Sony Pictures facts for kids
Logo used since 1991
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Trade name
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Sony Pictures Entertainment |
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Formerly
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Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (1987–1991) |
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| Industry | Entertainment |
| Predecessor |
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| Founded | December 18, 1987 |
| Founder | Victor Kaufman |
| Headquarters | Poitier Building 10202 West Washington Boulevard, , United States
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Tony Vinciquerra (chairman) Ravi Ahuja (president and CEO) |
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Production output
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(2025) |
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| Revenue | US$10.14 billion (FY2022) |
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Operating income
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US$894 million (FY2022) |
| Owner | The Coca-Cola Company (49%, 1987–1989) Sony Corporation of America (1989–present) |
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Number of employees
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9,100 (2023) |
| Parent | Sony Entertainment (2012–present) |
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| Subsidiaries | See § Subsidiaries |
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., often called Sony Pictures, is a huge American company. It makes, buys, and shares movies and TV shows. These can be seen in cinemas, on TV, or on home video. Sony Pictures is part of Sony Entertainment Inc., which is owned by the Japanese company Sony Group Corporation.
The company is based at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. It is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios. Sony Pictures handles all of Sony's movie and TV show making and sharing. It is also a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Some of Sony's well-known movie series include The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Men in Black, and Spider-Man.
Contents
History of Sony Pictures
Early Years: 1987–1989
In 1987, The Coca-Cola Company decided to change how it owned Columbia Pictures. Coca-Cola sold its entertainment parts to TriStar Pictures. Tri-Star then changed its name to Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE). Coca-Cola owned 49% of this new company.
Later, in 1989, the big Japanese company Sony decided to buy Columbia Pictures Entertainment. Sony bought 49% of the company from Coca-Cola. Sony also hired two important movie producers, Peter Guber and Jon Peters, to lead the company.
There was a problem because Guber and Peters had a contract with another company, Warner Bros.. To fix this, Sony made a deal with Warner Bros. Sony sold some of its music and movie rights to Warner Bros. In return, Sony bought the old MGM studio lot from Warner Bros.
By the end of 1989, Sony had bought almost all of Columbia Pictures Entertainment. This cost Sony about $4.9 billion.
Growing and Changing: 1990–1999
On August 7, 1991, the company officially changed its name to Sony Pictures Entertainment. In the same year, Jon Peters left to start his own production company.
Sony then created more film companies. They started Sony Pictures Classics for special, artistic movies. They also combined Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures to form Columbia TriStar Pictures in 1998. Sony also brought back the Screen Gems name for certain types of movies.
New Deals and Challenges: 2000–2009
In 2000, a marketing person at Sony created a fake movie critic named David Manning. This critic gave good reviews to Sony movies that real critics didn't like. Sony later stopped this, punished the people involved, and paid fines.
In 2005, Sony Pictures and other companies bought the famous Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for about $4.8 billion.
In 2008, Sony Pictures bought a Dutch company called 2waytraffic. This company was known for TV shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Digital Age and Spider-Man: 2010–2019
In 2011, Sony Pictures' computer network was hacked. About one million user accounts were leaked.
By 2012, Sony Pictures had earned over $4 billion from movies like Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Men in Black 3. In 2013, Sony Pictures decided to focus more on TV shows and make fewer movies.
A big change happened for Spider-Man fans in 2015. Sony Pictures made a deal with Disney's Marvel Studios. This allowed Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, starting with Captain America: Civil War. Sony still makes and controls Spider-Man movies where he is the main character, like Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In 2019, Sony bought the rest of the Game Show Network (GSN), making it fully part of Sony's TV division.
Recent Developments: 2020–Present
In April 2021, Sony made a deal with Netflix. This means Netflix can show Sony's movies after they leave cinemas and home video. Sony also made a similar deal with The Walt Disney Company for their movies to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
In February 2022, Sony signed a deal with WarnerMedia Europe. This allows Sony's movies to stream on HBO Max in parts of Europe.
In November 2022, Legendary Entertainment made a deal with Sony to distribute its future movies. However, this deal does not include the Dune and MonsterVerse films, which stay with Warner Bros..
In November 2023, Sony Pictures showed a special logo for its Columbia Pictures unit. This was to celebrate Columbia Pictures' 100th birthday in January 2024.
In April 2024, Sony was interested in buying Paramount Global with another company. They offered $26 billion in May 2024. However, Sony dropped the deal when Paramount decided to merge with Skydance Media in July 2024.
On June 12, 2024, Sony Pictures bought Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a movie theater chain. This was the first time in over 75 years that a major Hollywood studio owned a theater chain. This was allowed because an old rule from 1948 that stopped studios from owning theaters was changed in 2020. Alamo Drafthouse will continue to run its film festival, Fantastic Fest.
In September 2024, Sony Group announced that Ravi Ahuja, who was president and COO of SPE, would become the new CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment starting January 2, 2025. Tony Vinciquerra, the current chairman, will stay until December 31, 2025.
2014 Computer Hack
In November 2014, the Sony Pictures computer network was attacked by hackers called "Guardians of Peace." This attack stopped many computers from working. Soon after, five of Sony Pictures' movies were leaked online. Some of these movies, like Fury and Annie, had not even been released yet. The hackers also leaked private information about 47,000 current and past Sony employees.
The hack showed many secrets about how the studio worked. It also revealed emails between important Hollywood people. These emails talked about things like Barack Obama's favorite movies. They also hinted at a possible deal with Marvel Studios to include the superhero Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. This deal was later confirmed in February 2015.
On December 16, the hackers warned moviegoers not to see the movie The Interview. They even mentioned the events of September 11, 2001. Because of these threats, Sony canceled the planned December 25 release of The Interview the next day.
In February 2015, Tom Rothman became the new chairman of Sony Pictures' movie group.
In April 2015, WikiLeaks published over 30,000 documents and many emails from the Sony Pictures hack. WikiLeaks said this information was important to the public. Sony Pictures said the hack and leaks were "malicious criminal acts."
Some people, like actor Seth Rogen, have wondered if North Korea was truly responsible for the hack. He thinks it might have been done by a Sony employee.
Sony Pictures Headquarters
In 2014, the main building of Sony Pictures Plaza was sold for $159 million. This building was originally the headquarters for MGM Studios and later Sony Pictures Studios.
How Sony Pictures is Organized
Sony Pictures Entertainment is based in Culver City, California. It includes many different studios and entertainment brands. Some of these are Affirm Films, Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics, TriStar Pictures, Crunchyroll, Game Show Network, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Main Leaders
- Ravi Ahuja: President and CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
- Tom Rothman: Chairman and CEO, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
- Keith Le Goy: Chairman, Sony Pictures Television
- Katherine Pope: President, Sony Pictures Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television
- Michael Kustermann: CEO, Sony Pictures Experiences and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Movie Group
The Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group (SPMPG) is the part of Sony that makes movies. It used to be called Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. This group was started in 1998. It has a huge collection of over 4,000 movies. As of 2004, this group releases about 22 movies each year. It has studios in many countries around the world.
- Columbia Pictures: This studio was started in 1924. Sony bought it in 1989.
- Ghost Corps: This group handles everything about the Ghostbusters movies and TV shows.
- TriStar Pictures: This company started in 1982. It became part of Sony in 1989. It now focuses on certain types of movies.
- Screen Gems: This was once Columbia's cartoon division. Sony brought it back in 1998 to make mid-budget movies. These include science fiction, horror, and franchise films.
- Sony Pictures Imageworks: Started in 1992, this is Sony's own studio for special effects and computer animation.
- Sony Pictures Animation: Started in 2002, this studio makes animated movies and TV shows.
- Sony Pictures Classics: Started in 1992, this part of Sony releases special films. These include documentaries, independent films, and art films.
- 3000 Pictures: This company started in 2019. It works with HarperCollins to make movies based on their books.
- Sony Pictures Releasing: This group handles how Sony's movies are shared, marketed, and promoted around the world.
- Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA): This Sony group buys and makes about 60 films each year. These films are for different ways to watch, especially outside of cinemas.
- Affirm Films: This group started in 2007 to release Christian and gospel films.
Home Entertainment
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE): This part of Sony makes and shares Sony's movies and TV shows for home viewing. This includes Blu-ray, DVD, and digital downloads.
- Sony Pictures Kids Zone: This is the part of SPHE that focuses on entertainment for kids and families.
- Kartoon Studios: SPHE owns a small part of this entertainment company.
- Mainframe Studios: This Canadian animation studio is known for shows like ReBoot and the Barbie movies.
- Frederator Studios: This American animation studio is known for shows like The Fairly OddParents and Adventure Time.
Television Group
- Sony Pictures Television (SPT): This is Sony's TV division. It makes and shares TV shows around the world. It has a huge library of over 35,000 TV show episodes.
- Affirm Television: This is the TV part of Affirm Films, started in 2019.
- Sony Pictures Television Game Shows (SPTGS): This part of SPT makes game shows.
- Califon Productions: This company makes Wheel of Fortune.
- Jeopardy Productions: This company makes Jeopardy!.
- Sony Pictures Television International Production (SPTIP): This part of SPT makes TV shows in many countries around the world.
- Left Bank Pictures: A British company that makes TV shows. SPT owns most of this company.
- Sony Pictures Television Kids (SPTK): This company makes animated series for kids, like Hilda and Octonauts.
- Sony Pictures Television Nonfiction (SPTNF): This company makes non-fiction and documentary TV shows.
Sony Pictures Television Channels
In the United States
- Game Show Network (GSN): A TV channel that shows game shows.
- Crunchyroll Channel: A free TV channel that shows anime.
- Get: A TV channel that shows classic TV shows from the 1960s to the 2000s.
- Sony Cine: A Spanish-language TV channel.
- Sony Movie Channel: A TV channel that shows movies from Sony and other companies.
Around the World
- AXN: A TV channel that shows general entertainment in Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
- Sony Channel: A group of TV channels that show general entertainment.
- Sony Entertainment Television: An Indian TV channel that shows general entertainment.
Other Sony Pictures Businesses
- Crunchyroll, LLC: This company distributes anime series and films. It also has its own streaming service called Crunchyroll.
- Madison Gate Records: This is Sony Pictures' music label. It makes soundtracks for movies and TV shows.
- Pixomondo (PXO): This company creates visual effects and virtual production for films. Sony bought it in 2022.
- Sony Pictures Consumer Products: This part of Sony handles products related to its movies and shows.
- Sony Pictures Studios: These are the actual buildings, land, and equipment in Culver City, California, where movies are made. It has 22 sound stages.
- Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: A movie theater chain that Sony Pictures bought in 2024.
Related Sony Pictures Companies
These are other Sony Pictures companies that are part of the main Sony Group Corporation in Tokyo, Japan, not the California-based Sony Pictures Entertainment.
- Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan (SPEJ): This company plans, makes, and distributes movies and TV shows in Japan.
- Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc. (SPDP): This company designs the Sony Pictures website and other digital things.
- Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI): This is a Sony company based in India. It owns many TV channels like Sony Entertainment Television and Sony SAB.
See also
In Spanish: Sony Pictures para niños
