Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Communications Co.

(September 2009-present)

Nicknames: "Zooming/Flashing Boxes and Lion of Expansion", "I (Love) C-T-M-U", "CGI Boxes and Lion", "Video-wall of Boxes", "The Boxes Of Boredom Meet Leo The Lion," "The Second WGBH Rip-Off"

Logo: The logo takes place in a video-wall. It starts out with a blurry dark background of boxes. We zoom out and pan in front of a box outlined in white. On the top of the screen, are the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" (in Bank Gothic MD font), outlined in white. At the bottom of the screen, are the words "MGM/UA" (in Times New Roman font), also outlined in white. We start to zoom out, and the words and the box leave a smoky trail behind them. The trail and the outline of the box and words split into three. As this happens, the background begins to light up, revealing it to be gray, with the boxes showing clips from Columbia TriStar MGM/UA TV shows and movies (the boxes flicker clip after clip and still have grey sides). The smoky trails get sucked into the logo, which stops in the top center of the screen. Finally, the words light up in white and the box moves up, splitting into two, with the Columbia Torch Lady on the left (1993 version with retouched Torch Lady, without the byline, notice the light rays come out of the box) and the TriStar Pegasus on the right (1993 version with retouched Pegasus, without the byline, the wings come out of the box as well). From below the splitting box comes the MGM lion (1987 version). Leo opens his mouth to roar, but freezes and no sound comes out of him. When the boxes and lion assume their positions, a flash appears from underneath the logo, and the light dies down to reveal the words "Communications Co.", with the byline "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" below everything else. Then, the logo flashes to the same result, but on dark blue gradient background. After 3 seconds, a white dot appears in the center of the screen and the logo zooms towards us as the dot turns into a white box outline. The box zooms towards us and brings forth either the Columbia Torch Lady, the TriStar Pegasus, the MGM lion or the UA Swoosh 2001.

Variants:

* Sometimes, there is a standalone version where there is no white dot and no zoom through, therefore none of the Columbia TriStar MGM/UA logos follow.

* The home entertainment version is the standalone version with "Communications Co." replaced with "Home Entertainment".

* Sometimes, at the opening of some TV shows, the Home Entertainment logo begins when the box splits into two and a lion.

* The Blu-ray version is the standalone version, but the logo is washed-out and blurred, but when it stops at the center, a big blue flash reveals "Blu-ray Disc" in its own logo with the Sony byline below it and restores the logo's natural color and sharpness.

* On some of the logo's first features, on both the home entertainment and Blu-ray versions, the zoom is kept intact, and either "Coming Soon To Theaters", "Now avaliable on Blu-ray Disc and DVD" or "Premiering on TV soon" appears in gold text and remains for 5 seconds.

* Starting in September 2010, the URL "www.sonypictures.com/columbiatristarmgmua" appears below the Sony byline.

* Starting in September 2012, on the CTMUHE logo, the "Communications Co." text appears below the lion and the "MGM/UA" text and above the "Home Entertainment" or "Blu-ray Disc" text. The movie and home entertainment logos appear more zoomed out in this variation.

* Starting in September 2013, to coincide with the renaming of Sony Pictures Entertainment to Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Entertainment Co., the CTMUC, CTMUHE and CTMUBD logos are byline-less. The logos that follow the CTMUC logo (excluding the standalone variation) have the Sony byline at the bottom of their respective logos replaced with "A Subsidiary Of Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Entertainment Co.", with "A Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Communications Company" below that.

Closing Variants:

* The "Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Television" logo is the same as the standalone version, but "Communications Co." is replaced by "Domestic Television" or "International Television" and it starts off with the box splitting into 2 with a lion.

* Sometimes, "Distributed by" appears above "COLUMBIA TRISTAR". This is mostly on shows airing in syndication and at the end of some films.

* A variation of the CTMUC logo seen at the end of movies has the logo already formed, with "Distributed by" above the logo and "Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Entertainment Co. Exclusive Distributor" below the byline, with the URL"www.sonypictures.com/columbiatristarmgmua" underneath that.

* There is a version used for CTMUT, where a darker box zooms back and then splits to form the logo.

* On MGM/UA shows, the lion roars and is not frozen or unheard.

* On some shows, including those by Nickelodeon, a copyright disclaimer appears below the Sony byline.

* On syndicated prints of The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, after the Filmation Productions logo finishes, there is a shot of the box and words zooming out, with "in association with MGM TELEVISION" at the center of the screen. After two seconds, the words fade out and the shot continues into the Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Domestic Television Distribution logo (lion roaring variant).

* Some shows contain the variation of the CTMUT logo as seen onsyndicated prints ofThe Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, minus the "in association with MGM TELEVISION" text.

* Starting in January 2011, on the CTMUT logo, the CTMU URL appears below the Sony byline, and is sometimes sandwiched in between the byline and the copyright disclaimer.

* On Nickelodeon shows airing from September 2011 onwards, an orange ball grows and forms an orange splat above "COLUMBIA TRISTAR", "A Nickelodeon Production" (with Nickelodeon (in it's pre-2009 font) on the splat) fades in, with "produced by" sandwiched in between the phrase and the "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" text.

* On syndicated prints of Nickelodeon shows produced prior to September 2011 and some produced after that date, "produced by" below "A Nickelodeon Production" is changed to either "distributed by" or "in association with".

* Starting in September 2012, on the CTMUT logo, the "Communications Co." text appears below the lion and the "MGM/UA" text and above the "Domestic Television" or "International Television" text. The logo appears more zoomed out in this variation.

* Starting in September 2013, to coincide with the renaming of Sony Pictures Entertainment to Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Entertainment Co., the byline is changed to "A Columbia TriStar MGM/UA Communications Company".

* From time to time, variations will appear on the CTMUT logo, where random characters from random Columbia TriStar MGM/UA TV shows and movies pop up randomly in the background.

* A still variant of the CTMUT logo exists.

FX/SFX: Incredible CGI, not to mention that they also reuse the retouched Columbia TriStar logos from the CTHE logo.

Cheesy Factor: 100% NOT cheesy. Every logo that Sony made before this logo has always been cheesy. Using the inspiration from the 1996 CTT logo, the CTHE logo, the 1982 MGM/UA Home Video logo and the MGM/UA Communications Co. logo is really worth the effort!

Music/Sounds: A rearranged and extended version of the MGM/UA Communications Co. theme, with stronger drumbeat and string section, clocking in at 12 seconds. For the television variant, it's a shortened version of the CTMUCC theme, with 0:00-0:01 of the theme leading up to 0:10 of the theme, minus the string section. On the Blu-ray version, the movie theme plays, with some wind sounds and a sparkle during the flash. The TV opening variant has the "Take Hollywood Home!" theme.

Music/Sound Variants:

* For shows produced by Nickelodeon, Columbia TriStar Television, Columbia Pictures Television and Screen Gems, the music is either the long or short Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme.

* On the variant of the CTMUT logo with the extended shot of the box, a majestic wind-blowing note in the same note as the CTMU theme plays and segues into either the long CTTD theme or the standard CTMUT theme.

* Some Nickelodeon shows have the long Nickelodeon Productions theme playing during the CTMUT logo with the extended shot of the box. On the standard version, the regular CTMUT theme plays.

* For shows produced by TriStar Television, either the 1993 or 1995 TriStar Television theme plays. Both themes have added reverb, similar to the CTTD theme.

* For pre-2004 Columbia TriStar MGM/UA movies, an upbeat congo accompaniment, sampled from the Tom and Jerry cartoon The Lonesome Mouse, plays. This is sometimes accompanied by the short CTTD theme.

* The last roar from the 1982/2008 MGM roar or the first roar from the 1995/2008 MGM roar is heard on most MGM/UA shows.

* For shows produced by United Artists Television, the 1982 United Artists Television theme plays.

* All of these themes have high-tone and low-tone variants.

* Some movies/shows play their opening/closing theme, or nothing at all.

Availability:

Will be on every C-T-M-U movies and shows from this point to the present. Will also plaster some past logos on C-T/MGM/UA/SPT/Nickelodeon shows, for example, SpongeBob SquarePants (followed by the UPPI logo), iCarly,Wheel of Fortune,Jeopardy!, Orangey Phantom (1981-Present), Married With Children, Seinfeld, Stargate TV-Series Saga & The Orangey Phantom TV-Movies & Specials.

Scare Factor: None for the movie, TV, home entertainment and Blu-ray versions. However, the one where the lion roars might scare more than a few. You may be surprised, as it could be a relieving logo appearing on September 2009 after seven years of SPT. Plain, boring SPT. Home video will also be changed for better, not to mention SPHE being phased out for a long time.