Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.

Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.

Major U.S. film studio. It originated in 1920 when brothers Jack and Harry Cohn formed a company with Joe Brandt to produce short films and low-budget westerns. It became Columbia Pictures in 1924. Harry Cohn, who served as president and head of production from 1932 until his death in 1958, was the driving force behind its success. The studio produced the 1930s films of Frank Capra and many other successful films, including All the King's Men (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and The Last Emperor (1987). After Columbia was purchased by the Coca-Cola Co. in 1982, it helped launch Tri-Star Pictures. The two studios merged in 1987 as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, which was bought by Sony Corp. in 1989.