20th Century Home Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

Fox Entertainment Group acquired CBS's interest in CBS/Fox Video and renamed it to "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment" on March 16, 1995, alternating with the Fox Video name until 1998. The studio was the last major holdout to release its product on DVD, releasing its first seven discs in November of that year, one month after Paramount Home Entertainment released its first DVDs; it also released titles on the DIVX (Digital Video Express) format.

After The Walt Disney Company's purchase of Fox in 2019, the name would be retired on-screen in 2020 with the rename to 20th Century Studios, and future home media releases would use a shortened version of the movie logo starting with the video release of The Call of the Wild, while the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment name was still used for copyright holding purposes until December of that year.

Starting on July 30, 2024, future physical media releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in North America due to declining sales of releases and the shift to streaming. The first release under this new arrangement was the home media releases of The First Omen. Just before this on June 24, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment started distributing Disney and Sony titles through their Studio Distribution Services joint venture, though Disney titles will still be available exclusively through Sony.



1st Logo (August 29, 1995-October 20, 2009)

Visuals: The end of the 1994-2010 Fox logo, with neither the News Corporation byline nor the registered trademark symbol, cuts in. The camera then zooms out to reveal that it is in a bordered gold box, which is in a larger box colored cadet blue and also bordered gold, and next to the Fox logo box are the words "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment" in Latin 725 font, spanning across three lines.

Later Variant: This logo was enhanced in 2003; the box is now grey with a gold border, the company name is set in ITC Garamond, and the Fox logo is the filmed version, and has the News Corporation byline and registered trademark symbol. This was used in tandem with the original variant until 2009.

Trivia:

  • The version of the Fox logo used in the 1995 version is an unedited render of the logo from Flip Your Lid Animation, before it was transferred to film.
  • The box animates at the same framerate as the Fox logo itself in the 2003 version.

Variants:

  • On some releases, the 1995 logo fades in from black rather than cutting in from black.
  • The first releases with the 1995 version have the logo cut to black at the end of the animation.
  • There exists a black and white variant of the 1995 version. This can be found on the 2001 Fox War Classics VHS release of The Desert Rats.
  • A 16:9 version of the 1995 logo appears on the widescreen DVD release of Thumbelina.
  • On 1996 VHS releases that have the Widescreen Series video promo, the logo fades in and then fades out later right after the animation freezes at the final frame. This was also spotted on the 1995 LaserDisc release of Nell.
  • On Icebreaker, the logo starts with a very slow fade-in, and it's still before animating; then, after fully animating, it freezes before fading out. The logo is also darker and slower. The way this logo fades and freezes is rather similar to the version found on the Widescreen Series promo on some 1996 Fox tapes. There's also a still bitmap of the end of the normal logo, found in the game's files in the menus directory.
  • A shorter version exists where the 1995 logo begins halfway through the animation. This has been spotted on the 2005 DVD release of Pet Alien: Atomic Tommy as well as VHS releases of Strawberry Shortcake.
  • On the 1995 retail VHS release of Bushwhacked, the logo cuts to the green MPAA rating screen for the trailer for Down Periscope that follows.
  • On some tapes with the Premiere Series promo, the 1995 logo is shortened and the text on the right from the logo is replaced with "PREMIERE SERIES" in the Enge Etienne font.
  • At first, there was a 16:9 widescreen version of the 2003 variant, seen on widescreen edition DVD releases. Later on, a full-screen version was made and can be seen on DVD releases of TV shows and full-screen films. In the full-screen version, the logo is cropped and zooms out to fit the screen as the box stops zooming.
  • On the Blu-ray discs of Ice Age: The Meltdown, Rocky, Chain Reaction, Alien vs. Predator, and The Usual Suspects, the 2003 logo is still except for the Fox logo, which is now the corporate version with the rear searchlights re-animated to match the standard version of the 1994 logo, but also reverses at a certain point, a la the 1981 Fox logo's long version. Also, the entire sky (including the clouds and the stars) pans to the right.
  • On some releases such as Garfield's Pet Force, the 2005 enhanced version of the Fox logo is used.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: None.

Audio Variants:

  • On the VHS releases with the Widescreen Series promo, announcer Don LaFontaine says "Presenting the Widescreen Series from Fox Video" halfway through the animation.
  • On the DVS VHS release of Cheaper by the Dozen, Kim Mai Guest says "Now, an animated logo appears in three-dimensional gold letters "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment". Spotlights on either side of the logo point skyward and wave back and forth."

Availability: Seen on TCFHE releases from the time period right up until 2009.

  • Original version (1995-2009):
    • This version appears on TCFHE releases from the mid-90s through the mid-2000s, as well as the earliest MGM Home Entertainment releases by the company from early-mid 2006.
    • Outside the USA and Canada, this logo can be seen on video releases and television broadcasts of both Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997) and Casper Meets Wendy (1998), following the 1996 Saban Entertainment logo.
      • It also appeared on the UK VHS release of Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask after the 1995 international version of the TCFHE logo and before the 1995 Fox Video logo.
      • It also appears before the rare CBS/Fox Video logo on the UK VHS release of FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue and the PAL DVD release of Bartok the Magnificent (at the start of the film, the 2nd international TCFHE logo is seen before the menu).
    • While this began to be phased out starting in late 2004 on DVD releases in favor of the 2003 variant, this version continued to be used regularly until mid-2006, especially on full-screen releases, as they did not have a version of the enhanced version until later (one such example being Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith). The last titles to have this logo was the 2009 DVD release of season 12 of The Simpsons and the 2008 DVD release of Babes in Toyland (1934), which were the last Fox and MGM releases to feature the logo, respectively.
    • The version without the fade-out appears on the 1995 VHS and LaserDisc releases of the Star Wars Trilogy. (along with serving as this logo's overall debut)
      • This variant can also be seen on some home video releases by the company.
      • Although the variant was rarely used after its debut year, it appeared on the 1999 VHS reprint of The Towering Inferno (the DVD release used the fade-out).
      • It is unknown which DVD releases used this version as most used the standard version with the fade-out.
    • The version where the logo faded in from black can be seen on the VHS releases of 1998's Dr. Dolittle, Rusty: The Great Rescue (aka Rusty: A Dog's Tale), and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, while this version without the fade out appeared on the original VHS release of Nine Months.
    • It also appears at the end of Casper Meets Wendy on Disney Channel and ABC Family (now Freeform), as well as most international TV broadcasts of the film.
    • While it does appear at the end of the last few HIT Entertainment DVD releases that they released, it doesn't appear at the beginning of any of them, unlike with Lionsgate and Universal.
    • It also makes appearances at the start of Starz's print of A Troll in Central Park, and the 2011 DVD release of Robots (itself a reprint of the 2005 DVD release), as the Blu-ray release has the correct 2011 logo.
    • It also appears on Icebreaker for PC instead of the 1996 Fox Interactive logo.
    • This can also be seen at the start of FXM's print of Tales of Manhattan (with the 1995 Fox Video logo following) and HDNet Movies' print of Bartok the Magnificent.
    • It also makes an appearance at the start of Thumbelina on the Region 2/4 DVD releases (and later early 2010s reprint of the latter), possibly due to plastering the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment logo (Warner Bros. Family Entertainment originally distributed Thumbelina from 1994 to sometime in the early 2000s).
  • It can also be seen on the Danish VHS release of FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue before the CBS/Fox Video logo.
  • Enhanced version (2003-2009):
    • It first appeared on mid-to-late D-Theater D-VHS releases of TCF films.
    • The only known VHS release to have this logo is the 2004 VHS release of Garden State, all the others (including Garfield: The Movie and Robots) use the previous logo instead.
    • It has also appeared on PSP UMD TCF releases.
    • It can also be seen on many TCF releases on DVD from late 2006 to mid-2009.
    • It also appears on 2006-2009 MGM Home Entertainment releases.
    • Some of the last releases to have this logo are The Rocker and Marley & Me.
    • This also appears on some of the earliest Blu-ray releases from the company with the variant, while Speed uses the normal version; though other releases from that time may use the TCFHE Blu-ray logo instead.
    • It also appears at the end of the last HIT Entertainment DVD releases released by Fox, such as the Pingu DVD release On Thin Ice.
  • This logo does not appear on Shout! Factory or Anchor Bay Entertainment releases of Fox content, despite having the logo on the cover.
  • The full-screen variant of the enhanced version made an appearance on the UK DVD release of FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, plastering the CBS/Fox Video logo.

2nd Logo (1995-2002, 1995-2006 in Argentina)

Visuals: The 1994 20th Century Fox logo animates as normal until, about 13 seconds in, it zooms out, revealing the logo inside an inner box, itself contained inside an outer box on a blue-violet background with three blurry searchlights, and "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" zooms out from the bottom of the screen, stopping at the bottom of the inside of the outer box underneath the inner box containing the Fox logo (without the News Corporation byline).

Variants:

  • There is also a still version.
  • On many VHS, LaserDisc and DVD releases, the logo is silent and shortened to when the 20th Century Fox logo is revealed inside the box.
  • On the Japanese DVD release of Ice Age, the logo is stretched to 16:9.
  • On Chilean VHS releases, the logo is shortened before the box form it.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The 1994 Fox fanfare arrangement composed by Bruce Broughton (VHS and LD only); silence on the DVD releases. It was once rumoured that the 1997 Fox fanfare composed by David Newman was heard on very few international releases, but this remains unconfirmed. On Chilean VHS releases, the logo is silent.

Audio Variants: Most of the time on PAL releases, the NTSC 1994 fanfare would be used; however, there were some cases (especially in its early years of use) where the PAL pitched version would be heard instead, examples includes the UK VHS release of The Lipstick Camera, a few X-Files releases and the original UK THX-certified VHS release (as well as a 2001 Thai VCD print) of Braveheart.

Availability: Excluding a few Canadian releases such as the 2000 VHS release of Thunder and Lightning, this logo only appears outside of North America.

  • This logo does not appear on the 1998 UK rental VHS of Edward Scissorhands, which features the Fox Video logo instead.
  • The DVD version can be seen on early UK DVD releases including the original Miracle on 34th Street, and also appears on early Italian DVD releases of such films as There's Something About Mary and Young Frankenstein.
  • It also appears on the 1995 Hong Kong LaserDisc release of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
    • It also appeared on the 2012 release of The Simpsons Season 1 Region 4 DVD set (due to being a reprint of the 2001 release).
  • VHS releases in Argentina (distributed by Gativideo) continued to use this logo until 2006, while the next logo would appear on DVD releases.
  • The DVD variant also appears on the 2001 Australian DVD releases of Titan A.E. and Romancing the Stone, while the next logo is on their VHS counterparts (possibly due to this logo to being used in tandem with the next logo on DVD releases from the time in that country).
    • It also shows up on the 2010s DVD reprint of Mrs Doubtfire (1993), most likely due to being a reprint of the original 2001 DVD release.
  • The DVD variant also makes an appearance on the 2005 Australian DVD release of Woman On Top possibly due to using the master from the 2001 Rental DVD.
  • It also shows up on the 2014 Australian DVD reprint of Alien, due to the master being from the original 2000 Region 4 20th Anniversary Edition DVD.
  • It also appears on a 2018 Australian DVD reprint of Aliens, also due to it using the master from the 2000 Region 4 1-Disc Special Edition DVD.
  • It also appears on the 1997 UK VHS release of Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997), and the 1998 UK VHS releases of Casper Meets Wendy (1998) and FernGully: The Magical Rescue.
  • It also appears on the Japanese DVD release of Ice Age.
  • Neither this logo nor the next appears on the UK DVD release of Digimon: The Movie.

Legacy: A well-liked logo, although it has gained notoriety as a common subject of usually low-quality parodies and remixes on YouTube.

3rd Logo (1999-2010)

Visuals: The standard 1994-2010 20th Century Fox logo animates in a faster rate, with many circular streaks of orange and blue placed over it, which animate on and off the screen. When the logo is done, some blue and purple gradient bars on the top and bottom wipe in and the logo's sky background dissolves into a different cloud background, as "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" (in the same fonts as before) appears via a folding effect below the logo, and then fades out via blur effect after a few seconds leaving just the logo, which then fades out.

Variants:

  • Sometimes, the below text is replaced with a bumper that folds in. This version was used on 1999-2005 Australian TCF tapes, the first British TCF tapes with this logo, and 2000-2006 TCF tapes in some countries (except in the UK and Japan, the logo is already formed).
  • An enhanced version was used from 2006 to 2007. There, the regular 20th Century Fox logo is at normal speed. When the 1994 logo is formed, the words "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" zooms out below the logo (without the News Corporation byline), and the streaks all disappear at the end.

Technique: CGI, with 2D computer animation for the streaks and live action for the clouds at the end.

Audio: VHS tapes and early DVD releases had the standard tone 1994 Fox fanfare arrangement, while middle-to-later DVD releases had the high tone 1997 fanfare arrangement. On Chilean VHS releases, the logo is silent.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the logo is silent, or the 1997 fanfare in standard tone is used.

Availability: Like with the previous logo, this was only used internationally, except on a few Canadian releases, but is much more common than before as a whole.

  • Appears on the UK and Australian home media releases of numerous Fox films, as well as various The Simpsons VHS and DVD releases.
  • It also appears on the 2000 UK VHS release of Princess Sissi: Sissi In Possenhofen.
  • Also appears on the Japanese LaserDisc of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and the Japanese VHS releases of Robots and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (all with the 1994 fanfare).
  • It also appears on post-2006 international MGM DVD releases as well; however, it does not appear on any MGM releases they distributed beforehand, as they just simply had the MGM DVD logo instead.
  • Also seen on the rare Italian VHS releases of Robots and Ice Age: The Meltdown, and the South Korean VHS release of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!.
  • It doesn't appear on any UK Pathé releases from 1999-2010, as they just use their own logo instead.
  • The standard tone 1994 Fox fanfare arrangement music variant can be seen on most Fox DVD releases in Latin America/Brazil until the late 2000s (when they started to use the 1997 fanfare in NTSC tone), some international UMD for PSP releases such as Cheaper by The Dozen (2003), as well as a few PAL DVD releases in the UK, such as Family Guy: Season Two, and can be also seen on a French 24 DVD sampler, and (in a letterboxed variant) on a trailer for 24 DVD releases at the start of a French PAL DVD of The Sentinel (although the 1997 PAL version makes an appearance after the trailer reel/before the menu).
    • It can also be heard on the Japanese and Hong Kong DVD releases of Robots as well.
  • The logo also makes an appearance on US DVD releases of season 1 of Modern Family (released in 2010), Glee season 5 (released 2014) and season 5 of Bones (released 2010, disc 5 only).
  • It doesn't appear on the Australian VHS releases of The Magic School Bus.
    • It does, however, appear on their Australian VHS releases of Flipper & Lopaka.
  • It doesn't appear at all on the PAL DVD release of Ridley Scott's Legend (despite the print logo being on the box and the disc artwork), as the Regency Enterprises logo appears instead.
    • It also doesn't appear on the 2003 Australian DVD release of The Wiggles Movie, as it goes straight to the menu after the warning and rating screens.
  • The full frame variant with the standard tone 1994 Fox fanfare also makes an appearance on Australian DVD releases of The Mary Tyler Moore Show distributed by Madman Entertainment.
  • In Australia, it was used in tandem with the previous logo on DVD releases up until sometime in the mid-2000s (one example of a Region 4 DVD released in this era that uses this logo is the Region 4 DVD release of Never Been Kissed).
  • This logo makes an appearance on the UK DVD release of Marmaduke, released on February 14, 2011.
  • The enhanced version appears on very early international Blu-ray releases.
    • Some releases that used it included the 2006 European Blu-ray release of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (the standard logo is on the DVD and Italian-only VHS counterparts), the 2006 UK Blu-ray release of Fantastic Four (2005), and the 2007 Australian Blu-ray release of Rising Sun.
    • It was also falsely rumoured to have been used on a 2010 Canadian DVD release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
    • Another appearance is on the 2010 theatrically-released Brazilian documentary film Todo Poderoso: O Filme. Since it had a limited release in São Paulo (the city of the Soccer club Corinthians) and released on DVD in the rest of the country afterwards, it is unknown if it actually appeared in the limited theatrical release. The print logo does appear on the poster.

4th Logo (November 14, 2006-November 2010)

Visuals: There is the 20th Century Fox logo zooming in slowly, with the words "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" shining at the bottom. The background is slightly different, while the right searchlight is a little bigger.

Variants:

  • On Blu-ray releases, a blue streak changes the "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" text to the Blu-ray Disc wordmark, briefly leaving behind a "swoosh" shape as it does this.
  • A fullscreen variant of the DVD version exists.
  • On the Blu-ray release of Ice Age, the logo is slightly sped up, resulting in artifacts in the audio.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calm, majestic fanfare, with a quiet whoosh sound effect used when the text shines.

Audio Variant: On the Blu-ray variant, a slight laser sound is heard for the blue flash.

Audio Trivia: The title screen of the Wii version of Netflix (released in 2010) uses a theme that sounds very similar to this logo's theme.

Availability: Seen on releases from the company during this time period.

  • Blu-ray variant (2006-2010)
    • This version can be seen on every TCFHE release on Blu-ray disc until November 2010, and appears on Latin American/European/Australian/Asian releases as well. It can also be seen on MGM Home Entertainment releases on Blu-ray Disc, including Valkyrie, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Igor, among others.
    • It also appeared on the 2011 US Blu-rays of Robots, Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties due to all being originally released to foreign markets in 2010. The earliest known Blu-ray releases of all three films was in Hong Kong on March 18, 2010.
  • DVD (2009-2010)
    • It can be seen on every TCFHE release on DVD until November 2010, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010), The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky's the Limit, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Family Guy: Partial Terms of Endearment, Chop Socky Chooks: Vol. 1, seasons 13 and 20 of The Simpsons, and the first seasons of Glee, Modern Family, and The Cleveland Show, among other releases.
    • It also appears on 2009-2010 MGM Home Entertainment DVD releases, and 2010 repackaged DVD copies of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Thumbelina, and Once Upon a Forest.
  • This was used in tandem with the previous logo until October 20, 2009 and next logo during its first two months.

5th Logo (September 2010-June 9, 2020)

Visuals: Same as the final 20th Century Fox logo, except in the end, the camera pans back farther than usual to reveal the stacked words "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" on the right of the Fox structure with "HOME" set in Neutraface No. 2, an extra searchlight can be seen on the left of the structure (ala the Fox Searchlight Pictures logo), and more palm trees were added. Once the logo is fully revealed, the News Corporation byline fades in at the bottom of the screen (on pre-2013 releases). The registered trademark sign fades in as well.

Trivia: This logo is a tribute to the logo for That's Hollywood!, a 20th Century Fox Television series aired from 1976-1982.

Variants:

  • On the 2011 Blu-ray release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the logo is shortened, fading in as the camera passes the middle searchlight. This would later become the de-facto variant on all Blu-ray and DVD releases starting with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and the original release of The Croods, respectively.
  • A 4:3 variant exists, but is used only for full-screen DVDs and Blu-rays. It is also cropped to 2.35:1 as a widescreen letterbox logo. There is a widescreen version of the open matte logo expanded to 16:9 with the Hor+ screen scaling method.
  • Starting with the original DVD and Blu-ray release of Home Alone: The Holiday Heist on October 29, 2013, just like the movie logo, the News Corporation byline is excluded and the logo is bylineless, due to the aforementioned split on June 28, 2013.
  • Starting in 2016, the logo was enhanced for Ultra HD Blu-ray releases. This variant includes the same enhancements as said year's variant of the 2009 20th Century Fox logo and brighter colors.
  • Sometimes, the registered trademark sign is absent on the aforementioned variant.
  • The 2011 Star Wars Blu-ray releases have the logo just shy of 16:9, in 1.77:1.

Technique: CGI by Fox's now-defunct animated sibling company Blue Sky Studios.

Audio: The 1997 Fox fanfare arrangement composed by David Newman. The short version only uses the first half.

Audio Variants:

  • DVD releases of The Simpsons Seasons 16 and 17 use the audio of Ralph Wiggum (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) singing along to the second half of the fanfare from The Simpsons Movie, while season 18 uses the standard 1997 fanfare, with Fat Tony (voiced by Joe Mantegna) saying "Fuggedaboutit..." on the last note.
  • On the 2011 Blu-ray releases of All Dogs Go to Heaven and When Harry Met Sally..., the fanfare is out-of-sync with the logo.

Availability: This was used in tandem with the previous logo in its first two months.

  • Seen on all 20th Century Fox and most MGM releases from September 2010 up until April 14, 2020.
  • Other than TCF and MGM releases, this was also seen on Relativity Media releases starting with The Warrior's Way and ending with Masterminds, all DreamWorks Animation films TCF distributed from The Croods to Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (plastered by the 2013 UPHE logo on post-2018 prints, although some prints post-2018 may retain it), and self-distributed Annapurna Pictures releases starting with Detroit and ending with Where'd You Go, Bernadette.
  • This also appeared on DVDs of Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures and Little Angels.
  • The last release to use the full version of this logo is currently unknown, but this made an appearance on seasons 16-18 of The Simpsons (albeit using the fullscreen bylineless version).
  • The last releases to use this logo with the News Corporation byline were The Internship and The Way Way Back, both released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 22, 2013.
  • The last release to use this logo cut-short to the middle was Underwater, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 14, 2020, as TCFHE was folded into Walt Disney Studios/Buena Vista Home Entertainment shortly after.
  • Though this logo officially retired after Underwater, it made an appearance on Modern Family: The Eleventh and Final Season, released on DVD on June 9, 2020.
  • This never appears on 2016-2019 UK DVDs/Blu-rays released by Entertainment One (some American eOne DVDs at the time keep the TCFHE logo at the beginning such as Peppa Pig and PJ Masks DVDs) or 2010-2020 UK DVDs/Blu-rays from Pathé, as they just use their respective logos and warnings instead. This also applies to any MGM releases from any other distributors, which use their respective logos instead of this due to having absolutely no TCFHE logo at all on the discs or labels. This also does not appear on reissues of older MGM DVD releases from around 2001-2006, as they use the MGM DVD logo on its own.

Final Note

Shortly after the release of Underwater on April 14, 2020, Disney folded the standalone operations of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment into Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (under Buena Vista Home Entertainment). Beginning with the releases of The Call of the Wild on May 12, 2020, and Downhill on May 19, 2020, all DVDs and Blu-rays now use the shortened 20th Century Studios logo (with the same short music used in the 2010 logo) or the full Searchlight Pictures logo (with the full 1997 fanfare) for their future home media releases of 20th Century material respectively, followed or (for the aforementioned movies) preceded by a language menu.

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20th Century Home Entertainment
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