May 31 is the 85th b-day of 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios), which was formed by merging Twentieth Century Pictures with the Fox Film Corp. Disney did the name re-branding just over 4 months ago to avoid confusion with the Fox Corp and Fox News, among others. Thus, the Fox movie empire as we know it was from 2/1/1913-3/19/2019. Happy b-day to what was known as 20CF! A. Rant: The title of this thread Spoiler refers to the fact that had a fool named Rupert Murdoch not sold most of the Fox Empire to Disney but instead movie Fox News to News Corp under a different name. Oh, and that fool should have been removed from power from both companies as punishment for this then-pending merger. Alternatively, it refers to how the Murdochs should have never run the Fox Empire. Shame on Rupert Murdoch for selling off most of the Fox Empire, for the USDOJ permitting a semi-monopoly, and Disney for buying. 1000s of lay-offs are not worth it. Uncle Walt and film producer William Fox would not approve of this merger. Fox selling back those Marvel rights to Disney? Sure. However, at least give Fox Lucasfilm. Then, at least Fox would have had at least 1 major media franchise (Star Wars) to mooch off of. Don't end a storied movie empire like that! It's sad! B. My pointless gift to you NUFs: Random Fox trivia Spoiler Whether or not the original theatrical versions of these listed 1930s movies are still copyrighted in the U.S. or public domain is hard to say. Also, I have supplied YT links to some of the films. *First TCP-produced movie: "The Bowery" (released on 10/7/1933): youtube.com/watch?v=poKxc5GsC4w. *Last TCP-produced movie released prior to 20CF being formed: "Cardinal Richelieu" (released on 4/28/1935)(film). While the video does have the original Eng. language version, there are times after a line is spoken in Eng. that a narrator speaks the equivalent line in Russian. youtube.com/watch?v=N2zqKcHqnOA. *First TCP-produced movie released after 20CF was formed: "Call of the Wild" (released on 8/9/1935): youtube.com/watch?v=NblnOrNBQjc. *Last TCP-produced film overall: "A Message to Garcia" (released on 4/10/1936): youtube.com/watch?v=a5HuyOsHcIU&t=8s. *First Box Office Attractions-produced movie: "Life's Shop Window" (released on 11/19/1914). *First Box Office Attractions-distributed movie: There are 2. First, we have the now-lost "Shadows of the Moulin Rouge", which Solax Studios produced. Its limited release was on 12/26/1913 whereas the full-release was on 2/25/1914. The other was "Gertie the Dinosaur". With Gertie, the Wikipedia page "List of Fox Film films" lists Gertie as premiering on 2/28/1914. However, that would be for the vaudeville version. The more familiar live-action/animated movie version was released on 12/28/1914. Thus, this somewhat of a special-edition of Gertie, so to speak, is a Fox movie, the original version of Gertie isn't. *Final Box Office Attractions movie under that label: "Children of the Ghetto" (released on 2/8/1915). However, the last BOF film listed on the Wikipedia page "List of Fox Film films" that has its own Wikipedia page is "A Fool There Was" (released on 1/14/1915). *First Fox Film-produced movie under the Fox Film Corp name: "The Celebrated Scandal" (released on 2/11/1915; now lost). *First Fox Film-distributed movie under the Fox Film Corp name: "The Celebrated Scandal". *Last Fox Film-produced movie released prior to 20CF being formed: "The Daring Young Man" (released on 5/24/1935). Now if this category includes Fox movie being released on the same day as the 20CF formation, then that would be "Under the Pampas Moon" (released on 5/31/1935): youtube.com/watch?v=1HhnBK2f6Ts&t=25s. a. Note thate between 5/31/1935-11/29/1935, 28 FFC-produced movies got released. Thus, there were several that were produced and distributed by FFC and some that were FFC-produced but 20CF-distributed. *First Fox Film-produced movie released after 20CF was formed: "Doubting Thomas" (released on 6/7/1935). *Final Fox Film-produced movie released after 20CF was formed: "Navy Wife" (released on 11/29/1935). *Final Fox movie produced by William Fox: "The Big Trail" (released on 11/1/1930). *First Fox partial-talkie: "Mother Knows Best" (released on 9/16/1928). *First Fox all-talkie: "In Old Arizona" (released on 1/20/1929): youtube.com/watch?v=MdQIw7BiUBA. a. Note while it is Eng., there are added-yellow Spanish subtitles in the film that you cannot turn off. *Final silent movie for the Fox movie empire: "On the Level" (released on 5/18/1930). However, this also had an all-talkie version. *First Fox all-talkie that marked that would mean all subsequent Fox movie releases would be all-talkies only: "Not Damaged" (released on 5/25/1930). *First movie produced by 20CF: Two candidates: First, we have "Metropolitan" (released on 11/8/1935). Both Wikipedia pages of "Metropolitan (1935 film)" and "List of 20th Century Fox films (1935–1999)" list this movie as being that :youtube.com/watch?v=ycS4o9jHq-k. However, the first movie that was both produced/distributed by 20CF was "Your Uncle Dudley" (released on 12/13/1935). -Final Fox movie to be released before William Fox relinquished control of his company on 4/7/1930 at a shaeholder's meeting that, for all practical purposes, ended his movie career: The candidates are , "Crazy That Way", and "High Society Blues". a. The Wikipedia page of "List of Fox Film films" lists these 3 1930 film with the following release dates: "High Society Blues" on 3/23, "Crazy That Way" on 3/30, and "The Three Sisters" on 4/6. However, the respective Wikipedia pages for these movies lists release dates of 3/20, 3/23, and 4/20. 1. Even if those count limited release dates, it is still confusing. I find it easier when a Wikipedia page for a movie lists something like: "date [limited release or premiere in a specifc city]" followed "date [wide release or general release]". 2. Not sure about HSB but the other 2, of which all-talkie and silent versions were made for both, are deemed lost films. -First Fox movie released after William Fox relinquished control: "Temple Tower" (released on 4/6/1930) if "The Three Sisters" was actually released in late 4/1930. Some copies of "Temple Tower" exists at the UCLA Archives. -Final 20CF movie to be released before William Fox's death (5/8/1952): There are actually 2. They are "Belles on Their Toes" and "The Pride of St. Louis" (both released on 5/2/1952). -First 20CF movie to be released after William Fox's death: There are actually 2. They are "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and "Kangaroo" (both released on 5/16/1952). -Final 20CF films to be released before Rupert Murdoch became head of the Fox empire: There are two (arguably). First, we have "Joshua Then and Now", a Fox-distributed Canadian film and TV mini-series that was produced by RSL Entertainment Corp. Second is "Plenty", which RKO Pictures Inc co-produced with Pressmen Productions. I say arguably because while the Wikipedia page of "List of 20th Century Fox films (1935–1999)" lists both films premiering on 5/20/1985, the Wikipedia page of "Plenty (film)" lists a 5/17/1985 premiere date. a. A Google search for "Rupert Murdoch buys 20th Century Fox March 1985" reveals this link: variety.com/1985/biz/news/rupert-murdoch-to-buy-half-of-foxs-parent-company-1201344640. So, this 3/21/1985 article said that Murdoch bought that 50% on 3/20/1985. -First 20CF released after Rupert Murdoch became head: Another set of two. First, is the Fox-distributed movie "Commando", which Silver Pictures produced. Second is the Fox-distributed "The Doctor and the Devils", which Fox co-produced with Brooksfilms. a. A Google search for "Rupert Murdoch buys Marc Davis' share in 20th Century Fox" revealed a 9/24/1985 NY Times article as shown here: nytimes.com/1985/09/24/business/murdoch-will-buy-out-davis-s-holdings-in-fox.html. b. O.K., so it was 9/24/1985 that Murdoch became head of Fox. When former co-head Marc David sold his shares, that $325 million that he sold is worth about $774,409,154.28 in today's market. Source: usinflationcalculator.com *Last 20CF-produced or co-produced movie prior to the Disney-Fox merger: "Alita: Battle Angel" (released on 2/14/2019). This is the film that marked the end of the Fox film empire as people knew it. *First 20CF-produced or co-produced film to be released post-Disney-Fox merger: "Dark Phoenix" (released on 6/7/2019). While "Breakthrough" (released on 4/17/2019) is the first Fox release following the merger with Disney, it is a Fox 2000-produced film but 20CF-released film. *The final 20CF-produced or co-produced film to be released post-Disney-Fox merger and last to carry the 20CF name: "Underwater" (released on 1/10/2020). *With DIsney recently dropping "Fox" from "20th Century Fox" and re-branding as "20th Century Studios", the first movie to carry that re-branded logo/name is "The Call of the Wild" (released on 2/21/2020). -First 20CF movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture: "How Green Was My Valley" (released on 10/26/1941). a. What wast the Ffirst Fox movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture? O.K., so the First Academy Awards had an award called the Best Outstanding Picture and another one called the Best Unique and Artistic Picture. Paramount's "Wings" (released on 8/12/1927) won the former award and Fox's "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" won the latter award. b. After the First Academy Awards, the Best Unique and Artistic Picture award was discontinued. However, later on the Academy decided that the award that "Wings" won was the highest possible award at the Oscars that you could win. So, whether or not what "Sunrise" won qualifies as a Best Picture, for all practical purposes, is debateable. However, I lean towards it being something akin to Best Picture but not actually Best Picture. -First Fox movie to win an Oscar for Best Actress: "Sunrise" via Jane Gaynor (10/6/1906-9/14/1984). She was also won the first Oscar for Best Actress overall. -First Fox movie to win an Oscar for Best Actor: "In Old Arizona" via Warren Baxter (3/29/1889-5/7/1951). a. First Oscar for Best Actor: Paramount's "The Way of All Flesh" (released on 6/25/1927 in NYC for a limited released but released on 10/1/1927 for a wide American release) via Emil Jannings (7/23/1884-1/2/1950).
One of my blog posts here has a lot of the info and many of my prev. forum posts have ranted about how I hate the Disney-Fox merger.