TriStar Pictures - Definition

TriStar Pictures is a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures.

The idea for TriStar came about in 1982 when Columbia (then a subsidiary of Coca-Cola), HBO, and CBS, decided to pool resources to split the ever-growing costs of making movies. Their first release, in 1984, was a flop remake of the 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture Where the Boys Are.

In 1989, all of Coke's entertainment holdings were owned by Sony, who merged Columbia and Tri-Star (hyphenated until 1992) but continued to use the separate names. The name is seldom used by Sony after 1999 (possibly due to the huge failure of 1998's Godzilla), and as of 2004 it seems to exist only as a firm for the acquisition of smaller, independent titles.

Notable Films

1980s

• Where the Boys Are (1984)
• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
• Birdy (1984)
• The Natural (1984)
• Places in the Heart (1984)
• Lifeforce (1985)
• (1985)
• Short Circuit (1986, plus sequel in 1988)
• About Last Night... (1986)
• Labyrinth (1986)
• The Blob (1988, remake of 1958 film)
• The Seventh Sign (1988)
• Steel Magnolias (1989)
• Look Who's Talking (1989, plus two sequels in 1990 and 1993)

1990s

• Avalon (1990)
• Total Recall (1990, distribution only)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, distribution only)
• Hook (1991)
• Basic Instinct (1992, distribution only)
• Chaplin (1992, distribution only)
• Husbands and Wives (1992)
• Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• Rudy (1993)
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
• Legends of the Fall (1994)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
• The Quick and the Dead (1995)
• The Fan (1996)
• Sunset Park (1996)
• Matilda (1996)
• Jerry Maguire (1996)
• My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
• Starship Troopers (1997)
• Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
• Godzilla (1998)
• The Mask of Zorro (1998)
• Crazy in Alabama (1999)
• Jakob the Liar (1999)