Page semi-protected

20th Century Fox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This article is about the film studio. For other uses, see 20th Century Fox (disambiguation).
"Twentieth Century Fox" redirects here. For the Doors song, see Twentieth Century Fox (song).
"Fox Studios" redirects here. For the movie studio in Sydney, Australia, see Fox Studios Australia.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Subsidiary
IndustryFilm
Predecessor
FoundedMay 31, 1935; 84 years ago (1935-05-31)
Founders
HeadquartersFox Plaza
2121 Avenue of the Stars,
Century City, Los Angeles, California
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Emma Watts
(vice chair, president)
ProductsMotion pictures, television films
Number of employees
2,300 (2018)
ParentWalt Disney Studios (The Walt Disney Company)
Divisions
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.foxmovies.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3]

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (colloquial: Twentieth Century Fox; 20th Century Fox; 20th; Fox) is an American film studio that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company.[4] The studio is located on the Fox lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles.

For over 83 years, it was one of the "Big Six" major American film studios; formed from the merger of the Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935. In 1985, the studio was acquired by News Corporation, which was succeeded by 21st Century Fox in 2013 following the spin-off of its publishing assets. In 2019, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox through its merger with 21st Century Fox.[5] Starting with Breakthrough, all studio releases will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Disney also now owns the rights to the studio's pre-merger film library (with the exception of films originally released by Fox and subsequently sold to other studios, such as the 2013–2017 DreamWorks Animation library, which is now owned by Universal Pictures, and the Movietone News library of newsreels, which is owned by Fox News).

History

Founding

See also: Fox Film and Twentieth Century Pictures
Carmen Miranda in The Gang's All Here. In 1946, she was the highest-paid actress in the United States.[6]
Alice Faye, Don Ameche, and Carmen Miranda in That Night in Rio, produced by Fox in 1941.
From the 1952 film Viva Zapata!
The entrance to 20th Century Fox's studio lot.

Twentieth Century Pictures' Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck left United Artists over a stock dispute, and began merger talks with the management of financially struggling Fox Film, under President Sidney Kent.[7][8] Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters, helped make it happen (and later became president of the new company).[7] The company had been struggling since founder William Fox lost control of the company in 1930.[9]

The new company, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31, 1935. Kent remained at the company, joining Schenck and Zanuck.[8] Zanuck replaced Winfield Sheehan as the company's production chief.[10]

The company established a special training school. Lynn Bari, Patricia Farr and Anne 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.[11]

For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have been founded in 1915, the year Fox Film was founded. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary. However, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915.[12]

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.

After the merger was completed, Zanuck signed young actors to help carry 20th Century-Fox: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Sonja Henie, and Betty Grable. Fox also hired Alice Faye and Shirley Temple, who appeared in several major films for the studio in the 1930's.[13][14] Higher attendance during World War II helped Fox overtake RKO and Metro-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 production of U.S. Army training films. His partner, William Goetz, filled in at Fox.[15]

In 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio.[16] During the next few years, with pictures like The Razor's Edge, Wilson, Gentleman's Agreement, The Snake Pit, Boomerang, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams' Leave Her to Heaven (1945), starring Gene Tierney, which was the highest-grossing Fox film of the 1940s. Fox also produced film versions of Broadway musicals, including the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, beginning with the musical version of State Fair (1945), the only work that the partnership wrote especially for films.

After the war, and with the advent of television, 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.[17] That year, with attendance at half the 1946 level, 20th Century-Fox gambled on an unproven gimmick. Noting that the two film sensations of 1952 had been Cinerama, 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, Fox mortgaged its studio to buy rights to a French anamorphic projection system which gave a slight illusion of depth without glasses. President Spyros Skouras struck a deal with the inventor Henri Chrétien, leaving the other film studios empty-handed, and in 1953 introduced CinemaScope in the studio's groundbreaking feature film The Robe.[18]

Zanuck announced in February 1953 that henceforth all Fox pictures would be made in CinemaScope.[19] To convince theater owners to install this new process, Fox agreed to help pay conversion costs (about $25,000 per screen); and to ensure enough product, Fox gave access to CinemaScope to any rival studio choosing to use it. Seeing the box-office for the first two CinemaScope features, The Robe and How to Marry a Millionaire (also 1953), Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Pictures (then known as Universal-International), Columbia Pictures and Disney quickly adopted the process. In 1956 Fox engaged Robert Lippert to establish a subsidiary company, Regal Pictures, later Associated Producers Incorporated to film B pictures in CinemaScope (but "branded" RegalScope). Fox produced new musicals using the CinemaScope process including Carousel and The King and I (both 1956).

CinemaScope brought a brief upturn in attendance, but by 1956 the numbers again began to slide.[20][21] 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

Zanuck's successor, producer Buddy Adler, died a year later.[22] President Spyros Skouras brought in a series of production executives, but none had Zanuck's success. By the early 1960s, Fox was in trouble. A new version of Cleopatra had begun in 1959 with Joan Collins in the lead.[23] As a publicity gimmick, producer Walter Wanger offered $1 million to Elizabeth Taylor if she would star;[23] she accepted and costs for Cleopatra 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 on Cleopatra.

Meanwhile, another remake — of the 1940 Cary Grant hit My Favorite Wife — was rushed into production in an attempt to turn over a quick profit to help keep Fox afloat. The romantic comedy entitled Something's Got to Give paired Marilyn Monroe, Fox's most bankable star of the 1950s, with Dean Martin and director George Cukor. The troubled Monroe caused delays on a daily basis, and it quickly descended into a costly debacle. As Cleopatra's budget passed $10 million, eventually costing around $40 million, Fox sold its back lot (now the site of Century City) to Alcoa in 1961 to raise cash. 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 chronic sinusitis, Monroe was fired from Something's Got to Give[23] and two months later she was found dead. According to Fox files she was rehired within weeks for a two-picture deal totaling $1 million, $500,000 to finish Something's Got to Give (plus a bonus at completion), and another $500,000 for What a Way to Go. Elizabeth Taylor's disruptive[neutrality is disputed] reign on the Cleopatra set continued unchallenged from 1960 into 1962, though three Fox executives went to Rome in June 1962 to fire her. They learned that director Joseph L. Mankiewicz had filmed out of sequence and had only done interiors, so 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, including Jayne Mansfield.[24][25]

With few pictures on the schedule, Skouras wanted to rush Zanuck's big-budget war epic The Longest Day (1962),[23] a highly accurate account of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, with a huge international cast, into release as another source of quick cash. This offended Zanuck, still Fox's largest shareholder, for whom The Longest Day was a labor of love that he had dearly wanted to produce for many years. After it became clear that Something'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 as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner in the leads. Released in 1963, the film was a hit.[26] The unfinished scenes from Something'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 son Richard Zanuck as president.[27] This new management group seized Cleopatra and rushed it to completion, shut down the studio, laid off the entire staff to save money, axed the long-running Movietone Newsreel, and made a series of cheap, popular pictures that restored Fox as a major studio. The saving grace for the studio's fortunes came from the tremendous success of The Sound of Music (1965),[28] an expensive and handsomely produced film adaptation of the highly acclaimed Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, which became a significant success at the box office and won five Academy Awards, including Best Director (Robert Wise) and Best Picture of the Year.

Fox also had two big science-fiction hits in the 1960s: Fantastic Voyage (1966), and the original Planet of the Apes (1968), starring Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter, and Roddy McDowall. Fantastic Voyage was the last film made in CinemaScope, which was ultimately replaced by Panavision lenses.

Zanuck stayed on as chairman until 1971, but there were several expensive flops in his last years, resulting in Fox posting losses from 1969 to 1971. Following his removal, and after an uncertain period, new management brought Fox back to health. Under president Gordon T. Stulberg and production head Alan Ladd, Jr., Fox films connected with modern audiences. Stulberg 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 joined forces with Warner Bros. to co-produce The Towering Inferno (1974),[29] an all-star action blockbuster from producer Irwin 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 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.

In 1977 Fox's success reached new heights and produced the most profitable film made up to that time, Star Wars. 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 after Star Wars' release; 1976 revenues of $195 million rose to $301 million in 1977.[30]

Marvin Davis and Rupert Murdoch

Main articles: Rupert Murdoch, List of 20th Century Fox films (1935–1999), and List of 20th Century Fox films (2000–present)
Fox Plaza, Century City headquarters completed in 1987.

With financial stability came new owners, when Fox was sold for more than $700 million in 1981 to investors Marc Rich and Marvin Davis. Fox's assets included Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Aspen Skiing Company and a Century City property upon which Davis built and twice sold Fox Plaza.

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 the Iran hostage crisis. Rich's assets were frozen by U.S. authorities.[31] In 1984 Marvin Davis bought out Marc Rich's 50% interest in 20th Century Fox Film Corporation for an undisclosed amount,[31] reported to be $116 million.[32] Davis sold this interest to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million in March 1985. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations.[32] Murdoch went ahead alone and bought the stations, and later bought out Davis' remaining stake in Fox for $325 million.[32]

To gain FCC approval of Fox's purchase of Metromedia's television holdings, once the stations of the long-dissolved DuMont network, Murdoch had to become a U.S. citizen. He did so in 1985, and in 1986 the new Fox 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 Corp.

The company formed its Fox Family Films division in 1994 to boost production at the studio and would handled animation films. In February 1998, following the success of Anastasia, Fox Family Films changed its name to Fox Animation Studios and drop its live action production which would be picked up by other production units.[33]

The Fox Broadcasting Company's Los Angeles studios in 2005.

Since January 2000 this company has been the international distributor for MGM/UA releases. In the 1980s Fox — through a joint venture with CBS called CBS/Fox Video — had distributed certain UA films on video; thus UA has come full circle by switching to Fox for video distribution. Fox also makes money distributing films for small independent film companies.

In 2007, Fox Atomic was started up under Fox Searchlight division head Peter Rice and COO John Hegeman. Rice was promoted to head up Fox Entertainment. In early 2008, Atomic's marketing unit was transferred to Fox Searchlight and Fox, when Hegeman moved to New Regency Productions. Debbie Liebling became president. After two middling successes and falling short with ohter films, the unit was shut down in April 2009. The remaining films under Atomic in production and post-productions were transfered to Fox and Fox Spotlight with Liebling overseeing them.[34]

In 2008 Fox announced an Asian subsidiary, Fox STAR Studios, a joint venture with STAR TV, also owned by News Corporation. It was reported that Fox STAR would start by producing films for the Bollywood market, then expand to several Asian markets.[35] In 2008, 20th Century Fox started Fox International Productions .[36]

In August 2012, 20th Century Fox signed a five-year deal with DreamWorks Animation to distribute in domestic and international markets. However, the deal did not include the distribution rights for previously released films which DreamWorks Animation acquired from Paramount Pictures later in 2014.[37] Fox's deal with DreamWorks Animation ended on June 2, 2017 with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, with Universal Pictures taking over the distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation due to NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation on August 22, 2016, starting on February 22, 2019 with the release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

In 2012 Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corp. would be split into two publishing and media-oriented companies: a new News Corporation, and 21st Century Fox, which operates the Fox Entertainment Group and 20th Century Fox. Murdoch considered the name of the new company a way to maintain the 20th Century Fox's heritage as the group advances into the future.[38][39]

Fox Stage Productions was formed in June 2013.[40] 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.[41]

In September 2017, Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, who will distribute Locksmith's films, 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 distributing DreamWorks Animation films.[42]

Technoprops, a VFX company that worked on Avatar and The 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 John Kilkenny, VFX president.[43]

On October 30, 2017, Vanessa Morrison was named president of a new 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 produce based holiday television specials on existing film properties, and oversee feature film adaptation of its TV shows.[44] To replace Morrision at Fox Animation, Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird were named co-presidents of 20th Century Fox Animation.[45]

20th Century Fox issued a default notice in regards to its licensing agreement for the under construction 20th 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 parent The Walt Disney Company.[46]

Disney subsidiary

Further information: Acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney

On December 14, 2017, Disney announced plans to purchase most of the 21st Century Fox assets, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion.[47] On May 23, 2018, it was reported that Comcast was planning to out-bid Disney with an all-cash offer for approximately $60 billion.[48] On June 13, Comcast officially announced its $65 billion all-cash offer for Fox assets.[49] One week later, Disney counterbid with a $71.3 billion offer.[50] On July 19, 2018, Comcast officially announced that it was dropping its bid on the Fox assets in order to focus on their bid for Sky.[51] On July 27, 2018, Disney and Fox shareholders approved the merger between the two companies.[52] Although the deal was completed on March 20, 2019,[53] 20th Century Fox will not relocate to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, but will instead continue to be headquartered on its studio lot in Century City, which is currently leased to Disney by the Fox Corporation, 21st Century Fox's successor, for seven years.[54]

Television

Main articles: 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Television, and Fox 21 Television Studios

20th Television is Fox's television syndication division. 20th Century Fox Television is the studio's television production division.

During the mid-1950s features were released to television in the hope that they would broaden sponsorship and help distribution of network programs. Blocks of one-hour programming of feature films to national sponsors on 128 stations was organized by Twentieth Century Fox and National Telefilm Associates. Twentieth Century Fox received 50 percent interest in NTA Film network after it sold its library to National Telefilm Associates. This gave 90 minutes of cleared time a week and syndicated feature films to 110 non-interconnected stations for sale to national sponsors.[55]

Buyout of Four Star

Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox bought out the remaining assets of Four Star Television from Ronald Perelman's Compact Video in 1996.[56] Most of Four Star Television's library of programs are controlled by 20th Century Fox Television today.[57][58][59] After Murdoch's numerous buyouts during the buyout 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.[60] The high levels of debt caused Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s.

Music

Main articles: 20th Century Fox Records and Fox Music

Between 1933 and 1937, a custom record label called Fox Movietone was produced starting at F-100 and running through F-136. It featured songs from Fox movies, first using material recorded and issued on Victor's Bluebird label and halfway through switched to material recorded and issued on ARC's dime store labels (Melotone, Perfect, etc.). These scarce records were sold only at Fox Theaters.

Fox Music has been Fox's music arm since 2000. It encompasses music publishing and licensing businesses, dealing primarily with Fox Entertainment Group television and film soundtracks.

Prior to Fox Music, 20th Century Records was its music arm from 1958 to 1982.

Radio

The Twentieth Century Fox Presents radio series[61] 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 in Fort Lee, New Jersey along with the studios. A lab was included with the new studio built in Los Angeles in 1916.[62] Headed by Alan E. Freedman, the Fort Lee lab was moved into the new Fox Studios building in Manhattan in 1919.[63] In 1932, Freedman bought the labs from Fox for $2,000,000 to bolster what at that time was a failing Fox liquidity.[64][65] He renamed the operation "DeLuxe Laboratories" which much later became DeLuxe 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.

Divisions

Fox Family

Fox Family is family friendly production division of 20th Century Fox under president Vanessa Morrison. 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 Fox 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 pick up supervision of a “Bob’s Burgers” film[44] and some existing deals with animation producers, including Tonko House.[66] With the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney in March 2019, rights to The Dam Keeper feature animated film returned to Tonko House.[67]

Upcoming productions

Fox International Productions

Fox International Productions was the division of 20th Century Fox 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 for Sony on June 2, 2015.[36] 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.[72] The company struck a development and production deal in November 2015 with Zhejiang Huace, a Chinese entertainment group.[73] 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.[74]

Fox Stage Productions

This is 20th Century Fox theatrical arm, not be confused with Fox Theatrical, an independent theatrical production company, which produced The Humans, Fun Home and If/Then

Fox Stage Productions is a joint venture theatrical production company of 20th Century Fox, which has a joint venture with Kevin McCollum, John Davis and Tom McGrath. The joint venture was Fox contributing 50% and the trio 50%.[75]

Previously, 20th had just licensed their property for theatrical adaptations including 9 to 5,[75] Young Frankenstein[41] and Big.[76] In 1970, All About Eve was adapted as Applause musical on Broadway with Margo played by Lauren Bacall.[77] Fox had become vexed by many of these fizzling adaptation attempts.[75]

Fox Stage Productions was formed in June 2013 which included the retaining of Isaac Robert Hurwitz as a consultant.[40] In August 2013, 20CF started a theatrical joint venture with a trio of producer-executives, both film and theater, Broadway producer Kevin McCollum, film producer John Davis and Tom McGrath. McCollum would handle day-to-day operations of the joint venture while [41] The trio of individual would do productions outside the venture. The development slate based on Fox films would consist of nine to 12 musicals.[75] Hurwitz was hired in July 2015 as senior vice president of Fox Stage Productions reporting to the division head Bob Cohen.[40]

Fox Stage licensed out Anastasia, both 1956 feature and the 1997 animated version, to Stage Entertainment, 50 Church Productions, The Shubert Organization, Judith Ann Abrams Productions, Broadway Asia/Umeda Arts Theater, Seoul Broadcasting System, LD Entertainment, Blumegreenspan, Silva Theatrical Group, in association with Hartford Stage for a musical that debut on April 24, 2017 at Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway.[78]

No word before or after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox about Fox Stage Productions' status post acquisition.[76] However, the unit's head, executive vice president Cohen, who was also executive vice president of Legal Affairs, was laid off immediately after the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019.[79]

Productions

  • All About Eve' (spring 2018) on West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Fox Stage Productions[77]
  • The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (developmental production[76] April 16-June 5, 2016) Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis[80]
  • Mrs. Doubtfire (in development) [81]
  • ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ musical, produced by Kevin McCollum, Fox Stage Productions and Rocket Entertainment[82]

Logo and fanfare

2009 logo with the News Corporation byline.

20th Century Fox uses a well-known searchlight structure logo. Its fanfare was originally composed in 1933 by Alfred Newman. It was re-recorded in 1935 when 20th Century-Fox was officially established.

The original layout of the logo was designed by special effects animator and matte painting artist Emil Kosa Jr.. The logo was originally created as a matte painting on several layers of glass and animated frame-by-frame.

In 1953, Rocky Longo, an artist at Pacific Title, was hired to recreate the original logo design for the new CinemaScope picture process. Alfred Newman also re-composed the logo's fanfare with an extension to be heard during the CinemaScope logo that would follow after the Fox logo for films made using the new lenses.

George Lucas insisted the CinemaScope version be used in Star Wars (1977). John Williams composed the film's opening theme in the same key as the fanfare (B♭ major), serving as an extension to it of sorts. In 1980, Williams conducted a new version of the extended fanfare for The Empire Strikes Back.

On March 6, 1981, Longo repainted and updated the logo design. The Fox fanfare was also re-orchestrated in 1981.

In 1994, after a few failed attempts, Fox in-house television producer Kevin Burns was hired to produce a new logo for the company, this time using the then-new process of computer-generated imagery (CGI) adding more detail and animation, with the longer 21-second Fox fanfare would be used as the underscore.

In 1997, Alfred's son David Newman recorded the new version of the fanfare to reopen the Newman Scoring Stage (originally known as Fox Scoring Stage).

In 2009, a newly updated CGI logo produced by Blue Sky Studios debuted. A "75th anniversary" version of the logo was introduced to coincide with 20th Century Fox's 75th anniversary the following year.[12]

The now-defunct 21st Century Fox, the corporate successor to the old News Corporation, used a logo incorporating a minimalist representation of the searchlights featured in the logo.[38]

Films

Main articles: List of 20th Century Fox films (1935–99) and List of 20th Century Fox films (2000–present)

The Academy Film Archive houses the 20th Century Fox Features Collection which contains features, trailers, and production elements mostly from the Fox, Twentieth Century, and Twentieth Century-Fox studios, from the late 1920s–1950s.[83]

Highest-grossing films

Highest-grossing films in North America[84]
Rank Title Year Box office gross
1 Avatar ‡ 2009 $760,507,625
2 Titanic ‡ 1997 $659,363,944
3 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 1999 $474,544,677
4 Star Wars‡ 1977 $460,998,007
5 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 2005 $380,270,577
6 Deadpool 2016 $363,070,709
7 Deadpool 2 2018 $324,535,803
8 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002 $310,676,740
9 Return of the Jedi ‡ 1983 $309,306,177
10 Independence Day 1996 $306,169,268
11 The Empire Strikes Back ‡ 1980 $290,475,067
12 Home Alone 1990 $285,761,243
13 Night at the Museum 2006 $250,863,268
14 X-Men: The Last Stand 2006 $234,362,462
15 X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014 $233,921,534
16 Cast Away 2000 $233,632,142
17 The Martian 2015 $228,433,663
18 Logan 2017 $226,277,068
19 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel 2009 $219,614,612
20 Mrs. Doubtfire 1993 $219,195,243
21 Alvin and the Chipmunks 2007 $217,326,974
22 Bohemian Rhapsody 2018 $216,428,042
23 X2: X-Men United 2003 $214,949,694
24 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 2014 $208,545,589
25 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 2009 $196,573,705
Highest-grossing films worldwide
Rank Title Year Box office gross
1 Avatar ‡ 2009 $2,787,965,087
2 Titanic ‡ 1997 $2,187,463,944
3 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace ‡ 1999 $1,027,044,677
4 Bohemian Rhapsody 2018 $903,655,259
5 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 2009 $886,686,817
6 Ice Age: Continental Drift 2012 $877,244,782
7 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 2005 $848,754,768
8 Independence Day 1996 $817,400,891
9 Deadpool 2 2018 $785,046,920
10 Deadpool 2016 $783,112,979
11 Star Wars ‡ 1977 $775,398,007
12 X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014 $747,862,775
13 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 2014 $710,644,566
14 Ice Age: The Meltdown ‡ 2006 $660,940,780
15 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002 $649,398,328
16 The Martian 2015 $630,161,890
17 How to Train Your Dragon 2 2014 $621,537,519
18 Logan 2017 $616,225,934
19 Life of Pi 2012 $609,016,565
20 The Croods 2013 $587,204,668
21 Night at the Museum 2006 $574,480,841
22 The Empire Strikes Back ‡ 1980 $547,969,004
23 The Day After Tomorrow 2004 $544,272,402
24 X-Men: Apocalypse 2016 $543,934,787
25 The Revenant 2015 $532,950,503

I ‡—Includes theatrical reissue(s).

See also

References

  1. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 18, 2018). "Disney Finalizes Film Studio Brass Under Alan Horn: Emma Watts Confirmed To Run Fox". Deadline. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  2. ^ "It's Getting Awkward at Fox's Movie Studio as Disney Deal Looms". The Wall Street Journal. August 10, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  3. ^ Szalai, Georg; Bond, Paul (March 20, 2019). "Disney Closes $71.3 Billion Fox Deal, Creating Global Content Powerhouse". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  4. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (March 19, 2019). "Disney Completes 21st Century Fox Acquisition". Variety. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  5. ^ Williams, Trey (July 27, 2018). "Fox and Disney Shareholders Vote to Approve $71.3 Billion Merger". The Wrap. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Livingston 2005, p. 101.
  7. ^ a b "The Formation of Twentieth Century-Fox". Cobbles. United States. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Lev, Peter (March 15, 2013). Twentieth Century-Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935–1965. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292744493.
  9. ^ "1935-1940 - Life in the Foxhole: Insiders Recall 83 Years of Scandal and Stardom at 20th Century Fox". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. ISBN 9781903364666.
  11. ^ "The Hollywood Roundup". The Times. Indiana, Hammond. United Press. August 6, 1935. p. 35. Retrieved May 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  12. ^ a b New York Post Staff (February 10, 2010). "Is Fox really 75 this year? Somewhere, the fantastic Mr. (William) Fox begs to differ". New York Post. News Corp. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  13. ^ Natale, Richard; Natale, Richard (February 11, 2014). "Shirley Temple, Legendary Child Star, Dead at 85". Variety. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  14. ^ Natale, Richard; Natale, Richard (May 11, 1998). "Fox tuner Faye dies at 83". Variety. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  15. ^ Behlmer, Rudy. Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck: The Golden Years at Twentieth Century-Fox. Grove Press. ISBN 9780802133328.
  16. ^ Troyan, Michael; Thompson, Jeffrey Paul; Sylvester, Stephen X. (August 15, 2017). Twentieth Century Fox: A Century of Entertainment. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781630761431.
  17. ^ Lev 2013, p. 162.
  18. ^ "Zanuck Remembered as a Hollywood Powerhouse". Wahoo School District. March 1, 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  19. ^ "Moving Pictures That Move: House of Bamboo in CinemaScope". Northwest Chicago Film Society. June 16, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  20. ^ Watson 2015, p. 290.
  21. ^ "'The Modern Miracle You See Without Glasses' - CinemaScope: 1953–1954: 'Twentieth Century-Fox presents A CinemaScope Production': 1953–1954 (Films made in CinemaScope from 1953 to 1956)" (PDF). David Bordwell. p. 290. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  22. ^ Harris 2011, p. 1900.
  23. ^ a b c d Kamp, David. "When Liz Met Dick". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  24. ^ Ferruccio 2010, p. 117.
  25. ^ Strait 1992, p. 86.
  26. ^ "Move Over, Darling". Doris Day. United States. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  27. ^ Preston, John (January 20, 2008). "The Napoleon of Sunset Boulevard". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  28. ^ Los Angeles Times Staff (April 13, 2010). "Richard D. Zanuck, a Hollywood legend too busy for nostalgia". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  29. ^ Anderson, Erik (September 28, 2013). "Best Supporting Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures' Track Record in the Best Supporting Actor Category". Awards Watch. United States. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  30. ^ Solomon 2002, pp. 19–20.
  31. ^ a b Thomas C. Hayes (June 20, 1984). "Rich to Sell Fox Stake to Davis". The New York Times.
  32. ^ a b c Wolff 2010, p. 167.
  33. ^ Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  34. ^ Kilday, Gregg; Fernandez, Jay A. (April 20, 2009). "Fox shutting down youth-focused film unit". The Hollywood Reporter. Reuters. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  35. ^ Los Angeles Times Staff (September 10, 2008). "Fox sets Asian movie venture". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  36. ^ a b Siegel, Tatiana (April 13, 2015). "Sanford Panitch Leaving Fox for Top Post at Sony". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  37. ^ Chney, Alexandra (July 29, 2014). "DreamWorks Animation Q2 Earnings Fall Short of Estimates, SEC Investigation Revealed". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  38. ^ a b Welch, Chris (May 9, 2013). "21st Century Fox logo unveiled ahead of News Corp split". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  39. ^ Rushe, Dominic (June 18, 2013). "Rupert Murdoch splits empire but keeps faith in tomorrow's newspapers". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  40. ^ a b c Gerard, Jeremy (July 28, 2015). "Fox Names Isaac Robert Hurwitz To Head Live Theater Division". Deadline. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  41. ^ a b c Cox, Gordon (August 8, 2013). "Kevin McCollum: Fox Finds Its Stage Coach". Variety. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  42. ^ Lang, Brent (September 20, 2017). "Fox, Locksmith Animation Ink Multi-Year Production, Development Deal". Variety Magazine. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  43. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (April 6, 2017). "Fox Acquires Virtual Production Firm Technoprops". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  44. ^ a b Lang, Brent (October 30, 2017). "Vanessa Morrison Named Head of Fox Family in Animation Division Overhaul". Variety. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  45. ^ Kilday, Gregg (October 30, 2017). "Fox Animation Names Andrea Miloro, Robert Baird Co-Presidents". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  46. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (November 27, 2018). "Disney, Fox deny claims in $1 billion Malaysia theme park lawsuit". Reuters. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  47. ^ "The Walt Disney Company To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., After Spinoff Of Certain Businesses, For $52.4 Billion In Stock" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. December 14, 2017. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  48. ^ "Comcast plans to outbid Disney for Fox studios and other assets -- what it means for you". USA Today. May 23, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  49. ^ "Comcast bids $65 billion for 21st Century Fox assets, topping Disney". CNBC. June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  50. ^ "The Walt Disney Company Signs Amended Acquisition Agreement To Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., For $71.3 Billion in Cash And Stock". The Walt Disney Company. June 20, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  51. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (July 19, 2018). "Comcast gives up on buying 21st Century Fox assets and leaves Disney as the winner". The Verge. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  52. ^ Williams, Trey (July 27, 2018). "Fox and Disney Shareholders Vote to Approve $71.3 Billion Merger". The Wrap. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  53. ^ Hayes, Dade; Patten, Dominic (February 27, 2019). "Disney-Fox Deal Nears Final Approval After Progress In Brazil And Mexico". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  54. ^ Holloway, Daniel; Lang, Brent (December 14, 2017). "Disney to Lease Fox Lot for Seven Years (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  55. ^ Boddy, William (1990). Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
  56. ^ "Perelman's Not Out of the Game Just Yet". Los Angeles Times. July 18, 1996. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  57. ^ "TIME". LIFE. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  58. ^ "OBIT/Hollywood Producer and Novelist David B. Charnay Dies at Age 90". Business Wire. October 7, 2002.
  59. ^ McLellan, Dennis (October 6, 2002). "David Charnay, 90; Journalist, Publicist and TV Syndicator". The Los Angeles Times.
  60. ^ The encyclopedia of the history of American management (2005) Morgen Witzel Continuum International Publishing Group p393 ISBN 978-1-84371-131-5
  61. ^ "20th Century Fox Presents". RUSC. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  62. ^ Fox Folks Vol. I, No. 4, August 1922.
  63. ^ Fox Folks Vol. I, No. 4, August 1922. Also, Vol. III, No. 7, July 1924, p. 12 and back outside cover, and Vol. III, No. 8, August 1924, p. 8.
  64. ^ Image, DeLuxe Laboratories, Inc. check 101 to Fox Film Corporation for $2,000,000.
  65. ^ "Freedman Group Buys Fox Film Laboratories". Film Daily. United States. April 3, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  66. ^ Kilday, Gregg (October 30, 2017). "Vanessa Morrison Takes on New Role as President, Fox Family". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  67. ^ Flores, Terry (March 4, 2019). "Animation Studio Tonko House Unveils Development Slate (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  68. ^ Hipes, Patrick (October 4, 2017). "'Bob's Burgers' Movie Ordered Up For 2020". Deadline. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  69. ^ Fleming, Jr, Mike (September 28, 2018). "Fox Family Sets Chris McCoy's 'The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion' Pic". Deadline. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  70. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (November 27, 2018). "Fox, Chernin Entertainment Tap Jonny Sun To Pen 'Paper Lanterns' Hybrid Film". Deadline. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  71. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (January 24, 2019). "DeVon Franklin & Fox Family Putting A New Spin On The Garden of Eden Story". Deadline. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  72. ^ Otterson, Joe (August 25, 2015). "Tomas Jegeus Named Head of Fox International Pictures". www.thewrap.com. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  73. ^ Frater, Patrick (June 3, 2016). "China's Huace Raising $300 Million for U.S. Investment, Buys Stake in Magic Leap". Variety. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  74. ^ McClintock, Pamela (December 4, 2017). "Fox International Productions to Shut Down". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  75. ^ a b c d "20th Century Fox Enlists Help in Bringing Its Properties to the Stage - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  76. ^ a b c "What the Disney-Fox Deal Could Mean for Broadway". Hollywood Reporter. December 16, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  77. ^ a b "Cate Blanchett to Star on London Stage in 'All About Eve'". Hollywood Reporter. April 28, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  78. ^ "'Anastasia' Theater Review". Hollywood Reporter. April 24, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  79. ^ Hipes, Patrick (March 21, 2019). "Disney Sets New Post-Merger Film Leadership Lineup After Trying Day". Deadline. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  80. ^ Gordon Cox (July 28, 2015). "Fox Stage Productions Makes Isaac Robert Hurwitz a VP – Variety". Variety.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  81. ^ Romano, Nick (August 28, 2018). "'Mrs. Doubtfire' musical is officially in the works and aiming for Broadway". EW.com. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  82. ^ Huston, Caitlin (March 13, 2019). "Anna D. Shapiro to direct 'The Devil Wears Prada' musical". Broadway News. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  83. ^ "20th Century Fox Features Collection". Academy Film Archive.
  84. ^ "Box Office by Studio – 20th Century Fox All Time". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 8, 2016.

Sources

Additional sources

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=20th_Century_Fox&oldid=904572236"