This article is about the film production and distribution company established in 1935 by a merger. For the companies before the merger, seeFox Film andTwentieth Century Pictures.
Spyros Skouras, then manager of theFox West Coast Theaters, helped make it happen (and later became president of the new company).[16] The company had been struggling since founderWilliam Fox lost control of the company in 1930.[18]
Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures merged in 1935. Initially, it was speculated inThe New York Times that the newly merged company would be named "Fox-Twentieth Century". The new company, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31, 1935. Kent remained at the company, joining Schenck and Zanuck. Zanuck replacedWinfield Sheehan as the company's production chief.
The company established a special training school.Lynn Bari,Patricia Farr andAnne Nagel were among 14 young women "launched on the trail of film stardom" on August 6, 1935, when they each received a six-month contract with 20th Century-Fox after spending 18 months in the school. The contracts included a studio option for renewal for as long as seven years.[19]
For many years, 20th Century Fox identified themselves as having been founded in 1915, the year Fox Film was founded. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary. However, it has considered the 1935 merger as its founding in recent years, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915.[20] The company's films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their opening credits as well as its opening fanfare, but with the name changed to 20th Century-Fox.
Higher attendance during World War II helped 20th Century-Fox overtakeRKO andMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer to become the third most profitable film studio. In 1941, Zanuck was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Signal Corps and assigned to supervise the production of U.S. Army training films. His partner,William Goetz, filled in at 20th Century-Fox.[23]
In 1942,Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio.[24] During the next few years, with pictures likeWilson (1944),The Razor's Edge (1946),Boomerang,Gentleman's Agreement (both 1947),The Snake Pit (1948), andPinky (1949), Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. 20th Century-Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such asBen Ames Williams'Leave Her to Heaven (1945), starringGene Tierney, which was the highest-grossing 20th Century-Fox film of the 1940s. The studio also produced film versions of Broadway musicals, including theRodgers and Hammerstein films, beginning with the musical version ofState Fair (1945), the only work that the partnership wrote specially for films.
After the war, audiences slowly drifted away. 20th Century-Fox held on to its theaters until a court-mandated "divorce"; they were spun off as Fox National Theaters in 1953.[25] That year, with attendance at half the 1946 level, 20th Century-Fox gambled on an unproven process. Noting that the two film sensations of 1952 had beenCinerama, which required three projectors to fill a giant curved screen, and "Natural Vision"3D, which got its effects of depth by requiring the use of polarized glasses, 20th Century-Fox mortgaged its studio to buy rights to a French anamorphic projection system which gave a slight illusion of depth without glasses. PresidentSpyros Skouras struck a deal with the inventorHenri Chrétien, leaving the other film studios empty-handed, and in 1953 introducedCinemaScope in the studio's groundbreaking feature filmThe Robe.[26]
Zanuck announced in February 1953 that henceforth all 20th Century-Fox pictures would be made in CinemaScope.[27] To convince theater owners to install this new process, 20th Century-Fox agreed to help pay conversion costs (about $25,000 per screen); and to ensure enough product, 20th Century-Fox leased access to CinemaScope to any rival studio choosing to use it. Seeing the box-office for the first two CinemaScope features,The Robe andHow to Marry a Millionaire (also 1953), Warner Bros., MGM, RKO,Universal-International,Columbia, UA,Allied Artists, andDisney quickly adopted the process. In 1956, 20th Century-Fox engagedRobert Lippert to establish a subsidiary company,Regal Pictures, laterAssociated Producers Incorporated to filmB pictures in CinemaScope (but "branded" RegalScope). 20th Century-Fox produced new musicals using the CinemaScope process includingCarousel andThe King and I (both 1956).
CinemaScope brought a brief upturn in attendance, but by 1956 the numbers again began to slide.[28][29] That year Darryl Zanuck announced his resignation as head of production. Zanuck moved to Paris, setting up as an independent producer, seldom being in the United States for many years.
Production and financial problems
Logo used as 20th Century Fox from 1986 to 2020.
Zanuck's successor, producerBuddy Adler, died a year later.[30] President Spyros Skouras brought in a series of production executives, but none had Zanuck's success. By the early 1960s, 20th Century-Fox was in trouble. A new version ofCleopatra (1963) began production in 1959 withJoan Collins in the lead.[31] As a publicity gimmick, producerWalter Wanger offered $1 million toElizabeth Taylor if she would star;[31] she accepted and costs forCleopatra began to escalate.Richard Burton's on-set romance with Taylor was surrounding the media. However, Skouras' selfish preferences and inexperienced micromanagement on the film's production did nothing to speed up production onCleopatra.
Meanwhile, another remake—of theCary Grant hitMy Favorite Wife (1940)—was rushed into production in an attempt to turn over a quick profit to help keep 20th Century-Fox afloat. Theromantic comedy entitledSomething's Got to Give pairedMarilyn Monroe, 20th Century-Fox's most bankable star of the 1950s, withDean Martin and directorGeorge Cukor. The troubled Monroe caused delays daily, and it quickly descended into a costly debacle. AsCleopatra's budget passed $10 million, eventually costing around $40 million, 20th Century-Fox sold its back lot (now the site ofCentury City) to Alcoa in 1961 to raise funds. After several weeks of script rewrites on the Monroe picture and very little progress, mostly due to director George Cukor's filming methods, in addition to Monroe's chronicsinusitis, Monroe was fired fromSomething's Got to Give[31] and two months later she was found dead. According to 20th Century-Fox files, she was rehired within weeks for a two-picture deal totaling $1 million, $500,000 to finishSomething's Got to Give (plus a bonus at completion), and another $500,000 forWhat a Way to Go. Elizabeth Taylor's disruptive reign on theCleopatra set continued unchallenged from 1960 into 1962, though three 20th Century-Fox executives went toRome in June 1962 to fire her. They learned that directorJoseph L. Mankiewicz had filmed out of sequence and had only done interiors, so 20th Century-Fox was then forced to allow Taylor several more weeks of filming. In the meantime during that summer of 1962 Fox released nearly all of its contract stars to offset burgeoning costs, includingJayne Mansfield.[32][33]
With few pictures on the schedule, Skouras wanted to rush Zanuck's big-budget war epicThe Longest Day (1962),[31] an accurate account of theAllied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, with a huge international cast, into release as another source of quick cash. This offended Zanuck, still 20th Century-Fox's largest shareholder, for whomThe Longest Day was a labor of love that he had dearly wanted to produce for many years. After it became clear thatSomething's Got to Give would not be able to progress without Monroe in the lead (Martin had refused to work with anyone else), Skouras finally decided that re-signing her was unavoidable. But days before filming was due to resume,she was found dead at her Los Angeles home and the picture resumed filming asMove Over, Darling, withDoris Day andJames Garner in the leads. Released in 1963, the film was a hit.[34] The unfinished scenes fromSomething's Got to Give were shelved for nearly 40 years. Rather than being rushed into release as if it were a B-picture,The Longest Day was lovingly and carefully produced under Zanuck's supervision. It was finally released at a length of three hours and was well received.
At the next board meeting, Zanuck spoke for eight hours, convincing directors that Skouras was mismanaging the company and that he was the only possible successor. Zanuck was installed as chairman, and then named his sonRichard Zanuck as president.[35] This new management group seizedCleopatra and rushed it to completion, shut down the studio, laid off the entire staff to save money, axed the long-runningMovietone Newsreel (the archives of which are now owned byFox News), and made a series of cheap, popular pictures that restored 20th Century-Fox as a major studio. The saving grace for the studio's fortunes came from the tremendous success ofThe Sound of Music (1965),[36] an expensive and handsomely produced film adaptation of thehighly acclaimed Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, which became a significant success at the box office and won fiveAcademy Awards, includingBest Director (Robert Wise) andBest Picture of the Year.
Zanuck stayed on as chairman until 1971, but there were several expensive flops in his last years, resulting in 20th Century-Fox posting losses from 1969 to 1971. Following his removal and replacement byDennis Stanfill as chairman, and after an uncertain period, new management brought 20th Century-Fox back to health. Under presidentGordon T. Stulberg and production headAlan Ladd, Jr., 20th Century-Fox films connected with modern audiences. Board chairman Dennis Stanfill used the profits to acquire resort properties, soft-drink bottlers,Australian theaters and other properties in an attempt to diversify enough to offset the boom-or-bust cycle of picture-making.
Foreshadowing a pattern of film production still yet to come, in late 1973 20th Century-Fox partnered with Warner Bros. to co-produceThe Towering Inferno (1974),[37] an all-star action blockbuster from producerIrwin Allen. Both studios found themselves owning the rights to books about burning skyscrapers. Allen insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios and announced that as 20th Century-Fox was already in the lead with their property it would be career suicide to have competing movies. Thus the first joint-venture studio deal was struck. In hindsight, while it may be commonplace now, back in the 1970s, it was a risky, but revolutionary, idea that paid off handsomely at both domestic and international box offices around the world.
20th Century-Fox's success reached new heights by backing the most profitable film made up to that time,Star Wars (1977). Substantial financial gains were realized as a result of the film's unprecedented success: from a low of $6 in June 1976, stock prices more than quadrupled to almost $27 afterStar Wars release; 1976 revenues of $195 million rose to $301 million in 1977.[38]
In 1982, the company decided to try on capitalizing the video game industry by forming the company's first video game division, Fox Video Games, in order to sell cartridges for consoles and computers, under the "Games of the Century" slogan, but the division failed due to thevideo game crash of 1983.[40]
By 1984, Rich had become a fugitive from justice, having fled to Switzerland after being charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with tax evasion, racketeering and illegal trading with Iran during theIran hostage crisis. Rich's assets were frozen by U.S. authorities.[41] In 1984Marvin Davis bought outMarc Rich's 50% interest in 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation for an undisclosed amount,[41] reported to be $116 million.[42] Davis sold this interest toRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation for $250 million in March 1985. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchaseJohn Kluge's Metromedia television stations.[42] Murdoch went ahead alone and bought the stations, and later bought out Davis' remaining stake in 20th Century-Fox for $325 million.[42] From 1985, thehyphen was permanently deleted from the brand name, with20th Century-Fox changing to20th Century Fox.[43][44]
To gain FCC approval of 20th Century-Fox's purchase ofMetromedia's television holdings, once the stations of the long-dissolvedDuMont network, Murdoch had to become a U.S. citizen. He did so in 1985, and in 1986 the newFox Broadcasting Company took to the air. Over the next 20-odd years the network and owned-stations group expanded to become extremely profitable for News Corporation. Then in 1993, 20th Century Fox bought the superhero rights to theX-Men, while theFantastic Four was bought in 1998. ThenBryan Singer directed thefirst film and thesecond film, whileBrett Ratner was hired to direct thethird film of the original trilogy.
In August 1997, Fox's Los Angeles-based visual effects company, VIFX, acquiredmajority interest inBlue Sky Studios to form a new visual effects and animation company, temporarily renamed "Blue Sky/VIFX".[52] Blue Sky had previously did the character animation of MTV Films' first filmJoe's Apartment.Following the studio's expansion, Blue Sky produced character animation for the filmsAlien Resurrection,A Simple Wish,Mouse Hunt,Star Trek: Insurrection andFight Club.[53] VIFX was later sold to another VFX studioRhythm and Hues Studios in March 1999.[54] According to Blue Sky founderChris Wedge, Fox considered selling Blue Sky as well by 2000 due to financial difficulties in the visual effects industry in general.
In February 1998, following the success of Fox Animation Studios' first filmAnastasia, Fox Family Films changed its name toFox Animation Studios and dropped its live action production. which would be picked up by other production units.[55] The actual Fox Animation Studios would become a division of the formerly-named Fox Family Films, being referred to as the Phoenix studio. However, Fox Animation Studios in Los Angeles would be renamed to20th Century Fox Animation between 1998 and 1999. The Phoenix studio would face financial problems, eventually with Fox laying off 300 of the nearly 380 people who worked at the Phoenix studio[56] to "make films more efficiently". After the box-office failure ofTitan A.E., Fox Animation Studios would shut down on June 26, 2000.[57][58][59] Their last film set to be made would have been an adaptation ofWayne Barlowe's illustrated novelBarlowe's Inferno, and was set to be done entirely withcomputer animation.[60] Another film they would have made wasThe Little Beauty King, an adult animated film directed bySteve Oedekerk, which would have been a satire of the films from theDisney Renaissance. It would predateShrek (2001).[61]
Chris Wedge, film producer Lori Forte, and Fox Animation executiveChris Meledandri presented Fox with a script for a comedy feature film titledIce Age.[62] Studio management pressured staff to sell their remaining shares and options to Fox on the promise of continued employment on feature-length films. The studio moved to White Plains, New York and started production onIce Age. As the film wrapped, Fox, having little faith in the film, feared that it might bomb at the box office. Fox terminated half of the production staff and tried unsuccessfully to find a buyer for the film and the studio.[citation needed] Instead,Ice Age was released by Fox in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Animation on March 15, 2002, to critical and commercial success, receiving a nomination for anAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature at the75th Academy Awards in 2003.[63]Ice Age would spawn afranchise and bolsterBlue Sky into producing feature films and becoming ahousehold name in feature animation.
From 2000 to 2010, 20th Century Fox was the international distributor forMGM/UA releases. In the 1980s, 20th Century Fox – through a joint venture withCBS calledCBS/Fox Video – had distributed certain UA films on video; thus UA has come full circle by switching to 20th Century Fox for video distribution. 20th Century Fox also makes money distributing films for small independent film companies.
In late 2006,Fox Atomic was started up[64] underFox Searchlight headPeter Rice and COO John Hegeman[65] as a sibling production division under Fox Filmed Entertainment.[64] In early 2008, Atomic's marketing unit was transferred to Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox, when Hegeman moved to New Regency Productions. Debbie Liebling became president. After two middling successes and falling short with other films, the unit was shut down in April 2009. The remaining films under its Atomic label in production and post-productions were transferred to 20th Century Fox and Fox Spotlight with Liebling overseeing them.[65]
In 2008, 20th Century Fox announced an Asian subsidiary,Fox STAR Studios, a joint venture withSTAR TV, also owned by News Corporation. It was reported that Fox STAR would start by producing films for theBollywood market, then expand to several Asian markets.[66] In the same year, 20th Century Fox startedFox International Productions, but the division was closed in 2017.[67]
Chernin Entertainment was founded by Peter Chernin after he stepped down as president of 20th Century Fox's then-parent company News Corporation. in 2009.[68] Chernin Entertainment's five-yearfirst-look deal for the film and television was signed with 20th Century Fox and 20th Century Fox TV in 2009.[69]
21st Century Fox era
On June 28, 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation would be split into two publishing and media-oriented companies: anew News Corporation and21st Century Fox, which operated theFox Entertainment Group and 20th Century Fox. Murdoch considered the name of the new company a way to maintain the 20th Century Fox heritage.[70][71]
Fox Stage Productions was formed in June 2013.[72] In August, the same year, 20th Century Fox started a theatrical joint venture with a trio of producers, both film and theater,Kevin McCollum,John Davis and Tom McGrath.[73]
On September 20, 2017,Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, who would distribute Locksmith's films under20th Century Fox Animation, with Locksmith aiming to release a film every 12–18 months. The deal was to bolster Blue Sky's output and replace the loss of distributingDreamWorks Animation films, which are now owned and distributed byUniversal Pictures, followingNBCUniversal's 2016 acquisition.[74] The first film to be released under the production company wasRon's Gone Wrong, which was released on October 22, 2021, by 20th Century Studios and was the only film to be released by the studio.
Technoprops, a VFX company that worked onAvatar andThe Jungle Book, was purchased in April 2017 to operate as Fox VFX Lab. Technoprops' founder Glenn Derry would continue to run the company as vice president of visual effect reporting to Gerard Bevan and John Kilkenny, VFX president.[75]
On October 30, 2017, Vanessa Morrison was named president of a newly created 20th Century Fox division, Fox Family, reporting to the chairman & CEO and Vice Chairman of 20th Century Fox. The family division would develop films that appeal to younger moviegoers and their parents both animated films and films with live-action elements. Also, the division would oversee the studio's family animated television business, which produces holiday television specials based on existing film properties, and oversee feature film adaptation of its TV shows.[76] To replace Morrison at Fox Animation, Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird were named co-presidents of 20th Century Fox Animation.[77]
20th Century Fox issued a default notice in regards to its licensing agreement for the under-construction20th Century Fox World theme park in Malaysia by Genting Malaysia Bhd. In November 2018 Genting Malaysia filed suit in response and included soon to be parentthe Walt Disney Company.[78]
On December 14, 2017, Disney announced plans to purchase most of 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion.[79] After a bid fromComcast (owner ofNBCUniversal) for $65 billion, Disney counterbid with $71.3 billion.[80] 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 21st Century Fox shareholders approved the merger between the two companies.[10] Although the deal was completed on March 20, 2019,[81][82] 20th Century Fox was not planning to relocate toWalt Disney Studios inBurbank, but retained its headquarters at the Fox Studio Lot in theCentury City area of Los Angeles, which is currently leased to Disney by 21st Century Fox's successor,Fox Corporation, for seven years.[7] Various units were moved out from under 20th Century Fox at acquisition in months after the merger along with several rounds of layoffs. The Fox Research Library was folded into the Walt Disney Archives andWalt Disney Imagineering Archives in January 2020.[83][84] The last film to use the "20th Century Fox" name wasUnderwater, which was released on January 10, 2020.
On January 17, 2020, Disney renamed the studio to "20th Century Studios", which served to help avoid brand confusion with Fox Corporation.[87] Similar to other Disney film units, distribution of 20th Century Studios films is now handled in North America byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and internationally by their sub-divisionBuena Vista International, whileSearchlight Pictures operates their own autonomous distribution and marketing unit.[8][88]Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes the films produced by 20th Century and Searchlight in home media under the20th Century Home Entertainment label. The first film released by Disney under the studio's new name wasThe Call of the Wild, which was released on February 21, 2020.[11] That same year,Ford vs. Ferrari (2019), among its four Academy Award nominations, earned the studio its first Best Picture nomination post-Disney acquisition.
In the same year, held-over production president Emma Watts left the company.[89] On March 12, 2020, Steve Asbell was named president, production of 20th Century Studios, while Morrison was named president, streaming, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production to oversee live-action development and production ofWalt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Studios forDisney+. Philip Steuer will now lead physical and post-production and VFX, as president of production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production. Randi Hiller will now lead casting as executive VP casting, overseeing both Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Studios. Steuer has served as executive VP of physical production for Walt Disney Studios since 2015, and Hiller has led casting for Walt Disney Studios since 2011. Both will dual-report to Asbell andSean Bailey.[90]
On February 9, 2021, Disney announced thatBlue Sky Studios was shut down in April 2021, and was succeeded by20th Century Animation.[92][93] A spokesperson for the company explained that in light of the ongoingCoronavirus pandemic's continued economic impact on all of its businesses, it was no longer sustainable for them to run a third feature animation studio. In addition, production on a film adaptation of the webcomicNimona,[94] originally scheduled to be released on January 14, 2022, was cancelled as a result of its closure. The studio's film library and intellectual properties are retained by Disney. Although Disney did not give an exact date as to when the studio would be closing down initially, former animator Rick Fournier confirmed on April 10 it was their last day of operation,[95] three days after founder Chris Wedge released a farewell letter on social media.[96]Nimona would be picked up byAnnapurna Pictures in early 2022 for release onNetflix in 2023.[97]
A horizontal version of 20th Century Studios' current print logo, used for branding films (mainlyHulu/Star originals produced by them). The first film to use this wasVacation Friends.
On November 22, 2021,Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution andWarnerMedia reached an agreement to allow select 20th Century Studios films be shared betweenDisney+,Hulu, andHBO Max through late 2022. The new agreement negotiated by Gerard Devan and John Gelke is an amendment to the original agreement between 20th Century Fox and HBO that Disney inherited after its acquisition of Fox in 2019, and as such, is not expected to be renewed. Following the end of the 20th Century-HBO deal, Disney plans to retain the 20th Century films on their own streaming platforms going forward after 2022.[98] The first film to this new strategy wasRon's Gone Wrong. Also in 2021, Disney had launched a video game based-studio 20th Century Games. Similar to its predecessors—FoxNext,Fox Interactive and 20th Century Fox Games—it acts as a distributor and has partnered with other triple-A game studios. Its first title wasAliens: Fireteam Elite.[99]
On February 8, 2022, Steven Spielberg's 2021 film version ofWest Side Story, among its seven Academy Award nominations, earned 20th Century Studios its first Best Picture nomination post-rebranding.[100]
In March 2023, it was announced thatMarvel Comics would be launching a 20th Century Studios imprint, which will release comics based on 20th Century franchises. The first comic under the label would be aPlanet of the Apes comic.[101]
On February 26, 2024,Walt Disney Pictures presidentSean Bailey was announced to be stepping down, with Searchlight Pictures president David Greenbaum assuming his position. Greenbaum will lead Walt Disney Pictures and co-lead 20th Century with Steve Asbell as president.[102]
20th Television is the television production division of 20th Century Studios. It was known as 20th Century Fox Television until it adopted the 20th Television name in 2020. The original 20th Television was the studio'stelevision syndication division until it was folded intoDisney-ABC Domestic Television in 2020.[103]
During the mid-1950s, feature films were released to television in the hope that they would broaden sponsorship and help the distribution of network programs. Blocks of one-hour programming of feature films to national sponsors on 128 stations were organized by 20th Century Fox andNational Telefilm Associates. 20th Century Fox received 50% interest in theNTA Film Network after it sold its library to National Telefilm Associates. This gave 90 minutes of cleared time a week and syndicated feature films (under the package title "Premiere Performance") to 110 non-interconnected stations for sale to national sponsors.[104]
Buyout of Four Star
Fox bought out the remaining assets ofFour Star Television fromRonald Perelman'sCompact Video in 1996.[105] The majority ofFour Star Television's library of programs are controlled by20th Television today.[106][107][108] After Murdoch's numerous buyouts during thebuyout era of the eighties, News Corporation had built up financial debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK), despite the many assets that were held by NewsCorp.[109] The high levels of debt caused Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s.
Between 1933 and 1937, a custom record label calledFox Movietone was produced starting at F-100 and running through F-136. It featured songs from 20th Century Fox movies, first using material recorded and issued onVictor'sBluebird label and halfway through switched to material recorded and issued onARC's dime store labels (Melotone, Perfect, etc.). These scarce records were sold only at Fox Theaters.
The music arm of 20th Century Fox,20th Century Fox Records, was founded in 1958. It would go defunct in 1981.
TheNewman Scoring Stage, named after composer Alfred Newman, is a large scoring studio located on the Fox Studio Lot, spanning almost 700 square meters, and is one of the largest music recording spaces in the world.[110] It is also equipped with a 96 Channel AMS Neve 88RS-SP mixing console.
Radio
TheTwentieth Century Fox Presents radio series[111] were broadcast between 1936 and 1942. More often than not, the shows were a radio preview featuring a medley of the songs and soundtracks from the latest movie being released into the theaters, much like the modern-day movie trailers we now see on TV, to encourage folks to head down to their nearest Picture House.
The radio shows featured the original stars, with the announcer narrating a lead-up that encapsulated the performance.
Motion picture film processing
From its earliest ventures into movie production,Fox Film Corporation operated its own processing laboratories. The original lab was located inFort Lee, New Jersey along with the studios. A lab was included with the new studio built in Los Angeles in 1916.[112] Headed byAlan E. Freedman, the Fort Lee lab was moved into the new Fox Studios building in Manhattan in 1919.[113] In 1932, Freedman bought the labs from Fox for $2,000,000 to bolster what at that time was a failing Fox liquidity.[114][115] He renamed the operation "DeLuxe Laboratories," which much later becameDeluxe Entertainment Services Group. In the 1940s Freedman sold the labs back to what was then 20th Century Fox and remained as president into the 1960s. Under Freedman's leadership, DeLuxe added two more labs in Chicago and Toronto and processed film from studios other than Fox, such asUA andUniversal.
Divisions
Current
20th Century Family is an American family-friendly production division of 20th Century Studios. Besides family-friendly theatrical films, the division oversees mixed media (live-action with animation), family animated holiday television specials based on film properties, and film features based on TV shows. On October 30, 2017, Morrison was transferred from her post as president of 20th Century Animation, the prior Fox Family Films, to be president of a newly created 20th Century Fox division, Fox Family, which as a mandate similar to Fox Family Films. The division's president also pick up supervision of aBob's Burgers film[76] and some existing deals with animation producers done via Gerard Bevan and Andy Watts, including Tonko House.[116] With the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney in March 2019, rights toThe Dam Keeper feature animated film returned to Tonko House.[117] With the August 2019 20th Century Foxslate overhaul announcement, 20th Century Fox properties such asStar Wars,Home Alone,Night at the Museum,Diary of a Wimpy Kid,Cheaper by the Dozen, and theIce Age spin-off have been assigned forDisney+ release and assigned to 20th Century Family.[85] On March 12, 2020, Morrison was named president, Streaming, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production to oversee live action development and production and 20th Century Studios for Disney+.[90]
20th Century Animation is an Americananimation studio organized as a division of 20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. Originally formed in 1994 as its subsidiary, it is tasked with producing feature-length films. At one point divisions wereFox Animation Studios until 2000 andBlue Sky Studios until 2021. Its successful films and franchises include Don Bluth'sAnastasia,The Simpsons Movie, and Blue Sky'sIce Age andRio film series.
20th Century Games is an American video game licensor that was founded in 2021.[99] Beforehand, Fox and later Disney used the standard 20th Century Fox/Studios brand for licensing video games. Before that, Fox had their own publishing division—Fox Interactive (which was best known forCroc,No One Lives Forever,The Simpsons andFuturama games) which was founded in 1994 and sold toVivendi Universal Games in March 2003 and later dissolved in 2006.
20th Digital Studio was an American web series and web films production and distribution company, founded in 2008 as adigital media, and is a subsidiary of 20th Century Studios. The division was dissolved in April 2023.[120]
Fox Studios was a former group of three major movie studios, each part of the defunctFox Entertainment Group. The three film studios wereFox Studios Australia in Sydney, Australia,Fox Studios Baja in Lower California and the oldest studio, Fox Studios inCentury City, home of 20th Century Fox. Disney continues to own Fox Studios Australia, now known asDisney Studios Australia. Fox Entertainment Group sold off theBaja Studios in 2007, and the Century City studios were retained byFox Corporation, although Disney remains a major tenant at the facility.
Fox Atomic is a former youth-focused film production company and division of Fox Filmed Entertainment that operated from 2006 to April 2009. Atomic was originally paired with either 20th Century Fox or itsFox Searchlight division under their same, respective leadership. In late 2006, Fox Atomic was started up[64] under Fox Searchlight headPeter Rice and COO John Hegeman[65] as a sibling production division under Fox Filmed Entertainment.[64] Debbie Liebling transferred to Fox Atomic in 2007 from Fox.[65] In January 2008, Atomic's marketing unit was transferred to Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox,[127] when Hegeman moved toRegency Enterprises. Debbie Liebling became president. After two middling successes and falling short with other films, the unit was shut down in April 2009. The remaining films under Atomic in production and post-productions were transferred to 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight with Liebling overseeing them.[65]
Fox Faith is a former evangelical Christian-based film production company and division of Fox Filmed Entertainment that operated from 2006 to 2010. In addition to being paired with 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight, it was also paired with Fox'shome video division, though has had theatrical limited release agreements withAMC Theatres andCarmike Theatres chains.[128] Fox Faith was considered from the studio as "morally-driven, family-friendly programming," and requires them to "have overt Christian [c]ontent or be derived from the work of a Christian author."[129] Faith was located in theRepublic of Palau within the Pacific Ocean until 2010 when the company ceased operations and was formed as 20th Century Fox Palau. Its final film,Mama, I Want to Sing!, was filmed in 2009, but was shelved until 2012 due to the studio's closure.
20th Century Fox Consumer Products (also known asFox Consumer Products) is a former American merchandising company founded in 1995 and is 20th Century Fox's merchandise division. In 2019,20th Century Fox Consumer Products was folded intoDisney Consumer Products. TCFCP is the management of the rights derived from films and television series produced by the group. it used to license and market properties worldwide on behalf of 20th Century Fox,20th Century Fox Television andFX Networks, as well as third party lines. The division was aligned with20th Century Fox Television, the flagship studio leading the industry in supplying award-winning and blockbuster primetime television programming and entertainment content and 20th Century Fox, one of the world's largest producers and distributors of motion pictures throughout the world. 20th Century Fox Consumer Products engaged in merchandising of the Fox brand and Fox properties.
Fox Stage Productions is the former Broadway-style music show branch founded in June 2013 by the21st Century Fox conglomerate. after the acquisition in 2019, Fox Stage Productions was shut down to make way forBuena Vista Theatrical on July 3, 2019.
Fox International Productions is the former division of 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) in charge of local production in 12 territories in China, Europe, India and Latin America from 2008 to 2017. In 2008, 20th Century Fox started Fox International Productions under president Sanford Panitch. The company had $900 million in box-office receipts by the time Panitch left the company forSony Pictures on June 2, 2015.[67] Co-president of worldwide theatrical marketing and distribution for 20th Century Fox Tomas Jegeus was named president of Fox International Productions effective September 1, 2015.[130] The company struck a development and production deal in November 2015 with Zhejiang Huace, a Chinese entertainment group.[131] In December 2017, 20th Century Fox film chairman-CEO Stacey Snider indicated that Fox International Productions would be dissolved in favor of each local and regional offices producing or acquiring projects.[132]
20th Century Fox International is the former international division of 20th Century Fox, responsible for the distribution of films outside the United States and indirectly for the distribution of home videos and DVDs.
The 20th Century-Foxproduction logo and fanfare (as seen in 1947)
The 20th Century Foxproduction logo andfanfare originated as the logo ofTwentieth Century Pictures and was adopted by 20th Century-Fox after the merger in 1935. It consists of a stackedblock-letter three-dimensional,monolithiclogotype (nicknamed "the Monument") surrounded byArt deco buildings and illuminated bysearchlights.[133] In the production logo that appears at the start of films, the searchlights are animated and the sequence is accompanied by a distinctivefanfare that was originally composed in 1933 byAlfred Newman.[134] The original layout of the logo was designed by special effects animator and matte painting artistEmil Kosa Jr.[135][136]
In 1953, Rocky Longo, an artist atPacific Title, was hired to recreate the original logo design for the newCinemaScope picture process. Longo tilted the "0" in "20th" to have the logo maintain proportions in the wider CinemaScope format.[137] Alfred Newman also composed an extended version of the logo's fanfare to be heard during the CinemaScope logo that would follow after the Fox logo. Although the format had since declined, directorGeorge Lucas specifically requested that the CinemaScope version of the fanfare be used for the opening titles ofStar Wars (1977). Additionally, the film'smain theme was composed byJohn Williams in the same key as the fanfare (B♭ major), serving as an extension to it of sorts.[138][139] In 1981, the logo was altered with the re-straightening of the "0" in "20th".[137]
In 1994, after a few failed attempts, Fox in-house television producerKevin Burns was hired to produce a new logo for the company, this time using the then-new process ofcomputer-generated imagery (CGI) adding more detail and animation, with the longer 21-second Fox fanfare arranged byBruce Broughton used as the underscore, and a byline reading "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY". It would later be re-recorded byDavid Newman in 1997 and again in 1998.[137][139]
In 2009, an updated logo created byBlue Sky Studios (a prototype version of the 2009 structure exists) debuted with the release ofAvatar.[137] In 2013, the News Corporation byline was removed.
On September 16, 2014, 20th Century Fox posted a video showcasing all of the various versions of the logo, plus the "William Fox Presents" version of the Fox Film logo and the 20th Century Pictures logo, including some variations, up until the 2009 version of the logo, with the 1998 re-arrangement version of the 1997 version of the fanfare composed by David Newman, to promote the new Fox Movies website.[140]
On January 17, 2020, it was reported that Disney had begun to phase out the "Fox" name from the studio's branding as it is no longer tied to the currentFox Corporation, with 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures respectively renamed to 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures. Branding elements associated with the studio, including the searchlights, monolith, and fanfare, will remain in use. The first film that carries the new 20th Century Studios name isThe Call of the Wild (coincidentallythe original film adaptation was the originalTwentieth Century Pictures' final movie before its merger with Fox Film).[141][11][142]
The 20th Century Studios logo and fanfare in use since the studio's re-branding in 2020.
For the 20th Century Studios logo, its print logo debuted on a movie poster ofThe New Mutants[143][144] while the on-screen logo debuted in a television advertisement for and the full version debuted on February 21, 2020, with the filmThe Call of the Wild.[145]
In 2020, 20th Century Studios logo was animated by Picturemill (the prototype version of the 2020 structure and the 2021 structure with the 2009 sky background exists and appeared in some of Picturemill reels), while MOCEAN animated Searchlight Pictures logo, based on Blue Sky Studios' animation. It features a different sky backdrop, theLos Angeles skyline is larger and more detailed, and the rest of the structure appears darker with more realistic lighting.[146][147]
^abD'Alessandro, Anthony (January 30, 2020)."Emma Watts Leaves Disney's 20th Century Studios".Deadline. RetrievedFebruary 3, 2020.Post-merger, Fox Searchlight, now re-branded Searchlight Pictures, enjoys a lot of autonomy in the Disney empire, greenlighting pics they know and operating their own distribution, publicity and marketing teams. 20th Century Studios (which recently dropped the Fox) was melded into the bigger Disney fold, fusing all its operations.
^"The 75th Academy Awards, 2003". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 5, 2014.Archived from the original on April 17, 2018. RetrievedJune 10, 2018.
(First Edition)Custen, George F. (1997).Twentieth Century's Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Culture of Hollywood. New York City:Basic Books.ISBN978-0-465-07619-2.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias (2013).Spyros P. Skouras, Memoirs (1893–1953). United States: Brave World.ISBN978-0-615-76949-3.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias (2013).CinemaScope: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive. United States: Brave World.ISBN978-0-615-89880-3.
Chrissochoidis, Ilias (2013).The Cleopatra Files: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive. United States: Brave World.ISBN978-0-615-82919-7.
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