The 20th Century Fox Era Ends: Disney Pulls Fox Name From New 20th Century and Searchlight Logos
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It’s official. As Walt Disney Studios ingests all Fox brands as part of the company after a major acquisition last year, Disney has just removed any mention of “Fox” from both the 20th Century and Searchlight Pictures logos, according to a new report from Deadline. From now on, you will see the Searchlight Pictures logo attached to specialty outings, and 20th Century Studios on upcoming wide-release titles.
The new Searchlight Pictures logo, for example, is already visible on TV spots for the upcoming “Force Majeure” remake “Downhill,” starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a couple in crisis while on vacation at a ski resort. The film, directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, will premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival this month, followed by a national rollout beginning February 14. Meanwhile, the 20th Century Studios stamp will be visible on the upcoming feature film adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel “The Call of the Wild,” starring Harrison Ford and due on February 21 in theaters.
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The update in the logo follows news of the rebranding of Disney and Fox’s TV operations under the umbrella of Walt Disney Television, and it’s meant to eliminate any confusion for the consumer (somehow). The classic “20th Century Fox” fanfare composed by Alfred Newman, which has set the stage for many a Fox release dating back to the mid-1930s, will remain, according to Deadline.
So far, the newly combined Disney and 20th Century/Searchlight racked up more than $13 billion at the global box office last year, including $8.8 billion abroad and $4.3 billion stateside. Disney leads the pack with $11.1 billion globally, which makes sense given some of its major tentpole releases last year including “Avengers: Endgame” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which is still playing in theaters. Both films are up for tech Oscars. Searchlight’s biggest dog in the Academy Awards race is Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit,” and just yesterday it was announced that Waititi was being approached to develop a new “Star Wars” film for Disney. It’s unclear if a Waititi film would have anything to do with the “Star Wars” film that Marvel chief Kevin Feige, Waititi’s close collaborator on “Thor: Ragnarok,” is currently cooking up.
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