Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...
to manage its motion picture operations. It was launched in 1998 by integrating the businesses of
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
and
TriStar Pictures, Inc.
History
The Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group was launched in 1998 as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, as a current division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, owned by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
. It has many of Sony Pictures' current motion picture divisions as part of it. Its divisions at that time were
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
,
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
,
Triumph Films
Triumph Films (also known as Triumph Releasing Corporation) was a film studio division of Sony Pictures Entertainment that geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution.
History
It was founded in 1982 as a joint ve ...
,
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produc ...
, and Sony Pictures Releasing.
On December 8, 1998, SPE resurrected its former animation and television division
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
as a film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation.
In 2002,
Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fourth ...
was renamed as
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...
. The last three remaining companies, with the "Columbia TriStar" brand in its name, were Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, and Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Columbia TriStar Film Distributors became Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Releasing International in 2004 and 2005 and Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group became the second-to-last subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment to use the "Columbia TriStar" brand name in its name.
In 2013,
TriStar Productions
TriStar Productions (TSP) is an American film and television production company, a division of TriStar Pictures and a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and former 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman.
The new company share ...
was launched, as a joint venture of Sony Pictures Entertainment and former
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
chairman
Thomas Rothman.
In October 2013, Sony Pictures renamed its motion picture group as the "Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group". Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks were moved from
Sony Pictures Digital
Sony Pictures Digital (previously known as Columbia TriStar Interactive, Sony Pictures Interactive Network, and Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment) is a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Operating under the trade name Sony Pictures Digital ...
to its motion picture group.
On June 2, 2016,
Doug Belgrad
Doug Belgrad is an American film and television producer. He was previously an executive at Sony for nearly 27 years before founding 2.0 Entertainment, a film and television production and co-financing company based at Sony. He is known for supe ...
had announced he was to step down as president of the SPMPG and would transition his role to producer at the studio.
[Doug Belgrad exits as president of Sony Pictures' motion picture group](_blank)
latimes.com, Retrieved on June 3, 2016 Belgrad was promoted as president of the SPMPG back in 2014.
On July 15, 2019, former
Fox 2000 Pictures
Fox 2000 Pictures was an American film production company within The Walt Disney Studios. It was a sister studio of the larger film studio 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures specializing in producing independent films in mid-range re ...
president Elizabeth Gabler and the entire Fox 2000 staff joined Sony Pictures Entertainment and formed 3000 Pictures with the motion picture group.
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
would be funding half of the division's overhead and development. 3000 Pictures would also pursue projects for TV and streaming.
Film divisions
Sony Pictures Releasing
Sony Pictures Releasing is an American
film distributor
A film distributor is responsible for the Film promotion, marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.
The distributo ...
owned by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
. Established in 1994
[SONY PICTURES RELEASING CORPORATION](_blank)
businessprofiles.com, Retrieved on January 20, 2014 as a successor to Triumph Releasing Corporation, the company handles theatrical distribution,
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
and promotion for films produced and released by
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...
, including
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
,
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
(as well as
TriStar Productions
TriStar Productions (TSP) is an American film and television production company, a division of TriStar Pictures and a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and former 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman.
The new company share ...
),
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
,
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produc ...
,
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...
,
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...
,
Stage 6 Films
Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film production label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films that are low budget and that are being released straight-to-DVD, on demand, or through streaming services. ...
,
Affirm Films,
Destination Films
Destination Films is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment currently specializing in action, thriller, niche sci-fi and low-end to medium-end horror films.
History
The original Destination Films was founded by Brent Baum and Steve Stabler ...
, and
Triumph Films
Triumph Films (also known as Triumph Releasing Corporation) was a film studio division of Sony Pictures Entertainment that geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution.
History
It was founded in 1982 as a joint ve ...
. It is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. It also has an international division called Sony Pictures Releasing International, which from 1991 until 2005 was known as Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International.
International arrangements
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Columbia's international theatrical distribution operations were a joint venture with
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
named Columbia-Warner, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies like with
EMI Films
EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...
and
Cannon Films
The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...
in the UK under the names of Columbia-EMI-Warner and later Columbia-Cannon-Warner. The UK venture was dissolved in 1988.
On February 6, 2014, Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal Ltda., a joint venture with
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
which distributed films from both companies in Portugal, announced that they will close their offices on March 31. Sony Pictures' films are distributed in Portugal by Big Picture Films since then, while
NOS Audiovisuais took over the distribution duties for Warner Bros. films in the country.
From June 2014 until February 2020, Sony Pictures' Philippine releasing arm under the name of ''Columbia Pictures Philippines'' distributed films by
United International Pictures
United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...
' partner studios,
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
and
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
(including films by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
), after UIP ended its nine-year distribution agreement with the studio's local distributor
Solar Entertainment Corporation
Solar Entertainment Corporation (simply known as Solar or SEC) is a Filipino media company based in Makati, Philippines. Founded and owned by the brothers, Wilson, William and Willy Tieng. Solar Entertainment operates two digital free-to-air c ...
and their Solar Films subsidiary. The Philippine distribution to films made by Universal lasted until January 2020; when distribution reverted to Warner Bros. (UIP's former local distributor from the 1990s to 2000) in October 2021 while most
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
titles are instead released through a start-up online distribution company, UPSTREAM. Paramount later renewed their distribution agreements with Sony in October 2021.
The theatrical distribution of Sony Pictures' films in Italy is still handled by Warner Bros. One notable example of this is ''
Call Me By Your Name Call Me by Your Name may refer to:
* ''Call Me by Your Name'' (novel), a 2007 novel by André Aciman
* ''Call Me by Your Name'' (film), a 2017 film based on the novel, directed by Luca Guadagnino
** '' Call Me by Your Name: Original Motion Pictur ...
'', where Warner Bros. handled Italian theatrical distribution (although the Sony label is still being used) while home video distribution went through Sony itself. The agreement, however, will expire in 2023 as local distributor Eagle Pictures took over theatrical distribution of Sony's films in the country.
Sony Pictures and
Walt Disney Studios formed a film distribution joint venture in Southeast Asia in 1997.
By December 2006, 14 joint distribution ventures between Sony Pictures Releasing International and
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...
were formed and exist in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. In January 2007, their 15th such partnership began operations in Russia and
CIS
Cis or cis- may refer to:
Places
* Cis, Trentino, in Italy
* In Poland:
** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central
** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north
Math, science and biology
* cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...
. In February 2017, Sony starting leaving the Southeast Asia venture with the Philippines. In August 2017, Sony terminated the joint venture agreement for their own operations.
[ On January 31, 2019, in anticipation of Disney's then-pending acquisition of the most ]21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...
assets (which includes 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
), it was agreed that Disney would sell its stake in the Mexican joint venture named ''Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing de México'' to ''Sony Pictures Releasing''. As part of the global economic fluctuations caused by the Disney's acquisition, Sony Pictures Production and Release LLC and Disney Studios LLC parted amicably signing a formal demerger
A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a merger or acquisition.
A demerger can take place through a spin-off by distributed or t ...
on 21 January 2020. The contract would allow Sony Pictures Releasing to operate autonomously.
In Argentina and Poland, United International Pictures
United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...
handles theatrical distribution of films released by Sony Pictures.
In the Netherlands, Universal Pictures International
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
currently handles theatrical distribution of films released by Sony Pictures since 2013.
In the Netherlands and Sweden, Columbia TriStar Films (now known as Sony Pictures Releasing) formerly handled theatrical distribution of films released by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
from 1992 to 1997 in the former country and from 1994 to 1996 in the latter.
Film library
Film series
Highest-grossing films
References
External links
Sony Pictures Movies
{{Sony Corp
American companies established in 1998
Film distributors of the United States
Film production companies of the United States
Entertainment companies based in California
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Companies based in Culver City, California
Entertainment companies established in 1998
Mass media companies established in 1998
1998 establishments in California
Multinational companies
Sony subsidiaries