20th Century Fox logo
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (also spelled 20th Century Fox or just simply Fox) is the major film company that distributes the Ice Age and Rio films.
The studio is one of the six major American film studios as of 2010. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio is a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch. The company also owns Blue Sky Studios.
The company was founded on 1915 by William Fox as Fox Film Corporation.
Scrat is sometimes considered as the mascot for 20th Century Fox but in fact is Blue Sky Studios' one.
Notable and popular movies/movie series[1]
1960s
Cleopatra
Cleopatra is a 1963 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau. The music score was by Alex North.
Cleopatra chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the imperialist ambitions of Rome.
Despite being a critical and commercial failure, it was a four-time Academy Award winner. The movie turned out to be very expensive, although it was the highest grossing film of the year, 20th only recovered half of the money spent for its production. 20th Century Fox's foundings were restored with the film The Sound of Music.
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a 1965 musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews in the lead role. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.
The musical originated with the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. It contains many popular songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", and "The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song.
The movie version was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria and Bavaria in Southern Germany, and also at the 20th Century Fox Studios in California. It won a total of five Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1965 and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced.
1970s
Star Wars
Star Wars is a space opera (sci-fi/romance) film series conceived by George Lucas. The first film was released in May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox and became a worldwide phenomenon, spawning two immediate sequels, released in 3 year intervals. Sixteen years later, a prequel triology was released, with the final film "Revenge of the Sith" being released in 2005.
1980s
Die Hard
Die Hard is a 1988 action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective.
It stars Bruce Willis as the NYPD officer John McClane and Alan Rickman as terrorist thief Hans Gruber.
A critical and commercial success, Die Hard Propelled Willis' film career and established Rickman as a popular portrayer of villains in American films. The film also started the Die Hard series.
1990s
Titanic
Titanic is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ill-fated maiden voyage of the ship. The main characters and the central love story are fictional, but some characters (such as members of the ship's passengers and crew) are based on real historical figures. Gloria Stuart plays the elderly Rose, who narrates the film in a modern day framing device.
The film was originally to be released on July 2, 1997, but post-production delays pushed back the film's release to December 19, 1997. Upon release, the film turned out to be an enormous critical and commercial success, winning eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It became the highest-grossing film of all time, with a worldwide total of over $1.8 billion (it is the sixth-highest grossing in North America once adjusted for inflation).
2000s
Ice Age
Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated film created by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox in 2002. The film was originally to be animated in 2-D by Fox Animation Studios, and will be directed by Don Bluth (director of An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Rock-a-Doodle) and Gary Goldman (co-director of Anastasia and Titan A.E.), but the rise of computer-animation and the failure of Titan A.E. destroyed Fox's traditional-animation division, transferring their duties to Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha for Blue Sky.
Avatar
Avatar is an American 3-D science fiction epic film directed by James Cameron, released on December 18, 2009 by 20th Century Fox. The film is Lightstorm Entertainment's latest project, and focuses on an epic conflict on a far-away world called Pandora, where humans and the native species of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in war over the planet's resources and existence.
The film is first titled Project 880, and was originally to be released on May 22, 2009, but post-production delays pushed back the film's release to December 18, 2009. The film was released in 2D, 3D and 4D formats, along with Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D and IMAX 3D releases in selected theaters. The film is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production, and has already been slated for two awards.
2010s
Rio
Rio is a 2011 film produced by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios.
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Ice Age: Continental Drift is a 2012 film, the latest entry in the Ice Age franchise.
Rio 2
Rio 2 is a 2014 film sequel to the 2011 film Rio and is the start of the Rio franchise.
Star Wars:The Force Awakens
Star Wars:The Force Awakens is the seventh episode to the star wars saga. It was realsed in December 2015.
Trivia
- In the teaser trailer for Rio, Rafael, the toucan, says "Come on, you're not gonna back out now!" off-screen when the 20th Century Fox logo appears.
External Links and Bibliography
- Fox website
- 20th Century Fox article in Wikipedia
- Die Hard article on Wikipedia
- Cleopatra article on Wikipedia
- Star Wars article on Wikipedia
- The Sound of Music article on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ Some films listed here were only founded and/or distributed by 20th Century Fox, not necessarily produced directly by the studio.