by Lina Ortega
21st Century Fox
[Image courtesy of: new.pentagram.com]
Contact information
21st Century Fox 1211 Avenue of the Americas 44th floor New York, NY 10036-8701
Key Executives
Rupert Murdoch: Chairman & Chief Executive Officer [Image courtesy of: thenation.com]
Chase Carrey: President and Chief Operating Officer [Image Courtesy of: stockspinoffs.com]
James Murdoch: Co-Chief Operating Officer [Image Courtesy of: mikeangryman.com]
About 21st Century Fox
What was once News Corporation since 1953 [I], is now comprised by “News Corp” and “21st Century Fox.” News Corp consists of a publishing group that includes several newspapers like Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Times of London. 21st Century Fox is a broadcasting and film company that includes the “Fox News channel”, “20th Century movie and television studios”, “Fox sports”, “FX”, “National Geographic” and “FOX broadcast network”. [II] This separation was intended to ensure that both companies were conducted under more a centered management, which makes both companies more valuable.
21st Century Fox is a global media company and was founded in June 28, 2013 [III]. It acquires market from four principal operating segments: 1- Cable network programming, which it’s mostly production and licensing content through cable, telecommunications providers, and broadcast satellite. 2- Television, which operates the company’s 28 full-power broadcast stations. 3- Film Entertainment, the operator of the company’s numerous film and television production studios. 4- Direct Broadcast Satellite Television, which provides programming to international markets. The company also holds a 39% of BSkyB, the British entertainment and communications provider. 21st Century Fox makes its revenue principally on affiliate subscriptions, broadcast and advertising fees, content licensing and retransmission revenues to maintain the top line [IV]. Fox Broadcasting Company ended the year 2012 at number one in the key adult demographic for the eight consecutive year in America [V].
Financials
The Cable Network Programming segment surpassed $12 billion in revenue for the first time in its history, up 13% over their prior year. 2014 21st Century Fox Annual Report:
What’s Happening Now?
In cable programming, FX Networks has currently 25 successful shows on air [VI].
Image courtesy of: The Christian Post
American Horror Story is now on the 7th episode of its 4th season “Freak Show” and it is one of the most watched TV series of the FX Networks. The show presents an anthology of different narratives for each new season [VII]. With an 8.4 out of 10 by IMDB, the show went from 2.82 million viewers on its first season to 4.00 million viewers now [VIII].
In television, FOX has a great variety of very recognized shows that can range mostly in animation, comedy, and thriller.
Image courtesy of: forbes.com
One of the FOX newest TV shows premiered recently on September 22, 2014 with 8.21 million viewers [IX]. Gotham explores the beginning tales of Commissioner Gordon. While in the show he is still a detective, he has yet to meet Batman and the villains who made Gotham City so popular [X]. Gotham received two nominations in the TV divisions for the “American Society of Cinematographers 29th annual Outstanding Achievement Awards” . Additionally, the pilot was recognized in the category for a TV movie, miniseries or pilot [XI].
20th Century Fox is one of the most recognized film industries in the world. This year 2014, Fox released 13 feature films with a result of $1,539,266,539 in total gross [XII]. This includes: X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, How to Train your Dragon 2, Gone Girl and Rio 2, as in order of total ranking.
Image courtesy of: msmagazine.com
Gone Girl was released in October 3, 2014 and it has a domestic total of $160,757,000 as of today November 30th, plus a $173,400,000 of foreign totals while the production budget was only 61 million. Currently in its 5th week, it is ranked number 8 [XIII]. Gone Girl has received many awards including the “Hollywood Film Award” at the 2014 Hollywood Film Festival [XIV].
Penguins of Madagascar is an animated comedy distributed by 20th Century Fox and is its newest film on the market, released on November 26, 2014. This film takes the peculiar penguin characters of the previous Madagascar movies, whom must stop a villain doctor from destroying the world [XV]. As of its first weekend it is currently number two with a total gross of $36 million [XVI].
This has been one of the best years for Fox and they are not planning on backing down. On December 5, 2014 The Pyramid will be released. The Pyramid is about an archaeological team ventures to unlock the mysteries of a lost pyramid and instead find themselves hunted by an insidious creature [XVII].
As Europe’s leading entertainment company, Sky has 20 million consumers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK, and Ireland [XVIII].
Image courtesy of: denofgeek.com
Penny Dreadful is a psychological thriller that brings together literature’s most terrifying classical characters, like Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Gray [XIX]. It aired on May 11, 2014, and it won “Most Exciting New Series” at the Critics Choice Television Awards [XX]. Penny Dreadful is coming back with its new season for a 2015 debut on the channel [XXI].
In Other News
Image courtesy of: The Independent
Exodus: Gods and Kings has received criticism due to its lack of ethnic diversity, to which Rupert Murdoch decided to respond by tweeting the following: “Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.” [XXII]. Murdoch has not received too many good responses about this issue.
Image courtesy of: realscreen.com
On October 10, 2014, 21st Century Fox and Apollo made an agreement to create a leading company multi-platform content provider each of them owning 50 percent. Now Endemol, Shine Group, and Core Media will be a sole group in over 30 markets including digital, gaming and distribution operations [XXIII].
Up until 2018, Fox has 48 movies, including many sequels as well as prequels that are yet to come [XXIV].
[I] News Corporation Limited History From 2002. Retrieved November 27, 2014 [II] NewsCorp Divides Into Two Companies From June 28, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2014 [III] 21st Century Fox Company Details Retrieved November 27, 2014 [IV] 21st Century Fox Analysis From November 24, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2014. [V] Fox Broadcasting Company Retrieved November 29, 2014. [VI] 21st Century Fox Retrieved November 27, 2014. [VII] American Horror Story Retrieved November 29, 2014 [VIII] American Horror Story Numbers From October 13, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014 [IX] Monday Final Ratings From September 23, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014 [X] Gotham TV Show From September 22, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014 [XI] ASC Nominations for TV Cinematography From November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XII] 20th Century Fox Box Office Mojo From November 23, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XIII] Box Office Mojo Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XIV] Gone Girl Tops Hollywood Film Awards From November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XV] The Penguins of Madagascar Retrieved December 1, 2014 [XVI] Penguins of Madagascar Box Office Mojo Retrieved December 1, 2014. [XVII] The Pyramid Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XVIII] Sky Retrieved November 29, 2014. [XIX] Penny Dreadful TV Series Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XX] Penny Dreadful Awards Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XXI] Penny Dreadful First Look From November 21, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XXII] Rupert Murdoch’s Response From November 30, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014. [XXIII] 21st Century Fox and Apollo From October 10, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014. [XXIV] New Movie Releases Retrieved November 30, 2014.