Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp

10201 West Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California 90035

Mail: P.O. Box 900,
Beverly Hills, California 90213
Phone: 310-277-2211
Fax: 310-203-1558
www.foxmovies.com [1]

Summary:

20th Century Fox is a film production and distribution company under Fox Entertainment

Group which is a part of the media conglomerate, News Corporation. The company releases about 14 films a year many of which have been very successful [1]. 20th Century Fox formed in 1935 and has been one of the top film studios for almost a hundred years [2]. The subsidiary companies to 20th Century Fox include Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox International Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios [1]. 20th Century Fox is most notably responsible for James Cameron’s films Avatar and Titanic as well as classics such as the Star Wars series, Home Alone, the Ice Age series, Independence Day, The Sound of Music, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and hundreds more [4].

 

Fox Searchlight is a speciality division under 20th Century Fox. The company tends to release smaller budget, niche-genre films. Many of Fox Searchlight’s films have earned Academy Award nominations and wins such as Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, The Descendants, and Black Swan [4].

Executives [15]

• Chris Petrikin- Executive Vice President, Global Communications
• Rupert Murdoch- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
• Robert Marick- Executive Vice President
• Ricardo Crespo- Senior Vice President of Global Creative
• Thomas E. Rothman- Board Member
• Robert Harpe- Board Member
• James Gianopulos- Board Member

 

Financial Information

News Corp’s current share price is $30.9 up 36.6% from 19.58 at this time last year. Their revenue for the year 2012 was $34.33 billion a 2% increase from their 2011 revenue of $33.4 billion [3].

20th Century Fox is currently number 4 in the market, holding an 11.7% share. It has grossed $256.9 million. Compared to its position in April of 2012, it is down $40 million in revenue, with the same amount of films released. In 2012, they finished 6th in the market with a 9.5% share, releasing 15 films. 2012 was a successful year, having increased profits from 2011 by 4.9%, up from $977 million to $1 billion [4].

Fox Searchlight is currently 16th in the market with a .2% of the market share. It has currently grossed $4.5 million at the box office with the release of 4 films so far this year. Searchlight finished 2012 grossing $117.8 million, down 22.7% from the 2011 gross of $152.4 million. For 2012, Fox Searchlight was 12th in the market a slight decline from their 2011 position of 11th in the market. In 2012 they released 10 movies and in 2011 they released 11, most likely causing the decline in profits [4].

 Competitors

20th Century Fox competes most closely with the five other major studios (Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, and Paramount.) Universal is currently number one in the market, followed by the Weinstein Company, and Buena Vista. Universal has only released 2 films so far this year, one being the successful film, Identity Theif, and have still been experiencing profits from their late 2012 releases including the award winner Les Miserables. Beuna Vista released the high grossing, Oz The Great and Powerful. The recent wild success of the Weinstein Company has caused it to become more comprable in profits to 20th Century Fox than to Fox Searchlight though they release similar types of films. This has largely been due to their award winning films Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook. 20th Century Fox has held a high position in the market due to the success of The Croods. Other 2013 releases inclue Broken City and A Good Day to Die Hard [4].

Recent News

After a phone hacking scandal in 2011 and increased pressure from shareholders, News Corp will be splitting into two separate companies mid-2013. 20th Century Fox and all other Fox brands will become a part of a new company titled Fox Group. The publishing side of the company will remain News Corporation. Fox Group is slated to be led by Chase Carey, president and chief operating officer, Rupert Murdoch, chief executive and chairman, and James Murdoch, who will serve as the deputy chief operating officer [6]. Due to this split, 20th Century Fox’s co-chairman Tom Rothman will be resigning, leaving co-chairman, Jim Gianopolus, to lead the entire film division [11].

The 2013 release of The Croods has been notable for more than just its success at the box office. The film is the first to be released under DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox’s new partnership. Formerly, DreamWorks films were distributed by Paramount but the two companies ended this agreement late last year. This new deal has been very profitable for 20th Century Fox, as The Croods grossed $44.7 million in its opening weekend alone [7].

20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios are currently preparing for the release of the film Epic. Director, Chris Wedge, known for the Ice Age films, claims that Epic shows both technological advancement and genre evolution for Blue Sky [12]. The companies are heavily promoting the film that is set to release in May. Teaming up with Rite-Aid, the film will be an official charity partner of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals [13].

20th Century Fox is taking initiative to lead the industry in the new medium of digital media. In September, the Home Entertainment division decided

to release digital copies of the film Prometheus three weeks before the DVD and Blu-ray release. In attempt to make online films more accessible and affordable, the company is also moving to dispel online piracy. 20th Century Fox is the first of the major studios to place such high importance on the release of digital content, calling the initiative Digital HD. Fox will release all recent films on Digital HD in addition to the effort to have over 600 Fox titles available on other digital platforms [8]. 20th Century Fox as well as other studios are currently in a prolonged legal battle with Google due to online piracy issues. The companies are requesting Google to remove links to pirated content but Google is responding by publishing the requests from these companies with direct links to the pirated content. This phenomenon is being called “copyright irony.” [14]

Fox Searchlight recently announced that it will be releasing the upcoming film, Twelve Years A Slave, rather than the parent company 20th Century Fox. The Steve McQueen film features Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, and the young Quvenzhane Wallis. It will premier in December [10]. Fox Searchlight currently has two films in theaters: Danny Boyle’s thriller Trance and Chan-wook Park’s Stoker which experienced festival success [10].

 

Sources:

[1] http://www.newscorp.com/management/20film.html

[2] http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive/zanuck-schenck.htm

[3] http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=NWS+Key+Statistics

[4] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studios

[5] TRF 235 Lecture Notes: Barbara Jones, Class 2

[6] http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/news-corp-announces-its-corporate-split-and-the-closing-of-the-daily/

[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/movies/the-croods-and-olympus-has-fallen-lead-the-box-office.html?_r=2&

[8] http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/20th-century-fox-s-mary-daily-taking-digital-lead/238751/

[9] http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=NWS+Interactive#symbol=nws;range=20080103,20130401;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

[10] www.foxsearchlight.com

[11] http://www.medialifemagazine.com/people-9-17-12/

[12] http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=101806

[13] http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1149205

[14] http://businessofcinema.com/hollywood/twentieth-century-fox-and-others-in-piracy-battle-with-google/71643

[15] http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/people.asp?privcapId=35867

Photos

1.http://www.foxstudios.com/data/image/teasers/category_bg_home.jpg

2.https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/495817344/FoxLogo_FanfareVersion.jpg

3.http://www.impawards.com/2012/posters/life_of_pi.jpg

4.http://www.foxsearchlight.com/media/blog_post_images/fsl_logo2.jpg

5. http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/files/2010/09/rupert-murdoch.jpg

6. http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/2010/11/19/weinstein.jpg?1290168446

7. http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BODU3NzI5ODc1NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODQ2NDU1OA@@._V1_SX214_.jpg

8. http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2011/09/FBI_Anti-Piracy_Warning.jpeg