Columbia Pictures is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
September 17, 2006 (Press Release) --
History
Columbia Pictures was founded in 1920 as the CBC Sales Film Corporation by Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt and Jack Cohn. Despite the obvious connection to the founders' surnames, some film industry insiders joked the initials CBC stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage" because of the fact that Columbia started out as one of the so-called "Poverty Row" studios of Hollywood's Gower Street.
The studio was known for making low-budget westerns, B-movies and serials. Gradually, however, Columbia built up its reputation with a number of high-profile films. In 1924 in an effort to strengthen its brand, the studio renamed itself to Columbia Pictures, which was considered to be a more upscale brand.
One of the film directors that played a huge part in Columbia's early history was Frank Capra, who made a majority of his films at the studio. The critical acclaim and popularity of Capra's 1933 It Happened One Night (the first film to win all five major Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) solidified Columbia's position as a major studio. Among Capra's other films at Columbia included You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and the original 1937 Lost Horizon (which Columbia itself remade as a critically excoriated musical 36 years later).
Columbia Pictures was bought by Coca-Cola in 1982. Columbia's fortunes were mixed in the 1980s, as hits like Tootsie, The Karate Kid, and Ghostbusters were balanced by costly flops like Ishtar and Leonard Part 6. In television, Columbia acquired some components of Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures, thereby gaining the rights to the company's backlog of highly successful TV programs (such as The Jeffersons, All In The Family, and Sanford and Son; the company later produced Married With Children), and the television rights to the Embassy theatrical library (including The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, Escape from New York, and Time Bandits). Columbia also acquired the TV producing firm of Merv Griffin, which produced the hit game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy (although Griffin continues to hold the copyright on these shows).
Source: http://search.msn.com
Columbia Pictures was founded in 1920 as the CBC Sales Film Corporation by Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt and Jack Cohn. Despite the obvious connection to the founders' surnames, some film industry insiders joked the initials CBC stood for "Corned Beef and Cabbage" because of the fact that Columbia started out as one of the so-called "Poverty Row" studios of Hollywood's Gower Street.
The studio was known for making low-budget westerns, B-movies and serials. Gradually, however, Columbia built up its reputation with a number of high-profile films. In 1924 in an effort to strengthen its brand, the studio renamed itself to Columbia Pictures, which was considered to be a more upscale brand.
One of the film directors that played a huge part in Columbia's early history was Frank Capra, who made a majority of his films at the studio. The critical acclaim and popularity of Capra's 1933 It Happened One Night (the first film to win all five major Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) solidified Columbia's position as a major studio. Among Capra's other films at Columbia included You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and the original 1937 Lost Horizon (which Columbia itself remade as a critically excoriated musical 36 years later).
Columbia Pictures was bought by Coca-Cola in 1982. Columbia's fortunes were mixed in the 1980s, as hits like Tootsie, The Karate Kid, and Ghostbusters were balanced by costly flops like Ishtar and Leonard Part 6. In television, Columbia acquired some components of Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures, thereby gaining the rights to the company's backlog of highly successful TV programs (such as The Jeffersons, All In The Family, and Sanford and Son; the company later produced Married With Children), and the television rights to the Embassy theatrical library (including The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, Escape from New York, and Time Bandits). Columbia also acquired the TV producing firm of Merv Griffin, which produced the hit game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy (although Griffin continues to hold the copyright on these shows).
Source: http://search.msn.com
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