Columbia Pictures

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Lillian Terzis

By Lily Terzis

(1) Columbia Pictures Logo, featuring a woman carrying a torch, representing Columbia, who is a personification of the United States.

Headquarters
10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA
90232

Contact Information
Phone: 310-244-4000
URL: sonypictures.com

Key Executives

Robert Osher, Chief Operating Officer of Columbia Pictures (3)

Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures (2)

About the Company

Columbia Pictures is a production and distribution company founded in 1924 by Jack Cohn, Harry Cohn, and Joe Brandt. It is currently owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, operating as part of Sony’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, through which Sony produces most of its big budget movies. Considered one of the leading film studios in the world, Columbia Pictures is one of Hollywood’s “Big Six”, distributing over 22 films yearly in the United States alone. Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group operations are located in six other countries: Columbia Pictures Producciones Espanolas in Madrid; Columbia Pictures Producciones Mexico in Mexico City; Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia in Hong Kong; and others in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Japan (16).

Top Competitors

Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc (6)
Walt Disney Studios (6)
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (6)

History

(4) Frank Capra, a well known director for Columbia Pictures

During the Golden Age of of Hollywood, Columbia Pictures was considered one of the ‘Little Three’. Much of their earlier success can be accredited to director Frank Capra, who created Columbia’s first all “talkie” feature, titled “The Donovan Affair”. His film ‘It Happened One Night’ earned Columbia their first Best Picture Academy Award and brought the studio to fame. In the mid ’40’s, Columbia released their highest-grossing movie ever, “The Jolson Story”. This earned them another Best Picture award as well as marked the beginning of their most profitable decade (5).
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Columbia Pictures joined with HBO and CBS to form TriStar Pictures in 1985 (7)

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In 1982, Columbia was bought by Coca Cola. This was a lucrative time for the company as they expanded into other forms of entertainment, such as home video. Three years later, Columbia joined with HBO and CBS to make the first new motion picture studio in decades, TriStar Pictures. This major studio was the had the fastest growth in the history of the film industry.

Sony Corporation purchased Columbia Pictures in 1989 for $3.2 billion (5). This purchase was unprecedented, and was, at that time, the largest acquisition by a Japanese company. Columbia Pictures has been gaining success ever since.

Finances

Columbia Pictures does not make its finances known to the public. It is not a publicly traded company, its parent company Sony, is traded under the name SNE at $18.51 a share. Columbia and Sony Pictures together have grossed $1,065.8 million this year alone, and control 11.4% of the market share (21). They are currently ranked as the number 4 studio by Box Office Mojo, just under Buena Vista.

Recent Releases

Movie Poster for “Captain Phillips” (8)

Captain Phillips
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: October 11, 2013
Production Budget: $55 Million

“Captain Phillips” is a true story about an American cargo ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates and was a hugely successful film, its widest release in 3,143 theaters. Despite the competitively successful “Gravity” released at a similar time, the film is doing very well. So far, it has grossed over $97,820,373 domestically, which is much more than its budget. Its opening weekend, it was ranked number 2 at the box office (9).

You can find the trailer for this film HERE
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Poster for the movie “Elysium” (11)

Elysium
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: August 9, 2013
Production Budget: $115 Million

“Elysium” is a film about the future, where the wealthy live on a space ship and the poor must live on the destroyed earth. The main character’s mission is to create equality. The film’s domestic total gross so far is $92,947,675, but its foreign gross is $192,007,963. Its widest release was to 3,284 theaters and ranked number 1 its opening weekend (10).

You can find the trailer for this film HERE
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Movie Poster for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (20)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
MPAA Rating: PG
Release Date: September 27, 2013
Production Budget: $78 million

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” is an animated movie for children. It features the voices of some celebrities, like Anna Faris, Andy Samburg, and Neil Patrick Harris. This was a highly successful film for Columbia, grossing $34,017, 930 domestically its opening weekend in 4,001 theaters. It was immediately ranked number 1 at the box office. So far, the film has made almost double its budget, grossing $113,125,418 domestically as of November 18th (19).

You can find the trailer for this film HERE.

Upcoming Releases

Movie poster for “American Hustle” (12)

American Hustle
MPAA Rating: Not yet rated
Release Date: December 13, 2013

“American Hustle” is about a con man and his partner, a British woman, who are forced to work for the FBI. This film is expected to do well at the box office. It has a lot of star power, as the cast is made up of Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Louis CK, and Christian Bale (12). This film is generating a lot of buzz as it is soon to show at its first film festival, the Dubai International Film Festival, or DIFF.
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You can find the trailer for this film HERE.

Movie Poster for “The Amazing Spider-Man” (13)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2
MPAA Rating: Not yet rated
Release Date: May 2, 2014

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is starring Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, and Jamie Foxx. It is being produced by Matthew Tolmach, who is a previous co-president of Columbia Pictures (14). Columbia Pictures has had a huge amount of success with the Spider-man franchise. Working with Marvel, Columbia also plans to release an IMAX 3D version (15).

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Recent News

In 2012, Sony released that it had made over $4 billion worldwide, mostly in part to Columbia’s successful films, including “Skyfall“, “The Amazing Spider-Man“, “21 Jump Street“, “Men in Black 3“, and “Hotel Transylvania“. The Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group now has a motion picture library with over 3,500 titles with 12 Best Picture Academy Awards. Currently, Columbia plans to continue creating big budget box office hits and gaining large profits for Sony Pictures Entertainment. In the upcoming 2014-2015 year, the studio plans to create some sequels to their previously successful films, such as “Bad Teacher 2“, “Hotel Transylvania 2” and “22 Jump Street” (16). Columbia is also looking to produce some Oscar contenders, like “Annie“, a modern telling of the classic musical. It is set to be released in 2014, and stars Quvenzhane Wallis who was nominated for an Oscar for her acting in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (17).

Recently, Columbia’s parent company Sony has not been doing so well. This year, they were ranked fourth in domestic box-office sales, and gained a revenue of $1.13 billion, which is down 32% from last year. They are undergoing many changes, especially after some box office flops like “White House Down” and “After Earth” (18). They are reportedly reviewing their process for how movies are selected and are looking to cut costs.

Sources

[1] Columbia Pictures Logo
[2] Doug Belgrad
[3] Robert Osher
[4] Frank Capra
[5] History of the studio
[6] Top Competitors
[7] TriStar Logo
[8] Image for Captain Phillips
[9] Movie info Captain Phillips
[10] Elysium info
[11] Elysium Poster
[12] American Hustle Poster and Info
[13] Amazing Spiderman Poster
[14] Spiderman Producer
[15] Spiderman Info
[16] Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group
[17] Annie
[18] Sony Finances
[19] Cloudy Chance of Meatballs Info
[20] Cloudy Chance of Meatballs Poster
[21] Financial Information Columbia and Sony

Buenavista/Disney Pictures

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Gregory Fenton

By Greg Fenton

Photo courtesy of www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

History

Founded in 1923 under the name “The Disney Brothers Studio”,The Walt Disney Studios began as a humble cartoon studio, producing classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Fantasia, Mary Poppins, and The Lion King. Today, The Walt Disney Studios, also known as Disney/Buena Vista, has become one of the largest film companies in the world, churning out internationally successful live-action and animated films aimed at entertaining the whole family. The Walt Disney Studios umbrella encompasses several studios owned and operated by The Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, and Marvel Studios. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. in late 2012 for $4 billion. [1] [2] [3]

Key Executives

Robert A. Iger– Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company

Photo courtesy www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

Alan Horn– Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios

Photo courtesy of www.waltdisneystudios.com

Andy Bird– Chairman of Walt Disney International

Photo courtesy of www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

Alan Bergman– President of The Walt Disney Studios

Photo courtesy of www.waltdisneystudios.com

Financials

In 2013, The Walt Disney Company brought in $45.0 billion of revenue ($9.4 billion gross profit), up from $42.3 billion in 2012 ($8.9 billion gross profit) , and $38.0 billion in 2010 ($6.7 billion gross profit). As of this writing (11/18/2013), Disney stock sits at an even $70.00 per share, a significant increase from $47.45 a year ago (11/19/2013).[4] Through November 14th, 2013 Disney/Buena Vista commands 13.1% of the studio market share, trailing Warner Bros. (17.8%) and Universal (14.6%).[5] Disney/Buena Vista thrives on the blockbuster, with four films grossing over $100 million domestically in 2013 and 2012. Of these eight films, three of them are part of Marvel Studio’s “Avengers” franchise, which shows the enormous financial returns on Disney’s $4 billion investment to purchase Marvel Entertainment in 2009.[6] [7] In early November 2013, Disney/Buena Vista broke its all-time global box office record of $3.79 billion, set in 2010, with over six weeks and three major releases left to go in 2013, setting Disney/Buena Vista up for a year of eye-popping numbers. [17]

Recent Film Releases

Photo courtesy games.disney.com

Planes– DisneyToon Studios’ Planes follows a crop-dusting plane named Dusty Crophopper with big dreams of being a racer and a fear of heights. After training under veteran fighter, Skipper, Dusty qualifies for the prestigious Wings Across the World race. There, as an underdog, he meets friend and foe, but, more importantly, learns to break down his physical and mental barriers.[8]

As a DisneyToon production, Planes was initially meant for a straight-to-DVD release and cost Disney a relatively cheap $50 million to make, yet opened with a robust $22 million weekend opposite Sony’s Elysium in early August, eventually pulling in $89 million domestically in over 3,700 theaters. [9] [10] [6]

The film received a Metascore of just 32 from review-aggregator site Metacritic.com with some reviewers appreciating the modesty of the film, while others docked the film for lacking the quality of other animated Disney films and an overly simplistic plot. [11]

Photo courtesy www.imdb.com

Thor: The Dark World– Thor: The Dark World is a sequel to 2011’s Thor.That movie, distributed by Paramount as part of The Avengers franchise, raked in over $181 million at the domestic box office. Disney bought the distribution rights for Marvel’s the Avengers (2012) and Iron Man 3 (2013) in 2010 and finalized a deal for the distribution rights for Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger in summer 2013. [12] [13] [14]

Thor: The Dark World takes place two years after the events of Thor, focusing on Thor’s quest for peace in the nine realms of Asgard. Thor misses Earth and his love-interest Dr. Jane Foster, but is prevented from traveling back to her by Odin, Thor’s father. However, when Foster travels through a wormhole, uncovering an ancient weapon called Aether that threatens the fate of Asgard and Earth. Thor then decides to team up with Foster and his half-brother, and villain of the Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers films, Loki, to destroy the Aether and save Asgard from the wrath of the dark elf Malekith. [12]

At the time of this writing Thor:The Dark World has earned over $145 million at the domestic box office just two weekends after its November 8th release in over 3,800 theaters, and should recoup its $170 million budget in the very near future. The Dark World has also thrived overseas, pulling in just under $333 million worldwide. The real test will be to see how the film performs after Lionsgate releases The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22nd which some believe will open with a $150 million weekend. Nevertheless, The Dark World is already a financial success for Disney and should continue to put up strong numbers at the box office for several weeks as the holiday movie-going season kicks off. Click here to watch the trailer for Thor:The Dark World [12] [15]

Upcoming Film Releases

Photo courtesy of wikia.disney.com

Frozen– Frozen is the latest effort from the wildly successful Walt Disney Animation Studios, opening the day before Thanksgiving on November 27th, 2013. Based on the fairy tale written by Danish Author Hans Christian Andersen, “The Snow Queen,” Frozen revolves around the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa, the latter of which has the supernatural ability to control ice and snow. When Elsa accidentally uses these powers in public, she flees, plunging the kingdom into eternal winter. Determined to end the cold snap, Anna enlists the help of the mountain man Kristoff and the animated snow man Olaf. [16]

Opening up the day before Thanksgiving should give Frozen ample time to marinate in the holiday climate before more major titles are released before for Christmas. As with Thor:The Dark World, Frozen will have to compete with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for attention, but the film keeps a significant advantage in its subject matter as a children’s musical adventure in the midst of several films that touch more serious topics. Frozen will also benefit from being released in 3D, which will provide a major boost to its numbers at the box office. On the other side of the spectrum of success, Frozen could garner some looks as the Academy Awards approach in a relatively weak year for animated movies that included a sequel (Despicable Me 2) and a prequel (Monsters University) as the highest earners at the box office in the animated category. [16]

Other Upcoming Releases

Delivery Man– November 22nd, 2013

Saving Mr. Banks– December 13th, 2013

The Wind Rises– February 14th, 2014 [17]

Sources:

[1] The History of Disney

[2] Studios Under the Walt Disney Studios Umbrella

[3] Disney Buys Lucasfilm LTD

[4] Disney Financial Profile

[5] Disney Market Share

[6] Buena Vista Box Office-2012

[7] Disney Buys Marvel