Columbia Pictures: Difference between revisions

{{YouTube|id=B32HFqTKR8E|id2=oDRHWiqT88k|id3=QpIEeoDVtT0|id4=6LR-7VmUcrk}}

 

{{YouTube|id=Gio76SRFFQ0|id2=cA3mk_On7QQ|id3=Z3IWCdLzv-Q|id4=mtdElN1ULUU|id5=nI_dSMQQNn0|id6=BAWQ-BShkFI|id7=MW99P3distA|id8=nGp_PqjrKDk|id9=wcjcdQz2Jmk|id10=1--zwvWy8nc|id11=BlmCkIiGOIw|id12=p6mgsBHt2Qs}}

 

'''Variants:'''

* 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).

* 2014-2022: 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. 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-: 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 (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 (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.

* A prototype version of the SPE byline was used on ''The Juror'', released on February 2, 1996. The byline is chyroned in cheaply and is a lot bigger and wider than the proportion of the "COLUMBIA" name and the pedestal.

* 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), US prints of ''The Monuments Men'', and the official trailers for ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' and ''22 Jump Street''.

* In 1999, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary. The beginning of the logo started 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.  

* 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 Bros. Home Entertainment|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.

* 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 ''Kung Fu Hustle'' in 2004 and also seen on ''Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway'' and ''The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' in 2021 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.

* 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 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 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 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.

* On some films, the 1998 alternate fanfare is high-toned. Notable films that are being played in high tone on NTSC prints are: ''Zathura: A Space Adventure'', ''The Pink Panther'' (2006), ''Casino Royale'' (2006), ''The Pursuit of Happyness'', ''Catch and Release'', ''Ghost Rider'', ''How Do You Know'', the 2012 remake of ''Total Recall'', and four early Sony Pictures Animation films (''Open Season'', ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'', some prints of ''Arthur Christmas'' and ''Hotel Transylvania''), among others. The high-toned version of all versions of the fanfare listed above can mostly be found on PAL prints of almost all movies by the company. However, the 1998 alternate fanfare is likely to be double-pitched on PAL prints of these aforementioned movies listed. The sequels to ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'' (2009) and ''Hotel Transylvania'' (2012) (except ''Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation'' (also known as ''A Monster Vacation'' internationally)) use the normal-toned 1998 common fanfare instead due to the 1998 alternative fanfare being retired, while the sequels to ''Open Season'' remove this logo due to being direct-to-video.

* There is also a double-pitched (very high tone) version of the 1998 theme, which can be heard on ''Hollow Man'', ''The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc'' (likely to be a triple-pitched version on these PAL releases), and at least the Amazon Prime Video print of ''The Pursuit of Happyness'', and others.

* 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 Entertainment|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.

* Some newer prints of 1993-1998 films may have their original 1993-98 fanfares (whether common or alternate) reverse plastered with a later 1998 one (whether common or alternate, as well). Examples of this are Blu-ray prints of ''Last Action Hero'' (though 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''.

* The first film to use this logo was ''Last Action Hero'' (although 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 Entertainment|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 (though don't expect to see it on [[MGM Home Entertainment|MGM]] releases of the former three films, although 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 (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.

* 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 (though it is retained on the 1999 DVD release of ''City Hall'' and the Blu-Ray release 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 American 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 [[Sony Pictures Releasing International|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.

* This logo isn't seen on the opening of ''The Star'', ''Hotel Transylvania 3'' (the first 2 and the 4th films have it), ''The Angry Birds Movie 2'' (the first film has it) and ''Wish Dragon'', all of them from Sony Pictures Animation, despite appearing on said films promotional materials, but the "Released by" closing logo appears at the end for said films. This is most likely due to ''The Emoji Movie'''s poor reception. It also isn't seen at the end of ''Vivo'' nor ''Hotel Transylvania: Transformania'', and the former and ''The Mitchells vs. The Machines'' both used custom variants of this at the beginning.

* A portion of this logo appears about halfway through ''The King''.