RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video

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Background

In 1981, Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment formed a joint venture with RCA, becoming RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. The company name also had other variants: "RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video" for international distribution, "RCA/Columbia Pctures Hoyts Video" in conjunction with Hoyts in Australia and "Gaumont Columbia RCA Video" in conjunction with Gaumont in France.

On August 23, 1991, Sony acquired RCA's shares with General Electric, and the company was renamed "Columbia TriStar Home Video".

Contents

1st Logo (January 1983-October 1987)	2nd Logo (February 1986-December 18, 1991)

1st Logo (January 1983-October 1987)

Logo: On a black background, a white-bordered box appears. In it are two black rounded rectangles, with the first bearing the "RCA" logo in red, and the second having the Columbia Pictures print logo in a blue arch-shaped border with "Columbia Pictures" below. "HOME VIDEO" is at the bottom of the white border, in black.

Variants:

Sometimes the RCA and Columbia logos flip in on a space background, then the white border "swings in" to surround it. This appeared on releases of films like Ghostbusters, Runaway, and Starman, and a promo at the end of The Slugger's Wife.
On Beany and Cecil Volume 1, the flipping animation is different and doesn't have a space background.
There is a variant on some releases where the border is chrome and "sparkling" effects are layered on. Sometimes at the end of post-credit coming attractions, a copyright stamp would appear below it. Seen on the post-credit coming attractions on Real Genius and Silverado.

Technique: Computer-generated animation for the first variant.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability:

Videos from this company have long been out of print, with most videos being re-released by Columbia TriStar (occasionally with the same RCA/Columbia-style packaging, with CTHV logos replacing any mentions of RCA/Columbia). All Columbia releases and the first few TriStar titles (such as The Natural, The Evil That Men Do, and Birdy) do not contain this logo as they go straight to the movie, and some Cinema 5 titles, such as One Sings, the Other Doesn't, use the 1981 Columbia logo as their home video logo instead.
It was used mainly on non-Columbia releases (TriStar Pictures, New Line Cinema, Crown International, Cinetel Films, and Regency Enterprises) such as Real Genius, Say Yes, The King of Comedy, Private Resort, Alone in the Dark, Critters, and Rock and Roll: The Early Days. Magic Window releases such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Rubik the Amazing Cube have this logo as well.
This logo has been spotted as late as the 1987 releases of About Last Night..., Blind Date, Armed Response, and My Demon Lover.
Its earliest known appearance is at the start of the Cinema 5 feature We All Loved Each Other So Much.
This plasters the Columbia logo on Easy Rider and Ship of Fools.

2nd Logo (February 1986-December 18, 1991)

Logo: On a black background, we see a rotating cube, featuring the same logo as stated above on each side (either 1, 3, or 4 sides). The main difference to the logo, however, is that the border is now silvery, with "HOME VIDEO" etched in silver. A white sparkle appears on the side (lined up with the location of the torch in the Columbia logo) as it rotates.

Variant: On at least one promo tape, there is a variant where the logo is on a marble background

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variant: On No Holds Barred, the New Line Cinema logo is plastered by this logo, keeping the film's opening title music and sound effects (of a ring announcer and a cheering crowd) while this logo is playing. Strangely, this plaster is retained on a Showtime airing from December 1990 (presumably Showtime used a transfer of a video master in this case).

Availability:

This logo is slightly easier to come across, seeing that it is more recent. However, this logo was only used in the United States and Canada. Again, Columbia releases go straight to the movie until 1989 (the last release of a Columbia film on VHS that lacked this logo was Ghostbusters II). Also, from 1986 to 1987, this logo was restricted to the coming attractions part of the releases.
Releases that had this logo include True Believer, Casualties of War, Glory, The Adventures of Milo and Otis, Relentless, Out of the Dark, Fast Getaway, Bad Influence, Who's Harry Crumb?, The Freshman, Flatliners, Family Business, Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking Too, Troop Beverly Hills, and many more.
Some of the last releases to include this logo were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Toy Soldiers, City Slickers, earlier prints of Men at Work, Critters 3, Alligator II: The Mutation, Rich Girl, and the screener VHS of Boyz N the Hood; here, the logo fades out earlier than usual.
The earliest prints of Another You have RCA/Columbia on the box and on the video label, but the video itself has neither this nor the first Columbia TriStar Home Video logo, though later prints feature the latter.
Columbia TriStar Home Video retained this logo on their 90s VHS reissues of Family Business (in print as late as 1998).
It also appears on the screener VHS of Relentless 2: Dead On, while the regular VHS uses the Columbia TriStar logo.

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Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

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