20th Century Fox

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by Rosemary Angelo

Image from Screenrant.com

Overview

20th Century Fox has been making and distributing movies for the past 75 years.  They are known for iconic films such as Avatar, Titanic, and the X-Men films.  The company is a part of Twentieth Century Fox International which is under Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company. (1)

This Season so Far

So far this year 20th Century Fox has released four motion pictures.   In January they released Red Tails –in collaboration with Lucasfilm- which has earned a total of $49,621,987.  In February they released the Valentines Day flick This Means War, which has since grossed $52,463,012, and Chronicle in which made $63,577,998 as well as a re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3-D which earned $43,430,964. On April 4th, 20th Century Fox re-released Titanic 3-D, and it has so far grossed $56,280,875.  The company also released their Three Stooges remake mid-April, and they have made $31,740,544 to date. (2)  Overall the company has earned $268 million, the most out of all the ‘Big Six’ companies.

Late in January, before the theatrical release of This Means War, Fox appealed to The Classification and Rating Appeals Board, petitioning to have the R rating lowered to a PG-13 in hopes of being able to attract a larger audience.  However, the request was denied due to sexual content in the film.  20th Century Fox later edited the film down to meet these requirements to achieve the PG-13 rating.(3)

Link to ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ reviews of This Means War

Re- Releases

This year 20th Century Fox has been relying on profits from films it is re- releasing, in addition to new motion pictures.  They have already re-released two films, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in January, and this month the studio re-released Titanic.  Both films were put back into theaters with 3-D effects to draw in an audience, and both contributed significantly to their initial profits.(4)  This summer the company will putting a third film back into theaters; Chariots of Fire will be playing in theaters across the UK as a part of the celebrations surrounding the London 2012 Summer Olympics.(5)

Trailer for the re-release of Chariots of Fire (from Blockbuster UK)

Since their re-releases, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace has now grossed $474,519,259, and Titanic has grossed a total of $657,069,063. (6)

Scheduled Releases

Over the course of the spring season 20th Century Fox plans on releasing two more films.  These include;  Prometheus (June), and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June). (7)

Taken from the 20th Century Fox official website

Prometheus is the “indirect prequel” to the hugely successful Alien films, it is being directed by Ridley Scott, who directed the previous films in the franchise as well. (8)

Prometheus’ Theatrical Trailer

And later in the summer 20th Century Fox will be releasing two family films.  In August they plan on releasing the follow up to 2010’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and it’s 2011 sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.  The third film will be titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.  And in July they will release the most recent film in the Ice Age series; Ice Age: Continental Drift. (9)

Taken from the official 20th Century Fox website.

Hiring and Firing

In February Mary Daily was promoted from her position as top executive of motion picture marketing to President and chief marketing officer of worldwide marketing. (10)  In March Debbie Miller was hired as the new Executive VP of marketing. (11)  Also in March Chris Aronson was promoted to executive vice president of domestic distribution and general sales manager for the company. (12)

International

Titanic was particularly successful outside the U.S. as well, breaking China’s box office record for an Imax release when it made $7 million on its opening weekend.  It passed up the previous leader, last year’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon.(13)

Last year 20th Century Fox also signed a deal with Hopscotch/Entertainment One to have the company distribute their films across New Zealand and Australia.  This agreement allowed Fox to start off the year by marketing Midnight in Paris and We Need to Talk About Kevin this past February in those countries. (14)

Link to Hopscotch Distribution’s website

Awards

Paul Higginson, 20th Century Fox’s executive vice president of theatrical in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Todd Huntley the company’s senior vice president are being honored this summer at CineEurope 2012.  The two are being honored as distributors of the year for their work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: First Class, and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. (15)

It was also announced in February that the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, released by 20th Century Fox last year, will be nominated in the Feature film category for this year’s Genesis awards, sponsored by the humane society. “Animal welfare concerns, such as chimpanzees being used in research which is addressed in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, are reaching huge audiences, thanks to the quality and engaging storylines of these films.” Said HSUS senior director and event EP Beverly Kaskey. (16)

Link to the Website for the 2012 Genesis Awards

Advertising/Marketing

To promote the release of their recent superhero film Chronicle Fox flew human shaped RC planes over New York City.  The stunt drew attention from Youtube, as well as several news shows, including the Today Show. (17)

VIdeo of Chronicle Publicity Stunt

To further market 2011’s release of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakqual the company partnered with Walmart to release a line of apparel inspired by the films. (18)

To incite buzz about Titanic’s 3-D release an advanced screening was scheduled for Valentines Day.  The effort was hugely successful, screenings around the country sold out within just a few hours of tickets going on sale. (19)

Other Media

Over the past few years 20th Century Fox has produced the popular family films in the Ice Age Franchise.  Now the studio is attempting to market the products further, through means other than film.  A Live show-to open in November- is currently being produced in London.  The show is titled “Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure,” and will feature ice skating, music, puppets and arial arts.  Fox signed on last year with European Live and Stage Entertainment, and they are now beginning to promote the show as well as divulging more information. (20)

But that’s not the only market that Ice Age is popping up in.  20th Century fox has also been working on a game which will be distributed through Bigpoint.  The game will draw on all of the franchise’s films, and will be released strategically this summer along with the latest addition to the series; Ice Age: Continental Drift.  (21)

Sources

  1. 20th Century Fox International http://www.foxinternational.com/
  2.  Box Office Mojo  http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm
  3.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/this-means-war-r-rating-fox-loses-appeal-285147
  4.  Box Office Mojo  http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm
  5. Hollywood Reporter  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscar-winner-chariots-fire-return-303728
  6.  Box Office Mojo  http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm
  7.  20th Century Fox http://www.foxmovies.com/
  8.  IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/
  9.  20th Century Fox http://www.foxmovies.com/
  10.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mary-daily-fox-home-entertainment-chief-marketing-officer-290096
  11.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/debbie-miller-joining-fox-executive-VP-marketing-301744
  12.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-promotes-chris-aronson-303429
  13.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/titanic-3d-breaks-box-office-313688
  14.  Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/20th-century-fox-inks-home-267526
  15. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paul-higginson-todd-huntley-named-302068
  16. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/war-horse-planet-apes-humane-society-genesis-awards-287660
  17. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/chronicle-flying-people-viral-video-superpowers-286839
  18. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-takes-alvin-chipmunks-merchandise-304506
  19. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/titanic-3d-valentines-day-preview-286470
  20. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ice-age-live-show-fox-producers-scrat-new-characters-316630
  21. Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-ice-age-online-game-connect-movie-fans-games-of-thrones-battlestar-galactica-310476