Last year, in 2023, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of both Disney and Warner. Bros. Now in 2024, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures. From Spider-Man to Ghostbusters to Men in Black, here is a look at 100 years of Columbia Pictures.
An early version of Columbia Pictures was founded in 1918, before being officially founded as Columbia Pictures by Harry and Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt on January 10th, 1924. In the 1920s and 1930s, Columbia Pictures released a number of films gradually increasing its output of releases. In the 1940s Columbia Pictures continued to distribute films amidst the backdrop of World War II. Columbia was running several film series at the time, like the Lone Wolf movies. In 1948 the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. landmark supreme court ruling resulted in major studios being forced to sell movie theaters they owned, but ironically Columbia did not own any, giving the company an equal footing with the rest of the “big six” studios. In the 1950s Columbia Pictures abandoned many of its popular film series at the time, moving forward in a new direction with original films.
As other studios declined Columbia improved well into the 1960s. In 1967 after previously turning down distribution rights of the James Bond 007 films, Columbia released its own bond film Casino Royale, based on the Ian Fleming book. In 1977 Columbia Pictures distributed Steven Speilberg’s (E.T., Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park) cinematic masterpiece Close Encounters of The Third Kind. The 1980s saw the rise of Tristar Pictures, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, which had a number of hits. The 1980s were largely dominated by Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid movies. In 1989, Columbia Pictures was acquired by Sony for the amount of $3.4 Billion dollars. The 1990s saw big hits from Columbia Pictures like In The Line of Fire (1993), Air Force One (1997), and Men in Black (1997). The turn of the new millennium brought in more blockbusters like Men in Black II (2002), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), and many more. The 2010s saw Skyfall in 2012, as well as failed Ghostbusters and Men in Black reboots released in 2016 and 2019 respectively.
The 2020s started with the COVID-19 pandemic, which was the darkest time period in cinematic history. Recently Sony has had a successful sequel to Ghostbusters II (1989), titled Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and the smashing success of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Columbia Pictures’ highest-grossing film both globally and domestically is Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) having grossed $1.916 billion worldwide, making it the 6th highest-grossing film of all time not adjusted for inflation. Columbia Pictures, while smaller than the other major film studios, has from time to time delivered massive cultural and critical hits in the first 100 years. Columbia Pictures will hopefully continue to repeat that success for future generations of audiences in the next 100 years.
