Columbia Pictures Logo

Now for another major Hollywood studios logo - Columbia Pictures.  Founded in 1919 as CBC Film Sales, it changed to Columbia Pictures in 1924.  The Lady with the Torch, personification of Columbia, began as the main studio identifier in 1928 and has stayed in the logo through most of its history.  

Here's a brief history of the major design changes and then some fun variations to the logo.  Many variations are from their collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation.  

Columbia Pictures Logo (1928-1936) 
Seen here in It Happened One Night (1934)
Fanfare by Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Columbia Pictures Logo (1936-1976)
Seen here in Gilda (1946)

Cinemascope version
Seen here in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Columbia Pictures Logo (1976-1982) 
First seen here in Murder by Death (1976)
Theme by Suzanne Ciani

Columbia Pictures Logo (1981-1993)
Seen here in Ghostbusters (1984)

Columbia Pictures Logo (1993-current)
Fanfare by Jonathan Elias
Seen here in The Remains of the Day (1993)

Updated version (2014)
Seen here in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

And now for some fun logo variations:

The Mouse that Roared (1959) - Torch Lady runs from the mouse on the pedestal

Zotz! (1962) - Torch Lady asks director/producer William Castle "What's Zotz?"

Cat Ballou (1965) - Torch Lady transforms to Cat and shoots her pistols

Thank God It's Friday (1978) - Torch Lady transforms to a disco dancer and dances

Men in Black II (2002) - The torch flashes blue like a MIB neuralyzer

Finding Forrester (2000) - In a rare musical variation, the music is performed on guitar

The Grudge 2 (2006) - The lights flick, Torch Lady gets possessed and the logo changes names

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Torch Lady gets knocked off by a falling banana

Hotel Transylvania (2012) & Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) - Torch Lady turns into a bat

Django Unchained (2012) - Uses an adjusted Cinemascope logo

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) - Torch Lady is replaced by bananostrich ridden off screen by Barry the strawberry

American Hustle (2013) - Reuses the '70s sunburst logo

Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) - Torch Lady cardboard standee gets knocked over by Smurfette, using a mushroom as a torch

The Emoji Movie (2017) - A phone appears in front and an emoji appears on her face

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Black and white logo glitches several times in different styles

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Favorite!  The logo glitches and flashes to several animation styles, old logos and past variations

Men in Black: International (2019) - Torch Lady puts on sunglasses as the torch flashes

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) - Torch Lady uses the torch to fight off two zombies.  A body and blood splatter remain as the logo finishes

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021) - Katie's doodles cover the logo

Vivo (2021) - The 1950s logo turns animated, with the Torch Lady playing the flute and wandering off screen

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) - After a flash, the Torch Lady is replaced by Blobby

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1 Comments

  1. Maybe the Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 was composed by Jonathan Elias and it debuted on "Last Action Hero", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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