Touchstone Pictures: Difference between revisions

'''Touchstone Pictures''' (formerly "Touchstone Films") was established by [[Walt Disney Pictures|The Walt Disney Company]] in February 1984 to produce and distribute more adult-oriented films. The company was merely a brand, and didn't operate as a separate company. The company became a dominant force between its establishment in the 1980s to the early 2000s, making several successful films such as ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', ''Three Men and a Baby'', ''Adventures in Babysitting'', ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', ''The Color of Money'', ''Con Air'', ''Unbreakable'', ''Signs'', and many more films. However, the company began a slow decline in 2003 with the success of ''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' as the first PG-13 film released under the mainline Disney banner. The label became relegated to R-rated and PG and PG-13 fare that didn't fit the mainline banner as a result. Two huge blows were dealt to the company in 2009: first, the then-new Disney chairman Rich Ross trimmed the number of films Disney released in a year to eight. This business plan resulted in planned sequels for Touchstone hits being cancelled, and many more flops to come for Disney in general (he left after the failures of ''John Carter'' and ''Mars Needs Moms''); the last Touchstone film released solo, without distributing for others, was ''You Again''. Meanwhile, Disney eventually stopped producing adult-oriented but family-friendly films after ''Old Dogs'' flopped with critics (though it did reasonably well at the box office). After all this, Touchstone began merely distributing films for [[Lucasfilm Ltd.|Lucasfilm]], [[Miramax Films|Miramax]], and [[DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks]], as well as foreign films and titles Disney didn't see value in. It didn't help either that Disney was beginning to release their Marvel and Star Wars films under the respective [[Marvel Studios]] and Lucasfilm brands. The final blow came with the critical and commercial failure of ''Strange Magic'', with them only distributing ''Bridge of Spies'' and ''The Light Between Oceans'' since then, the latter ultimately being the company's final film. Disney quietly retired the label in 2018 after the expiration of their DreamWorks deal (since they went back to [[Universal Pictures]] for distribution) and their eventual acquisition of [[21st Century Fox]] in 2019. Its slate has since been taken over by [[Walt Disney Pictures]] (for most Disney style films), [[20th Century Studios]] (for non-Disney style films and several mid-budget adult films), and [[Searchlight Pictures]] (for low-budget and independent films), while several other Disney divisions have produced or are developing television series and films based on previous Touchstone properties for [[Disney+ Originals|Disney+]] and [[Hulu]]. However, ''Sherlock Gnomes'', the sequel and spin-off to ''Gnomeo & Juliet'', was released by [[Paramount Pictures]] and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios|Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] instead of Disney. Although the 2019 film ''Glass'' was rumored to be released by Touchstone outside of the United States, it was instead released under the revived [[Buena Vista International]] label.

'''Availability:''' Common, due to its longevity of nearly 20 years. It's found on many movies produced by the company during this time. It was first seen on ''My Science Project'' and was last seen on ''Shanghai Knights'', released on February 7, 2003, but made one last surprise appearance on ''Veronica Guerin''. This logo wasn't seen at all on ''Gangs of New York'', ''Jerky Boys: The Movie'', and overseas theatrical prints of ''Face/Off'', ''Air Force One'', ''Starship Troopers'', and ''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (for the latter, co-producer [[Cinergi Pictures Entertainment|Cinergi]] sold most international theatrical rights to Disney/Buena Vista). However, all overseas TV, video, and streaming releases of the former 3 films start with the [[Buena Vista International]] logo, while ''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (save the European [[Touchstone Home Entertainment]] Blu-ray which contains Buena Vista International) only opens with Cinergi. It is unclear if either this logo or Buena Vista International appears on international prints of either ''End of Days'' or ''The Hurricane'' (both [[Beacon Pictures]] productions), though some European DVDs contain the home video variant of this logo on the latter film. This logo was seen on pre-2006 prints of ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'', though newer remastered prints have it plastered with the 2006 [[Walt Disney Pictures]] logo starting with the 3D re-release (though Touchstone is still listed at the end of the closing credits). It can still be found on pre-2006 DVD and VHS releases of said film. Surprisingly, this can be seen at the start of the original UK VHS release of ''Pulp Fiction'', before the [[Miramax Films]] logo.  

'''Availability:''' Common. Seen on all Touchstone releases starting with the debut of ''Signs'' in 2002, and ending with ''The Light Between Oceans'' in 2016. Despite the logo appearing as early as 2002, the previous logo continued to be used until 2003, where this logo's use became more widespread, starting with ''Bringing Down the House'', released on March 7. Also seen at the start of [[DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks]] films from ''I Am Number Four'' to ''The Light Between Oceans'', and at the end of trailers for those films, as well as American prints of ''The Wind Rises''.