Triumph Films

Background: Triumph Films (also known as "Triumph Releasing Corporation") was originally formed in 1982 as a joint venture between Columbia Pictures and the legendary French studio Gaumont Film Company to distribute Gaumont content and some independent films in the US. This joint venture lasted until 1985, when Gaumont was looking to set up their own operations in the states. However, Columbia (through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) retained the Triumph branding rights and all films distributed during the venture. In 1988, it was revived as a specialty label to handle independent, low-budget, and direct-to-video film releases as well as distributing Epic Productions and Vision International releases theatrically. The label went dormant again in 1998, and was reactivated in 2002 to release independent and direct-to-video fare such as Steamboy and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2. Triumph Films has been in dormancy again since 2008 and has only been revived once as a one-off label in 2014.

1st Logo (February 10, 1982-August 2, 1985)
Nicknames: "Torch Lady", "Zooming-Out Arch of Triumph"

Logo: We see the 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures logo. The torch then shines into a bright abstract shape, like the sunburst effect on the 1976 logo, then it's revealed to be the Arc de Triomphe, which zooms out, surrounding the Torch Lady. The words "Triumph Films" in the same Souvenir bold font from the 1975 logo fades and flashing in underneath the logo. Her torch continues to shine and the entire logo turns outlined. The byline "A Columbia Pictures/Gaumont Company" later fades in under the logo.

FX/SFX: The torch shining, and the Arc de Triomphe zooming-out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare. Appeared on select titles released from 1982 to 1985, such as older prints of Das Boot, Querelle, Purple Haze, Le Dernier Combat, Bizet's Carmen, and Parsifal, to name a few. The latter retains this logo on its U.S. Image Entertainment DVD and Laserdisc release.

2nd Logo (December 8, 1989-April 22, 1994)
Nickname: "The Blue Light Flower"

Logo: On a black background, a blue light appears at the bottom in the middle of the screen. The light later splits into nine rays that almost looks like the sunburst effect on the 1976 Columbia Pictures logo, which later zooms-out from screen bottom, revealing the outline of the word "TRIUMPH", which then lights up "I" to turn white and later spreads out to fill in the other words. Above the "I" in "TRIUMPH", there is a blue flower, but we reveal the text "RELEASING CORPORATION" with lines in between, then the byline "A unit of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." fades in at the bottom of the screen.

Variants:
 * From 1991-1994, with the formation of Sony Pictures Entertainment, this logo became bylineless.
 * On some films at the end, there is no byline and the text.
 * On some trailers of films, the text "RELEASING CORPORATION" and the Columbia Pictures Entertainment byline wipes in from the left at the same time.
 * On some TV commercials of 1991-1994 films, the logo is in B&W and the byline reads "A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company".

FX/SFX: The "TRIUMPH" text appearing, and the flower rising up.

Music/Sounds: A fantasy-oriented fanfare, silent, or the film's opening theme.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on films such as Brainscan, Zebrahead, and Homicide, among others. It might have been seen on theatrical prints of Jersey Girl (1992), I Come in Peace (a.k.a. Dark Angel) and Robot Jox, among others, but DVD and VHS releases omit this.

3rd Logo (March 3, 1995-September 5, 2014)
Nickname: "The Sunburst"

Logo: On a black background, we see a bright orange light rising from the lower right-hand corner to the upper-left hand corner of the screen bringing along the 3-D word "TRIUMPH" rising from the bottom to the center. As the light starts to dim down to make a sunburst effect (almost similar to the 1976 Columbia Pictures and the recent Triumph logos), the orange light turns white revealing a light blue line lighting up the flower while the word "TRIUMPH" later turns white and zooming in a little while the word "FILMS" in Trajan Pro Bold with lines in between zooming in and fading in slowly at the same time with the word above. The byline "a Sony Pictures Entertainment company" later fades in fades in underneath the logo.

Closing: There is a closing logo where everything is white and still.

FX/SFX: The CGI name rising, which is quite clean animation for 1995.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on many Triumph releases such as Magic in the Water, Jury Duty, Solo (1996), SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2, Screamers, and the US release of Steamboy, among others. The in-credit variant made a surprise re-appearance at the end of The Remaining. This may have appeared on theatrical prints of Zombie Strippers, but home media releases have the Stage 6 logo instead.