Columbia Pictures: Difference between revisions

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'''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 Entertainment]]'s [[Sony Pictures Entertainment]], itself a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony and one of the major American film studios.

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" (commonly known as "Columbia Pictures") after Columbia Pictures Corporation merged with its television division [[Screen Gems Television|Screen Gems]]. On June 22, 1982, Columbia Pictures was sold to [[The Coca-Cola Company]] for $750 million, became part of Columbia Pictures Entertainment in December 1987 with Coke owning 49%, and since November 8, 1989, it's owned by Sony Corporation of Japan. Since 1998, it is 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 the mentioned multinational conglomerate.

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'''Logo:''' On a {{color|darkgray|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" appearing in an arched text and the text "CORPORATION" underneath the arched words in a straight line and the text "Presents" below.

*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.

 

'''FX/SFX:''' TBA.

'''Music/Sounds:''' The opening theme of the movie.

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

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{{YouTube|id=QpIEeoDVtT0|id2=6LR-7VmUcrk|id3=-1hEa_3BxfA|id4=8lC8zYQESdU|id5=B32HFqTKR8E}}

'''Nicknames:''' "Early Torch Lady", "Sparkler Torch Lady", "20s Torch Lady", "Torch Lady", "Lady of Liberty", "America's Torch Lady"

*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".

*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 {{color|gold|yellow}}.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A majestic horn sounder, much like the [[20th Century Fox]] logo, or the opening/closing theme of the short/feature.

'''Availability:''' Uncommon. It was seen on ''It Happened One Night''. 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. Don't expect this to appear on original prints of Walt Disney's ''Mickey Mouse'' and ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoons from 1930-1932, as Columbia only distributed those shorts.

'''Editor's Note:''' This is known as the first torch lady logo; the lady itself looks noticeably different compared to the other logos, all which had the most famous version of the lady.

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'''Nicknames:''' "Classic Torch Lady", "'30s Torch Lady", "'40s Torch Lady in Color", "Torch Lady II", "America's Torch Lady II"

'''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.

*1942: The lady looks much like she did in 1936, only the stripes are removed and the flag is now simply a drape without markings (the Sony website implies that the change was to coincide with a new law that forbade the usage of the American flag as clothing), dark on the left shoulder but only the shadows of the folds differentiating 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 {{color|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.

*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.

*1960-1968: Similar to the CinemaScope variant, but the clouds are {{color|blue}}.

*April 1968-December 12, 1973, April 5, 1974, August 1, 1976: The drapery is temporarily {{color|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''.

*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 from 1940-1945, the 1936 (or 1942) Torch Lady appears on the left side of ''The Three Stooges'' title card. On the steps are the words "COLUMBIA" on top, "SHORT SUBJECT" in the middle, and "PRESENTATION" on the bottom step.

*On the 1976 film ''Taxi Driver'', the logo is on a black background with {{color|blue}} clouds and has all of the text appearing at the same time.

*On the 1948 ''Three Stooges'' short "Fuelin' Around", the 1968 logo in black & white iss 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 '90s.

*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.

*Two ending variants existed for short subjects during the early '40s: (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 {{color|yellow|yellowish}}-{{color|gold}} color, and the clouds and shadows are shades of {{color|darkblue|dark}} and {{color|lightblue|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.

*On the colorized version of the 1955 film ''Queen Bee'', the logo is colorized and is tinted {{color|blue}}, with "COLUMBIA" in {{color|blue}}/white, but with a lady in a {{color|purple}} and {{color|yellow}} tone to it, and the pedestal is a {{color|yellow|yellowish}} color.

*On colorized prints of ''It Should Happen To You'', the logo is colorized, plus the cloud background is now {{color|darkblue|dark blue}}, the lady is still colorized, but with the "COLUMBIA" text in {{color|yellow|yellowish}}-{{color|gold}}.

*On the colorized print of ''The Awful Truth'', the cloud and sky background is {{color|blue}}, the Torch Lady is colorized, and the "COLUMBIA" text is {{color|orange}}. It's similar to the Cinecolor variant, but colorized.

*An Italian version of the closing version was shown at the end of the Spanish Mexican film ''Él'' (aka ''This Strange Passion'' or ''Lui'').

'''FX/SFX:''' The torch rays shining more realistically than before.

'''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.

*This was seen on early releases of the 1975 version of ''The Stepford Wives'', but when [[Viacom (1952-2006)|Viacom]] bought the rights to the film, along with the rest of the [[Palomar Pictures International|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.

*The ''Three Stooges'' shorts that include the "Short Subject" variants will likely be retained, being followed by the [[Sony Pictures Television]] logo.

'''Editor's Note:''' It's held up remarkably over the 40 years it's been used. It also served as the basis for the 1955 [[Screen Gems Television|Screen Gems Television]] logo. Even though its not plastered, it's often followed by the Sony Pictures Television logo.

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f1559519d0b15f2665b62b3b2375acb9.png|The Torch Lady

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'''Nicknames:''' "'70s Torch Lady", "The Abstract Torch", "The Sunburst", "Torch Lady III"

'''Logo:''' It begins with the familiar Columbia Torch Lady (a less-detailed {{color|gold|yellow}}-toned 1942 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 {{color|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.

'''Variant:''' 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''.

'''FX/SFX:''' The Torch Lady's torch zooming in, then turning into the Sunburst, which is (as noted above) 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.

'''Availability:''' Common. Sony is much better at keeping older theatrical logos on current releases of their films than [[Sony Pictures Television Studios|their TV output]] (which is another story). In the early days of [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|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 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).

*Don't expect to see this or the 1963 [[Universal Pictures]] logo on the Steven Spielberg movie ''1941'' (which Columbia co-released with Universal).

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

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'''Logo:'''

*1981-1989: We see the standard Columbia Torch Lady (a somewhat less detailed version of the '70s Torch Lady; she also appears to be resembling Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa) standing on a pedestal with her torch against the backdrop of clouds (which are now slightly less detailed and have a {{color|blue|blueish}} tone to them). The torch then shines into a bright abstract shape, as if in a sunburst, then dims back in place. The words "{{color|#FFA500|'''Columbia Pictures'''}}" (appearing in the same font from the last logo) fade to the left and right of the Torch Lady. Her torch "shines".

*1989-1993: The logo fades in just like the 1981 version, however the sunburst animation has been abolished, although one can still see a glimpse of the {{color|red}} light from the sunburst if one looks closely. Instead, after a second, the "{{color|#FFA500|'''Columbia Pictures'''}}}}" text fades in (a la the 1936-1976 logo).  

*When viewed in full screen, there are varying versions where we see her pedestal, including close, medium and far views.

*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.

*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 "{{font|Times New Roman|'''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 Entertainment|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 "{{font|Times New Roman|'''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 "{{font|Times New Roman|'''A Columbia Pictures Release'''}}" below it.

'''Music/Sounds:''' Usually, it is silent or has the opening theme of the movie playing over it.

*On a Portuguese print of ''Stone Cold'', this has the 1995 [[MGM]] lion roar, due to a reverse plastering error.

*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.

*[[New Line Home Entertainment|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.

*It also appears on the [[Trimark Home Video|Vidmark]] and [[Starmaker Entertainment|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 (don't expect this on the 2006 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD release, as it 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 Australian [[Time-Life Video]] VHS and 2005 Australian DVD of ''The Adventures of Milo and Otis'' have this logo removed for unknown reasons (it's unknown if the original [[Video Selection Australia]] VHS used this logo).

*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 [[Constantin Film (Germany)|Neue Constantin Film]] logo.

===6th Logo (June 13, 1993-)===

<center><big><u>'''''OPENING VARIANTS'''''</u></big></center>

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<center><big><u>'''''CLOSING VARIANTS'''''</u></big></center>

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'''Nicknames:''' "'90s Torch Lady", "Decadal Torch Lady", "Torch Lady V", "Majestic Torch Lady", "Jenny Joseph The Torch Lady", "Sony Torch Lady"

*1993-2006: This logo has a face lifted Torch Lady from 1936-1976 on her pedestal on a sky background filled with cumulonimbus clouds, giving more detail to the drawing. First, we see a bright light, as if in a sunburst, with the cloud background fading in a brief second later. The light is coming from a torch, which zooms out to reveal a lady who's holding it. After the lady, along with the cloud background, are fully zoomed out, on the top "COLUMBIA", seen in a bold, {{color|silver}} chiseled font, fades in afterwards as a ring of light shimmers around the lady, while the cloud background very slowly pans to the right.

*2006-2014: Starting with ''The Holiday'', released on December 8, 2006, the logo was given a more "enhanced" look, similar to 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 {{color|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 received a one-time revival in 2019 with ''Little Women'' (2019).

*2014-2021: Starting with ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'', released on May 2, 2014, the logo is preceded by the then-new [[Sony Entertainment|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.

*2021-: 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 June 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.

*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 [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|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 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 animation provided for the 2006 and 2014 versions of the logo was done by [[Sony Pictures Imageworks (Canada)|Sony Pictures Imageworks]].

*Starting with the release of ''The Craft'' on May 3, 1996, "{{color|#FFA500|'''a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company'''}}" appears on the bottom, being slightly off-center. 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 "{{color|#FFA500|'''a Sony Company'''}}", with the {{color|orange}}-{{color|yellow}} color of the previous byline changed to a {{color|brown|bronze}} and is properly centered. This version was first spotted on ''American Hustle'' (the variant of the logo to use the 1976 logo in 2013), ''The Monuments Men'', and the official trailers for ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' and ''22 Jump Street''.

*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.

*There is a variation of the 2014-present logo (used since mid-2016) where the Sony byline stays on-screen for a split second longer before fading out if one looks closely. This version first appeared on ''The Shallows'', and can be seen on other films such as ''Spider-Man: Homecoming'', ''Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'', ''Venom'', ''Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween'', and ''Charlie's Angels'' (2019), among others.

*On 4:3 prints of ''The Remains of the Day'', the logo zooms out to a much farther distance, 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 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.

*After the end credits of ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', the logo is still and the print logo is replaced.

*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. Usually, it is in color white, but some movies (such as on ''13 Going on 30'', wherein the logo is {{color|magenta|hot pink}}, and on ''50 First Dates'', wherein the logo is {{color|skyblue|periwinkle blue}}) have this in any 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 ''Kung Fu Hustle'' in 2004. Beginning with ''Life'' in 2017, a revised version of this variant is used. Here, the text and byline are larger.

*The 1993 common 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 "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 common (and most common) 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 and is the version used in high tone variations of the logo. The final film to use this rendition was ''Hotel Transylvania'' (2012).  

*Starting with ''Sex Tape'', released on July 18, 2014, extra build-up is added at the beginning of the 1998 common 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.

*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), 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.

*On current prints of ''City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold'', this is replaced by the 2001 [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] logo (though the 1989 Castle Rock logo is kept), while the [[Shout! Factory]] Blu-ray deletes it out and the 1989 Castle Rock logo is the only one to appear. 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.

*It also may have been seen on 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 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.

'''Editor's Note:''' A beautiful homage to the 1936 logo that has been in use for over three decades, thanks to the well-crafted animation. However, some believe this logo is becoming stale nowadays and needs an update, especially as the studio's centenary approaches. Regardless, the longevity of this logo may seem to mirror the longevity that the 1936-1976 logo had.

===External Links===

*[[w:Columbia Pictures|Columbia Pictures]] on Wikipedia

*[https://www.sonypictures.com/movies Official Website]

*[https://www.sonypicturesmuseum.com/exhibitions/columbia The Torch Lady Exhibition] on the Sony Pictures Museum website

*[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0050868 Columbia Pictures] on IMDb

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