Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Summary

Background

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home entertainment distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, part of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was first established in November 1979 by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. as "Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment", to distribute films from Columbia Pictures on VHS, Beta, Laserdisc, and Super 8mm, with Warner Bros. titles being released by them in the latter format. It was later renamed as "RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video" (or "RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video" for international distribution, "RCA/Columbia Pictures/Hoyts Video" (in conjunction with Hoyts) in Australia and "Gaumont Columbia RCA Video" (in conjunction with Gaumont) in France) in 1981 as a joint venture with RCA, "Columbia TriStar Home Video" on August 23, 1991 after acquiring RCA's shares from General Electric, "Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment" in 1999 before the name was made official in 2001, and to its current name in 2004. It is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures library for home entertainment, mainly releases from Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, but also product from Sony Pictures Classics, Screen Gems, Triumph Films, Destination Films, Stage 6 Films, Affirm Films, Revolution Studios, its television library, selected miscellaneous output from independent companies, and CBS Films theatrical releases from the first half of the 2010s (all of which are slowly being reissued by Paramount). Since June 20, 2007, SPHE now handles the former Sony BMG kids label, Sony Wonder.

Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment

(November 1979-November 1982)

Nickname: "The Sunburst"

Logo: The 1976-1981 Columbia Pictures "Sunburst" theatrical logo plays as normal, but there is a video freeze at the end, with "Columbia Pictures" blacked out by the words.

COLUMBIA PICTURES
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
PRESENTS

written in white, in Cooper Black font, is chyroned in below.

Variants: 

• There is a black and white version of this logo seen on classic Columbia movies and shorts in B&W.
• The closing transition will vary from video to video, with it fading to black in one version while another cuts to black.
• On the original 1981 releases of Easy Rider and The Bridge on the River Kwai, the logo is shortened to the formation of the sunburst, and the text is in a chyroned Helvetica font.

FX/SFX: Same as the "Sunburst" logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the theatrical version (although some releases have it distorted). 

Availability: Extremely rare.

• Columbia TriStar Home Video kept this logo on the '90s VHS releases of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (in print as late as 2000), It's My Turn, Cat Ballou, and The Three Stooges Vol. 3: An Ache in Every Stake (making its appearances on all four after a Columbia TriStar Home Video logo), and it also made an appearance on the mid-'80s reprint video releases of those and many others originally released before 1983, including Midnight Express, Bye Bye Birdie, The Taming of the Shrew, And Justice for All, The China Syndrome, The Three Stooges Vol. 1: A Bird in the Head, and The Three Stooges Vol. 2: Micro-Phonies, due to them using older tape masters.
• You can also find this logo on the company's original '70s clamshell releases, including Midnight Express, Gilda, Born Free, The Taming of the Shrew, A Man for All Seasons, Breakout, The New Centurions, The Deep, Bye Bye Birdie, You Light Up My Life, and the original Fun with Dick and Jane. Surprisingly, this logo also appeared on early to mid '80s video prints of UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing and Mr. Magoo cartoons.
• The black-and-white version appears on classic Columbia titles in black-and-white, including Knock on Any Door and Gilda among others. Starting in late 1981, videocassettes of Columbia Pictures films go straight to the logo used at the time (a practice that lasted until 1989).
• There are also some sports specials and non-Columbia Pictures material that contain this logo, such as the 1982 VHS of The Batty World of Baseball.
• The last videocassettes to use this logo include Hanover Street (itself a Columbia film), To Forget Venice, and the aforementioned Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• With few known exceptions (namely, Cat Ballou, The Three Stooges Vol. 2: Micro-Phonies, The Three Stooges Vol. 3: An Ache in Every Stake, and Easy Rider, the latter which ironically plastered its own Columbia logo with the RCA/Columbia logo later on), this always plastered the Columbia Pictures logo on tapes of Columbia films.

Editor's Note: The "Columbia Pictures" company name can be briefly seen if one plays the logo in slow-motion and watches carefully.

RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video

1st Logo
(June 1983-October 1987)

Nickname: "RCA/Columbia Box"

Logo: On a black background, a white-bordered box appears. In it are two black rounded rectangles, with the first bearing the "RCA" logo in red, and the second having the 1981 Columbia Pictures print logo in a blue arch-shaped border with "Columbia Pictures" below. "HOME VIDEO" is at the bottom of the white border, in black.

Variants: 

• Sometimes the RCA and Columbia logos flip in on a space background, then the white border "swings in" to surround it.
• On Beany and Cecil Volume 1, the flipping animation is different and doesn't have a space background.
• There is a variant on some releases where the border is chrome and "sparkling" effects are layered on. Sometimes at the end of post-credit coming attractions, a copyright stamp would appear below it.
• On the 1985 VHS of Ship of Fools, the logo is in black and white.

FX/SFX: The "swinging border" on the first variation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variant: On a late 1990's reprint of the 1985 VHS of Ghostbusters, it had the 1993 music from the 3rd CTHV logo due to a plastering error.

Availability: Very rare.

• Videos from this company have long been out of print, with most videos being re-released by Columbia TriStar (occasionally with the same RCA/Columbia-style packaging, with CTHV logos replacing any mentions of RCA/Columbia). All Columbia releases and the first few TriStar titles (such as The Natural, The Evil That Men Do, and Birdy) do not contain this logo, but go straight to the movie.
• It was used mainly on non-Columbia releases (TriStar Pictures, New Line Cinema, Crown International, Cinetel Films, and Regency Enterprises) such as Real Genius, Say Yes, The King of Comedy, Private Resort, Alone in the Dark, Critters, and Rock and Roll: The Early Days. Magic Window releases such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Rubik the Amazing Cube have this logo as well.
• This logo has been spotted as late as the 1987 releases of About Last Night..., Blind Date, Armed Response, and My Demon Lover.
• Oddly enough, this plasters the Columbia logo on Easy Rider and Ship of Fools.

2nd Logo
(February 1986-December 18, 1991)

Nicknames: "The Cube", "The Spinning Cube", "RCA/Columbia Box II", "CGI RCA/Columbia Box", "The RCA/Columbia Cube"

Logo: On a black background, we see a rotating cube, featuring the same logo as stated above on each side (either 1, 3, or 4 sides). The main difference to the logo, however, is that the border is now silvery, with "HOME VIDEO" etched in silver. A white sparkle appears on the side (lined up with the location of the torch in the Columbia logo) as it rotates.

Variants:

• On later releases with this logo, such as Cover Girl (the first release with this variation), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Toy Soldiers, early prints of City Slickers and Men at Work, Critters 3, Alligator 2: The Mutation, Rich Girl, and the screener VHS of Boys N the Hood, it fades out earlier than usual.
• An even shorter version appears on the 1989 VHS of Who's Harry Crumb?, where the logo is only seen for two seconds. (This is only seen before a video trailer for Tap.)

FX/SFX: The CGI rotating cube, the white sparkle. Nice effects, but it pales in comparison to its international counterpart.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On No Holds Barred, the New Line Cinema logo is plastered by this logo, keeping the film's opening title music and sound effects (of a ring announcer and a cheering crowd) while this logo is playing. Strangely, this plaster was retained on a Showtime airing from December 1990 (presumably Showtime used a transfer of a video master in this case).
• On a later print of the 1989 VHS of The Blob, the music from the 3rd CTHV logo is heard due to a plastering error.

Availability: Uncommon, bordering on rare.

• This logo is slightly easier to come across, seeing that it is more recent. However, this logo was only used in the United States and Canada. Again, Columbia releases go straight to the movie until 1989 (with Ghostbusters II being the last release to keep up this practice). Also, from 1986-87, this logo was restricted to the coming attractions part of the releases.
• Releases that had this logo include True Believer, Casualties of War, Glory, The Adventures of Milo and Otis, Relentless, Out of the Dark, Fast Getaway, Who's Harry Crumb?, The Freshman, Flatliners, Family Business, Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking Too, Troop Beverly Hills, and many more.
• The earliest prints of Another You have RCA/Columbia logos on the box and on the video label, but the video itself has neither this nor the first Columbia TriStar Home Video logo, though later prints feature the latter.
• Strangely, Columbia TriStar retained this logo on prints of Family Business from as late as 1998.

RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video

1st Logo
(1982-1991)

Nickname: "RCA/Columbia Box"

Logo: On a colored background, the same box from the 1st RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video logo, in 2D, fades in. "HOME VIDEO" is replaced by "INTERNATIONAL VIDEO". Sometimes, the box has a black border, other times, it doesn't have one.

Variants:

• On PAL tapes in Germany, the logo is against a sky blue background, after its warning screen is finished scrolling. Spanish PAL tapes have the same variant as well, but without the same warning screen.
• There is a variation with a dodger blue background, at least on PAL tapes from Italy.
• Some UK tapes have a variation with a crimson background, while others (including a tape of Jabberwocky) have this with a white background.
• Japanese tapes would use a dark gray background.
• Another variant has a redrawn (slightly uglier) box, that has "Pictures" smaller than "Columbia", a larger RCA logo and everything is on a black background. On Argentinian releases from Videomega Entertainment and LK-Tel Video, the logo would usually coast down from the center and cover the screen.
• Some tapes use the 5th variant, but with a white background, and everything in the large box (Columbia print logo and text) is red and black rather than blue and white. There is also a blue background version found on some Australian tapes like The Deep.
• A version of the blue background variant exists where it cuts in rather than fading in.

FX/SFX: The fading in.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Despite it being used for nearly ten years, it is extremely hard to come across in North America. However, if you have an NTSC tape from (at least) Mexico or Japan, or even a SECAM tape from France or Russia, you'll probably find this logo. It was used mainly on releases outside of North America, such as The Amazing Spider Man, The Real Ghostbusters, and Annie. Also seen on the UK rental releases of Macbeth and D.A.R.Y.L., in addition to Australian releases prior to RCA/Columbia's joint venture with Hoyts in 1983, such as The Virgin Soldiers. The blue background version was surprisingly found on a 1997 Mexican VHS of The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.

2nd Logo
(1988?-1992)

Nicknames: "The International Spinning Cube", "RCA/Columbia Box II", "The RCA/Columbia Cube", "The CGI Cube"

Logo: On a black background, a 3D cube comes up from the screen. It has the RCA logo in red at the top and "INTERNATIONAL VIDEO" at the bottom. Then the 1981 Columbia Pictures print logo in blue and white swoops up from the bottom. The cube spins once and settles down, facing the viewers. The RCA Columbia Pictures International Video logo fades out and the warning scrolls up.

Variations: 

• On some PAL tapes, the animation takes place on a pale marble background. When the logo has finished animating, it "ripples" out and the warning scrolls up, when the ripples ended.
• On releases from Contacto Video in Colombia, the RCA/Columbia logo shrinks down to the lower right of the screen. Then the Contacto Video logo animates, then it shrinks and moves to the upper-left of the screen.
• A variant exists where after the logo fully forms, there is a flash and the logo turns into the silvery print logo, which shines.
  • At the end of the 1990 PAL tape of Radio Days, this variant plays, then a blue and black gradient background fades in and the RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video logo splits into 3 copies of the logo, then a VHS tape slides in and the logo goes into the VHS tape and flashes. It continues shining.

FX/SFX: The 3D cube rising, the 1981 Columbia Pictures print logo rising from the bottom, the cube spinning once and settling down.

Music/Sounds: Begins with a dramatic 1980s-sounding synthesized fanfare, complete with a couple whooshes, or a generic theme. Sometimes it is silent.

Music Sounds/Variants:

• The German PAL version uses a completely different theme with a synth sounder similar to that of a North American police car or ambulance siren at the beginning.
• A low toned variant exists.
• One variant has a male announcer saying something in Spanish at the end of the RCA Columbia Pictures International Video jingle.
• The Japanese variant of the RCA Columbia Pictures International Video logo has a generic theme, with a whoosh being heard when the Columbia Pictures logo swoops up.
• On a Spanish VHS of The Liberation of LB Jones, the final note is extended to the point where it runs 20 seconds.

Availability: Rare. Like the previous logo, it was only used outside of North America, but you'll spot it if you have a NTSC tape from Mexico or Japan, or a SECAM tape. The normal variant appears on UK releases of the time, such as Flatliners and Ghostbusters II, while the marble background variant appears on Hope and Glory. The fade-into-print-logo version can be found on the Spanish release of The Harder They Fall.

Editor's Note: The music hasn't really aged well, but the pretty neat CGI gives this logo an edge over its American counterpart.

Columbia TriStar Home Video/Entertainment

1st Logo (December 25, 1991-September 9, 1992 (1993 in select international countries))

Nicknames: "CT Boxes", "The Boxes Cometh", "The First Box Logo", "Split Rectangle", "Prototype CT Boxes", "Columbia Tristar", "Rectangular Boxes", "80s CT Boxes"

Logo: On a black background, we see a split rectangle. On the left side, we see the '80s Torch Lady (print version with the sunburst intact behind her), and on the right, the TriStar "Pegasus Over Pyramid" logo (print version too, but without the word "PICTURES" at the bottom). Above, we see the stacked words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in Bank Gothic MD BT font that's a bit stretched up by height, one above the other, and at the bottom, we see "HOME VIDEO" on a straight line.

Variants: 

• On Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (both the original 1992 RCA/Columbia release and the 1994 CTHV/New Line reprint), The Spirit of '76, Driving Me Crazy, 1992 VHS reissues of Metropolitan, Silverado, Warren Miller's Extreme Winter, and A Soldier's Story, a 1994 VHS reissue of The Three Stooges Vol. 1: A Bird in the Head, and prints of Glory from as late as 2000, the logo doesn't fade in or out.
• On Australian rental tapes with this logo, it would fade into the "COMING ATTRACTIONS" text seen in the RCA/Columbia/Hoyts logo.
• On releases from LK-Tel Video, the logo would coast down from the center of the LK-Tel Video logo before sliding down.
• On a Spanish VHS of High Heels, after the 1988 RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video theme is played once, it plays again while the VHS animation from the Radio Days variant is seen.

FX/SFX: None. Other times, the logo would fade in and fade out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On international releases (except for Australian releases), a short guitar/bass note was heard.
• On tapes from Australia and one tape from Spain, the theme from the RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video logo is heard.
  • On the 1992 CEL sell-through reissue of Lock Up, the music is cut off early.
• A Castilian Spanish release of High Heels (badly) loops the RCA/Columbia International music for an extended period, continuing into an anti-piracy warning.

Availability: Very rare. This is a placeholder logo, created for temporary use while the next version was in development, but wasn't ready for use.

• Among the releases with this logo are original prints of My Girl, Cast the First Stone (at least the screener VHS), The Taking of Beverly Hills, Men at Work (earlier prints have the RCA/Columbia logo), Hook (both the original 1992 release and a 1995 VHS reissue), Troll 2, 1992 prints of Misery, The Prince of Tides, Alan & Naomi, The Villain, and Severed Ties.
• City Slickers has this with the RCA/Columbia print logo on the tape and box, although original prints do have the RCA/Columbia logo on-screen.
• This was also used on reissues of From Here to Eternity, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (as reissued in 1992 and 1993), Annie, Steel Magnolias, Stripes, The Bear, Look Who's Talking Too, Christine, A Passage to India, The Adventures of Milo and Otis and Bye Bye Birdie.
• The international version is on VHS releases outside North America, including a Spanish VHS of In the Line of Fire.
• This appears on many reissues of RCA/Columbia releases; some were in their original RCA/Columbia packaging, including print logos. Others were modified to varying extents. For example, a reissue of A Man for All Seasons, in print as late as 1995, features this logo on-screen, the following print logo on the box and tape, and even features the characteristic red-border and text designs of RCA/Columbia releases, perhaps one of the first times a home video label had done such a thing.
• Late RCA/Columbia releases during early 1992, such as Oscar's Greatest Moments: 1971-1991 and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (released under license from New Line), as well as original prints of Return to the Blue Lagoon, Double Impact, and Bingo, use this logo.
• One of the last new releases to include this logo was Mississippi Masala. Although Columbia TriStar continued to use this as a print logo until early/mid-1993 on the packaging of titles such as Candyman, the next logo appears on-screen.
• It also appears on the original VHS release of Relentless 2: Dead On (despite being an SVS/Triumph release).
• This is also seen on 1994 VHS reissues of The Three Stooges Vol. 1: A Bird in the Head and The Three Stooges Vol. 3: An Ache in Every Stake and the 1996 Columbia TriStar Family Collection release of Bye Bye Birdie, instead of the 3rd logo, due to usage of older tape masters.

Editor's Note: While this uses the 1980s print logos for Columbia and TriStar, this is clearly identifiable as the CT box motif, which would be used for the next fifteen years to represent both the Home Video and Television divisions. The guitar/bass note on the international variant can also startle someone or give them a migraine.

2nd Logo (August 26, 1992-April 14, 1993)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes II", "The Boxes Take Form", "Dawn of the Boxes"

Logo: On a white background, we see two boxes outlined with a black border. On the left is one featuring a newly-done Torch Lady, and on the right is a newly-done Pegasus on a Columbia-like cloud background. Above the boxes are the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in Bank Gothic Bold Condensed, with each word positioned over its respective logo. "HOME VIDEO" is seen below.

Trivia: The Columbia Torch Lady seen on the left was painted by Michael J. Deas and the TriStar Pegasus seen on the right was painted by Alan Reingold.

Variants:

• There is a variant with an inverted background. The background is black, the letters and the outlined boxes are both white, and both respective logos are a bit close up.
• The inverted logo variant appeared on a children's video promo seen on UK VHS releases in 2000 and 2001. The text is in the Bank Gothic font and the both respective logos are brighter. Light rays shine on the logo when it fades in, before they disappear after a second.
• On the Italian VHS of Hook, the logo is boxed in square black lines.
• On a promo seen on the 2001 VHS of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the logo (now reading ''HOME ENTERTAINMENT'') drops onto a black background, becoming black & white, fading back to its color version. The logo is also farther away.
• In 2002, the original version was altered to read "HOME ENTERTAINMENT." In addition, the font was changed to Bank Gothic MD BT and minor color correction was added to the logos in the boxes.

FX/SFX: The fade in and fade out of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo. For the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon variant, the opening of the promo.

Availability: Very rare.

• This is just another placeholder logo, but this time they've actually designed the new logos. This is one of the first appearances of the new "Sony Logos" for each company, along with Columbia and TriStar's respective television divisions.
• Titles with this logo include A League of Their Own, Steel Magnolias, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Waterdance, Aces: Iron Eagle III, Mo' Money, Candyman, City of Joy, Hero, The Snowman, Married... with Children: It's a Bundyful Life, Falling From Grace, Weekend War, a 2000 reprint of Hook, Two-Fisted Law, Shootfighter: Fight to the Death, the 1994 VHS reprints/reissues of Return to the Blue Lagoon and Bingo, the 1995 demo VHS of the U.S.-released The Indian in the Cupboard (seen after the next logo), and the 1996 Columbia TriStar Family Collection release of My Girl.
• The inverted variant is extremely rare and it has been spotted on an Italian VHS of The Addams Family. This has also been seen on some Laserdiscs, including the 1993 Criterion release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Wrecking Crew.
• Among the first VHS releases to have this logo were The Lawnmower Man, Does This Mean We're Married?, and The Best of John Candy on SCTV.
• Interestingly, early videos with this logo would use the print version of the previous logo.

Editor's Note: This would be the first appearance (besides the television divisions) of the newly redone Columbia TriStar logos, about a year before the movies would get their own animated versions.

3rd Logo (May 19, 1993-March 27, 2001)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes III", "Part III: Will This Logo Ever Die?!", "Sliding Boxes", "Blue BG Boxes", "Day of the Boxes", "Cloudy Boxes", "Columbia Tristar III"

Logo: We see a screen full of clouds forming, tossing about in a time-lapse. Then, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR", in yellow zooms out from above, and "HOME VIDEO", in yellow shrinks out from below as we see the clouds zoom out, as part of a golden-bordered box on a blue-black gradient background. The box then duplicates itself and the two boxes slide to the left and the right whilst the Torch Lady on the left and the Pegasus on the right (in their the same styles as before) appear in the boxes, as the wording takes its position. The text shines for a few seconds after the logo is formed.

Trivia: This logo was used as the basis for the first Columbia TriStar International Television logo, and the first Columbia TriStar Television logo was patterned on it to an extent as well.

Variants:

• A still logo was found on early Columbia TriStar Home Video releases on DVD, as well as Mexican videotapes from 1997-99.
• There is also an abridged version for some New Line Home Video releases.
• On a home video TV spot for Amos and Andrew, it's placed on a black background alongside the 1991 New Line Home Video logo.
• On some later tapes, such as Universal Soldier: The Return, Taxi Driver: Collector's Edition, The 6th Day, and the first 6 VHS releases of Dragon Tales, the logo fades in.
• On some (mainly earlier) DVDs, such as The Adventures of Milo and Otis, the logo is darker and there's a visible dot crawl on the right side of the screen.
• An extremely rare variant exists where there are blue bars featuring small CTHV print logos on the sides of the logo. This version is seen on early DVDs and widescreen Laserdiscs.

Trailer Variants:

• From 1993-96, following the logo's formation, the boxes would then slide away, the CTHV text would fade out, the blue background fades out to the moving clouds and one of the following clip-ons would zoom in from the center of the screen:
  • COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU
  • COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

Afterwards, a trailer pertaining to one of these two clip-ons plays. On even rarer occasions, the logo starts already formed, then the trailer variant animation plays as normal, and the other clip-on appears.

• On Australian tapes, the logos and the text fades out and one of these:
  • COMING SOON
  • NOW AVAILABLE

would slide in from the top and bottom respectively. 

FX/SFX: The zooming out effects; nice CGI for the time.

Music/Sounds: A rather dramatic synth theme with beating drums and cues of piano. The last note of the theme is held out for the rest of the logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On the trailer variants, the theme (which appears to have been arranged differently, being performed in a sharper key than on the normal logo) would be followed by a male announcer announcing the text at the clip-on, whilst the music goes on longer than usual.
  • On the during-trailers version, the theme starts over, and fades out earlier than usual.
• A silent version is used on later prints of the original VHS of As Good as It Gets.
• Depending on the specific tape, the music would end differently, either fading out to completion or having its ending cut off at any length.
• A low toned variant exists.
• On the 2000 DVD of Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun, the theme is slightly slower and warps at one point.

Availability: Very common, even today.

• Seen on the majority of VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD releases from Columbia TriStar Home Video, starting with the May 1993 home video release of A River Runs Through It.
• The abridged version can be found most New Line Home Video releases such as National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Time Runner, Surf Ninjas, Three of Hearts, Needful Things, Malice, Man's Best Friend, Who's the Man?, Excessive Force, Chained Heat 2, Relentless 3, Relentless 4: Ashes to Ashes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and the unrated version of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
• This also appears on later DVD reprints of titles such as The Deep, Jason and the Argonauts, Oliver!, Muppets from Space, Air Force One, 8MM, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Blue Thunder, and To Sir, with Love, as well as the 2005 VHS of Matilda, which likely used a tape master made for the original 1996 release.
• Tapes with the trailer variants include Sleepless in Seattle, Bad Boys, The Net, Jury Duty, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
• The version with the cut-off ending to the music was heard on VHS prints of Used Cars, Guarding Tess, Stand by Me, Willow, In the Line of Fire (EP mode), Sniper, Flatliners, The Craft, The Fan, Maximum Risk, St. Elmo's Fire, Revenge, Sleepwalkers, Howards End, Absence of Malice, Leon: The Professional, First Knight, The Big Hit, Cromwell, The Ambushers, Sidekicks, The Mouse That Roared, and Girl, Interrupted (all without previews), as well as a Spanish-subtitled print of The Patriot.
• In Canada, this appears on tapes released by Astral Video after the Astral logo during the mid-1990s, including Demon Possessed, as well as some Motion International and TVA International titles such as Out of Control (1988), Someone is Watching, Little Men, and Stranger in the House, and the Republic Pictures release The Wrong Woman.
• Surprisingly, on the 1997 VHS of Double Team, as well as a 1998 demo VHS of Midnight Express (after the previews) and 1999 reprints of Immortal Beloved and Fools Rush In, both this logo and the 1997 logo appeared. Also surprisingly, prints of the 1994 VHS releases of Red Rock West and My Life that don't carry previews omit this logo and go straight to the warning screen.
• Previewless prints of tapes with the 1996 and 1997 logos, such as Money Train, The Devil's Own, The Cable Guy, and Jerry Maguire, instead use this logo. Bizarrely, a previewless printing of The Craft replaces this logo with the one for TriStar Pictures!
• This also makes an appearance on an earlier pressing of the 2002 VHS of Stuart Little (released to coincide with Stuart Little 2), which is certainly a reprint of the earlier 2000 release.
• Its first appearances on DVD were limited to the fullscreen sides of the releases, as the widescreen sides instead used a different logo (see the 6th logo description for more). The first DVDs to use it on both sides of the disc were Fools Rush In, Annie (1982), In the Company of Men, Look Who's Talking, and Single White Female, and the last discs to have it include Solo, Bats, the second edition of Jumanji, Love Stinks, Blue Streak, To Sir, with Love, Random Hearts, Bear in the Big Blue House: Party Time with Bear, and The Man from Laramie.
• This logo even makes an appearance at the beginning of the earliest Dragon Tales VHS releases from 2000 to 2001, which also feature the 1997 Children's Television Workshop semicircle logo after the closing credits, with Keep on Trying and Let's Play Together being the last tapes to use both.
• The last films that used this logo on VHS were Charlie's Angels (2000) and The 6th Day.
• On the 1996 VHS of Striptease, it appears at both the beginning and end.
• Only some international DVDs contain this logo, such as the 2000 release of Total Recall, as most use the 7th logo.

Editor's Note: This is a very popular logo among many, and was used longer than any other Columbia TriStar logo. It has drawn some criticism for its longevity.

4th Logo (1995-1996)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes IV", "Part IV: Take Hollywood Home!", "Sliding Boxes II", "Land of the Boxes", "The Bedsheets", "The Boxes of Boredom Prototype", "Columbia Tristar IV"

Logo: We start out against a gp;d fabric background. Then a square with the footage of Columbia Torch Lady from the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo in it fades in, and slides to the left, revealing a box with the footage of the TriStar Pegasus from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo (but the background is changed into a similar cloud background from the Columbia logo, but a bit shorter and darker), which slides to the right. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" appear above the boxes and "HOME VIDEO" on the bottom with "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" below everything else.

Trivia: This logo (cloud variant) was later used for the second Columbia TriStar Television logo.

Variation: On releases outside of the Columbia TriStar Family Collection, the logo is on a sky background from the 3rd logo similar to the 1995 CTT logo, and the text is blue.

FX/SFX: The boxes fading in and sliding, the animations of the Columbia/TriStar logos in the boxes.

Music/Sounds: Either a nice synth theme with choir singing "TAKE HOLLYWOOD HOOOOOOOOOME!!!!!," or the opening theme of the trailer.

Availability: Very rare.

• It was used only on some tapes released by the short-lived Columbia TriStar Family Collection, such as Real Genius, Willow, Ghostbusters (only some printings, others use the 3rd logo), The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., and The Adventures of Milo and Otis.
• The sky background variant is more common, but still hard to find, and can be found before trailers on VHS releases from 1995-97, such as Persuasion (which has it before a trailer for Little Women) and Money Train (which has it before a trailer for The American President).

5th Logo (1996-1998, 2004)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes V", "Part V: Take Hollywood Home Again!", "Rising Boxes", "Survival of the Boxes", "Columbia Tristar V", "CT Boxes Wallpaper"

Logo: On a taupe brown background, we see a row of gold print logos of the Torch Lady and Pegasus in boxes at an angle. The Columbia and TriStar boxes (in their similar styles from the 4th and 5th logos, which this time, they are still and not animated), then rise out of two of the boxes in the center as the row of boxes tilts to face the screen. The 3-D words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" and "HOME VIDEO" in gold, both fade in above and below the boxes, respectively with a shining wipe effect.

Trailer Variants: Many times, the boxes would then slide away, the CTHV text would fade out, and one of the following phrases, in script, would zoom in from the center of the logo:

• Coming Soon to a Theater Near You
• Coming Soon to Home Video
• Now Available on Home Video

Afterwards, a trailer with one of the following features would be played. 

Variants:

• There is a shorter version that stops before revealing a clip-on.
• An extremely rare variant exists where there are blue bars featuring small CTHV print logos on both sides of the logo. This version is seen on early DVDs and widescreen Laserdiscs and videotapes.
• A still version is used on a home video trailer for Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

FX/SFX: Simple but nice animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo, but the choir is less jolly and the music is orchestrated.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On some trailers like both versions of the Family Collection trailer, the exact same music from the last logos are used.
• On the trailer variants of this logo, a 6-note piano jingle is added at the beginning.
• The 2nd version of the Family Collection trailer has a version similar to the one mentioned above, except the piano jingle is shortened to the last 4 notes.
• A silent version of the trailer variants appears on the 1997 demo VHS of The Devil's Own.

Availability: Rare. It was used for only 2 years. Sometimes it was alternated with the 1993 blue background logo, so as always, keep your eye out.

• The logo was used on the VHS releases of Money Train, The Juror, Screamers, Bottle Rocket, Race the Sun, The Craft, Multiplicity, Mrs. Winterbourne, The Cable Guy, Matilda, Welcome to the Dollhouse, The Fan, Fly Away Home, High School High, The Mirror Has Two Faces, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Fools Rush In, Buddy, and later printings of Bad Boys, The Net, and Magic in the Water. A 1997 reissue of Who's Harry Crumb? also contains the logo.
• The shorter version appeared on Jumanji (the clip-on does appear, but both are broken up by a Sony Maximum Television commercial), preview prints of Jerry Maguire, and the demo tapes of The Celluloid Closet and High School High (seen twice, bookending the demo tape previews).
• The widescreen version appears on the letterbox Laserdisc editions of The Indian in the Cupboard, Lost in Yonkers, and The Cable Guy, as well as Sony's earliest DVDs (circa spring and summer 1997), such as the original releases of Jumanji, In the Line of Fire, Philadelphia, Little Women, Fly Away Home, A League of Their Own, and Immortal Beloved.
• Strangely, no logo appears on the 1997 DVD releases of Jerry Maguire, Last Action Hero, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Awakenings, and First Knight.

6th Logo (November 18, 1997-January 20, 1998)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes VI", "Part IV: They Seriously Used This?!: CTHV Edition", "Blue Print Boxes", "Diary of the Boxes", "Another 'Boxes of Boredom'", "Columbia Tristar VI"

Logo: Up against a royal blue background with many print logos of CTHV on it, we see the standard C-T boxes outlined in white with the white text "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" above and "HOME VIDEO" below the logo respectively.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 3rd logo.

Availability: Extremely rare.

• This was seen on the widescreen sides (the fullscreen sides use the 3rd logo) of the original DVD releases of The Net, The Fifth Element, and Johnny Mnemonic, as well as the original flipper versions of Wolf, Flatliners, and The Fan. Bargain reprints of these titles should retain this logo (although since the 2004 reprint of The Fan is sourced from the disc's fullscreen side, it instead uses the 3rd logo).
• Shortly after this, Columbia TriStar began using the 3rd logo on both sides of their DVDs, starting with the early 1998 releases of Fools Rush In, Annie, In the Company of Men, Look Who's Talking, and Single White Female.

Editor's Note: This logo gained notoriety for its lack of creativity compared to the other logos. In addition, it also seems pointless to have made it considering there already existed a fully animated logo used on the fullscreen sides. But things get better with the next few...

7th Logo (July 22, 1997-April 3, 2001)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes VII", "Part VII: Back To Normal? Not!", "The Filmstrip", "The C-T Filmstrip", "Revenge of the Boxes", "Columbia Tristar VII"

Logo: On an ethereal blue background, we see filmstrips crisscrossing the screen, with each frame in each filmstrip featuring the C-T box logo. We see a filmstrip in the center of the screen and then pan towards it, seeing the boxes in each frame and the endings of their respective movie animations playing out within them. As the final frame reaches the screen, the background turns white with several blue or light blue areas in each corner as the boxes (with the footage of the Torch Lady from the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo on the left and the footage of the Pegasus from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo on the right) go into position. Then the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" and HOME VIDEO" fade in above and below the boxes, respectively.

Variants:

• A widescreen variant exists.
• On 2000s reprints of late 1990s-2000 VHS releases, "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" replaces "HOME VIDEO".
• On demo tapes featuring this logo, such as Midnight Express and In God's Hands, the logo fades in partway through and fades out about a second after the logo finishes forming. This appears twice on the tape, bookending the opening previews.
• On a promo for the 1999 Collector's Edition VHS of Silverado (which can be seen on fellow 1999 CE tape, Taxi Driver), the already-formed logo zooms in.

Trailer Variants: Many times, the boxes would then slide away, the CTHV text would fade out, and one of the following phrases, in script, would zoom in from the center of the logo:

• Coming Soon to a Theater Near You
• Now Playing in Theaters... Coming Soon to Home Video
• Coming Soon to Home Video
• Now Available on Home Video
• Now Available (this clip-on used for soundtrack album promos)

Afterwards, a trailer with one of the following features would be played. 

FX/SFX: Great CGI. And if you thought this one was good, the next one is even more mind-blowing. 

Music/Sounds: None, but on international releases, a generic hip hop-like jingle was used.

Music/Sounds Variant: On The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli and Baloo and a home video trailer for Annie, the choir from the 5th logo is used.

Availability: During the beginning of its existence, it was pretty easy to spot. However, around 1998, this logo was no longer used as their standard logo, only being used for clip-ons and trailers, with the 1993 logo serving as their primary logo.

• Tapes with this logo include The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli and Baloo, Booty Call, The Devil's Own, the Broadway Tribute Edition VHS release of Annie, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Anaconda, Double Team, The Fifth Element, Men in Black, My Best Friend's Wedding, Buddy, Excess Baggage, Air Force One, The Assignment, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Slappy and the Stinkers, Seven Years in Tibet, Gattaca, the infamous 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, and Baby Geniuses. The trailer variants were last seen on Charlie's Angels, The 6th Day, and Circus.
• It has also been seen on early UK DVD releases such as Das Boot, Muppets from Space, Taxi Driver, Midnight Express, Total Recall, and The China Syndrome.
• It also surprisingly appeared on a mid-2000s UK DVD of Ghostbusters, which must have been a reprint of an earlier DVD.
• The "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" version is rare and seen on post-2001 reprints of VHS tapes originally released in the late 90s-2000 such as Grey Owl.
• Also spotted on the 2000 region 4 DVD release of Blue Streak (with the jingle).

Editor's Note: An impressive turnaround from the previous logo, and a worthy direct successor to the 5th. Things only get better from here...

8th Logo (February 8, 2000-October 30, 2001; December 18, 2001; October 1, 2002)

Nicknames: "CT Boxes VIII", "C-T DVD", "Part VIII: The Boxes of Splendor", "The Last of the Boxes", "Columbia Tristar VIII", "The Boxes of Glass", "The Cinematic Boxes"

Logo: On a screen filled with clouds, the words "COLUMBIA" spelling itself standard and "TRISTAR" spelling itself backwards letter-by-letter, handsomely done in shining silver text, tumble onto the screen, "COLUMBIA" coming from the upper right and "TRISTAR" coming from the lower left. The clouds clear, revealing a nice backdrop of clouds and two white, glowing boxes. As the light in the boxes die down, the Columbia Torch Lady zooms in towards us in the left box, and we see the Pegasus (in his similar style from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo), stretch his wings in the right box, as the wings cross over to the Columbia box. The words "COLUMBIA" and "TRISTAR" later change to gold lettering and position themselves under the boxes, and "DVD" zooms out from the top, at warp speed, landing below the C-T text, causing the phaser effect to appear around it, which suddenly disappears.

Variants:

• A version exists with "HOME VIDEO" instead of "DVD", intended for VHS releases; however, this was rarely used. Examples include Blue Streak, Random Hearts, Stuart Little, Jakob the Liar, Fortress 2: Re-Entry, Crazy in Alabama, The King of Masks, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Gen-X Cops, and the demo VHS version of The Red Dwarf.
• There is another variant that has "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" in place of "HOME VIDEO".

FX/SFX: Mind-blowing CGI, which has made the logo a favorite of many who've seen it.

Music/Sounds: Whooshing sounds are heard when the words, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" move into position. An ethereal humming noise is heard when the boxes are revealed and animate. When the TriStar Pegasus unfolds and stretches his wings, we hear a low whoosh sound. Last, a phaser sound is heard when the certain text moves into place and we hear chime sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes, the sound was louder. This was mostly used in 2000, but a few 2001 releases, such as The Muppets Take Manhattan, use this version as well.
• There also exists a version with a different (and much quieter) phaser sound. This appears on the DVDs of Dogma, Short Circuit 2, The Karate Kid, The Wedding Planner, Snatch, The Indian in the Cupboard, Fly Away Home, the 3 Ninjas sequels, Tomcats, Saving Silverman, Joe Dirt, My Best Friend's Wedding: Special Edition, The Blob, Reptilian, The Muppet Movie, Cops and Robbersons, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Dragon Tales: Let's Share! Let's Play!.
• The 2000-01 DVDs of Look Who's Talking Too and Close Encounters of the Third Kind use a 5.1 Dolby Digital version which enhances the phaser sounds, with each disc respectively using the louder and quieter phasers.

Availability: It's seen on most DVD releases of the time; prior to this, they used the 1993, 1996, and 1997 "placeholder" logos.

• The logo in general first appeared on the VHS of Blue Streak, while the "DVD" variant premiered on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and A Raisin in the Sun. Other examples include Jakob the Liar, Hook, Dogma, the first UK DVD release of The Karate Kid, The Wedding Planner, Snatch, The Indian in the Cupboard, Fly Away Home, the 3 Ninjas sequels, Short Circuit 2, Tomcats, Saving Silverman, Bear in the Big Blue House, Joe Dirt, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Blob, the theatrical cuts of A Knight's Tale and The Natural, Girl, Interrupted, Steel Magnolias, Little Women: Collector's Series, Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, The Karate Kid Part II, Stand By Me: Special Edition, The Patriot, and the original releases of ...And Justice for All., Memento, and Stuart Little. Reprints of titles from this era should retain this logo. The final release to contain it is See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
• Strangely, this logo makes appearances on Murder by Death and Men in Black: Deluxe Edition, and also isn't seen on Sleepwalkers.
• The "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" variation can be seen only on later VHS prints of titles with the "HOME VIDEO" version, such as Love Stinks, Grey Owl, and The Winslow Boy. On DVD, it appears on Jill the Ripper.
• It can also be seen on the earliest Dragon Tales DVD releases from 2000 to 2001, such as Adventures in Dragonland.

Editor's Note: If this blew your mind like we said previously, wait until you see the successor to these logos below...

9th Logo (April 3, 2001-June 7, 2005)

Prototype variant (full-screen)

Final variant (full-screen)

Prototype variant (widescreen)

Final variant (Widescreen)

Squeezed variant

Coming Soon to Theaters #1

Coming Soon to Theaters #2

Now Playing in Theaters #1

Now Playing in Theaters #2

Coming Soon

Coming Soon to Home Video

Coming Soon to VHS & DVD #1

Coming Soon to VHS & DVD #2

Now Available on Home Video

Now Available on VHS & DVD #1

Now Available on VHS & DVD #2

Fullscreen version cropped to 16:9 that "hides" Home Entertainment from view. This is seen on trailers for certain movies.

Coming Soon to Theaters

Now Playing in Theaters

Coming Soon to Home Video

Coming Soon to VHS & DVD

Now Available on Home Video

Now Available on VHS & DVD

Now Available on DVD #1

Now Available on DVD #2

Nicknames: "Ultra Majestic Torch Lady-Pegasus Combo", "Part IX: End of an Era", "Last of Columbia TriStar", "Columbia Tristar IX"

Logo: Over the usual cloud background, we pan past an extreme close up of the Torch Lady's legs and feet (covered in the robe of course), then dissolve into a pan of the TriStar Pegasus (in the print artwork style except for the body and the legs, which are in the 1993 movie logo style, but in the same color as the Pegasus' face and wings) unfolding his wings. The pan then quickly dissolves into a shot from the center of the Pegasus unfolding his wings, albeit in a close-up fashion, and then a dissolve to the Torch Lady zooming out from her face. The logo then dissolves to reveal the Torch Lady and Pegasus side-by-side on a cloud background in their print artwork styles, with "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" slightly sliding in with "HOME ENTERTAINMENT", in a smaller font, fading in letter-by-letter.

Trivia: 

• This is notable for being the last logo to use the "Columbia TriStar" brand prior to the foundation of Sony Pictures Television in 2002.
• Normally, the print logo of the original studio that released the film would be printed on the spine of a DVD/VHS, while TV releases and most non-Columbia/TriStar/Sony Pictures Classics films (such as Sasquatch, The Mothman Prophecies, In the Cut, All I Want, and Drunken Master) would have the CTHE print logo. However, the 2003 DVD of Family Business and a reprint of My Stepmother is an Alien, both respectively released by TriStar and Columbia, strangely have the CTHE print logo on its spine instead of the one for the original studio of release!
• On the demo VHS of Kermit's Swamp Years, the logo was shown, but it and the Jim Henson Home Entertainment logo are broken up by a second appearance of the FBI warning (video here), perhaps due to an editing mistake. However, this was corrected on the retail version.
• The 2005 release of NewsRadio: The Complete First and Second Seasons originally had the CTHE logo on its packaging as it was slated to come out as a CTHE title, but the set was delayed into the SPHE era, and as such the logo was changed on the packaging.

Variants:

• On the trailer for Little Secrets, "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" is removed. This is because the 4:3 fullscreen variant has been cropped into a 16:9 widescreen form.
• The rest of the top parts of the logo's aspect scaling is not seen on the VHS version, making the rendered footage appear a little bit tall with part of the top cropped off. It was re-adjusted for the DVD version, particularly the widescreen variant.
• On both versions, the color timing differs.
• The VHS version usually cuts to black at the end on U.S. titles without trailers (and on demo VHS tapes between the Hi-Fi Stereo logo and second appearance of the FBI warning), as well as on VCDs and DVDs with the theme. This variant would pop up before the later trailer variant on the very last tapes to use it, such as Secret Window and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: The Cat's Musical Tales. In the United Kingdom, almost every VHS title has the logo fading out at the end but a few of them, such as Bear in the Big Blue House: The Summer of Love, have it cutting to black. It also appears on the retail VHS of Soul Assassin (containing previews), but it cuts directly to the Winchester Films logo before the film.
• After the trailers on demo videotapes, a shortened version of the logo is played between the trailers and FBI warning. Depending on the era of the tape, either the 2001 or 2004 variant is used.
• On the first trailer of Kermit's Swamp Years, the logo is identical to the DVD variant except that the saturation matches the VHS variant and with bobbing effect from the bob de-interlacing filter.
• On most Columbia TriStar DVDs from 2001-05, the logo is in warp-speed.
• The print logo has the typical boxes, with "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" above and "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" below; it's all on a white background. This logo appeared on a pair of TV-DVD promos from TV releases of the era, and also at the end of the featurettes on the 2004 DVDs of Philadelphia, Candyman, and Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
• VHS releases from 2004-05 have a shortened version of this logo with a trailer bump, but with the DVD music. This premiered on Secret Window after the full VHS variant; other titles with it include Spider-Man 2, 13 Going on 30 (first printing only), White Chicks, Christmas with the Kranks, The Forgotten, the Sony re-release of Left Behind: The Movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Deadbirds. The very last titles with this, such as Submerged, D.E.B.S., and Hitch, have its first occurrence follow the SPHE logo.
• On the demo VHS of Love and a Bullet, due to a processing error after the HiFi Stereo logo, the beginning of the logo where the first notes and the clicking sound heard are edited out.
• There is a 2.35:1 scope version. This appears on the 2001 UK DVD release of Dirty Dancing, with the VHS music, and on a red band home video trailer for The Crimson Rivers, with the trailer's own audio.
• On some VCDs, such as Metropolis, Riding in Cars with Boys, and Ghosts of Mars, a cropped 16:9 version is used, with the VHS music.
• On a home video trailer for Following, which appears on the 2001 VHS and DVD releases of Memento, the logo fades in already formed, with the light emanating from the Torch Lady's torch as the only animation. This variant marks the logo's very first appearance on DVD.
  • A "squeezed" version of this (the widescreen variant squished into a 1.33:1 frame) appears at the start of the trailer for When Strangers Appear, which can be found on the 2002 demo VHS of True Blue.
• On the VHS release of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Tesca Campaign, an even shorter version is used, starting right before the "Coming Soon to Home Video" clip-on fades in.
• On the DVD release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (one of the first DVDs to contain the fully animated logo), the logo irises out until only the Torch Lady's face is shown, which then fades to the start of the main menu.
• On the trailer for Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, the logo starts with the fourth and third shots playing in the opposite order (albeit sloppily edited, as you can briefly see the fade from the second to third shot once it cuts there), before cutting to the final shot.
• On the trailer for Black Mask II: City of Masks, the logo is shown on a billboard, and the text is displayed underneath it.

Trailer Variants: On VHS tapes with previews from this era, letters would appear on top of the screen, in the form of one of the following:

• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Now Playing In Theaters
• Coming Soon to Home Video
• Now Available on Home Video
• Coming Soon to VHS & DVD
• Now Available on VHS & DVD
• Coming Soon to DVD
• Now Available on DVD

A male announcer (Greg O'Neill) reads the clip-on, and a trailer follows. However, during the previews, the logo is shortened to both shots of the Pegasus and the second shot of the Torch Lady, presented in letterbox and with the text on the black bars.

International Trailer Variant: On early Australian releases, the logo plays normally and in the top right of the screen letters appear spelling "COMING SOON." Tapes with this include Charlie's Angels, Wicked, and Vertical Limit.

FX/SFX: Of course, what's mentioned in the description doesn't cover the entire logo. Throughout the animation, the logos are artistically stylized, with mosaic and pixelization effects being used through the logo and a scrolling Matrix-like wall of typography appearing throughout. Also, the designers of the logo, Montgomery/Cobb, retouched the face of the Torch Lady and the wings of the Pegasus to make them look more realistic. The dissolves are done gradually, almost like wipes, and the logo seems to be divided up into five sections during the animation, before coming together as an actual logo at the end. The logo looks quite nice and artistic as a result.

Music/Sounds: There were two different jingles:

• VHS (and most VCDs/some DVDs): Composed by Machine Head of Venice, California, the clicking noise comes first, it begins with a wonderful synthesized fanfare that is very majestic, fitting the majestic feel of the logo. Also, it would be interesting to note that the logo was considered one of the longest, clocking in at nearly 20 seconds, until others such as Hendring Limited, Photo-Video, The ABM Group, and Hammer Video Home were discovered.
• DVD (and most Thai VCDs/later VHS tapes): Begins with a shorter acoustic guitar tune that rises into a triumphant theme with bells, strings, a piano and a small chorus.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• At the start of the trailer reels on VHS tapes, the clicking noise normally heard at the beginning of the VHS version is absent.
• On Kermit's Swamp Years, the audio is synced within the 2001 Jim Henson Home Entertainment logo which extends the audio with the sped up track of the Jim Henson Interactive logo to perform the complete jingle. In order for this to occur, this logo goes right into the Henson logo. Bear in the Big Blue House Live has the jingles separated, which allows the Jim Henson logo to start its jingle after the logo dissolves.
• On trailers featuring this logo, the trailer music plays over the logo.
• On the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within variant, wind is heard in place of the music.
• A silent version appears on the DVD of Punch Drunk Love (where it follows the MPAA rating screen, which usually appears just after hitting "Play Movie" on the main menu of most DVDs).
• On the 2002 DVS VHS of Spider-Man, Miles Neff says the following over the logo: "In a painting, a woman stands on a tiered pedestal. A winged white horse gallops under a dawning blue sky. The woman wears a Roman toga and holds a torch aloft. The winged horse and the woman stand side-by-side over the words, 'Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.'"
• On Boa vs. Python, this logo opens the movie (at DVD variant speed), but with the opening theme playing over it.
• On some DVDs, such as Spider-Man, Bad Boys II (disc 1 only), So Close, and Big Fish, the music is remixed in 5.1.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The Maroon 5 track "Must Get Out" features a similar ending to the VHS theme, but played with different instruments.

Availability: Common on VHS, VCD, and DVD releases from the era. Some of them are still in print.

• The first releases to contain the logo were Circus and Agent Red, while the trailer variants first appeared three weeks later on Finding Forrester. Other titles that have it include numerous Berenstain Bears and Dragon Tales releases from the time, Underworld, Hellboy, Mr. Deeds, the first two Spider-Man movies, Radio, Lone Star State of Mind, Happy Birthday to Me, and pre-SPHE season sets of The King of Queens, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Good Times, and Seinfeld, among others.
• Tapes featuring this logo without the clip-on at the top include Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Fun to Learn, Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Nature’s Treasures and Jay Jay the Jet Plane: New Friends, New Discoveries, reissues of Places in the Heart and Under Suspicion, previewless prints of titles such as The Animal, Not Another Teen Movie, Black Hawk Down, Daddy Day Care, Panic Room, Spider-Man and Half Past Dead, and Sunshine State, which features it after the opening previews, in-between the Surround Sound logo and modified screen. It was also used on demo tapes, which had the main feature's original trailer directly following the logo.
• The VHS theme was for the most part exclusive to its format, but has been spotted on the R1 DVD of Spellbound, released in conjunction with TH!NKFilm. It is also seen on the Region 2 DVDs of Charlie's Angels (2000), The Order, China Moon, The Princess Bride, Cromwell, and a 2004 printing of S.W.A.T (2003). It also appears (in widescreen) on the R4 DVD release of Born Free & Living Free. VCDs with it include Snatch and Bad Boys II. Thai VCDs mostly used the DVD music, but the VHS theme can be heard on In the Line of Fire, Vertical Limit, and Legends of the Fall.
• Conversely, the DVD theme has made appearances at the end of the VHS of Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Soaring Sky High (among other titles; not counting the first three), and at the beginning of some 2002-04 Australian tapes, such as America's Sweethearts and Secret Window (others, such as Spider-Man 2, still use the VHS version); this version can also be seen at the start of Kermit's Swamp Years and Cruel Intentions 3. On U.S. tapes, this variant also appears (in widescreen form) on demo tapes from 2004-05 such as Lightning in a Bottle.
• On DVDs released prior to the last quarter of 2001, the 8th logo was used. The DVD music was first heard on the first wave of Superbit releases (Air Force One, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Desperado, The Fifth Element, and Johnny Mnemonic), while the first regular DVDs to use it were Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Special Edition, Jabberwocky, On the Waterfront, Funny Girl, and Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies.
• Strangely, this logo was not seen on the 2001 VHS releases (containing trailers) of The Animal, A Knight's Tale, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within; it just goes straight to their widescreen "Coming Soon to Home Video" bumper. Likewise, some tapes, such as Auto Focus and Big Girls Don't Cry, only use one clip-on.
• In regards to the trailer variants, the "HOME VIDEO" clip-ons were last seen on National Security and the demo VHS of Punch-Drunk Love, while the "VHS & DVD" clip-ons premiered on Tears of the Sun.
• In the U.S., the last releases to use it were the Special Editions of Matilda and The Karate Kid.
• On UK videotapes, titles with previews have the VHS version appear before the warning screen, while some 2002-2005 re-releases without previews under the manufacturing of Universal Pictures UK have it afterwards.
• Surprisingly, the VHS version still appeared on French Canadian tapes even during the SPHE era, such as Hellboy and Stealth, as well as on the U.S. VHS reissues of Revelation and Judgment, neither of which contain any previews.

Editor's Note: It's a popular logo now that the widely hated "Split Boxes" have been put to rest. A nice fanfare and great logo concept makes this logo a winner.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

(April 12, 2005-)

Nicknames: "The Shining Bars", "Ultra Majestic Sony Pictures Bars", "SPE Bars", "Sony Bars", "The Sony Parallelogram", "Lightbeam in Parallelogram", "Lightbeam in Striped Parallelogram"

Logo: Over a set of purple clouds, we see a bright light with rays shooting outward which start to create some lens flares. A set of white lines of light appear and zoom out to solidify into the Shining Bars, Sony Pictures Entertainment's logo, which give off rays of light. As this happens, the background turns black. The rays die down and we see "SONY PICTURES" in the Sony font appear below the Bars, a line is drawn underneath that, and "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" appears underneath.

Trailer Variants: On 2005-06 VHS releases by SPHE, one of the following clip-ons would appear early in the animation:

• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Now Playing in Theaters
• Coming Soon to DVD and Video
• Now Available on DVD and Video

A male announcer (Nick Tate) reads the clip-on, and after the logo ends, a trailer would be played.

Variants:

• On Blu-ray Discs, as well as a few DVD’s from December 26, 2005 to November 29, 2011, the logo is much more contrasted.
• On the Classic Comedy TV (Urban)/Classic Urban TV preview found on Sanford and Son: The Sixth Season and Soap: The Complete Fourth Season, a still of the logo blinks several times in tune with the trailer's rap beat.
• On the trailer for Ringers: Lord of the Fans, after the complete logo plays, it quickly fades into footage from the film.
• On other trailers, such as The Woods, the logo is shortened to where the Shining Bars are first seen.
• On the 2021 DVD of The Lost Leonardo, the logo is presented in a 2.35:1 ratio.

FX/SFX: Just great CGI; much better animation than its then-current TV counterpart.

Music/Sounds: Begins with two timpani drumbeats, followed by an uplifting-sounding horn/string piece with sparkling sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes, the theme is played in low tone.
• A high tone version appears on the DVDs of Zathura and The Squid and the Whale, Korean VHS tapes, and most region 4 DVDs from 2005 onward.
• On Many DVDs from July 12, 2005 to November 26, 2013, the theme is off-sync with the logo.
• On the 2005 double feature set of Annie/Annie: A Royal Adventure, disc 1 (Annie) has the music from the 3rd CTHV logo. That disc is likely a modified reprint of the original 1997 flipper DVD that has both widescreen and fullscreen versions, which may explain this plaster oddity.
• On the trailer for Ringers: Lord of the Fans, instead of the music, we hear people talking over it.

Availability: Current and very common.

• The print SPHE logo goes back to November 2004, and those early SPHE releases (including reprints) still have either the 1993 CTHV logo, or the 2001 CTHE logo. The animated SPHE logo made its debut in April 2005, with the releases of All in the Family: The Complete Fifth Season, The Woodsman, and Almodovar's Bad Education and The Flower of My Secret.
• Later DVDs of TV shows, including Seinfeld, The Berenstain Bears, Dragon Tales, Bewitched, Rescue Me, I Dream of Jeannie, and Damages, and other films like the Spider-Man franchise, House of Flying Daggers, The Merchant of Venice, Are We There Yet?, the Jesse Stone movies, The Legend of Zorro, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Monster House, The Jane Austen Book Club, Across the Universe, Vantage Point, two disparate movies titled Passengers, Obsessed, both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies, Planet 51, Extraordinary Measures, The White Ribbon, the Cross trilogy, Easy A, Burlesque, The Roommate, the later Sniper sequels, Looper, the first three Hotel Transylvania films, Evil Dead, Chappie, Annie (2014), Still Alice, Pixels, The Meddler, Charlie's Angels (2019), Monster Hunter, The Lost Leonardo, The Pope's Exorcist, and No Hard Feelings also use this logo.
• The trailer variants can be considered very rare, as this logo debuted shortly before VHS was discontinued (in North America; in the late 2000s, Korea continued to release VHS tapes, examples including Open Season and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), but they can be seen on SPHE tapes such as Guess Who, Zathura, Into the Blue, Bewitched, Layer Cake, The Amityville Horror (2005), Stealth, The Marksman, Are We There Yet?, Lords of Dogtown, The Fog (2005), The Gospel, Man of the House, xXx: State of the Union, The Legend of Zorro, Madison, and The Berenstain Bears VHS releases from 2005-2006. They premiered on 7 Seconds and made their final appearance on Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild.
• Strangely, this logo appeared on TV airings of Open Season 2 and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, among other TV airings of direct-to-DVD films. It also plasters the Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment logo on a Canadian VHS print of Little Black Book.
• Don't expect this on Sony-era releases of MGM catalog titles (which instead use either the MGM DVD logo, or in the case of Blu-rays and UMDs, no logo at all) or the 2017 DVD releases of Morgan Creek films or Platform Entertainment Limited's Age of Kill, strangely.

Editor's Note: A nice change from the Columbia TriStar name. One hopes that this is eventually outdone if this logo ever gets replaced.