Disney is kicking the #Fox name to the curb and rebranding the studio as just #20thCentury.
The studio has been named 20th Century Fox for the past 85 years, but on Friday, news released that Disney will remove the Fox part of the name and keeping it as only 20th Century. 20th Century’s art-house production company, Fox Searchlight, will also be getting Fox taken out and renamed be Searchlight Pictures, CNN reports.
The move comes after Disney acquired Fox and all its assets in a $71 billion deal last year. The studio’s logo, title card, and fanfare will all stay the same. The new name will make its debut on Searchlight Pictures’ “Downhill,” a drama/comedy starring #WillFerrell and #JuliaLouisDreyfus, which will come out in theaters on Valentine’s Day. The first movie to feature the new 20th Century name will be “The Call of the Wild,” an adventure film starring #HarrisonFord, which will be on screens on February 21.
As for Fox’s other assets, Fox Entertainment, Fox Sports and Fox News, those are a part of Fox Corporation and are not attached to Disney in any way. “The name 20th Century Fox has deep roots in film, so it’s chipping away a little chunk of Hollywood history,” Leonard Maltin, a film critic, and historian told CNN business. “It’s one of the pillars of the moviegoing experience. Even a non-film buff recognizes that logo, that name, and that music, which is one of the most famous fanfares in the world.”
In 1935, 20th Century Fox was born as a merger between Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Films.
