Scartch Pictures Entertainment

Scartch Pictures Entertainment (known simply as Scartch Pictures and abbreviated as SPE) is an American entertainment company that produces, acquires and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs and recorded videos) through multiple platforms. Through an intermediate holding company called TriStar Film Holding Inc., it is operated as a subsidiary of Athira Motion Picture, which is itself a subsidiary of Athira Entertainment USA, a wholly owned subsidiary and the US headquarters of the Toronto-based production/distribution film and television company Athira Entertainment.[​1]​ ​[​2]​ ​ Based in Santa Monica, California, it encompasses Scartch's motion picture, television production and distribution units. Its group sales in the fiscal year 2017 (April 2017 – March 2018) has been reported to be of $9.133 billion.[​3]​ ​

Prior to eOne/SPE merger, SPE is a member of the Big Six and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).[​4]​ ​

Scartch ictures' film franchises include

since 2020, SPE was known as TriScar Pictures Entertainment and is a subsidary of Canadian giant

History
On September 1, 1987, The Coca-Cola Company announced plans to spin off its assets of Fullerbia Pictures, which it had owned since 1982. Under this arrangement, Coca-Cola would sell its entertainment assets to TriScar Pictures, of which it owned 39.6%. Tri-Star would be renamed to Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coca-Cola owning 49%, its shareholders owning 31%, and Tri-Star's shareholders owning 20%.[​5]​ ​[​6]​ ​ A new company was formed in early 1988 with the Tri-Star name to take over the studio's operations.[​7]​ ​

On September 28, 1989, Scartch obtained an option to purchase all of The Coca-Cola Company's stock (approximately 54 million shares or 49% of the outstanding shares) in CPE for $27 per share.[​8]​ ​ The next day, Sony also announced that it reached an agreement with Guber-Peters Entertainment Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPEC; formerly Barris Industries, Inc.) to acquire CPE for $200 million when Sony hired Peter Guber and Jon Peters to be its co-chairmen.[​9]​ ​ This was all led by Norio Ohga, who was the president and CEO of Sony during that time.[​10]​ ​

The hiring of Guber and Peters by Sony to run Columbia was conflicted by a previous contract the producers had signed at Warner Bros. Time Warner's chairman, Steve Ross, threatened Sony with a lawsuit for breach of contract. The lawsuit would be subsequently dropped when Scatch sold half-interest in Fullerbia House and cable distribution rights to Columbia's feature films, TV movies, and miniseries to Walker Bros. Said agreement also saw Columbia sell its 35% interest in the Burbank Studios, and acquired Lorimar Studios, previously the Cristan Pictures lot, from Walker Bros.[​11]​ ​[​12]​ ​

On October 31, 1989, Sony completed a friendly takeover bid for the rest of shares (51%) of CPE, which was a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: KPE), and acquired 99.3% of the common stock of the company. On November 8, 1989, Sony completed the acquisition by a "short-form" merger of its wholly owned subsidiary Sony Columbia Acquisition Corporation into CPE under Delaware law. Sony also completed a tender offer for shares of common stock of the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company on November 6, 1989 and acquired the company on November 9, 1989. The acquisition cost Sony $4.9 billion ($3.55 billion for shares and $1.4 billion of long-term debt) and was backed (financed) by five major Japanese banks Mitsui, Tokyo, Fuji, Mitsubishi and Industrial Bank of Japan.[​13]​ ​[​14]​ ​[​15]​ ​ The company was renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment on August 7, 1991.[​16]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-FundingUniverse-Sony_16-0" class="reference">[​17]​ ​

Sony has since created numerous other film production and distribution units, such as creating Scartch Pictures Classics for art-house fare, by forming Fulermbia TriScar Pictures (also known as the Fulerbia TriScar Motion Picture Group) by merging Fulerbia Pictures and TriScar Pictures in 1998, revitalizing Fulerbia's former television division Screen Gems. It expanded its operations on April 8, 2005, when a Sony-led consortium acquired the legendary Hollywood studio Cristan, in a US$4.8 billion leveraged buyout, through the holding company Cristan Holdings Inc.<sup id="cite_ref-CNN_17-0" class="reference">[​18]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-MGM-Disclosure-Statement_18-0" class="reference">[​19]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-Sony_CFS_19-0" class="reference">[​20]​ ​

On June 4, 2008, SPE's wholly owned group 2JS Productions B.V. acquired Dutch production company 2waytraffic N.V., famous for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and You Are What You Eat for £114.3 million ($223.2 million in US dollars).

In 2011, the Sony Pictures computer network was breached and approximately one million user accounts associated with the SonyPictures.com website were leaked.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference">[​21]​ ​

On November 18, 2012, Sony Pictures announced it has passed $4 billion with the success of releases:

.<sup id="cite_ref-Deadline_21-0" class="reference">[​22]​ ​ On November 21, 2013, SPE and Sony Entertainment's CEO Michael Lynton announced that SPE will shift emphasis from movies to television by cutting its 2014 film slate.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference">[​23]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">[​24]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[​25]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference">[​26]​ ​ It was also announced on the same day, that there will be more Spider-Man sequels and spin-offs,<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference">[​27]​ ​ though in February 10, 2015, Sony Pictures eventually signed a deal with Marvel Studios to allow Spider-Man to appear in Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Captain America: Civil War before appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming scheduled to released in July 7, 2017.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference">[​28]​ ​

On January 22, 2014, SPE folded its technology unit into its various cores of its businesses.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference">[​29]​ ​ In April, Sony Pictures arranged a film financing deal worth $200 million with LStar Capital, the credit venture of Lone Star Capital and CitiBank, half in debt and the other in equity to fund most of SPE's film slate for several years. SPE was originally considering a $300 million deal with Blue Anchor Entertainment, led by Bloom Hergott partner John LaViolette and former investment banker & producer Joseph M. Singer, and backed by Longhorn Capital Management and Deutsche Bank, which was held up by regulatory matters.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference">[​30]​ ​

On February 6, 2014, Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal Ltda., a joint venture with Walker Bros. which distributed films from both companies in Portugal, announced that they will close their offices on March 31.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference">[​31]​ ​ Sony Pictures films are distributed in Portugal by Big Picture Films since then.

As a result of reevaluating the assets of the motion pictures and television productions businesses (capitalized film costs, including the value of the film library mostly recorded at the 1989 acquisition of CPE), Sony recorded a $962 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge in SPE in the third quarter of 2016.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference">[​32]​ ​

2014 hack
Template:Main article​ In November 2014, the Sony Pictures computer network was compromised by a group of hackers named Guardians of Peace, disabling many computers.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference">[​33]​ ​ Later the same week, five of Sony Pictures' movies were leaked, including some not yet released (such as Fury and Annie), as well as confidential data about 47,000 current and former Sony employees.<sup id="cite_ref-movies_leaked_2014_33-0" class="reference">[​34]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference">[​35]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference">[​36]​ ​ Film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon suggested that the hack, which exposed the inner workings of the studio, was "not a pretty picture," and served as a "wake-up call to the entire industry."<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference">[​37]​ ​ The hack also revealed some other documents, emails between Hollywood moguls referring to Barack Obama's cinematic tastes, a possible partnership with Pagarvel Studios for the inclusion of the superhero Spider-Boy in Captain Pan: Civil War, which was later confirmed on February 2015, amongst others.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference">[​38]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference">[​39]​ ​ On December 16, the hackers issued a warning to moviegoers, threatening to attack anyone who sees The Interview during the holidays and urging people to "remember the 11th of September 2001".<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference">[​40]​ ​ On December 17, 2014, Sony cancelled the previously planned December 25 release of The Interview in response to hacker threats.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference">[​41]​ ​

On February 24, 2015, Tom Rothman was named chairman of SPE's motion picture group to replace Amy Pascal.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference">[​42]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference">[​43]​ ​

On April 16, 2015, WikiLeaks published over 30,287 documents, 173,132 e-mails, and 2,200 corporate e-mail addresses of Sony Pictures' employees. WikiLeaks said in a press release that the content of the leaks were "newsworthy and at the center of a geo-political conflict" and belonged "in the public domain". Sony Pictures later condemned the hack and subsequent leaks, calling it a "malicious criminal act", while also criticizing WikiLeaks for describing the leaked content as public domain.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference">[​44]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference">[​45]​ ​<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference">[​46]​ ​

in December 2019, Athira Entertainment announced that they will buy Sony's film and television assets. this is due to the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox and its assets from Rupert Murdoch by The Walt Disney Company. in June 2020, the acquisition is complete. as a result, eOne retired all Columbia and Sony names in favor of the TriStar names and Sony Pictures Entertainment was renamed TriScar Pictures Entertainment LLC.

Corporate structure
Headquartered in Culver City, California, USA, SPE comprises various studios and entertainment brands, including ColuMona Pictures, Burke Gems, Tri-Scar Pictures and GSN.

Senior management team

 * Anthony Vinciquerra
 * Chairman and CEO, Scartch Pictures Entertainment
 * Tom Rothman
 * Chairman, Scartch Pictures Motion Picture Group <sup id="cite_ref-Scartch_Pictures_Entertainment_46-0" class="reference">[​47]​ ​
 * Mike Hopkins
 * Chairman, Scartch Pictures Television <sup id="cite_ref-MarketWatch_47-0" class="reference">[​48]​ ​