Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 20th Century Fox enters the 21st Century

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-22-2013, 02:03 PM:

This is actually kind-of old news but I don't see it anywhere on F-T...

...but, before you get too excited...

...Note the final paragraph (Update!)

Fox Announces Name Change

quote:
News Corp Announces Another New Overall Name - 21st Century Fox
by Alex Billington
April 16, 2013
Source: Deadline

It's time to take things into the 21st Century. I was wondering when this would happen! It has been revealed in an official internal email written by News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch that movie studio 20th Century Fox will finally get an updated name change to 21st Century Fox. This will properly represent the fact that we now live in the 21st century, even though Fox was originally founded in 1935 by the merger of Fox Films and 20th Century Pictures, Inc. during the 20th Century. We expect a formal announcement at CinemaCon this week, along with a new logo (the one above is a CG creation) but this is big industry news.

One of the wealthiest persons on this planet, News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch, wrote a lengthy email to the staff of News Corporation this week announcing the new name. The full memo (detailing their history) can be read on Deadline, but we've included a few of the better excerpts below regrading the name change.

It's with great enthusiasm that I share with you today's news that we've chosen a new name for the media and entertainment company that will be formed as part of the proposed separation of News Corporation.

After much exploration, and valuable input from our executive team, we've chosen the name 21st Century Fox to take us into the future. 21st Century Fox is a name that draws upon the rich creative heritage of Twentieth Century Fox, while also speaking to the innovation and dynamism that must define each of our businesses through the 21st Century. Our new name is inspired by the very first company we acquired nearly thirty years ago as our initial foray into the awe-inspiring world of entertainment.

Together, as 21st Century Fox, we have the creative magic, innovation and global footprint required to wow consumers around the world — every day. We haven't forgotten our roots in the entertainment world, and the legacy we inherited and built will guide us as we drive forward towards what is undoubtedly a future of even greater heights throughout this 21st Century and beyond. I can't wait to get started.

While the name "20th Century Fox" and the logo that accompanies it (and the music!) are very iconic, I've been wondering if they would ever update that name to be more current considering we entered the "21st Century" thirteen years ago. Now it's finally time, and Murdoch has decided to roll up the name change with his "proposed separation of News Corporation". For moviegoers, that doesn't mean much besides that he's retitling everything in film/TV to 21st Century Fox, similar to the way the company exists now (producing and distributing movies and TV content), but now they're ready "to take us into the future." Is this a big response to my claim that "Hollywood is behind the times"? Either way, it's very interesting news to report.

Update! There is an important quote in Murdoch's memo regarding names that states: "Both studios [TV & film] will maintain the name Twentieth Century Fox in recognition of their rich histories and strong connections with audiences across the globe." So, the movie studio itself is not being retitled, but the entire division of News Corp where the film & TV divisions are, will exist under the bigger name "21st Century Fox". This seems like it's making things a lot more confusing than helping, but that's what his memo states.

From Deadline -- No Name Change for 20th Century-Fox

quote:
No Name Change For 20th Century Fox
By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday April 16, 2013 @ 3:26pm PDT

Forget that News Corp is renaming its new separate media and entertainment business 21st Century Fox to take it into the future. 20th Century Fox is sticking to its past. ”The film studio is not changing names or logo,” a 20th Century Fox movie exec tells me today. Another tells me that the TV studios also are keeping the 20th Century Fox name. Why? Because the studios studied the situation and discovered that the name is one of the most recognizable in the world and has “real value” and “positive association” to the public, particularly overseas. (I hear that’s why the parent company is leveraging that name.) “It’s an 80-year-old brand that stands for something and means something to people,” the studio decided. Executives tell me the studio would have changed its moniker at the millennium. “But it’s long since lost the connection to the century. It’s a brand. It’s something that has lasted. The other company is brand new and begins in the 21st century.” I’m told that Rupert Murdoch and his Big Media corporation had “no issue” with 20th Century Fox retaining its name. I personally think that the film/TV studios simply didn’t want to pay to change all that perfectly good letterhead stationery. Meanwhile, Futurama keeps calling the studio ’30th Century Fox’.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 07-22-2013, 02:32 PM:

This would have been so stupid and killed their brand.

Glad to see them sticking around the 20th century.

AJG

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-22-2013, 03:12 PM:

There was already a 21st Century film company. IIRC it was headed up by Menachem Golan, half of the Golan-Globus team that headed up Canon Films -famous for churning out a lot of B-movie fare and killing the Christopher Reeve version of the Superman franchise.

If 20th Century Fox was going to change names, they should have transitioned to "Fox Films" or something like that before the turn of the century. With it being 2013, they're a little over 13 years late on making a change. Good or bad, I think it's best they stick with the "20th" thing in their brand. Besides, it would look too weird to see inconsistency in the brand between catalog titles like Die Hard and Star Wars versus newer movies coming out with a "21st" variant of the brand.

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 07-22-2013, 07:39 PM:

They could stick the dash back in and go back to Twentieth Century-
Fox Film Corporation.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 07-22-2013, 09:02 PM:

I vaguely remember seeing some movies around the turn of the century that said "Fox 2000 Pictures". I think the fanfare and spotlight thing was the same as usual, but the text afterward said "Fox 2000 Pictures Presents"

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 07-24-2013, 04:50 PM:

I remember an old Buggs Bunny cartoon in which the studio was named 20th century SOX. Someone asked Buggs what happens in the year 2000? Buggs respons "they change their sox". That is a lot better than what that putz Murdach came up with, not to mention 13 years TOO LATE.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-24-2013, 05:03 PM:

When I first see the 20th Century Fox logo, my first thought is still "Star Wars". In my mind those two are forever linked.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 07-24-2013, 05:19 PM:

I think it's the most iconic and enduring of all the old logos. Neat if you think about the fact that most of these studios are or are turning 100. Something warm and fuzzy about it hitting my movie geek nerve.

AJG

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 07-24-2013, 06:16 PM:

Of all the studio logos and fanfares, 20th Century Fox has always been my favorite especially with the CinemaScope extension.

-Claude

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 07-24-2013, 06:23 PM:

I'll forever associate it with The Cannonball Run

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 07-24-2013, 06:27 PM:

21st Century Fox is just the new name of News Corporation minus the publishing business, which is now called "News Corp". It sure is one confusing mess...

The later one is slowly going down the drain (Free News on the Internet and the media scandals in the UK are doing their part) so it's been isolated from the stuff that still has a future.

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 07-25-2013, 02:00 AM:

quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
Of all the studio logos and fanfares, 20th Century Fox has always been my favorite especially with the CinemaScope extension.

One of these days they might even send it out at the same level as the feature, rather than at about one-third as loud.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-25-2013, 02:42 PM:

I agree. Many of the studio logos are too soft. Universal's needs more bass, I think. But Fox is the weakest. Too bad because it's the coolest.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-26-2013, 03:11 PM:

Yeah, the Fox Fanfare tune is weak on a lot of newer movies. It sure wasn't weak on the front of Die Hard. It kicked it hard for that movie.
[thumbsup]

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 07-26-2013, 03:32 PM:

I really don't get it. These outfits are in the business of visual effects and sound but they don't apply that to their intros.

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 07-26-2013, 06:27 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
It sure wasn't weak on the front of Die Hard.

But something still had to be wrong, so they sent it out in standard instead of scope [Razz]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-30-2013, 11:28 PM:

I just programme them to play louder. For example, the Fox tag on the start of The Heat runs through at 7.5 then drops back to the feature volume at the end of it.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 07-31-2013, 07:15 AM:

I have done some press prevues of Fox products being shown to Latin American clients and employees. I always cranked up the logo (we do level checks for the room) and rolled it down for the feature....The client from Fox would always remark on how great his print(s) sounded compared to other locations.

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 07-31-2013, 09:04 AM:

...especially with that wonderful Cinemascope extention.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 07-31-2013, 11:52 AM:

MGM's lately has been the only one with any sort of meatiness to it. Leo never sounded better.

What I'd love to see is Warner Bros. return to the original fanfare from the golden age, akin to what was used on Casablanca. No, not the As Time Goes By one they've used recently.

AJG

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 07-31-2013, 05:33 PM:

The Fox scope fanfare has always been my favorite, but this old Universal one comes in second:

Universal Fanfare

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-05-2013, 09:15 AM:

Of course, here is another reason the Fox fanfare is awesome: it goes with anything!

AJG

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-05-2013, 10:37 PM:

I like that Fox really hasn't changed their logo very much over the years. Remember when Columbia went to that awful half-circle thing for a while? Or United Artists with their bent-over U forming into an A?

I like the Universal logo from the 70s a lot... it was just silent and majestic.

Of the current stuff I tend to like Universal's music the best, and Paramount's skimming-stars graphics. But it's hard to top Fox's for pure classic-ness.

Except of course the MGM lion. It's in a class by itself.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 08-07-2013, 03:27 PM:

only one way to play that, LOUD...fell in love as a kid,and still does it for me,best logo in the biz.