CBS Theatrical Films, also as CBS Theatrical Films Group, was the film production branch of the U.S. television network,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, which was active from 1979 to 1985. CBS was also a partner in

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is part of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, which is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The compan ...

, which started as a joint venture with

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

(owned then by

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

), and

Time, Inc Time Inc. (also referred to as Time & Life, Inc. later on, after their two onetime flagship magazine publications) was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New ...

.'s

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. CBS was an owner in TriStar from the start in 1982 to 1985.

History

CBS began its theatrical films operation in 1979, headed by Donald March, and turned the operation into the separate CBS Theatrical Films division on December 2, 1980. In March 1980, the unit was promoted to group level, same as the broadcast and records groups, as CBS Theatrical Films Group with Michael Levy as group president reporting directly to CBS president Thomas H. Wyman. Before 1985, Self was president of production. None of its releases were commercial successes. On December 17, 1984, it was merged with the CBS Worldwide Enterprises branch to form CBS Productions (unrelated to the later production company of the same name). In 1985, CBS Productions decided to wind down their operations, which were fully closed in November 1985.

Closure

Several factors contributed to the closure of CBS Theatrical Films. As a so-called

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

, it was disadvantaged because it was usually only offered left over films after the major studios had selected the more likely commercial successes.

Television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

s did better in the ratings than theater films already released via cable and video. With additional startup boutiques, the market was overcrowded causing box office strain at the same time movie production costs doubled to $10 million with marketing matching that level. Another factor was that as a boutique, CBS Theatrical Films did not have a distribution system, so it had to release its films through major studios, which sometimes resulted in disadvantageous release dates. CBS announced CBS Theatrical Films's closure in November 1985. After the closure, CBS Productions' assets were sold to international film backer J&M Film Sales, which included all the foreign licensing contracts that were previously handled by the studio, and four planned CBS titles were sold to J&M Film Sales on May 28, 1986. '' The Challenge'' and their final production '' The Lightship'' were released through

Embassy Pictures Embassy Pictures Corporation (also and later known as Avco Embassy Pictures as well as Embassy Films Associates) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was active from 1942 to 1986. Embassy was responsible ...

and Castle Hill Productions respectively. Today,

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...

distributes the library for television,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

holds theatrical rights, and home entertainment rights are licensed by

CBS Home Entertainment CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is an American home video company that distribut ...

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

and

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

for certain films.

Films

References

{{Authority control CBS Film production companies of the United States Entertainment companies established in 1979 American companies disestablished in 1985 American companies established in 1979