Sony Pictures Classics

"Sony Classics" redirects here. For the record label, see Sony Classical Records.

Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American arthouse film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment and part of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. It was founded in January 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom.^[2] It distributes, produces and acquires specialty films such as documentaries, independent and arthouse films. As of 2015, Barker and Bernard are co-presidents of the division.

Sony Pictures Classics, Inc.

Company type	Division
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	January 1992; 33 years ago (January 1992), in New York, New York, U.S.
Founders	Michael Barker Tom Bernard Marcie Bloom
Headquarters	New York City, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Michael Barker (co-president) Tom Bernard (co-president)
Products	Motion pictures
Number of employees	25[1]
Parent	Sony Pictures Entertainment (1992–present)
Website	sonyclassics.com

History

Co-founder and co-president Michael Barker

Sony Pictures Classics (also known as Sony Classics or SPC) was formed in 1992 by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom, and set up as an autonomous division of Sony Pictures^[2] to produce, acquire and/or distribute independent films from the United States and internationally.^[3]

It has released films that have won 38 Academy Awards and received 164 nominations,^[4] including Best Picture nominations for I’m Still Here, The Father, Call Me By Your Name, Whiplash, Amour, Midnight in Paris, An Education, Capote, Howards End, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.^[5]

SPC has a history of making reasonable investments for small films and getting a decent return.^[2][6][7] It has a history of not overspending.^[2][8] Its largest commercial success of the 2010s is Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011), which grossed over $56 million in the U.S., becoming Allen's highest-grossing film ever in the United States.

SPC has been a pioneer in theatrical distribution. In 2001 championed the Chinese-language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which earned the most Oscar nominations ever for a non-English-language film and win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe in 2001. The film earned over $213 million worldwide on a $17 million budget, including $128 million in the U.S. as a Sony Pictures Classics release.^[9]

In 2006, SPC promoted The Lives of Others to an Oscar and BAFTA, after it was rejected by the Cannes, Berlin, Venice and New York Film Festivals.^[10]

Co-founder and co-president Tom Bernard

SPC occasionally agrees to release films for Sony's other film divisions; however, under its structure within Sony, none of the other divisions (including the parent company) can force SPC to release any film it does not want to release.^[2][11]

In 2025, The New York Times polled over 500 filmmakers, actors, and film buffs around the world, compiling a list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century by collating voters' top ten submitted films; ten titles released by Sony Pictures Classics made the list: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, A Separation, A Prophet, Call Me By Your Name, Amélie (re-released by SPC in 2024), The Lives of Others, Toni Erdmann, Whiplash, Amour, and Volver.^[12]

Film library

Main article: List of Sony Pictures Classics films