The story
The original Destination Films was founded by former DreamWorks Pictures executive Brent Baum and Steve Stabler in 1998. The company made a deal with Columbia TriStar Home Video to have them distribute their films for video release. In 1999, Steve Stabler had left the studio due to creative differences. The company was shut down in February 2001 after failing to meet financial expectations. The company's library and in-production projects such as The Wedding Planner and Slackers were sold off to Sony Pictures for distribution.
In 2002, Destination Films was revived as a division of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, with the anime film Metropolis being scheduled for their first release, although the film Shiri would be released a couple weeks before. Sony bought out the IP, name and logo from a trust that held the rights to the first Destination Films company. Many of the films released on home entertainment under Destination Films would receive a small theatrical release beforehand from either other Sony Pictures divisions like TriStar Pictures and Screen Gems or third-party distributors like Samuel Goldwyn Films.
In 2007, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions took over and has released some films under Destination Films' label, like Blood: The Last Vampire, Black Dynamite and Harry Brown. Other functions took on Destination had spun off into Stage 6 Films, and Affirm Films for faith content. As Destination Films took on the function once served by Triumph Films, the newly-founded Stage 6 Films took on the mantle the Destination once had. Funimation was also acquired by Sony Pictures Television on October 27, 2017 and rebranded to Crunchyroll, LLC on March 1, 2022 after acquiring the eponymous streaming service on August 9, 2021. Currently, Samuel Goldwyn Films holds the rights to the pre-Sony Destination library.
From Wikipedia’s article on Destination Films, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4