a. The Fox movie empire as we knew it/them ended on 3/20/2019 when Disney bought them out. On 1/17/2020, the announcement that Disney is taking "Fox" out of "20th Century Fox" added another death date of sorts. So, when was the empire as we knew it born? Feb. 1. 20th Century Fox was "born" on 5/31/1935 as a merger of 20th Century Films and the Fox Film Corp. The Fox Film Corp had a predecessor called Box Office Attractions which was the successor of Greater New York Film Rental Company.
b. How do I know the are this age? P. 283 of the "Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921-Mar 1922)" at Archive.org (bit.ly/36F21YW) has an ad for the then 9th anniversary week of the Fox movie empire (1/29/1922-2/4/1922). So, even though the empire is for all practical purposes dead, happy 107th!
c. What was the first Fox movie? For all practical purposes, the first Fox movie was the now-lost "Shadows of the Moulin Rouge". This film's premiere, though a limited release, was on 12/26/1913. It was directed, written, and produced by Alice Guy-Blaché (7/11873-3/24/1968) through her movie company, Solax Studios. Alice is regarded as the first female director and thus the founding mom of cinema. Box Office Attractions distributed the film.
d. What was the last Fox movie? The last movie to carry the 20th Century Fox logo is "Underwater". The first one to carry "20th Century Pictures" logo is that upcoming Call of the Wild movie. Funny thing is that movie of the original 20th Century Pictures that was released by 20CP before 20th Century Fox was born was a 1935 version of the classic Jack London book.
"Alita: Battle Angel" is both the final movie for 20th Century Fox as we knew them before Disney bought most of the empire out on 3/20/2019, as well as the final movie for the Fox movie empire as we knew them.
e. How William Fox, the founder, feel about it? From hollywoodreporter.com/lists/a-look-at-83-years-20th-century-fox-1131133/item/eulogy-a-studio-1935-1131135:
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According to Vanda Krefft, author of the 2017 biography The Man Who Made the Movies, Fox would not be thrilled with this latest chapter in his studio's history. "He would have hated the Disney merger," she says. "He's rolling in his grave."
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The book, which came out full-release (not counting the pre-sale release dates) shortly after Thanksgiving 2017, is the result of Vanda spending almost 11 years researching about William Fox. I am FB pals with her and I trust her judgement with Fox being disappointed at his empire being sold to Disney.
As far as Walt, I think he too would be rolling in his grave at his company has become. Honestly, I conclude Walt would despise the merger and want more competition.
f. Disclaimers: Sure, I am no economist or business expert, even when it comes to movie company decisions. However, the following blog is how some of these giant media mergers could have gone done or decisions that could have been done instead of Company A buying out Company B: forum.novelupdates.com/blogs/my-take-on-the-then-pending-and-completed-media-mergers-or-buy-outs.2904.
g. Some things to consider: 1. Thousands of lay-offs and the end of a storied film empire is more important than seeing the X-Men and F4 in the MCU. Too bad far too many extreme MCU fans fail to realize that.
2. Sure, Fox was financially struggling to a degree. Yes, they had ownership in some big franchises like Star Wars, Aliens, Die Hard, Terminator, and Ice Age. Yes, they did milk those franchises. However, at least they were not releasing those movies as frequently as Marvel was with the MCU.
3. 40+% of the domestic movie market share is too big for one mega corp but Disney accomplished that.
4. Credibility of Reddit and their users aside, here is a thread highlighting some of the 200-something then in-development Fox films were affected. This means those movies might be cancelled or delayed indefinitely: reddit.com/r/movies/comments/cnfixp. Sure, a lot of those highlights might be horrid (a live-action Play-Doh movie?).
5. vulture.com/amp/2019/10/disney-is-quietly-placing-classic-fox-movies-into-its-vault.html. Some of the Fox classics that could find niche audiences in indie movie theatre chains are now halted from distribution.
6. I have no idea how many of those 200-something films would have seen the light of day had Fox just sold the Marvel rights back to Disney in exchange for Lucasfilm and had all Murdochs been voted out! Let this be a reminder that was merger should have not happened. If people now feel guilty for wanting to pass, I am glad.
g. Believe me, if I had the power, I would have voted that fool Rupert Murdoch out of being head of 21st Century Fox prior to the merger! That fool should have just transferred Fox News to the current News Corp company and kept the rest of the Fox-named companies with 21st Century Fox.
h. Rupert Murdoch really paid attention to the history of the Fox film (not sure how much he has), he should have encountered this fact: A July 1929 car accident, the 1929 Stock Market Crash, and antitrust suits against film producer William Fox's buy-out of MGM are what to Fox's media downfall. He would have had around 40% of the domestic movie market share, which is around the same amount that Disney now has from buying 20th Century Fox. Had Rupert known that, I do wonder if he would have been worried about the USDOJ saying "no" to the Disney-Fox merger.
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