Columbia Tristar renamed Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures Releasing International is the new name of Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International. Keeping in line with this name change, Columbia TriStar Films of India Limited will be now renamed as Sony Pictures Releasing of India Limited (SPRIL). The name change comes amidst Sony Pictures Releasing International's second best year at the box office. The international operation has generated more than $1 billion in box office receipts, pacing second only to the $1.3 billion in ticket sales the company recorded in 2002. Keeping in tandem with the international performance, the Indian operations too created records of sorts by crossing the Rs 1 billion mark in ticket sales in 2004. This is the second time that the Indian operations have scaled to such heights, in a short span of three years, the first time being 2002. Sony Pictures Releasing International will be releasing a highly anticipated slate of films in 2005 and 2006 that includes Hitch, Fun With Dick and Jane, Bewitched, Stealth, Click, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Legend of Zorro, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, All The King's Men, The DaVinci Code, Rent, XXX: State of the Union and Are We There Yet.