TriStar Pictures

Nova Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, CBS, and HBO, was established to handle video, broadcast, and pay cable rights to its products. It was renamed Tri-Star after a year to avoid confusion with the PBS series Nova. The company produced notable films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Basic Instinct, and Hollywood's first Godzilla, scoring box-office hits with modestly budgeted fare in the 1980s. It also made successful distribution deals with the Producers Sales Organization and Carolco Pictures, acquiring Loews Theatres and forming a television arm. Under this name, TriStar released films like About Last Night, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Steel Magnolias before being merged with Columbia Pictures Entertainment by the Coca-Cola Company.