Searchlight Pictures, Inc.^[2] is an Americanarthouse filmproduction anddistribution company, which since 2019 is owned byWalt Disney Studios, a sub-division ofDisney Entertainment, a business segment ofthe Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 asFox Searchlight Pictures for 20th Century Fox (now20th Century Studios), the studio focuses primarily on producing, distributing, and acquiring independent andspecialty films.

Searchlight Pictures, Inc.

Print logo used since 2023.
Searchlight is headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot inCentury City, Los Angeles.
Formerly	Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.(1994–2020)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Film
Founded	April 29, 1994; 30 years ago (1994-04-29)
Founder	Tom Rothman[1]
Headquarters	10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City, Los Angeles, California , United States[2]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Matthew Greenfield (president) Derval Whelan (president of distribution)
Products	Motion pictures
Number of employees	100+
Parent	Fox Entertainment Group(1994–2019) Walt Disney Studios(2019–present)
Divisions	Searchlight Television
Website	searchlightpictures.com[a]

Searchlight is known for distributing the filmsSlumdog Millionaire,12 Years a Slave,Birdman,The Shape of Water, andNomadland, all of which have won anAcademy Award for Best Picture. The studio has grossed over $5.3 billion worldwide and amassed 51Academy Awards, 30Golden Globe Awards, and 56BAFTA awards.Slumdog Millionaire is the studio's largest commercial success, with over $377 million (US) of box office receipts, against a production budget of only $15 million.^[3]

Searchlight Pictures was one of the21st Century Fox film production units that wasacquired by Disney in 2019. The studio's current name was adopted in order to avoid confusion withFox Corporation. Searchlight is currently one of five live-action film studios within the Walt Disney Studios, alongsideWalt Disney Pictures,Marvel Studios,Lucasfilm, and its larger sister unit20th Century Studios. Compared to 20th Century, whose distribution operations have folded intoWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Searchlight retains its autonomous distribution unit.^[4]

Prior to the creation of Searchlight Pictures, 20th Century Fox was active in thespecialty film market, releasing independent and specialty films under the banner of20th Century-Fox International Classics, later renamed20th Century-Fox Specialized Film Division, thenTLC Films. The most notable of the releases under these banners includeSuspiria,Bill Cosby: Himself,Eating Raoul,The Gods Must Be Crazy,Reuben, Reuben, andZiggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.^[5]

In the early 1990s, 20th Century Fox executives decided to emulate the commercial success of Disney's newly acquiredMiramax studio. In 1994, 20th announced the formation of a subsidiary that would drive their entry into thespecialty film market, and in July that year, they brought inThomas Rothman, then president of production atThe Samuel Goldwyn Company, to head up the new subsidiary. It was soon given the name "Fox Searchlight Pictures", with Rothman as its founding president.^[6][1] The new company inherited the familiarbranding elements associated with 20th Century Fox; Fox Searchlight films opened with aproduction logo consisting of the "Fox Searchlight Pictures" name presented as a large monolith, illuminated by the eponymoussearchlights and accompanied by the 20th Century Fox fanfare composed byAlfred Newman.^[7][8]

From its first release,The Brothers McMullen (1995), Fox Searchlight went to distribute a series of independent films such asGirl 6,Stealing Beauty, andShe's the One (all 1996).^[9] While critically well received, these early releases were not commercially very successful; Fox Searchlight's first real commercial breakthrough came withThe Full Monty (1997), garnering the studio's first awards.^[10]

In 2006, a companion label,Fox Atomic, was created to produce and/or distribute genre films.^[11] Fox Atomic closed down in 2009.^[12]

On June 28, 2012,Rupert Murdoch announced that Fox Searchlight's ownerNews Corporation would be split into two publishing and media oriented companies:the second News Corporation, which takes on the publishing and Australian broadcasting assets, and21st Century Fox, which operated Fox Searchlight parentFox Entertainment Group. Murdoch states that the 21CF name was a way to maintain 20th Century Fox's heritage.^[13][14]

Fox Stage Productions was formed in June 2013.^[15] The creation of21st Century Fox was completed on June 28, 2013.^[16] In August 2013, 20CF started a theatrical joint venture with a trio of producers, both film and theater,Kevin McCollum,John Davis and Tom McGrath.^[17]

On December 14, 2017,the Walt Disney Company agreed toacquire most assets from 21st Century Fox, including Fox Searchlight, for $52.4 billion.^[18] After a bid fromComcast (parent company ofNBCUniversal) for $65 billion, Disney counterbid with $71.3 billion.^[19] On July 19, 2018, Comcast dropped out of the bid for 21st Century Fox in favor ofSky plc andSky UK. Eight days later, Disney and 21CF shareholders approved the merger between the two companies.^[20] On March 12, 2019, Disney announced it has set to close the Fox deal on March 20.^[21][22] On March 19, 2019, 21CFspun off the remaining assets– theFox Broadcasting Company,Fox Television Stations, the Fox News Group (which includes theFox News Channel), andthe domestic operations of Fox Sports– to the newFox Corporation in preparation for the completion of the sale, which occurred the following day.^[23][24][25] The following day it was announced that Fox Searchlight Pictures would be situated under The Walt Disney Studios banner and several high profile layoffs occurred.^[26]

As of November 2019,FX Networks and Fox Searchlight were assigned to supplyHulu with content.^[27] On January 17, 2020, it was announced that the "Fox" name would be dropped from several of the Fox assets that were acquired by Disney, shortening the company's name to "Searchlight Pictures", in order to avoid brand confusion with Fox Corporation.^[28][7]

More recently,Nancy Utley has officially left Searchlight Pictures after six months, to launch Lake Ellyn Entertainment, and struck a first look deal withChernin Entertainment.^[29] Disney elevated David Greenbaum andMatthew Greenfield, the then-current heads of production.

Since 1994, Searchlight Pictures has accumulated 205Academy Award nominations with 52 wins (including five Best Picture winners since 2009),^[30] 117Golden Globe nominations with 30 wins,^[31] 190BAFTA nominations with 57 wins,^[32] 68Screen Actors Guild Award nominations with 14 wins,^[33] 215Critics Choice Award nominations with 55 wins,^[34] and 137Independent Spirit Awards nominations with 54 wins.^[35]

Searchlight Television is the television production division of Searchlight Pictures. Launched in April 2018, Searchlight Television broadens the variety of projects produced under the Searchlight banner. It is headed by David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield.^[36][37]

Both original material and adaptations of Searchlight's existing film library will be produced for cable, streaming and broadcast television, in the form of documentaries, scripted series, limited series and more. In April 2019, theHulu streaming service orderedThe Dropout, starringAmanda Seyfried from Searchlight Television and20th Television.^[38] The studio is also developing an adaptation of theCity of Ghosts novel withABC Signature and an adaptation ofN. K. Jemisin'sInheritance Trilogy withWestbrook Studios.^[39][40] In October 2021, Hulu ordered a sequel series to the Mel Brooks filmHistory of the World, Part I from Searchlight Television and 20th Television.^[41]

In March 2019, the studio launchedSearchlight Shorts, a collection of short films that the studio would acquire from upper-tier festivals and release on their YouTube channel. The first two films to be acquired by the studio for this collection were Shelly Lauman'sBirdie andGuy Nattiv'sSkin, the latter of which won the 2018Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Other acquisitions for the collection includedA. V. Rockwell'sFeathers,Matthew Puccini'sLavender, Freddy Macdonald'sSew Torn,Savanah Leaf andTaylor Russell'sThe Heart Still Hums and Julia Baylis and Sam Guest'sWiggle Room.^[42][43][44]

• 20th Century Studios
• Touchstone Television

Citations

Sources

• Official website