbusters as: The Da Vinci Code, The Pursuit of Happiness, Casino Royale, and Open Season, not only finished the year in first place, but it reached an all-time record high sum of $1.711 billion, which was an all-time yearly record for any studio until Warner Bros. surpassed it in 2009.^[105]

2010s[edit]

On October 29, 2010, Matt Tolmach, the co-president of Columbia Pictures, stepped down in order to produce The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel. Doug Belgrad, the other co-president of Columbia was promoted as sole president of the studio. Belgrad and Tolmach had been co-presidents of the studio since 2008 and had been working together as a team in 2003.^[106][107] The same day, Hanna Minghella was named president of production of Columbia.^[106][107]

On November 18, 2012, Sony Pictures announced it has passed $4 billion worldwide with the success of Columbia’s releases: Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, 21 Jump Street, Men in Black 3, and Hotel Transylvania and Screen Gems’ releases: Underworld: Awakening, The Vow, and Resident Evil: Retribution.^[108]

On July 16, 2014, Doug Belgrad was named a president of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.^[109] He exited the post in June 2016. On June 2, Sanford Panitch, who had been the head of international local language production at the studio, was named president of Columbia Pictures.^[110]

Logo[edit]

The Columbia Pictures logo, featuring a woman carrying a torch and wearing a drape (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major changes.^{[111][112][113]} It has often been compared to the Statue of Liberty, which was an inspiration to the Columbia Pictures logo.^[113]

Originally in 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand, which appears to be based on the Standing Liberty quarter used from 1916 to 1930.^[114] The logo changed in 1928 with a new woman (Columbia, the female representative of America) wearing a draped flag and torch. The woman wore the stola and carried the palla of ancient Rome, and above her were the words «A Columbia Production» («A Columbia Picture» or «Columbia Pictures Corporation») written in an arch. The illustration was based upon the actress Evelyn Venable, known for providing the voice of The Blue Fairy in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.

In 1936, the logo was changed: the Torch Lady now stood on a pedestal, wore no headdress, and the text «Columbia» appeared in chiseled letters behind her (Pittsburgh native Jane Chester Bartholomew, whom Harry Cohn discovered, portrayed the Torch Lady in the logo). There were several variations to the logo over the years—significantly, a color version was done in 1943 for The Desperadoes.^[113] Two years earlier, the flag became just a drape with no markings.^[111][112] The latter change came after a federal law was passed making it illegal to wear an American flag as clothing. 1976’s Taxi Driver was one of the last films released before the «Torch Lady» was revamped, although the classic logo would be later used in several Columbia releases, generally to match the year a given film is set in.

From 1976 to 1993,^[111] Columbia Pictures used two logos. The first, from 1976 to 1981 (or until 1982 for international territories) used just a sunburst representing the beams from the torch. The score accompanying the first logo was composed by Suzanne Ciani. The studio hired visual effects pioneer Robert Abel to animate the first logo.^[115] The woman returned in 1981, but in a much smoother form described as resembling a Coke bottle.^[111]

The current, and perhaps the best known, iteration of the logo was created in 1992 (same time as the television division’s debut), and started its use in films the year after, when Scott Mednick and The Mednick Group was hired by Peter Guber to create logos for all the entertainment properties then owned by Sony Pictures.^[116] Mednick hired New Orleans artist Michael Deas,^[117] to digitally repaint the logo and return the woman to her «classic» look.^[118] Michael Deas hired Jennifer Joseph, a graphics artist for The Times-Picayune, as a model for the logo.^[119] Due to time constraints, she agreed to help out on her lunch break. Deas also hired The Times-Picayune photographer Kathy Anderson to photograph the reference photography.^[120] The animation was created by Synthespian Studios in 1993 by Jeff Kleiser and Diana Walczak, who used 2D elements from the painting and converted it to 3D.^[121] The studio being part of Sony would not be referenced on-screen until 1996. In 2012, Jennifer Joseph gave an interview to WWL-TV: “So we just scooted over there come lunchtime and they wrapped a sheet around me and I held a regular little desk lamp, a side lamp,” she said, “and I just held that up and we did that with a light bulb.» Deas went on to say, «I never thought it would make it to the silver screen and I never thought it would still be up 20 years later, and I certainly never thought it would be in a museum, so it’s kind of gratifying.”^[122]

Filmography[edit]

See also[edit]

• Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation
• Columbia Pictures Television
• Columbia TriStar Television
• List of film serials by studio § Columbia Pictures
• Sony Pictures
• Sony Pictures Television
• Major film studios

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Chierichetti, David (1976). Hollywood Costume Design. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 9780517526378.
• Dick, Bernard F. (1992). Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813117690.
• Jorgensen, Jay; Scoggins, Donald L. (2015). Creating the Illusion: A Fashionable History of Hollywood Costume Designers. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 9780762456611.
• Perry, Jeb H. (1991). Screen Gems: A History of Columbia Pictures Television from Cohn to Coke, 1948-1983. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810824874.
• Smyth, Jennifer E. (2018). Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190840822.

Further reading[edit]

• Yule, Andrew (1989). Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440-50177-6. OCLC 243349960.

External links[edit]

• Official Sony Pictures website
• SonyPictures.net (list of worldwide sites)
• Columbia Pictures Cartoons from the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Columbia Pictures at Reel Classics: The History of a Logo – the Lady with the Torch
• Columbia Pictures Still Photographer Contract 1945 at The Ned Scott Archive
• Finding aid author: Morgan Crockett (2014). «Columbia Pictures pressbook». Prepared for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Provo, UT.

«Columbia Pictures Entertainment» redirects here. For the parent company of the same name, see Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Trade name	Columbia Pictures
Formerly	Columbia Pictures Corporation (1924–1968)
Type	Division
Industry	Film
Predecessor	Independent Moving Pictures Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation (1918–1924)
Founded	June 19, 1918; 104 years ago (as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation) in New York City, United States January 10, 1924; 98 years ago (as Columbia Pictures) in Los Angeles, United States
Founders	Harry and Jack Cohn Joe Brandt Spyros Skouras
Headquarters	Thalberg Building, 10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Sanford Panitch (president)
Products	Motion pictures
Owner	Sony
Parent	Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
Subsidiaries	Ghost Corps[1]
Website	sonypictures.com
Footnotes / references [2]

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group,^[2] a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony.^[3]

On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation, which would eventually become Columbia Pictures.^[4][5] It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968) went public two years later and eventually began to use the image of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, as its logo.

In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra. With Capra and others such as the most successful two reel comedy series The Three Stooges, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia’s major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant. In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio’s premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.

It is one of the leading film studios in the world, and was one of the so-called «Little Three» among the eight major film studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age.^[6] Today, it has become the world’s third largest major film studio.

The company was also primarily responsible for distributing Disney’s Silly Symphony film series as well as the Mickey Mouse cartoon series from 1929 to 1932. The studio is headquartered at the Irving Thalberg Building on the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (currently known as the Sony Pictures Studios) lot in Culver City, California since 1990.

History[edit]

Early years as CBC[edit]

The studio was founded on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack’s best friend Joe Brandt, and released its first feature film More to Be Pitied Than Scorned on August 20, 1922. The film, with a budget of $20,000, was a success, bringing in $130,000 in revenue for the company.^[7] Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studio’s early productions were low-budget short subjects: Screen Snapshots, the Hallroom Boys (the vaudeville duo of Edward Flanagan and Neely Edwards), and the Chaplin imitator Billy West.^[8] The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood’s famously low-rent Gower Street. Among Hollywood’s elite, the studio’s small-time reputation led some to joke that «CBC» stood for «Corned Beef and Cabbage».^[4]

Reorganization and new name[edit]

Columbia Pictures Corporation was founded by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, best friend Joe Brandt and his older brother Spyros Skouras on January 10, 1924.^[9] Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, one of the longest tenures of any studio chief (Warner Bros.’ Jack L. Warner was head of production or CEO longer but did not become CEO until 1956). Even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jack’s relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, «because it has so many Cohns».^[10]

Both Brandt and Skouras eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and in 1932 sold his one-third stake to Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Spyros Skouras, who took over from him as president.

Columbia’s product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the second tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists and Universal. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was a horizontally integrated company. It controlled production and distribution; it did not own any theaters.

Helping Columbia’s climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra. Between 1927 and 1939, Spyros Skouras constantly pushed Cohn for better material and bigger budgets. A string of hits he directed in the early and mid 1930s solidified Columbia’s status as a major studio. In particular, It Happened One Night, which nearly swept the 1934 Oscars, put Columbia on the map. Until then, Columbia’s existence had depended on theater owners willing to take its films, since it didn’t have a theater network of its own. Other Capra-directed hits followed, including the original version of Lost Horizon (1937), with Ronald Colman, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which made James Stewart a major star.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933, Columbia hired Robert Kalloch to be their chief fashion and women’s costume designer. He was the first contract costume designer hired by the studio,^[11] and he established the studio’s wardrobe department.^[12] Kalloch’s employment, in turn, convinced leading actresses that Columbia Pictures intended to invest in their careers.^[13]

In 1938, the addition of B. B. Kahane as vice president would produce Charles Vidor’s Those High Grey Walls (1939), and The Lady in Question (1940), the first joint film of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Kahane would later become the President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1959, until his death a year later.

Columbia could not afford to keep a huge roster of contract stars, so Spyros Skouras and Jack Cohn usually borrowed them from other studios. At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the industry’s most prestigious studio, Columbia was nicknamed «Siberia», as Louis B. Mayer would use the loan-out to Columbia as a way to punish his less-obedient signings. In the 1930s, Columbia signed Jean Arthur to a long-term contract, and after The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), Arthur became a major comedy star. Ann Sothern’s career was launched when Columbia signed her to a contract in 1936. Cary Grant signed a contract in 1937 and soon after it was altered to a non-exclusive contract shared with RKO.

Many theaters relied on westerns to attract big weekend audiences, and Columbia always recognized this market. Its first cowboy star was Buck Jones, who signed with Columbia in 1930 for a fraction of his former big-studio salary. Over the next two decades Columbia released scores of outdoor adventures with Jones, Tim McCoy, Ken Maynard, Jack Luden, Bob Allen (Robert (Tex) Allen), Russell Hayden, Tex Ritter, Ken Curtis, and Gene Autry. Columbia’s most popular cowboy was Charles Starrett, who signed with Columbia in 1935 and starred in 131 western features over 17 years.^{[citation needed]}

On January 10, 1944, Columbia Pictures celebrates 20 years. On January 10, 1999, Columbia Pictures celebrates 75 years. Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Sony Pictures Animation’s movie premiere «Ogres» awaits tomorrow — January 10, 2024.

Short subjects[edit]

At Harry Cohn’s insistence the studio signed The Three Stooges in 1934. Rejected by MGM (which kept straight-man Ted Healy but let the Stooges go),^[14] the Stooges made 190 shorts for Columbia between 1934 and 1957. Columbia’s short-subject department employed many famous comedians, including Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, Andy Clyde, and Hugh Herbert. Almost 400 of Columbia’s 529 two-reel comedies were released to television between 1958 and 1961; to date, all of the Stooges, Keaton, Charley Chase, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita subjects have been released to home video.^[15]

Columbia incorporated animation into its studio in 1929, distributing Krazy Kat cartoons taking over from Paramount. The following year, Columbia took over distribution of the Mickey Mouse series from Celebrity Productions until 1932. In 1933, The Mintz studio was re-established under the Screen Gems brand; Columbia’s leading cartoon series were Krazy Kat, Scrappy, The Fox and the Crow, and (very briefly) Li’l Abner.^[16] Screen Gems was the last major cartoon studio to produce black-and-white cartoons, producing them until 1946. That same year, Screen Gems shut down, but had completed enough cartoons for the studio to release until 1949. In 1948, Columbia agreed to release animated shorts from United Productions of America; these new shorts were more sophisticated than Columbia’s older cartoons, and many won critical praise and industry awards. In 1957, two years before the UPA deal was terminated, Columbia distributed the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Loopy De Loop from 1959 to 1965, which was Columbia’s final theatrical cartoon series. In 1967, the Hanna-Barbera deal expired and was not renewed.

According to Bob Thomas’ book King Cohn, studio chief Harry Cohn always placed a high priority on serials. Beginning in 1937, Columbia entered the lucrative serial market, and kept making these weekly episodic adventures until 1956, after other studios had discontinued them. The most famous Columbia serials are based on comic-strip or radio characters: Mandrake the Magician, The Shadow, Terry and the Pirates, Captain Midnight, The Phantom, Batman, and the especially successful Superman, among many others.

Columbia also produced musical shorts, sports reels (usually narrated by sportscaster Bill Stern), and travelogues. Its «Screen Snapshots» series, showing behind-the-scenes footage of Hollywood stars, was a Columbia perennial that the studio had been releasing since the silent-movie days; producer-director Ralph Staub kept this series going through 1958.

1940s[edit]

In the 1940s, propelled in part by the surge in audiences for their films during the war, the studio also benefited from the popularity of its biggest star, Rita Hayworth. Columbia maintained a long list of contractees well into the 1950s; Glenn Ford, Penny Singleton, William Holden, Judy Holliday, The Three Stooges, Ann Miller, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Doran, Jack Lemmon, Cleo Moore, Barbara Hale, Adele Jergens, Larry Parks, Arthur Lake, Lucille Ball, Kerwin Mathews, and Kim Novak.

Harry Cohn monitored the budgets of his films, and the studio got the maximum use out of costly sets, costumes, and props by reusing them in other films. Many of Columbia’s low-budget «B» pictures and short subjects have an expensive look, thanks to Columbia’s efficient recycling policy. Cohn was reluctant to spend lavish sums on even his most important pictures, and it was not until 1943 that he agreed to use three-strip Technicolor in a live-action feature. (Columbia was the last major studio to employ the expensive color process.) Columbia’s first Technicolor feature was the western The Desperadoes, starring Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford. Cohn quickly used Technicolor again for Cover Girl, a Hayworth vehicle that instantly was a smash hit, released in 1944, and for the fanciful biography of Frédéric Chopin, A Song to Remember, with Cornel Wilde, released in 1945. Another biopic, 1946’s The Jolson Story with Larry Parks and Evelyn Keyes, was started in black-and-white, but when Cohn saw how well the project was proceeding, he scrapped the footage and insisted on filming in Technicolor.

In 1948, the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust decision forced Hollywood motion picture companies to divest themselves of the theatre chains that they owned. Since Columbia did not own any theaters, it was now on equal terms with the largest studios, and soon replaced RKO on the list of the «Big Five» studios.

Screen Gems[edit]

In 1946, Columbia dropped the Screen Gems brand from its cartoon line, but retained the Screen Gems name for various ancillary activities, including a 16 mm film-rental agency and a TV-commercial production company. On November 8, 1948, Columbia adopted the Screen Gems name for its television production subsidiary when the studio acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded by Jack Cohn’s son, Ralph.^[17] Pioneer had been founded in 1947, and was later reorganized as Screen Gems.^[17] The studio opened its doors for business in New York on April 15, 1949.^[17] By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio and became a major producer of situation comedies for TV, beginning with Father Knows Best and followed by The Donna Reed Show, The Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Monkees.

On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions.^[18] On December 10, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. «Serials Inc.») and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers.^[19]

In 1957, two years before its parent company Columbia dropped UPA, Screen Gems entered a distribution deal with Hanna-Barbera Productions, which produced classic TV cartoon shows such as The Flintstones, Ruff and Reddy, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear, Jonny Quest, The Jetsons and others. Screen Gems would distribute until 1967, when Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting. In 1960, the cartoon studio became a publicly traded company under the name Screen Gems, Inc., when Columbia spun off an 18% stake.

1950s[edit]

By 1950, Columbia had discontinued most of its popular series films (Boston Blackie, Blondie, The Lone Wolf, The Crime Doctor, Rusty, etc.) Only Jungle Jim, launched by producer Sam Katzman in 1949, kept going through 1955. Katzman contributed greatly to Columbia’s success by producing dozens of topical feature films, including crime dramas, science-fiction stories, and rock-‘n’-roll musicals. Columbia kept making serials until 1956 and two-reel comedies until 1957, after other studios had abandoned them.

As the larger studios declined in the 1950s, Columbia’s position improved. This was largely because it did not suffer from the massive loss of income that the other major studios suffered from the loss of their theaters (well over 90 percent, in some cases). Columbia continued to produce 40-plus pictures a year, offering productions that often broke ground and kept audiences coming to theaters such as its adaptation of the controversial James Jones novel From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with William Holden and Alec Guinness, all of which won the Best Picture Oscar, as well as the free adaptation of George Orwell’s Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1956).

Columbia also released the made-in-England Warwick Films by producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli as well as many films by producer Carl Foreman who resided in England. Columbia also distributed some films made by Hammer.

In December 1956, Jack Cohn, co-founder and executive vice-president, died.^[20] In 1958, Columbia established its own record label, Colpix Records, initially run by Jonie Taps, who headed Columbia’s music department, and later Paul Wexler and Lester Sill. Colpix was active until 1966 when Columbia entered into a joint agreement with RCA Victor and discontinued Colpix in favor of its new label, Colgems Records.

1960s: After Harry Cohn’s death[edit]

Shortly after closing their short subjects department, Columbia president Harry Cohn died of a heart attack in February 1958. His nephew Ralph Cohn died in 1959, ending almost four decades of family management.^[21]

The new management was headed by Abe Schneider, who had joined the company as an office boy out of high school and become a director in 1929, rising through the financial side of the business.^[22] In 1963, Columbia acquired music publisher Aldon Music.^[23]

By the late 1960s, Columbia had an ambiguous identity, offering old-fashioned fare like A Man for All Seasons and Oliver! along with the more contemporary Easy Rider and The Monkees. After turning down releasing Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions James Bond films, Columbia hired Broccoli’s former partner Irving Allen to produce the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Columbia also produced a James Bond spoof, Casino Royale (1967), in conjunction with Charles K. Feldman, which held the adaptation rights for that novel.

By 1966, the studio was suffering from box-office failures, and takeover rumors began surfacing. Columbia was surviving solely on the profits made from Screen Gems, whose holdings also included radio and television stations.^[24] On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of the newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $24.5 million.^[25] Schneider was chairman of the holding company and Leo Jaffe president.
Following the merger, in March 1969, CPI purchased Bell Records for $3.5 million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining Larry Uttal as label president.

1970s[edit]

Nearly bankrupt by the early 1970s, the studio was saved via a radical overhaul: the Gower Street Studios (now called «Sunset Gower Studios») were sold and a new management team was brought in. In 1972, Columbia and Warner Bros. formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios, in which both companies shared the Warner studio lot in Burbank.

In 1971, Columbia Pictures established sheet music publisher Columbia Pictures Publications, with vice president and general manager Frank J. Hackinson, who later became the president.^[26]

In 1973, Allen & Co took a financial stake in Columbia Pictures Industries and Alan Hirschfield was appointed CEO,^[27] succeeding Leo Jaffe who became chairman. Stanley Schneider, son of Abe Schneider (who became honorary chairman before leaving the board in 1975) was replaced as head of the Columbia Pictures studio by David Begelman, who reported to Hirschfield. Some years later Begelman was involved in a check-forging scandal that badly hurt the studio’s image.

On May 6, 1974, Columbia retired the Screen Gems name from television, renaming its television division Columbia Pictures Television. The name was suggested by David Gerber, who was then-president of Columbia’s television division.^[28] The same year, Columbia Pictures acquired Rastar Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, the reincarnation of Rastar Pictures and it was acquired by Columbia Pictures in February 1980.^[29]

Columbia Pictures also reorganized its music and record divisions. Clive Davis who was hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures in 1974 and later became temporary president of Bell Records. Davis’s real goal was to revitalize Columbia Pictures’ music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures’ new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974 with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Columbia maintained control of the label until 1979, when it was sold to Ariola Records. In addition, Columbia sold its music publishing business (Columbia-Screen Gems) to EMI in August 1976 for $15 million.^[30] Both would later be reunited with Columbia Pictures under Sony ownership.

In December 1976, Columbia Pictures acquired the arcade game company D. Gottlieb & Co. for $50 million.^[31]

In 1978, Begelman was suspended for having embezzled money from Columbia. Hirschfield was forced out for his refusal to reinstate him.^[32][33] Begelman later resigned and was replaced by Daniel Melnick in June 1978.^[34] Fay Vincent was hired to replace Hirschfield.

Frank Price became president of production in 1978. In March 1979, he would become president of Columbia Pictures, succeeding Melnick.^[34] During Price’s tenure he was responsible for turning out 9 of the top 10 grossing films in Columbia’s history.^[35]

In fall 1978, Kirk Kerkorian, a Vegas casino mogul who also controlled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, acquired a 5.5% stake in Columbia Pictures.^[36] He then announced on November 20, to launch a tender offer to acquire another 20% for the studio.^[36] On December 14, a standstill agreement was reached with Columbia by promising not to go beyond 25% or seeking control for at least three years.^[36]

On January 15, 1979, the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Kerkorian, to block him from holding stake in Columbia, while controlling MGM.^[36] On February 19, 1979, Columbia Pictures Television acquired TOY Productions; the production company founded by Bud Yorkin and writers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein in 1976.^[37] In May, Kerkorian acquired an additional 214,000 shares in Columbia, raising his stake to 25%.^[36] On August 2, the suit trial opened at the Justice Department, however, on August 14, the court ruled in favor for Kerkorian.^[36] In 1979, Columbia entered into an agreement with Time-Life Video to release 20 titles on videocassette.^[38]

1980s: Coca-Cola, Tri-Star, and other acquisitions and ventures[edit]

On September 30, 1980, Kerkorian sued Columbia for ignoring shareholders’ interest and violating an agreement with him.^[36] Columbia later accused him on October 2, of scheming with Nelson Bunker Hunt to gain control of Columbia.

In 1981, Kerkorian sold his 25% stake in Columbia back to CPI.^[36] Columbia Pictures later acquired 81% of The Walter Reade Organization, which owned 11 theaters; it purchased the remaining 19% in 1985.

Around this time, the studio put Steven Spielberg’s proposed follow up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Night Skies, into turnaround. The project eventually became the highest-grossing film of all-time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Columbia received a share of the profits for its involvement in the development.^[39]

On May 17, 1982, Columbia Pictures acquired Spelling-Goldberg Productions for over $40 million.^[40][41] With a healthier balance-sheet (due in large part to box office hits like Kramer vs. Kramer, Stir Crazy, The Blue Lagoon, and Stripes) Columbia was bought by beverage company The Coca-Cola Company on June 22, 1982, for $750 million.^[42] Studio head Frank Price mixed big hits like Tootsie, Gandhi, The Karate Kid, The Big Chill, and Ghostbusters with many costly flops. To share the increasing cost of film production, Coke brought in two outside investors whose earlier efforts in Hollywood had come to nothing. In 1982, Columbia, Time Inc.’s HBO and CBS announced, as a joint venture, «Nova Pictures»; this enterprise was to be renamed Tri-Star Pictures.^[43] In 1983, Price left Columbia Pictures after a dispute with Coca-Cola and went back to Universal.^[44] He was replaced by Guy McElwaine.^[45]

In the early 1980s, Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures set up a film partnership with Delphi Film Associates and acquired an interest on various film releases. In 1984, Delphi Film Associates III acquired an interest in the Tri-Star and Columbia film slate of 1984, which will have $60 million offering in the financing of film production.^[46] Also that year, Columbia Pictures had bought out the rights to Hardbodies, which was once premiered on The Playboy Channel.^[47]

Columbia Pictures expanded its music publishing operations in the 1980s, acquiring Big 3 Publishing (the former sheet music operations of Robbins, Feist, and Miller) from MGM/UA Communications Co. in 1983, Belwin-Mills Publishing from Simon & Schuster in 1985, and Al Gallico Music in 1987.^[48][49][50]

On June 18, 1985, Columbia’s parent acquired Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio’s Embassy Communications, Inc. (included Embassy Pictures, Embassy Television, Tandem Productions, and Embassy Home Entertainment), mostly for its library of television series such as All in the Family and The Jeffersons for $485 million.^[51] On November 16, 1985, CBS dropped out of the Tri-Star venture.^[52]

Many changes occurred in 1986. Expanding its television franchise, on May 5, Columbia also bought Merv Griffin Enterprises, notable for: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dance Fever, and The Merv Griffin Show for $250 million.^[53][54] Months later on August 28, the Columbia Pictures Television Group acquired Danny Arnold’s Danny Arnold Productions, Inc. including the rights to the sitcom Barney Miller (Four D Productions) among other produced series such as Fish (The Mimus Corporation), A.E.S. Hudson Street (Triseme Corporation), and Joe Bash (Tetagram Ltd.), after Arnold dropped the federal and state lawsuits against the television studio accusing them for antitrust violations, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.^[55][56][57] Coca-Cola sold the Embassy Pictures division to Dino de Laurentiis, who later folded Embassy Pictures into Dino de Laurentiis Productions, Inc. and became De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Coca-Cola also sold Embassy Home Entertainment to Nelson Entertainment. Coca-Cola however, retained the Embassy Pictures name, logo, and trademark. HBO was the last partner drop out of the Tri-Star venture and sold its shares to Columbia ^[58] Tri-Star later expanded into the television business with its new Tri-Star Television division. The same year, Columbia recruited British producer David Puttnam to head the studio. Puttnam attempted to defy Hollywood filmmaking by making smaller films instead of big tentpole pictures. His criticism of American film production, in addition to the fact that the films he greenlit were mostly flops, left Coke and Hollywood discerned^{[clarification needed]} that Puttnam was ousted from the position after only one year.^[59] Puttnam then discontinued multi-picture pacts with various filmmakers, including Norman Jewison, who was permitted to expire before all of the promised product could be delivered.^[60] Under Puttnam’s control, he set up a $270 million package of in-house pictures and acquisitions, and the average lineup of 25 features is expected to be $10.78 million, about $4 million less of the cost at Columbia before Puttnam came on board, and a number of low-cost acquisitions such as Spike Lee’s $5 million picture School Daze, and Bernstein set up Columbia distribution and production parameters at 15-18 features a year in these two and the next two years would have an estimate of 15 pictures each, which include The Big Easy, on turnaround slate from distributor New Century/Vista Film Corporation, and a number of other features.^[61]

On October 22, 1986, Greg Coote was appointed by Columbia Pictures as key executive of the studio, in order to complement David Puttman’s pledge on Columbia Pictures to fix its sights over its international market.^[62] On December 17, 1986, the company acquired a 30% share in Roadshow, Coote & Carroll, a company Greg Coote is heading, and decided that they would pick up films and miniseries in order to put an effort to add it up to Columbia’s shares, and listed dozens of theatrical and television films and dozens of miniseries throughout the addition of the Columbia slate.^[63]

On June 26, 1987, Coca-Cola sold The Walter Reade Organization to Cineplex Odeon Corporation.^[64] On October 14, 1987, Coca-Cola’s entertainment division invested in $30 million in Castle Rock Entertainment with five Hollywood executives. Coke’s entertainment business division owned 40% in Castle Rock, while the execs owned 60%.^[65]

Columbia Pictures Entertainment era (1987–1989)[edit]

The volatile film business made Coke shareholders nervous, and following the critical and box-office failure of Ishtar, Coke spun off its entertainment holdings on December 21, 1987, and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures for $3.1 billion and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. were renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coke owning 80% of the company.^[66] Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.^[67] Puttnam was succeeded by Dawn Steel. Other small-scale, «boutique» entities were created: Nelson Entertainment, a joint venture with British and Canadian partners, Triumph Films, jointly owned with French studio Gaumont, and which is now a low-budget label, and Castle Rock Entertainment.

On January 2, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television were formed into the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed as ELP Communications. In early 1988, CPE set up a new subsidiary, Triumph Releasing Corporation, which handled administrative services related to distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star’s films for the North American market, while Triumph was responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star films under the direction of each individual studio internationally, with Patrick N. Williamson serving as head of Triumph.^[68]

On January 16, 1988, CPE’s stock fell slightly in the market on its first day trading in the New York Stock Exchange. Coke spun off 34.1 million of its Columbia shares to its shareholders by reducing its stake in CPE from 80% to 49%.^[69] On April 13, 1988, CPE spun off Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. as a reformed company of the Tri-Star studio.^[70] In April 1988, CPE sold its music publishing operations to the British company Filmtrax.^[71] (Filmtrax was acquired by Thorn EMI in 1990.^[72]) In June 1988, CPE announced the sale of Columbia Pictures Publications (consisting of the print music operations) to the investment firm Boston Ventures and was renamed CPP/Belwin.^[73] CPP/Belwin was acquired by Warner Chappell Music of Warner Bros. in 1994.^[74]

On February 2, 1989, Columbia Pictures Television formed a joint-venture with Norman Lear’s Act III Communications called Act III Television (now Act III Productions) to produce television series instead of managing.^[75][76]

Sony era (1989–present)[edit]

The Columbia Pictures empire was sold on September 28, 1989, to the electronics giant Sony for the amount of $3.4 billion, one of several Japanese firms then buying American properties.^[77] The sale netted Coca-Cola a profit from its investment in the studio.^[78][79] Sony then hired two producers, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, to serve as co-heads of production when Sony also acquired the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (the former game show production company, Barris Industries, Inc.) for $200 million on September 29, 1989.^[80] Guber and Peters had just signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. in 1989, having been with the company since 1983. To extricate them from this contract, Steve Ross, who at the time the CEO of Warner Bros.’s then-corporate parent Warner Communications, sued Sony for $1 billion.^[81] Sony completed CPE’s acquisition on November 8 and the Guber-Peters acquisition was completed on the following day.

On December 1, 1989, Guber and Peters hired a longtime lawyer of GPEC, Alan J. Levine, to the post of president and COO of Columbia’s newly formed company Filmed Entertainment Group (FEG).^[82] FEG consisted of Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Triumph Releasing, Columbia Pictures Television, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution, Merv Griffin Enterprises, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (internationally known as RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video), Guber-Peters Entertainment Company, and ancillary and distribution companies.

1990s[edit]

In 1990, Sony ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars, gave up a half-interest in its Columbia House Records Club mail-order business, and bought from Time Warner the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot in Culver City, which Warner Communications had acquired in its takeover of Lorimar-Telepictures in 1989, thus ending the Burbank Studios partnership. Initially renamed Columbia Studios, Sony spent $100 million to refurbish the rechristened Sony Pictures Studios lot. Guber and Peters set out to prove they were worth this fortune, but though there were to be some successes, there were also many costly flops. The same year, Frank Price was made as the chairman of Columbia Pictures. His company Price Entertainment, Inc. that he founded in 1987, was merged with Columbia in March 1991. Price left Columbia on October 4, 1991, and was replaced by Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton and reactivated Price Entertainment as Price Entertainment Company with a non-exclusive deal with SPE.^[83] Peters was fired by his partner Guber in 1991, but Guber later resigned in 1994 to form Mandalay Entertainment the following year.^[84] The entire operation was reorganized and renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) on August 7, 1991,^[85] and at the same time, TriStar (which had officially lost its hyphen) relaunched its television division in October. In December 1991, SPE created Sony Pictures Classics for arthouse fare and was headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom,^[86] whom previously operated United Artists Classics and Orion Classics. Publicly humiliated, Sony suffered an enormous loss on its investment in Columbia, taking a $2.7-billion write-off in 1994. John Calley took over as SPE president in November 1996, installing Amy Pascal as Columbia Pictures president and Chris Lee as president of the production at TriStar. By the next spring, the studios were clearly rebounding, setting a record pace at the box office.^[87] On December 7, 1992, Sony Pictures acquired the Barry & Enright game show library.^[88]

On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television merged to form Columbia TriStar Television (CTT),^[89][90][91] including the rights to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! after CTT folded Merv Griffin Enterprises in June.^[92][93] That same year, the company also purchased Stewart Television known for producing game shows like Pyramid and Chain Reaction among others. On July 21, 1995, Sony Pictures teamed up with Jim Henson Productions and created the joint venture Jim Henson Pictures.^[94][95]

In the 1990s, Columbia announced plans of a rival James Bond franchise, since they owned the rights of Casino Royale and were planning to make a third version of Thunderball with Kevin McClory. MGM and Danjaq, LLC, owners of the franchise, sued Sony Pictures in 1997, with the legal dispute ending two years later in an out-of-court settlement. Sony traded the Casino Royale rights for $10 million, and the Spider-Man filming rights.^[96] The superhero became Columbia’s most successful franchise:^[97] the first movie came out in 2002, and, as of 2021, there have been seven followup movies with US grosses in excess of $2.5 billion.^[98] Between the releases of the first and second sequels in 2004 and 2007, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM – giving it distribution rights to the James Bond franchise.

In 1997, Columbia Pictures ranked as the highest-grossing movie studio in the United States with a gross of $1.256 billion. In 1998, Columbia and TriStar merged to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (a.k.a. Columbia TriStar Pictures), though both studios still produce and distribute under their own names. Pascal retained her position as president of the newly united Columbia Pictures, while Lee became the combined studio’s head of production.^[99] On December 8, 1998, Sony Pictures Entertainment relaunched the Screen Gems brand as a horror and independent film distribution company after shutting down Triumph Films.^[100] In 1999, TriStar Television was folded into CTT. Two years later, CPT was folded into CTT as well.

2000s[edit]

In the 2000s, Sony broadened its release schedule by backing Revolution Studios, the production/distribution company headed by Joe Roth. On October 25, 2001, CTT and CTTD merged to form Columbia TriStar Domestic Television.^[101] On September 16, 2002, Columbia TriStar Domestic Television was renamed Sony Pictures Television.^[102] Also in 2002, Columbia broke the record for biggest domestic theatrical gross, with a tally of $1.575 billion, coincidentally breaking its own record of $1.256 billion set in 1997, which was raised by such blockbusters as Spider-Man, Men in Black II and XXX.^[103] The studio was also the most lucrative of 2004,^[103] with over $1.338 billion in the domestic box office with movies such as Spider-Man 2, 50 First Dates, and The Grudge,^[104] and in 2006, Columbia, helped with such blockbusters as: The Da Vinci Code, The Pursuit of Happiness, Casino Royale, and Open Season, not only finished the year in first place, but it reached an all-time record high sum of $1.711 billion, which was an all-time yearly record for any studio until Warner Bros. surpassed it in 2009.^[105]

2010s[edit]

On October 29, 2010, Matt Tolmach, the co-president of Columbia Pictures, stepped down in order to produce The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel. Doug Belgrad, the other co-president of Columbia was promoted as sole president of the studio. Belgrad and Tolmach had been co-presidents of the studio since 2008 and had been working together as a team in 2003.^[106][107] The same day, Hanna Minghella was named president of production of Columbia.^[106][107]

On November 18, 2012, Sony Pictures announced it has passed $4 billion worldwide with the success of Columbia’s releases: Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, 21 Jump Street, Men in Black 3, and Hotel Transylvania and Screen Gems’ releases: Underworld: Awakening, The Vow, and Resident Evil: Retribution.^[108]

On July 16, 2014, Doug Belgrad was named a president of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.^[109] He exited the post in June 2016. On June 2, Sanford Panitch, who had been the head of international local language production at the studio, was named president of Columbia Pictures.^[110]

Logo[edit]

The Columbia Pictures logo, featuring a woman carrying a torch and wearing a drape (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major changes.^{[111][112][113]} It has often been compared to the Statue of Liberty, which was an inspiration to the Columbia Pictures logo.^[113]

Originally in 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand, which appears to be based on the Standing Liberty quarter used from 1916 to 1930.^[114] The logo changed in 1928 with a new woman (Columbia, the female representative of America) wearing a draped flag and torch. The woman wore the stola and carried the palla of ancient Rome, and above her were the words «A Columbia Production» («A Columbia Picture» or «Columbia Pictures Corporation») written in an arch. The illustration was based upon the actress Evelyn Venable, known for providing the voice of The Blue Fairy in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.

In 1936, the logo was changed: the Torch Lady now stood on a pedestal, wore no headdress, and the text «Columbia» appeared in chiseled letters behind her (Pittsburgh native Jane Chester Bartholomew, whom Harry Cohn discovered, portrayed the Torch Lady in the logo). There were several variations to the logo over the years—significantly, a color version was done in 1943 for The Desperadoes.^[113] Two years earlier, the flag became just a drape with no markings.^[111][112] The latter change came after a federal law was passed making it illegal to wear an American flag as clothing. 1976’s Taxi Driver was one of the last films released before the «Torch Lady» was revamped, although the classic logo would be later used in several Columbia releases, generally to match the year a given film is set in.

From 1976 to 1993,^[111] Columbia Pictures used two logos. The first, from 1976 to 1981 (or until 1982 for international territories) used just a sunburst representing the beams from the torch. The score accompanying the first logo was composed by Suzanne Ciani. The studio hired visual effects pioneer Robert Abel to animate the first logo.^[115] The woman returned in 1981, but in a much smoother form described as resembling a Coke bottle.^[111]

The current, and perhaps the best known, iteration of the logo was created in 1992 (same time as the television division’s debut), and started its use in films the year after, when Scott Mednick and The Mednick Group was hired by Peter Guber to create logos for all the entertainment properties then owned by Sony Pictures.^[116] Mednick hired New Orleans artist Michael Deas,^[117] to digitally repaint the logo and return the woman to her «classic» look.^[118] Michael Deas hired Jennifer Joseph, a graphics artist for The Times-Picayune, as a model for the logo.^[119] Due to time constraints, she agreed to help out on her lunch break. Deas also hired The Times-Picayune photographer Kathy Anderson to photograph the reference photography.^[120] The animation was created by Synthespian Studios in 1993 by Jeff Kleiser and Diana Walczak, who used 2D elements from the painting and converted it to 3D.^[121] The studio being part of Sony would not be referenced on-screen until 1996. In 2012, Jennifer Joseph gave an interview to WWL-TV: “So we just scooted over there come lunchtime and they wrapped a sheet around me and I held a regular little desk lamp, a side lamp,” she said, “and I just held that up and we did that with a light bulb.» Deas went on to say, «I never thought it would make it to the silver screen and I never thought it would still be up 20 years later, and I certainly never thought it would be in a museum, so it’s kind of gratifying.”^[122]

Filmography[edit]

See also[edit]

• Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation
• Columbia Pictures Television
• Columbia TriStar Television
• List of film serials by studio § Columbia Pictures
• Sony Pictures
• Sony Pictures Television
• Major film studios

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Chierichetti, David (1976). Hollywood Costume Design. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 9780517526378.
• Dick, Bernard F. (1992). Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813117690.
• Jorgensen, Jay; Scoggins, Donald L. (2015). Creating the Illusion: A Fashionable History of Hollywood Costume Designers. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 9780762456611.
• Perry, Jeb H. (1991). Screen Gems: A History of Columbia Pictures Television from Cohn to Coke, 1948-1983. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810824874.
• Smyth, Jennifer E. (2018). Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190840822.

Further reading[edit]

• Yule, Andrew (1989). Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440-50177-6. OCLC 243349960.

External links[edit]

• Official Sony Pictures website
• SonyPictures.net (list of worldwide sites)
• Columbia Pictures Cartoons from the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Columbia Pictures at Reel Classics: The History of a Logo – the Lady with the Torch
• Columbia Pictures Still Photographer Contract 1945 at The Ned Scott Archive
• Finding aid author: Morgan Crockett (2014). «Columbia Pictures pressbook». Prepared for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Provo, UT.

«Columbia Pictures Entertainment» redirects here. For the parent company of the same name, see Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Trade name	Columbia Pictures
Formerly	Columbia Pictures Corporation (1924–1968)
Type	Division
Industry	Film
Predecessor	Independent Moving Pictures Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation (1918–1924)
Founded	June 19, 1918; 104 years ago (as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation) in New York City, United States January 10, 1924; 98 years ago (as Columbia Pictures) in Los Angeles, United States
Founders	Harry and Jack Cohn Joe Brandt Spyros Skouras
Headquarters	Thalberg Building, 10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Sanford Panitch (president)
Products	Motion pictures
Owner	Sony
Parent	Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
Subsidiaries	Ghost Corps[1]
Website	sonypictures.com
Footnotes / references [2]

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group,^[2] a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony.^[3]

On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation, which would eventually become Columbia Pictures.^[4][5] It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968) went public two years later and eventually began to use the image of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, as its logo.

In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra. With Capra and others such as the most successful two reel comedy series The Three Stooges, Columbia became one of the primary homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbia’s major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant. In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio’s premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.

It is one of the leading film studios in the world, and was one of the so-called «Little Three» among the eight major film studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age.^[6] Today, it has become the world’s third largest major film studio.

The company was also primarily responsible for distributing Disney’s Silly Symphony film series as well as the Mickey Mouse cartoon series from 1929 to 1932. The studio is headquartered at the Irving Thalberg Building on the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (currently known as the Sony Pictures Studios) lot in Culver City, California since 1990.

History[edit]

Early years as CBC[edit]

The studio was founded on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack’s best friend Joe Brandt, and released its first feature film More to Be Pitied Than Scorned on August 20, 1922. The film, with a budget of $20,000, was a success, bringing in $130,000 in revenue for the company.^[7] Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studio’s early productions were low-budget short subjects: Screen Snapshots, the Hallroom Boys (the vaudeville duo of Edward Flanagan and Neely Edwards), and the Chaplin imitator Billy West.^[8] The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood’s famously low-rent Gower Street. Among Hollywood’s elite, the studio’s small-time reputation led some to joke that «CBC» stood for «Corned Beef and Cabbage».^[4]

Reorganization and new name[edit]

Columbia Pictures Corporation was founded by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, best friend Joe Brandt and his older brother Spyros Skouras on January 10, 1924.^[9] Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, one of the longest tenures of any studio chief (Warner Bros.’ Jack L. Warner was head of production or CEO longer but did not become CEO until 1956). Even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jack’s relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, «because it has so many Cohns».^[10]

Both Brandt and Skouras eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and in 1932 sold his one-third stake to Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Spyros Skouras, who took over from him as president.

Columbia’s product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the second tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists and Universal. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was a horizontally integrated company. It controlled production and distribution; it did not own any theaters.

Helping Columbia’s climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra. Between 1927 and 1939, Spyros Skouras constantly pushed Cohn for better material and bigger budgets. A string of hits he directed in the early and mid 1930s solidified Columbia’s status as a major studio. In particular, It Happened One Night, which nearly swept the 1934 Oscars, put Columbia on the map. Until then, Columbia’s existence had depended on theater owners willing to take its films, since it didn’t have a theater network of its own. Other Capra-directed hits followed, including the original version of Lost Horizon (1937), with Ronald Colman, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), which made James Stewart a major star.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933, Columbia hired Robert Kalloch to be their chief fashion and women’s costume designer. He was the first contract costume designer hired by the studio,^[11] and he established the studio’s wardrobe department.^[12] Kalloch’s employment, in turn, convinced leading actresses that Columbia Pictures intended to invest in their careers.^[13]

In 1938, the addition of B. B. Kahane as vice president would produce Charles Vidor’s Those High Grey Walls (1939), and The Lady in Question (1940), the first joint film of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Kahane would later become the President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1959, until his death a year later.

Columbia could not afford to keep a huge roster of contract stars, so Spyros Skouras and Jack Cohn usually borrowed them from other studios. At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the industry’s most prestigious studio, Columbia was nicknamed «Siberia», as Louis B. Mayer would use the loan-out to Columbia as a way to punish his less-obedient signings. In the 1930s, Columbia signed Jean Arthur to a long-term contract, and after The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), Arthur became a major comedy star. Ann Sothern’s career was launched when Columbia signed her to a contract in 1936. Cary Grant signed a contract in 1937 and soon after it was altered to a non-exclusive contract shared with RKO.

Many theaters relied on westerns to attract big weekend audiences, and Columbia always recognized this market. Its first cowboy star was Buck Jones, who signed with Columbia in 1930 for a fraction of his former big-studio salary. Over the next two decades Columbia released scores of outdoor adventures with Jones, Tim McCoy, Ken Maynard, Jack Luden, Bob Allen (Robert (Tex) Allen), Russell Hayden, Tex Ritter, Ken Curtis, and Gene Autry. Columbia’s most popular cowboy was Charles Starrett, who signed with Columbia in 1935 and starred in 131 western features over 17 years.^{[citation needed]}

On January 10, 1944, Columbia Pictures celebrates 20 years. On January 10, 1999, Columbia Pictures celebrates 75 years. Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Columbia Pictures 100th Anniversary and Sony Pictures Animation’s movie premiere «Ogres» awaits tomorrow — January 10, 2024.

Short subjects[edit]

At Harry Cohn’s insistence the studio signed The Three Stooges in 1934. Rejected by MGM (which kept straight-man Ted Healy but let the Stooges go),^[14] the Stooges made 190 shorts for Columbia between 1934 and 1957. Columbia’s short-subject department employed many famous comedians, including Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, Andy Clyde, and Hugh Herbert. Almost 400 of Columbia’s 529 two-reel comedies were released to television between 1958 and 1961; to date, all of the Stooges, Keaton, Charley Chase, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita subjects have been released to home video.^[15]

Columbia incorporated animation into its studio in 1929, distributing Krazy Kat cartoons taking over from Paramount. The following year, Columbia took over distribution of the Mickey Mouse series from Celebrity Productions until 1932. In 1933, The Mintz studio was re-established under the Screen Gems brand; Columbia’s leading cartoon series were Krazy Kat, Scrappy, The Fox and the Crow, and (very briefly) Li’l Abner.^[16] Screen Gems was the last major cartoon studio to produce black-and-white cartoons, producing them until 1946. That same year, Screen Gems shut down, but had completed enough cartoons for the studio to release until 1949. In 1948, Columbia agreed to release animated shorts from United Productions of America; these new shorts were more sophisticated than Columbia’s older cartoons, and many won critical praise and industry awards. In 1957, two years before the UPA deal was terminated, Columbia distributed the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including Loopy De Loop from 1959 to 1965, which was Columbia’s final theatrical cartoon series. In 1967, the Hanna-Barbera deal expired and was not renewed.

According to Bob Thomas’ book King Cohn, studio chief Harry Cohn always placed a high priority on serials. Beginning in 1937, Columbia entered the lucrative serial market, and kept making these weekly episodic adventures until 1956, after other studios had discontinued them. The most famous Columbia serials are based on comic-strip or radio characters: Mandrake the Magician, The Shadow, Terry and the Pirates, Captain Midnight, The Phantom, Batman, and the especially successful Superman, among many others.

Columbia also produced musical shorts, sports reels (usually narrated by sportscaster Bill Stern), and travelogues. Its «Screen Snapshots» series, showing behind-the-scenes footage of Hollywood stars, was a Columbia perennial that the studio had been releasing since the silent-movie days; producer-director Ralph Staub kept this series going through 1958.

1940s[edit]

In the 1940s, propelled in part by the surge in audiences for their films during the war, the studio also benefited from the popularity of its biggest star, Rita Hayworth. Columbia maintained a long list of contractees well into the 1950s; Glenn Ford, Penny Singleton, William Holden, Judy Holliday, The Three Stooges, Ann Miller, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Doran, Jack Lemmon, Cleo Moore, Barbara Hale, Adele Jergens, Larry Parks, Arthur Lake, Lucille Ball, Kerwin Mathews, and Kim Novak.

Harry Cohn monitored the budgets of his films, and the studio got the maximum use out of costly sets, costumes, and props by reusing them in other films. Many of Columbia’s low-budget «B» pictures and short subjects have an expensive look, thanks to Columbia’s efficient recycling policy. Cohn was reluctant to spend lavish sums on even his most important pictures, and it was not until 1943 that he agreed to use three-strip Technicolor in a live-action feature. (Columbia was the last major studio to employ the expensive color process.) Columbia’s first Technicolor feature was the western The Desperadoes, starring Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford. Cohn quickly used Technicolor again for Cover Girl, a Hayworth vehicle that instantly was a smash hit, released in 1944, and for the fanciful biography of Frédéric Chopin, A Song to Remember, with Cornel Wilde, released in 1945. Another biopic, 1946’s The Jolson Story with Larry Parks and Evelyn Keyes, was started in black-and-white, but when Cohn saw how well the project was proceeding, he scrapped the footage and insisted on filming in Technicolor.

In 1948, the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust decision forced Hollywood motion picture companies to divest themselves of the theatre chains that they owned. Since Columbia did not own any theaters, it was now on equal terms with the largest studios, and soon replaced RKO on the list of the «Big Five» studios.

Screen Gems[edit]

In 1946, Columbia dropped the Screen Gems brand from its cartoon line, but retained the Screen Gems name for various ancillary activities, including a 16 mm film-rental agency and a TV-commercial production company. On November 8, 1948, Columbia adopted the Screen Gems name for its television production subsidiary when the studio acquired Pioneer Telefilms, a television commercial company founded by Jack Cohn’s son, Ralph.^[17] Pioneer had been founded in 1947, and was later reorganized as Screen Gems.^[17] The studio opened its doors for business in New York on April 15, 1949.^[17] By 1951, Screen Gems became a full-fledged television studio and became a major producer of situation comedies for TV, beginning with Father Knows Best and followed by The Donna Reed Show, The Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Monkees.

On July 1, 1956, studio veteran Irving Briskin stepped down as manager of Columbia Pictures and formed his own production company Briskin Productions, Inc. to release series through Screen Gems and supervise all of its productions.^[18] On December 10, Screen Gems expanded into television syndication by acquiring Hygo Television Films (a.k.a. «Serials Inc.») and its affiliated company United Television Films, Inc. Hygo Television Films was founded in 1951 by Jerome Hyams, who also acquired United Television Films in 1955 that was founded by Archie Mayers.^[19]

In 1957, two years before its parent company Columbia dropped UPA, Screen Gems entered a distribution deal with Hanna-Barbera Productions, which produced classic TV cartoon shows such as The Flintstones, Ruff and Reddy, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear, Jonny Quest, The Jetsons and others. Screen Gems would distribute until 1967, when Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting. In 1960, the cartoon studio became a publicly traded company under the name Screen Gems, Inc., when Columbia spun off an 18% stake.

1950s[edit]

By 1950, Columbia had discontinued most of its popular series films (Boston Blackie, Blondie, The Lone Wolf, The Crime Doctor, Rusty, etc.) Only Jungle Jim, launched by producer Sam Katzman in 1949, kept going through 1955. Katzman contributed greatly to Columbia’s success by producing dozens of topical feature films, including crime dramas, science-fiction stories, and rock-‘n’-roll musicals. Columbia kept making serials until 1956 and two-reel comedies until 1957, after other studios had abandoned them.

As the larger studios declined in the 1950s, Columbia’s position improved. This was largely because it did not suffer from the massive loss of income that the other major studios suffered from the loss of their theaters (well over 90 percent, in some cases). Columbia continued to produce 40-plus pictures a year, offering productions that often broke ground and kept audiences coming to theaters such as its adaptation of the controversial James Jones novel From Here to Eternity (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) with William Holden and Alec Guinness, all of which won the Best Picture Oscar, as well as the free adaptation of George Orwell’s Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1956).

Columbia also released the made-in-England Warwick Films by producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli as well as many films by producer Carl Foreman who resided in England. Columbia also distributed some films made by Hammer.

In December 1956, Jack Cohn, co-founder and executive vice-president, died.^[20] In 1958, Columbia established its own record label, Colpix Records, initially run by Jonie Taps, who headed Columbia’s music department, and later Paul Wexler and Lester Sill. Colpix was active until 1966 when Columbia entered into a joint agreement with RCA Victor and discontinued Colpix in favor of its new label, Colgems Records.

1960s: After Harry Cohn’s death[edit]

Shortly after closing their short subjects department, Columbia president Harry Cohn died of a heart attack in February 1958. His nephew Ralph Cohn died in 1959, ending almost four decades of family management.^[21]

The new management was headed by Abe Schneider, who had joined the company as an office boy out of high school and become a director in 1929, rising through the financial side of the business.^[22] In 1963, Columbia acquired music publisher Aldon Music.^[23]

By the late 1960s, Columbia had an ambiguous identity, offering old-fashioned fare like A Man for All Seasons and Oliver! along with the more contemporary Easy Rider and The Monkees. After turning down releasing Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions James Bond films, Columbia hired Broccoli’s former partner Irving Allen to produce the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Columbia also produced a James Bond spoof, Casino Royale (1967), in conjunction with Charles K. Feldman, which held the adaptation rights for that novel.

By 1966, the studio was suffering from box-office failures, and takeover rumors began surfacing. Columbia was surviving solely on the profits made from Screen Gems, whose holdings also included radio and television stations.^[24] On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of the newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $24.5 million.^[25] Schneider was chairman of the holding company and Leo Jaffe president.
Following the merger, in March 1969, CPI purchased Bell Records for $3.5 million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining Larry Uttal as label president.

1970s[edit]

Nearly bankrupt by the early 1970s, the studio was saved via a radical overhaul: the Gower Street Studios (now called «Sunset Gower Studios») were sold and a new management team was brought in. In 1972, Columbia and Warner Bros. formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios, in which both companies shared the Warner studio lot in Burbank.

In 1971, Columbia Pictures established sheet music publisher Columbia Pictures Publications, with vice president and general manager Frank J. Hackinson, who later became the president.^[26]

In 1973, Allen & Co took a financial stake in Columbia Pictures Industries and Alan Hirschfield was appointed CEO,^[27] succeeding Leo Jaffe who became chairman. Stanley Schneider, son of Abe Schneider (who became honorary chairman before leaving the board in 1975) was replaced as head of the Columbia Pictures studio by David Begelman, who reported to Hirschfield. Some years later Begelman was involved in a check-forging scandal that badly hurt the studio’s image.

On May 6, 1974, Columbia retired the Screen Gems name from television, renaming its television division Columbia Pictures Television. The name was suggested by David Gerber, who was then-president of Columbia’s television division.^[28] The same year, Columbia Pictures acquired Rastar Pictures, which included Rastar Productions, Rastar Features, and Rastar Television. Ray Stark then founded Rastar Films, the reincarnation of Rastar Pictures and it was acquired by Columbia Pictures in February 1980.^[29]

Columbia Pictures also reorganized its music and record divisions. Clive Davis who was hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures in 1974 and later became temporary president of Bell Records. Davis’s real goal was to revitalize Columbia Pictures’ music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures’ new record division, Arista Records, in November 1974 with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Columbia maintained control of the label until 1979, when it was sold to Ariola Records. In addition, Columbia sold its music publishing business (Columbia-Screen Gems) to EMI in August 1976 for $15 million.^[30] Both would later be reunited with Columbia Pictures under Sony ownership.

In December 1976, Columbia Pictures acquired the arcade game company D. Gottlieb & Co. for $50 million.^[31]

In 1978, Begelman was suspended for having embezzled money from Columbia. Hirschfield was forced out for his refusal to reinstate him.^[32][33] Begelman later resigned and was replaced by Daniel Melnick in June 1978.^[34] Fay Vincent was hired to replace Hirschfield.

Frank Price became president of production in 1978. In March 1979, he would become president of Columbia Pictures, succeeding Melnick.^[34] During Price’s tenure he was responsible for turning out 9 of the top 10 grossing films in Columbia’s history.^[35]

In fall 1978, Kirk Kerkorian, a Vegas casino mogul who also controlled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, acquired a 5.5% stake in Columbia Pictures.^[36] He then announced on November 20, to launch a tender offer to acquire another 20% for the studio.^[36] On December 14, a standstill agreement was reached with Columbia by promising not to go beyond 25% or seeking control for at least three years.^[36]

On January 15, 1979, the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Kerkorian, to block him from holding stake in Columbia, while controlling MGM.^[36] On February 19, 1979, Columbia Pictures Television acquired TOY Productions; the production company founded by Bud Yorkin and writers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein in 1976.^[37] In May, Kerkorian acquired an additional 214,000 shares in Columbia, raising his stake to 25%.^[36] On August 2, the suit trial opened at the Justice Department, however, on August 14, the court ruled in favor for Kerkorian.^[36] In 1979, Columbia entered into an agreement with Time-Life Video to release 20 titles on videocassette.^[38]

1980s: Coca-Cola, Tri-Star, and other acquisitions and ventures[edit]

On September 30, 1980, Kerkorian sued Columbia for ignoring shareholders’ interest and violating an agreement with him.^[36] Columbia later accused him on October 2, of scheming with Nelson Bunker Hunt to gain control of Columbia.

In 1981, Kerkorian sold his 25% stake in Columbia back to CPI.^[36] Columbia Pictures later acquired 81% of The Walter Reade Organization, which owned 11 theaters; it purchased the remaining 19% in 1985.

Around this time, the studio put Steven Spielberg’s proposed follow up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Night Skies, into turnaround. The project eventually became the highest-grossing film of all-time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Columbia received a share of the profits for its involvement in the development.^[39]

On May 17, 1982, Columbia Pictures acquired Spelling-Goldberg Productions for over $40 million.^[40][41] With a healthier balance-sheet (due in large part to box office hits like Kramer vs. Kramer, Stir Crazy, The Blue Lagoon, and Stripes) Columbia was bought by beverage company The Coca-Cola Company on June 22, 1982, for $750 million.^[42] Studio head Frank Price mixed big hits like Tootsie, Gandhi, The Karate Kid, The Big Chill, and Ghostbusters with many costly flops. To share the increasing cost of film production, Coke brought in two outside investors whose earlier efforts in Hollywood had come to nothing. In 1982, Columbia, Time Inc.’s HBO and CBS announced, as a joint venture, «Nova Pictures»; this enterprise was to be renamed Tri-Star Pictures.^[43] In 1983, Price left Columbia Pictures after a dispute with Coca-Cola and went back to Universal.^[44] He was replaced by Guy McElwaine.^[45]

In the early 1980s, Columbia and Tri-Star Pictures set up a film partnership with Delphi Film Associates and acquired an interest on various film releases. In 1984, Delphi Film Associates III acquired an interest in the Tri-Star and Columbia film slate of 1984, which will have $60 million offering in the financing of film production.^[46] Also that year, Columbia Pictures had bought out the rights to Hardbodies, which was once premiered on The Playboy Channel.^[47]

Columbia Pictures expanded its music publishing operations in the 1980s, acquiring Big 3 Publishing (the former sheet music operations of Robbins, Feist, and Miller) from MGM/UA Communications Co. in 1983, Belwin-Mills Publishing from Simon & Schuster in 1985, and Al Gallico Music in 1987.^[48][49][50]

On June 18, 1985, Columbia’s parent acquired Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio’s Embassy Communications, Inc. (included Embassy Pictures, Embassy Television, Tandem Productions, and Embassy Home Entertainment), mostly for its library of television series such as All in the Family and The Jeffersons for $485 million.^[51] On November 16, 1985, CBS dropped out of the Tri-Star venture.^[52]

Many changes occurred in 1986. Expanding its television franchise, on May 5, Columbia also bought Merv Griffin Enterprises, notable for: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dance Fever, and The Merv Griffin Show for $250 million.^[53][54] Months later on August 28, the Columbia Pictures Television Group acquired Danny Arnold’s Danny Arnold Productions, Inc. including the rights to the sitcom Barney Miller (Four D Productions) among other produced series such as Fish (The Mimus Corporation), A.E.S. Hudson Street (Triseme Corporation), and Joe Bash (Tetagram Ltd.), after Arnold dropped the federal and state lawsuits against the television studio accusing them for antitrust violations, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty.^[55][56][57] Coca-Cola sold the Embassy Pictures division to Dino de Laurentiis, who later folded Embassy Pictures into Dino de Laurentiis Productions, Inc. and became De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Coca-Cola also sold Embassy Home Entertainment to Nelson Entertainment. Coca-Cola however, retained the Embassy Pictures name, logo, and trademark. HBO was the last partner drop out of the Tri-Star venture and sold its shares to Columbia ^[58] Tri-Star later expanded into the television business with its new Tri-Star Television division. The same year, Columbia recruited British producer David Puttnam to head the studio. Puttnam attempted to defy Hollywood filmmaking by making smaller films instead of big tentpole pictures. His criticism of American film production, in addition to the fact that the films he greenlit were mostly flops, left Coke and Hollywood discerned^{[clarification needed]} that Puttnam was ousted from the position after only one year.^[59] Puttnam then discontinued multi-picture pacts with various filmmakers, including Norman Jewison, who was permitted to expire before all of the promised product could be delivered.^[60] Under Puttnam’s control, he set up a $270 million package of in-house pictures and acquisitions, and the average lineup of 25 features is expected to be $10.78 million, about $4 million less of the cost at Columbia before Puttnam came on board, and a number of low-cost acquisitions such as Spike Lee’s $5 million picture School Daze, and Bernstein set up Columbia distribution and production parameters at 15-18 features a year in these two and the next two years would have an estimate of 15 pictures each, which include The Big Easy, on turnaround slate from distributor New Century/Vista Film Corporation, and a number of other features.^[61]

On October 22, 1986, Greg Coote was appointed by Columbia Pictures as key executive of the studio, in order to complement David Puttman’s pledge on Columbia Pictures to fix its sights over its international market.^[62] On December 17, 1986, the company acquired a 30% share in Roadshow, Coote & Carroll, a company Greg Coote is heading, and decided that they would pick up films and miniseries in order to put an effort to add it up to Columbia’s shares, and listed dozens of theatrical and television films and dozens of miniseries throughout the addition of the Columbia slate.^[63]

On June 26, 1987, Coca-Cola sold The Walter Reade Organization to Cineplex Odeon Corporation.^[64] On October 14, 1987, Coca-Cola’s entertainment division invested in $30 million in Castle Rock Entertainment with five Hollywood executives. Coke’s entertainment business division owned 40% in Castle Rock, while the execs owned 60%.^[65]

Columbia Pictures Entertainment era (1987–1989)[edit]

The volatile film business made Coke shareholders nervous, and following the critical and box-office failure of Ishtar, Coke spun off its entertainment holdings on December 21, 1987, and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures for $3.1 billion and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. were renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coke owning 80% of the company.^[66] Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.^[67] Puttnam was succeeded by Dawn Steel. Other small-scale, «boutique» entities were created: Nelson Entertainment, a joint venture with British and Canadian partners, Triumph Films, jointly owned with French studio Gaumont, and which is now a low-budget label, and Castle Rock Entertainment.

On January 2, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television were formed into the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed as ELP Communications. In early 1988, CPE set up a new subsidiary, Triumph Releasing Corporation, which handled administrative services related to distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star’s films for the North American market, while Triumph was responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star films under the direction of each individual studio internationally, with Patrick N. Williamson serving as head of Triumph.^[68]

On January 16, 1988, CPE’s stock fell slightly in the market on its first day trading in the New York Stock Exchange. Coke spun off 34.1 million of its Columbia shares to its shareholders by reducing its stake in CPE from 80% to 49%.^[69] On April 13, 1988, CPE spun off Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. as a reformed company of the Tri-Star studio.^[70] In April 1988, CPE sold its music publishing operations to the British company Filmtrax.^[71] (Filmtrax was acquired by Thorn EMI in 1990.^[72]) In June 1988, CPE announced the sale of Columbia Pictures Publications (consisting of the print music operations) to the investment firm Boston Ventures and was renamed CPP/Belwin.^[73] CPP/Belwin was acquired by Warner Chappell Music of Warner Bros. in 1994.^[74]

On February 2, 1989, Columbia Pictures Television formed a joint-venture with Norman Lear’s Act III Communications called Act III Television (now Act III Productions) to produce television series instead of managing.^[75][76]

Sony era (1989–present)[edit]

The Columbia Pictures empire was sold on September 28, 1989, to the electronics giant Sony for the amount of $3.4 billion, one of several Japanese firms then buying American properties.^[77] The sale netted Coca-Cola a profit from its investment in the studio.^[78][79] Sony then hired two producers, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, to serve as co-heads of production when Sony also acquired the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company (the former game show production company, Barris Industries, Inc.) for $200 million on September 29, 1989.^[80] Guber and Peters had just signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. in 1989, having been with the company since 1983. To extricate them from this contract, Steve Ross, who at the time the CEO of Warner Bros.’s then-corporate parent Warner Communications, sued Sony for $1 billion.^[81] Sony completed CPE’s acquisition on November 8 and the Guber-Peters acquisition was completed on the following day.

On December 1, 1989, Guber and Peters hired a longtime lawyer of GPEC, Alan J. Levine, to the post of president and COO of Columbia’s newly formed company Filmed Entertainment Group (FEG).^[82] FEG consisted of Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Triumph Releasing, Columbia Pictures Television, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution, Merv Griffin Enterprises, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (internationally known as RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video), Guber-Peters Entertainment Company, and ancillary and distribution companies.

1990s[edit]

In 1990, Sony ended up paying hundreds of millions of dollars, gave up a half-interest in its Columbia House Records Club mail-order business, and bought from Time Warner the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot in Culver City, which Warner Communications had acquired in its takeover of Lorimar-Telepictures in 1989, thus ending the Burbank Studios partnership. Initially renamed Columbia Studios, Sony spent $100 million to refurbish the rechristened Sony Pictures Studios lot. Guber and Peters set out to prove they were worth this fortune, but though there were to be some successes, there were also many costly flops. The same year, Frank Price was made as the chairman of Columbia Pictures. His company Price Entertainment, Inc. that he founded in 1987, was merged with Columbia in March 1991. Price left Columbia on October 4, 1991, and was replaced by Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton and reactivated Price Entertainment as Price Entertainment Company with a non-exclusive deal with SPE.^[83] Peters was fired by his partner Guber in 1991, but Guber later resigned in 1994 to form Mandalay Entertainment the following year.^[84] The entire operation was reorganized and renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) on August 7, 1991,^[85] and at the same time, TriStar (which had officially lost its hyphen) relaunched its television division in October. In December 1991, SPE created Sony Pictures Classics for arthouse fare and was headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom,^[86] whom previously operated United Artists Classics and Orion Classics. Publicly humiliated, Sony suffered an enormous loss on its investment in Columbia, taking a $2.7-billion write-off in 1994. John Calley took over as SPE president in November 1996, installing Amy Pascal as Columbia Pictures president and Chris Lee as president of the production at TriStar. By the next spring, the studios were clearly rebounding, setting a record pace at the box office.^[87] On December 7, 1992, Sony Pictures acquired the Barry & Enright game show library.^[88]

On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television merged to form Columbia TriStar Television (CTT),^[89][90][91] including the rights to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! after CTT folded Merv Griffin Enterprises in June.^[92][93] That same year, the company also purchased Stewart Television known for producing game shows like Pyramid and Chain Reaction among others. On July 21, 1995, Sony Pictures teamed up with Jim Henson Productions and created the joint venture Jim Henson Pictures.^[94][95]

In the 1990s, Columbia announced plans of a rival James Bond franchise, since they owned the rights of Casino Royale and were planning to make a third version of Thunderball with Kevin McClory. MGM and Danjaq, LLC, owners of the franchise, sued Sony Pictures in 1997, with the legal dispute ending two years later in an out-of-court settlement. Sony traded the Casino Royale rights for $10 million, and the Spider-Man filming rights.^[96] The superhero became Columbia’s most successful franchise:^[97] the first movie came out in 2002, and, as of 2021, there have been seven followup movies with US grosses in excess of $2.5 billion.^[98] Between the releases of the first and second sequels in 2004 and 2007, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM – giving it distribution rights to the James Bond franchise.

In 1997, Columbia Pictures ranked as the highest-grossing movie studio in the United States with a gross of $1.256 billion. In 1998, Columbia and TriStar merged to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (a.k.a. Columbia TriStar Pictures), though both studios still produce and distribute under their own names. Pascal retained her position as president of the newly united Columbia Pictures, while Lee became the combined studio’s head of production.^[99] On December 8, 1998, Sony Pictures Entertainment relaunched the Screen Gems brand as a horror and independent film distribution company after shutting down Triumph Films.^[100] In 1999, TriStar Television was folded into CTT. Two years later, CPT was folded into CTT as well.

2000s[edit]

In the 2000s, Sony broadened its release schedule by backing Revolution Studios, the production/distribution company headed by Joe Roth. On October 25, 2001, CTT and CTTD merged to form Columbia TriStar Domestic Television.^[101] On September 16, 2002, Columbia TriStar Domestic Television was renamed Sony Pictures Television.^[102] Also in 2002, Columbia broke the record for biggest domestic theatrical gross, with a tally of $1.575 billion, coincidentally breaking its own record of $1.256 billion set in 1997, which was raised by such blockbusters as Spider-Man, Men in Black II and XXX.^[103] The studio was also the most lucrative of 2004,^[103] with over $1.338 billion in the domestic box office with movies such as Spider-Man 2, 50 First Dates, and The Grudge,^[104] and in 2006, Columbia, helped with such blockbusters as: The Da Vinci Code, The Pursuit of Happiness, Casino Royale, and Open Season, not only finished the year in first place, but it reached an all-time record high sum of $1.711 billion, which was an all-time yearly record for any studio until Warner Bros. surpassed it in 2009.^[105]

2010s[edit]

On October 29, 2010, Matt Tolmach, the co-president of Columbia Pictures, stepped down in order to produce The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel. Doug Belgrad, the other co-president of Columbia was promoted as sole president of the studio. Belgrad and Tolmach had been co-presidents of the studio since 2008 and had been working together as a team in 2003.^[106][107] The same day, Hanna Minghella was named president of production of Columbia.^[106][107]

On November 18, 2012, Sony Pictures announced it has passed $4 billion worldwide with the success of Columbia’s releases: Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, 21 Jump Street, Men in Black 3, and Hotel Transylvania and Screen Gems’ releases: Underworld: Awakening, The Vow, and Resident Evil: Retribution.^[108]

On July 16, 2014, Doug Belgrad was named a president of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.^[109] He exited the post in June 2016. On June 2, Sanford Panitch, who had been the head of international local language production at the studio, was named president of Columbia Pictures.^[110]

Logo[edit]

The Columbia Pictures logo, featuring a woman carrying a torch and wearing a drape (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major changes.^{[111][112][113]} It has often been compared to the Statue of Liberty, which was an inspiration to the Columbia Pictures logo.^[113]

Originally in 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand, which appears to be based on the Standing Liberty quarter used from 1916 to 1930.^[114] The logo changed in 1928 with a new woman (Columbia, the female representative of America) wearing a draped flag and torch. The woman wore the stola and carried the palla of ancient Rome, and above her were the words «A Columbia Production» («A Columbia Picture» or «Columbia Pictures Corporation») written in an arch. The illustration was based upon the actress Evelyn Venable, known for providing the voice of The Blue Fairy in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.

In 1936, the logo was changed: the Torch Lady now stood on a pedestal, wore no headdress, and the text «Columbia» appeared in chiseled letters behind her (Pittsburgh native Jane Chester Bartholomew, whom Harry Cohn discovered, portrayed the Torch Lady in the logo). There were several variations to the logo over the years—significantly, a color version was done in 1943 for The Desperadoes.^[113] Two years earlier, the flag became just a drape with no markings.^[111][112] The latter change came after a federal law was passed making it illegal to wear an American flag as clothing. 1976’s Taxi Driver was one of the last films released before the «Torch Lady» was revamped, although the classic logo would be later used in several Columbia releases, generally to match the year a given film is set in.

From 1976 to 1993,^[111] Columbia Pictures used two logos. The first, from 1976 to 1981 (or until 1982 for international territories) used just a sunburst representing the beams from the torch. The score accompanying the first logo was composed by Suzanne Ciani. The studio hired visual effects pioneer Robert Abel to animate the first logo.^[115] The woman returned in 1981, but in a much smoother form described as resembling a Coke bottle.^[111]

The current, and perhaps the best known, iteration of the logo was created in 1992 (same time as the television division’s debut), and started its use in films the year after, when Scott Mednick and The Mednick Group was hired by Peter Guber to create logos for all the entertainment properties then owned by Sony Pictures.^[116] Mednick hired New Orleans artist Michael Deas,^[117] to digitally repaint the logo and return the woman to her «classic» look.^[118] Michael Deas hired Jennifer Joseph, a graphics artist for The Times-Picayune, as a model for the logo.^[119] Due to time constraints, she agreed to help out on her lunch break. Deas also hired The Times-Picayune photographer Kathy Anderson to photograph the reference photography.^[120] The animation was created by Synthespian Studios in 1993 by Jeff Kleiser and Diana Walczak, who used 2D elements from the painting and converted it to 3D.^[121] The studio being part of Sony would not be referenced on-screen until 1996. In 2012, Jennifer Joseph gave an interview to WWL-TV: “So we just scooted over there come lunchtime and they wrapped a sheet around me and I held a regular little desk lamp, a side lamp,” she said, “and I just held that up and we did that with a light bulb.» Deas went on to say, «I never thought it would make it to the silver screen and I never thought it would still be up 20 years later, and I certainly never thought it would be in a museum, so it’s kind of gratifying.”^[122]

Filmography[edit]

See also[edit]

• Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation
• Columbia Pictures Television
• Columbia TriStar Television
• List of film serials by studio § Columbia Pictures
• Sony Pictures
• Sony Pictures Television
• Major film studios

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Chierichetti, David (1976). Hollywood Costume Design. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 9780517526378.
• Dick, Bernard F. (1992). Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813117690.
• Jorgensen, Jay; Scoggins, Donald L. (2015). Creating the Illusion: A Fashionable History of Hollywood Costume Designers. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 9780762456611.
• Perry, Jeb H. (1991). Screen Gems: A History of Columbia Pictures Television from Cohn to Coke, 1948-1983. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810824874.
• Smyth, Jennifer E. (2018). Nobody’s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190840822.

Further reading[edit]

• Yule, Andrew (1989). Fast Fade: David Puttnam, Columbia Pictures, and the Battle for Hollywood. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440-50177-6. OCLC 243349960.

External links[edit]

• Official Sony Pictures website
• SonyPictures.net (list of worldwide sites)
• Columbia Pictures Cartoons from the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Columbia Pictures at Reel Classics: The History of a Logo – the Lady with the Torch
• Columbia Pictures Still Photographer Contract 1945 at The Ned Scott Archive
• Finding aid author: Morgan Crockett (2014). «Columbia Pictures pressbook». Prepared for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Provo, UT.

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Columbia pictures

существительное

мн.
columbia picturess

Контексты

That almost automatic reaction was reminiscent of the 1980’s, when America woke up to find Japanese companies like Sony buying Columbia Pictures, Mitsubishi Estates buying Rockefeller Center, and even the famous Pebble Beach golf course on the California coast being snapped up by Japanese investors.
Эта почти автоматическая реакция напоминала 80-е годы, когда Америка внезапно обнаружила, что японские компании вроде Sony покупают Columbia Pictures, Mitsubishi Estates покупает Центр Рокфеллера, и даже известное поле для гольфа Pebble Beach на Калифорнийском побережье приобретено японскими инвесторами.

This boy is from Columbia.
Этот парень — из Колумбии.

The teacher illustrated his theory with pictures.
Учитель пояснил свою теорию при помощи изображений.

You are from Columbia.
Ты из Колумбии.

I like their pictures.
Мне нравятся их рисунки.

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Main Logos

Logo Variations

Trailer Variations

Background

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (commonly known as Columbia Pictures) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and one of the major American film studios. Since 1993, it has been headquartered at Sony Pictures Studios (formerly MGM Studios) in Culver City, California.

Columbia Pictures was originally founded as «Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales» in 1918 by Harry Cohn, his brother Jack Cohn, and Jack’s friend Joe Brandt. Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. Many of the studio’s early productions were low-budget affairs; the start-up CBC leased space in a poverty row studio on Hollywood’s Gower Street. Among Hollywood’s elite, CBC’s reputation led some to joke that «CBC» stood for «Corned Beef and Cabbage».

Following a reorganization, the Cohn brothers renamed the predecessor company as «Columbia Pictures Corporation» on January 10, 1924. Columbia’s product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and a short-subject program of comedies, serials, cartoons, and sports films. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, building a reputation as one of Hollywood’s more important studios. On December 23, 1968, it was reorganized as Columbia Pictures Industries after Columbia Pictures Corporation merged with its television division Screen Gems. On June 22, 1982, Columbia Pictures was sold to The Coca-Cola Company for $750 million. In December 1987, it became part of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, with Coke owning 49%. Finally, on November 8, 1989, it was sold to Sony Corporation of Japan. Since 1998, Columbia Pictures has been part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group since 2013), which is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.

Columbia Pictures titles were distributed through a partnership with Warner Bros. under the name Columbia-Warner internationally (with some partnerships in the United Kingdom) until 1987, when Columbia reorganized its international distribution division into Columbia Tri-Star Films. The UK partnership would last until 1988.

Contents
1st Logo (March 15, 1924-December 29, 1927)	2nd Logo (January 1928-May 25, 1936)	3rd Logo (May 28, 1936-December 21, 1976)	4th Logo (June 23, 1976-February 11, 1982)	5th Logo (June 5, 1981-May 14, 1993)	6th Logo (June 13, 1993-)

1st Logo (March 15, 1924-December 29, 1927)

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  Textless variant

Logo: On a dark gray background with arch clouds below, we see a woman dressed in a Roman soldier’s outfit (similar to the Greco-Roman goddess Athena/Minerva), crowned with a wreath and covered in a toga, holding a shield in her left hand and holding an olive branch in her right hand. We see the text «COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION Presents», with «COLUMBIA PICTURES» arched above, «CORPORATION» underneath it in a straight line, and «Presents» below.

Trivia:

• The figure depicted in the logo is actually of the goddess Liberty (or the Roman goddess Libertas) as seen on the obverse of the «Standing Liberty quarter», which was minted from 1916 until 1930.
• The identity of the model is disputed. The most known candidate for the model is Doris Doscher, an actress who sometimes worked in silent films under the name Doris Doree, and who became known as «the girl on the quarter». However, some reports stated that Broadway actress Irene MacDowell was the model. There are some speculations that the model could actually be a composite of both women.

Variant: A textless variant exists.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Ultra rare; seen on very early films from Columbia Pictures. Last seen on The Lady with the Torch documentary on Encore Drama (whenever the network decides to rebroadcast it). More recently, this logo made a surprise appearance on the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as part of that film’s variant of the 1993 logo.

2nd Logo (January 1928-May 25, 1936)

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  Textless variant

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Logo: We see a medium shot of a lady holding a light torch in her right hand, depicted with a dark bob and a Cleopatra-esque headdress across her forehead. She is draped in an American flag complete with the stars on her left shoulder and the stripes coming across her middle, supported by her left arm, and hanging down her right side. Her torch is displayed with a rather primitive, flickering style of animation emitting lines of light as rays. The Torch Lady’s head is under an arch of chiseled, square-shaped letters reading the words «A COLUMBIA PRODUCTION». At the end of the movie or short subject, the words are «THIS IS A COLUMBIA PICTURE» with «The End» below it in a script font.

Trivia: The Torch Lady shown here is actress Claudia Dell, who appeared as Spanky’s mother in the Our Gang shorts «Mama’s Little Pirate» and «Anniversary Trouble».

Variants:

• Earlier films until 1932 would feature the name in a different typeface, and sometimes read «COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION» at the start of the film (sometimes also with the word «Presents» below, in a script font), and «A COLUMBIA PRODUCTION» at the end, like on The Miracle Woman.
• Another variation consists of the words «A COLUMBIA PRODUCTION» and «The End» below. It was spotted on The Miracle Woman, Platinum Blonde, Three Wise Girls, The Final Edition, High Speed, American Madness, and the Three Stooges short «Restless Knights».
• On some Three Stooges shorts, the logo is shown without the company name.
• A rare opening variation has the words «COLUMBIA PICTURES» on top and «Presents» below. It was spotted on The Pagan Lady, The Guilty Generation, The Deadline, The Secret Witness, and the early John Wayne film Maker of Men (all 1931).
• There is another closing variant that has the words «COLUMBIA PICTURES», with «The End» appearing below, which can be found at the end of The Secret Witness, Maker of Men, Forbidden, and Shopworn.
• In 2004, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released several colorized Three Stooges shorts; these had the Torch Lady in color as well, and the words are in yellow.

Technique: A mix of moiré effects and editing.

Music/Sounds: A majestic horn sounder (a la 20th Century Fox), or the opening/closing theme of the short/feature.

Availability: Very rare. It was seen on Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). Also can be seen on The Three Stooges releases on DVD. Can still be seen on reruns of 1934-1936 Three Stooges shorts on IFC, AMC, and Antenna TV. It can also be found on TCM and Sony Movie Channel. It does not appear on original prints of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies cartoons from 1930-1932, as Columbia only distributed those shorts. The textless version can be seen on some Three Stooges shorts.

Legacy: This is known as the first torch lady logo; the lady looks noticeably different compared to the other logos.

3rd Logo (May 28, 1936-December 21, 1976)

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  1966 USSR version

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  1975 USSR version

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Logo: We see the lady, this time standing on top of a pedestal with a backdrop of clouds over her, while she is holding her light torch. Much more refined, ethereal and goddess-like, her facial features are less pronounced and she looks away (up and to the right) instead of straight ahead. Her headdress is absent and her hair sweeps back instead of hanging by the sides of her face. The drape over her shoulder is less obviously an American flag, with the stars on the left shoulder being toned down in a shadow, and the stripes are visible only on the portion of the drape hanging down her right side. «A COLUMBIA PRODUCTION» is replaced with the tall chiseled letters of «COLUMBIA» (which fades in a second afterward) running straight across the top section of the screen, with the lady’s torch glowing in front of the «U». A new form of animation is used on the logo as well, with a torch that radiates light instead of flickers. Until the mid-1960s, this logo would also appear at the end of films, sometimes with the words «The End» in a script font.

Trivia: The model for this Torch Lady is Pittsburgh native Jane Chester Bartholomew, who was discovered by Harry Cohn himself.

Byline: Starting in 1974, the byline «A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC.» appears at the bottom of the screen. This variant was introduced around the time its television production division Screen Gems Television changed its name to Columbia Pictures Television.

Evolution Variants:

• 1942: The lady looks much like she did in 1936, but the flag is now a plain red mantle (the Sony website implies that the change was to coincide with a new law that forbade the usage of the American flag as clothing; perhaps not coincidentally, this variation first appeared within a year of the United States’ entry into World War II), dark on the left shoulder with only the shadows of the folds distinguishing the rest of it from the lady’s white gown on her right side. The «COLUMBIA» lettering is also modified, still chiseled but less bold, and with darker shadowing.
• 1943-1952, 1953-1954: The logo is adapted for Technicolor. The pedestal is more visible now and the sky background is different.
• 1945, 1946?–1954: Similar to the Technicolor variant, but the «COLUMBIA» text is orange, and the clouds and lady are a bit different. This logo is adapted for Cinecolor, as well as the Technicolor process.
• July 17, 1953: The Columbia Lady’s robe is redrawn with a plunging neckline. The logo is also adapted for widescreen. After the introduction of the next three variants, it would be used in tandem with them until it was retired.
• January 26, 1955: The logo is adapted for CinemaScope. The Torch Lady loses her slipper-clad foot peeking out from the bottom of her robe as it divides just above the pedestal. Also, the clouds behind the logo are more concentrated in the center and more billowy in shape.
• August 12, 1956: Similar to the CinemaScope variant, albeit in 4:3 fullscreen; more of the logo can be seen on the top and bottom. This logo is adapted for the 1.37:1 «academy» process, as well as the CinemaScope process.
• 1960-1968: Similar to the CinemaScope variant, but the clouds are blue.
• April 1968-December 12, 1973, April 5, 1974, August 1, 1976: The drapery is temporarily pink during this era. Several films that feature this variant include Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows!, The Swimmer, The Big Gundown, Hammerhead, Funny Girl, The Wrecking Crew, Otley, Model Shop, MacKenna’s Gold, Easy Rider, Castle Keep, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Desperados, Cactus Flower, Five Easy Pieces, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Reckoning, 10 Rillington Place, The Anderson Tapes, Dollars ($), The Horsemen, Brian’s Song, Nicholas and Alexandra, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Butterflies Are Free, Fat City, The New Centurions, Monty Python’s And Now for Something Completely Different, The Valachi Papers, 1776, The National Health, Lost Horizon (1973), The Way We Were, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, The Last Detail, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Tommy, and Brian De Palma’s Obsession.

Variants:

• On The King Steps Out, the Three Stooges short «Disorder in the Court» and the 1936 western Stampede, «PRESENTS» appears below.
• On The Three Stooges shorts & other short subjects from 1940-1945, the 1936 (or 1942) Torch Lady appears on the left side of The Three Stooges or the short subject’s title card. On the steps are the words «COLUMBIA» on top, «SHORT SUBJECT» in the middle, and «PRESENTATION» on the bottom step.
• On Taxi Driver, the logo is on a black background with blue clouds and has all of the text appearing at the same time.
• On some films or shorts subjects like The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton or Charley Chase, the logo is completely still, only the torch shining at the opening or at the end of the movie or shorts.
• On the 1948 Three Stooges short «Fuelin’ Around», the 1968 logo in black & white is seen at the beginning. Obviously, this plastered the Screen Gems logo on some TV prints, with/without the original music. This variant was seen on said short when reran on The Family Channel in the mid-1990s.
• On 3D movies produced by the company, a 3D version of this logo was employed. The depth was as follows: the Torch Lady was closest to the screen, with «COLUMBIA» slightly behind her, and the cloud background farthest back.
• An ending variant was used on serials in the 1930s and 1940s. Along the bottom, it would read «A Columbia Serial» along the bottom. These were used on the Batman serials, among others.
• Two ending variants existed for short subjects during the early 1940s: (1) Near the top of the screen, «THE» is in a 3D-like Futura font with a white face and dark/light shadows to the left of the Torch Lady, and «END» in the same font and effects is to the right; the shadows from «THE END» go behind the Torch Lady to an unknown vanishing point behind the rays of her torch (much like the early-to-mid-60’s Four Star Television logo’s effect). Near the top of the Torch Lady’s pedestal, «COLUMBIA» is in a small but wider version of the company name’s «chiseled» font, and «SHORT» «SUBJECT» «PRESENTATION» is chiseled onto each step of the pedestal, going from top to bottom respectively (when seen on colorized prints of The Three Stooges, «THE» «END» and «COLUMBIA» are in a yellowish—gold color, and the clouds and shadows are shades of dark and light blue, respectively); and (2) the standard «The End» additional text below would read «A Columbia Short Subject Presentation». These variants are usually seen on The Three Stooges shorts and often accompanies the aforementioned title card variant.
• An Italian version of the closing version was shown at the end of the Spanish Mexican film Él (aka This Strange Passion or Lui).
• Two Soviet-Russian variants exist where the whole logo is a recreated painting, which varies, the «COLUMBIA» text is completely absent, and different text can be seen in front of the Torch Lady.
• On a Super 8mm colorized print of the Krazy Kat cartoon «The Katnips of 1940», a copyright disclaimer was superimposed into the logo, reading:

SOLD FOR HOME USE ONLY
THEATRICAL, TELEVISION, AND ALL
OTHER RIGHTS RESERVE
©COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. 1973

Technique: 2D animation was used, such as the torch rays, which held up very well for the time.

Music/Sounds: Usually, the beginning/end of the movie plays over the logo. On some films, the logo appears completely silent. However, on several mid to late ’30s Three Stooges shorts, it has a majestic theme before playing the Three Stooges theme. On several other films, it would have a different theme.

Availability: Fairly common. Can still be seen on Columbia Pictures films of this period on home video formats and on TV airings.

• The last films to feature this logo were Taxi Driver, Drive-In, Harry and Walter Go to New York, Obsession (at least on U.S. prints), and Peter Bogdanovich’s Nickelodeon.
• The 1973 variation was also seen on some later struck 16mm prints of some Three Stooges shorts, sometimes plastering the Screen Gems logo with the latter logo’s music sometimes preserved, with Tricky Dicks and Three Pests in a Mess being common examples.
• Tommy originally featured the 1968-75 variation of the logo, but was plastered with the next logo below on all later prints and home video releases of the film. Monty Python’s And Now for Something Completely Different suffered the same fate as Tommy on the video releases, but has been restored on the DVD releases.
• This was seen on early releases of the 1975 version of The Stepford Wives, but when Viacom bought the rights to the film, along with the rest of the Palomar Pictures catalog in the mid-’80s, the logo was deleted. However, following the release of the 2004 remake, Paramount Pictures gained rights to the original film through Viacom (owner of the former company), and added their 2002 logo at the beginning of all current prints.
• This also appears on current prints of films that originally had the 2nd logo, including Dirigible, Behind the Mask, Shopworn, The Circus Queen Murder, Man’s Castle, Twentieth Century, The Whole Town’s Talking, The Black Room (1935), and She Married Her Boss.
• The «A Columbia Serial» variant can be seen on the old Batman serials when aired on TCM.
• The 3D version appears on the company’s Golden Age 3D features, including Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson, and The Mad Magician.
• The Three Stooges shorts that include the «Short Subject» variants will likely be retained, being followed by the Sony Pictures Television logo.

Legacy: The most well-known version of the logo, as it was used for 40 years. It also served as the basis for the 1955 Screen Gems Television logo.

4th Logo (June 23, 1976-February 11, 1982)

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  The Torch Lady

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  The sunburst

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  USSR snipe

Logo: It begins with the familiar Columbia Torch Lady (a less-detailed yellow-toned 1942/1955 Torch Lady), standing on the pedestal holding her light torch against the backdrop of clouds. Then, the picture moves upward and towards the torch as the rays pull in, which shines even more as the picture blurs around it. It then emits a flash that fills the screen. When the flash dissolves, the light torch itself appears, as if in a sunburst, against a black screen and as it shrinks, it changes into a more «abstract» torch: a blue half circle, or a semicircle, with thirteen white light rays in the center and the words «Columbia Pictures» in a Souvenir Medium font under it. The entire logo then slowly backs away as it fades out.

Trivia:

• The Sunburst logo originally came out in 1975, but first appeared only on posters.
• The animation for the Sunburst logo was provided by Robert Abel and Associates, who specialized in elaborate, motion-controlled animation and lighting effects, and also did work on commercials (early 1970s 7-Up ads among many others) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Variants:

• When viewed in 4:3 fullscreen, there are varying versions where we see the pedestal, including close and medium views. There is a far view version in 1.85:1 on the U.S. Blu-ray release of Tommy.
• A Soviet version exists. Here, the sunburst glows and the text is white for the finished product.
  • USSR releases used a snipe, if the logo described above is not used at all.

Technique: Very well-done motion-controlled cel animation that still looks good over 40 years later.

Music/Sounds: It begins with a dramatic theme that builds up as the camera zooms in on the torch, and with the flash/sunburst, it takes an inspirational, majestic tone. This theme was composed by Suzanne Ciani. Of course, like many other movie logos, this could also be silent or have the opening theme of the movie over it, but usually not.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The main instruments appearing on the soundtrack were a small horn section, Suzanne Ciani’s Buchla modular (for the «popping» effects) and an ARP string synth (the same model Gary Wright used for his song «Dream Weaver» around the same time).

Music/Sounds Variant: The USSR Version includes an announcer.

Availability: Common. Sony is much better at keeping older theatrical logos on current releases of their films than their TV output (which is another story). In the early days of Columbia Pictures’ video division, however, this logo would be plastered by their home video logo (although the «Columbia Pictures» text alone would be seen for a split second, possibly due to poor editing). Otherwise, all later video releases, DVDs/Blu-rays, and TV broadcasts retain this logo.

• The first film to use this logo was Murder by Death, while the last to use it was Happy Birthday to Me. However, in international territories, it was used until at least 1982 as this appeared on Death Wish II (released domestically by Filmways Pictures).
• On some airings of The Mirror Crack’d (the 1980 Angela Lansbury version), the logo is not shown at all, but is intact on most home media releases and uncut TV airings. However, it’s plastered by the black-and-white variant of the 2003 StudioCanal logo on most newer releases.
• The 1980 Magnetic Video release of the ITC Entertainment film The Eagle Has Landed, which Columbia distributed in the United States, also has this logo.
• It also plasters the previous logo on Tommy, and 1980s and early 1990s U.S. VHS prints of Monty Python’s And Now for Something Completely Different.
• It was also seen on some pre-release versions of Stripes, before switching to the next logo for general release, as well as on home video releases.
• The 1988 Goodtimes Home Video release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (as well as most other Columbia films distributed by Goodtimes on VHS during this period, such as the original 1977 Fun With Dick and Jane) edits this out and goes straight to the opening credits, although other prints, such as the 2001 DVD and 30th Anniversary Blu-ray/DVD and the 40th Anniversary 4KHD retain it (as do later reissues of said other Columbia films from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).
• Neither this nor the 1963 Universal Pictures logo appear on the Steven Spielberg movie 1941 (which Columbia co-released with Universal).

Legacy: Although it sticks out from the other Columbia logos in design, this logo is still a favorite of many.

5th Logo (June 5, 1981-May 14, 1993)

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  Medium view variant

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Logo:

• 1981-1990: We see the standard Columbia Torch Lady (a somewhat less detailed version of her 1970s iteration) standing on a pedestal with her torch against the backdrop of clouds (which are now slightly less detailed and have a blueish tone). The torch then shines into a bright abstract shape, as if in a sunburst, then dims back in place. The words «Columbia Pictures» (in the same font as the last logo) fade to the left and right of the Torch Lady as her torch «shines».
• 1989-1993: The logo fades in just like the 1981 version, but the sunburst animation is omitted (however, one can still see a glimpse of the red light from the sunburst if one looks closely). Instead, after a second, the «Columbia Pictures» text fades in (a la the 1936-1976 logo).

Variants:

• When viewed in full screen, there are varying versions where we see her pedestal, including close, medium and far views.
• This logo was also used for the first half of the Triumph Films logo in 1982.
• On a 1986 HBO airing and the 1985 VHS of Starman and the original UK VHS release of Flatliners, the logo’s original 2.35:1 aspect ratio was squeezed into 4:3 full screen.
• Oddly, the original 1993 video releases of A League of Their Own and A Few Good Men have a shortened version of the sunburst logo. The first film fades in as the sunburst retracts, while the second film fades in when the sunburst flares in. Current prints of said films, however, have the standard 1989 logo.

Closing Variants:

• From 1989-April 30, 1993, Columbia’s print logo was featured scrolling at the end of the movies’ closing credits. This features the Torch Lady with the «sunburst» from the 1981 variation of the opening logo. The phrase, appearing in the same font as the opening logo, reads «A Columbia Pictures Release» underneath. An earlier version of this didn’t include the print logo, but rather the text instead. A few movies such as Ghostbusters II, Welcome Home and Year of the Comet have the words in a different font (the latter two films didn’t even feature the print logo, as did The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, When Harry Met Sally… and Misery). This would stop regular use on August 28, 1992 with the release of Honeymoon in Vegas, but this made a surprise appearance on The Pickle.
• September 23, 1992-May 14, 1993: The same closing logo, but with «COLUMBIA PICTURES» in the Bank Gothic font with the SPE byline below. On A River Runs Through It and El Mariachi, as well as Castle Rock films, the words «RELEASED BY» appear on top. A variant of this appeared at the end of Josh and S.A.M., released on November 24, 1993. In this one, it has «A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE» above the «RELEASED BY» variant, while the movie itself would use the 1993 logo at the beginning. The possible reason for this is that the film was delayed; a teaser for said film, which was found on the 1993 VHS releases of Single White Female and Mr. Saturday Night, had it originally intended for a spring 1993 release, but when it finally came to theaters, Columbia might have replaced the 1989 logo with their new logo, but didn’t touch the credit logo. Another example of Sony’s poor editing habits.
• On Sibling Rivalry, the closing logo is based on the 1981-1989 print logo: it has the Torch Lady with a sunburst inside a dome with «Columbia Pictures» below. Below that is «A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE». Eat a Bowl of Tea and The Big Picture have the «Torch Lady in a Dome» print logo with «A Columbia Pictures Release» below it.
• There are two versions of the Torch Lady print logo. One had a short lady and the big sunburst, which was the one seen inside the dome, but would occasionally appear without the dome. A later version was introduced in 1989, with a smaller sunburst and the Torch Lady appears taller and slimmer and more cleaned up in design. No dome was used for this version.
• Sometimes, on TV airings, the closing logo may be kept with the Sony Pictures Television (formerly the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution logo) following afterwards or may be skipped ahead with the SPT/CTTD logo.

Technique: Much simpler cel animation, when compared to the last logo.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On the DVD release of Big Trouble (1986), the 1984 Australian VHS of Christine, the 1985 Australian VHS of Educating Rita, a mid ’80s Australian VHS of Tough Guys (1974; plastering the 3rd logo), a 1988 Goodtimes Home Video VHS of The Amsterdam Kill (plastering the previous logo), and the 1999 Australian VHS of The Karate Kid, it has the Sunburst music from the previous logo.
• On post-2005 prints of Stripes (with the exception of the 2021 UHD release), as well as some foreign dub tracks of Tootsie, the fanfare from the next below is strangely heard. It is unknown whether these instances were attempts at plastering or placement choices when making the audio remixes/dubbing.
• On a Portuguese print of Stone Cold, this has the 1995 MGM lion roar, due to a reverse plastering error.

Availability: Common. Seen on films of the era.

• The 1981 variation is much easier to come by, due to it being used for a longer time period and being on more popular titles such as Stripes, Heavy Metal, Ghandi, The Big Chill, Christine, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Fright Night, Stand by Me, Hope and Glory and many others.
• Notable films that have the short 1989 version are Ghostbusters II (where it made its first appearance), The Adventures of Milo and Otis, Casualties of War, Awakenings, Flatliners, Mortal Thoughts, Boyz n the Hood, Mo’ Money, A League of Their Own, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Groundhog Day.
• The first film to use this logo was Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams, while it was last seen on Lost in Yonkers.
• New Line Home Video (and later, MGM Home Entertainment) releases of Castle Rock films such as Misery, City Slickers, and Mr. Saturday Night edit this logo out, though it is retained on the New Line VHS of Amos and Andrew.
• The MGM DVD release of Amos and Andrew has it plastered with the 1987 New Line Cinema logo, while the YouTube print on the Warner VOD channel had the New Line logo before Columbia’s, but was taken off and is now on MGM’s channel, with it only featuring the MGM and Castle Rock logos. But the combo (minus New Line) was seen on the Vudu print of the aforementioned film, as well as an airing of the movie on Laff TV.
• The Columbia-Castle Rock combo is also preserved on a 1998 MGM Movie Time VHS release of Amos and Andrew, the German and Australian DVD releases of Misery, as well as a 2013 reprint of the latter, (where it’s preceded by the 1986 MGM logo) a 1997 MGM Movie Time VHS of City Slickers and the widescreen Laserdisc release of the aforementioned film retains this logo as well. This was also preserved on cable TV airings of When Harry Met Sally… and also appeared on the widescreen Laserdisc release of said film. Can also be seen on the Amazon Instant Video print of Late for Dinner (after MGM), the Olive Films Blu-ray release of Sibling Rivalry (also after MGM), and Roku Channel’s print of Honeymoon in Vegas. It is unknown if any prints of Lord of the Flies preserve this logo.
• It also appears on the Vidmark and Starmaker VHS releases of The Shadow Riders (they used the overseas theatrical version, which is why this logo is seen at the start), along with the Trimark DVD (the 2006 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD release uses the original TV version).
• Oddly, in lieu of RCA/Columbia’s logo appearing, this logo plasters that of Cinema 5 on the English-dubbed cassette of One Sings, the Other Doesn’t.
• The logo is seen on the 1986 VHS of Casino Royale (1967), plastering the 3rd logo, and it also plasters older Columbia logos on several other post-1981 videocassettes as well, including The Black Bird, Gidget (1959) and Funny Girl.
• While removed from the MGM DVD and oddly, the British Columbia TriStar Home Video DVD, it was preserved on the U.S. RCA/Columbia VHS and Laserdisc of Double Impact. It is unknown if the recent MVD Rewind Blu-Ray of the film retains this logo.
• This may be seen on international prints of Piranha II: The Spawning (AKA: Piranha II: Flying Killers).
• It also appears on the Australian DVD of Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift (released domestically by Paramount Pictures) and may have been seen on the UK and other international prints of the film.
• This doesn’t show up on Weintraub Entertainment Group films that they distributed theatrically, with the exception of The Gods Must Be Crazy II, where a still Weintraub logo is seen at the end.
• Australian Home Media Releases of The Adventures of Milo and Otis (e.g. the 2005 Roadshow DVD release, and the 1992 Video Selection Australia VHS, on the latter, the OFLC rating screen plasters over it, as a result the opening theme can be heard playing over it) have this logo removed for unknown reasons.
• It was also seen on newer prints and the Blu-ray of the English dubbed theatrical cut of Das Boot (aka The Boot) in place of the first Triumph Films logo and proceeding the Neue Constantin Film logo.
• This strangely made an appearance at the end of ctv.ca’s print of Cancel My Reservation (1972) before the Sony Pictures Television International logo.
• It is unknown if it appeared on theatrical prints of Winter People, The Last Emperor, Texasville, or The Taking of Beverly Hills, among possible others.
• It was found on some trailers for Last Action Hero, In The Line of Fire, Calendar Girl, and Josh and S.A.M. (with the movies themselves using the next logo). The logo makes a surprise appearance on the former itself as a variant, with the next logo being seen in front of the film.

Legacy: A notable variant of the 1930s logo with the Souvenir font.

6th Logo (June 13, 1993-)

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Logo:

• 1993-2008, 2019: First, we see a ray of light, resembling a sunburst, with the cloud background fading in a brief second later. The light is coming from a torch, as we zoom out to reveal that a face-lifted Torch Lady, now with a more detailed and realistic look, is holding it. Once the camera is fully zoomed out, «COLUMBIA», seen in a bold, silver chiseled font, fades in atop the Torch Lady. A ring of light then shimmers around the lady.
• 2006-2014: Starting with The Holiday, released on December 8, 2006, the logo was given enhancements to better resemble the 2001 Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment logo and Michael J. Deas’ original artwork of the logo. The hand is in a different pose in which her finger is at the tip of the torch. The sky is also darker and the «COLUMBIA» text has more silver in it and is slightly off-center. Trailers and TV spots, however, continued to use the 1993 version of the logo until 2008. On The Holiday, it shows the logo already formed; the fully animated variant debuted on Ghost Rider, as between those two films, the 1993 version was still used until The Messengers; and additionally came back for a one-time revival in 2019 with Little Women (2019).
• 2014-2022: Starting with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, released on May 2, 2014, the logo is preceded by the then-new Sony motion picture logo. This involves the addition of blurry parting clouds with a very bright light between them. The light gets brighter until the clouds are apart and then it fades to the traditional zoom out from the torch. This version’s last original appearance was in Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, and the last release to use this logo was Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (albeit a variant).
• 2021-2022: Starting with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, released on October 1, 2021, the Sony motion picture logo preceding now has a new animation of it, based on its brand identity used since May 19, 2021. After that, the Columbia logo is shown like above, albeit the parting clouds at the start are slightly modified with a sharper look to compliment the new Sony logo. This version’s last appearance was on US theatrical prints of Devotion.
• 2022-: Starting with theatrical prints of Bullet Train, released on August 5, 2022, the Sony logo plays as normal but the clouds that were normally in the transition to the Columbia Pictures logo are replaced by those in grey and a red sun is seen; the torchlight rays are redone as well. This version later made its digital and home media debut on Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.

Trivia:

• The logo’s most recent overhaul was undertaken during this era when Sony Corporation of Japan (which bought Columbia on November 8, 1989) commissioned illustrator Michael J. Deas to redesign the lady and return her to her «classic» look. The result, based on Deas’ sessions with Mandeville, Louisiana homemaker Jenny Joseph, who posed for him with a makeshift robe and torch, was a taller, slimmer Columbia Torch Lady with lighter, curlier hair and a dimmer torch. Rather than use Joseph’s face however, Deas constructed a composite face made up of a couple of computer-generated features. Deas’ artwork, created in 1992, was featured in the Columbia Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Home Video identities prior to this logo’s appearance. The logo was animated at Kleiser/Walczak Construsction Company, now known as Synthespian Studios. Jeff Kleiser (the brother of Grease and Flight of the Navigator director Randal Kleiser), and Diana Walczak were lead animators, while Ed Kramer and Joel Hynek assisted in production. The staff used 2D elements from Deas’ painting, edited them using Adobe Photoshop running on an Apple Macintosh Quadra 950 workstation and converted them to 3D. The clouds were divided up to 66 image maps and Walczak mapped every cloud onto a 3D object and twist-distorted and translated on Alias/Wavefront Advanced Visualizer graphics software running on a Silicon Graphics Crimson Elan workstation. The woman was also converted to 3D by sculpting a real model and scanning it using a Polhemus 3-space digitizing pen.
• The identity of the Torch Lady’s model wasn’t divulged until 2004; prior rumors persisted that Annette Bening was the model.
• A face hidden within the clouds can be seen to the left of the Torch Lady as the camera is zooming out of the torch. It is very hard to distinguish in the original 1993 variant, whereas the 2006 version makes it a lot more noticeable.
• The animation provided for the modified versions of the logo was done by Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Bylines:

• Starting with the release of The Juror, released on February 2, 1996, «a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company» appears on the bottom, being slightly off-center. When it debuted, the byline is chyroned in cheaply and is a lot bigger and wider than the proportion of the «COLUMBIA» name and the pedestal. Starting with The Craft, released on May 3, 1996, it is way smaller, narrow, and fades in. However, some post-1996 films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Wild Things, Dance with Me, and John Carpenter’s Vampires may have this logo without the byline, while trailers and TV spots continued to use the bylineless version of the logo until 1999 for unknown reasons. The last film to use this byline was Captain Phillips, released on October 11, 2013.
• In late 2013, the byline was shortened to «a Sony Company«, with the orange—gold color of the previous byline changed to a bronze and is properly centered. This byline debuted on American Hustle (US prints only and only appears at the end, the film itself uses the 1976 logo), US prints of The Monuments Men, and the official trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and 22 Jump Street.

Variants:

• In 1999, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary. The beginning of the logo starts off with the 1936 logo of Columbia Pictures in black & white, leaving the 1993 cloud background intact. The Torch Lady then slowly morphs into the current Torch Lady as the effects from black & white later turn to color. As the camera zooms back, we see a red arched banner dropping from above saying «SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY LIGHTING UP SCREENS AROUND THE WORLD» and the Torch Lady standing on the pedestal, where we see a red box with the gold, giant chiseled name «COLUMBIA» inside on top, and the small word «PICTURES» below in spaced-out letters. We also see the gold giant number «75» unfolding in between the Torch Lady.
• On the 75th anniversary home video collection promo, the copyright stamp of Columbia TriStar Home Video appears on the bottom and it disappears when the logo is nearly finished.
• There is one version where the left and right sides of the cloud background are stretched out more and the Torch Lady and the «COLUMBIA» text, along with the byline, are zoomed out a little.
• On a Warner Home Video VHS of The Shawshank Redemption, the logo starts a second in.
• On films produced in 2.39:1 from 2007-2014, the pedestal is thinner, and the byline is smaller.
• Starting with The Shallows in 2016, the Sony byline stays on-screen for a split second longer before fading out.
• On 4:3 prints of The Remains of the Day, the logo zooms out to a much farther distance, looking like an open-matte version, but it’s positioned in a way in order to not show the cloud background below the pedestal.
• At the end of Black Hawk Down, the logo zooms out to a much further distance than usual, revealing the bottom of the cloud background below the pedestal. This is because the film was shot in Super 35 1.66:1 negative ratio, and framed for 2.39:1 scope. This variant is seen on 4:3 prints of the film, which exposes more vertical information that was not meant to be seen. This variant can also be found on a trailer for Erin Brockovich (2000).
• On non-HD versions of the Surf’s Up game, the logo zooms out just far enough to where a very small sliver below the pedestal is visible.
• On a few Columbia Pictures licensed video games, such as Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and The Smurfs, the print version, seen on most DVD covers of Columbia films, appears on a white background, with the text in black (as with Columbia Pictures Television) and the byline below the stacked words.

Closing Variants:

• The superimposed closing variant features the Torch Lady (and the cloud background) placed inside a rectangular box. The torch and the cloud background overlap the top of the box. To the left of the logo are the words «COLUMBIA PICTURES» (in the same Bank Gothic font as the previous logo), with «COLUMBIA» over «PICTURES». The phrase below the text reads «A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE» or «RELEASED BY» (both in the small-caps format) above the logo with the SPE byline underneath the logo. On some movies such as Stuart Little, the animated short Early Bloomer, Hollywood Homicide, and 13 Going on 30, the SPE byline is smaller, more spaced out, and is in a different font. Depending on the credits, the logo and the text may vary in color. Starting with American Hustle, the byline was shortened to «a Sony Company«, though the older SPE byline made a surprise appearance on Pixels, released on July 24, 2015.
• One early closing variant featured the boxed Torch Lady logo at center, with «COLUMBIA PICTURES» and the SPE byline below one another. Sometimes, the text and byline are smaller and the logo is bigger to fit the width of the text. There is a version where the logo is inverted and no SPE byline appeared on Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 and Kung Fu Hustle in 2004 and also seen on some films like Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and The Mitchells vs. the Machines with Sony byline. Beginning with Life in 2017, a revised version of this variant is used. Here, the text and byline are larger.
• On international prints of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, a still version of the opening logo is used.

Technique: CGI by Synthespian Studios for the original version and Sony Pictures Imageworks for the later versions.

Music/Sounds: A majestic tune which ends with a brass sounder, composed by Jonathan Elias. There are four versions of the fanfare (two mains and two alternates), all with the same ending, with only the 1998 main version still being used today:

• The 1993 main version has the piano tune emphasized more, and sounds more «stripped down» compared to later iterations. This variant debuted on In The Line of Fire (the second film to use the 1993 logo). It was used mostly on films from 1993-1998, however it made a surprise appearance in some 2000-01 films. It is the one usually associated with the «original Columbia 1993 logo».
• The 1993 alternate version is reorchestrated, and has additional sections/instruments (such as brass, chimes, synthesizers, and flute sections), and sounds way more powerful than the other fanfares listed here. These sections would become the basis for later renditions of the fanfare. If you hear closely, the percussion (piano and drums) is not as pronounced as the other versions. It only appeared on five films from 1993-1997, however: Last Action Hero (the first film to use this logo), Geronimo: An American Legend (although some prints may have the common piano version), Little Women (1994), Josh and S.A.M., and Buddy. Why this fanfare was seldom used remains unknown to this day.
• The 1998 main version sounds like a hybrid version whose power is between the first and second versions. Noticeably, you can hear new brass sections. It was first used on John Carpenter’s Vampires, released on October 30, 1998, and has been the staple fanfare used by Columbia ever since.
• The 1998 alternate version has the piano tune emphasized more, but seems to have the additional brass and chime sections based from other renditions. It also sounds noticeably powerful. This version first debuted on Stepmom, released on December 25, 1998. It was used in tandem with the 1998 common version. The final film to use this rendition was Hotel Transylvania (2012).
• Starting with Sex Tape, released on July 18, 2014, an extra build-up is added at the beginning of the 1998 main fanfare, to match up with the parting clouds.
• Sometimes it is silent, has the opening theme of the film, or music from any given soundtrack.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On the Open Season short «Boog & Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run» and The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas, the first half of the Sony Pictures Animation logo music can be heard during the logo, before the Columbia logo cuts into the mentioned logo as the music finishes.
• The 1998 alternate fanfare is PAL pitched on some films.
• There is also a double-pitched (very high tone) version of the 1998 theme.
• On Palmetto, yet another arrangement of the theme is heard without cymbal hits, ending smoothly with synthesized flutes. This variant was only seen on original Columbia TriStar releases, as current releases remove this logo (prior to Time Warner owning the Castle Rock library, as Palmetto is a Castle Rock film, however a recent TCM France airing retained the Columbia logo, which was also in widescreen).
• On the 2000 Region 2/4 PAL DVD release of Erin Brockovich (and its 2012 reprint), for some strange reason, the 1998 theme is NTSC-pitched (as with the 1997 Universal logo’s theme). This is also the case on the film’s UK VHS release.
• Some newer prints of 1993-1998 films may have their original 1993-98 fanfares (whether main or alternate) reverse plastered with a later 1998 one (whether main or alternate, as well). Examples of this are Blu-ray prints of Last Action Hero (digital prints keep the original fanfare), Netflix’s print of In the Line of Fire (which also includes both films’ 2021 UHD releases), and later releases of Desperado.

Availability: Current. It has been placed in front of most Columbia films for nearly 30 years.

• The first film to use this logo was Last Action Hero (however, the teaser trailer, a scene from the film itself and the TV spot had the previous logo).
• This logo was also seen at the beginning of Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
• Some cable prints and New Line Home Video releases of Castle Rock films such as Needful Things, Malice, Josh and S.A.M., and North actually keep this logo (it doesn’t appear on MGM releases of the former three films; however, the Kino Lorber Blu-rays of Needful Things and Malice have it, the latter after MGM).
• On current prints of City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly’s Gold, this is replaced by the 2001 Warner Bros. Pictures logo (the 1989 Castle Rock logo is intact), while the Shout! Factory Blu-ray removes it. UK and Australian prints keep this intact due to Columbia keeping the rights to City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly’s Gold for those countries.
• Current prints of 1994-1998 Castle Rock films distributed by Columbia have the logo either plastered by a Warner Bros. logo or edited out altogether. Even the end in-credit notices aren’t safe as they’re either blacked out or replaced by a WB logo (it is, however, retained on the 1999 DVD release of City Hall and the Blu-ray and 2021 UHD release of The Shawshank Redemption). The 1998 Warner Home Video VHS release of The American President retains this, however.
• Interestingly, the print logo made its first appearance in early 1993 on posters for The Pickle and Lost in Yonkers, as well as newspaper ads for Groundhog Day; however, those aforementioned titles use the previous logo.
• This also appears on the 1997 Director’s Cut version of Das Boot. Also, the 2006 version plasters the original 1993 logo on the Blu-ray of Muppets from Space.
• It also may have been seen on US theatrical prints of The Wind in the Willows (1996), later re-titled Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but it doesn’t appear on any VHS or DVD releases of said film due to Disney owning the US home video rights. As a result, it was plastered by the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo.
• This logo appears on international trailers for The Punisher and Suspect Zero; however, the two films use the 5th Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International logo instead.
• It was also seen at the start of international prints of Rollerball (2002) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and it was spotted in the Brazilian film Didi Quer Ser Criança, with the latter using a silent version.
• The SPA films The Star, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Wish Dragon don’t have this logo, despite appearing on said films’ promotional materials, but the «Released by» closing logo appears at the end. This also doesn’t appear at the end of Vivo nor Hotel Transylvania: Transformania as the Sony Pictures Entertainment closing logo appears instead.
• A portion of this logo appears about halfway through The King.

Legacy: Considered a beautiful homage to the 1936 logo thanks to its CGI and fanfare. It has been in use for around 30 years, mirroring the longevity of the 3rd logo.

External Links

• Columbia Pictures on Wikipedia
• Official Website
• The Torch Lady Exhibition on the Sony Pictures Museum website
• Columbia Pictures on IMDb

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

Коламбия Пикчерз

Columbia Pictures

In September 1980 Friends signed a contract for the scenario with «Columbia Pictures«, and set to work.

В сентябре 1980 года друзья заключили контракт на сценарий с компанией «Коламбия Пикчерз», и принялись за дело.

Just like Columbia Pictures, CBS Record Group had a long history in American entertainment.

Как и Коламбия пикчерз, запись группы КОС имеет давнюю историю в американском развлечения.

Set shortly after the Events of columbia pictures new film.

Действие игры происходит вскоре после событий нового фильма Columbia Pictures.

Matters worsened when Columbia Pictures experienced financial difficulties.

Ситуация ухудшилась, когда Columbia Pictures столкнулась с финансовыми трудностями.

Batman: 1943 serial released by Columbia Pictures.

In 1939, he joined Columbia pictures.

A scene from Columbia Pictures‘ 2012.

United States: Columbia Pictures (distributor).

It was not released by Columbia Pictures.

Sadly, Columbia Pictures destroyed the original negatives, and only audio recordings of the nine cut songs survive.

К сожалению, «Columbia Pictures» уничтожила оригинальные негативы, и сохранились только аудиозаписи девяти вырезанных песен.

Columbia Pictures signed him for a short term writing contract in 1937.

В 1937 году Columbia Pictures подписала с ним краткосрочный контракт.

They are best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958.

Известны по своим ролям в 190 короткометражных фильмах студии «Columbia Pictures» которые регулярно транслировались на телевидении с 1958 года.

Hayworth had a strained relationship with Columbia Pictures for many years.

Columbia Pictures has been gaining success ever since.

And only after the rebranding into Columbia Pictures things went up.

As both pictures were released by Columbia Pictures.

We want Columbia Pictures to publicly declare that it did not intend to cause offense.

Мы хотим, чтобы Columbia Pictures публично заявила, что не намеревалась кого-либо оскорбить .

Columbia Pictures guaranteed at least $60 million for the rights.

Columbia Pictures гарантирует минимальный доход в 60 миллионов долларов взамен на авторские права.

Thanks to him the girl concluded the contract with the well-known studio Columbia Pictures.

Благодаря ему девушка заключила контракт с известной студией Columbia Pictures.

Of those 220,190 short films were made for Columbia Pictures, for which the trio are best known today.

Из этих 220,190 короткометражных фильмов были сняты на «Columbia Pictures», именно по ним, «Три балбеса» лучше всего известны сейчас.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 391. Точных совпадений: 391. Затраченное время: 55 мс

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Корпоративные решения

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Индекс слова: 1-300, 301-600, 601-900

Индекс выражения: 1-400, 401-800, 801-1200

Индекс фразы: 1-400, 401-800, 801-1200

Предложения с «Columbia Pictures»

He also co-starred with character comedian Richard Lane in a series of 11 comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures ; the series ran from 1945 to 1950.	Он также снялся вместе с персонажем — комиком Ричардом Лейном в серии из 11 комедийных короткометражек для Columbia Pictures ; сериал шел с 1945 по 1950 год.
Herbert joined Columbia Pictures in 1943 and became a familiar face in short subjects, with the same actors and directors who made the Stooges shorts.	Герберт присоединился к Columbia Pictures в 1943 году и стал знакомым лицом в коротких сюжетах, с теми же актерами и режиссерами, которые сделали короткометражки The Stooges.
The studio complex was later bought by Columbia Pictures and given to Sam Katzman and Irving Briskin as base of operations for their film units.	Позже студийный комплекс был куплен компанией Columbia Pictures и передан Сэму Кацману и Ирвингу Брискину в качестве базы для их съемочных подразделений.
Something’s Gotta Give was a co-production between Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros.	Что — то перепадет было совместное производство между Коламбия Пикчерз и Уорнер Бразерс
It was part of the Rusty series of films produced by Columbia Pictures .	Это была часть серии ржавых фильмов производства Columbia Pictures .
The work led to short-lived film contracts with Twentieth Century-Fox and Columbia Pictures .	Эта работа привела к кратковременным контрактам фильм ХХ век — Фокс и Коламбия Пикчерз.
It is the 151st entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.	Это 151 — я запись в серии, выпущенной Columbia Pictures с участием комиков, которые выпустили 190 короткометражек для студии между 1934 и 1959 годами.
She is mainly remembered as the beautiful blonde actress who appeared in many of The Three Stooges shorts produced by Columbia Pictures .	Она в основном запомнилась как красивая блондинка актриса, которая появилась во многих из трех марионеток, выпущенных Columbia Pictures .
It is the 104th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.	Это 104 — я запись в серии, выпущенной Columbia Pictures с участием комиков, которые выпустили 190 короткометражек для студии между 1934 и 1959 годами.
and Columbia Pictures jointly released an announcement teaser on December 19, 2016.	и Columbia Pictures совместно выпустили тизер анонса 19 декабря 2016 года.
In August 1962, Donadio brokered the sale of movie rights to Columbia Pictures for $100,000 plus $25,000 to write a treatment or a first draft of a screenplay.	В августе 1962 года Донадио выступил посредником в продаже прав на фильм компании Columbia Pictures за 100 000 долларов плюс 25 000 долларов на написание сценария или первого наброска сценария.
The film was originally released on VHS by Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment in 1982, and again in 1983 by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.	Фильм был первоначально выпущен на VHS компанией Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment в 1982 году, и снова в 1983 году RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
The film, a co-production between Touchstone Pictures and Columbia Pictures , was directed by Chris Columbus .	Режиссером фильма, снятого совместно компаниями Touchstone Pictures и Columbia Pictures , был Крис Колумбус.
Batman was a 15-chapter serial film released in 1943 by Columbia Pictures and was the first appearance of the comic book character on film.	Бэтмен был 15 — серийным фильмом, выпущенным в 1943 году компанией Columbia Pictures , и стал первым появлением персонажа комиксов на пленке.
acquired Lorimar-Telepictures and gained control of the former MGM studio lot in Culver City, and that same year, Sony bought Columbia Pictures .	приобрел Lorimar — Telepictures и получил контроль над бывшим участком студии MGM в Калвер — Сити, а в том же году Sony купила Columbia Pictures .
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner’s international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures .	С 1971 года до конца 1987 года Международная дистрибьюторская деятельность Warner была совместным предприятием с Columbia Pictures .
In 1983 Pryor signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $40 million and he started his own production company, Indigo Productions.	В 1983 году Прайор подписал пятилетний контракт с Columbia Pictures на 40 миллионов долларов и основал собственную продюсерскую компанию Indigo Productions.
The film was released in the United States on June 24, 2016, by Columbia Pictures .	Фильм был выпущен в США 24 июня 2016 года компанией Columbia Pictures .
The Coca-Cola Company purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982, and began inserting Coke-product images into many of its films.	Компания Coca — Cola приобрела Columbia Pictures в 1982 году и начала вставлять изображения продуктов коксования во многие свои фильмы.
It is the 103rd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.	Это 103 — я запись в серии, выпущенной Columbia Pictures с участием комиков, которые выпустили 190 короткометражек для студии между 1934 и 1959 годами.
The film was picked up by Columbia Pictures , with 10 Cloverfield Lane screenwriter Daniel Casey writing the script and Fede Alvarez directing.	Фильм был подхвачен компанией Columbia Pictures , где сценарист Дэниел Кейси написал сценарий 10 Cloverfield Lane, а Феде Альварес — режиссером.
Joyce brought me over to Columbia Pictures about a week later and got me a contract there.	Примерно через неделю Джойс привезла меня в Коламбия Пикчерс и заключила там контракт.
Both Columbia Pictures productions starred Howard St. John in the title role.	В обеих постановках Columbia Pictures главную роль исполнил Говард Сент — Джон.
One Shivery Night is an American comedy short released by Columbia Pictures on July 13, 1950.	One Shivery Night — американская комедийная короткометражка, выпущенная Columbia Pictures 13 июля 1950 года.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played the weary postman in Columbia Pictures ‘ Blondie film series.	В конце 1930 — х и начале 1940 — х годов он играл усталого почтальона в серии фильмов Columbia Pictures Blondie.
When Kelly was loaned to Columbia Pictures for a film, he was offered the chance to choreograph his own dance numbers and asked Donen to assist.	Когда Келли был одолжен в Columbia Pictures для фильма, ему предложили поставить собственные танцевальные номера и попросили Донена помочь.
Distributed by Columbia Pictures , the film was theatrically released on March 23, 2007, and on DVD and Blu-ray on October 9, 2007.	Распространенный компанией Columbia Pictures , фильм был театрально выпущен 23 марта 2007 года, а на DVD и Blu — ray — 9 октября 2007 года.
The film was released on June 13, 2014, by Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.	Фильм был выпущен 13 июня 2014 года компанией Columbia Pictures и Metro — Goldwyn — Mayer.
In 2006, Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code was released as a film by Columbia Pictures , with director Ron Howard.	В 2006 году роман Брауна Код Да Винчи был выпущен в качестве фильма компанией Columbia Pictures с режиссером Роном Говардом.
Smithy had been made with funds from Columbia Pictures , who offered Randell a long-term contract and he moved to Hollywood in October 1946.	Смити был сделан на средства Columbia Pictures , которая предложила Рэнделлу долгосрочный контракт, и он переехал в Голливуд в октябре 1946 года.
But I don’t care if I never do another like the kind I worked in for Columbia Pictures .	Но мне все равно, даже если я никогда больше не буду делать ничего подобного тому, что делал в Коламбия Пикчерс.
Smithy had been made with funds from Columbia Pictures , who offered Randell a long-term contract and he moved to Hollywood in October 1946.	Смити был сделан на средства Columbia Pictures , которая предложила Рэнделлу долгосрочный контракт, и он переехал в Голливуд в октябре 1946 года.
But I don’t care if I never do another like the kind I worked in for Columbia Pictures .	Но мне все равно, даже если я никогда больше не буду делать ничего подобного тому, что делал в Коламбия Пикчерс.
In the late 1930s, Perrin produced for Columbia Pictures , moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s.	В конце 1930 — х годов Перрин работал продюсером для Columbia Pictures , а в 1940 — х годах переехал в Metro — Goldwyn — Mayer.
Republic and Columbia Pictures were the last to offer serials in the mid-1950s.	Республика и Колумбия Пикчерс были последними, кто предлагал сериалы в середине 1950 — х годов.
The company is located on the Sony/Columbia Pictures lot in Culver City, California.	Компания расположена на участке Sony/Columbia Pictures в Калвер — Сити, штат Калифорния.
In September 1998, August convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the film rights on his behalf.	В сентябре 1998 года Август убедил Columbia Pictures приобрести права на фильм от его имени.
Flight Into Nowhere is a 1938 American adventure film directed by Lewis D. Collins, and produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia Pictures .	Полет в никуда — это 1938 американский приключенческий фильм режиссер Льюис Д. Коллинз, и произведенный Ларри Darmour на Коламбия Пикчерз.
Columbia Pictures screened the film for test audiences, who rated poorly the ending with the SWAT raid and Burnham’s capture.	Columbia Pictures показала фильм для тестовой аудитории, которая плохо оценила финал с рейдом спецназа и захватом Бернхэма.
Columbia Pictures marketed Panic Room as being produced by the same director who produced Seven and Fight Club.	Коламбия Пикчерз продается комната страха как был произведен тот самый режиссер, который произвел семь и Бойцовский клуб.
Columbia Pictures sold the TV rights for Panic Room to Turner Broadcasting and CBS, who shared the rights over five years.	Его называли Свободной Государственной шерстяной фабрикой, и ткань часто заказывали лично для Эамона де Валеры.
The film began development in 1980, when Columbia Pictures president Frank Price gave Silverman the idea to produce a fantasy film.	Разработка фильма началась в 1980 году, когда президент Columbia Pictures Фрэнк Прайс подал Сильверману идею снять фантастический фильм.
The rights to the movie were picked up by Columbia Pictures , with Robert Downey Jr.. attached as a producer and probable lead actor.	Права на фильм были приобретены компанией Columbia Pictures вместе с Робертом Дауни — младшим.. прикреплен в качестве продюсера и вероятного ведущего актера.
Plans fell through, though Columbia Pictures would eventually produce several Spider-Man films.	Планы рухнули, хотя Коламбия Пикчерс в конечном итоге выпустила несколько фильмов о Человеке — Пауке.
Previously, two live-action, multiple chapter movie serials from Columbia Pictures Inc.	Ранее были выпущены два полнометражных многосерийных фильма из серии Columbia Pictures Inc.
The name Gower came from Capra’s employer Columbia Pictures , which had been located on Gower Street for many years.	Название Гауэр произошло от имени работодателя Капры — компании Коламбия Пикчерс, которая уже много лет находилась на Гауэр — стрит.
Eraserhead was released on VHS on August 7, 1982, by Columbia Pictures .	Eraserhead был выпущен на VHS 7 августа 1982 года компанией Columbia Pictures .
Variety reported in February 2008 that Columbia Pictures had optioned the comic for a film adaptation, to be produced by Neal H. Moritz.	Variety сообщила в феврале 2008 года, что Columbia Pictures выбрала комикс для экранизации, которую будет производить Нил Х. Мориц.
The acquisition was preceded by the takeover of Columbia Pictures by Sony, the arch rival of Matsushita.	Этому приобретению предшествовало поглощение Columbia Pictures компанией Sony, главным конкурентом Matsushita.
Both films were properties of Columbia Pictures , which also owned Screen Gems, the company that produced Bewitched.	Оба фильма были собственностью Columbia Pictures , которая также владела Screen Gems, компанией, которая производила заколдованный.
From 1973 to 1982, the entire series was syndicated by Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures .	С 1973 по 1982 год вся серия была синдицирована компанией Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures .
It was produced by BBC Films and Left Bank Pictures with additional funding from Screen Yorkshire and Columbia Pictures .	Он был спродюсирован BBC Films и Left Bank Pictures с дополнительным финансированием от Screen Yorkshire и Columbia Pictures .
HBO signed its first major exclusive film output deal with Columbia Pictures in the early 1980s.	HBO подписала свой первый крупный эксклюзивный контракт с Columbia Pictures в начале 1980 — х годов.
Production was threatened when Actor’s Equity placed a black ban on film contracts issued by Ealing Studios, Columbia Pictures Ltd.	Производство было поставлено под угрозу, когда актерский капитал наложил черный запрет на киноконтракты, выданные Ealing Studios, Columbia Pictures Ltd.
Holmes & Watson was released in the United States on December 25, 2018 by Sony Pictures Releasing, through its Columbia Pictures label.	Holmes & Watson был выпущен в Соединенных Штатах 25 декабря 2018 года компанией Sony Pictures Releasing через свой лейбл Columbia Pictures .
The movie was produced by Columbia Pictures .	Фильм был спродюсирован компанией Columbia Pictures .
A film adaptation based on the game was initially announced in May 2002 by Columbia Pictures .	Экранизация по мотивам этой игры была первоначально анонсирована в мае 2002 года компанией Columbia Pictures .
The film was released by Columbia Pictures .	Фильм был выпущен компанией Columbia Pictures .
You wrote the last picture I did at Columbia .	Я играла в последнем фильме по вашему сценарию.
Producers Lou Appleton and Bud Small had a deal with Columbia to make a new series of pictures about Bulldog Drummond.	Продюсеры Лу Эпплтон и Бад Смолл заключили сделку с Колумбией, чтобы сделать новую серию картин о бульдоге Драммонде.

Как пишется на английском коламбия пикчерз

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Источник

Columbia+Pictures

1 Columbia Pictures Publications

2 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law

3 J.Trans.L. Columbia Journal of Transnational Law

4 Columbia College

5 (columbia university) Center for Telecommunications Research

6 (columbia) Mobile Host Protocol

7 AM-1320, Columbia, South Carolina

8 AM-1450, FM-104.9, Columbia, Mississippi

9 AM-1470, Columbia, South Carolina

10 AM-620, Columbia, South Carolina

11 Abbotsford International Airport, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

12 Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada

13 Allied Destructive Hackers Of Columbia

14 Anderson Columbia Company Incorporated

15 Appeal Cases, District of Columbia

16 Area Command, District of Columbia

17 Artful Good Pictures

18 Associated British Pictures Corporation

19 Association of British Columbia Professional Foresters

20 Augmented Graphics Pictures

См. также в других словарях:

Columbia Pictures — Industries, Inc. The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Type Subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Industry Film Founded Los … Wikipedia

Columbia Pictures — Tipo Filial de Sony Pictures Fundación 1919 (como Cohn Brandt Cohn ) 1924 (como Columbia Pictures ) Sede Culver City, California … Wikipedia Español

Columbia Pictures — [Columbia Pictures] a large ↑Hollywood film company, producing films for cinema and television. It was established in 1924 and its first big success was It Happened One Night (1934). Others have included ↑Easy Rider (1969), ↑Taxi Driver (1976)… … Useful english dictionary

Columbia Pictures — Das Logo von Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ist eine US amerikanische Film und TV Produktionsfirma und Teil der Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, welche wiederum zu Sony Pictures Entertainment gehört. Das Unternehmen… … Deutsch Wikipedia

Columbia Pictures — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Columbia. Columbia Pictures … Википедия

Columbia Pictures — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Columbia. Logo de Columbia Pictures … Wikipédia en Français

Columbia Pictures — Actualmente, Columbia Pictures, forma parte del Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, desde su fusión con TriStar Pictures en 1998. Este grupo ha sido absorbido por la multinacional japonesa Sony. La predecesora de la Columbia Pictures fue la… … Enciclopedia Universal

Columbia Pictures — /kəˈlʌmbiə/ (say kuh lumbeeuh) noun a US film production company, formed in 1920 as CBC; became Columbia Pictures in 1924 … Australian-English dictionary

Columbia pictures — … Википедия

Columbia Pictures — a large Hollywood film company, producing films for the cinema and television. It was established in 1924 and its first big success was It Happened One Night (1934). Others have included Easy Rider (1969), Taxi Driver (1976) and Ghandi (1982).… … Universalium

Columbia Pictures Television — (CPT) was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems (SG). The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. Former type Subsidiary of Sony Pictures … Wikipedia

Источник

columbia pictures publications

1 Columbia Pictures

2 Columbia Pictures

3 CPP

4 cpp

5 Big Seven

6 Burbank

7 Hollywood

8 Burbank Studios

9 Gower Street

10 pictures

11 CBS Columbia Broadcasting System

12 Columbia

13 District of Columbia

14 moving pictures

15 columbia

16 Obscene Publications Act 1964

17 Columbia

18 Columbia J.Trans.L.

19 columbia

20 through pictures

Comic books also became much more popular at this time because the cinema began then, and people liked stories told through pictures.

См. также в других словарях:

Columbia Broadcasting System — Type Réseau de radio et réseau de télévision Mis en ondes 21 janvier 1927 (en tant que United Independent Broadcasters) Pays États Unis Fondé par William S. Pa … Wikipédia en Français

Columbia — Not to be confused with Colombia, the country in South America. Columbia may refer to: Contents 1 Places 1.1 Towns and cities in the United States … Wikipedia

Columbia University — For other uses, see Columbia University (disambiguation). Columbia University in the City of New York … Wikipedia

Sony Pictures Television — Sony Pictures Television, Inc. Type Subsidiary of Sony Pictures Industry Television production Television syndication … Wikipedia

RKO Pictures — Infobox Company company name = RKO Radio Pictures Inc. company company type = Corporation foundation = 1929 (as Radio Pictures Inc., subsidiary of Radio Keith Orpheum Corp.) location = 1270 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY key people =… … Wikipedia

Paramount Pictures — « Paramount » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Paramount (homonymie). Logo de la Paramount Pictures … Wikipédia en Français

Tiffany Pictures — (known for a period as Tiffany Stahl Productions) was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921[1] until 1932. The Death Kiss (1932) produced by Tiffany Pictures, released by Sono Art World Wide Pictures, and starring Bela Lugosi … Wikipedia

United Artists Pictures — United Artists Ne doit pas être confondu avec United Artists Theatres ou United Artists Lot. Logotype actuel de United Artists … Wikipédia en Français

Comox, British Columbia — For other uses, see Comox (disambiguation). Town of Comox Comox Flag … Wikipedia

Edwin F. Kalmus — (1893 – 1989) was an American music publisher. In 1926, he founded his eponymous publishing house in New York which quickly became one of the largest self contained publishing houses in the United States. Although several contemporary American… … Wikipedia

Julio Iglesias — Existen desacuerdos sobre la neutralidad en el punto de vista de la versión actual de este artículo o sección. En la página de discusión puedes consultar el debate al respecto … Wikipedia Español

Источник

columbia pictures

1 Columbia Pictures

2 Columbia Pictures

См. также в других словарях:

Columbia Pictures — Industries, Inc. The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Type Subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Industry Film Founded Los … Wikipedia

Columbia Pictures — Tipo Filial de Sony Pictures Fundación 1919 (como Cohn Brandt Cohn ) 1924 (como Columbia Pictures ) Sede Culver City, California … Wikipedia Español

Columbia Pictures — [Columbia Pictures] a large ↑Hollywood film company, producing films for cinema and television. It was established in 1924 and its first big success was It Happened One Night (1934). Others have included ↑Easy Rider (1969), ↑Taxi Driver (1976)… … Useful english dictionary

Columbia Pictures — Das Logo von Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ist eine US amerikanische Film und TV Produktionsfirma und Teil der Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, welche wiederum zu Sony Pictures Entertainment gehört. Das Unternehmen… … Deutsch Wikipedia

Columbia Pictures — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Columbia. Columbia Pictures … Википедия

Columbia Pictures — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Columbia. Logo de Columbia Pictures … Wikipédia en Français

Columbia Pictures — Actualmente, Columbia Pictures, forma parte del Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, desde su fusión con TriStar Pictures en 1998. Este grupo ha sido absorbido por la multinacional japonesa Sony. La predecesora de la Columbia Pictures fue la… … Enciclopedia Universal

Columbia Pictures — /kəˈlʌmbiə/ (say kuh lumbeeuh) noun a US film production company, formed in 1920 as CBC; became Columbia Pictures in 1924 … Australian-English dictionary

Columbia pictures — … Википедия

Columbia Pictures — a large Hollywood film company, producing films for the cinema and television. It was established in 1924 and its first big success was It Happened One Night (1934). Others have included Easy Rider (1969), Taxi Driver (1976) and Ghandi (1982).… … Universalium

Columbia Pictures Television — (CPT) was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems (SG). The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. Former type Subsidiary of Sony Pictures … Wikipedia

Источник

Топик по английскому American Film Company «Columbia Pictures»

Рубрика: США

Давно не выкладывала вам топиков — мини-текстов на разные темы с переводом и полезными фразами. Сегодня текст об известной американской кинокомпании, название которой мы слышим и видим при просмотре практически каждого второго американского фильма.

Almost every one of us knows the American company «Columbia Pictures» as a famous television studio and film company, which became the biggest Hollywood studio due to the Harry Cohn’s presidency.

In 1919, M. Cohn jointly with brothers decided to found the company for creating short and low-budget comedies and westerns. Originally, «Columbia Pictures» had the name «CBC Film Sales Corporation». Practically, the Cohn’s brothers and their relatives were the main part of stuff. Frankly speaking, at that moment the company had a lower reputation, as a result it was jokingly named as «Corned Beef and Cabbage». That’s why M. Cohn decided to change the name to «Columbia Pictures» in 1924. Such a successful attempt helped to improve the company image and attract new investments.

Перевод:

Практически каждый из нас знает американскую компанию «Columbia Pictures» как известную телевизионную студию и кинокомпанию, которая стала самой большой съёмочной площадкой в Голливуде благодаря руководству Гарри Кона.

В 1919 году Гарри Кон и его братья решили создать компанию по выпуску коротких и низкобюджетных вестернов, и комедий. Изначально компания «Columbia Pictures» имела другое название – «CBC Film Sales Corporation». Значительную часть персонала в то время составляли сами братья и их родственники. Откровенно говоря, в тот момент, компания имела очень низкую репутацию, за что ее прозвали в шутку как «квашеная капуста и солонина». В надежде хоть как-то поправить имидж в 1924 году Гарри Кон решил переименовать её в «Columbia Pictures». Такая удачная попытка помогла улучшить имидж компании и привлечь новые инвестиции.

Гарри Кон лично курировал кинопроизводство до 1958 года, установив своеобразный голливудский рекорд в этом отношении.

Полезные слова и выражения:

To found — основать;

To create – создавать;

Frankly speaking –откровенно говоря;

To improve the image – улучшить имидж;

Transnational corporations – транснациональные корпорации.

Источник