Editing Columbia Pictures (section)

====Columbia Pictures Entertainment era (1987–1989)====

The volatile film business made Coke shareholders nervous, and following the critical and box-office failure of ''[[Ishtar (film)|Ishtar]]'', Coke spun off its entertainment holdings on December 21, 1987, and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures for $3.1&nbsp;billion. Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (CPE), with Coke owning 80% of the company.<ref>Dick, p. 46.</ref> Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-02-fi-3400-story.html|title=Coke, Tri-Star Confirm Plans for $3.1-Billion Deal|last=Harris|first=Kathryn|date=September 2, 1987|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=May 16, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>

Puttnam was ousted from the position after only one year.<ref>Prince, Stephen (2000) ''A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989'' (pp. 54–58). [[University of California Press]], [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]/[[Los Angeles, California]]. {{ISBN|0-520-23266-6}}</ref> Puttnam was succeeded by [[Dawn Steel]]. Other small-scale, "boutique" entities were created: [[Nelson Entertainment]], a joint venture with British and Canadian partners, [[Triumph Films]], jointly owned with French studio [[Gaumont (company)|Gaumont]], and which is now a low-budget label, and [[Castle Rock Entertainment]].

On January 2, 1988, Columbia/Embassy Television and Tri-Star Television were formed into the new Columbia Pictures Television and Embassy Communications was renamed as ELP Communications to serve as a copyright holder of the Embassy television productions. In early 1988, CPE relaunched [[Triumph Films]] as Triumph Releasing Corporation, which handled administrative services related to distribution of Columbia and Tri-Star's films for the North American market, while Triumph was responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of Columbia and [[TriStar Pictures|Tri-Star]] films under the direction of each individual studio internationally, with Patrick N. Williamson serving as head of Triumph.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 6, 1988 |title=Columbia Resurrects 'Triumph' |page=7 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref>

On January 16, 1988, CPE's stock fell slightly in the market on its first day trading in the [[New York Stock Exchange]]. Coke spun off 34.1&nbsp;million of its Columbia shares to its shareholders by reducing its stake in CPE from 80% to 49%.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-16-fi-9327-story.html|title=Columbia Pictures' Stock Has Weak Wall St. Debut|last=Knoedelseder|first=William K. Jr.|date=January 16, 1988|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=August 8, 2013|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> On April 13, 1988, CPE spun off Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. as a reformed company of the Tri-Star studio.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://appext20.dos.ny.gov/corp_public/CORPSEARCH.ENTITY_INFORMATION?p_nameid=1367154&p_corpid=1252551&p_entity_name=Tri-Star%20Pictures&p_name_type=%25&p_search_type=BEGINS&p_srch_results_page=0|title = State of New York Division of Corporations – Entity Search: Tri-Star Pictures, Inc.|access-date = August 5, 2013}}</ref> In April 1988, CPE sold its music publishing operations to the British company Filmtrax.<ref>{{Cite news| volume = 100| issue = 16| pages = 1–77| last = Hunter| first = Nigel| title = Filmtrax Buys Columbia, Mogull Pub Companies| magazine = Billboard| date = April 16, 1988|via=worldradiohistory.com|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1988/BB-1988-04-16.pdf}}</ref> (Filmtrax was acquired by [[Thorn EMI]] in 1990.)<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|281273979}} |last1=Shiver |first1=Jube |title=Thorn EMI Buys Filmtrax Catalogue for $115 Million Music: The huge collection of songs owned by the company includes 'Stormy Weather' and 'Against All Odds' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 9, 1990 }}</ref> In June 1988, CPE announced the sale of Columbia Pictures Publications (consisting of the print music operations) to the investment firm Boston Ventures and was renamed CPP/Belwin.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|398049094}} |title=Business Brief: Columbia Pictures Entertainment |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 3, 1988 }}</ref> CPP/Belwin was acquired by [[Warner Chappell Music]] of Warner Bros. in 1994.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|388726870}} |last1=Weaver |first1=Jay |title=MELODIC MERGER PRINT MUSIC DIVISIONS UNITE TO FORM WORLD'S BIGGEST PUBLISHING OPERATION |work=Sun Sentinel |date=October 5, 1994 }}</ref>

On February 2, 1989, Columbia Pictures Television formed a joint-venture with Norman Lear's Act III Communications called Act III Television (now Act III Productions) to produce television series instead of managing.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-02-fi-2616-story.html|title=Norman Lear, Columbia Form Joint TV Venture|last=Knoedelseder|first=William K. Jr.|date=February 2, 1989|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=June 19, 2013|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/02/business/lear-joins-with-columbia-to-produce-tv-not-manage.html|title=Lear Joins With Columbia To Produce TV, Not Manage|last=Stevenson|first=Richard W.|date=February 2, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 19, 2013|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>