Background[]
In 1935, Twentieth Century Pictures, Inc. and Fox Film Corporation merged together to form "Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation" (the hyphen between "Century" and "Fox" was dropped in 1985), or simply "20th Century Fox". Currently, it's a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox Inc., which was a company formed when News Corporation split up into two companies. As of July 2018, their two most financially successful films are Avatar, released in 2009, and Titanic (under international rights), released in 1997. Both films were directed by James Cameron. Fox's most highly acclaimed film, according to review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes (jointly owned by Universal and Warner Bros.), is All About Eve, released in 1950 and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The failure of their 2015 film adaptation of Fantastic Four would ultimately end the studio's association with the Murdoch family, as two years later the studio and its library were put up for sale, with Disney acquiring within the year following a bidding war with Comcast; the acquisition process was completed in 2019. In early 2020, Disney announced that they would be distancing 20th Century Fox away from Fox Networks by renaming 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios.
Logos[]
1st logo (1935-1968)[]
It's the same as the 20th Century Pictures logo, except "FOX" appears in place of "PICTURES, INC.". This logo was once again designed by Emil Kosa, Jr.
Variants[]
- This logo first appeared in black and white, with a Technicolor version for color films debuting in 1936.
- On colorized prints, depending on how it was colorized, the logo would have different colors.
- The logo would either take place on a day or night sky.
- Fox Movietone News newsreels use a slightly altered version of the tower in the opening credits with "presents", in script, below it.
- For early color releases (except for The Little Princess), the structure is sepia-toned, the left searchlights are pink, the right searchlights are yellow and blue, the "stack" is blue, the middle searchlights are green, and the sky is dark purple.
- On the current print of Les Miserables, the logo fades into the NTA logo.
Closing Titles[]
Superimposed on a special background or sometimes on the last scene of a movie, fade in the words "The End" with fonts vary on the movie with the following text: "Released through Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation", "Released by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation", "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation" or "Produced and Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation".
2nd logo (1953-1987)[]
A redrawn and more clearer version of the last logo, but the "0" on the top is crooked and two searchlights behind the tower have been removed. This logo was designed by Rocky Longo, who was an artist at Pacific Title and Art Studio, Inc. He also designed the next logo.
Variants[]
The Fox logo has had many renditions over the years. Here are some of them:
- 1953-1967: The CinemaScope logo. The searchlights are slimmed down and the structure is placed in the center of the screen with a dark blue sky surrounding it. The logo fades to "TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS A CINEMASCOPE PRODUCTION/PICTURE".
- 1956-1967: Large-format (70mm, CinemaScope 55) films used a different Fox structure where the "0" is not slanted. It made its first known appearance on Carousel.
- The one with the regular "0" also had this text: "A CINEMASCOPE PICTURE IN CINEMASCOPE 55". In 1961, The King and I was re-released in a 70mm version, called "GRANDEUR 70".
- 1960-1965: For movies that were shot in 70mm/Todd-AO, such as 1960's Can-Can, 1963's Cleopatra, and 1965's The Agony and the Ecstasy, the 20th Century Fox logo with the regular "0" appears for five seconds and then fades to the words "TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS". The Bible (1966) contains the text "A TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX RELEASE" with copyright information below it.
- 1957-1987: Like the slanted zero version of CinemaScope logo, but without the snipe and fades out.
- 1956-1967: Like the standard zero logo, but does not have the snipe and fades out.
- There is an extended version of the 1953-1987 logo without the CinemaScope logo. It appeared only on two films, 1977's High Anxiety and 1981's History of the World, Part I, both directed by and starring Mel Brooks. The logo loops in reverse like the next logo.
- 1968-1987: The structure and the sky background are off-center and shifted to the left. Starting in 1976 with The Omen, the registered trademark symbol "®" was added to the bottom of the logo.
- There was a short version of this logo.
- The logo would take place on either a day or a night sky.
- On older international prints of Chariots of Fire and Breaking Away (and a recent TV airing of the former film), the logo is zoomed in, because those films were shot in "open matte" and the logo was not adjusted for widescreen.
- On Quintet, the logo fades to a white snowstorm, revealing the start of the movie.
- An ultra dark variant due to film deterioration exists. Such films that have this variant are older prints of The Omen.
- There is an deteriorated variant that shakes only once.
- Sometimes, if a widescreen movie is shown on a full screen format, a pan and scan won't happen and it'll be shown in another resolution, then the one of your TV; However, there are times where the BG will be a different color. An example of this is Early 2000's HBO airings of widescreen Fox movies, where its shown Blue.
Closing Titles[]
- 1953-1965: Same as above, but the "The End" words were moved to the very top and the 20th Century-Fox text is pushed to the bottom to give space for the text "A CINEMASCOPE PRODUCTION" or "A CINEMASCOPE PICTURE".
3rd logo (1981-1994)[]
Another redrawn version of the last logo. This time, the structure is as off-center left as the late 1960s variant of the 1953 logo. This logo was designed when Rocky Longo repainted the eight-layered glass panels, and straightened the zero. This design of the logo still continues to this day (albeit in a slightly modified form).
Variants[]
- On some films, such as Porky's Revenge!, the front-left searchlight is pink.
- Some films used a dark, washed-out structure.
- On widescreen (letterbox) films, the Fox logo would be squeezed to fit on standard 1.33:1 film and then stretched with special projector lenses so it could be shown in widescreen (2.35:1), though the first two Die Hard films use a version where the logo is not squeezed, and thus is stretched out horizontally.
- There is another scope variant that was done for films shot in Super 35 where the 1.85 variant was cropped to 2.35.
- On a few films shot in scope, the logo is in extreme close-up.
- On a couple films, the logo is placed at a very far distance.
- A black & white version of this logo exists.
- A 4:3 anamorphicly squished version was used on the 1989 CBS/Fox video release of Die Hard and the TV spots for The Fly (1986 remake).
Closing Titles[]
Same as the previous, but the text reads as either: "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation" or "Released by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation". In 1990, the text was shortened to either "Released by Twentieth Century Fox" or "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century Fox." On The Abyss and My Cousin Vinny, there was a variation which had "RELEASED BY" and below the 20th Century Fox print logo.
4th logo (July 15, 1994-December 24, 2010; May 3-October 4, 2013)[]
They start on a black background. Then two searchlights swoop across the screen, revealing a top aerial view of the 20th Century Fox structure, redone in CGI. The camera pans down and then across the logo, revealing the starry and cloudy blue/purple/orange Los Angeles and Hollywood evening skyline in the distance, before settling into its more customary position and angle. The byline "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY" fades in at the bottom of the screen. The structure looks similar to the 1981 logo.
Variants[]
- There is a prototype version of this logo where the spotlight shines brighter on the structure.
- On the "Special Edition" remastered versions of the Star Wars trilogy from 1997 onward and the Star Wars prequel trilogy, there is no camera panning; it just remains in its usual place until it fades to the Lucasfilm Ltd. logo, which is shown over the CinemaScope music extension.
- A short version of this logo appears on The Making of The Pagemaster and the CBS television special I Walk the Line: A Night for Johnny Cash.
- The version where it starts at the end without the (R) symbol and the byline was used for the box on the 1995-2008 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo.
- An Open Matte version exists.
- There's a variant of the 75th anniversary, In were the byline A news corporation company Is already on the logo, Then the camera zooms up with the number 75 in bright white and words celebrating draws by itself on the top and year on the bottom.
Closing Titles[]
- Same as the last logo until 2006.
- On Titanic, the text reads as: "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures".
5th logo (July 1, 2009-December 25, 2020)[]
It's a redone and more realistic version of the 1994 tower. This time, it is in a dark/orange evening environment. When the structure is in its distance, you can see an extra searchlight and a pair of palm trees on the bottom right hand corner. This structure, like the 1994 structure, also looks similar to the 3rd logo. This logo was designed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha and was animated at Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox's sibling company and creator of Ice Age.
6th logo (2020-present)[]
Nearly the same as the final 20th Century Fox logo, except "FOX" is replaced with "STUDIOS", and "CENTURY" is slightly taller to accommodate for it. The logo has also been enhanced with more realistic lighting and textures, a different sky backdrop, sleeker looking searchlights, and a larger and more detailed Los Angeles cityscape.
Music/Sounds[]
1st logo[]
A redone variant of the 20th Century Pictures fanfare as composed and conducted by Alfred Newman once again, that has become one of the most famous pieces of music in the world.
Music/Sounds Variants[]
- On Love Under Fire, a different recording of the fanfare is heard.
- On a few films, it is silent or has the film's respective opening theme.
- On some 20th Century Pictures films, the original TCP fanfare is heard due to sloppy plastering.
- Zorba the Greek, one of the last films to use this logo, use the first half of the 1953 CinemaScope fanfare.
- On the 1994 Studio Classics VHS of Carmen Jones, the 1979 fanfare was heard, likely due to a reverse plaster error.
- On Seven Arts TV prints, the full CinemaScope fanfare, with extension, is used (the extension is heard over the Seven Arts logo).
2nd logo[]
- November 5, 1953-1960: The 1953 recording of the original fanfare, which debuted on How to Marry a Millionaire.
- April 30, 1954-1967: The original fanfare is extended for CinemaScope, as conducted by Alfred Newman and debuted on River of No Return; after CinemaScope was dropped in 1967, the 1935 fanfare is only used from this point on, until it returned on Star Wars in 1977.
- March 9, 1960: A different recording of the original fanfare, conducted by Nelson Riddle, debuted on Can-Can.
- 1965-October 31, 1981: The 1935 recording of the original fanfare.
- 1979?-December 11, 1987: A re-orchestrated version of the 1935 fanfare. The earliest known film to have used this fanfare is believed to be Scavenger Hunt. This arrangement is used on the next logo.
- May 17, 1980- : A new recording of the fanfare, played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Williams, which debuted on (Star Wars Episode V) The Empire Strikes Back.
- In other cases, it is silent or has the movie's opening theme.
Music/Sounds Variants[]
- Marilyn Monroe's final and unfinished project Something's Got to Give (1962) has the short, slowed-down version of the 1997 fanfare (re-orchestrated a la '07 TCFTV's fanfare). The film can be found as a bonus feature on The Seven Year Itch special edition DVD.
- Logan: Noir Editionuses the full, unabridged 1997 fanfare.
- An abridged remix of the 1954 CinemaScope fanfare, beginning with 0:03-0:04 of the fanfare, then 0:05-0:09 and finally 0:18-0:23. This can be heard on quite a few films, such as Fire Sale, Damien: Omen II, Brubaker, Fatso, Willie & Phil, the 1973 TV movie Miracle on 34th Street, the 1977 TV movie Good Against Evil, and the 1980 TV movie The Diary of Anne Frank.
- There is also a slightly modified version of the 1954 CinemaScope extended fanfare, used on Star Wars (later known as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope), released in 1977. It has an echo-like effect and sounds slightly re-orchestrated.
- High Anxiety, also released in 1977, had a slightly modified version of the 1954 CinemaScope fanfare that sounded like a combination of the regular 1954 fanfare and the modified version from Star Wars and is also reverberated (noticeable at the tail end of the fanfare right before the opening credits).
- History of the World, Part I, released in 1981, has a different re-orchestration of the CinemaScope extended fanfare.
- There are low toned versions of the 1935 and 1954 CinemaScope fanfares that exist on some films.
- Older prints of 1935's The Call of the Wild have the 20th Century Pictures fanfare.
- Recent prints of The Roots of Heaven play the 1994 fanfare over the CinemaScope variant.
- The original 1977 Magnetic Video release of Fantastic Voyage has the opening flourish of the Magnetic Video music mistakenly play back during the first half of the fanfare.
- Netflix prints of French Connection II use an abridged recording of the John Williams 1980 rendition of the CinemaScope extension (1999 orchestration).
- The laserdisc of Young Guns II has this logo with the 1979 music playing over it instead.
3rd logo[]
- 1981-October 1, 1993: The 1979 fanfare, last heard on Freaked. This was used in tandem with the long version until that year; most films would either use the long version, have it silent, or with the film's opening theme.
- August 6, 1982-July 1, 1994: A re-orchestration of the long version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, as conducted by Lionel Newman. The first film to use this rendition was The Pirate Movie and the last to use it was Baby's Day Out.
- In other cases, silence or the film's opening music.
4th logo[]
- July 15, 1994-January 30, 1998: A re-orchestration of the long TCF fanfare, as conducted by Bruce Broughton in the same stage that the original 1935 fanfare was recorded in. The orchestra is 3 times bigger and the fanfare has more reverberation/echo, and larger brass and string sections than other TCF fanfares. The last release (officially) to use this fanfare was Great Expectations. However, Wing Commander, released on March 12, 1999, some prints of Lake Placid 2, released in 2007, and on German productions, such as Krabat (released on October 9, 2008) and John Rabe (released April 2, 2009), used this fanfare instead of the 1997 fanfare for some reason.
- November 14, 1997, March 27, 1998- : A slightly slower re-orchestration of the long TCF fanfare, as performed by the 20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra conducted by David Newman, whose father Alfred Newman composed the original fanfare in 1933, as well as its extended counterpart in 1954. The first movie to use this fanfare was 1997's Anastasia. After the release of Anastasia, Fox films kept using the 1994 fanfare until January 1998.
5th logo[]
The 1997 fanfare, same as the one from the previous logo.
Music/Sound Variants[]
- The 2007 recording of the 1989 20th Century Fox Television fanfare was heard at the end of Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.
- The 1999 recording of the 1980 re-orchestrated fanfare, as conducted by John Williams and played by the London Symphony Orchestra, was retained at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D when the final half of 20th's current logo animation was seen, followed by the Lucasfilm logo.
- The 1994 fanfare was heard on international prints of Titanic, beginning with the 2012 3D re-release.
- The 1981 fanfare was heard on the 3D version of Predator.
- In rare cases, such as on US prints of The Monuments Men, the film's opening music plays over the logo.
- In very rare instances, such as Bridge of Spies, the logo is silent.
- The 2012 recording of the 1989 20th Century Fox Television fanfare was heard at the end of Ice Age: The Great Egg-scapade, though it's slightly quieter and has a small amount of echo at the end.
6th logo[]
The 1997 Fox fanfare, same as before.
Scare Factor[]
1st logo[]
Low to medium. The semi-dark atmosphere and the film quality may get to some, but this is one of the most wonderful, majestic, and famous logos of all time.
2nd logo[]
Low to medium. The tilted zero can be an eyesore to look at for some, but it's still a majestic logo.
3rd logo[]
Depending on the variant:
- Normal variant: Minimal to low. The redrawn image looks less scarier than its predecessors, nonetheless it's still a majestic logo.
- "Roaring Fox Tower" variant: Low to medium. It can startle you if you expect to hear the normal audio and hear this instead.
- "Alien³" variant: Low to high. The unnerving freeze of the fanfare will scare some.
4th logo[]
None; it is a favourite of many.
5th logo[]
None. It is a suitable successor to 20th Century Fox's original CGI searchlights.
6th logo[]
None. It's an amazing updated successor, though some might be confused by the new title name.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
_(OPEN_MATTE).png "20th Century Fox Film Corporation logo (July 15, 1994-October 5, 2010, March 30, 2013) (OPEN MATTE).png (1.2 MB)"){kind=logo}
