Fox Studio Lot (Los Angeles, California)

 film/video production studio/facility, film/video production company

www.foxstudiolot.com/
10201 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Formerly 20th Century-Fox.

The Fox Film Corporation was formed in 1915 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox, who formed Fox Film Corporation by merging two companies he had established in 1913: Greater New York Film Rental, a distribution firm, which was part of the Independents; and Fox (or Box, depending on the source) Office Attractions Company, a production company. This merging of a distribution company and a production company was an early example of vertical integration. Only a year before, the latter company had distributed Winsor McCay's groundbreaking cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur.

Always more of an entrepreneur than a showman, Fox concentrated on acquiring and building theaters; pictures were secondary. The company's first film studios were set up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but in 1917, William Fox sent Sol M. Wurtzel to Hollywood to oversee the studio's West Coast production facilities where a more hospitable and cost-effective climate existed for film making. Fox had purchased the Edendale studio of the failing Selig Polyscope Company, which had been making movies in Los Angeles since 1909 and was the first motion picture studio in the city.

Twentieth Century Pictures:
Twentieth Century Pictures was an independent Hollywood motion picture production company created in 1933 by Joseph Schenck, the former president of United Artists, Darryl F. Zanuck from Warner Brothers, William Goetz from Fox Films, and Raymond Griffith. Financial backing came from Schenck's older brother Nicholas Schenck and the father-in-law of Goetz, Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios. Company product was distributed by United Artists (UA), and was filmed at various studios.

Schenck was President of 20th Century while Zanuck was named Vice President in Charge of Production and Goetz served as vice-president. Successful from the very beginning, their 1934 production, The House of Rothschild was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1935, they produced the classic film Les Misérables, from Victor Hugo's novel, which was also nominated for Best Picture. Legend has it that the new independent took a detour straight into the major studio camp when Zanuck became outraged by United Artists' board including UA's co-founder Mary Pickford's refusal to reward Twentieth Century with UA stock fearing it would have diluted another UA stockholder and co-founder D.W. Griffith. Schenck, who had been a UA stockholder for over ten years, resigned from United Artists in protest of the shoddy treatment of Twentieth Century, and Zanuck began discussions with other distributors which led to talks with the floundering giant, Fox.

Fox/20th Century Merger:
Joe Schenck and Fox management agreed to a merger; Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox-West Coast theaters, helped in the merger (and later became president of the new company). Although it was still much smaller than Fox, Twentieth Century was the senior partner in the merger. At first, it was expected that the new company would be called "Fox-Twentieth Century." However, 20th Century brought more to bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck. It was profitable and have more talent than Fox, the new company was called The Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, and began trading on May 31, 1935; the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President. Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Fox's longtime production chief Winfield Sheehan.

The Studio Lot:
With the introduction of sound technologies, Fox moved to acquire the rights to a sound-on-film process. In the years 1925–26, Fox purchased the rights to the work of Freeman Harrison Owens, the U.S. rights to the Tri-Ergon system invented by three German inventors, and the work of Theodore Case. This resulted in the Movietone sound system later known as "Fox Movietone". Later that year, the company began offering films with a music-and-effects track, and the following year Fox began the weekly Fox Movietone News feature, which ran until 1963. The growing company needed space, and in 1926 Fox acquired 300 acres (1.2 km2) in the open country west of Beverly Hills and built "Movietone City", the best-equipped studio of its time.

The Sell-off of the Back Lot:
Because of the ongoing financial problems of the company dating back to the mid 1930s, in 1961 Fox sold 263 acres of backlot (now the site of Century City) to Alcoa to raise funds during the production of troubled epic Cleopatra. The back lot was systematically destroyed to clear the ground. Darryl F. Zanuck was appointed chairman, and his son Richard Zanuck takes on the role of president. The new management group rushed Cleopatra to completion, and shut down the studio, laying off the staff, to save money. The Movietone Newsreel also ceased production. A series of cheap, popular movies were made which re-established Fox as a major player.

The Disney Era
On March 20, 2019 the shareholders of Disney Entertainment and 21st Century Fox (Parent of 20th Century Fox and Fox Entertainment) closed on a stock exchange that resulted in Disney taking ownership of the studio and other Fox properties, however the Murdoch family retained ownership of the real estate, which they leased to Disney on a 7 year lease.

Additional info on the Disney-Fox transaction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_21st_Century_Fox_b...