TriStar Pictures

Background

TriStar Pictures (originally spelled "Tri-Star") was formed in 1982 as a joint venture between Columbia Pictures (then owned by the Coca-Cola Company), HBO, and CBS, hence the name of the studio. Originally it was known as "Nova Pictures" until the name was changed on May 16, 1983 in order to avoid confusion with PBS's hit science series Nova. CBS was the first joint-owner who dropped out venture on November 15, 1985 and sold its interest to Columbia Pictures for $48 million. In 1986, HBO sold its shares in Tri-Star to Columbia as well and formed HBO Pictures. On December 21, 1987, Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." and Coke merged Tri-Star and Columbia to become "Columbia/Tri-Star", of which Coca-Cola owned 80% of its stock. In late 1987, most of Tri-Star's releases were copyrighted under the "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." name until mid-1988, when it was reverted back to "Tri-Star Pictures, Inc.", as a new entity with that name was incorporated on April 13. In January 1988, CPE's stocks fell a little and Coke decreased its shares in CPE to 49%. On November 8, 1989, Sony Corporation of Japan acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $3.4 billion. On August 7, 1991, under Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hyphen (-) was taken off of the name to refer it to the current CamelCase-style name, "TriStar". Early on, (with a few exceptions), TriStar's films were released on Home Video by either RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), CBS/FOX/Key Video (now 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), occasionally Vestron Video/Lightning Video (now Lionsgate Home Entertainment), or Thorn-EMI/HBO/Cannon Video/HBO Video (now HBO Home Entertainment), among other companies. In 1988, following Columbia's buyout of TriStar, Home Video distribution of films produced by the studio moved exclusively to RCA/Columbia. From 1985 until 1994, TriStar also distributed films produced by Carolco Pictures; these were released on the International Video Entertainment and Live Home Video labels (now Lionsgate Home Entertainment), often with TriStar's logo cut. Cliffhanger is the only Carolco film in which the rights were retained by the original distributor. The Taft Entertainment movies they released (like The Monster Squad and Stephen King's The Running Man) now belong to Paramount Pictures after Taft merged into Republic and then Viacom.

1st Logo (April 6, 1984-May 28, 1993)

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Nicknames: "'90s/2000s Pegasus", "Ultra Majestic Pegasus", "The TriStar Pegasus II", "CGI Pegasus", "The Not-So-Quiet/Loud Music", "Pegasus in the Sky", "Pegasus Over Clouds", "The Rising Pegasus", "Sony Pegasus", "Pegasus in the Dark"

Logo: We start out on a black background. Then we see part of a dark background, which slowly fades in and brightens to reveal that it is made up of dark cumulonimbus clouds with fog on the bottom. A white flash of light then starts to glow and gets bright, as it almost fills the background. A Pegasus appears from the far distance, as it spreads its wings out and takes a few steps, causing the fog to flow. "TRISTAR", in a shiny gold chiseled bold font, slowly fades in at the top of the screen with the letters "T" and "S" in a bigger font that the other letters as the flash dims away slowly. The Pegasus stops when its wings are fully spread out and the "TRISTAR" text fully appears. The text slowly shines as the fog still flows and the Sony byline fades in from starting in 1995.

Trivia:

This logo was based on a still image Sony had introduced alongside its sister studio Columbia in 1992. The logo was only used for home video and television until a fully animated logo debuted in the summer of 1993.
This logo was animated by Intralink Film Graphic Design. The footage of the white stallion was shot in a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. The wings were done by combining real feathers and digitized computing and were merged with the white stallion's image via computer morphing. The footage of the cloud background was shot from the Haleakala Crater on Maui.
This logo was apparently animated in 2.20:1, as even open matte presentations have this logo cropped on both sides.

Bylines:

June 25, 1993-March 12, 1999: (Bylineless)
December 15, 1995-February 21, 2014: "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" (first seen on Jumanji, the byline is blue on its first appearance, but starting with Mary Reilly, released on February 23, 1996, the byline is bright yellow or white). However, some post-1995 films continued to use the bylineless version until 1999. Starting with Sparkle on August 17, 2012, the byline appears smaller and a bit darker, but slightly off centered, like the 1996 Columbia logo; last used on Pompeii. However, Moms' Night Out and When the Game Stands Tall still use the byline in tandem until August 2015.)
April 16, 2014-September 12, 2015: "a Sony Company" (seen on Heaven is for Real, Ricki and the Flash, War Room, and the UK theatrical version of The Lady in the Van (the last film to use this logo). In this version, the Sony logo transitions to this logo.

Variants:

During this logo's early years, on movie trailers and commercials, when the Pegasus is spreading out its wings, the "TRISTAR" text is fully transparent, rather than fading in as in the regular version. Also, it doesn't shine.
On Sleepless in Seattle (the first movie to use this logo), the flash dims away earlier before the Pegasus spreads out its wings and the "TRISTAR" text appears.
The brightness of the clouds and the color of the byline vary depending on the film.
A very early trailer and commercial logo has a black background with the stacked words "TRI STAR" and next to it is the box with the Pegasus in front of the cloud. This can be seen on the trailer for Rudy.

Closing Variants:

It's the same current print logo that appeared on movie trailers during its early years, and looking similar to the last print logo. The Pegasus is placed inside a box, with a cloud background overlapping the top. Its wings overlap both ends of the box. Below the logo is the phrase "A TRISTAR RELEASE", or "RELEASED BY" above the logo with the SPE byline underneath. Sometimes, "A TRISTAR RELEASE" isn't there. Sometimes, it's bylineless.
One early variant of such featured the boxed Pegasus logo at center, with "TRISTAR PICTURES" (in Bank Gothic MD BT) and the SPE byline below one another. This particular closing variant happened to appear at the end of the features Chaplin and Cliffhanger, which both used the old logo at the beginning, although the latter was the last movie to use the old logo at the beginning; though this may be unsurprising, since both Columbia and TriStar first introduced their new logos for their home video and television divisions a year earlier in 1992. The movie Wilder Napalm has the "A TriStar Release" text above.
Starting with Heaven is for Real, the Pegasus' wings have the shadows removed, and "A TRISTAR PICTURES RELEASE" is now seen underneath with the byline "a Sony Company". Sometimes, the shadows are still intact.

FX/SFX: The light beam forming the Pegasus, the unfolding wings, the fog flowing, the text fading in and shining. A very professionally-done combination of live-action film (the Pegasus, the cloud background, both filmed separately) and computer animation (the light beam, the wings, the text, the fog).

Music/Sounds: It starts with an ascending and descending back and forth piano glissando, followed by a three-note descending xylophone tune, on the last note, the French horns playing the same six opening notes from the last logo begins. Between the third and fourth notes, there is a delay filled with a four-note tuba tune. The music rises in intensity as we hear more and more instruments come in, ending in a very majestic fanfare. This was composed by Bill Johnson. Starting with the film Godzilla, released on May 20, 1998, the fanfare has been rearranged.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On earlier films with this logo, such as Jury Duty and some prints (such as the 1999 DVD release) of Sleepless in Seattle, the 1984 fanfare plays (it should be of note that on the 1999 DVD release of the latter, that the logo fades out before the music stops).
Sometimes, this logo is silent (found on the international prints of Fortress 2: Re-Entry and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie). Other times, there's music from any movie soundtrack playing over the logo.
On Little Secrets, the logo is high-pitched.

Availability: Common. It's seen on many TriStar releases during this period.

The bylineless version can be found on all 1993-1995 releases including Sleepless in Seattle, Weekend at Bernie's II, Look Who's Talking Now, Philadelphia, Mr. Jones, Mixed Nuts, Legends of the Fall, Jury Duty and Magic in the Water. It was also used on some post-1995 films such as Desperate Measures, 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, and Baby Geniuses.
The version with the SPE byline made its debut on Jumanji and would be used on all 1995-2014 films such as Matilda, Jerry Maguire, My Best Friend's Wedding, As Good as it Gets, The Mask of Zorro, Madeline, Godzilla and many others.
Strangely, this logo is seen on 1997 VHS prints of The Craft, Multiplicity, Alaska, Fly Away Home, AVON VHS copies of Matilda, later copies of the 1993 VHS of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1997 reissue releases of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Matilda, and Annie (1982) instead of the Columbia TriStar Home Video logo (some prints of these tapes do have the CTHV logo instead).
This is also preserved on the LIVE Home Video VHS, DVD and laserdisc releases of Wagons East! (which was the last Carolco film distributed by TriStar Pictures).
The 1984 music is replaced with the 1993 music on early VHS prints of Sleepless in Seattle.
Seen on international printings of Faster and on US video releases.

Editor's Note: This logo is beautiful and has held up over the years, including the music and mind-blowing CGI which was still good for over two decades.

3rd Logo (September 30, 2015- )

Nicknames: "2010s Pegasus", "Ultra Majestic Pegasus II", "The TriStar Pegasus III", "CGI Pegasus II", "Christian Pegasus", "Pegasus in the Sky II", "Pegasus Over Clouds II", "Pegasus in the Bright Sky", "Sony Pegasus II", "The Rising Pegasus II", "The Winged Horse", "The Day of the Pegasus"

Logo: After the 2014 Sony logo transitions to this logo, we see the cloud formations of the previous logo shrouded in darkness, with a cerulean blue background partially illuminated by the bottom half of the screen. Then, a light shines up from the center and the clouds and background brighten, turning into full daylight. The clouds here are pure white and more ethereal in design, compared to the more realistic, golden clouds from the last logo. Just as the clouds light up, we see a white stallion gallop out from the glowing light towards us, with the light fading out shortly afterwards. The stallion opens its wings as it runs out, revealing itself to be a Pegasus; and once it stops running towards the screen, it stands up on its hind legs, showing off its full wingspan in the process. Once it has done this, the "TRISTAR" text from the previous logo (only more golden) fades in, then the byline "a Sony Company" from the previous logo fades in after that.

Trivia:

The logo was designed by JAMM Visual of Santa Monica, California. Sony commissioned the updated logo to take advantage of new technologies such as 4K and IMAX 3D, which is why there's an open matte version of this logo available, unlike with the previous logo.
Two videos exist showcasing the development of the logo, with concept art, pre-renders, animation tests, etc. They can be seen here and here.
The logo does not have an HFR version, unlike with the 2011 WB/New Line and 2012 MGM logos. As a result, the 4K UHD version of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk has noticeable judder during this and the other opening logos.

Variants:

On FXM's print of The Walk, a 1.78:1 matted version is used.
On most TV prints of some movies, the original 2.35:1 version has been cropped to 16:9.

FX/SFX: The light shining, and the Pegasus running toward us as the night time turns into the daylight, and the texts fading in, as well as the combination of the elements of the 1993 logo and the Pegasus in the 1984 logo. It's all very nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: The 1998 rearranged fanfare from the previous logo or the opening theme of the movie.

Availability: Common. First shown on the IMAX trailer for The Walk (most trailers use the previous logo). The fully animated version debuted on the film itself. Currently seen on recent/new films produced and/or distributed by the company since The Lady in the Van.

Editor's Note: A suitable successor to the previous logo, although some are disappointed as they think it had more potential.