Destination Films

Main Logo Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
MatthewLMayfield (originally Kidinbed)

Captures by
TangoWhiskeyDelta

Editions by
AlmightyKingPawn, LMgamer and Blue2000

Video captures courtesy of
BreadCrustCouncil

Destination Films Distribution Company, Inc.
Founded:	1998 (26 years ago)
Founder:	Brent Baum Steve Stabler
Location:	United States
Parent:	Sony Pictures Entertainment

Background

Destination Films was originally founded as an independent company by Brent Baum and Steve Stabler in late 1998, initially releasing and/or distributing movies like Bats, Drowning Mona and most notably Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the latter of which the company co-produced and provided American distribution. Sony Pictures Entertainment distributed their films on home video through Columbia TriStar Home Video. The company went under in February 2001 after a mid-list of box office bombs. However, Sony quickly bought Destination from its co-founders and revitalized it as its new "niche" film arm a year later. It largely served as a film label for Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (later in 2004 known as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment). Since 2007, following a company reorganization at Sony and its many factions, Destination was remade into a label of the newly formed Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions alongside newly-formed labels Stage 6 Films and Affirm Films.

As of 2023, the company is currently active; Destination sometimes co-releases films with Sony Pictures Classics and Samuel Goldwyn Films. Destination co-released or produced films in association with Triumph Films. After Triumph went dormant in 2008 (and was revived only once in 2014), Destination supplanted the label's purpose within Sony. Destination's film library includes independent films, art-house films, and a few anime titles such as Tekkonkinkreet, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and Metropolis. Currently, Samuel Goldwyn Films holds the rights to the pre-Sony Destination library.

Logo (October 22, 1999-)

• 

Visuals: On a black background with gold haze, a planet (presumably the Earth) orbits around the sun. When the planet comes close to the sun, shadows of the letters "I", "T", "N", "I", "T", and "N" fade in and crowd around the sun and planet. The planet moves into the sun, and the letters, which are now "DESTINATION" in Trajan Pro font, move in. A bright flash occurs, and on a now completely black background is the Destination logo, which is two halves of a gold circle split up by a line. The line has a crescent on one side and a sun on the other. The text "DESTINATION F I L M S" is arranged around this line. The logo then shines.

Variants:

• On streaming prints of Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), the logo starts at the last half after the shining.
• On several films after Sony relaunched the company, the logo is zoomed in more compared to normal.
• On the Funimation Blu-ray release of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, the logo starts right as the flash occurs.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An extended whoosh accompanied by a synth choir. Sometimes, the logo is silent, like on Full Contact.

Audio Variants:

• On some prints of Steamboy, it had the Screen Gems Pictures music, possibly due to an editing error since Screen Gems released the film outside of the United States.
• On streaming prints of Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), only the very last part of the music is used.
• I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer uses the opening theme.

Availability:

• This logo is on several films Destination released, such as Bats, Drowning Mona, Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), Metropolis, Buying the Cow, Steamboy, Eye of the Beholder, Tokyo Godfathers, MirrorMask, Accident Man (2018), and most recently, Never Back Down: Revolt (2021).
• This logo does not appear on Brothers in Arms (2005), despite the fact that they produced it (and the opening credits are mentioning them), as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's logo appears instead.
• This logo is also preserved on streaming prints of the company's pre-Sony movies, but on Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), this logo is cut-off due to a possible plaster attempt from the Samuel Goldwyn Films logo (though the other digital prints of these films do not have this issue).
• It is also preserved on the Funimation Blu-ray release of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie as a de-facto home video logo, whilst the actual film itself uses the TriStar Pictures logo.