Columbia Pictures: Difference between revisions

* 1993-2008, 2010, 2013, 2019: First, there is a ray of light, resembling a sunburst, with a different cloud background fading in a brief second later. The light is coming from a torch, as the screen zooms out to reveal a face-lifted Torch Lady, now with a more detailed and realistic look; all of her fingers are now on the torch as she holds it. Once the camera is fully zoomed out, "COLUMBIA", seen in a bold, {{color|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 {{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 came back for a one-time revival in 2019 with ''Little Women'' (2019). Outside of the US, the original logo was used in various Brazilian releases co-produced and distributed by Sony, even after the enhanced logo premiered, such as in ''Saneamento Básico: O Filme'' (2007), ''Chico Xavier'' (2010), and ''Tainá: A Origem'' (2013).

* 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).

* 2021-2022: 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'' (home media releases were done by [[Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount]] so they use [[Paramount Pictures|that studio]]'s logos instead). This later made a surprise re-appearance on ''The Equalizer 3'', released on September 1, 2023.

* 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''. ''Napoleon'' does not contain a transition from a Sony logo, instead going straight into the Columbia Pictures 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 paint a new version of the Torch Lady. 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, first debuted on March 2 of that year and was featured in the [[Columbia Pictures Television]] and [[Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment|Columbia TriStar Home Video]] identities prior to this logo's appearance.

* The identity of the Torch Lady's model wasn't divulged until 2004; prior rumors persisted that Annette Bening was the model.

* There is a slight error in the enhanced versions (at the six-second mark in the logo itself, 20-second mark with the Sony logo preceding it), as the camera zooms out; on the right side of the screen, part of the lower blue section is left unobscured by the clouds.

* Starting with ''The Juror'', released on February 2, 1996, "{{color|#FFA500|'''a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company'''}}" fades in 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, but it later made a surprise appearance at the end of ''Pixels'', released on July 24, 2015, and also makes a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" cameo on the opening variant from ''Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse''.

* In late 2013, the byline was shortened to "{{color|#FFA500|'''a Sony Company'''}}", with the {{color|orange}}-{{color|gold}} color of the previous byline changed to a {{color|saddlebrown|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''.

* 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 black & white elements later transition to color. As the camera zooms back, there is 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. There is also the gold giant number "75" unfolding in between the Torch Lady. This variant's only known onscreen use was on the 75th anniversary home video collection promo attached to most Sony VHS tapes released in 1998 and 1999; all Columbia movies released in 1999 simply used the normal logo.  

** On <u>the 75th anniversary home video collection promo</u>, a copyright stamp of [[Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment|Columbia TriStar Home Video]] appears on the bottom and it disappears when the logo is nearly finished.

* 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<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Up'' game, the logo zooms out just far enough to where a very small sliver below the pedestal is visible. This can be accessed on the Wii version if the console is set to 4:3.

* 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 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.