Disney Drops “Fox” Renaming Studios Simply “20th Century Studios”
Well, its official, after Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox last year, the company keep the studio as is. However, reports are surfacing today that Disney has officially change the name of 20th Century Fox to simply 20th Century.
For insiders, the move doesn’t come as to much of a surprise. When Disney acquired the studio last year, it quickly made massive changes. It started by closing down entire divisions of the studios and giving the axe to hundreds of projects in the pipeline. According to a recent piece in Variety “20th Century Fox” will be renamed simply “20th Century Studios” and “Fox Searchlight Pictures” will also get a name change to “Searchlight Pictures”
According to Variety :
“Email addresses have changed for Searchlight staffers, with the fox.com address replaced with a searchlightpictures.com address. On the poster for Searchlight’s next film “Downhill,” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, the credits begin with “Searchlight Pictures Presents.” The film will be the first Searchlight release to debut with the new logo. “Call of the Wild,” an upcoming family film, will be released under the 20th Century banner, sans Fox.”
However, the Fox name hasn’t disappeared into the ether. The FOX company sold off its movie studios and part of its sports network but still retains the Fox News Network. As a matter of fact, insiders speculate that Fox News may have been what motivated Disney to drop the “Fox” association from the studio. This means that Disney can steer clear of the controversy often associated with the network.
However, the fact that Disney is keeping it separate from the Disney brand and calling it “20th Century Studios” also indicates that the company may want to keep the acquisition separate using it as a platform to release more mature content in the future.
This is a story we’ll be watching closely so keep following along with Mickey Blog for the latest news and updates!