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Columbia Pictures

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by Javier Vélez

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Logo

Courtesy of fortune.com (a)

Contact Information: (b)

Address: 10202 W. Washington Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

Phone: 310-244-4000

http://www.sonypictures.com/

 Key Executives: (c)

Doug Belgrad [6]

Doug Belgrad (President)

image retrieved from the Hollywood Reporter

Hannah Minghella (President of Production)

 

 About Columbia Pictures:

Rita Hayworth       Courtesy of: Fanpop.com

The production studio known today as Columbia Pictures was founded in 1918 by Joe Brandt and brothers Jack and Harry Cohn. Originally named Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales, the company became Columbia Pictures in 1924. During the Hollywood Golden Age, Columbia had many stars of the era under contract, such as Rita Hayworth and William Holden, and became a major player in the movie business thanks to the productions of director Frank Capra.(d) In 1982, the company was bought by Coca-Cola, and in 1989 Sony purchased it for $3.4 billion.(e) Columbia Pictures is currently the film production and distribution division of Sony Picture’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a Sony subsidiary.(f) The most recent movement at the executive level occurred on July 16, 2014, when Doug Belgrad was promoted to president of the Sony Motion Picture Group. (g)                    

Financials:

Columbia Pictures, and its parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment, are privately traded.(h) The company has had notable releases in the last few years, including box office successes such as Skyfall and the Spider-Man franchise. From its 853 films produced or distributed for Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures releases have grossed $31,650,056,784, an average of $37 million per film.(i) In 2014, Columbia Pictures has held a 13.0% market share as of November 23.(j)

The Amazing Spider-Man                 Courtesy of Boxofficemojo.com

Columbia Pictures Success:

At the 2014 Oscars, films distributed by Columbia Pictures received 16 nominations. American Hustle received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Director.  It won two Oscars, Jennifer Lawrence for Best Supporting Actress and David O. Russell & Eric Warren Singer for Best Original Screenplay. (k)

American Hustle poster                                                                 Courtesy of: Forbes.com

The other Columbia release that received Oscar Nominations was Captain Phillips. Of the six nominations received, the most noteworthy were for Best Picture and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for first-time actor Barkhad Abdi. The film did not win any Academy Awards.

The stars of Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi             Courtesy of aceshowbiz.com

 Columbia Pictures Presents:

Columbia Pictures has produced and/or distributed 17 films in 2014. Between superhero films, action films, and comedies, among others, the studio has released some of the most well-received films of the year by audiences.

During the summer, Columbia Pictures produced the sequel to 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Jamie Foxx. The movie was released on May 2, 2014 in 4,324 theaters, grossing $110,700,722 in its first week. It went on to have a successful run in theaters, grossing over $200 million domestically and over $505 million in foreign markets, for a worldwide gross of $708, 983, 323 against a budget of $200 million. (l) In China, the movie was released in 11,002 theaters, a record amount of screens. (m) The film was not as big a hit with critics, receiving mixed reviews. (n)

Teaser Poster for The Amazing Spider-Man 2                           Courtesy of: Boxofficemojo.com

Another high-profile release in the summer of 2014 was 22 Jump Street, the sequel to 2012’s critical and commercial hit, 21 Jump Street. The movie, which pokes fun at conventional sequels, starred the buddy cop team of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as they move on from high school to college.

It was released on June 13, 2014, and went on to gross $191 million domestically, making up its $50 million budget. Internationally, the film made $131 million, for a total worldwide gross of $331 million. It was also well-received by critics, obtaining a 84% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (o) (p)

Now Playing:

The Equalizer poster                  Courtesy of: IMDB.com

After the summer blockbuster season, Columbia Pictures has released two films that have been well-received by audiences. The first is “The Equalizer”, an action film directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Denzel Washington as a retired government official who must save an innocent girl from Russian gangsters. The film was released on September 26, 2014. (q) It is adapted from a TV series of the same name that aired on CBS from 1985 to 1989. (r) This is Fuqua’s and Denzel’s first film together since Training Day, for which Denzel won an Academy Award for Best Actor. The film opened its box office run with a $45 million gross its first week, opening in first place. It went on to gross $99 million domestically and $90 million in international sales, for a worldwide gross of around $190 million against a budget of $55 million. (s) The film received mixed-to-positive reviews. (t)

The other film Columbia has released in the fall is “Fury”, a World War II tank movie starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, and Logan Lerman, written and directed by David Ayer. The movie deals with a tank unit behind enemy lines during the latter stages of the war and presents, with unflinching reality, the brutalities of war. (u) The film was released on October 17, 2014 and opened in first place at the box office with a $33 million gross its first week. “Fury” is still in theaters, and as of November 28, 2014 has grossed approximately $81 million domestically and $74 million globally, good for a total gross of $155 million against a budget of $68 million. For the week of November 21-27, the film’s sixth week, “Fury” was still in the top 10 highest grossing films of the week. (v) (w) The film has been well-received by critics, holding a 78% “Certified Fresh” Rotten Tomatoes rating. (x)

Future:

Annie (2014) poster           Courtesy of: IMDB.com

Columbia Pictures plans to take advantage of the holiday season, distributing two films. The first is a modern re-telling of the musical “Annie”,produced by Jay-Z and starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis. The movie will be released on December 19, 2014. The comedy-musical will look to appeal to a broad audience. (y)

Another film being distributed in December by Columbia Pictures is the comedy “The Interview”. The controversial film (z) stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as a TV presenter and his producer, respectively, who are sent to North Korea to kill Kim Jong-un. The film will be released on December 25, 2014, and will look to appeal to mature audiences on Christmas Day. (aa)

Movies to be distributed and/or produced by Columbia Pictures in the following years include a Neill Blomkamp film titled Chappie, an Angry Birds movie, and spin-offs of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise. (bb) Also in production is the next installment in the Bond franchise, with the working title of Bond 24. The film will once again be helmed by “Skyfall” director Sam Mendes and will star Daniel Craig as the titular 007 agent and Christoph Waltz as a Bond villain. It is yet to be seen how production of these and other Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures films will be altered by the November 24, 2014  hacks on their worldwide computer networks. Recent releases like “Fury” and soon-to-be-released features like “Annie” were leaked by this attack. (cc) (dd) 

 Sources:

Columbia Pictures

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By Alexander Hill

Columbia-Pictures-Company-Logo[1]

10202 West Washington Boulevard,

Culver City, California 90232

Key Executives [1]

michael-lynton

Michael Lynton
Chairmen and CEO

Amy Pascal
Co-Chairmen

david-hendler

David Hendler
Senior Executive Vice President and CFO

michaeldeluca

Michael Deluca
President, Production
Columbia Pictures

 

charles-sipkins

Charles Sipkins
Executive Vice President and CCO

History:

Two brothers, Jack and Harry Cohn, and their partner Joe Brandt founded Columbia Pictures in 1918. The studio was originally named Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales, before officially becoming Columbia Pictures in 1925. Over the following decades the film company would be propelled into the Hollywood spotlight, developing a national following and becoming one of the major film studios in America.  The company would be sold to the Coca-Cola Company in 1982, before becoming an individual entity known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment under Tri-Star in 1987. In 1989 for a reported $3.4 billion [2], the Sony Corporation of Japan and its board approved the purchase of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, a move that would have a long-lasting impact on the future of the company. [3]

Financials:

Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Entertainment are both privately traded companies.  After the initial purchase of Columbia, there were some financial woes for Sony after a series of poor box office results during the early 90’s. More recently the studio has had a number of successes with the Spiderman and James Bond franchises, Hitch, and Hancock just to name a few. Columbia Pictures operates under the much broader Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, and often works with other studios when producing films. This upcoming year Columbia plans to release two sequels (The Amazing Spiderman 2, and 22 Jump Street), whose predecessors grossed over $900,000,000 combined worldwide. [4][5]

Recent Releases:

American Hustle (2013)
Budget: $40,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $251,171,807 [6]

HUSTLEposter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By far the biggest success recently for the studio is critically acclaimed film “American Hustle”. The film racked up 10 Academy Award Nominations, although it failed to bring home a single award against a stacked field that included “12 Years a Slave”, “Wolf of Wall Street”, and “Gravity” just to name a few. The plot follows con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), and his redheaded girlfriend (Amy Adams), as they work with an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to fool a group of politicians, and mafia members. The star-studded cast, and clever script made American Hustle extremely profitable for the studio, garnering over $150 million domestically. [7]

The Monuments Men (2014)
Budget: $70,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $155,118,847 [8]

MMposter

Part of the 2014 slate of movies for Columbia Pictures, “The Monuments Men” follows a group of American soldiers penetrating Nazi lines to recover precious artwork. The film is based on an actual group of soldiers and was developed in large part by George Clooney who was extremely invested in the production, in which he wrote, directed, and starred. Originally planned to release in 2013, the film was pushed back to 2014 due to a number of technically difficulties. It was greeted by mediocre reviews, and fairly lackluster box office results. [9][10]

RoboCop (2014)
Budget: $100,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $241,279,202 [11]

Robocop

A reboot of the 1987 franchise, RoboCop returned in 2014 with actor Joel Kinnaman behind the robotic mask. With an enormous budget of $100 million the film failed to impress in the United States, bringing in a very low $57 million. This number may have come as a surprise to the studio who expected to see many old fans of the franchise return for the remake. The film opened just one week after the “Lego Movie”, and the stiff competition may have impacted the films earnings. Despite disappointing domestic totals, the film did manage to gain some traction overseas and was extremely popular in the UK and other parts of Europe. It is till unclear whether or not a sequel will be produced, but with the films international success it is certainly a possibility. [12][13]

Upcoming Releases

The Amazing Spider Man 2
Release Date: May 2nd, 2014
Trailer

amazingspiderman poster

In 2012, the studio released “The Amazing Spider Man” which drew in over $700 million worldwide. After the huge success of the Spider Man trilogy which featured Tobey Maguire, the franchise returned with Andrew Garfield in the title role. In just under 2 weeks Spidey will return to the United States, and should be the years largest draw for the studio.  The film was already released internationally in some areas, and grossed $47 million in its first weekend; a number which is higher than the “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” opening in similar regions. Captain America currently sits atop the box office rankings for the second straight week, but Spider Man is looking poised to make a run at that position upon release. [14][15]

22 Jump Street
Release Date: July 13th, 2014
Trailer

22JumpStreet

In addition to doing a second Spider Man, Columbia Pictures is slated to release the sequel to “21 Jump Street” in 2014. “22 Jump Street” will see the duo of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return in hopes of topping their $200 million dollar success back in 2012. The last film had Hill and Tatum attending high school, but they’ve moved on to college for the sequel which is sure to draw back the young audience they targeted the first time around who may have moved on to college themselves. [16][17]

Future of Columbia Pictures

As Columbia Pictures enters 2014 they seem to be focused on recreating and building upon already established brands.  With two sequels headlining their summer release schedule,and reboots continuously showing large profits for the studio don’t expect their formula to change anytime soon.   Also noteworthy is Sony Picture Entertainments recent interest in turning its existing video game titles into movies. Rumors have been circulation around the internet that a Sonic the Hedgehog movie could be in the works from Columbia, and this could be the first of many video games Sony sends to the production company as they continue to be one of the industries most vertically integrated corporations.

 Sources

[1] Sony Pictures Entertainment Executives – Sony Pictures
[2] 1989 Article on Sony Purchase of Columbia – The New York Times
[3] History of Columbia – Sony Pictutes
[4] Google Finance: Columbia Pictures – google.com/finance
[5] Columbia Pictures – Box Office Mojo
[6] American Hustle – Box Office Mojo
[7] American Hustle – IMDB
[8] Monuments Men – Box Office Mojo
[9] Push Back of Monuments Men – Grantland
[10] Monuments Men – IMDB
[11] RoboCop – Box Office Mojo
[12] RoboCop Opening Weekend – Variety
[13] RoboCop – IMDB
[14] The Amazing Spider Man 2 Opening Weekend – Forbes
[15] The Amazing Spider Man 2 – IMDB
[16] 21 Jump Street – Box Office Mojo
[17] 22 Jump Street – IMDB

Photo Sources

Columbia Logo (courtesy truthcontrol.com)
Michael Lynton (courtesy sonypictures.com)
Amy Pascal (courtesy sonypictures.com)
David Hendler (courtesy sonypictures.com)
Michael Deluca (courtesy sonypictures.com)
Charles Sipkuns (courtesy sonypictures.com)
American Hustle Poster – (courtesy boxofficemojo.com)
Monuments Men Poster – (courtesy boxofficemojo.com)
RoboCop Poster – (courtesy boxofficemojo.com)
The Amazing Spider Man 2 Poster – (courtesy sonypictures.com)
22 Jump Street Poster – (courtesy sonypictures.com)