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Movies Businesses Television

Disney Drops 'Fox' Name, Will Rebrand As 20th Century Studios (variety.com) 99

Posted by BeauHD from the name-change dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: In a move at once unsurprising and highly symbolic, the Walt Disney Company is dropping the "Fox" brand from the 21st Century Fox assets it acquired last March, Variety has learned. The 20th Century Fox film studio will become 20th Century Studios, and Fox Searchlight Pictures will become simply Searchlight Pictures. On the TV side, however, no final decisions have been made about adjusting the monikers of production units 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios. Discussions about a possible name change are underway, but no consensus has emerged, according to a source close to the situation.

Disney has already started the process to phase out the Fox name: 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. Those logos won't be dramatically altered, just updated. The most notable change is that the word "Fox" has been removed from the logo marks. Otherwise, the signature elements -- swirling klieg lights, monolith, triumphal fanfare -- will remain the same.
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Disney Drops 'Fox' Name, Will Rebrand As 20th Century Studios More

Disney Drops 'Fox' Name, Will Rebrand As 20th Century Studios

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  • Smart (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Arthur, KBE ( 6444066 )
    When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

    • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by Strill ( 6019874 )

      The Nazis at Fox that interviewed Bernie Sanders? Not very good Nazis if they're promoting Jews for president then are they?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ichijo ( 607641 )

        Maybe they think he's more beatable in the general election than Warren or Biden!

        • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

          by Strill ( 6019874 )

          So the Nazis at Fox are promoting Trump? The most pro-Jewish president in years?

          • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

            by ObliviousGnat ( 6346278 )

            Do you believe everything Trump tells you? Let's find out. Tell me a time when Trump said something and you didn't believe it. Your time starts...now!

            • Tell me a time when Trump said something and you didn't believe it. Your time starts...now!

              It took me just under 200 microseconds to think of a time when Trump said something and I didn't believe it.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Chas ( 5144 )

              What does this have to do with Trump being or not being a Nazi?
              And what does it have to do with Trump being the most pro-Jewish president in years?

              Dark Helmet: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

              It's okay not to like Trump.
              He isn't everyone's cup of tea.

              But leave the stupid, childish slander at the door.

              • So because I don't believe everything Trump says, it automatically means I don't like him?

                Please tell me you're joking.

          • When will people stop conflating Jews and Israel. In fact many of the policies Zionist Israel follows towards Christian and Muslim Arabs are similar to those followed by Nazis against Jews (can someone say the gaza ghetto?). Criticizing Zionism and Israel is not the same as anti-semitism.
            Heck Zionism and Nazism has many philosophical features in common - for starters both believe Jews are a separate race not a religion. Both want Jews out of Europe - one wants them dead, the other in the desert. Both believ

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Chas ( 5144 )

              Yep. He COULD be anti-semitic.

              You'd think his daughter and son in law would notice through.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by ghoul ( 157158 )

                Well many father in laws hate their son in laws ......

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by markdavis ( 642305 )

      >"When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism."

      Then there is something wrong with your brain.

    • When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

      Yeah, because no one has ever compared Disney to Nazi's.

    • When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

      You're not wrong. The FOX brand has become associated with some extremely repulsive people and ideas.

      Like Stuart Varney. He's sucking Trump's dick so hard I'm shocked that his head hasn't caved in from the pressure differential.

      "Trump has never lied." -Stuart Varney

      With bobbleheads like that on FOX, is it any wonder that most people view FOX as a clown car full of buffoons?

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )
        The problem is associating people you disagree with with Nazis. It's not just you, a lot of people on the left think this way. They think we need denazification camps for political dissidents and to bring back gulags. Isn't putting people in camps a feature of Nazis?
        • Like how people are that are trying to enter the country illegally, instead of bring sent back?

        • They think we need denazification camps for political dissidents and to bring back gulags.

          Oh yes, the infamous mysterious "they". OoooOOooOOohhh, scary. Look out or they'll get you!

          One of FOX's fair-haired boys was Richard Spencer. So yeah, if you pal around with guys like that and have him on your network repeatedly, try not to be so shocked when people say you're associating with Nazis, okay? Because he's a Nazi. Or at least he was happy to say he was before he tried to soften his noxious bullshit by saying he was "alt-right".

          -

          Isn't putting people in camps a feature of Nazis?

          You mean like the the way the GOP and the White House are putting k

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )

            The word "nazi" today more often indicates the presence of a radical leftist nut (or slimy left-wing propagandist) than it does actual nazis.

            Fascist and nazi in 2019 basically means "authority, laws and rules I personally don't agree with".

            Yup, Trump is such a nazi, that Israel renamed a town, train station, town center and embassy after him.

            • The word "nazi" today more often indicates the presence of a radical leftist nut (or slimy left-wing propagandist) than it does actual nazis.

              Really? Pick your favorite "radical leftist nut" and put them next to a picture a real Nazi, or a member of the Proud Boys or the Atomwaffen or the
              Aryan Brotherhood or the Blood & Honour America Division or Identity Evropa and let people pick which one is the 'Nazi'.

              -

              Fascist and nazi in 2019 basically means "authority, laws and rules I personally don't agree with".

              No, redefining words doesn't make it so. Please go back to FOX 'News' where you'll feel safe and loved. 'Cuz it ain't gonna happen anywhere else.

        • The problem though is a lot of people on the right murder babies and feast on their flesh. See it's easy to make up insane extreme stuff. So we can both carry on doing it all day. I don't really know what the point is, but I'll happily play. So go on, make up something else crazy.

        • The problem is associating people you disagree with with Nazis. It's not just you, a lot of people on the left think this way. They think we need denazification camps for political dissidents and to bring back gulags. Isn't putting people in camps a feature of Nazis?

          What do you think a gulag is?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by ichthus ( 72442 )

      When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

      Godwin. Right there in the first post. Well done, doofus.

    • When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

      When I think of "Disney" I think of Hitler and Nazism.

      Hitler loved Walt Disney animated films. Supposedly, "Snow White and Seven Dwarfs" was his favorite.

      That is so bizarre . . . that even I could not make that up:

      https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]

      Now where is that long lost Leni Riefenstahl animated flick, "Triumph of the Mouse" . . . ?

      • >"Hitler loved Walt Disney animated films. Supposedly, "Snow White and Seven Dwarfs" was his favorite. "

        And, supposedly, Walt Disney was an anti-Semite.

    • Re:Smart (Score:5, Insightful)

      by meerling ( 1487879 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @10:04PM (#59631712)
      I half to agree, and this post doesn't look like flamebait to me.
      Like it or not, Fox media is pushing a polarizing right wing agenda, and as such, those that aren't on that right wing train tend to be really put off by anything with the Fox label.
      In an environment like this, a company that wants to be seen as family friendly and non-political, can't afford to be associated with any political side. Fox media has ruined the Fox name for them by associating it with right wing politics, so of course DIsney is dumping it.

      That's not flamebait, that's stating the current real world situation.

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )
        The Left has polarized politics by treating the Right as The Other. Can't be associated with any political side? Which side has politicized everything? You can't even watch a movie without having SJW politics jammed down your throat. They ruined Star Wars, for fucks sake. Non-political? Who told us that not taking a political stance is implicitly supporting the status quo? Why it was the Left.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by serviscope_minor ( 664417 )

          The Left has polarized politics by treating the Right as The Other.

          The unintentional irony in this statement is mind blowing.

          Who told us that not taking a political stance is implicitly supporting the status quo? Why it was the Left.

          Once upon a time, the right generally claimed to be in favour of personal responsibility. Now it seems the left is and you really really hate it.

          • No, it is, really. Please read this. It explains it fully. [archive.is]. The Western Right's outgroup is people who aren't Westerners. BUT the Western Left's outgroup is the Right. It explains so much about the polarization we see today. When you don't even think that the Right deserve to be called "people", much less "fellow Americans", you can understand the depth of hatred and delegitimization that's going on.
          • No, it is, really. Please read this. It explains it fully. [archive.is]. The Western Right's outgroup is people who aren't Westerners. BUT the Western Left's outgroup is the Right. It explains so much about the polarization we see today. When you don't even think that the Right deserve to be called "people", much less "fellow Americans", you can understand the depth of hatred and delegitimization that's going on.

    • When I think of "Fox" I think of Fox News and Nazism. That would be poison for Disney.

      You are correct, it's the same "Fox", purchased by Disney in 2017. [wikipedia.org] And you are correct, anything "Fox" is poison for a mainstream brand. Wonder who modded you down, perhaps I should ask in Russian?

    • Regardless of what you think about the quality of Fox News, it does have negative connotations with roughly a third of the US population such that Disney may have decided to disassociate with the name to avoid tainting their brand among progressives.

  • Maybe they should come into this century, too? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @06:49PM (#59631270) Homepage Journal

    21st Century Mouse sounds about right.

  • Makes sense (Score:3)

    by the_skywise ( 189793 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @06:50PM (#59631272)

    Fox Sports and Fox News still exist along with "Fox TV Stations" and keeping the 20th Century Fox name plus Fox Searchlight would confuse the brand.

    Still waiting for them to move Star Wars back under the 20th Century banner but that ship has probably long sailed.

    • Fox Sports and Fox News still exist along with "Fox TV Stations"

      I didn't think they purchased Fox news. Perhaps I'm mistaken.

      • They didn't, nor Fox Sports, nor the Fox TV stations which are all still named "Fox" but are entirely separate companies (although I think still under a parent group) - if Disney kept the Fox name it could be easily confused with those Fox properties

  • "Otherwise, the signature elements -- swirling klieg lights, monolith, triumphal fanfare -- will remain the same."

    So my SO and i can still jokingly exclaim "we're watching Star Wars!" at the start of every 20th Century Studios film.

  • Seriously... All Governments should force all companies to use their "mother brand" + "work" naming.

    So, instead of having 2 mins of company logos that are all owned by the same company and are used to hide profits and gain black money (I'm looking at you, Warner Bros that had the stupidity to say that the movies were losing money and you diverted all the money trough a shadow movie company you owned 51%).

    In this case, all Disney channels should be called:
    Disney TV 1
    Disney TV 2
    Etc.

    And when they make movies,
    D

  • So they're dropping the merger? No, not the recent one with Disney, the 1935 one between Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film.

    Obviously as a branding strategy, they don't want to share with another company they don't control, so it makes sense to find a way to stop the brand sharing. There aren't many examples of successful brand sharing, though perhaps HP/HPE or when Atari Computers split from the coin-op company.

    • There aren't many examples of successful brand sharing, though perhaps HP/HPE or when Atari Computers split from the coin-op company.

      HP and HPE don't share a brand. HPE got to keep the (unhyphenated) Hewlett-Packard name (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), but HP Inc. doesn't get to use it. HP is just HP now, the initials don't stand for anything. All HP got to keep was the hp logo and the HPQ stock symbol.

    • I think it's more about trying to distance themselves from the toxicity of Fox news, the same way that the owners of many buildings have taken down the Trump name that they foolishly paid to use for some unknown reason.

  • Got to keep the brand focused.

  • Slashdot really reaching with this one (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ravenscar ( 1662985 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @07:27PM (#59631406)

    An article from Variety? About Disney changing the name of the studio? I'm pretty okay with most of the non-tech stuff on Slashdot because most of it could be considered "stuff that matters." This is neither news for nerds nor stuff that matters. Pretty soon we'll be getting updates on the Kardashians or the goings-on in the British Royal Family.

    • Please tell us more about your long experience on Slashdot and your opinion on its direction.

    • Next thing you know we will start getting articles about the personal lives of CEOs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      It all ties into content creation and specifically animation. Those studios are all in real trouble and that trouble is more capable computers, better AI and animation. Writers will engineer an animation script and the AI will create the animations, the virtual robots, from people to trees, each reacting to the defined environment as they act out the script. Animators will put in the final touches and people will add the words, well for a time.

      Big studios are doomed, a floor on content will appear, especia

  • It's the toxicity that is now more than ever associated with the "Fox" name. They've made their bed and now they'll have to lie in it. Fortunately, lying comes naturally to most of the people on Fox, and their inbred goober audience is only too happy to have their bullshit misconceptions reinforced on a daily basis.

  • UGH
    A while back the corp I work for renamed itself from a 4 letter (so easy to type! ) email address to a 14 character nightmare. This is way worse! 3 letters to 19! How much time are all those employees (and their contacts!) going to spend fixing typos in that damn address.

  • So they are dropping a well known brand identified with cutting edge humor and adopting a name that is LITERALLY last century?

  • Wait a minute... (Score:3)

    by Miamicanes ( 730264 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @10:04PM (#59631710)

    So, "20th Century Fox" is/was actually a different company than "21st Century Fox"? I just assumed Fox's branding went schizophrenic for a decade & couldn't make up its mind what they wanted their name to be after 2000.

    Personally, I thought the whole inclusion of the century into their name was kind of stupid, and thought they should have just become "Fox" after 1999(*). To me, at least, it seemed like they changed their branding to "21st Century Fox" back in 2000, switched to "Fox" sometime around 2004-2006, then started branding themselves as "20th Century Fox" again sometime around 2010-2012.

    ---

    (*) Remember, circa 2000, the only demographic that Fox REALLY had negative connations for was, ironically, the Christian Right, because the "Fox" name was primarily associated with edgy prime-time TV shows that made a point of pushing the boundaries of what could be shown on broadcast TV. Fox news was looked down upon, but that was more because it was seen as being primarily sensationalistic "news as entertainment" yellow journalism for Joe Sixpack, and not its politics. Fox News didn't really make its hard turn to the right until Murdoch decided to latch on to anti-Obama sentiment and ride it to the bank after 2008 after seeing a business opportunity that CNN & MSNBC weren't interested in seizing.

    Mark my words... if the US had a decisive ideological shift to the left, Murdoch would take full advantage of it by taking the present news channel all the way to the hard radical right, then launch a second news channel that was equally polarized and slightly to the left of Che Guevara (claiming that it would create "balance"). Hell, knowing Murdoch, he'd then probably go a step further and hire the most right and left-wing articulate UFC fighters he could, then launch a 6pm national news show on Fox (Broadcast) network featuring the two of them (literally) beating the crap out of each other day in a hexagonal cage while arguing over news clips carefully edited to inflame viewers on BOTH ends of the political spectrum.

    Go ahead, I dare you. Tell me you honestly can't see Fox doing a news show with MMA fighters beating the crap out of each other while arguing about polar-opposite political views. Interspersed with equally-inflammatory commentary by women with surgically-altered body proportions that would make a Barbie doll jealous. It's the next logical stage in Fox News' evolution... proxying the rage its viewers feel as ACTUAL hand to hand street fighting.

  • Not OK with this. But that doesn't matter.

    I don't think politics when I hear Fox or hear the Fox fanfare (now with CinemaScope Extension!)

    No, I think of the little Fox Delicias in Ponce, PR... long gone. I think of the Fox Detroit, which I hope to visit one day. I think of Star Wars. I think of Movietone News. I think of a century of film history, films I can't even remember.

    But in the end, it's just a name, right?

    Sometimes a name is all you have left, and I hate seeing Disney burning the Fox name awa

  • That is SO last century.
  • If they are going to change the name, then just change the name. Make it 21st century studios and then good for another 100 years.

  • How about updating to 21st Century Studios? I understand brand loyalty and nostalgia, but at some point it seems a little anachronistic.

  • ...and people are stupid. 20th clearly is afraid to be associated with anything conservative, as is a big chunk of the populace.

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