 | |
| Industry | Film |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 26, 1933; 92 years ago (1933-06-26) |
| Founders | Joseph Schenck Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Defunct | May 31, 1935; 90 years ago (1935-05-31) |
| Fate | Merged withFox Film Corporation |
| Successor | 20th Century-Fox |
Twentieth Century Pictures, Inc. was an AmericanindependentHollywood motion picture production company created in 1933 byJoseph Schenck (the former president ofUnited Artists) andDarryl F. Zanuck fromWarner Bros. Pictures (and co-founded byWilliam Goetz fromFox Studios, andRaymond Griffith). The company product was distributed theatrically underUnited Artists (UA), and leased space atSamuel Goldwyn Studios.[1]
Schenck and Zanuck left UA over a stock dispute and began to negotiate with theFox Film Corporation and the two companies merged that spring, becomingTwentieth Century-Fox in 1935.
Following an industry salary dispute in 1933, Zanuck quit Warner Bros. in April when Warners refused to comply with theAcademy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' decision to restore salary cuts.[2] On April 18, Zanuck announced that he and Schenck were planning a new production company with Schenck as President and Zanuck in charge of production. They planned to use United Artists' production facilities and release films through them.[3] They soon announced that the company was to be called Twentieth Century Pictures Inc. and would start studio activities from June 1, 1933 and they planned to make 12 films, with the first three to start filming by the middle of July at the latest.[4][5] In May,William Goetz was appointed as Zanuck's executive assistant andRaymond Griffith as production supervisor.[6] The new company acquiredMichael L. Simmons' bookChuck Connors, which became their first production.[7] It was also their first release on October 7, 1933 under the title,The Bowery. Their initial stars under contract wereGeorge Arliss,Constance Bennett,Wallace Beery,George Raft andLoretta Young;[8] however the Goetz connection meant that talent could be borrowed from MGM.Raoul Walsh,Gregory La Cava,Sidney Lanfield andWalter Lang were signed as directors.[8]
Financial backing came from Schenck's younger brotherNicholas Schenck, president ofLoew's, the theater chain that ownedMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),Louis B. Mayer of MGM, who wanted a position for his son-in-law, Goetz,Bank of America andHerbert J. Yates[9] owner of the film processing laboratoryConsolidated Film Industries, who later foundedRepublic Pictures Corporation in 1935.[9][10]
In addition toChuck Connors, early stories purchased wereRowland Brown'sBlood Money,Ralph Graves'Born to Be Bad andNathanael West'sMiss Lonelyhearts (released asAdvice to the Lovelorn).[8]The company was successful from the very beginning; out of their first 18 films, only one,Born to Be Bad, was not a financial success.[11] Their 1934 production,The House of Rothschild was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Picture. In 1935, they produced the classic filmLes Misérables, fromVictor Hugo's novel, which was also nominated for Best Picture.
In the winter of 1934, Zanuck began to negotiate with the UA board to acquire stock of the company and become a board member, but became outraged by UA's co-founderMary Pickford's refusal to reward Twentieth Century with the company's stock, fearing it would have diluted the value of holdings by another UA stockholder and co-founder,D.W. Griffith. Schenck, who had been a UA stockholder for over ten years, resigned from United Artists in protest of the shoddy treatment of Twentieth Century, and Zanuck; thus began discussions with other distributors, which led to talks with the bankrupt Fox Studios of theFox Film Corporation in the early spring of 1935. Fox Film had begun in the silent era in 1915 under founderWilliam Fox.
Twentieth Century Pictures merged with Fox Studios in 1935 to form20th Century-Fox (the hyphen was dropped half a century later in 1985 under AustralianRupert Murdoch), and in 2019 was acquired byThe Walt Disney Company as part ofDisney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox's owner and renamed "20th Century Studios" in 2020. For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have been founded in 1915. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary. However, in recent years it has now claimed the 1935 merger as its founding date.[12]
