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Earlier variant
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Colorized version
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Textless colorized variant
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</gallery>
'''Visuals:''' On a
'''Trivia:'''
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'''Visuals:'''
*1928-1932: There is a medium shot of a lady holding a light torch in her right hand, depicted with a dark bob and a Cleopatra-esque headdress across her forehead. She is draped in an American flag complete with the stars on her left shoulder and the stripes coming across her middle, supported by her left arm, and hanging down her right side. Her torch is displayed with a rather primitive, flickering style of animation emitting lines of light as rays. The Torch Lady's head is under an arch of chiseled, square-shaped letters reading the words "'''COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION'''".
*1932-1936: Same as before, but the words are replaced with "'''
'''Trivia:''' The Torch Lady shown here is actress Claudia Dell, who appeared as Spanky's mother in the ''Our Gang'' shorts "Mama's Little Pirate" and "Anniversary Trouble".
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* August 12, 1956: Similar to the CinemaScope variant, albeit in 4:3 fullscreen; more of the logo can be seen on the top and bottom. This logo is adapted for the 1.37:1 "academy" process, as well as the CinemaScope process.
* 1960-1968: Similar to the CinemaScope variant, but the clouds are blue.
* April 1968-August 1, 1976: The drapery is temporarily
'''Variants:'''
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* On 3D movies produced by the company, a 3D version of this logo was employed. The depth was as follows: the Torch Lady was closest to the screen, with "COLUMBIA" slightly behind her, and the cloud background farthest back.
* An ending variant was used on serials in the 1930s and 1940s. Along the bottom, it would read "A Columbia Serial" along the bottom. These were used on the Batman serials, among others.
* Two ending variants existed for short subjects during the early 1940s: (1) Near the top of the screen, "THE" is in a 3D-like Futura font with a white face and dark/light shadows to the left of the Torch Lady, and "END" in the same font and effects is to the right; the shadows from "THE END" go behind the Torch Lady to an unknown vanishing point behind the rays of her torch (much like the early-to-mid-60's [[Four Star International|Four Star Television]] logo's effect). Near the top of the Torch Lady's pedestal, "COLUMBIA" is in a small but wider version of the company name's "chiseled" font, and "SHORT" "SUBJECT" "PRESENTATION" is chiseled onto each step of the pedestal, going from top to bottom respectively (when seen on colorized prints of ''The Three Stooges'', "THE" "END" and "COLUMBIA" are in a
* An Italian version of the closing version was shown at the end of the Spanish Mexican film ''Él'' (aka ''This Strange Passion'' or ''Lui'').
* Two Soviet-Russian variants exist where the whole logo is a recreated painting, which varies, the "COLUMBIA" text is completely absent, and different text can be seen in front of the Torch Lady.
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{{YouTube|id=t04eWLp6_Bk|id2=ej1iKGJg6Ts|id3=ukQ1xQxRMSM}}
'''Visuals:''' It begins with the familiar Columbia Torch Lady (a less-detailed yellow-toned 1942/1955 Torch Lady), standing on the pedestal holding her light torch against the backdrop of clouds. Then, the picture moves upward and towards the torch as the rays pull in, which shines even more as the picture blurs around it. It then emits a flash that fills the screen. When the flash dissolves, the light torch itself appears, as if in a sunburst, against a black screen and as it shrinks, it changes into a more "abstract" torch: a blue half circle, or a semicircle, with thirteen white light rays in the center and the words "{{Font|serif
'''Trivia:'''
* The Sunburst logo originally came out in 1975, but first appeared only on posters.
'''Variants:'''
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**Many USSR releases used a snipe, if the logo described above is not used at all.
'''Technique:''' Motion-controlled cel animation, with the Torch Lady and cloud backdrop being a matte painting. The animation was provided by Robert Abel and Associates, who also did work on commercials (including early 1970s 7-Up ads, among many others) and ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''.
'''Audio:'''
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'''Visuals:'''
* 1981-1990: The standard Torch Lady (a somewhat less detailed version of her 1970s iteration, wearing a more orange robe) is seen standing on a pedestal with her torch against a backdrop of clouds similar to that of the previous logo (albeit slightly less detailed and with a more
* 1989-1993: Same as the original variant, but the sunburst animation is omitted (however, one can still see a glimpse of the red light from the sunburst if one looks closely). Instead, after a second, the "
'''Variants:'''
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</tabber>
'''Visuals:''' First, there is a ray of light resembling a sunburst, with a different cloud background fading in a brief second later. The light is revealed to be coming from a torch, as the screen zooms out to reveal a redesigned Torch Lady; all of her fingers are now on the torch as she holds it. Once the camera is fully zoomed out, the word "COLUMBIA", in a bold,
'''Trivia:'''
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'''Bylines:'''
* Starting with ''The Juror'', released on February 2, 1996, the byline "
* In late 2013, the byline was shortened to "
'''Evolution Variants:'''
* 2006-2014: Starting with ''The Holiday'', released on November 29, 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 Torch Lady's hand is also in a different pose in which her finger is at the tip of the torch. The sky is also darker, and the "COLUMBIA" text is more
* 2014-2022: Starting with ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'', released on March 31, 2014, the logo is preceded by the then-new [[Sony Entertainment|Sony motion picture logo]]. After the Sony logo zooms in, a shot of blurry parting clouds is seen with a bright light between them. The light gets brighter until the clouds part, 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 as a variant).
* 2021-2023: Starting with ''Venom: Let There Be Carnage'', released on September 14, 2021, the preceding Sony motion picture logo now has a new animation, which is based on the brand identity it has used since May 19, 2021. After that, the Columbia logo is shown as above, but the parting clouds at the start have 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 by [[Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount]], and thus use [[Paramount Pictures|that studio]]'s logo instead). This later made a re-appearance on ''The Equalizer 3'', released on August 28, 2023.
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* On international prints of ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', a still version of the opening logo is used.
▲* The 1993 version was animated at Kleiser/Walczak Construction 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.
'''Audio:''' A majestic tune which ends with a brass sounder, composed by Jonathan Elias. The fanfare was recorded in 1993 and re-mixed in 1998, giving four versions of the fanfare (two mains and two alternates), all with the same ending, with only the 1998 final mix still being used regularly today:
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'''Visual:''' It starts the same way as the 2022 variation of the previous logo, but the Torch Lady then turns black and white after a second. Afterward, the Torch Lady designs of various eras (1924, 1928, 1942, 1955, 1968, 1976, 1981, and 1993; the 1981 design is shown in both the finished and original sunburst versions) iris in similar one-second shots, zooming out on a black background revealing an encased, stylized "100". Then, there is stacked text in the same font as the print logo at the bottom reading:
<center><big><big><big><big>
<center>
The various Torch Lady designs slide in more and more rapidly, until they land on the updated 2014 version of the 1992 painting. When this happens, the torch glows brightly as the rest of her right hand is shown, as the border around the "100" and text shine, and the Sony byline appears below, then the logo fades out.
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'''Variants:'''
* For the logo's reveal, it was cut to the Sony logo already revealed. However, on [https://twitter.com/SPHEFR/status/1745085333086065034 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's French social media accounts], it cuts to the multicolored background gradually fading in when the Sony logo is being revealed.
* A 3D variant exists, where only the Sony logo and the first few seconds of the 1993 logo are in 3D
'''Closing Variant:''' Same as the 2017 variant of the previous logo, except with the 100 Years print logo, with the Torch Lady and clouds in the 2022 revision of its 2006 design, just like the on-screen logo.
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'''Audio:''' The 2014 version of the current fanfare.
'''Availability:''' This is used for the
*The logo made its first appearance on [https://twitter.com/SonyPictures/status/1745083073614447000 Sony Pictures' social media accounts] on January 10, 2024, which is the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures.
* It later made its theatrical debut in front of the re-release of ''Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'' on January 19, 2024, and has also been seen on various TV spots and trailers of the aforementioned films above.
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Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film studio and production company owned by the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and one of the major American film studios. Since 1993, it has been headquartered at Sony Pictures Studios (formerly MGM Studios and the former Lorimar's studios) in Culver City, California.
Columbia Pictures was originally founded as "Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales" in 1918 by Harry Cohn, his brother Jack Cohn, and Jack's friend Joe Brandt. Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs; the start-up CBC leased space in a poverty row studio on Hollywood's Gower Street. Among Hollywood's elite, CBC's reputation led some to joke that "CBC" stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage".
Following a reorganization, the Cohn brothers renamed the predecessor company as "Columbia Pictures Corporation" on January 10, 1924. Columbia's product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and a short-subject program of comedies, serials, cartoons, and sports films. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, building a reputation as one of Hollywood's more important studios. On December 23, 1968, it was reorganized as Columbia Pictures Industries after merging with its television division Screen Gems. On June 22, 1982, Columbia Pictures was sold to The Coca-Cola Company for $750 million. In December 1987, it became part of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, with Coke owning 49%. Finally, on November 8, 1989, it was sold to Sony Corporation of Japan. Since 1998, Columbia Pictures has been part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group since 2013), which is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.
Columbia Pictures titles were distributed through a partnership with Warner Bros. under the name Columbia-Warner internationally (with some partnerships in the United Kingdom) until 1987, when Columbia reorganized its international distribution division into Columbia Tri-Star Films. The UK partnership would last until 1988.
This logo is currently missing in action. Please do not add reconstructions of the logo if any exist, as they are likely not accurate to the actual logo. Additionally, do not attempt to add a finalized description of the logo until it has been found in its entirety. |
Visuals: On a dark gray background with arch clouds below, there is a woman dressed in a Roman soldier's outfit (similar to the ancient Greco-Roman goddess Athena/Minerva), crowned with a wreath and covered in a toga, holding a shield in her left hand and holding an olive branch in her right hand. There is the text "COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION Presents", with "COLUMBIA PICTURES" arched above, "CORPORATION" underneath it in a straight line, and "Presents" below.
Trivia:
Variant: A textless variant exists.
Technique: This logo is a matte painting.
Audio: None.
Availability: Seen on silent-era Columbia Pictures films, most of which are now lost or survive only in an incomplete form.
Visuals:
Trivia: The Torch Lady shown here is actress Claudia Dell, who appeared as Spanky's mother in the Our Gang shorts "Mama's Little Pirate" and "Anniversary Trouble".
Variants:
Closing Variants:
Technique: A mix of a matte painting, moiré effects and editing.
Audio: A majestic horn sounder (a la 20th Century Fox), or the opening/closing theme of the short/feature.
Availability: Seen on Columbia-owned films from this time period right up until the introduction of the next logo.
Visuals: There is the lady, this time standing on top of a pedestal with a backdrop of clouds over her, while she is holding her light torch. Much more refined, ethereal and goddess-like, her facial features are less pronounced and she looks away (up and to the right) instead of straight ahead. Her headdress is absent and her hair sweeps back instead of hanging by the sides of her face. The drape over her shoulder is less obviously an American flag, with the stars on the left shoulder being toned down in a shadow, and the stripes are visible only on the portion of the drape hanging down her right side. "A COLUMBIA PRODUCTION" is replaced with the tall chiseled letters of "COLUMBIA" (which fades in a second afterward) running straight across the top section of the screen, with the lady's torch glowing in front of the "U". A new form of animation is used on the logo as well, with a torch that radiates light instead of flickers. Until the mid-1960s, this logo would also appear at the end of films, sometimes with the words "The End" in a script font.
Trivia: The model in this and the next two logos is Pittsburgh native Jane Chester Bartholomew, who was discovered by Columbia co-founder and head Harry Cohn. After she left acting in the 1960s, Bartholomew became a nursing inspector with the Chicago Board of Health. She died in 2012.
Byline: Starting in 1974, the byline "A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC." appears at the bottom of the screen. This variant was introduced around the time its television production division Screen Gems Television changed its name to Columbia Pictures Television.
Evolution Variants:
Variants:
Technique: Traditional animation for the torch rays, and a matte painting for the Torch Lady, text and backdrop.
Audio: Usually, the beginning/end of the movie plays over the logo. On some films, the logo appears completely silent. However, on several mid to late '30s Three Stooges shorts, it has a majestic theme before playing the Three Stooges theme. On several other films, it would have a different theme.
Availability: Can still be seen on Columbia Pictures films of this period on home video formats and on TV airings.
Legacy: Considered the most well-known version of the logo, being used for an amazing 40 years.
Visuals: It begins with the familiar Columbia Torch Lady (a less-detailed yellow-toned 1942/1955 Torch Lady), standing on the pedestal holding her light torch against the backdrop of clouds. Then, the picture moves upward and towards the torch as the rays pull in, which shines even more as the picture blurs around it. It then emits a flash that fills the screen. When the flash dissolves, the light torch itself appears, as if in a sunburst, against a black screen and as it shrinks, it changes into a more "abstract" torch: a blue half circle, or a semicircle, with thirteen white light rays in the center and the words "Columbia Pictures" in a beveled Souvenir Bold font under it. The entire logo then slowly backs away as it fades out.
Trivia:
Variants:
Technique: Motion-controlled cel animation, with the Torch Lady and cloud backdrop being a matte painting. The animation was provided by Robert Abel and Associates, who also did work on commercials (including early 1970s 7-Up ads, among many others) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Audio:
Audio Trivia: The main instruments appearing on the soundtrack were a small horn section, Suzanne Ciani's Buchla modular (for the "popping" effects) and an ARP string synth (the same model Gary Wright used for his song "Dream Weaver" around the same time).
Audio Variant: The USSR version has an announcer dubbed in.
Availability: Sony generally retains older logos for newer releases of Columbia's films much more often than their TV output. In the early days of Columbia Pictures' video division, however, this logo would be plastered by their home video logo (although the "Columbia Pictures" text alone would be seen for a split second, possibly due to poor editing). Otherwise, all later video releases, DVD and Blu-ray releases, and TV broadcasts retain this logo.
Legacy: Another favorite among the logo community.
Visuals:
Variants:
Closing Variants:
Technique: Cel animation for the torch rays and text, and a matte painting for the Torch Lady and backdrop.
Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.
Audio Variants:
Availability: Seen on films of the era.
Visuals: First, there is a ray of light resembling a sunburst, with a different cloud background fading in a brief second later. The light is revealed to be coming from a torch, as the screen zooms out to reveal a redesigned Torch Lady; all of her fingers are now on the torch as she holds it. Once the camera is fully zoomed out, the word "COLUMBIA", in a bold, chiseled silver font, fades in, this time much smaller than the 3rd logo and positioned so that the "U" in "COLUMBIA" is behind the torch. A ring of light then shimmers around the lady before the logo fades to black.
Trivia:
Bylines:
Evolution Variants:
Variants:
Closing Variants:
Technique: CGI. The 1993 version was animated at Kleiser/Walczak Construction 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. Sony Pictures Imageworks animated the later versions, while Greenhaus GFX designed the 2014 transition to the logo from Sony.
Audio: A majestic tune which ends with a brass sounder, composed by Jonathan Elias. The fanfare was recorded in 1993 and re-mixed in 1998, giving four versions of the fanfare (two mains and two alternates), all with the same ending, with only the 1998 final mix still being used regularly today:
Audio Variants:
Availability: It has been placed in front of most Columbia films for an impressive 30 years.
Legacy: A well-received homage to the 1936 logo thanks to its CGI and fanfare, used for over 30 years as of 2024.
Visual: It starts the same way as the 2022 variation of the previous logo, but the Torch Lady then turns black and white after a second. Afterward, the Torch Lady designs of various eras (1924, 1928, 1942, 1955, 1968, 1976, 1981, and 1993; the 1981 design is shown in both the finished and original sunburst versions) iris in similar one-second shots, zooming out on a black background revealing an encased, stylized "100". Then, there is stacked text in the same font as the print logo at the bottom reading:
The various Torch Lady designs slide in more and more rapidly, until they land on the updated 2014 version of the 1992 painting. When this happens, the torch glows brightly as the rest of her right hand is shown, as the border around the "100" and text shine, and the Sony byline appears below, then the logo fades out.
Trivia:
Variants:
Closing Variant: Same as the 2017 variant of the previous logo, except with the 100 Years print logo, with the Torch Lady and clouds in the 2022 revision of its 2006 design, just like the on-screen logo.
Technique: CGI. Like the later variations of the previous logo, this was done by Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Audio: The 2014 version of the current fanfare.
Availability: This is used for the company's centennial anniversary.
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