Producers Sales Organization (PSO; also known as PSO Productions, Inc. ) was an independent motion picture production and sales company founded in 1977. Initiated by Mark Damon , an actor-turned-producer, PSO mostly handled foreign sales of independent films. It was initially a partnership between Damon, producer Sandy Howard , and Richard St. Johns, who worked for Arthur Guinness Son & Co. At one point, it was a subsidiary of Guinness.
42-423: In its final years of existence, PSO briefly became a full-fledged production company, setting up operations on March 27, 1984, through subsidiary PSO Presentations. On April 10, 1984, a major shake-up happened in the sales and acquisition department and executive Eleanor Powell moved position to become deputy managing director of the company. In November 1984, PSO merged with film financing firm The Delphi Companies;
84-506: A deal for film financing with Delphi Film Associates. CBS dropped out of the Tri-Star venture in November 1985. HBO also dropped out of the venture and sold half of its shares to Columbia Pictures following a month. Despite the changes in majority ownership, Tri-Star continued ambition-laden expansion plans. Chief among these plans was an expansion of their successful relationship with Carolco;
126-643: A deal with the studio to develop projects for the 1993-94 TV season. On February 21, 1994, TriStar Television merged with Columbia Pictures Television and formed Columbia TriStar Television (CTT). In 1997, most new shows, and some existing TriStar shows like Early Edition , shifted from TriStar Television to CTT, and also in January 1997, changed monikers from Sony Television Entertainment to Columbia TriStar Television Group. When TriStar Television's productions were folded into Columbia TriStar Television in 1999, Early Edition (a joint production with CBS) retained
168-560: A joint venture between Columbia Pictures, CBS , and HBO , whose individual video units handled video, broadcast, and pay cable rights to its products, the company scored a number of box office hits with modestly-budgeted fare in the 1980s, as well as fortuitous distribution deals with the Producers Sales Organization , Carolco Pictures and the Taft Entertainment Group . It also expanded ambitiously throughout
210-436: A joint venture with existing Sony Pictures executives. The new TriStar would develop, finance and produce up to four films per year, as well as television programming and acquisitions, starting on September 1. Sony's TriStar Pictures unit is currently being retained for "other product, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions ", and is distributing product from TriStar Productions. TriStar's logo features
252-504: A new extension of their pre-existing deal included Tri-Star gaining theatrical distribution rights to various Carolco projects, including Rambo III and Air America ; Carolco retained all foreign, cable, television and videocassette rights. Taft/Barish Productions , a joint venture of Taft Broadcasting and Keith Barish Productions , signed a $ 200 million domestic distribution deal with Tri-Star (much like Carolco, Taft/Barish retained non-theatrical and ancillary distribution rights). Of
294-567: A new foreign sales unit dubbed Producers Distribution Organization, later renamed Interaccess Film Distribution, Inc., and then to the Vestron International Group. A year after PSO ended, Damon founded a new company, with Peter Guber and Jon Peters , called Vision International . A majority of the PSO library would ultimately end up with Lionsgate , and then Icon Entertainment International (originally founded by Mel Gibson ). Among
336-437: A new line of credit with Chemical Bank of New York and The First National Bank of Boston on the condition that the company had to concentrate on what it did originally, acquire foreign sales rights to pictures and sell those films abroad. As the company had gone into bankruptcy protection, Vestron Inc . was rumored to buy PSO, but the company ultimately shut down outright. Many of its employees were soon hired by Vestron to run
378-476: A plan to get out of the media industry; Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., and Coca-Cola sold its entertainment business to Tri-Star for $ 3.1 billion. Coca-Cola would then gradually reduce their holdings in the new company to 49%. Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names; a new Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. entity was created in April 1988. As
420-502: A relatively new, untested film company into a major film studio. Components of these plans included the formation of Tri-Star Television , and joining forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Witt / Thomas / Harris Productions to create a television distribution company known as TeleVentures; they also proposed forming their own home video label, Tri-Star Video, taking over from the trio of distributors (RCA/Columbia, CBS/Fox and HBO/Cannon). A full-on international distribution arm
462-479: A result, Tri-Star's television division was consolidated into a single operating entity with Columbia / Embassy Television and Coca-Cola Television to form a new incarnation of Columbia Pictures Television . Merv Griffin Enterprises would continue to operate separately. Similarly, Tri-Star's nascent video division was absorbed into RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. In 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
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#1732868748982504-481: A subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company ), who convinced Columbia, HBO , and CBS to share resources and split the ever-growing costs of making movies, leading to the creation of a new joint venture on March 2, 1982. On May 16, 1983, it was given the name Tri-Star Pictures (when the new company was formed and did not have an official name, the press used the code-name "Nova", but the name could not be obtained as it
546-481: A television production banner in 1991 (by way of acquiring rights to shows from New World Television ) and merged with its sister television studio Columbia Pictures Television (CPT) to form Columbia TriStar Television (CTT) on February 21, 1994. Both studios continued to operate separately under the CTT umbrella until TriStar Television folded in 1999 and CPT folded in 2001. In addition to its own slate, TriStar Pictures
588-510: A vehicle for film and television productions. TriStar Pictures is currently being used as a vehicle for distribution of products from that new entity and other items from Sony Pictures, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions . TriStar Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The concept for Tri-Star Pictures can be traced to Victor Kaufman, a senior executive of Columbia Pictures (then
630-493: The 1990s, TriStar operated autonomously from Columbia. Although its products were mostly indistinguishable from that of its sister studio, it soon scored a string of hits at the box office with such films as Sleepless in Seattle , Philadelphia , The Mirror Has Two Faces , Jerry Maguire , As Good as It Gets , Bugsy and Jumanji , and it also scored a major video hit with Danny DeVito 's Matilda . However, in 1998,
672-566: The TriStar copyright until 2000. The final season of Malcolm & Eddie was later produced by CTT and TriStar Television operated in-name-only. On October 25, 2001, Columbia TriStar Television and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution merged to become Columbia TriStar Domestic Television. On September 16, 2002, SPE retired the Columbia and TriStar names from television, renaming CTDT as Sony Pictures Television . On May 28, 2015, TriStar Television
714-614: The company fell on hard times following the box office disappointment of an ambitious remake of the Japanese monster film Godzilla , and Sony quickly responded by merging the studio with Columbia to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures Group. The TriStar name was subsequently used by Sony on a very limited basis until 2004, when the company decided to turn the studio into a genre label that specialized in acquisitions. In 2015, Sony formed TriStar Productions as
756-450: The decade with the acquisition of Loews Theatres and the formation of its own television arm . Among the various hits TriStar scored on its own during the decade were About Last Night , The Muppets Take Manhattan , Real Genius , Nothing in Common , Peggy Sue Got Married , The Principal , Look Who's Talking and Steel Magnolias . On November 15, 1985, CBS dropped out of
798-424: The film to be ready for distribution by Christmas 1984. On May 15, 1984, the studio hit big through its association with Carolco Pictures , with the release of Rambo: First Blood Part II , which eventually became a smash hit for the studio the following year. The company also partnered with Producers Sales Organization to handle theatrical distribution of the PSO titles, while both Tri-Star and Columbia struck
840-527: The four films to emerge from this pact, only The Running Man would become a major success. Another avenue of expansion was acquiring the storied Loews Theaters chain of cineplexes in October 1986 for $ 300 million, after a deal to purchase United Artists Theaters from Tele-Communications, Inc. did not come to fruition. At the time, Loews had 260 theaters in six states. 1987 was another ambitious year for Tri-Star; plans were in place to take Tri-Star from
882-532: The joint venture, selling its stake to Columbia Pictures. HBO sold its shares to the same studio in 1986 in order to form HBO Pictures . On December 21, 1987, Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. following The Coca-Cola Company 's merger of Tri-Star and Columbia to become "Columbia/Tri-Star", of which it owned 80% of its stock. In January 1988, CPE's stocks somewhat fell, and Coca-Cola decreased its shares in CPE to 49%. On April 13, 1988,
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#1732868748982924-520: The merger. TriStar was relaunched on May 13, 2004, as a marketing and acquisitions unit that had a "particular emphasis on genre films". Screen Gems' executive vice president Valerie Van Galder was tapped to run the revived studio after being dormant. However, the release of its 2013 film Elysium represented the label's first big-budget release since The Mask of Zorro in 1998. The same year, former 20th Century Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman joined Sony Pictures and created TriStar Productions as
966-496: The most notable films PSO represented or financed include: TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group , part of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation . It is a corporate sibling of fellow Sony studio, Columbia Pictures . TriStar Pictures
1008-463: The name of the company reverted to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. On November 8, 1989, the Sony Corporation of Japan acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $ 3.4 billion. On August 7, 1991, under Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hyphen was officially removed from the name of the studio. TriStar became the first new american major film studio since RKO Pictures , which was founded in 1928. During
1050-461: The resulting company, PSO-Delphi , forged a domestic theatrical distribution deal with TriStar Pictures and a home video distribution deal with CBS/Fox Video . Throughout 1984–85, the company made several more deals with other production and distribution companies, including Frank Yablans , Roadshow Film Distributors , UGC , and Taft Entertainment/Keith Barish Pictures . Despite releasing many successful films, PSO ran into financial problems and
1092-490: The series and the Tri-Star film packages that were distributed by TeleVentures were taken over by Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. CPT would continue on under Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), but TriStar Television was reestablished in October 1991 after CPT acquired some of the library of New World Television . Jon Feltheimer , who was president of New World Television became the new president of TriStar Television. On March 15, 1993, star Larry Hagman had signed
1134-531: The studio until he left in 1993. Columbia Pictures Entertainment was sold in November 1989 to Sony of Japan. In the late of 1988, Witt/Thomas Productions withdrew from the TeleVentures venture, ceding it to Walt Disney Television , and sold its shares to Cannell. On July 11, 1990, both Tri-Star and Cannell dissolved the TeleVentures joint venture and Tri-Star sold its shares to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and TeleVentures became Cannell Distribution Co. Most of
1176-571: The void left by Carolco, whose deal with TriStar Pictures was on the verge of expiring amid financial troubles. Around summer 1998, SPE merged Columbia and TriStar to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, but just like Columbia Pictures Entertainment, both divisions continued producing and distributing films under their own names. Some of the movies slated to be released by TriStar Pictures, including Stepmom would go to its flagship label Columbia Pictures following
1218-532: The winged horse Pegasus (either stationary or flying across the screen). The idea came from executive Victor Kaufman and his family's interest in riding horses. The original logo was created with the assistance of Sydney Pollack , who was an adviser at Tri-Star. The horse in the original filmed logo was the same one used in Pollack's film The Electric Horseman . Tri-Star Television TriStar Television, Inc. (first spelled Tri-Star , and abbreviated as TT )
1260-458: Was The Muppets Take Manhattan . On May 11, 1984, the studio's first produced film was released, The Natural starring Robert Redford . Tri-Star's first release, however, was the film, Where the Boys Are '84 ; a 1984 remake of the 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) picture, Where the Boys Are that was co-distributed on behalf of ITC Entertainment after Universal rejected it; the film
1302-420: Was a commercial flop. Many of Tri-Star's productions were released on VHS by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video , HBO/Cannon Video , or CBS/Fox Video . In addition, HBO owned exclusive cable distribution rights to the films, with broadcast television licenses going to CBS. On May 8, 1984, Tri-Star Pictures secured North American distribution rights for the film Supergirl from Warner Bros. , which enabled
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1344-517: Was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation , which merged Columbia and Tri-Star, but continued to use the separate labels. On July 11, 1990, Tri-Star Pictures dissolved and sold its venture in TeleVentures to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and TeleVentures became Cannell Distribution Co. Most of the series and the Tri-Star film packages that were distributed by TeleVentures were transferred to Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Sony Pictures Entertainment later revived TriStar Television as
1386-500: Was also in the planning stages. Another distribution deal was signed by Tri-Star and Hemdale Film Corporation in September 1987, but only one film, High Tide , would result from that deal. However, Tri-Star's ambitions were curtailed by yet more change in ownership. The Coca-Cola Company boosted its stake in Tri-Star to 29.3% that September. That December, following several high-profile flops (including Ishtar ), Coca-Cola began
1428-614: Was an American television production studio that was a division of Sony Pictures Television , a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. TriStar Television was launched in March 1986 by TriStar Pictures , and remained a joint-venture between Columbia Pictures , CBS , and HBO until it was acquired by Sony , the parent of both Columbia and TriStar. After a purchase by Sony Pictures Entertainment, both companies Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television merged and formed Columbia TriStar Television on February 21, 1994. The television studio
1470-461: Was being used as the title for the PBS science series ). Tri-Star embarked on a 12 to 18 feature film slate per year, with a combined budget of $ 70 to $ 80 million and signed producer Walter Colbenz as vice president of the Tri-Star feature film studio, and signed initial development deals with director John Schlesinger and producers Jeffrey Walker and Michael Walker. Tri-Star's first project to roll out
1512-405: Was established on March 2, 1982, founded by Victor Kaufman as Nova Pictures , and has ever since released some of the most iconic Hollywood movies, such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Basic Instinct , Rambo: First Blood Part II and Hollywood’s first ever Godzilla . On May 16, 1983, its name was changed to Tri-Star in order to avoid confusion with the PBS series Nova . Originally
1554-548: Was forced into bankruptcy in 1986, effectively ending the company (the Taft-Barish pictures planned by PSO would eventually move to J&M Entertainment). In a lead-up to a bankruptcy plan, PSO decided to drop in-house production and restructure their output deals with foreign distributors into picture-by-picture agreements, including a deal with RKO Pictures . The company was forced out of film production when they cut their relationship with Delphi on April 23, 1986. PSO agreed on
1596-548: Was immediately hired as president of the studio. As the Tri-Star Television studio rolled around, the company inked overall deals with various personnel, like Ron Samuels , Richard Leder, Michael Jacobs , Larry Tucker , Donald P. Bellisario , Jim Green and Larry Epstein to help develop projects for the studio and decided that they would be involved in various television movies. By December 1987, Coca-Cola owned 80% Columbia Pictures Entertainment until January 1988, when it
1638-403: Was re-launched as a boutique production label for Sony Pictures Television. Until her death in March 2018, the revived studio was run by Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs after being in-name-only for 15 years. The first new series was Good Girls Revolt and was piloted for Amazon Prime Video on November 5, 2015. On May 31, 2024, Sony announced they are reviving its TriStar Television boutique label and
1680-445: Was reduced down to 49% and Tri-Star Television was then merged with Columbia / Embassy Television into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television (CPT), although TeleVentures was retained to handle sales of the existing Tri-Star programs that were inherited under contract to CPT, which would continue as a separate sales and distribution company from the CPT unit. Scott remained president of
1722-446: Was relaunched twice, most recently as a specialty label for Sony Pictures Television. The entity was originally a sister company of Columbia Pictures Television , which was shut down in 2001. Sony revived this division again on May 31, 2024. It was formed when Tri-Star Pictures joined forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Witt/Thomas Productions and created a television distribution company called TeleVentures. Scott Siegler
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1764-414: Was the theatrical distributor for many films produced by Carolco Pictures (the rights to only one of its films, Cliffhanger , has been retained by TriStar). TriStar Pictures also theatrically distributed some FilmDistrict films. In 1992, TriStar Pictures, along with Japan Satellite Broadcasting signed an agreement with The IndieProd Company to distribute movies produced by IndieProd in order to fill
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