Columbia Pictures
A major Hollywood studio since 1924.
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., commonly known as Columbia Pictures, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was one of the "Little Three" among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age and remains one of the leading film studios globally. Founded in 1918 by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, the studio adopted its current name in 1924 and has been owned by Sony Corporation of Japan since 1989.
Quick Facts
- Former names
- Columbia Pictures Corporation (1924–1968)
- Industry
- Film
- Predecessor
- Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation (1918–1924)
- Headquarters
- Thalberg Building, 10202 West Washington Boulevard
- Country
- U.S.
- Products
- Motion pictures
- Parent
- The Coca-Cola Company (1982–1987); Sony Pictures Entertainment (1987–present)
- Subsidiaries
- Ghost Corps
Facts from the source article.
History
The studio began on June 19, 1918, as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales, founded by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jack's best friend Joe Brandt. Its first feature film, More to Be Pitied Than Scorned, released August 20, 1922, cost $20,000 and earned $130,000. Brandt served as president, handling sales and distribution from New York with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn managed production in Hollywood. Early output consisted of low-budget short subjects such as Screen Snapshots and the Hallroom Boys. CBC leased space on Gower Street in a Poverty Row studio, leading wags to joke that "CBC" stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage." On January 10, 1924, the company reorganized as Columbia Pictures Corporation. Harry Cohn became president in 1932 after buying Brandt's one-third stake, concentrating production and executive power in his hands for 34 years. The studio was known for nepotism, with many of Harry and Jack's relatives in high positions. Columbia's product line included low- to moderately budgeted features and short subjects—action, comedies, sports, serials, and cartoons. It gradually moved into higher-budget fare, joining United Artists and Universal as a second-tier studio. Unlike the major studios, Columbia was horizontally integrated, controlling production and distribution but owning no theaters.
International film production
In 1998, Columbia Pictures began launching local-language film units in Brazil, Germany, Russia (2007–2021), Asia, and India, with short-lived units in Spain and Mexico. Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion, serving German-speaking territories, released Anatomy (2000), the highest-grossing German-language film that year, but closed in 2003 after several box-office failures. It relaunched in 2008, with Friendship! released in 2010. Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, based in Hong Kong, produced Chinese-language films including Not One Less, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Big Shot's Funeral, and Kung Fu Hustle, closing after the 2009 release of Jump. In 2014, Columbia began partnerships with Chinese production companies for Chinese-language films, starting with Monk Comes Down the Mountain in 2015.
Logo
The Columbia Pictures logo features the Torch Lady, a woman carrying a torch and wearing a drape representing Columbia, a personification of the United States, and has undergone six major changes. It is often compared to the Statue of Liberty, which inspired it. The original 1924 logo showed a female Roman soldier holding a shield and a stick of wheat, based on actress Doris Doscher, who modeled for the Standing Liberty quarter (1916–1930). In 1928, two logos appeared: one with a woman in a radiate crown and peplos holding a torch inside a ribbon-shaped ring, with the slogan "Gems of the Screen" (inspired by the song "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean"); the other showed her in a draped flag and headdress, wearing ancient Roman stola and palla, holding a radiating torch, with "A Columbia Production" above. The latter logo was based on actress Evelyn Venable, who voiced the Blue Fairy in Disney's Pinocchio. The former logo remained in use for "The End" intertitles until 1933, and its slogan later inspired renaming the Charles Mintz Studio into Screen Gems.
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