Disney drops 'Fox' name and will rebrand its movie studio as '20th Century'

[Marcel Birgelen]

"20th Century" sounds like something is missing, I'd rather named it something like "20th Century Pictures", but who am I?

I guess they decided to drop the FOX part, to avoid confusion with the Fox Corporation, which is also owner of the Fox News channel and still owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

[Leo Enticknap]

The merger was in 1935, but had its origins almost a decade earlier. William Fox tried to buy MGM in 1929, using the crap ton of money he made out of the Movietone sound system. However, the attempt triggered political opposition (an antitrust investigation and lawsuit instigated by his business rivals' lobbying), and he was seriously hit by the Wall Street Crash. As a result of this, Fox lost control of his company to a hostile takeover by a consortium of investors, who later merged it with Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935. It remained an independent company until News International (the Murdochs) bought it in 1985, and I believe that it has changed hands again between then and the Disney takeover.

I played some movie or other at a festival a couple of years ago, the opening logo of which announced the production company to be "21st Century Skunk," complete with a logo that is clearly a parody of the TCF one. Now that Disney owns the official version, I wonder if these guys can expect a cease-and-desist letter...

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

If memory serves me, 20th Century Fox was created by the merger of 20th Century Pictures with the Fox Film Corp originally found and headed by William Fox. This happened in the late 1920's, or maybe the early 1930's. Everything old is new again.

[Frank Cox]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/media...and/index.html

new York (CNN Business)20th Century Fox is an icon of Hollywood history. Its epic fanfare title card has appeared in front of "The Sound of Music," "Star Wars" and other major films over the past 85 years. But in 2020, that name is going to change. Disney (DIS) is dropping the "Fox" name from its "20th Century Fox" brand, renaming the longtime studio as just "20th Century Studios." Its art house production company, Fox Searchlight, will now be known as "Searchlight Pictures."
Disney closed a $71 billion deal to acquire the studio and other Fox assets last year. The iconic logo, title card and its fanfare will stay the same, minus the name "Fox.'
The new branding will first been seen on Searchlight Pictures' "Downhill," a drama/comedy starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which hits theaters on February 14. "The Call of the Wild," an adventure film starring Harrison Ford, will be the first film with the 20th Century Studios name, when it hits theaters on February 21.

I find this interesting since the 20th century has actually been over for twenty years....