Logo descriptions by Matt Williams
Logo captures by V of Doom, Eric S., Logoboy95, and others
Editions by Eric S., V of Doom, and Nathan B.
Video captures courtesy of Eric S., Columbia-Pictures, and VideoMaster1994


Fox Film Corporation


Background: The Fox Film Corporation was an American company which produced motion pictures. It was formed in 1915 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. Fox formed Fox Film Corporation by merging two companies he had established in 1913: Greater New York Film Rental, a distribution firm, which was part of the Independents; and Fox (or Box, depending on the source) Office Attractions Company, a production company.


(1915-1935)

Logo: Here is the in-credit text of Fox Films. It would just say:


In other cases, it mentioned the name of William Fox:


FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: One of the rarest logos ever. Can be seen on very early films on the Fox Movie Channel.

Scare Factor: None.
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20th Century Pictures, Inc.


Background: Twentieth Century Pictures, Inc. was an independent Hollywood motion picture production company created in 1932 by Joseph Schenck, the former president of United Artists, Darryl F. Zanuck from Warner Brothers, William Goetz from Fox Films, and Raymond Griffith. Their material was released theatrically under United Artists.


(1932-1935)

Nicknames: "The Searchlights", "Futuristic Structure", "Majestic Tower"

Logo: On a dark sky background, 3 rows of words, "20th","CENTURY", and "PICTURES, Inc.", apparently carved out of stone or metal, are seen. The words are "stacked" on top of each other, with similarly carved lines separating the rows. The "20th" is the biggest row, with "CENTURY" and "PICTURES, Inc." a bit smaller. A circular stage-like structure juts out from the base of the "stack," with a light on top of the structure that shines in front of the "stack." There are pedestals on both sides of the stack, each with a non-moving searchlight. In the background, several searchlights scan the sky.

Closing Title: Superimposed on a special background or sometimes on the last scene of a movie, fade in the words "The End" with fonts variating on different movies with the following disclaimers: "A 20th Century Picture", and below on a smaller font "Released Thru United Artists".

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds: The original fanfare, as composed by Alfred Newman.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen during rare chances on either Turner Classic Movies, American Movie Classics, or Fox Movie Channel, like Blood Money, for example.

Scare Factor: Low to medium.
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20th Century Fox Film Corporation


Background: In 1935, 20th Century Pictures Inc, and Fox Film Corporation merged together to form 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation (the hyphen in between Century and Fox was present until 1985), or simply 20th Century Fox. Currently, it is a division of News Corporation.


1st Logo
(1935-1953)
Nicknames: "The Searchlights II", "Fox Structure", "Majestic Tower II", "Futuristic Structure II"

Logo: On a dark blue sky background, 3 rows of words, "20th", "CENTURY", and "FOX", apparently carved out of stone or metal and in a gold color, are seen. The words are "stacked" on top of each other, with similarly carved lines separating the rows. The "20th" is the biggest row, with "CENTURY" and "FOX" a bit smaller. A circular stage-like structure juts out from the base of the "stack," with a light on top of the structure that shines in front of the "stack." There are pedestals on both sides of the stack, each with a non-moving searchlight. In the background, several searchlights scan the sky.

Variants:

• This logo first appeared in black and white, which later switches to color. Many searchlights are visible in this logo.
• On colorized movies, depending on what studio colorized it, the logo would have different colors.
• The logo would either take place on a day or night sky.
• One extremely rare variant had a slightly altered version of the tower in the opening credits with "presents", in script, below it. This variant was used for Fox Movietone News newsreels.
• On The Black Swan, there's a slightly different color variant in which the tower is pink, 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 1950 film Panic of the Streets, the logo is large-sized; this large version is on the DVD of the film.

Closing Titles: Superimposed on a special background or sometimes on the last scene of a movie, fade in the words "The End" with fonts variating on the movie with the following disclaimers: "Released through/by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation" or "Produced and Released/Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation".

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds: A remixed variant of the original fanfare that has become one of the most famous pieces of music in the world.

Music/Sound Variants:

• On some films, it either has the opening of the movie's theme, or none.
• On some mid-1930s prints of classic 20th Century Pictures movie releases, the original fanfare was used, plastering the TCP logo.

Availability: Very common; still saved on just about every 20th Century Fox release, and recently presented in letterboxed format on a daily basis.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. One of the most wonderful and majestic logos.



2nd Logo
(1953-1981)

Nicknames: "The Searchlights III", "Fox Structure II", "Majestic Tower III", "Futuristic Structure III"

Logo: A redrawn and more clearer version of the last logo.

Variants: The Fox logo has had many renditions over the years. Here are some of them:

• 1953-1965: 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 PICTURE/PRODUCTION." Two versions exist: One with a regular "0" and one with a slanted "0". 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.
• 1965-1981: Like the CinemaScope logo, only without the fade-out and extra sky. Like the CinemaScope version, two versions exist: one with a normal zero and one with a slanted zero.
• There is an extended version of the 1953-1981 logo without the CinemaScope logo. It only appeared on Mel Brooks films, like High Anxiety and History of the World: Part I.

Closing Titles:

• 1953-1965: Same as above, but the "The End" words are pulled to very above and the 20th Century-Fox disclaimer is pushed to very below to give space for the disclaimer "A CINEMASCOPE PICTURE/PRODUCTION".

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds:

• 1953-1981: The same remixed variant of the original fanfare.
• 1953-1981: The original fanfare is extended for CinemaScope: after CinemaScope is dropped, the extended fanfare is used in tandem with the shorter one.
• 1980-: New recording, conducted by John Williams and debuting on The Empire Strikes Back.
• In other cases, the opening theme of the movie was used, or none.

Availability: Very common; still saved on just about every 20th Century Fox release, and recently presented in letterboxed format on a daily basis. Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back are also seen with the 1953 variant of this logo (the 1953 variant was restored on the 2006 DVD releases of two said films, however), but was replaced with the current 1994 20th Century Fox logo below on the pre-2006 DVD releases. The 1953 logo is replaced with the 1981 logo on many current prints of the 1979 film Alien.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. One of the most wonderful and majestic logos.



3rd Logo
(1981-1994)

Nicknames: "The Searchlights IV", "Fox Structure III", "Majestic Tower IV", "Futuristic Structure IV"

Logo: A new redrawn version of the last logo.

Variant: Some movies (maybe some of the first movies to use this logo) had the structure looking darker and more washed out than usual.

FX/SFX: The searchlights in the background.

Music/Sounds:

• 1981-1994: A reorchestration of the long version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
• 1981-1994: A short version of the 1981 20th Century Fox fanfare. This was used in tandem with the long version.
• In other cases, the opening theme of the movie was used, or none.

Availability: Very common. The last movie to use this logo was the 1994 film called Airheads, released in August 5, 1994, although the first movie to use the next logo, True Lies, was released in July 15, 1994. The 1981 logo plastered the 1953 logo in the 1979 movie, Alien.

Scare Factor: Minimal to low. One of the most wonderful and majestic logos.



4th Logo
(1994-(1994-2009 )

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights", "Ultra Majestic Tower", "The Searchlights V", "Futuristic Structure", "Majestic Tower V", "Futuristic Structure V", "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 cloudy purple/orange Los Angeles and Hollywood 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.

Variants:

• On "Special Edition" versions of the Star Wars trilogy from 1997 onward, as well as the newer Star Wars trilogy, there is no camera panning; it just remains in its usual place until in fades to the Lucasfilm Ltd. logo, which is shown over the CinemaScope 55 music extension.
• A special gold logo was spotted on Volcano and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.
• There is also a version when Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons hums the same fanfare as the logo, this can be seen on The Simpsons Movie.

Trivia: The first movie to use this logo was True Lies, released in July 15, 1994. 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.

FX/SFX: The panning of the camera across the Fox structure.

Music/Sounds:

• 1994-1998: A re orchestration of the long TCF fanfare. The fanfare has more reverb than other TCF fanfares. The last movie to use this fanfare was 1998's Great Expectations.
• 1997-: A slightly slower re orchestration of the long TCF fanfare. The first movie to use this fanfare was 1997's Anastasia. After the release of Anastasia, Fox films kept using the 1994 fanfare until early-mid 1998.
  

Music/Sound Variant: On the early days of the logo, it used music from the 1981 logo.

Availability: Current in theaters and post-1994 Fox releases. Notable releases that have this logo are Ice Age, That Thing You Do!, True Lies, Volcano, Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Movie, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, the X-Men film trilogy, Big Momma's House, Max Payne, Taken, and Independence Day, among others.

Scare Factor: None.



5th Logo?
(2009)

Nicknames: "CGI Searchlights II", "Ultra Majestic Tower II", "The Searchlights VI", "Majestic Tower VI", 'Fox Structure V"

Logo: A redone version of the 1994 tower this time it is in a dark/orange environment.

FX/SFX: Probably the same as before.

Music/Sounds: It would probably still use the 1997 Fox fanfare.

Availability: Was available in the trailers for Fox's upcoming film Avatar, and probably will be seen in the film itself.

Scare Factor: None.