TriStar Pictures

TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991 and stylized as TRISTAR) is an American film studio that is a division of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.[1] TriStar is a sister studio of the other Sony studio Columbia Pictures. The entity is also part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony Corporation.

TriStar Pictures, Inc.
Division[1]
IndustryFilm
Founded1982 (1982) (as Nova Pictures)
FounderVictor Kaufman
Headquarters10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Nicole Brown (President)[2]
ProductsMotion pictures
OwnerSony
ParentSony Pictures Entertainment
(Sony Entertainment)
DivisionsTriStar Productions
Websitesonypictures.com

History

Early era

The concept for TriStar Pictures was the brainchild of Victor Kaufman, a senior executive of Columbia Pictures (then a subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company),[3] who convinced the studio, HBO, and CBS to share resources and split the ever-growing costs of making movies, creating a new joint venture in 1982. On May 16, 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", but the name could not be obtained as it was being used as the title for the PBS science series[4][5]). It was the first new major Hollywood studio to be established since RKO Pictures was founded in 1928.[6]

The studio's first produced film in 1984 was The Natural starring Robert Redford. Their first release, however, was the film, Where the Boys Are '84; a 1984 remake of the 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, Where the Boys Are that was co-distributed on behalf of ITC Entertainment after Universal rejected it; the film was a commercial flop.[7] 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), and HBO/Cannon Video (now HBO Home Entertainment). In addition, HBO would own exclusive cable distribution rights to these films, and broadcast television licenses would go to CBS.[8]

CBS dropped out of the venture in 1985,[9] though they still distributed some of Tri-Star's films on home video until at least 1992. In 1986, HBO dropped out of the Tri-Star venture as well and sold half of its shares to Columbia Pictures.[10] The same year, Tri-Star entered into the television business as Tri-Star Television. It was formed when the studio joined forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions and created a television distribution company called TeleVentures.

Columbia Pictures Entertainment era (1987–1989)

On December 21, 1987, Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. when Coke sold its entertainment business to Tri-Star for $3.1 billion. Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.[11] On April 13, 1988, CPE spun off Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. as a reformed company of the Tri-Star studio.[12]

Sony era (1989–present)

In 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was acquired by Sony Corporation of Japan, who merged Columbia and Tri-Star, but continued to use the separate labels. On July 11, 1990, Tri-Star Pictures dissolved and sold its venture in TeleVentures to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and TeleVentures became Cannell Distribution Co. Most of the series and the Tri-Star film packages that were distributed by TeleVentures were transferred to Columbia Pictures Television Distribution.[13] Sony Pictures Entertainment later revived TriStar Television as a television production banner in 1991 and merged with its sister television studio Columbia Pictures Television to form Columbia TriStar Television on February 21, 1994.[14][15] Both studios continued to operate separately under the CTT umbrella until TriStar folded in 1999 and CPT in 2001.

In addition to its own slate, 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). TriStar also theatrically distributed some FilmDistrict movies.

Around summer 1998, SPE merged Columbia and TriStar to form 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 on May 13, 2004 as a marketing and acquisitions unit that had a "particular emphasis on genre films".[16] Screen Gems' executive vice president Valerie Van Galder was tapped to run the revived studio after being dormant.[17] However, the release of its 2013 film Elysium represents the label's first big-budget release since The Mask of Zorro in 1998.

The same year, former 20th Century Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman joined Sony Pictures and created TriStar Productions as a joint venture with existing Sony Pictures executives. The new TriStar will develop, finance and produce up to four films per year, as well as television programming and acquisitions, starting on September 1.[18][19][20] Sony's TriStar Pictures unit will be retained for "other product, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions", and will distribute product from the new TriStar.[21]

TriStar Pictures logo used from 1984 until 1993.
The TriStar logo used from June 25, 1993 until 2015, with modification in 2014.

TriStar's logo features Pegasus (either stationary or flying across the screen). The idea came about because of executive Victor Kaufman and his family's interest in riding horses. The original logo was created with the assistance of Sydney Pollack, who was an adviser at Tri-Star. The horse in that logo was the same one used in Pollack's film The Electric Horseman. The horse in that film was dark, so Pollack had the image altered it to look white in the logo.[22]

The second logo was originally painted by Alan Reingold and debuted in 1992 (same time as the television version), along with sister studio Columbia Pictures, with both logos sharing a background of clouds.[23] The theatrical version was animated by Intralink Creative in 1993. The white stallion was shot in a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, The wings were done by combining real white feathers and computer-generated-imagery then merged with Pegasus by computer morphing. The background is nighttime blue. The clouds were shot from the Haleakala Crater on Maui.[24]

In 2015, a new TriStar Pictures logo was made and debuted in The Walk. This time, it was animated by JAMM VFX.[25] The clouds are white in this new logo and it's clearly daytime; also, the Pegasus itself is white.

The original TriStar Pictures theme, which accompanied the studio's logo, was composed by jazz musician Dave Grusin.[26] The theme was remixed in 1993 by Bill Johnson and again in 1998.

Filmography
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See also

References
  1. "Divisions - Sony Pictures". sonypictures.com. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  3. "Victor Kaufman - Founding TriStar Pictures". Vimeo.
  4. "What's in a name". Broadcasting: 102. 1983-05-16.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. London, Michael. "Tri-Star Bows With a Universal Castoff". Sarasota Herald-Tribune (February 18, 1984).
  8. 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.
  9. "CBS Sells Stake In Tri-Star Inc". The New York Times. Associated Press. 16 November 1985.
  10. Prince, Stephen (2002) [2000]. A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow. History of the American Cinema Vol. 10. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780520232662. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  11. KATHRYN HARRIS (September 2, 1987) Coke, Tri-Star Confirm Plans for $3.1-Billion Deal Los Angeles Times, Retrieved on August 8, 2013
  12. "State of New York Division of Corporations - Entity Search: Tri-Star Pictures, Inc". Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  13. "IN BRIEF". Broadcasting: 110. 1990-07-16.
  14. "TriStar President Expected to Head Combined Unit". Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1994. Retrieved on June 28, 2012
  15. "EBSCO Host Connection" Feltheimer heads new Columbia TriStar TV connection.ebscohost.com, Retrieved on December 18, 2012
  16. "Sony Pictures – Corporate Fact Sheet". Sony Pictures Entertainment. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. The label will have a particular emphasis on genre filmsCS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  17. Brodesser, Claude; Dunkley, Cathy (May 13, 2004). "TriStar takes flight again". Variety Magazine. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  18. Fleming, Mike Jr. Tom Rothman To Launch New TriStar Productions Label For Sony Deadline Hollywood (August 1, 2013).
  19. Faughnder, Ryan (August 1, 2013). "Tom Rothman teams with Sony Pictures to create TriStar Productions". Los Angeles Times.
  20. MICHAEL CIEPLY (August 1, 2013) Sony Hires Rothman to Head Revived TriStar Unit The New York Times, Retrieved on August 2, 2013
  21. "Industry News: Sony Pictures and Tom Rothman Launching TriStar Productions". ComingSoon.net.
  22. "Victor Kaufman – Creating the TriStar Logo". Vimeo.
  23. "ArtsWestchester's Arts Exchange: Alan Reingold". Westchester. September 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  24. Suzan Ayscough "Variety" June 18, 1993 TriStar unveils new logo variety.com, Retrieved on January 7, 2015
  25. "JAMM VFX". www.jammvisual.com. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
  26. "Tri-Star Logo Theme by Dave Grusin". Most Popular Songs. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
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