Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of

Sony Pictures 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, acq ...

. It was founded in 1992 by former

Orion Classics Orion Classics started in 1982 as the distribution label for the then independent film production company Orion Pictures, now owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was relaunched in 2018. The original focus of 1980-era Orion Classics was on acquirin ...

heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom.Alt URL
/ref> It distributes, produces and acquires specialty films such as

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

and arthouse films in the United States and internationally. As of 2015, Barker and Bernard are co-presidents of the division.

History

Sony Pictures Classics was formed in 1992, by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom, set up as an autonomous division of

. The model of the company is to produce, acquire and/or distribute independent films from the United States and internationally. Sony Pictures Classics has released prestigious films that have won 37 Academy Awards and garnered 155 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture nominations for '' The Father'', '' Call Me By Your Name'', '' Whiplash'', '' Amour'', ''

Midnight in Paris ''Midnight in Paris'' is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in Paris, the film follows Gil Pender ( Owen Wilson), a screenwriter, who is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationship with his materi ...

'', ''

An Education ''An Education'' is a 2009 coming-of-age drama film based on a memoir of the same name by British journalist Lynn Barber. The film was directed by Lone Scherfig from a screenplay by Nick Hornby. It stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright school ...

'', '' Capote'', ''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...

'', and ''

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese ethnicity, including Chow Yun-fat, ...

''. Sony Pictures Classics has a history of making reasonable investments for small films, and getting a decent return. It has a history of not overspending. Its largest commercial success of the 2010s is

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

's ''

'' (2011), which grossed over $56 million in the U.S., becoming Allen's highest-grossing film ever in the United States. Sony Pictures Classics has been a pioneer in theatrical distribution. In 2001, Sony Pictures Classics championed foreign-language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it earned the most Oscar nominations ever for a non-English-language film going on to win the best foreign-language film Oscar and Golden Globe in 2001 — and at the box office, garnering more than $213 million worldwide on a $17 million budget, including $128 million in the U.S. as a Sony Pictures Classics release. In 2006, SPC promoted ''

The Lives of Others ''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of East Berli ...

'' to an Oscar and BAFTA, after the movie had been rejected by Cannes, Berlin, Venice and the New York Film Festival. Occasionally, Sony Pictures Classics agrees to release films for all other film studio divisions of Sony; however, under Sony Pictures Classics' structure within Sony, all other divisions of Sony (including the parent company) cannot force Sony Pictures Classics to release any film that the division does not want to release.

Film library

References

External links

* {{Authority control Entertainment companies established in 1992

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States American independent film studios Companies based in Los Angeles Companies based in New York City American companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in California