TriStar Pictures/Summary

Note : This is not to be confused with an earlier company of the same name.

Background
TriStar Pictures (originally spelled "Tri-Star") was formed in 1982 as a joint venture between Columbia Pictures (then owned by the Coca-Cola Company), HBO, and CBS, hence the name of the studio. Originally it was known as "Nova Pictures" until the name was changed on May 16, 1983 in order to avoid confusion with PBS's hit science series NOVA. CBS was the first joint-owner who dropped out venture on November 15, 1985 and sold its interest to Columbia Pictures for $48m. In 1986, HBO sold its shares in Tri-Star to Columbia as well and formed HBO Pictures. On December 21, 1987, Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." and Coke merged Tri-Star & Columbia to become "Columbia/Tri-Star", of which Coca-Cola owned 80% of its stock. In late 1987, most of Tri-Star's releases were copyrighted under the "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." name until mid-1988, when it was reverted back to "Tri-Star Pictures, Inc.", as a new entity with that name was incorporated on April 13. In January 1988, CPE's stocks fell a little and Coke decreased its shares in CPE to 49%. On November 8, 1989, Sony Corporation of Japan acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $3.4 billion. On August 7, 1991, under Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hyphen (-) was taken off of the name to refer it to the current CamelCase-style name, "TriStar". Early on, (with a few exceptions), TriStar's films were released on Home Video by either RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), CBS/FOX/Key Video (now 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), occasionally Vestron Video/Lightning Video (now Lionsgate Home Entertainment), or Thorn-EMI/HBO/Cannon Video (now HBO Video), among other companies. In 1988, following Columbia's buyout of TriStar, Home Video distribution of films produced by the studio moved exclusively to RCA/Columbia. From 1985 until 1994, TriStar also distributed films produced by Carolco Pictures; these were released on the International Video Entertainment and Live Home Video labels (now Lionsgate Home Entertainment), often with TriStar's logo cut. Cliffhanger is the only Carolco film in which the rights were retained by the original distributor.

=== 1st Logo (April 6, 1984-May 28, 1993; 1996)===

Nicknames :"'90s Pegasus", "Ultra Majestic Pegasus", "The TriStar Pegasus II"

Logo : We start out on a black background. Then we see a part of the evening, which slowly fades in and brightens up to reveal a dark background with dark cumulonimbus clouds with a layer of fog on the bottom. A white  flash of light at the bottom, that starts to glow and gets bright as it almost fills the screen. A Pegasus appears from far distance spreads its wings out and takes a few steps towards the viewer, causing the fog to flow as the flash dims away slowly. "TRISTAR " in a light shiny gold  chiseled bold font slowly fades in above it, on top of the screen with the letters "T " and "S " in a bigger font that the other letters. The Pegasus stops when its wings are fully spread out and the "TRISTAR " text fully appears. The text slowly shines as the fog still flows.

Trivia :
 * This logo was based on a still image Sony had introduced alongside its sister studio Columbia in 1992. The logo was only used for home video and television until a fully animated logo debuted in the summer of 1993.
 * This logo was animated by Intralink Film Graphic Design. The footage of the white stallion was shot in a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. The wings were done by combining real feathers and digitized computing and were merged with the white stallion's image via computer morphing. The footage of the cloud background was shot from the Haleakala Crater on Maui.

Byline :
 * June 25, 1993-March 12, 1999: (Bylineless)
 * December 15, 1995-Febuary 21, 2014: "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company " (first seen on Jumanji. However, some post-1995 films continued to use the bylineless version until 1999. In 2012, the byline appears smaller and a bit darker, but slighty of centered, like the 1996 Columbia Pictures logo; last used on Pompeii. However, Moms' Night Out and When the Game Stands Tall still used the SPE byline in tandem until August 2015.)
 * April 16, 2014-September 12, 2015:"a Sony Company" (seen on Heaven is for Real, Ricki and the Flash, War Room and the UK theatrical version of The Lady in the Van (The last film to use this logo). In this version, the Sony Pictures Entertainment logo transitions to this logo)

Variants :
 * During this logo's early years, on movie trailers and commercials, when the Pegasus is spreading out its wings, the "TRISTAR" text is fully transparent, rather than fading in as in the regular version. Also, it doesn't shine.
 * On Sleepless in Seattle (the first movie to use this logo), the flash dims away quickly and early before the Pegasus spreads out its wings and the "TRISTAR" text appears.
 * On early VHS releases, the 1993 music replaced the 1984 music
 * In 1998, the logo became enhanced by making the clouds a lighter gold  color.
 * In 2007, starting with the infamous Daddy Day Camp, the logo was given a "enhanced" look, with the SPE byline in gold  to match the cloud's color.
 * From 2012-February 2014, the SPE byline is smaller and is a bit darker, but not centered.
 * A very early trailer and commercial logo has a black background with the stacked words "TRI STAR " and next to it is the box with the Pegasus in front of the cloud. This can be seen on the trailer for Rudy.
 * Since the 2014 release of Heaven is for Real, the Sony logo now transitions to this logo.

Closing Variants :
 * It's the same current print logo that appeared on movie trailers during its early years, and looking similar to the last print logo. The Pegasus is placed inside a box, with a cloud background overlapping the top. Its wings overlap both ends of the box. Below the logo is the phrase " A T RI S TAR RELEASE", or "RELEASED BY" above the logo with the SPE byline underneath. Sometimes, " A T RI S TAR RELEASE " isn't there. Sometimes, it's bylineless.
 * One early variant of such featured the boxed Pegasus logo at center, with " T RI S TAR PICTURES" (in Bank Gothic MD BT) and the SPE byline below one another. This particular closing variant happened to appear at the end of the features Chaplin and Cliffhanger, which both used the old logo at the beginning, although the latter was the last movie to use the old logo at the beginning; though this may be unsurprising, since both Columbia and TriStar first introduced their new logos for their home video and television divisions a year earlier in 1992. The movie Wilder Napalm has the "A TriStar Release" text above.
 * On films like The Call and Heaven is for Real, the shadows of the Pegasus' wings is removed.
 * Starting with Heaven is for Real, "A TRISTAR PICTURES RELEASE" is now seen underneath with the byline: "a Sony Company".

Cheesy Factor : After the flash dims away and as the Pegasus begins to spread his wings, you can see parts of "TRISTAR" visible on the top of the middle cloud before the chiseled version of the said text fades in.

FX/SFX : The light beam forming the Pegasus, the fog flowing, the text fading in and shining.

Music/Sounds : A more majestic remix of the first jingle, composed by Bill Johnson. Starting with the film Godzilla released in May 20, 1998, the fanfare has been rearranged.

Music/Sounds Variants :
 * Early films with this feature this logo with the original 1984 music, such as Sleepless in Seattle, Jury Duty and Magic in the Water.
 * Sometimes, this logo is silent. Other times, there's music from any music soundtrack playing over the logo.
 * On Little Secrets, it is high pitched.

Availability : Common. It debuted on Sleepless in Seattle and was last seen on War Room. Strangely, this logo is seen on 1997 VHS prints of The Craft, Multiplicity and Alaska instead of the Columbia TriStar Home Video logo (some prints do have the CTHV logo instead). The Live Home Video release of Wagons East! preserves this logo.

Scare Factor : None. This logo is beautiful over the years, including the music and mind-blowing CGI.

=== 3rd Logo (September 30, 2015-) ===



Nicknames : The TriStar Pegasus lll", "Ultra Majestic Pegasus II", "CGI Pegasus", "Christian Pegasus"

Logo : We see the clouds of the previous logo, only this time, more improved. Then the clouds brighten and turn into full daylight. Then, we see a pegasus run towards us. He stands up in his hind legs and rises his wings. Once he has done this, the TRISTAR  text from the previous logo (only more golden ) fades in, then the byline "a Sony Company" fades in after that.

Trivia : This time, this logo was animated at JAMM VFX, Santa Monica, California. Sony commissioned the updated logo to take advantage of new technologies such as 4K and IMAX 3D.

FX/SFX : The light shining, and the Pegasus running toward us as the night time turns into the daylight, and the texts fading in, as well as the combination of the elements of the 1993 logo and the Pegasus in the 1984 logo. It's all very nice CGI.

Music/Sounds : Same as the previous logo.

Availabilty : Brand new. First seen on the IMAX trailer for The Walk, and will be seen on future films.

Scare Factor : Low. The Pegasus coming at you may startle some, but other than that, it's a great logo and a suitable successor to the previous logo.