Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, with hyphen, from 1935 to 1985) — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios . Located in the Century City area of
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, just west of
Beverly HillsBeverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
, the studio is a subsidiary of
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's
News CorporationNews Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
.
The company was founded on May 31, 1935, as the result of the merger of Fox Film Corporation, founded by
William FoxWilliam Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, founded in 1933 by
Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
,
Joseph SchenckJoseph Michael Schenck was a pioneer executive who played a key role in the development of the United States film industry.Born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to a Jewish household, he and his family-including younger brother Nicholas- emigrated to New York City in 1893, he and Nicholas...
,
Raymond GriffithRaymond Griffith was one of the great silent movie comedians.Griffith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He lost his voice at an early age, causing him to speak for the rest of his life in a hoarse whisper...
and
William GoetzWilliam Goetz was an American Hollywood film producer and studio executive. William Goetz died of cancer in 1969 at his home in Los Angeles and was buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California....
.
20th Century Fox's most popular film franchises include Avatar,
Star WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
,
Ice AgeIce Age is a series of animated films produced by Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox, and featuring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge. Three films have been released in the series thus far, Ice Age in 2002, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, and Ice...
,
GarfieldGarfield: The Movie, also known as Garfield, is a 2004 American live-action film based on the Jim Davis comic strip with the same name. In the film, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real...
,
Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on the animated series of the same name, the film stars Jason Lee, David Cross, and Cameron Richardson with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and...
,
X-MenThe X-Men film series consists of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The films star an ensemble cast, focusing on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who is drawn into the conflict between Professor Xavier and Magneto , who have opposing views on humanity's...
, Die Hard,
AlienThe Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...
, Speed,
Revenge of the NerdsRevenge of the Nerds is a 1984 comedy film satirizing social life on a college campus. The film stars Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B. Scott, John Goodman, and Donald Gibb...
,
Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes is a United States media franchise with seven films , two television series, and comic books. The series began with the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes, which was based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle.-Background:The original series of...
,
Home AloneHome Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation...
,
Dr. DolittleDr. Dolittle is a 1998 American family comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he has the ability to talk to animals...
,
Night at the MuseumNight at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny...
,
PredatorThe Predator film series is a science fiction horror film franchise. Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series started in 1987 with the film Predator, which led to two sequels and novel, comic book and video game spin-offs....
,
Diary of a Wimpy KidDiary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of movies based on the books by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. Just like the books, the movies are the journals of Greg Heffley, the series' main character, who is played by Zachary Gordon....
, and
The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of English fantasy films from Walden Media that are based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels written by C. S. Lewis...
(which was previously distributed by
Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
),
The BeachThe Beach is a 2000 adventure drama film directed by Danny Boyle and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Alex Garland, which was adapted for the film by John Hodge. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and features Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle, Virginie Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet...
, plus famous TV shows such as
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
,
Family GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, and
American Dad!American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
. Some of the most famous actors to come out of this studio were
Shirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, who was 20th Century Fox's first film star,
Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
,
Gene TierneyGene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
,
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and
Jayne MansfieldJayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
. The studio also contracted the first African-American cinema star,
Dorothy DandridgeDorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
.
(References to "Fox" below refer to William Fox or Fox Film Corporation until 1935 and shortly afterwards, and to Twentieth Century-Fox or Twentieth Century Fox afterwards.)
Their most commercially successful production partners in later years have been
1492 Pictures1492 Pictures is an American film production company founded by director Chris Columbus in 1995. The name is a play on Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus, and his 1492 landing in the Americas....
,
LucasfilmLucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
,
Lightstorm EntertainmentLightstorm Entertainment is an American film production company. The company was founded by Canadian filmmaker James Cameron and film producer Larry Kasanoff in 1990 and is best known for producing the films Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic and Cameron's latest film Avatar...
,
Davis EntertainmentDavis Entertainment is an American independent film production company, founded by John Davis in 1985.-Selected filmography:* Brewster's Millions * "Crocodile" Dundee * Predator * Superman IV: The Quest for Peace...
,
Walden MediaWalden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
,
Regency EnterprisesRegency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures, but the company name changed to avoid confusion with Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures . Its most successful film is...
,
Blue Sky StudiosBlue Sky Studios is an American CGI-animation studio which specializes in high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering. It is owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Greenwich, Connecticut...
,
Troublemaker StudiosTroublemaker Studios is a film production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan. The company is based in Austin, Texas and is located at the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport...
,
Marvel StudiosMarvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate....
, Ingenious Film Partners, Scott Free Productions,
Gracie FilmsGracie Films is an American film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, including Broadcast News, Jerry Maguire, and most notably The Simpsons...
,
EuropaCorpEuropaCorp is a French movie studio headquartered in Paris. It has been a listed company on Euronext Paris since July 2007. Co-founded by Luc Besson and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, the Group takes on a range of production activities like film distribution in France, DVD distribution, sales of French TV...
, Color Force,
Centropolis EntertainmentCentropolis Entertainment is a film production company founded in 1985 as Centropolis Film Productions by German film director Roland Emmerich.-Films:-TV Series:...
,
Conundrum EntertainmentPeter John Farrelly and Robert Leo "Bobby" Farrelly, Jr. , professionally known as the Farrelly Brothers are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Hall Pass; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones;...
, Bad Hat Harry Productions,
Red Hour ProductionsRed Hour Films is an American motion picture production and distribution company. Ben Stiller and producer Stuart Cornfeld run the company. The name was derived from an episode of Star Trek -- The Return of the Archons -- that features a scheduled, alien riot...
,
Village Roadshow PicturesVillage Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
, Dune Entertainment, Chernin Entertainment, The Donners' Company, 21 Laps Entertainment and
Spyglass EntertainmentSpyglass Entertainment is an American film production company, co-founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. The studio was founded with an investment from European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset, and a five-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company...
.
Fox Film Corporation
The Fox Film Corporation was formed in 1915 by the theater chain pioneer
William FoxWilliam Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
, who formed Fox Film Corporation by merging two
companiesA corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
he had established in 1913: Greater New York Film Rental, a
distribution firm, which was part of the
IndependentsAn independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
; and Fox (or Box, depending on the source) Office Attractions Company, a production company. This merging of a distribution company and a production company was an early example of
vertical integrationIn microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
. Only a year before, the latter company had distributed
Winsor McCayWinsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...
's groundbreaking cartoon
Gertie the DinosaurGertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short film by Winsor McCay. Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality...
.
Always more of an entrepreneur than a showman, Fox concentrated on acquiring and building theaters; pictures were secondary. The company's first film studios were set up in
Fort Lee, New JerseyFort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
where it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1917, William Fox sent
Sol M. WurtzelSol M. Wurtzel was an American motion picture producer.Born in New York City, New York, Sol M. Wurtzel worked as an executive assistant to William Fox, founding owner of the Fox Film Corporation. In 1917, Fox sent him to California to oversee the studio's West Coast productions...
to Hollywood to oversee the studio's
West CoastWest Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
production facilities where a more hospitable and cost-effective climate existed for filmmaking. Fox had purchased the
EdendaleEdendale is a historical name for a district in Los Angeles, California, northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, in what is known today as Echo Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake....
studio of the failing
Selig Polyscope CompanyThe Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern California's first permanent movie studio, in the historic Edendale district of Los Angeles...
, which had been making films in Los Angeles since 1909 and was the first motion picture studio in
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
With the introduction of sound technologies, Fox moved to acquire the rights to a
sound-on-filmSound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
process. In the years 1925–26, Fox purchased the rights to the work of
Freeman Harrison OwensFreeman Harrison Owens , born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the only child of Charles H. Owens and Christabel Harrison. He attended Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, but quit in his senior year to work at a local movie theatre as a projectionist.Owens constructed his own 35mm movie camera at the age...
, the U.S. rights to the
Tri-ErgonThe Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was patented from 1919 on by German inventors Josef Engl , Hans Vogt , and Joseph Massolle . The name Tri-Ergon was derived from Greek and means "the work of three." In 1926, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation purchased the U. S...
system invented by three German inventors, and the work of
Theodore CaseTheodore Willard Case known for the invention of the Movietone sound-on-film sound film system, was born into a prominent family in Auburn, New York.-Family history:...
. This resulted in the
Movietone sound systemThe Movietone sound system is a sound-on-film method of recording sound for motion pictures that guarantees synchronization between sound and picture. It achieves this by recording the sound as a variable-density optical track on the same strip of film that records the pictures...
later known as "Fox Movietone." Later that year, the company began offering films with a music-and-effects track, and the following year Fox began the weekly Fox Movietone News feature, which ran until 1963. The growing company needed space, and in 1926 Fox acquired
300 acres (1.2 km2) in the open country west of Beverly Hills and built "Movietone City," the best-equipped studio of its time.
When rival
Marcus LoewMarcus Loew was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .-Biography:...
died in 1927, Fox offered to buy the Loew family's holdings. Loew's Inc. controlled more than 200 theaters, as well as the
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
studio (whose films are currently distributed internationally by Fox). When the family agreed to the sale, the merger of Fox and Loew's Inc. was announced in 1929. But MGM studio boss
Louis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, not included in the deal, fought back. Using political connections, Mayer called on the
Justice DepartmentThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
's anti-trust unit to block the merger. Fortunately for Mayer, Fox was badly injured in a car crash in the summer of 1929, and by the time he recovered he had lost most of his fortune in the fall, 1929 stock market crash, putting an end to the Loew's merger.
Overextended and close to bankruptcy, Fox was stripped of his empire and ended up in jail. Fox Film, with more than 500 theatres, was placed in receivership. A bank-mandated reorganization propped the company up for a time, but it was clear a merger was the only way Fox Film could survive. Under the new president Sidney Kent, the new owners began negotiating with the upstart but powerful independent Twentieth Century Pictures in the early spring of 1935.
Twentieth Century Pictures
Twentieth Century Pictures was an independent Hollywood motion picture production company created in 1933 by
Joseph SchenckJoseph Michael Schenck was a pioneer executive who played a key role in the development of the United States film industry.Born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia to a Jewish household, he and his family-including younger brother Nicholas- emigrated to New York City in 1893, he and Nicholas...
(the former president of
United ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
),
Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
from Warner Brothers,
William GoetzWilliam Goetz was an American Hollywood film producer and studio executive. William Goetz died of cancer in 1969 at his home in Los Angeles and was buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California....
from Fox Films, and
Raymond GriffithRaymond Griffith was one of the great silent movie comedians.Griffith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He lost his voice at an early age, causing him to speak for the rest of his life in a hoarse whisper...
. Financial backing came from Schenck's older brother
Nicholas SchenckNicholas M. Schenck was a motion picture mogul and impresario.One of seven children, Schenck was born to a Jewish household in Rybinsk, a Volga River village in Tsarist Russia...
and the father-in-law of Goetz,
Louis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, the head of MGM Studios. Company product was distributed by
United ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
(UA), and was filmed at various studios.
Schenck was President of 20th Century while Zanuck was named Vice President in Charge of Production and Goetz served as vice-president. Successful from the very beginning, their 1934 production, The House of Rothschild was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1935, they produced the classic film
Les MisérablesLes Misérables is a 1935 American drama film based upon the famous Victor Hugo novel of the same name. It was adapted by W. P. Lipscomb and directed by Richard Boleslawski...
, from
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's novel, which was also nominated for Best Picture. Legend has it that the new independent took a detour straight into the major studio camp when Zanuck became outraged by United Artists' board including UA's co-founder
Mary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
's refusal to reward Twentieth Century with UA 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 began discussions with other distributors, which led to talks with the foundering giant, Fox.
For a list of films produced by Twentieth Century Pictures, see
List of 20th Century Pictures films.
Twentieth Century/Fox merger
Joe Schenck and Fox management agreed to a merger;
Spyros SkourasSpyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
, then manager of the Fox-West Coast theaters, helped in the merger (and later became president of the new company). Although it was still much smaller than Fox, Twentieth Century was the senior partner in the merger. At first, it was expected that the new company would be called "Fox-Twentieth Century." However, 20th Century brought more to bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck, as it was profitable and had more talent than Fox. The new company was called The Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, and began trading on May 31, 1935; the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President. Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Fox's longtime production chief
Winfield SheehanWinfield Sheehan was a film company executive. He was responsible for much of Fox Film Corporation's output during the 1920s and 1930s. As studio head he won an Academy Award for Best Picture for the film Cavalcade and was nominated three more times.A native of Buffalo, New York, Sheehan served...
.
For many years, 20th Century-Fox claimed to have been founded in 1915, the year Fox Film Corporation was founded. However, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding date, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915.
Aside from the theater chain and a first-rate studio lot, Zanuck and Schenck felt there wasn't much else to Fox. The studio's biggest star,
Will RogersWilliam "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
, died in a plane crash weeks after the merger. Its leading female star,
Janet GaynorJanet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
, was fading in popularity. Promising leading men
James DunnJames Howard Dunn was an American film actor.-Biography:Born in New York City of Irish descent, Dunn was the son of a Wall Street stockbroker who, according to Dunn, "either had a million or nothing." He joined his father in his business for three years...
and
Spencer TracySpencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
had been dropped because of heavy drinking. Zanuck quickly signed young actors who would carry Twentieth Century-Fox for years:
Tyrone PowerTyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
, Linda Darnell,
Carmen MirandaCarmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
,
Don AmecheDon Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
,
Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
,
Gene TierneyGene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
,
Sonja HenieSonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...
, and
Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
. Also on the Fox payroll he found two players who he built up into the studio's leading assets,
Alice FayeAlice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
and seven-year-old
Shirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. Favoring popular biographies and musicals, Zanuck built Fox back to profitability. Thanks to record attendance during World War II, Fox overtook RKO and mighty MGM to become the third most profitable studio. While Zanuck went off for eighteen months' war service, junior partner
William GoetzWilliam Goetz was an American Hollywood film producer and studio executive. William Goetz died of cancer in 1969 at his home in Los Angeles and was buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California....
kept profits high by emphasizing light entertainment. The studio's—indeed the industry's—biggest star was creamy blonde
Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
.
In 1942
Spyros SkourasSpyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
succeeded Schenck as president of the studio. Together with Zanuck, who returned in 1943, they intended to make Fox's output more serious-minded. During the next few years, with pictures like
The Razor's EdgeThe Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
,
WilsonWilson is a 1944 biographical film in Technicolor about President Woodrow Wilson. It stars Charles Coburn, Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.The movie was written by Lamar Trotti and directed by Henry King...
,
Gentleman's AgreementGentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...
,
The Snake PitThe Snake Pit is a 1948 American drama film directed by Anatole Litvak. The film tells the story of a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there, and stars Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Beulah Bondi, and Lee Patrick.The film was...
,
BoomerangBoomerang! is a 1947 film based on the true story of a vagrant who was accused of murder, only to be found innocent through the efforts of the prosecutor...
, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books
Ben Ames WilliamsBen Ames Williams American writer who published over thirty novels, including All the Brothers Were Valiant ,Come Spring ,The Strange Woman , House Divided , Leave Her to Heaven and The Unconquered...
'
Leave Her to HeavenLeave Her to Heaven is a 1945 American 20th Century Fox Technicolor film noir motion picture starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, with Vincent Price, Darryl Hickman, and Chill Wills...
(1945) starring
Gene TierneyGene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
which was the highest-grossing Fox film of the 1940s. Fox also produced Broadway musicals, including the
Rodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
films, beginning with the musical version of
State FairState Fair is a 1945 film directed by Walter Lang. The film a musical adaptation of the 1933 film of the same name, with original music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The film starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, Fay Bainter and Charles Winninger...
in 1945, and continuing years later with
CarouselCarousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...
in 1956,
The King and IThe King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I, based in turn on the book Anna and the King...
, and
The Sound of MusicRodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
. They also distributed, but did not make, the
CinemaScopeCinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
version of Oklahoma! and the 1958 film version of
South PacificSouth Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
.
After the war and with the advent of television audiences drifted away, Twentieth Century-Fox held on to its theaters until a court-mandated divorce; they were spun off as Fox National Theaters in 1953. That year, with attendance at half the 1946 level, Twentieth Century-Fox gambled on an unproven gimmick. Noting that the two film sensations of 1952 had been
CineramaCinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...
, which required three projectors to fill a giant curved screen, and "Natural Vision"
3DA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, 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 SkourasSpyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
struck a deal with the inventor
Henri ChrétienHenri Jacques Chrétien was a French astronomer and an inventor.Born in Paris, France, his most famous invention is the anamorphic widescreen process, that resulted in the CinemaScope, and the co-invention of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope , which was anadvanced type of astronomical telescope, now...
, leaving the other filmstudios empty-handed, and in 1953 introduced
CinemaScopeCinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
in the studio's ground-breaking feature film
The RobeThe Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
.
The success of The Robe was so massive that in February 1953 Zanuck announced that henceforth all Fox pictures would be made in CinemaScope. 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 RobeThe Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
and
How to Marry a MillionaireHow to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins and Loco by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score...
, Warner Bros., MGM,
Universal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
(then known as Universal-International),
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and
DisneyWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
quickly adopted the process. In 1956 Fox engaged Robert Lippert to establish a subsidiary company, Regal Pictures, later Associate Producers Incorporated to film B pictures in CinemaScope.
CinemaScope brought a brief up-turn in attendance, but by 1956 the numbers again began to slide. That year Darryl Zanuck announced his resignation as head of production. Officially attributed to burn-out, rumors persisted that his wife had threatened divorce (in community-property California) after discovering Zanuck's affair with actress
Bella DarviBella Darvi was a Polish-born French actress.-Biography:Darvi was born Bayla Wegier to Chaym Wegier, a baker, and his wife, Chaya . She had three brothers, Robert, Jacques Wegier, Jean-Isidore, and a sister, Sura. Robert died in a concentration camp.Jailed by the Nazis during World War II, she...
. Zanuck moved to Paris, setting up as an independent producer; he did not set foot in California again for twenty years.
Production and financial problems
Zanuck's successor, producer Buddy Adler, died a year later. President
Spyros SkourasSpyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
brought in a series of production executives, but none had Zanuck's success. By the early 1960s Fox was in trouble. A remake of Theda Bara's
CleopatraCleopatra was directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starred Theda Bara in the title role. Fritz Leiber, Sr. played Julius Caesar and Thurston Hall played Mark Antony....
had begun in 1959 with
Joan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
in the lead. As a publicity gimmick, producer
Walter WangerWalter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
offered one million dollars to
Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
if she would star; she accepted, and costs for Cleopatra began to escalate, aggravated by
Richard BurtonRichard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
's on-set romance with Taylor and surrounding media frenzy.
Meanwhile, another remake — of the 1940
Cary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
hit
My Favorite WifeMy Favorite Wife is a 1940 screwball comedy produced and co-written by Leo McCarey and directed by Garson Kanin. The movie stars Irene Dunne as a woman who returns to her husband and children after being shipwrecked on a tropical island for several years, and Cary Grant as her husband...
— was rushed into production in an attempt to turn over a quick profit to help keep Fox afloat. The
romantic comedyRomantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
, titled
Something's Got to GiveSomething's Got to Give is an unfinished 1962 American feature film, directed by George Cukor and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse...
, paired
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
,
Fox's most bankable star of the 1950s with
Dean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, and director (
George CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
). The troubled Monroe caused delays on a daily basis, and it quickly descended into a costly debacle. As Cleopatras budget passed the ten-million dollar mark, Fox sold its back lot (now the site of Century City) to Alcoa in 1961 to raise cash. After several months of very little progress,
Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
was fired from
Something's Got to GiveSomething's Got to Give is an unfinished 1962 American feature film, directed by George Cukor and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse...
and two months later she was found dead, although somewhat controversially.
Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
's highly disruptive reign on the
CleopatraCleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
set continued unchallenged.
With few pictures on the schedule, Skouras wanted to rush Zanuck's big-budget war epic
The Longest DayThe Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
, 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 years. After it became clear that
Something's Got to GiveSomething's Got to Give is an unfinished 1962 American feature film, directed by George Cukor and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse...
would not be able to progress without Monroe in the lead (Martin had refused to work with anyone else), Skouras finally decided that something had to give and re-signed her. But days before filming was due to resume,
she was found deadMarilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychoanalyst Ralph S Florence after he was called by Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas...
at her Los Angeles home and 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 went on to be recognized as one of the great World War II films.
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. 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 NewsMovietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States, and from 1929 to 1979 in the United Kingdom.-History:It is known in the U.S. as Fox Movietone News, produced cinema, sound newsreels from 1928 to 1963 in the U.S., from 1929 to 1979 in the UK , and from 1929 to 1975 in...
reel and made a series of cheap, popular pictures that restored Fox as a major studio. The biggest boost to the studio's fortunes came from the tremendous success of
The Sound of MusicRodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
(1965), an expensive and handsomely produced adaptation of the
Rodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
Broadway musical, which became one of the all-time greatest box office hits.
Fox also had two big science-fiction hits in the 1960s:
Fantastic VoyageFantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
(which introduced Racquel Welch to film audiences) in 1966, and the original
Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
, starring
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
, in 1968.
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
Dennis Carothers StanfillDennis Carothers Stanfill is an American business executive, Rhodes Scholar and philanthropist. He is best known for his stewardship of the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation from 1971 to 1981 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer...
and production head
Alan Ladd, Jr.Alan Ladd, Jr. is an American film industry executive and producer. He is famous for giving George Lucas the go-ahead to make Star Wars and remained as Lucas' only support at times when the Board of Directors wished to shut down production...
, Fox films connected with modern audiences. 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. In 1977 Fox's success reached new heights and produced the most profitable film made up to that time,
Star WarsStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
.
Rupert Murdoch
With financial stability came new owners, and in 1978 control passed to the investors
Marc RichMarc Rich is an international commodities trader and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore. He was indicted in the United States on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion...
and
Marvin DavisMarvin H. Davis was an American industrialist and philanthropist...
. By 1985, Rich had fled the U.S. after evading $100 million in U.S. income taxes, and Davis sold Rich's half of Fox to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Six months later Davis sold his half of Fox, giving News Corp complete control. To run the studio, Murdoch hired
Barry DillerBarry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
from
ParamountParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Diller brought with him a plan which Paramount's board had refused: a studio-backed, fourth television network that was financed by advertising.
To gain FCC approval of Fox's purchase of
MetromediaMetromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
's television holdings, once the stations of the old
DuMontThe DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
network, Murdoch had to become a US citizen. He did so in 1985 (the same year 20th Century-Fox dropped the hyphen from its name), and in 1986 the new
Fox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
took to the air. Over the next 20-odd years the network and owned-stations group expanded to become extremely profitable for News Corp.
Since January 2000 this company has been the international distributor for MGM/
UAUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
releases, until ,when
Turner Broadcasting SystemTurner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
bought MGM the worldwide video distributor for the MGM/UA library. In the 1980s Fox— through a joint venture with
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, called
CBS/Fox VideoCBS/Fox Video was a home video company formed and established in 1982, as a merger between 20th Century Fox Video, formerly Magnetic Video Corporation, and CBS Video Enterprises....
—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 2008 Fox announced an Asian subsidiary, Fox STAR Studios, a joint venture with
STAR TVSatellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....
, also owned by News Corporation. It was reported that Fox STAR would start by producing films for the
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
market, then expand to several Asian markets.
Its future is in doubt due to the recent
News Corporation scandalThe News Corporation scandal developed in mid-2011 out of a series of investigations following up the News of the World royal phone hacking scandal of 2005–2007...
; however, it might be the least impacted of all of News Corporation's holdings.
Television
20th Television20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....
is Fox's television
syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
division.
20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
is the studio's television production division.
During the mid-1950s features were released to television in 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. 20th Century Fox received 50 percent interest in NTA Film network after it sold its library to National Telefilm Associates. This gave ninety minutes of cleared time a week and syndicated feature films to 110 non-interconnected stations for sale to national sponsors.
Music
Fox MusicFox Music is the music arm of 20th Century Fox. It encompasses music publishing andlicensing businesses, dealing primarily with Fox Entertainment Group television and film soundtracks...
is 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.
Logo and fanfare
The
Art DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
20th Century Fox logo, designed by landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr., originated as the 20th Century Pictures logo, with the name "Fox" substituted for "Pictures, Inc." in 1935. The logo was originally created as
a painting on several layers of glassA matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques...
and animated frame-by-frame. Over the years the logo was modified several times.
In 1953,
Rocky LongoThe Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
, an artist at
Pacific TitlePacific Title and Art Studio, Inc. was founded in 1919 by Leon Schlesinger, where most of his business was producing title cards for silent films...
, was hired to recreate the original design for the new
CinemaScopeCinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
process. In order to give the design the required "width", Longo tilted the "0" in 20th. In 1981, after Longo repainted the eight-layered glass panels (and straightened the "0"), his revised logo became the official trademark. (The 1953 logo, however, would be used in tandem with the newer logo until 1987.)
In 1994, after a few failed attempts (which even included trying to film the familiar monument as an actual three-dimensional model), Fox in-house television producer
Kevin BurnsKevin Burns is an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter. His work can be seen on A&E, National Geographic Channel, E!, Animal Planet, AMC, Bravo, Travel Channel, Lifetime, and The History Channel.-Early life:...
was hired to produce new logo for the company — this time using the new process of
computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
(CGI). With the help of graphics producer Steve Soffer and his company Studio Productions (which had recently given face-lifts to the
ParamountParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and
Universal-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
logos), Burns directed that the new logo contain more detail and animation, so that the longer (21 second) Fox fanfare with the "CinemaScope extension" could be used as the underscore. This required a virtual Los Angeles Cityscape to be designed around the monument. In the background can be seen the
Hollywood signThe Hollywood Sign is a landmark and American cultural icon in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee, Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in and white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition...
, which would give the monument an actual location (approximating Fox's actual address in Century City). One final touch was the addition of store front signs—each one bearing the name of Fox executives who were at the studio at the time. One of the signs reads, "Murdoch's Department Store"; another says "
CherninPeter Chernin currently owns and runs Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group, both of which he founded in 2009. He was formerly President and COO of News Corporation, and Chairman and CEO of Fox Entertainment Group. He is a Corporate Director for American Express and sits on the Board of...
's" and a third reads: "Burns Tri-City Alarm" (an homage to Burns' late father who owned a burglar and fire alarm company in Upstate New York). The 1994 CGI logo was also the first time that Twentieth Century Fox was recognized as "A News Corporation Company" in the logo.
In 2009, a newly updated CGI logo, done by
Blue Sky StudiosBlue Sky Studios is an American CGI-animation studio which specializes in high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering. It is owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Greenwich, Connecticut...
, debuted in the film Avatar. A 75th Anniversary version of this new logo was used to coincide with 20th Century Fox's 75th anniversary; it made its official debut with
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning ThiefPercy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a 2010 fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus. The film is loosely based on The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan...
, and last appeared in
Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's Travels is a 2010 fantasy comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and very loosely based on Part One of the 18th-century novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, though the film takes place in modern day...
.
The Fox fanfare was originally composed in 1933 by
Alfred NewmanAlfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films.In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over two hundred films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest...
, who became head of Twentieth Century-Fox's music department from 1940 until the 1960s. It was re-recorded in 1935 when 20th Century Fox was officially established.
In 1953 an extended version was created for
CinemaScopeCinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
films, first used on the film
How to Marry a MillionaireHow to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Jean Negulesco and produced and written by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins and Loco by Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert. The music score...
, released in the same year.
The RobeThe Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
, the first film released in CinemaScope, used the sound of a choir singing over the logo, instead of the regular fanfare.
As
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
grew as a medium, the practice of placing
production logoA production logo, vanity card, vanity plate, vanity logo or vogo is a logo used by movie studios and television production companies to brand what they produce. Vanity logos are usually seen at the beginning of a theatrical movie , or at the end of a television program or TV movie...
s at the end of programs became commonplace. For Fox's television arm, a truncated version of the Newman fanfare has been used with a brief shot of the Fox logo. Syndicated programs would overlay "Television" over "Century" in an animation, resulting in the logo reading "20th Television Fox". Today, CGI logos are used, with
20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
primarily for Fox network programming, and
20th Television20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....
for other programming (such as cable and syndication).
By the 1970s the Fox fanfare was only being used sporadically in films.
George LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
enjoyed the Alfred Newman music so much that he insisted it be used for
Star WarsStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
(1977), which features the CinemaScope version. Composer
John WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
composed the Star Wars main theme in the same key (B major) as the Fox fanfare as an extension to Newman's score. In 1980 Williams conducted a new version of the fanfare for
The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
. Williams' recording of the Fox fanfare has been used in every
Star WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
film since. Since the introduction of the CGI Fox logo, Star Wars theatrical releases (beginning with the Special Editions of the original trilogy in 1997) have used a static angle version of the new logo, to allow for the animated
LucasfilmLucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
logo to appear during the extension.
The Fox fanfare was re-orchestrated in 1981, as Longo's revised logo was being introduced.
As the CGI logo was being prepared to premiere at the beginning of
James CameronJames Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
's
True LiesTrue Lies is a 1994 American action-comedy film directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston, and Art Malik. Eliza Dushku also appears in the film in one of her first major film roles...
(1994), Burns asked composer Bruce Broughton for a new version of the familiar fanfare. In 1997 Alfred's son, composer
David NewmanDavid Louis Newman is an American composer and conductor known particularly for his film scores. In a career spanning nearly forty years, he has composed music for nearly 100 feature films.-Life and career:...
, recorded the new version of the fanfare in
AnastasiaAnastasia is a 1997 American animated musical film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was the first feature film to be released by Fox Animation Studios....
(1997). This rendition is still in use .
Parodies of the fanfare have appeared at the start of the films The Cannonball Run (cars drive around the logo and knock out the searchlights),
White Men Can't JumpWhite Men Can't Jump is a 1992 American sports comedy drama film starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as streetball hustlers, co-starring Rosie Perez...
(rap version of the fanfare),
The Day After TomorrowThe Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American science-fiction disaster film that depicts the catastrophic effects of global warming in a series of extreme weather events that usher in global cooling which leads to a new ice age. The film did well at the box office, grossing $542,771,772 internationally...
(thunderstorm on the set),
Live Free or Die HardLive Free or Die Hard , is a 2007 American action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane. The name was adapted from the state motto of New Hampshire, "Live Free or Die"...
(where the searchlights go out as a result of a power outage),
The Rocky Horror Picture ShowThe Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
(featuring a piano-rock version of the fanfare),
The Simpsons MovieThe Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
(
Ralph WiggumRalph Wiggum is a recurring fictional character on the animated series The Simpsons, voiced by Nancy Cartwright. The son of Police Chief Wiggum and a classmate of Lisa Simpson, Ralph is best known as the show's resident oddball, and is noted for his non sequiturs and erratic behavior...
"sings along" with the fanfare; in trailers and commercials, the "0" in the tower is replaced by a pink, half-bitten doughnut of the type Homer eats),
DaredevilDaredevil is a 2003 American superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film stars Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who fights for justice in the courtroom and out of the courtroom as the masked vigilante Daredevil...
(the picture morphs into a negative image of the logo- as if perceived by the main character's radar sense),
Ice Age: Dawn of the DinosaursIce Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
(with snow and volcanoes covering the logo, but the regular 20th Century Fox logo was shown on the film's DVD and Blu-rays release instead) and
Minority ReportMinority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C...
(where the logo, alongside its
DreamWorksDreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
counterpart, appears immersed in water, similar to the film's "precog" characters). A variant appears on most of the 2010 films, in which a 75 forms from lights, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the merger,
The League of Extraordinary GentlemenThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 superhero film adaptation loosely based on characters from the comic book limited series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, who is also famous for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell. It was released on July 11, 2003, in the...
(the logo will become dark).
In the
X-MenThe X-Men film series consists of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The films star an ensemble cast, focusing on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who is drawn into the conflict between Professor Xavier and Magneto , who have opposing views on humanity's...
films of the 2000s, the "X" in "Fox" remains ghosted on the screen as the scene fades out. In
Moulin Rouge!Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
the logo appears on a stage behind a red curtain with a conductor directing an orchestra playing the fanfare. In the 2003 production of
The League of Extraordinary GentlemenThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 superhero film adaptation loosely based on characters from the comic book limited series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, who is also famous for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell. It was released on July 11, 2003, in the...
the logo appears as a huge unlit monument dominating the nighttime London skyline. In
Diary of a Wimpy KidDiary of a Wimpy Kid is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal and based on Jeff Kinney's book of the same name. The film was released on March 19, 2010. It was released on DVD, iTunes, and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010.-Plot:...
, the studio placed a cartoon version of the 20th Century Fox structure on the main studio logo.
At the end of Fox's
FuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, set in the 30th and 31st centuries, the logo is shown with the words "30th Century Fox".
As a surprise twist, the opening fanfare for Alien
3 has the music "freeze" on the penultimate melody tone, and then adds wailing French horns and
bendingIn engineering mechanics, bending characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element. The structural element is assumed to be such that at least one of its dimensions is a small fraction, typically...
strings, before continuing with a crash into the opening titles, thus setting the dark mood for the film.
Also on The Simpsons: Season 10 DVD, each disc's opening shows
Bart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
running around the logo while being chased by the squeaky-voiced teenager.
Fox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1998, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox...
,
Foxstar ProductionsFoxstar Productions is a television production company subsidiary of News Corp.'s Fox Television Studios. It was created in 1993 as a TV Movie and Mini-Series unit under former Twentieth Century Fox Television network production president Steve Bell. In 1994, the company produced the first in a...
, and
Fox Studios AustraliaFox Studios Australia is a major movie studio located in Sydney, Australia, occupying the site of the former Sydney Showground at Moore Park...
are just a few of the other corporate entities that have used variations on the original 1933 design.
The Fox fanfare was sampled for the remix of rapper
Busta RhymesTrevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...
's song, "Stop The Party", after
Ghostface KillahDennis Coles , better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and prominent member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of Enter the Wu-Tang , the members went on to pursue solo careers to varying levels of success...
's verse.
20th Century Fox franchises
This is a list of franchises by 20th Century Fox.
- 24
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
and Imagine Television)
- Alien
The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...
- Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on the animated series of the same name, the film stars Jason Lee, David Cross, and Cameron Richardson with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and...
- American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
, Fuzzy Door ProductionsFuzzy Door Productions or The Spotted Door is the production company of television producer Seth MacFarlane. Its productions include the animated series Family Guy, American Dad! and the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, as well as the live-action sitcom The Winner...
and Underdog Productions)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
and Mutant Enemy ProductionsMutant Enemy Productions is the production company created in 1997 by Joss Whedon to produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The company also produced the Buffy spin-off, Angel, and his two short-lived science fiction series, the space western Firefly and his high-concept Dollhouse, produced by 20th...
)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of movies based on the books by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. Just like the books, the movies are the journals of Greg Heffley, the series' main character, who is played by Zachary Gordon....
- Die Hard
- Dr. Dolittle
Dr. Dolittle is a 1998 American family comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he has the ability to talk to animals...
- Ekrem Caliskan Presents - Space Cats
- Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television and Fuzzy Door Productions)
- Firefly
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television)
- Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television)
- Garfield
Garfield: The Movie, also known as Garfield, is a 2004 American live-action film based on the Jim Davis comic strip with the same name. In the film, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real...
(2004 - 2006)
- Home Alone
Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation...
- Ice Age
Ice Age is a series of animated films produced by Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox, and featuring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge. Three films have been released in the series thus far, Ice Age in 2002, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, and Ice...
(on behalf of Blue Sky StudiosBlue Sky Studios is an American CGI-animation studio which specializes in high-resolution, computer-generated character animation and rendering. It is owned by 20th Century Fox and located in Greenwich, Connecticut...
)
- King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television, Judgemental Films, 3 Arts Entertainment and Deedle-Dee ProductionsDeedle-Dee Productions is a television production company owned by Greg Daniels. It is known for producing the long running series King of the Hill, The Office and their newest series, Parks and Recreation...
)
- Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
(on behalf of Regency Television)
- Night at the Museum
Night at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny...
- Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes is a United States media franchise with seven films , two television series, and comic books. The series began with the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes, which was based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle.-Background:The original series of...
- Porky's
Porky's is a 1982 comedy film about the escapades of teenagers at the fictional Angel Beach High School in Florida in 1954. It was released in the United States in 1982, and spawned two sequels: Porky's II: The Next Day and Porky's Revenge! and influenced many writers in the teen film genre...
- Predator
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox....
- Revenge of the Nerds
Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 comedy film satirizing social life on a college campus. The film stars Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B. Scott, John Goodman, and Donald Gibb...
- Speed
- Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
(on behalf of LucasfilmLucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
)
- That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
and Carsey-Werner ProductionsCarsey-Werner Productions is an independent production company founded in 1981 by former ABC writer/producer duo Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner...
)
- The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of English fantasy films from Walden Media that are based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels written by C. S. Lewis...
(on behalf of Walden MediaWalden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
, and previously distributed by Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
)
- The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television)
- The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television and Gracie FilmsGracie Films is an American film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, including Broadcast News, Jerry Maguire, and most notably The Simpsons...
)
- The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
(on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television and Ten Thirteen ProductionsTen Thirteen Productions is a production company founded by Chris Carter in 1993, which produced four television series and two films . The company was named after Carter's birthday, October 13...
)
- X-Men
The X-Men film series consists of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The films star an ensemble cast, focusing on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who is drawn into the conflict between Professor Xavier and Magneto , who have opposing views on humanity's...
(on behalf of Marvel StudiosMarvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate....
)
See also
List of 20th Century Fox films
- Related companies:
- 20th Century Fox Animation
20th Century Fox Animation is the animation division of film studio 20th Century Fox.-Fox Animation Studios:Before 20th Century Fox started its animation division in 1997, 20th Century Fox released its first six animated films, such as Wizards, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure , Fire and Ice...
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of the 20th Century Fox film studio. It was established in 1976 as Magnetic Video Corporation, and later as 20th Century Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video and FoxVideo, Inc....
- 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
- Fox 21
- Fox Atomic
Fox Atomic was a production label of film studio 20th Century Fox created in 2006 to generate comedy and genre films.In 2008, Fox Atomic scaled back its production operations and shut down all marketing divisions...
- Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
- Fox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group is an American entertainment industry company that owns film studios and terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite television properties...
- Fox Interactive
20th Century Fox Games is a video game publisher and developer mainly concerned with titles based on 20th Century Fox properties, such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, the Alien and Predator film franchises, Independence Day, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Avatar, 24, the...
- Fox Star Studios
Fox Star Studios Pvt Ltd is an India-based movie production and distribution company, a joint venture between Twentieth Century Fox and STAR, both owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...
- Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1998, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox...
- Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
– Australian Cable TV operator
- Related products:
- 20th Century Fox Studio Classics
20th Century Fox Studio Classics refers to a collection of films ranging from the late 1920s to the late 1960s released on DVD by 20th Century Fox.-Features and pricing:...
– A premium DVD collection
- Fox Family Fun – A family DVD collection
- Other:
- Backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction....
- Blu-ray Disc Association
The Blu-ray Disc Association is the industry consortium that develops and licenses Blu-ray Disc technology and is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc...
- CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
External links