TriStar Pictures
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 The TriStar Pictures logo from 1993 to the present. |
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| Type | Subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder(s) | Steve McQuinn Randy Oswalt Lionel Scott |
| Headquarters | Culver City, California, US |
| Key people | Tord Hemperson (President) Steve McQuinn (Founder and CEO) Randy Oswalt (Founder and CFO) Lionel Scott (Founder and COO) |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Owner(s) | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Parent | Columbia Pictures (1982–present) CBS (1982–1985) HBO (1982–1987) Columbia Pictures Entertainment (1987–1991) Sony Pictures Entertainment (1991–present) |
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures.
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[edit] History
The concept for TriStar came about in 1982 when Columbia Pictures (then a subsidiary of Coca-Cola), HBO, and CBS decided to pool resources to split the ever-growing costs of making movies, creating a new joint venture. In 1983, it was given the name Tri-Star Pictures (when the new company was formed and did not have an official name, the press used the code-name "Nova").[1] It was the first major Hollywood studio since RKO Pictures was founded over 50 years earlier.[2]
Their first production, released in 1984, was The Natural, starring Robert Redford. During this venture, many of Tri-Star's releases were released on VHS by either RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), CBS/FOX Video (now CBS Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), or HBO Video. In addition, HBO would gain exclusive cable distribution rights to these films, and broadcast television licenses would go to CBS.[3]
CBS dropped out of the venture in 1985,[4] though they still distributed some of TriStar's films on home video until at least 1992. In April 1987, Tri-Star entered into the television business as Tri-Star Television. In 1987, HBO dropped out of the Tri-Star venture as well and on September 7, Columbia Pictures bought their venture shares and merged Columbia and Tri-Star into Columbia Pictures Entertainment, also creating Columbia/Tri-Star. Both companies continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.
[edit] Sony era
In 1989, all of Coke's entertainment holdings were acquired by Sony Corporation of Japan, who merged Columbia and Tri-Star, but continued to use the separate labels. Sony Pictures Entertainment later revived TriStar Television as a television production banner in 1991 and co-launched Columbia TriStar Television in 1994 with its sister television studio Columbia Pictures Television.
TriStar was the theatrical distributor for many films produced by Carolco Pictures (the rights to only one of their films, Cliffhanger, has been retained by TriStar).
Around summer 1998, Sony Pictures Entertainment merged Columbia and TriStar to form Columbia TriStar Pictures (or Columbia TriStar Entertainment, Inc. or the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group) but just like Columbia Pictures Entertainment, both divisions continued producing and distributing films under their own names.
TriStar was relaunched in 2004 as a marketing and acquisitions unit that will have a "particular emphasis on genre films."[5]
[edit] About the TriStar Pictures logo
The company's logo of a Pegasus (either stationary or flying across the screen), introduced in 1984, has become something of a cultural icon. The second logo was originally painted by Alan Reingold and debuted in 1992. The theatrical version was animated by Intralink Creative. This version, likely as Columbia Pictures has clouds. The background is nighttime blue. The clouds are orange. [6]
The short TriStar theme, which accompanied the studio's ident, was composed by Dave Grusin.
[edit] Parodies/References
The TriStar logo has spawned many parodies, such as:
- The 1990 TriStar film Look Who's Talking Too contains both a spoof and a reference to the logo. First, during the opening ident, "Mister Ed"-type noises are added by Bruce Willis. Later in the film, when Julie first walks, the TriStar theme plays.
- The Family Guy episode "Petergeist" contains a parody of the logo, where Joe Swanson takes the place of the winged horse.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Palmer, L. (1998) "How to write it, how to sell it: everything a screenwriter needs to know about Hollywood" (pp. 232-235). St. Martin's Press, New York. ISBN: 0-312-18726-2.
- ^ Holt, J. (2011) Empires of Entertainment: Media Industries and the Politics of Deregulation, 1980-1996 (p. 46). Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ, USA. ISBN: 978-0-8135-5052-7.
- ^ Prince, S. (2000) A new pot of gold: Hollywood under the electronic rainbow, 1980-1989 (p. 31). Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN: 0-684-80493-X.
- ^ "CBS Sells Stake In Tri-Star Inc.". The New York Times. 16 November 1985. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/16/business/cbs-sells-stake-in-tri-star-inc.html.
- ^ "Sony Pictures – Corporate Fact Sheet". Sony Pictures Entertainment. http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/corporatefact.html#tsp. "The label will have a particular emphasis on genre films"
- ^ "Art classes with Alan Reingold". Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. http://www.lcronline.org/alanreingold.html.
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