104-497: The Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group (formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG ) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operations. It was launched in 1998 by integrating the businesses of Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and TriStar Pictures, Inc. The Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group was founded in 1998 as
208-532: A 49-screen theater chain in the Netherlands , and the 53-screen Cannon Cinema Italia ) to the sixth-largest chain in the United States , the 425-screen "marginally profitable" Commonwealth Theaters . Additionally, Cannon owned the film rights to Spider-Man , and planned to make a Spider-Man film in the mid-1980s. Golan and Globus agreed to pay Marvel Comics $ 225,000 over the five-year option period, plus
312-606: A Golden Globe nomination that year. Golan and Cannon Films tended to over-promote films that did not live up to expectations. For instance, Lifeforce (1985) was to be "the cinematic sci-fi event of the '80s " and Masters of the Universe (1987) was dubbed "the Star Wars of the '80s." Diversifying from film production, Cannon had begun purchasing film distributors and movie theaters . The purchases ranged from European companies ( Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment , Tuschinski Theatres,
416-979: A Millionaire? , acquired from the original production company Celador, and You Are What You Eat for £114.3 million ($ 223.2 million in US dollars). In 2011, the Sony Pictures computer network was breached and approximately one million user accounts associated with the SonyPictures.com website were leaked. On November 18, 2012, Sony Pictures announced it has passed $ 4 billion with the success of releases: Skyfall , The Amazing Spider-Man , 21 Jump Street , Men in Black 3 , Hotel Transylvania , Underworld: Awakening , The Vow , and Resident Evil: Retribution . On November 21, 2013, SPE and Sony Entertainment's CEO Michael Lynton announced that SPE will shift emphasis from movies to television by cutting its 2014 film slate. It
520-564: A deal which allowed Pathé to distribute Lambada , Midnight Ride and American Ninja 4 . Under Pearce, Cannon Pictures announced it will keep contracts with players Charles Bronson , Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff signed under Golan's management and revealed a slate of films in 1991, Fifty/Fifty now starring Peter Weller and Robert Hays , No Place to Hide with Kris Kristofferson and Drew Barrymore , The Hitman with Chuck Norris , The Human Shield and Rescue Me both with Michael Dudikoff . Richard Inouye joined
624-446: A deal with WarnerMedia Europe to stream its theatrical films on HBO Max for Central and Eastern Europe countries. On November 28, 2022, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment reached a distribution deal with Sony to distribute its future slate of films. However, this deal does not include the Dune and MonsterVerse films as they will remain at Warner Bros. The deal came after
728-651: A documentary about Cannon Films, written and directed by Mark Hartley , and produced by Brett Ratner . That same year, the Israeli documentary The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films was launched at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival . As is noted at the end of Electric Boogaloo , Golan and Globus announced The Go-Go Boys shortly after they were approached to appear in Boogaloo , yet in true Cannon fashion, their movie beat Hartley's to release by 3 months. In 2015, Globus sold "Globus Max" and returned to Hollywood to launch
832-440: A domestic distribution deal with Warner Bros. for its theatrical product. Soon after announcing a new slate of films and the distribution deal with Warner Bros., Parretti made a $ 1.2 billion bid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , backed by Crédit Lyonnais . The bid was accepted and Parretti merged Pathé Communications and MGM to create MGM-Pathé Communications . With the merger majority of the former Cannon Group library became part of
936-507: A drop in Cannon's stock price. By 1979, Cannon had hit serious financial difficulties, and Friedland and Dewey sold Cannon to Israeli cousins Menahem Golan , who had directed The Apple , and Yoram Globus for $ 500,000. The two cousins forged a business model of buying bottom-barrel scripts and putting them into production. They produced such films in a variety of genres, although their biggest successes were with action films . They tapped into
1040-582: A film distribution joint venture in Southeast Asia in 1997. By December 2006, 14 joint distribution ventures between Sony Pictures Releasing International and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures were formed and exist in countries including Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. In January 2007, their 15th such partnership began operations in Russia and CIS . In February 2017, Sony starting leaving
1144-405: A film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation. In 2002, Columbia TriStar Television was renamed as Sony Pictures Television . The last three remaining companies, with the "Columbia TriStar" brand in its name, were Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment,
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#17328528597751248-587: A film series which consisted of Enter the Ninja (1981), Revenge of the Ninja (1983), and Ninja III: The Domination (1984), all starring Sho Kosugi , as well as American Ninja (1985) and its sequel American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987). Other action/adventure films they produced included the 3-D Treasure of the Four Crowns , King Solomon's Mines , and the vigilante thriller sequel Exterminator 2 . The Cannon Group's biggest financial success
1352-446: A group of investors for $ 14 million. The sale would include the office building at 8200 Wiltshire Blvd, where Cannon Pictures was based. Parretti tried to push the deal through quickly to release some capital for MGM-Pathé, However, the deal fell through less than two months later due to financing problems and MGM-Pathé Communications had been granted an easement on financial conditions that were placed upon it by its lenders as part of
1456-494: A joint buyout with Apollo Global Management . Sony and Apollo submitted a $ 26 billion all-cash offer to acquire Paramount Global on May 2, 2024. A special committee of Paramount’s board of directors met on May 5, 2024, and signed off on beginning deal talks with Sony and Apollo. Later, announced in July of the same year, Paramount will merge with Skydance Media . On June 12, 2024, Sony Pictures acquired Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for
1560-415: A larger production scale than a lot of major distributors, such as Joe , starring Peter Boyle . They managed this by tightly limiting their budgets to $ 300,000 per picture—or less, in some cases. The success of Joe brought more attention to the company. As the 1970s moved on, a string of unsuccessful films seriously drained Cannon's capital. This, along with changes to film-production tax laws, led to
1664-517: A merger plan, the two television businesses, comprising Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television , merged altogether to form a new incarnation of the original Columbia Pictures Television . The merger enabled three top Tri-Star executives, namely Arnold Messner, who ran Tri-Star Telecommunications , Victor A. Kaufman, who ran the main Tri-Star Pictures studio, and Scott Siegler , who ran Tri-Star Television to stay on, while four of
1768-545: A new ABC Cinemas . Cannon purchased the Thorn EMI film assets from businessman Alan Bond in April 1986 for £175 million; Cannon Screen Entertainment and archrival The Rank Organization jointly signed a $ 10 million agreement with the BBC that August for the latter to broadcast both companies' films. By 1988, a cooling in the film market and a series of box office disappointments—including
1872-409: A new TV show called Sam Bolt: Texas Ranger , which would later become Walker, Texas Ranger . Shortly afterwards, they announced that Joe Lara had been signed to an exclusive 10-picture deal with the new company. Lara was currently in production on American Cyborg: Steel Warrior which would not be included in the overall deal, however no films were made from this deal. By mid-1992, the merger
1976-513: A percentage of the film's revenues. The rights would revert to Marvel if a film was not made by April 1990. Marvel and Sony would eventually complete a film in 2002 directed by Sam Raimi after the rights had been re-secured, following a lengthy period of litigation between Marvel, Sony and several other parties over the film rights. Cannon's films proved to be much more popular in the United Kingdom than in its native United States, which
2080-599: A ravenous market for B movies in the 1980s. After buying the rights to the 1974 film Death Wish , Cannon produced three sequels to it in the 1980s, all starring Charles Bronson . Despite negative reviews, these films were financially successful, especially Death Wish II (1982), which earned over $ 40 million on an $ 8 million budget. Other major hits for Cannon were a series of action movies starring Chuck Norris , including Missing in Action (1984), Invasion U.S.A. (1985) and The Delta Force (1986). Missing in Action
2184-1260: A subsidiary of the Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony Group Corporation . Based at the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California as one of the "Big Five" major American film studios , it encompasses Sony's motion picture , television production and distribution units. All of SPE's divisions are members of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Sony's film franchises include The Karate Kid , Ghostbusters , Jumanji , Men in Black , Spider-Man , and Sony's Spider Man universe . On September 1, 1987, The Coca-Cola Company announced plans to spin off Columbia Pictures , which it had owned since 1982. Under this arrangement, Coca-Cola would sell its entertainment assets (Coca-Cola's Entertainment Business Sector) to TriStar Pictures , of which it owned 39.6%. Tri-Star would be renamed Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coca-Cola owning 49%, its shareholders owning 31%, and Tri-Star's shareholders owning 20%. As part of
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#17328528597752288-443: A sum which are yet-to-be disclosed. This marked the first time in more than 75 years that a major Hollywood studio would own a theater chain, as the 1948 federal ruling from United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. prevented them from owning exhibition companies until 2020. Alamo Drafthouse will continue to operate their film festival Fantastic Fest , which is included in the acquisition. In September 2024, Sony Group announced
2392-594: Is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. It also has an international division called Sony Pictures Releasing International, which from 1991 until 2005 was known as Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International. From 1971 until the end of 1987, Columbia's international theatrical distribution operations were a joint venture with Warner Bros. named Columbia-Warner, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies like with EMI Films and Cannon Films in
2496-505: Is an American film distributor owned by Sony . Established in 1994 as a successor to Triumph Releasing Corporation , the company handles theatrical distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by Sony Pictures Entertainment , including Columbia Pictures , TriStar Pictures (as well as TriStar Productions ), Screen Gems , Sony Pictures Classics , Sony Pictures Animation , Crunchyroll , Stage 6 Films , Affirm Films , Destination Films , and Triumph Films . It
2600-404: Is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and recorded videos) through multiple platforms. Through an intermediate holding company called Sony Film Holding Inc., it is operated as a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc. , which is itself
2704-455: Is the main character (such as Homecoming and its sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home ), while Disney would distribute MCU films where Spider-Man appears without being the main character. On January 22, 2014, SPE folded its technology unit into the various cores of its businesses. In April, Sony Pictures arranged a film financing deal worth $ 200 million with LStar Capital , the credit venture of Lone Star Capital and Citibank , half in debt and
2808-400: Is why Cannon acquired several British cinema chains during the 1980s, and founded the mail-order video distribution service Videolog as a joint venture with Columbia House Europe, Ltd. in the mid-1980s. Cannon Cinemas were a familiar sight in the United Kingdom until the late 1990s, when MGM Cannon cinemas were sold to Virgin who retained the multi screen sites and sold the traditional sites to
2912-599: The Delaware General Corporation Law . Sony also completed a tender offer for shares of common stock of the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company on November 6, 1989, and acquired the company 3 days later. The acquisition cost Sony $ 4.9 billion ($ 3.55 billion for shares and $ 1.4 billion of long-term debt) and was backed (financed) by five major Japanese banks Mitsui , Tokyo , Fuji , Mitsubishi and Industrial Bank of Japan . The company
3016-473: The HBO/Cannon Video joint venture with HBO due to Cannon's ongoing financial problems. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation into Cannon's financial reports, suspecting that Cannon had fraudulently misstated them. On the verge of failure, Cannon Films was taken over by Pathé Communications , a holding company controlled by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti . Financed by
3120-517: The Verdi opera ), Norman Mailer 's Tough Guys Don't Dance , and Andrei Konchalovsky 's Runaway Train and Shy People . During these years, Cannon prominently advertised at the Cannes Film Festival each year. Substantial pre-sales of the next years' films were made based on the strong salesmanship skills of Globus. The deposits made from these sales financed production of the first film in
3224-661: The Burbank Studios and acquired Lorimar Studios , previously the MGM lot, from Warner Bros. On October 31, 1989, Sony completed a friendly takeover bid for the rest of shares (51%) of CPE, which was a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: KPE), and acquired 99.3% of the common stock of the company. On November 8, 1989, Sony completed the acquisition by a "short-form" merger of its wholly owned subsidiary Sony Columbia Acquisition Corporation into CPE under
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-579: The California Superior Court in Los Angeles entered a final judgement in a separate civil suit against Parretti, ordering him to pay $ 1.48 billion to Credit Lyonnais. After Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Parretti and Florio Fiorini accusing them of fraud in 1999, Italian authorities arrested both men and held them for extradition to the United States. Parretti was released by
3432-579: The California-based Sony Pictures Entertainment, but are instead subsidiaries of the main Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation. The Cannon Group The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films , which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested heavily in
3536-635: The Coca-Cola Entertainment Business Sector departed, namely Barbara Corday , who ran Columbia / Embassy Television as president, Herman Rush and Peter Seale, who ran Coca-Cola Telecommunications , and Brian McGrath, who was the president of the Coca-Cola Entertainment Business Sector. In early December 1987, former Coke EBS vice president Kenneth Lemberger exited the post to join Tri-Star Pictures , displacing Roger Faxon, who had joined Columbia Pictures as senior vice president of
3640-706: The Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group) by merging Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures in 1998, revitalizing Columbia's former television division Screen Gems. This in effect re-united the MGM studio name, with the MGM main studio lot, although somewhat confusingly, the bulk of the pre-May 1986 original MGM library ended up at Time Warner via the Ted Turner - Kirk Kerkorian " Turner Entertainment Co. " transactions. The post-April 1986 MGM library consists of acquisitions of various third-party libraries, such as
3744-530: The Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, and Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Columbia TriStar Film Distributors became Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Releasing International in 2004 and 2005 and Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group became the second-to-last subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment to use the "Columbia TriStar" brand name in its name. In 2013, TriStar Productions
3848-437: The Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, as a current division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, owned by Sony . It has many of Sony Pictures' current motion picture divisions as part of it. Its divisions at that time were Columbia Pictures , TriStar Pictures , Triumph Films , Sony Pictures Classics , and Sony Pictures Releasing. On December 8, 1998, SPE resurrected its former animation and television division Screen Gems as
3952-586: The Entertainment Sector's feature production deal with Nelson Entertainment and its investment in Castle Rock Entertainment , and TeleVentures ; a company it continues to own, which was linked to three independent companies: Tri-Star Pictures , Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Witt/Thomas Productions . Merv Griffin Enterprises continue to function as a separate operation. A new company
4056-460: The French bank Crédit Lyonnais , already involved with Cannon for years, Pathé Communications' takeover of Cannon immediately began a corporate restructuring and refinancing of $ 250 million to pay off Cannon's debt. By 1989, Golan, citing differences with both Parretti and Globus, resigned from his position and left Cannon to start 21st Century Film Corporation , while Globus remained with Pathé. One of
4160-621: The Ice Cave with Michael Moriarty and Sally Kellerman and A Man Called Sarge . The new slate of pictures was expected to cost $ 50 million The company managed to post a small operating profit before the end of the year. JAM was rebranded as Lambada to cash in on the craze and released in 1990. After the MGM-Pathé Communications merger, Parretti agreed to sell Pathé's 60% majority stake in Cannon Pictures to Assonitis and
4264-731: The Jewel of the East with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone returning to their roles, Return of the Delta Force and American Ninja Apprentice with Michael Dudikoff , David Bradley and Steve James' daughter Debbi, alongside new original projects The Sniper with Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis and The Golem with Al Pacino and Nastassja Kinski , but Golan died before any were produced. In 2014, there were two documentary films released about Cannon Films. RatPac Entertainment released Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films ,
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-529: The MGM buyout. At the same board meeting, Assonitis and Cannon Pictures vice-chairman William J. Immerman were fired and replaced by Danny Dimbort. Cannon's marketing and casting operations were shut down by Pathé. All of Cannon Pictures' marketing was placed under Pathé's existing operations. Former Cannon Group production head Christopher Pearce was named as Assonitis' replacement and in November 1990, he bought Pathé's stake in Cannon Pictures for $ 14 million with
4472-535: The MGM library (certain rights for other media and select films during the Thorn EMI merger now lie with other entities). As MGM-Pathé Communications had a distribution deal with Warner Bros. (and who had part financed Parretti's takeover bid), Parretti axed the MGM/UA Home Video department as one of his first acts in charge, resulting in the loss of eighty jobs. Crédit Lyonnais foreclosed on Parretti in July 1991 after he defaulted on loan payments and sued for
4576-753: The Netherlands, Universal Pictures International currently handles theatrical distribution of films released by Sony Pictures since 2013. In the Netherlands and Sweden, Columbia TriStar Films (now known as Sony Pictures Releasing) formerly handled theatrical distribution of films released by 20th Century Fox from 1992 to 1997 in the former country and from 1994 to 1996 in the latter. In South Africa, Ster-Kinekor handles theatrical and home video distribution of films released by Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE , and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. )
4680-490: The Orion Pictures catalogue, leading to MGM's 2014 remake of RoboCop . In July 2000, a marketing executive working for Sony Corporation created a fictitious film critic, David Manning , who gave consistently good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures that generally received poor reviews amongst real critics. Sony later pulled the ads, suspended Manning's creator and his supervisor and paid fines to
4784-505: The Southeast Asia venture with the Philippines. In August 2017, Sony terminated the joint venture agreement for their own operations. On January 31, 2019, in anticipation of Disney's then-pending acquisition of most 21st Century Fox assets (including 20th Century Fox ), it was agreed that Disney would sell its stake in the Mexican joint venture named Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing de México to Sony Pictures Releasing . As part of
4888-682: The Tokyo Film Festival. A judge blocked all sales made at Tokyo and blocked any further sales that were due to take place at MIFED 1994. To prevent any fraudulent deals at MIFED, a warning appeared in Screen International and other publications stating all business must be done with the court appointed trustee and not with Pearce. The United States bankruptcy court set a deadline of January 11, 1995 for creditors of Cannon Pictures to submit their claim and evidence of debt. Cannon Pictures, its library of 135 films, as well as 112 films from
4992-504: The UK under the names of Columbia-EMI-Warner in 1978 and later Columbia-Cannon-Warner in 1986. The UK venture was dissolved in 1988. In Australia, which from 1975 to 1996, 20th Century-Fox and Columbia Pictures formed an alliance that they would distribute films for the Australian market, initially going under the name Fox Columbia Film Distributors , before Hoyts came to the venture, and it
5096-615: The appointment of SPE president and COO Ravi Ahuja as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment effective January 2, 2025, succeeding Tony Vinciquerra, who will remain chairman until the end of December 2025. In November 2014, the Sony Pictures computer network was compromised by a group of hackers named Guardians of Peace , disabling many computers. Later the same week, five of Sony Pictures' movies were leaked, including some not yet released (such as Fury and Annie ), as well as confidential data about 47,000 current and former Sony employees. Film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon suggested that
5200-414: The board, while Globus served as president. In 1986, Cannon attempted to produce film adaptations of the stage plays Zorba and American Buffalo , but these films never materialized. Another film project that ultimately never materialized was a live-action film based on Barbie , with planned plotline concerning the doll showing her owner that her dreams could come true. A live-action movie based on
5304-496: The company and two investment bankers, Robert Blake and Runa Alam, by the Independent Artists Picture Corp. The lawsuit claimed interference and breach of contract in connection with IAPCs plans to buy Cannon Pictures stock in a takeover bid, which would have seen Blake purchase Christopher Pearce's stock and Blake and Alam would then take control of the day-to-day operations of the company. During this time, Pearce
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#17328528597755408-675: The company announced and impressive line-up several new productions and releases, Fifty/Fifty , Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection and TOP KICK with Chuck Norris , WINGS with Michael Dudikoff , American Ninja 4 with Dudikoff and David Bradley , JAM to be directed by Joel Silberg , Dusted (later released as Death Warrant with Jean-Claude Van Damme ), Keaton's Cop with Lee Majors , Midnight Ride with Michael Dudikoff and Mark Hamill , an untitled film starring Charles Bronson , Crack House with Richard Roundtree and Jim Brown , Rockula , The Rose Garden with Maximilian Schell and Liv Ullmann , The Secret of
5512-944: The company in February 1991 as vice-president and CFO. American Ninja V and the unmade Ants of God were added to the slate at the AFM in 1991 and Warner Home Video signed an agreement to distribute Cannon Pictures' output in North America, UK, Japan, Italy and Australia for ten years. Cannon Pictures greatly expanded its slate in time for the Cannes Film Festival in 1991 with a total of 18 films, in addition to those already announced, there was; American Kickboxer 1 , Black Cat Run with Michael Dudikoff , The Borrower , Deep End from Boaz Davidson , Delta Force 3: The Killing Game , Dream Lover from Boaz Davidson , Ninja: The American Samurai , Solemn Oath and Terminal Bliss . When Crédit Lyonnais foreclosed on Parretti in July 1991,
5616-688: The company provided administrative services related to distribution of its films in North America, while internationally, would be responsible for the direction of each studio. On September 28, 1989, Sony obtained an option to purchase all of The Coca-Cola Company 's stock (approximately 54 million shares or 49% of the outstanding shares) in CPE for $ 27 per share. The next day, Sony also announced that it reached an agreement with Guber-Peters Entertainment Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPEC; formerly Barris Industries , Inc.) to acquire CPE for $ 200 million when Sony hired Peter Guber and Jon Peters to be its co-chairmen. This
5720-421: The company's previous incarnation, 21st Century Film Distribution officially went up for sale on August 14, 1997 with the auction taking place on September 15. The property was sold to Imperial Entertainment. In February 1998, a judge ruled that Ovidio G. Assonitis had been wrongfully terminated from the company by Parretti and Pathé. The judge awarded Assonitis $ 2.9 million in damages, but by this time, Pathé
5824-548: The company, but shortly after the takeover, a group of creditors including Charles Bronson and Everyvision Inc. sued Cannon Pictures to force it into bankruptcy. The creditors succeeded in pushing the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy . Soon afterwards, it was discovered Christopher Pearce was selling disputed Cannon titles, including Twin Sitters , Delta Force 3 , American Samurai , Street Knight , Tobe Hooper's Night Terrors and American Cyborg: Steel Warrior at
5928-517: The court of appeal in Perugia shortly thereafter, ordered to remain in his home town of Orvieto and report to the police three times a week, even though authorities in Rome had requested he be held pending a decision on the extradition. In 1989, Parretti reorganized Cannon Pictures, Inc. as the low-budget distribution arm of Pathé led by veteran Italian film producer Ovidio G. Assonitis . That year at MIFED,
6032-409: The distribution duties for Warner Bros. films in the country. From June 2014 until February 2020, Sony Pictures' Philippine releasing arm under the name of Columbia Pictures Philippines distributed films by United International Pictures ' partner studios, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures (including films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ), after UIP ended its nine-year distribution agreement with
6136-645: The eight-story, 260,000sq ft building originally designed by architect Maxwell Starkman and known as Sony Pictures Plaza, which was originally the headquarters of MGM Studios and later Sony Pictures Studios, was sold to Runyon Group and fellow developer LBA Realty for $ 159 million. Headquartered in Culver City, California , U.S., SPE comprises various studios and entertainment brands, including Affirm Films , Columbia Pictures , Screen Gems , Sony Pictures Classics , TriStar Pictures , Crunchyroll , Game Show Network and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema . The following are other Sony Pictures divisions that are not subsidiaries of
6240-620: The final films produced by Golan and Globus that received a wide release under the Cannon Films banner was the post-apocalyptic action film Cyborg . This film was conceived to use both the costumes and sets built for an intended sequel to Masters of the Universe and the ill-fated live-action version of Spider-Man . Both projects were planned to shoot simultaneously under the direction of Albert Pyun . Not to let that pre-production work go to waste, Pyun wrote Cyborg , with Chuck Norris in mind, suggesting it to Cannon Films. Jean-Claude Van Damme
6344-543: The four films he had made for Cannon. Cannon Pictures posted a net profit of $ 1.3 million for the nine months ending September 1992 and secured a new $ 15 million line of credit from the ING Bank in Amsterdam after Crédit Lyonnais refused to lend more until their loans were fully repaid, which wasn't due for another four years. In February 1993, Cannon ran out of money to continue production of Walker, Texas Ranger , due to
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#17328528597756448-451: The global economic fluctuations caused by the Disney's acquisition, Sony Pictures Production and Release LLC and Disney Studios LLC parted amicably signing a formal demerger on 21 January 2020. The contract would allow Sony Pictures Releasing to operate autonomously. In Argentina and Poland, United International Pictures handles theatrical distribution of films released by Sony Pictures. In
6552-402: The hack and subsequent leaks, calling it a "malicious criminal act", while also criticizing WikiLeaks for describing the leaked content as public domain . Seth Rogen has expressed doubts about North Korea being responsible for the 2014 Sony hack. Based on the timeline of events and the amount of information hacked, he believes the hack may have been conducted by a Sony employee. In 2014,
6656-467: The hack, which exposed the inner workings of the studio, was "not a pretty picture," and served as a "wake-up call to the entire industry." The hack also revealed some other documents, emails between Hollywood moguls referring to Barack Obama 's cinematic tastes, a possible partnership with Marvel Studios for the inclusion of the superhero Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War , which
6760-408: The indictments of funding partner Banca Nazionale del Lavoro , then embroiled in a scandal over unauthorized loans to Iraq , and producers were desperately trying to raise more money to complete the miniseries . CBS Productions later stepped in with additional funds to complete the production. In August 1993, Cannon reported a net profit of $ 1 million for its second quarter, double the same period
6864-626: The multimillion-dollar production of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), whose original $ 36-million budget was slashed to $ 17 million—had once again put Cannon in financial woes. The company signed an agreement with Warner Bros. to handle part of their assets; however, the financial loss was staggering. Following the purchase of the Thorn EMI assets, Cannon Films was severely stretched, and faced bankruptcy ; in May 1987, Cannon sold its 2,000-title Thorn-EMI library for $ 85 million to Weintraub Entertainment Group . Shortly afterwards, Cannon dropped out of
6968-424: The negative impact of the merger of Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery . On November 14, 2023, Sony Pictures unveiled a special centennial anniversary logo for its Columbia Pictures unit ahead of its 100th anniversary of its founding on January 10, 2024. On April 18, 2024, it was reported that Sony was interested in acquiring Paramount Global through
7072-399: The other in equity to fund most of SPE's film slate for several years. SPE was originally considering a $ 300 million deal with Blue Anchor Entertainment, led by Bloom Hergott partner John LaViolette and former investment banker & producer Joseph M. Singer, and backed by Longhorn Capital Management and Deutsche Bank, which was held up by regulatory matters. In November 2019, Sony purchased
7176-547: The previous year, due to the success of Walker, Texas Ranger . Cannon Pictures was sued for $ 14 million in December 1993 by Pictor Insurance Co. and the Peter Miller Corp. for breach of contract over Cannon pulling out of a financing agreement with the two companies. With this additional pressure, Christopher Pearce began exploring selling his stock in Cannon Pictures, but this resulted in another lawsuit being filed against
7280-399: The production line-up, which—when completed and delivered to theatre owners around the world—generated enough money to make the next film in the line-up. Slavenburg's bank [ nl ] in the Netherlands (which had provided Cannon's start-up capital in 1979) and their principal loan officer, Frans Afman, provided bridge financing until the pre-sales amounts were collected; this role
7384-474: The property wouldn't emerge until 2023. Other areas of interest included plans for television adaptation of Cannon properties., and following up their adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin with a total of 12 fairy tale films as the Cannon Movie Tales series; Cannon wound up releasing only a few of the fairy tales. Film critic Roger Ebert said of Golan-Globus in 1987, "no other production organization in
7488-544: The publicly traded Cannon Pictures into one single entity called the Cannon Entertainment Group. The merger was announced alongside a slate of pictures including Chicago Loop with James Spader , Cold to the Touch with Chuck Norris , Teen Angel from Boaz Davidson, Ivory to be directed by Aaron Norris , Delta Force IV: The Deadly Dozen directed by Brian Hutton and White Sun with Michael Dudikoff , as well as
7592-573: The remaining 42% stake in GSN from AT&T , placing it under the direction of its television division. In April 2021, Sony signed a first-look deal with Netflix , allowing the streaming service to host their films following their theatrical runs and home media releases. That same month, the company also entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with The Walt Disney Company for its films to stream across Disney's streaming and linear platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu . In February 2022, Sony signed
7696-436: The removal of Paretti, his wife Maria Cecconi, his daughter Valentina Parretti, Yoram Globus , Florio Fiorini, Danny Dimbort, Antonio Pares-Neira and Lewis Horowitz from the board of directors. Parretti was pushed out of management control of MGM-Pathé Communications and the board and countersued Crédit Lyonnais , claiming they destroyed his ability to make money at MGM-Pathé, in an attempt to wrestle control back. Parretti
7800-468: The sale of Cannon Pictures was questioned by the bank because Christopher Pearce was a board member of MGM-Pathé Communications at the time of the sale and the disclosure of interest of Pearce was not stated in documentation. Crédit Lyonnais' legal filings against Parretti also name Danny Dimbort, a member of the board of both companies, for receiving $ 140,000 "for services rendered, although Mr Dimbort did not perform any services to justify payments". Globus
7904-458: The state of Connecticut and to fans who saw the reviewed films in the US. It expanded its operations on April 8, 2005, when a Sony-led consortium acquired the legendary Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), in a US$ 4.8 billion leveraged buyout , through the holding company MGM Holdings Inc. On June 4, 2008, SPE's wholly owned group 2JS Productions B.V. acquired Dutch production company 2waytraffic N.V., famous for Who Wants to Be
8008-654: The studio's local distributor Solar Entertainment Corporation and their Solar Films subsidiary. The Philippine distribution to films made by Universal lasted up until January 2020, when distribution reverted to Warner Bros. (UIP's former local distributor from the 1990s to 2000) in October 2021 while most Focus Features titles are instead released through a start-up online distribution company, UPSTREAM. Paramount later renewed their distribution agreements with Sony in October 2021. The theatrical distribution of Sony Pictures' films in Italy
8112-422: The studio. The merger was approved by shareholders on December 15, 1987, and it was completed two days later. Columbia and Tri-Star brands would be used as separate and autonomous production entities, and would be part of CPE whole, along with the prior assets, units and commitments of the former Coca-Cola Entertainment Business Sector, which included all feature, TV, home video, and pay cable operations as well as
8216-629: The video market, buying the international video rights to several classic film libraries. Some of their best known films include Joe (1970), Runaway Train (1985) and Street Smart (1987), all of which were Oscar -nominated. Cannon Films was incorporated on October 23, 1967. It was formed by Dennis Friedland and Chris Dewey while they were in their early 20s. They had immediate success producing English-language versions of Swedish soft porn films directed by Joseph W. Sarno : Inga (1968), aka Jag––en oskuld and To Ingrid, My Love, Lisa (1968), aka Kvinnolek . By 1970, they had produced films on
8320-427: The world today—certainly not any of the seven Hollywood 'majors'—has taken more chances with serious, marginal films than Cannon." That year, Cannon gained its greatest artistic success: its 1986 Dutch production The Assault won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film . Meanwhile, Otello , based on the opera of the same name , also received
8424-402: Was a middle-management reshuffle at Cannon Pictures with an aim to maximise revenue from Cannon's releases. The Hitman proved to be an early success for the new team. Cannon later sued Vision International and its chairman Mark Damon for $ 15 million over Chuck Norris' involvement in the film, Sidekicks . Cannon Pictures retained Chuck Norris under an "exclusive services" contract that
8528-659: Was absorbed into Cannon Group's U.K. distribution arm. On June 25, 1985, Cannon bought the rights to produce future films based on the comic book character Superman from the Salkinds , and struck a distribution assignment with Warner Bros. (owners of the Superman property) for a 1987 release. Cannon also further expanded their French assets, with the aim of becoming the largest film distributor in France. By 1986, output reached an apex with 43 films in one year. Golan remained chairman of
8632-631: Was all led by Norio Ohga , who was the president and CEO of Sony during that time. The hiring of Guber and Peters by Sony to run Columbia was conflicted by a previous contract the producers had signed at Warner Bros. Time Warner 's chairman, Steve Ross , threatened Sony with a lawsuit for breach of contract . The lawsuit would be subsequently dropped when Sony sold half-interest in Columbia House and cable distribution rights to Columbia's feature films, TV movies, and miniseries to Warner Bros. That same agreement also saw Columbia sell its 35% interest in
8736-687: Was also announced on the same day, that there would be more Spider-Man sequels and spin-offs, though on February 10, 2015, Sony Pictures eventually signed a deal with Disney 's Marvel Studios to allow Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , beginning with Captain America: Civil War , before appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming which was released on July 7, 2017. The deal also allowed Sony to distribute and have creative control on any MCU film where Spider-Man
8840-469: Was also exploring a sale to Panda Pictures, but this deal collapsed in another lawsuit with Panda claiming $ 20 million in damages from Cannon Pictures after Pearce reportedly lied about the company's financial condition. In 1994, Cannon Pictures released its last film, Hellbound in select theatres in Los Angeles. Shortly afterwards, Christopher Pearce sold controlling interest in Cannon Pictures to VMI Acquisitions Inc. The new owners settled some debts at
8944-480: Was bankrupt and had been foreclosed on by Credit Lyonnais. New Cannon, Inc. was formed by Menahem Golan in 2001 and he hired Evgeny Afineevsky to act as the company's president. Afineevsky would be based in Los Angeles, while Golan would be based in Tel Aviv. Crime and Punishment , which was originally shot in 1993 under Golan's 21st Century Film Corporation but was not released before 21st Century's bankruptcy,
9048-475: Was cancelled after the backers couldn't come to an arrangement with Crédit Lyonnais . Cannon continued with development of Walker, Texas Ranger after CBS picked the series up for 13 episodes. Cash flow problems began to have a serious impact on the company. In October 1992, James Spader sued Cannon Pictures over his $ 1 million fee for his Chicago Loop pay-or-play deal; and a suit from Michael Dudikoff followed in December, stating he had not been paid from
9152-819: Was cast in the lead role. Following Golan's departure from Cannon, he became the head of 21st Century Film Corporation , an independent company. The Cannon Group was renamed and restructured by Parretti with Globus being made co-president of Pathé Communications and chairman of Cannon International and Alan Ladd Jr. was brought in as chairman of Pathé Entertainment. In 1989, Pathé greenlit three films, The Russia House with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer , Quigley Down Under starring Tom Selleck and Fires Within with Jimmy Smits . They also announced Shattered directed by Wolfgang Petersen , Not Without My Daughter with Sally Field , Company Business starring Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshnikov as well as Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise . They signed
9256-476: Was criticized heavily as being a preemptive cash-in on the Rambo franchise . James Cameron 's story treatment for Rambo: First Blood Part II was floating around Hollywood in 1983, which Golan and Globus reviewed and were " inspired " by. The writers of MIA even gave Cameron credit saying their film was inspired by his script treatment. The Cannon Group ignited a worldwide ninja craze with "The Ninja Trilogy",
9360-527: Was eventually dismissed from the Crédit Lyonnais suits and set up foreign sales company, Melrose Entertainment, which handled much of Cannon Pictures' sales, alongside that of Global Pictures, another company run by Pearce. In the wake of the Crédit Lyonnais foreclosure on MGM-Pathé Communications , Pearce stepped down as president of Global Pictures, being replaced by Avi Lerner. In early 1992, there
9464-509: Was formed in early 1988 with the Tri-Star name to take over the studio's operations. In early January 1988, CPE announced that they would revive the Triumph branding for the new worldwide subsidiary, Triumph Releasing Corporation , which was functioned as a theatrical distributor, marketing and promotion for Columbia and Tri-Star films, and named Patrick N. Williamson as president of the unit and
9568-508: Was handled by Warner Bros. from 2011 to 2023. One notable example of this is Call Me By Your Name , where Warner Bros. handled Italian theatrical distribution (although the Sony label is still being used) while home video distribution went through Sony itself. In 2023, Eagle Pictures, which was already distributing Sony's films on home video in the country, took over their theatrical distribution as well. Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios formed
9672-476: Was inherited by Credit Lyonnais after their purchase of Slavenburg's in 1983. In 1982, The Cannon Group, Inc. entered into a relationship with MGM/UA Entertainment Co. with the latter company serving as Cannon's distributor for North American theatrical and video releases; this would not be the last time Cannon dealt with MGM. In 1984, Cannon expanded further into Europe, signing with UGC for French distribution, and acquiring Kenneth Rive's Gala Films, which
9776-424: Was later confirmed in February 2015, amongst others. On December 16, the hackers issued a warning to moviegoers, threatening to attack anyone who sees The Interview during the holidays and urging people to "remember the 11th of September 2001 ". On December 17, 2014, Sony cancelled the previously planned December 25 release of The Interview in response to hacker threats. On February 24, 2015, Tom Rothman
9880-461: Was later convicted of perjury and evidence tampering in a Delaware court for statements he made in a 1991 civil case, brought by Credit Lyonnais to validate their removal of Parretti, to the effect that a document he claimed allowed him to retain control of MGM was authentic; he fled the country for Italy before he could be sentenced or extradited to France, where he was wanted on criminal charges related to his use of MGM's French assets. In 1997,
9984-418: Was launched, as a joint venture of Sony Pictures Entertainment and former 20th Century Fox chairman Thomas Rothman . In October 2013, Sony Pictures rebranded its motion picture group under the monicker "Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group". Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks were moved from Sony Pictures Digital to its motion picture group. On June 2, 2016, Doug Belgrad had announced he
10088-518: Was made in the 1980s by Menahem Golan . Cannon Pictures loaned Norris to the makers of Sidekicks for a cameo role under the agreement that he would not appear in more than 30% of the movie and Cannon objected to Norris receiving "above the title billing" for the film. At the Cannes Film Festival in 1992, Pearce and Yoram Globus announced they were merging Globus' privately held Melrose Entertainment, Pearce's privately owned Global Pictures and
10192-415: Was named chairman of SPE's motion picture group to replace Amy Pascal . On April 16, 2015, WikiLeaks published over 30,287 documents, 173 e-mails, and 2,200 corporate e-mail addresses of Sony Pictures' employees. WikiLeaks said in a press release that the content of the leaks were "newsworthy and at the center of a geo-political conflict" and belonged "in the public domain". Sony Pictures later condemned
10296-783: Was renamed as Sony Pictures Entertainment on August 7, 1991. Also that year, Jon Peters left Columbia to start Peters Entertainment with a three-year exclusive production agreement at the studio at first, before transitioning to a non-exclusive deal at the studio. Longtime CPE employee Laurie MacDonald also left to start Aerial Pictures at the studio, first for a two-year deal, before going to 20th Century Fox in 1993, and being swallowed up by Amblin Entertainment later that year, eventually setting up DreamWorks . Sony has since created numerous other film production and distribution units, such as creating Sony Pictures Classics for art-house fare, by forming Columbia TriStar Pictures (also known as
10400-483: Was renamed first to Hoyts Fox Columbia TriStar Films , then Fox Columbia TriStar Films . On February 6, 2014, Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal Ltda., a joint venture with Warner Bros. which distributed films from both companies in Portugal, announced that they will close their offices on March 31. Sony Pictures' films are distributed in Portugal by Big Picture Films since then, while NOS Audiovisuais took over
10504-942: Was taken over by Vision Films later that year and Afineevsky went on to form New Generation Films to produce Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! from a script by Golan. He went on to make documentaries, Cries from Syria and Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom , which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Primetime Emmy Award in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category. Golan continued to produce and direct films after New Cannon, including Children of Wax with Armand Assante and Udo Kier , A Dangerous Dance and Marriage Agreement . In 2013, Golan announced sequels to several films he had produced The Cannon Group, Inc. in partnership with MGM including Allan Quatermain and
10608-614: Was their first offering alongside a slate of new films including Death Game , a remake of Fritz Lang's M , Kumite (later made as Final Combat but never released) and Open Heart (released in 2002 as Return from India ). By the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, New Cannon had completed Death Game and Return from India and announced a new project, Beauty and the Beast to be directed by Pharaoh Phillips alongside sales for previously released films Train to Hell and In Search of A Woman , an unreleased title from PM Entertainment . The company
10712-587: Was to step down as president of the SPMPG and would transition his role to producer at the studio. Belgrad was promoted as president of the SPMPG back in 2014. On July 15, 2019, former Fox 2000 Pictures president Elizabeth Gabler and the entire Fox 2000 staff joined Sony Pictures Entertainment and formed 3000 Pictures with the motion picture group. HarperCollins would be funding half of the division's overhead and development. 3000 Pictures would also pursue projects for TV and streaming. Sony Pictures Releasing Corporation
10816-640: Was with the 1986 action film Cobra , which starred Sylvester Stallone ; not a low-budget film, it earned $ 160 million on a $ 25 million budget. Cannon produced musical and comedy films such as Breakin' , Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo , The Last American Virgin , and the U.S. release of The Apple ; erotic period drama pictures such as Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), Bolero , and Mata Hari (1985); science fiction and fantasy films such as Hercules , Lifeforce , and The Barbarians ; and serious pictures such as John Cassavetes ' Love Streams , Franco Zeffirelli 's Otello (a film version of
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