Searchlight Pictures

Main Logo Variations Trailer Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
Matt Williams, Rod1014, curiousgeorge60, Logophile and others

Captures by
V of Doom, CuriousGeorge60, Mr.Logo, Logophile, Donny Pearson and others

Editions by
BaldiBasicsFan and others

Video captures courtesy of
John Mello, Kyle Chapman, Other Files: The Final Season, The AVTB Archives, LogicStock, SpikeyTheDog188 and Pepsi9072 (YouTube) MOCEAN (Vimeo)

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Background

Fox Searchlight Pictures was formed in 1994 under News Corporation (now owned by The Walt Disney Company) as a division of 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) for independent, arthouse, foreign, horror, and African-American film releases. On January 17, 2020, Disney announced that it would remove "Fox" from the company's name, presumably to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation, renaming it to Searchlight Pictures, along with its division becoming 20th Century Studios.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

1st Logo (1995)

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Nicknames: "Pre-Searchlights", "Pre-Tower", "Pre-Fox Searchlight Structure", "Faux Searchlight Pictures"

Logo: On a black background, there is a vertical white line on the middle left which protrudes to the bottom of the middle. On the right of the line are the words "FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES", aligned to the left and set in a font called Bodega Serif Black.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Just the soundtrack from the trailer.

Availability: Only seen after the 1994 20th Century Fox logo on the trailer for The Brothers McMullen.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (January 1995, February 21, 1997-February 11, 2011)

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Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights", "Ultra Majestic Tower", "Fox Structure", "Fox Searchlight Structure"

Logo: We start out looking at a city skyline (most likely that of Los Angeles, California). The camera begins to move right, past a searchlight. The searchlight turns on, followed by two more in the background turning on. We then reach the middle of the Fox "stack" structure, but instead of seeing a narrow "CENTURY", we see a large "SEARCHLIGHT". The camera pulls back and reveals "FOX" above and "PICTURES" below. After the logo is finished zooming out, the byline "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY" fades in, then the rightmost searchlight moves towards us, filling the screen with light, then we fade out.

Variants:

• Some films have an error with the leftmost searchlight (See last video). Unknown which ones have it.
• On some films, the News Corporation byline is slightly smaller. Primarily, this is used for films with a wider aspect ratio, but on some movies, such as Slums of Beverly Hills and Boys Don't Cry, it is used on the regular 16:9 version of the logo, while some wider films, such as Titus and Slumdog Millionaire, use the regular byline instead.
• A bylineless version exists, but it was used solely for corporate purposes and never appeared on any film as a throwback variation.
• The logo is cut short on trailers and TV spots.

FX/SFX: The movement of the camera and the searchlights moving; great CGI.

Music/Sounds: A few seconds of silence, as the searchlight turns on, the 1994 20th Century Fox fanfare plays. Later replaced in 1999 with the 1997 fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On some films like 28 Days Later and Day Watch, there is a low-pitched version of the fanfare.
• The Darjeeling Limited (albeit using a variant) uses the short version of the 1997 20th Century Fox fanfare.
• On I Heart Huckabees and The Ringer, after the light covers the screen, the opening voiceover begins.
• Both fanfares are higher-pitched on the UK and Australian physical media releases of all films with this logo.

Availability: Very common.

• It appeared on all Fox Searchlight films from this era, beginning with the January 1995 Sundance premiere of The Brothers McMullen, then with Blood and Wine, and made its final appearance on Cedar Rapids (trailers for said film use the final logo instead).

Editor's Note: This logo is memorable for those who grew up with it, but those expecting the 1994 20th Century Fox logo and got this could be surprised.

3rd Logo (March 22-November 8, 1996)

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Nicknames: "Searchlights", "Pre-Ultra Majestic Tower", "Still Searchlights", "Fox Structure", "Still Fox Structure", "Fox Searchlight Structure II"

Logo: Same as the 1994 20th Century Fox logo, but is a still picture, and the text "20th CENTURY FOX" is replaced with "FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES", with "SEARCHLIGHT" in the middle larger, and with "FOX" above and "PICTURES" below, respectively. The News Corporation byline is intact, but the registered symbol is removed.

Trivia: This logo is based on the 1992 20th Television logo, but with the sky background from the Foxstar Productions logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the film/trailer.

Availability: Rare/near extinction.

• It only seen on four films: Girl 6, She's the One, Looking for Richard, and The Secret Agent.
• Current prints of the latter two films have the previous logo or the 1994 20th Century Fox logo plastering it, though it survives on the first title with the 1994 logo preceding it, and also remaining on the second title without any changes whatsoever.
• Also seen on trailers for very early releases from Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Editor's Note: This logo lasted for about seven months, and it's probably a placeholder for the previous logo. In fact, this logo might have been produced before the previous logo.

4th Logo (March 18, 2011-December 16, 2019)

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Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights II", "Ultra Majestic Tower II", "Enhanced City Skyline Searchlights", "Fox Structure III", "Fox Searchlight Structure III", "2010s Tower", "20 Years of Fox Searchlight Structure", "25 Years of Fox Searchlight Structure"

Logo: This is a redone and more realistic version of the last Fox Searchlight Pictures logo, based on the structure of the 2009 20th Century Fox logo. This time, it is in a dark/orange evening environment. There are newer and more realistic textures added to the structure, we can see palm trees at the bottom at the start (as well as the addition of the Hollywood sign on the hills), three searchlights are deleted, and near the right at the end, and it's more obvious at the end that the right searchlight is pointing at us when it fills the screen with light. An (R) symbol is also now added to the logo.

Trivia:

• This logo is based on the 2009-2020 TCF logo designed and was animated at the defunct Blue Sky Studios.
• If one looks closely at the cityscape during the beginning of the logo, the same Ice Age billboard from the 2009-2020 20th Century Fox logo can be seen.

Bylines:

• March 18, 2011-July 5, 2013: "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY"
• September 18, 2013-December 16, 2019: Bylineless

Variants:

• There are variants where the structure is seen in an extreme close-up (ala cropped from scope into 1.78:1) or shown at a far distance in the entire 16:9 frame.
• There is a 4:3 variant seen on some TV spots as well as full-screen prints of many films from 2012 onward, starting with Sound of My Voice.
• Starting with the release of Enough Said on September 18, 2013, the News Corporation byline is excluded and the logo is bylineless for the first time since the 1995 logo. This is mainly due to the split of News Corporation on June 28, 2013.
• On the trailers for Tolkien and Antlers (the next logo is on the latter), as well as on the former film itself, along with others such as Ready or Not, Lucy in the Sky, Jojo Rabbit, and A Hidden Life, after the screen is filled with light, it fades to a dark grey background with a silver rectangle. The object has a large "25" on the left with "YEARS" inside the 5 on in the first quarter on the left, and in the other three quarters is the print logo, minus the searchlights.
• The logo is cut short on trailers and TV spots, like before.

FX/SFX: Very nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: A few seconds of silence, as the searchlight turns on, the 1997 Fox fanfare plays.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On The Favourite, the Fox fanfare is sung by a group of birds.
• On Lucy in the Sky, the minus 10 is heard over the second part of the Fox fanfare, continuing into the other logos.
• On Jojo Rabbit, the drumroll part of the fanfare is heard over the background music.
• On The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs, the logo is completely silent.
• Like the second logo, the fanfare is higher-pitched on the UK and Australian physical media releases of all films with this logo, except those described above.

Availability: Very common.

• First seen on the trailers for The Tree of Life, Cedar Rapids (the film itself used the second logo), and on later trailers for Win Win, which was also the first film with this logo.
• The last film to use this logo with the News Corporation byline was The Way Way Back.
• The last feature film to use this logo with the "Fox Searchlight Pictures" name was A Hidden Life, and the last short film released under the "Fox Searchlight Pictures" name was Sew Torn.

Editor's Note: It's a suitable successor to the previous logo, especially those who grew up with it.

Searchlight Pictures

(January 29, 2020-)

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Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights III", "Ultra Majestic Tower III", "Enhanced City Skyline Searchlights II", "Searchlight Structure", "2020s Tower", "Fox Searchlight Pictures"

Logo: Basically an enhanced version of the last logo. It's nearly the same as before, except "FOX" has been removed from the top of the structure and the words are slightly taller and larger to accommodate for it, a la the final Fox Interactive logo. The Los Angeles cityscape in the background is larger and more detailed with greater depth, the mountains are more realistic and multilayered, the skyline is much different, the ® symbol has been removed, the searchlights (aside from their light beams) are a lot darker in color, and the Hollywood sign is pushed up to resemble the one in real life.

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

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: On The French Dispatch and Antlers, the logo is completely silent.

Availability: Current and common.

• First seen on "For Your Consideration" spots for Jojo Rabbit (the film itself has the previous logo) and then first appeared theatrically on Downhill. It also appeared on Wendy, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Nomadland, Summer of Soul, The Night House, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The French Dispatch, Antlers, Nightmare Alley, and most recently Fresh.
• This logo is also expected to appear on future releases like Not Okay, Next Goal Wins, Poor Things, Rye Lane, See How They Run, Fire Island, and the Hulu original movie Good Luck to You, Leo Charlie.
• Also appears as a de-facto home video logo on current Searchlight Pictures home media releases, after the final TCFHE logo retired, and is the first logo here to do so.

Editor's Note: Like the 20th Century Studios logo, it may take some time to get used to, and the name change can be annoying and divisive to some. Regardless, this is still an excellent logo.

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