20th Century Studios

Background

In 1935, 20th 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 more simply 20th Century Fox. During the Golden Age of Hollywood it was one of the "Big Five" studios (the others were MGM, Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures and Warner Bros.). From 2013-2019, it was 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. 20th Century Fox also has a specialty division named Fox Searchlight Pictures (currently known as Searchlight Pictures) which the unit's titles were distributed internationally through 20th Century Fox until 2019.

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Studios announced its plans to buy most of 21st Century Fox's assets, which included a bidding war with Comcast; the acquisition process was completed on March 20, 2019, with the last pre-Disney release from the studio being Alita: Battle Angel, released on February 14, 2019. The remaining assets Disney didn't acquire, notably the Fox network and Fox News, were spun-off into a new company called Fox Corporation. On January 17, 2020, Disney announced that it would be dropping the word "Fox" from the company name, presumably to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation, renaming it to 20th Century Studios, along with Searchlight Pictures. However, the studio was still legally incorporated and traded as Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation until December 4, 2020. As of December 4, 2020, the company has been using 20th Century Studios, Inc. as copyright for 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, while the company has been using 20th Television, Inc. for the copyright of 20th Television productions as a Disney subsidiary. As of late-2019, titles from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures are released internationally through Buena Vista International.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

1st Logo (November 8, 1935-May 23, 1968)

Soviet opening from 1941, prototype version 1.
Soviet opening from 1950, protoype version 2.
Soviet Opening from 1948.
Soviet opening from 1952.
Soviet opening from 1952, in color

Nicknames: "The Searchlights", "Fox Structure", "Majestic Tower", "Futuristic Structure", "20th Structure", "20th Century Fox Structure"

Logo: It's the same as the Twentieth Century Pictures, Inc. logo, except "FOX" appears in place of "PICTURES, INC.". This logo was once again designed by Emil Kosa, Jr.

Alternate Descriptive Video Transcription: Searchlights pierce a starry night sky, sweeping the clouds and illuminating a towering edifice in the form of "20th CENTURY FOX".

Variants:

On the 1942 Technicolor film The Black Swan, the logo is in a sepia tint.
On colorized prints, depending on how it was colorized, the logo would have different colors.
The logo would either take place against a day or night sky background.
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, the words "The End" fade in, with the font varying depending 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".

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds: A redone variant of the 20th Century Pictures fanfare as composed and conducted by Alfred Newman once again, which 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, uses 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).

Availability: Very common. It's still saved on just about every 20th Century Fox release, with some exceptions.

The logo first debuted in in black and white, while it was introduced in color in 1936.
The color version can be seen on the 2007 DVD release of the 1939 version of The Little Princess (although some public domain prints of the film use the next logo, while other prints use either the black-and-white version or no logo at all) and some colorized prints of Bright Eyes and Heidi, as well as some newer colorized prints of Miracle on 34th Street.
The logo premiered on Metropolitan and made its final (official) appearance on Prudence and the Pill, although the next logo premiered on The Robe.
Some current releases of films such as The Blue Bird (1940), Leave Her to Heaven, Forever Amber, and David and Bathsheba in circulation plaster this logo with the next one.
A February 15, 1999 AMC airing of Young Mr. Lincoln plastered this with the 4th logo.
Older television prints of Return of the Fly plaster the next logo with this one, while retaining the CinemaScope fanfare, followed by the Seven Arts Television logo. This fanfare was sampled for The Weather Girls' 1982 track "Success".
It makes a strange appearance at the start of an early 90s Seven Network Australia airing of Conan the Barbarian (1982) in place of the 3rd logo.

Editor's Note: The majestic fanfare and the unique design makes this one of the most iconic logos of all time.

2nd Logo (September 16, 1953-December 11, 1987, 1993-1996)

Non-slanted zero version
Non-slanted zero enhanced version
Zoomed non-slanted zero enhanced version

CinemaScope/Grandeur 70 cards

A rare soviet CinemaScope snipe from 1962

Nicknames: "The Searchlights II", "Fox Structure II", "Majestic Tower II", "Futuristic Structure II", "Slanted Zero", "20th Structure II", "20th Century Fox Structure II". "20th Century Fox"

Logo: A redrawn and much clearer version of the last logo, but the structure has been shortened a bit, the "0" on the top is slanted at a 45-degree angle and two searchlights in front of 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.

Trivia:

The extended CinemaScope fanfare has appeared in the two Star Wars 'original score' albums. Many other albums carry this fanfare (albeit rearranged). All of these albums can be found on iTunes.
The second episode of The Simpsons' 27th season, "Cue Detective", features the Cinemascope 55 "Regular 0" variant when Principal Skinner puts the 1967 version of Doctor Dolittle on for the children at Springfield Elementary. In typical biting-the-hand fashion, all the students shout "boo" when the Fox logo appears.
The reason for the slanted "0" was to make the logo wide enough for its new aspect ratio.

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 the 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 against either a day or a night sky backdrop.
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 a deteriorated variant that shakes only once.
Some pan-and-scan versions of widescreen films have background colors filling in the empty screen space. Some early 2000s HBO widescreen airings have a blue fill. The 1992 Fox Video VHS of M*A*S*H has a green fill color.
On a 35mm Soviet release of The 300 Spartans, the Cinemascope snipe was replaced by a blue background with white Russian letters saying "ПРОИЗВОДСТВО 20-Й ВЕК ФОКС США", which translates to "PRODUCTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY FOX USA".

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds:

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 21, 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) conducted by David Newman. The film can be found as a bonus feature on The Seven Year Itch special edition DVD and as the last third of the AMC documentary Marilyn: The Final Days.
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, Magic (1978) and the TV movies Miracle on 34th Street (1973), Good Against Evil (1977), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1980).
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).
On Doctor Dolittle, the logo appears at the tail-end of the overture, with the music finishing underneath it. HBO Max's print cuts out the overture, but leaves the logo and music intact. However, on older TV prints (including when it aired on The Disney Channel), the 1935 fanfare was used.
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 VHS of Young Guns II has this logo with the 1979 music playing over it instead.
On a Spanish copy of History of the World: Part I, this logo surprisingly has the Gaumont music from 1981 due to logo plastering.

Availability: Very common.

It's still retained on just about every 20th Century Fox release, starting with The Robe, the first film in CinemaScope to use this logo.
The CinemaScope variants aren't usually subject to plastering; however, one print of Satan Never Sleeps that aired on AMC in the early-2000s plastered it with the 4th logo, but is retained on DVD releases of said film and a FMC airing.
Some films from the era such as Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back were also seen with this logo (which are kept on the original theatrical versions on the 2006 DVD releases of said films), but plastered with the 4th logo on all Special Edition versions.
The international version of Chariots of Fire also originally had this logo, but plastered it with the 1994 logo on the current UK DVD release. However, it was intact on a recent TV airing on SKY and the Warner Blu-ray of the international version.
The original VHS releases of Moving Violation (1976) and Thunder and Lightning by Key Video updated it with the 3rd logo; the former restored it on current prints and the Shout! Factory DVD, while the latter still plasters it but keeps the original abridged fanfare.
Some releases of Alien and its Director's Cut version plaster it with the 3rd logo, though the first 1981 VHS, 1999 theatrical DVD, and the newest Blu-ray retain it.
This logo possibly made its final official appearance on Wall Street, though all current prints update it with the 3rd logo. It is unknown if it originally appeared on theatrical prints as well.
This logo can also be found some early-mid '80s films of the era, such as The Cannonball Run (variant), older video releases of Bill Cosby: Himself (1983), the original CBS/Fox Video release of Revenge of the Nerds (1984), the original Key Video VHS of The Buddy System (1984), Moving Violations (1985), the CBS/Fox VHS of Project X (1987), older cable prints of Young Guns (1988) and older VHS copies of Young Guns II (1990), though the latter film's letterbox LaserDisc release used the third logo. These aforementioned were some of the few films from their respective years to use this logo. Sadly, most home video/DVD releases and TV prints of these films plaster it with the either the 3rd logo or those from another distributor.
Current prints of Avalanche Express (a Lorimar film they distributed, which WB now owns due to the purchase of the former's library) plaster it with the 1998 WB shield, but is intact on the Spanish R2 DVD. No logo appears at all on the Warner Home Video VHS release.
The logo was not seen at all on Carmen Jones, The Girl Can't Help It, A Circle of Deception, The Longest Day, Zorba the Greek, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Batman: The Movie (1966), The Cape Town Affair, The Day the Fish Came Out, Star!, Deadfall, Patton (some TV broadcasts spliced in the logo from another film), Tora! Tora! Tora!, Trouble Man, The Poseidon Adventure, USA prints of The Towering Inferno (as Fox owns primary North American distribution rights, while Warner Bros. owns most international rights, though both companies worked on the film together), At Long Last Love, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, Silent Movie, Prudence and the Pill, and All This and World War II.
The "regular 0" variant without the CinemaScope snipe or "Twentieth Century-Fox presents" card following is seen on The Sound of Music and Doctor Dolittle (1967).
The 1976 revision makes a very strange appearance on the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Naked Lunch (a 1991 film).
Appears on the Vestron VHS of Fort Apache: The Bronx (despite not mentioning TCF on the cover) and a Trifecta syndicated print of Oh Heavenly Dog! (Paramount/Trifecta owns the TV rights to this movie via Mulberry Square Productions, who previously had a deal with Viacom Enterprises in the past).
Southern Comfort was originally seen with the 1976 revision of this logo before the Cinema Group ident; it can be seen on some older European copies, preceded by the Overseas Filmgroup logo.
The original Blay Video VHS of Magic (1978) retains this logo, but not on the Blay laserdisc.
Appears at the beginning of the original CBS/Fox VHS of the M*A*S*H series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen."
The CinemaScope logo as seen in this logo makes surprise appearances in Lionsgate's La La Land (2016) and the 74th Golden Globe Awards (2017).

Editor's Note: The tilted zero can be an eyesore to look at for some, but it's still a majestic logo. The extended fanfare will be then used for the company's future logos.

3rd Logo (August 28?, 1981-August 5, 1994)

Nicknames: "The Searchlights III", "Fox Structure III", "Majestic Tower III", "Futuristic Structure III", "20th Structure III", "20th Century Fox Structure III", "80s Structure"

Logo: 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 anamorphically-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" above the 20th Century Fox print logo.

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background. One should note that the searchlights usually do particular movements. 2 right searchlights line up in the back while the left back light moves away to the left. While the 2nd right back light leans further to the right, either of these crosses between the first 2 back searchlights occurs: an "A" cross, a "slanted A" cross, or a "slanted X" cross. They're often looped/reversed.

Music/Sounds:

August 28?, 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. Rookie of the Year coincidentally has opening music that starts with a drumroll similar to that which starts the fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On some films, such as Porky's II: The Next Day, the 1935 fanfare is heard.
Some prints of pre-1981 films, such as Thunder and Lightning, are plastered with this logo, but keep their original fanfare or sometimes use the 1979 variant. In some cases it is silent, like on Hardly Working, or have the opening theme to the film.
In 1983, a slightly modified 1980 recording/re-orchestration, as played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Williams, was used on Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Similarly, Class Action and War of the Roses use James Horner's own re-orchestration; some Jerry Goldsmith films also use his own re-orchestration. A strange re-orchestration of the Alfred Newman fanfare with a heavy brass section was used on The Chase.
The DVD release of Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, and the French audio track on the 1998 DTS DVD of Predator use the 1997 orchestration.
On the 1986 remake of The Fly, the abridged remix of the 1953-67 CinemaScope fanfare is surprisingly heard, possibly on purpose.
On newer prints of Wizards, the logo is out of sync with the 1979 fanfare.
On AMC's prints of Wall Street, a low pitched version of the 1979 fanfare is heard.
TCM France's print of Inferno (1980) has the 1994 fanfare playing over it, due to poor reverse plastering.

Availability: Very common.

Notable films to use this logo are Taps, The Verdict, theatrical versions of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Porky's II: The Next Day, Romancing the Stone, Porky's Revenge!, Commando, Aliens, Predator, Broadcast News, Big, Die Hard, Working Girl, Say Anything..., The War of the Roses, Die Hard 2, Home Alone, Predator 2, Edward Scissorhands, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Alien 3, The Sandlot, Mrs Doubtfire, Speed, and Baby's Day Out, among others.
It allegedly premiered on Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, and appears on VHS copies of said film, but there are theatrical copies in existence with the previous logo. This logo made its final appearance on Airheads, while the next logo debuted on True Lies.
This also plasters the 2nd logo on full frame VHS releases of Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) from 1982 to 1992 (it was retained on the film's HBO premiere in 1983 and widescreen releases of the film on VHS and laserdisc in 1989, 1992 and 1993. It was reinstated to the full frame version in 1995 on VHS) and current prints of Thunder and Lightning (with the abridged CinemaScope fanfare), Wizards, the Director's Cut of Alien, My Bodyguard, Revenge of the Nerds, Bad Medicine, Moving Violations (1985), Wall Street, and Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.
Fox plastered/updated the 1st and 2nd logos with this on some colorized versions of its films in the 1980s, such as Miracle on 34th Street (although its original logo is restored on newer colorized prints), and Technicolor films such as Halls of Montezuma.
This also plastered the 2nd logo on late-80s/early-90s NBC broadcasts of The Sound of Music.
This can also be seen on international prints of Crocodile Dundee (except in Australia & New Zealand, where the film was distributed by Hoyts Distribution and in North America, where the film was distributed by Paramount Pictures) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, as well as the trailer for Deck the Halls.
When History of the World: Part I (one of the last films to use the 2nd logo) aired on AMC in the mid-2000s, the extended version of this logo popped up at the very end; recent airings on AMC now use the current 20th Television logo instead. A similar occurrence happened when AMC aired Independence Day (1996) back in 2008.
Post-2007 releases of Die Hard 2 update this with the 1997 logo.
The Hong Kong 1995 P&S LD of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi removes this in favor of the CBS-FOX Video logo.
The B&W variant, though extremely rare, appears on some American prints of The Sicilian (don't expect to see this on the Vestron Video VHS).
The 1991 (not 1989) Vestron Video release of Young Guns, including the late '90s LIVE reprint which uses that master, plastered the TCF logo with a sped-up silent version of the Vestron Pictures logo, while other prints omit the logo or in the case of older pay-TV copies, plastered it with the 1953 logo.
Other Fox releases of Morgan Creek movies have this logo removed on Media Home Entertainment releases and current prints, but is retained on the CBS/Fox Video and Fox Video releases of The Exorcist III, Young Guns II and Pacific Heights and TubiTV's print of Nightbreed (the theatrical cut).
Older VHS and DVD copies of Speed have this logo plastered over with the next one; however, it's retained on the Blu-ray.
IVE's releases, along with DVDs from Live Entertainment and Artisan Entertainment, of films from Gladden Entertainment Corporation generally preserved this logo, but it was removed on the 1991 release of Mannequin 2: On the Move by Live Home Video, the Blu-ray of Millennium (1989) from Shout! Factory, the Olive Films Blu-ray releases of Mannequin and Mannequin 2: On the Move, and the 1996 re-release of Weekend at Bernie's by Avid Home Entertainment. It's also preserved on the Vestron Video VHS and Shout! Factory Blu-ray of The Sicilian.
It is believed that international theatrical prints of Brazil had this logo, but most international home video releases go straight to the opening title card while the Fox Blu-rays have the 1994 logo.
The Warner Home Video release of The King of Comedy plasters this with the Regency Enterprises logo, while the earlier RCA/Columbia release goes straight to the opening credits and even blacks out the closing title. It is, however, preserved on all releases since Fox acquired the video rights to the early Regency library.
Most U.S. home video releases of The Princess Bride do not have this logo, with the exception of the 1998 MGM VHS, as they only have North American television and theatrical rights and as a result, it can be seen on U.S. TV prints of said film, including the copy streaming on Disney+ as of November 2021. Amazon Prime Video prints use MGM masters and therefore are plastered with MGM logos. It is also retained on the film's current UK DVD releases, despite the film being distributed by Lionsgate over there.
This logo also appeared on US theatrical prints of The Name of the Rose, all home video prints of that film just cut straight into the movie.
The 1979 theme variant makes a surprise appearance at the end of Sony Movie Channel's broadcast of the 1974 TV movie Death Cruise (a Spelling-Goldberg production), before the SPT logo. This is also intact on Crackle's print of said title.
It originally appeared on overseas theatrical prints of Conan the Barbarian (1982) (released by Universal Pictures in North America), but current overseas prints have the 1997 logo in its place. It was however retained on a recent Asian airing on the Hits Movies network.

Editor's Note: A return to the more accurately drawn Fox tower. This would serve as a template for the next logo below.

4th Logo (June 11, 1994-October 5, 2010, March 30, 2013, June 3, 2014)

Prototype version
2007 enhanced version

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights", "Ultra Majestic Tower", "CGI City Skyline Searchlights", "The Searchlights IV", "Majestic Tower IV", "Futuristic Structure IV", "Fox Structure IV", "20th Structure IV", "20th Century Fox Structure IV"

Logo: We 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.

Trivia:

If one looks very close in the far right-hand corner before approaching the main structure, one can see the Hollywood sign. It is not very big, but it is visible if one looks hard enough. Also, if you look hard enough, you can see cars in the city and stars in the BG at the end of the logo.
This logo was designed by Kevin Burns and animated at Studio Productions (now known as "Flip Your Lid Animation"), who also animated the 1990-1997 Universal logo, the 1986-2003 Paramount logo, the 1991-2001 Morgan Creek logo, the 1996-2015? RKO logo, the 1994-1997 Fox Sports on-screen logo and graphics for NBC, Fox Sports and The WB. The design was used earlier for the 1992 20th Television logo.
If you look very closely (especially if you're watching it in HD/4K), you can see the names of fictional restaurants/stores behind the structure, such as "Steve's Place" (referring to former network production president of 20th Century Fox Television, Steve Bell), "Great Treasure", "Burns' Tri-City Alarm" (a homage to Burns' late father, who owned a burglar and fire alarm company in Upstate New York), "Murdoch's" (referring to Fox's CEO Rupert Murdoch at the time), and "Chernin's" (referring to former News Corporation president, Peter Chernin). There's also a sign reading "STUDIO PRODUCTIONS", of course referencing this logo's maker.

Variants:

There is a prototype version of this logo where the rear searchlights animate differently and the front-right searchlight leans further left. Also, the aforementioned Hollywood sign is located directly behind the structure and the Hollywood hills behind the cityscape look different. This version appeared on a demo reel from Flip Your Lid Animation.
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. Also seen on many trailers and TV spots for Fox films.
There is an unedited open matte version with neither the byline nor the "®" symbol. It also runs at a smoother framerate, because it wasn't transferred to film. While this variant isn't used on any films or programming, the ending of it was used for the box on the 1995-2008 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo. It was found on a different version of a Flip Your Lid Animation demo reel and at the end of 20th Century Fox: The First 50 Years.
Open matte and bylineless versions exist.
On 4:3 fullscreen prints of many films from 1999 onward starting with Never Been Kissed, the logo is zoomed out to a much farther distance than usual.
A German version of the logo exists. The sky background is replaced with the Flag of Germany. This was spotted on Fox's pre-Disney German website; a similar variant is used for the French website, but uses a French flag instead.
On international releases of The Art of War, the 4:3 version of this logo is used, stretched to widescreen.
On the 2002 DVD release of Speed (1994), the camera-panning animation is different.
Starting with Robots, released on March 11, 2005, the colors in the logo were enhanced.
The logo was enhanced again with brighter colors on July 27, 2007, starting with The Simpsons Movie (albeit using a variant). Used in tandem with the previous variant.

Closing Titles:

Like the last logo, until Ice Age: The Meltdown, the text reads either: "Released by Twentieth Century Fox" or "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century Fox".
On international prints of Titanic, the text reads as: "Produced and Released by Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures".
On The Magic Pudding, the print logo is seen instead of the "Twentieth Century Fox" text alongside the Icon Productions and Energee Entertainment print logos.
On The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer, the entire logo is used as a closing logo for some reason.
At the end of the first two X-Men films and Death Sentence, the print logo is shown.

FX/SFX: The panning of the camera across the Fox structure, the moving searchlights, and the News Corporation byline fading in, the panning animation was also originated from the 1993-1995 Fox Video logo.

Music/Sounds:

June 11, 1994-January 30, 1998: A re-orchestration of the long TCF fanfare, as conducted by Bruce Broughton in the same stage in which the original 1935 fanfare was recorded. 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, The Object of My Affection, released in April 17, 1998, Wing Commander, released on March 12, 1999, some prints of Lake Placid 2, released in 2007, and 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. According to the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast, this fanfare was recorded to coincident with the re-opening of the Newman Scoring Stage at the Fox Studios Lot in LA, which also happened in 1997. 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. It would be used for the promo of the new Fox Movies website in 2014, which featured the different variants, along with its various versions of the logo, including this and the next, plus the William Fox variant of the 1st version of the Fox Film logo and the 20th Century Pictures logo. The drumroll is heard twice in the promo. It can be viewed here.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The fanfare seen in the prototype version has noticably more echo than the final logo.
The "Special Edition" version of the Star Wars trilogy uses the modified 1954 recording of the fanfare as played by the 20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra and conductor Alfred Newman, and the 1980/83 recording of the fanfare as played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Williams, respectively. Re-orchestrations of John Williams' fanfare were used on the Star Wars prequel films.
Both fanfares are higher pitched on the UK and Australian physical media releases of all films with this logo.
On The Legend of Bagger Vance and most international prints of Braveheart, the opening theme of the movie is heard over the logo instead.
On the Australian, New Zealand and UK releases of Shine a Light, the logo is silent.
There is a short version of the 1997 fanfare. The only films to use it are The Darjeeling Limited with the short version of the Fox Searchlight Pictures logo and Marilyn Monroe's unfinished project Something's Got to Give (1962) with the 2nd logo. This was also used on the final 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo.
On some prints of Speed and the first two Die Hard films, the 1981-1994 fanfare is heard due to plastering the 3rd logo. Other prints may use the 1994 or 1997 fanfares.
On Anastasia (the 1997 fanfare's debut film), Ever After: A Cinderella Story, some dubs of X2: X-Men United, and Joy Ride 3: Roadkill, the fanfare has a slightly different arrangement than the one that's currently used.

Availability: Very common.

First seen on True Lies, and in front of almost every subsequent 20th Century Fox film from this time period up to Tooth Fairy. Surprisingly, this also appears on some trailers, behind-the-scenes clips and interviews for Predators, as well as the international trailer for Vampires Suck, in tandem with the next logo.
Also appears on some video games based on 20th Century Fox films, starting with all versions of both Fantastic Four and Eragon (not counting Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, with the final Fox Interactive logo on the GBA version and no Fox logo at all on all other versions).
This logo was used in tandem with the next logo until mid-2010, and seen on direct-to-video releases of that year such as Flicka 2 and Mirrors 2, among others while Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back used no Fox logo at all.
It plasters the 2nd logo on international DVD releases of Chariots of Fire and Conan the Barbarian (1982) as 20th Century Fox holds distribution rights.
This logo strangely doesn't appear on Epic Movie, possibly due to a lack of faith in the film.
This makes a strange re-appearance on the Toei Animation production Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), and still remains unchanged on the U.S. Funimation DVD and Blu-ray release. It also made a strange appearance with the News Corporation byline on Joy Ride 3: Roadkill (2014). It was also surprisingly preserved on the American DVD release of The Wiggles Movie, where it was retitled Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie, despite the U.S. DVD being from HiT Entertainment.
On newer prints of some pre-1997 films (examples being Nell, The Pagemaster, Asterix Conquers America, and Jingle all the Way), the 1994 fanfare is replaced by the 1997 one, though that theme is still intact on most of them.
On digital copies of Star Wars Episodes I-III, V, and VI, the Fox logo is removed and only shows the Lucasfilm logo with a custom Star Wars theme, as this is likely due to Disney's ownership of the latter since 2012. However, following Disney's purchase of the studio, recent Disney+ and 2020 home video prints have the logo restored (excluding the registered trademark symbol and News Corporation byline), and may also appear on TV airings in the future.
It unexpectedly appears at the end of some prints (including a True Entertainment UK broadcast) of the 2005 TV movie Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, which is actually a Fox Television Studios production.
On certain films the original filmed logo is "plastered" with a digital copy of the same exact logo (an example is current prints of Independence Day).
It also appears on some international copies of The Art of War, including the TCFHE PAL DVD of it.
It strangely appears at the end of 7flix airings of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, despite the movie using a variant of the next logo at the beginning.

Editor's Note: This logo had amazing CGI that still holds up decently well, and it ultimately became a favorite of many logo fans.

CLG Wiki Extra Here's an E! News story from June 11, 1994.

5th Logo (August 20, 2009-October 14, 2021)

Prototype
Logo with News Corporation byline
CinemaScope version
75 years variation (1)
75 Years variation (2)
Blue Sky Studios development reel version

Blue Sky Studios development reel version
2013 version without News Corporation byline
Enhanced version

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights II", "Ultra Majestic Tower II", "CGI City Skyline Searchlights II", "The Searchlights V", "Majestic Tower V", "Futuristic Structure V", "20th Structure V", "Fox Structure V", "2010s Tower", "20th Century Fox Structure V"

Logo: It's a redone and more realistic version of the 1994 TCF tower. This time, it is in a dark/orange evening environment. When the structure is in its distance, we 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.

Trivia: This logo debuted on a trailer for Avatar on August 20, 2009 for the very first time. Afterwards, the logo first appeared on the aforementioned film, released on December 18, 2009 (though earlier premiering in London on December 10, 2009). Like the previous logo, if one looks very close in the far right-hand corner before approaching the main structure, one can see the Hollywood sign (not very big, but still visible if one looks hard enough). One can also see an Ice Age billboard, cars in the city, and stars at the end of the logo, but there are fewer than the previous logo. Following the release of Avatar, Fox's movies used the 1994 logo until the movie Tooth Fairy, released on January 22, 2010. The "Celebrating 75 Years" variant for TCF's 75th anniversary is a well-done contemporary throwback of--and a contemporary homage to--the 20th Century Fox CinemaScope logo, where the 20th logo faded after 10 seconds into the CinemaScope logo. The overall branding for the "Celebrating 75 Years" anniversary, including the text included in the logos was created in collaboration with Struck Librarian, an agency in Salt Lake City, Utah. Surprisingly, this has made an appearance on a season 3 episode of This Is Us.

Alternate Descriptive Video Descriptions:

2009-2015: In a logo, a towering block of gold letters reads "20th Century Fox". Hollywood spotlights criss-cross their shining skyward beams.
- 2009-2013 (News Corporation byline, after the above description): More words appear: "A News Corporation Company."
2015-2020: Searchlights sweep an evening sky, piercing clouds, and illuminating a towering edifice in the form of 20th Century Fox, with the lights of Hollywood, palm trees, and the hills beyond.

Bylines:

December 10, 2009-June 28, 2013: "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY"
July 17, 2013-October 14, 2021: Bylineless

Variants:

February 12-December 25, 2010: During the logo's first official year, 2010, while the logo finishes its move into position, the camera pans up and two streaks of light draw "75" with the word "CELEBRATING" above the numbers and "YEARS" below both in spaced-out letters. The camera pans the words and numbers in position. Also, the Registered trademark symbol "®" and the News Corporation byline are engraved on different parts of the structure.
The prototype version had a much darker red-orange sunset sky, harder shading, and different searchlight positions.
Another prototype version appears on two CGI environment reels by Dave Strick, a designer at Blue Sky Studios. A much different sky is used and the searchlights are less realistic, the front-left searchlight is located in a slightly different position and wireframes fade in on most of the 3D geometry at the end of the logo sequence. It also lacks the flash before the front searchlight passes in. One version of this has Blue Sky's logo and copyright info (dated to 2008) along the bottom of the screen, while another version has details (including Strick's email address) at the beginning where the logo starts blurry and then gains focus. The latter version can be seen here.
A short version with a portion of the animation or a still print version appears on licensed video games, such as Rio: The Video Game, Aliens vs. Predator, Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games, and Snoopy's Grand Adventure.
On some movies with this logo, like Avatar (the logo's debut film), there is a slight error with the two opening searchlight beams during the fanfare's drumroll. Also, the camera-panning animation is slightly different.
The final half of this logo's camera-panning sequence can be seen at the beginning of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D (before the Lucasfilm logo).
Starting with the original release of Turbo on July 17, 2013, the News Corporation byline is excluded and the logo is bylineless for the first time since the 3rd logo, due to the aforementioned split on June 28, 2013.
An open matte version exists. This was only seen on The Peanuts Movie (albeit using a variant) and on video games based on 20th Century Fox properties.
An enhanced variant of this logo exists. This variant includes an improved searchlight opening at the beginning, wider beams of light, and more detailed textures. Also, the "X' in "FOX" is brighter than usual. This variant was used exclusively in the Blue Sky Studios films Ice Age: Collision Course, Ferdinand, and Spies in Disguise. Only one non-Blue Sky film, Murder on the Orient Express, used this variant, and it was later used at the end of Terminator: Dark Fate.
A sped-up version of the 75 Years variant with the ending theme playing over it has been spotted at the end of a Polish television broadcast of Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.

Closing Titles: For the most part, none. There are a few closing variants, however:

A short version without the camera panning was used at the end of Lincoln, the 2015 remake of Poltergeist, DreamWorks Animation films from The Croods to Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Terminator: Dark Fate, and the TV specials Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas and Ice Age: The Great Egg-scapade (TV airings only). Surprisingly, it's also seen on the short films The Longest Daycare, Almost Home, and Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe as an opening logo, along with many trailers and TV spots for Fox films.
At the end of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D, the text "Released by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation" is shown.
At the end of Parental Guidance, the print logo is shown.
At the end of the majority of their films starting in 2012, text (usually white) appears on a black background, stating that the making and authorized distribution of the film supported over a certain number of jobs and involved either hundreds of thousands or over one million work hours.

FX/SFX: Extraordinary CGI. This was designed and animated at the now-defunct Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century's sibling company and creator of the Ice Age and Rio franchises and the films Robots, Horton Hears A Who!, Epic, The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand, and Spies in Disguise.

Music/Sounds: The 1997 Fox fanfare, same as the one from the previous logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The 2005 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 The Monuments Men (US release), The Greatest Showman, and Ad Astra, the film's opening theme is used instead.
In very rare instances, such as US prints of 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.
For the short version, none, the movie's closing theme, or the trailer's opening theme.
On most dubbed international prints to Ford V. Ferrari, the theme is in low tone, as does TSG's and Chernin's logos afterwards and the entire film.
As with the previous logo, the fanfare is higher-pitched on UK and Australian DVD releases of all films with this logo.

Availability: Very common.

The first film to use this was Avatar and the last film to use this was Underwater.
The prototype versions are found on the trailers and TV spots for Avatar, as well as various newer 20th Century Fox games.
This logo with the phrase "Celebrating 75 Years" and an engraved News Corporation byline made its debut on Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, released on February 12, 2010, and last appeared on Gulliver's Travels, released on December 25, 2010.
It also appears on some international theatrical release prints of Hot Tub Time Machine.
Also appears on some video games based on 20th Century Fox films, such as the Alien vs. Predator game, Rio, Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games, and Snoopy's Grand Adventure.
The last film to use this logo with the News Corporation byline was The Heat, released on June 28, 2013.
From March 22, 2013 to June 2, 2017, it was seen at both start and end of DreamWorks Animation films before the 2010-17 DreamWorks Animation logo and a host of custom variants of that logo, beginning with The Croods and ending with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. It also plastered the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo at both start and end of reprints of Bee Movie. On reprints of all these movies, this is plastered by the current Universal Pictures logo.
This additionally plasters the previous logo on Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (3D prints only) and international prints of Titanic since 2012, and the 1981 logo on Predator (3D prints only) since 2013.
The 2009 logo with the "20th Century Fox" name made a surprise reappearance on The Empty Man, released on October 23, 2020, despite its trailer and poster using the next logo; this was because the film was shot in 2017 and was shelved for three years. It also appeared in the 2021 Brazilian film Amarração do Amor where the company was still credited as 20th Century Fox.
Occasionally, it appears at the end of some international prints of old Warner Bros.-produced Regency titles (which 20th Century Studios owns as of today, unless WB ever gets back the rights), including Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and The Negotiator. With 20th Century Studios' deal with Regency being extended in late 2021, it is unknown if Regency will ever get a new distributor.

Editor's Note: It's a suitable successor to 20th Century Fox's original CGI searchlights. The enhanced version is known to be wasted.

20th Century Studios

(February 3, 2020-)

20th Century Studios logo from 2020
1.85:1 version
16:9 / Home Entertainment version
Open-matte version
Scope version with enhanced 2009 sky
18:9 version with enhanced 2009 sky and no ® symbol
16:9 version with enhanced 2009 sky and no ® symbol
Scope version with enhanced 2009 sky and no ® symbol

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights III", "Ultra-Majestic Tower III", "CGI City Skyline Searchlights III", "Enhanced City Skyline Searchlights II", "The Searchlights VI", "Majestic Tower VI", "2020s Tower", "Futuristic Structure VI", "20th Structure VI", "20th Century ~~Fox~~"

Logo: Nearly the same as the final 20th Century Fox logo, except "FOX" is replaced with "STUDIOS", and the word "CENTURY" is made taller to accommodate for it. The logo has also been enhanced with more realistic lighting and textures, a slightly different sky backdrop, different palm trees, sleeker and shinier-looking searchlights, and a larger and more detailed Los Angeles cityscape.

Variants:

As a de-facto home video logo on current 20th Century Studios home media releases, the logo is cut-short to the middle. It's similar to the previous logo's The Phantom Menace 3D variant.
On Picturemill's Spring 2020 reel and on movies starting with Free Guy, an enhanced version of the sky backdrop from the last 20th Century Fox logo is used.
Starting with Vacation Friends (save for Death on the Nile), the ® symbol is absent.

Closing Titles: The same text that reads "The making and authorized distribution of this film supported over a certain number of jobs and involved hundreds of thousands/over one million work hours." as the previous logo. Strangely, this was not seen on Ron's Gone Wrong.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo. Truly outstanding CGI produced and animated by Picturemill, based on Blue Sky's design.

Music/Sounds: The 1997 Fox fanfare arrangement, the same as the previous two logos. The short version has the same short version as the final 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment logo.

Availability: Current and common.

It was first seen on a TV spot for The Call of the Wild (2020), and then debuted on the aforementioned film itself.
This also appeared on The New Mutants, Free Guy, Vacation Friends, The Last Duel, Ron's Gone Wrong (the first animated film to use this logo), Home Sweet Home Alone, West Side Story (2021), The King's Man, No Exit, Rosaline, and Death on the Nile (2022).
This logo is also expected to appear on future films from the company such as The Bob's Burgers Movie (unless 20th Century Animation gets an on-screen logo), Clue, Prey, and Avatar 2, among others.
Strangely, this does not appear on The Empty Man, Amarração do Amor (which has the previous logo), Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021), and The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, Cheaper by the Dozen (2022), and Deep Water (2022) at all, which use the final 20th Century Fox logo (first two titles), the current Walt Disney Pictures logo (third, fourth, and fifth titles, in its 2011 form), and no TCS logo at all (sixth title) respectively instead. The third, fourth, and fifth titles are because they were released as Disney+ exclusive films and were moved from 20th Century Studios to Walt Disney Pictures during production, the first title was due to the fact that the movie was not released theatrically until 2020, despite it having been completed in 2017, most likely due to the film's poor reception at test screenings, and the second is possibly because of the delayed release of Amarração, and last ones are for unknown reasons, despite 20th Century being involved in the latter's production.
The short version is also used as a de-facto home video logo on current 20th Century Studios home media releases (including most reprints of pre-2020 movies, plastering old logos), after the final TCFHE logo retired.
It is possible that the early sky variant will be retired in the future, as most movies as of Free Guy use the current variant.

Editor's Note: This is quite a nice update to the last 20th Century Fox logo, although the name change can be annoying and divisive to some. Regardless, this is an excellent logo.

Copyright stamps

External Links

20th Century Studios on Wikipedia
Official Website for 20th Century Studios
20th Century Studios filmography on IMDb
20th Century Fox filmography on IMDb

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