Logo Joke / Columbia Pictures

We here at TV Tropes hope she had insurance.

To open their films, Columbia Pictures, as a proud American studio^note even if it was purchased by the Japanese company Sony in 1989, uses a statue of Columbia, the Spirit of America, as its logo, standing on a pedestal while holding up a shining torch.

However, the studio is no stranger to using logo jokes, in which the Torch Lady either winds up becoming a Butt-Monkey, dressing in something different than her robes, or moving from her spot.

Films — Animation

• The Man Called Flintstone: Wilma Flintstone takes the place of the Torch Lady, seen here. This variant was removed from the DVD release by Warner Bros. and replaced with a montage of quick shots from later in the film.
• Eight Crazy Nights: Eleanor (Whitey's sister) is on the pedestal dressed up as the Torch Lady, then transforms via a melt effect into the real Torch Lady.

Films — Live-Action

The logo for Zombieland: Double Tap.

• William Castle films
  • Strait Jacket: At the end, we see that the lady has been decapitated and her head placed at her feet, seen here. The torch is also unlit.
  • Zotz: As the Torch Lady opens the film, in the bottom right-hand corner is William Castle seated in the director chair. Castle points to her and says, "Zotz!" The Lady looks down at Castle and asks curiously, "Zotz? What's Zotz?"
    • At the end, the Torch Lady smiles and cheerfully speaks, "Zotz all!" Seen here.
• 2012 has a bright orange glow that grows to overtake the logo, transitioning directly into the movie - though a review said it'd be better if the statue was in ruins, to fit the movie.
• All the Pretty Horses: The 2000 film adaptation uses the 1940s logo, in keeping with the film's time period.
• In Ali, the logo runs backwards, zooming on in the Torch Lady’s torch into black right before the opening credits.
  • The backwards logo is also done for Big Fish before transitioning to a shot of a sea.
• In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, the ident for Aloha has the 1968 Columbia logo — with a lei that appears on the Torch Lady's neck for a brief moment before cutting away.
• Cat Ballou: The Torch lady changes her gown to Cat Ballou's cowboy outfit and fires her guns several times, seen here.
• Charlie's Angels (2000): The movie begins with the usual Columbia Torch Lady logo. Then the logo zooms toward the right, as the movie starts off in the sky on a plane.
  • Its sequel has the camera zooming into the torch, transitioning into a log fire that begins the film.
• Django Unchained (co-produced by The Weinstein Company and Columbia Pictures) begins with an early '70s variant of the logo but with slightly distorted colors and a "A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company" byline in an era-appropriate typeface, which comes after The Weinstein Co. logo.
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the first film from Quentin Tarantino distributed by Columbia proper without Weinstein involvement, has a similar, brightened variant of that logo with the byline "A Sony Company".
• Fantasy Island (2020): The logo plays a muted/distorted version of the original TV series' theme song, since the film is a Darker and Edgier take on the series' concept.
• Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The logo is accompanied by spooky sounds.
• Ghost Rider (2007): A What Could Have Been instance: the crew wanted the Torch Lady to get a Ghost Rider transformation alongside the Marvel logo, but they were denied.
• The Green Hornet: The torch has a green glow instead of a yellow glow.
• The Grudge 2: The Torch Lady in the Columbia Pictures logo gets possessed by Kayako, causing the logo to flicker (during which the film title briefly appears) and go dark, seen here.
• Head: The logo is in an Art Deco design at the end of the film, which gets caught in the projector and melts away.
• Identity: The teaser trailer has the logo in rainy weather.
• Last Action Hero: A new Columbia Pictures logo debuted with this film, but the movie-within-a-movie Jack Slater IV features the previous version as it disintegrates to start the film.
• Lawrence of Arabia: Sort of - the logo is a still painting◊, created because the studio didn't have a 70mm version of the standard intro. This would be plastered with the regular logo on various re-releases until the film was restored in 1989.
• Men in Black: The logo dissolves into the night sky, where the opening credits begin.
  • In the second movie, the Torch Lady's torch flashes like a neuralizer.
    • The trailers also had her wearing sunglasses.
  • Men in Black: International has the lady don a set of MIB sunglasses, with her torch shining brighter (referencing the neuralyser device) as a transition into the film.
• Michael Jackson's This Is It: The film's trailer features the Torch Lady under a spotlight, copying one of Michael Jackson's famous stage appearances.
• The Missing (2003): The trailer has the logo fade into a nighttime forest, with the Torch Lady briefly appearing as a silhouette.
• The Mouse That Roared: The Torch Lady looks down, sees a mouse at her feet on the pedestal, and runs off-screen, leaving her torch behind. At the end of the film is a title-card sequence where she runs back up the stairs of the pedestal and grabs her torch, via running this opening sequence backward.
• Multiplicity: One TV spot has the Torch Lady flanked by two clones.
• The Night Before: The '80s version of the logo is used with the "A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company" byline.
• Peter Rabbit: A flock of birds flies past the logo.
• Pineapple Express: The '60s widescreen version of the logo turns up, with "A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company" at the bottom.
  • This also happens in Seth Rogen's next film The Interview.
• The Smurfs 2: The Torch Lady's robes are colored blue and white, and a Smurf hat blows through the window to transition to the Sony Pictures Animation logo.
• Spider-Man: Far From Home: The logo match cuts to a statue in Mexico, which starts the prologue, right before the Marvel Studios logo.
• Superbad: The 70's variant of the logo is shown, but with new text inserted at the bottom of the screen reading "A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company". When the Torch Burst symbol appears, the background becomes yellow instead of black, and then colorful silhouettes of Evan flash across the screen.
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: The teaser trailer for the film (which was internationally distributed by Columbia) has the Torch Lady and company name melt into a pile of liquid metal, which drops to the ground and reforms itself in the shape of the (early) T3 logo.
• Thank God It's Friday: The Torch Lady's toga transforms into a disco-themed outfit and she does a dance, seen here.
• Thir13en Ghosts: The ident is in black-and-white, and is accompanied by grinding and mechanical sounds in the background. North American prints use the 1998 Warner Bros. logo instead but with the same variation effects.
• The Three Stooges: The film "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" features the Torch Lady alongside the Stooges' own version of the logo: a statue of the Stooges' manager Norman Maurer in a toga holding up a stick of dynamite, which goes off and blows up the statue.
• The Trouble with Angels: An animated Mary Clancy, bearing angel wings and halo, appears from behind the A and flies around briefly, then blows out the torch, seen here.
• The Wackness: The film opens up with the Sony Pictures Classics logo as normal, before the word 'classics' getting painted over in blue, and gets tagged with the word "classics" in a graffiti style.
• The Wedding Planner: The trailer has the Torch Lady briefly appear in a wedding dress.
• What Planet Are You From?: Annette Bening, co-star of the film, takes her long-rumored place as the face of the post-1994 Torch Lady (a composite is actually used for every other Columbia film of this era).
• Wolf (Mike Nichols) has dark clouds in the background, and then another cloud covers the logo.
• Zombieland: Double Tap: The logo becomes invaded by two zombies, and the Torch Lady bludgeons each of them with her torch and spraying a bit of blood on the C and O, as well as the steps, as a dead zombie was lying. She stylishly flips her torch in her hand, resumes her original position, but not before giving a satisfied "Hmph!" A behind the scenes photo can be found on Monique Ganderton's Instagram page.

Sony Pictures Animation

The logo for Vivo.

• The Angry Birds Movie 2: The SPA logo is bright red and falls into a pile of bright red feathers that fly everywhere.
• Goosebumps (2015) and its sequel: A spotlight shines across a dark screen, revealing the SPA logo against a black background instead of the usual white.
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: A giant banana falls on the Torch Lady, unceremoniously knocking her off-screen. A cloud storm then passes by, transitioning to the Sony Pictures Animation logo.
  • In the sequel, the banana turns out to be a Bananostrich ridden by Barry the Strawberry, whose torch overtakes the screen to transition to the SPA logo.
• The Emoji Movie: The logo plays as normal, until we see Alex's phone pop up, which blurs the logo to focus on it, take a picture of the torch lady, place the sunglasses emoji over her face, and insert the image into a message. Seen here.
• Hotel Transylvania:
  • In the first two Hotel Transylvania films, the Torch Lady morphs into a bat, which flies around the screen until finally pulling the company logo off the screen. Logo 1 seen here, logo 2 seen here.
  • Hotel Transylvania, when the letters of the SPA logo come together, monster grunts and roars play in the background.
  • Hotel Transylvania 2 has a similar SPA logo, but with different monster sounds (they sound more like gurgling).
  • Hotel Transylvania: Transformania: The Sony logo is given fangs, the Torch Lady is replaced by Blobby after the lights are briefly shut off, while the SPA logo is carried in by the giant dog Tinkles before being sat in its proper place. In the Amazon Prime version, the Sony transition, as well as Columbia Pictures fanfare, were shortened.
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines: Katie Mitchell's doodles (dubbed "Katie-Vision" by the filmmakers) are overlaid across the Columbia Pictures logo, and a cartoon version of the Torch Lady replaces the normal one at the end. Seen here.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: All the production logos, affected by the film's Super Collider device, shift between different versions of themselves, seen here. These include direct references to other logo jokes mentioned on this page, such as that from Cap Ballou and a Freeze-Frame Bonus of the one from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a similar effect as all the logos see more intense glitching across various versions and designs, now with the addition of the painted Columbia logo, Lord Miller production logo, which shifts briefly into its original television version and its 1980s Cocaine Bear version, as well as a tease of the Strays version.
• Smurfs: The Lost Village: The statue is tipped over like a wooden stand to reveal Smurfette, who proceeds to hold up a mushroom in a similar manner. Seen here.
• Surf's Up: The SPA logo is covered in frost.
• Vivo: The 1936-1976 Columbia logo is used, but it is animated similarly to the 1993 one. Then the cloud background is pulled back on stage curtains to reveal a nocturnal city backdrop, and the Torch Lady walks off her pedestal playing a flute. Seen here.

TriStar Pictures

Tristar Pictures uses a Pegasus as its mascot, coming from studio founder Victor Kaufman's love of horseriding.

• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The 2014 Sony logo, transitions into the 1993-2015 TriStar logo, fitting with the film's time period. The music throughout the Sony, TriStar, and Tencent logos is also played on a chime-like celesta to match the music style of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, leading into the recreated opening of that said show. It can be seen here.
• Richard Pryor comments on Pegasus at the start of Another You, seen here. A censored version can be found on Bounce TV and This TV airings here.
• Jumanji: The Next Level: One of the players in Jumanji is a Pegasus named Cyclone, in a shoutout to TriStar having produced the first Jumanji film.^note TriStar was owned by Columbia in 1989.
• Lords of Dogtown: The words "locals only" are spray-painted over the TriStar Pictures logo, seen here.
  • This was the only film produced by both Columbia and TriStar.
• Look Who's Talking Too: The pegasus from the Tri-Star logo speaks in a Mister Ed voice, voiced by Bruce Willis as Mikey ad-libbing:
  "Tri-Star Pictures, where anything can happen!"
  • An extended and re-arranged version of the Tri-Star theme music also plays when Julie takes her first steps, referencing the quote. The logo's theme was credited at the end.
• The trailer for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has the clouds behind the TriStar logo turn stormy.
• The Family Guy episode "Petergeist" has Joe Swanson open up a home theatre service and create his own logo, Joe Swanson Theatres, based on the flying Pegasus logo but replacing the horse with Joe himself, therefore being a parody of the 1983 Tri-Star logo.

Other

• A textless version of the variants found in Zombieland: Double Tap and Men in Black: International, can be found in Columbia Pictures' 95th anniversary area in the Sony Pictures booth during the 2019 Tokyo Comic Con, which is shown here.
  • A special illustration of the Torch Lady, which featured water waves, were given out to attendants who stopped by into the booth, as shown here.
• Anime
  • Season 1 Episode 5 of the satire anime Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei used the Columbia Pictures logo as a title card, with the protagonist Nozomu Itoshiki in place of the Torch Lady.
  • Episode 22 of YuYu Hakusho has Koenma make a videotape that starts off with a parody of the Columbia Pictures logo, with Koenma himself taking the place of the Torch Lady.
• Western Animation
  • Beakman's World: A toy rocket flies around the Torch Lady, seen here.
  • The Simpsons: The episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" has Mr Burns produce a Bible film, "Tales of the Old Testament". The film opens with a parody of the Torch Lady ("Burns' Celluloid Whimsies") with Mr Burns in her place, and he gloats, "I'm richer than you!"
  • The South Park episode "Hell on Earth 2006" features a Three-Stooges style episode using Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy as the "Three Murderers", complete with title cards including the Columbia Pictures logo.
• In Christmas 1991 there was a TV bumper that featured the logo with snowfall and the Torch lady having a Santa hat.
• Cartoon Network
  • During the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Cartoon Network had weekend "Cartoon Theater" broadcasts of animated films, with animated introductions and bumper sequences that spoofed studio logos. One Columbia-stlyed intro/bumper had the Torch Lady presented doing Percussive Maintenance on her torch to get it working, and just when she holds it up, the Marilyn Maneuver happens to her. It can be seen here.
  • One Columbia Pictures-style bumper starred Cow and Chicken, with Cow as the Torch Lady holding up Chicken like a torch with light shining from his eyeballs, seen here.

---