Talk:20th Century Studios

Distribution

The lead statement Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by 20th Century Studios is incorrect. To start off, the Deadline source ([1]) doesn't even say this. It says: Post-merger, Fox Searchlight, now re-branded Searchlight Pictures, enjoys a lot of autonomy in the Disney empire, greenlighting pics they know and operating their own distribution, publicity and marketing teams. 20th Century Studios (which recently dropped the Fox) was melded into the bigger Disney fold, fusing all its operations. Nowhere in that paragraph does it indicate that 20th Century films are being distributed by Disney, only that its operations were merged into Disney and that Searchlight would retain its autonomy. Secondly, this is not correct, as evidenced by Disney's press releases ([2], [3]) and the fact that none of 20th's films even credit Disney at the end (unlike Marvel and Lucasfilm productions). I brought this issue up at Talk:Ron's Gone Wrong#Disney back in January, but since then I've observed an uptick in editors trying to change this on several other articles (Free Guy, Avatar 2, Dark Phoenix, New Mutants, and most recently Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes). InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:14, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Update: I've dug up an RfC from back in 2019 about this. That discussion was about films distributed by Fox before its rebranding as 20th Century Studios, but the consensus should still apply. InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:25, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Also, a fifth reason, Box Office Mojo still lists all 20th Century Studios as being distributed (domestically, at least) by 20th Century Studios, not Disney. InfiniteNexus (talk) 17:49, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

20th Century Studios will be Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion pictures is betterly correct. 94.41.222.150 (talk) 14:40, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Despite no mention of it for the end credits of each film, 20th Century Studios films are indeed distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (through Walt Disney Pictures, but as a silent distributor of 20th Century's films) (even the BBFC source indicates this for example: https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-first-omen-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmde5odax)

However, when i looked up at the BBFC website, it says that 20th's films are distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (although credited in my country, Britain, as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK rather than Buena Vista International UK).

So whatever the outcome of the "Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures" tag expected to appear in future 20th Century's films, i think it could happen but not soon enough i guess. SolshineBenie (talk) 15:56, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

We are going by what sources say and what the poster billing block say. This IP is hell bent on changing all recent 20th Century films. Mike Allen 17:46, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

I have to acknowledge about that now but I'm not so sure about that to be honest with you. SolshineBenie (talk) 18:28, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

There is no evidence that 20th Century films are distributed by Disney. InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:31, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

I have to apologise for bringing personal opinions about it at 4:48am last night. But anyway, why no prove of it? SolshineBenie (talk) 07:02, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Compare the end credits of a Disney, Marvel, or Lucasfilm film, versus a 20th Century or Searchlight film. Do a Ctrl+F search for "Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures" and/or "Walt Disney Studios". As of last month, Disney continues to make a distinction between Disney and 20th/Searchlight films in their release calendar sent to the press. InfiniteNexus (talk) 16:29, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

I see now. I have also notice on that file that one of 20th's film was one of the first to read: "For the purposes of United Kingdom copyright,

20th Century Studios and TSG Entertainment Finance LLC was the owner of copyright in this film, immediately after it was made." SolshineBenie (talk) 16:31, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Another Distribution Kerfufle again...

Look I know there has been edit wars alot about Disney distrubuting 20th Century stuff but I just don't understand. Even the pages say "Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by 20th Century Studios" yet no one removed it and the previous person said it is incorrect and even the movies 20th does never mention "Distrubuted by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures" so for every movie 20th does are we not gonnna mention Disney at all its as if people still think 20th Century is a seperate studio instead of being owned by Disney. NakhlaMan (talk) 07:34, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

No, we're not going to mention Disney. InfiniteNexus (talk) 05:45, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Any reason why? NakhlaMan (talk) 08:54, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Per the four five reasons I very clearly outline in the section above (#Distribution). InfiniteNexus (talk) 17:48, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

Examples for introduction

I revised the list of examples to use the list of franchises from an article. It's basically the same as the list of franchises from before. And rather than list out every single individual movie and television show, I picked a single example for each: Titanic (highest-grossing movie of all time for 12 years as well as an Academy Award for Best Picture winner) and The Simpsons (the longest running scripted American television show of all time and it was also mentioned in the title of the article). Daniel Quinlan (talk) 23:10, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Note that the article only mentions Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope because the other Star Wars movies in the original six films were already sold to Disney as part of Lucasfilms, but I used the broader "six films" for the introduction because the list of examples isn't about the acquisition. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 23:13, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

What is not on the list is Anastasia (1997) because it is not particularly notable from the standpoint of box office numbers, awards, or being a significant franchise. I mention this movie specifically because someone keeps adding it back and refuses to discuss it. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 05:41, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

@Mediafan200: @InfiniteNexus: @Soetermans: Pinging a few people who have edited this article or participated on the talk page previously. I'm hoping to get some consensus on the list. Thanks. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 05:43, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I agree that Anastasia doesn't need to be on the list. Your revised list was fine. Mediafan200 (talk) 15:46, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Just pick the most notable from List of highest-grossing films and List of highest-grossing media franchises. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:35, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Based on a "highest-grossing" criteria, we should list these franchises:

• first six Star Wars movies: billions (well over any threshold we set)
• X-Men: $6.9 billion
• Ice Age: $6.42 billion
• Avatar: $5.78 billion
• The Simpsons: $4.9 billion (only TV franchise that makes the list of highest-grossing media franchises)
• Planet of the Apes: ​$2.27 billion

As far as films go, Titanic and The Sound of Music are both in the top 10 for inflation-adjusted box office. Cleopatra "only" made $421 million adjusted for inflation so I think it misses the cut. (I checked every movie listed in the cited Independent article.)

Comparing that to Special:Permalink/1181570167, it suggests we should:

• remove Die Hard, Alien, Predator, Independence Day, and Kingsman
• add The Sound of Music

Digging a bit deeper, the worldwide box office for several additional franchises:

• Die Hard: $1,440,546,330
• Alien: $1,352,383,883
• Independence Day: $1,207,082,826
• Kingsman: $951,151,686
• Home Alone: $914,762,040
• Predator: $443,164,018

None of those are even close to Planet of the Apes so I'm content to leave them off the list. I'd suggest we agree on a minimum box-office cut-off. I'd suggest $2B if we want the above more compact list or $1B if we want to include several additional franchises. I'm fine with either approach. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 21:04, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

$2B for franchises and maybe $400m + Academy Award for Best Picture win or nomination for non franchise films? Mediafan200 (talk) 21:26, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I'd rather not include nominations as any part of the criteria, especially because the number of nominees has varied over time and started increasing significantly in 2009. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 22:10, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I think box office is the easiest, most accurate, and most objective criterion we can use. To keep the lead brief and emphasize only the most notable properties, I agree with keeping the cut-off at $2B. InfiniteNexus (talk) 17:02, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

Anastasia was a box office hit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1008:B088:E846:A587:4BA0:BE75:C28A (talk) 14:00, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

It seems like we have consensus for a $2B cut-off. That gets two very notable movies that also won best picture into the introduction so I don't think we need to quibble over additional criteria. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 21:45, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

You should add Family Guy, since the franchise made $3.8 Billion. 23.245.47.124 (talk) 04:40, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source for this? It's not mentioned in List of highest-grossing media franchises. Daniel Quinlan (talk) 04:51, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

Just wanted to chime in and say that I agree with what was settled upon here. The metrics were fairly established and keeps the introduction from being too oversaturated with examples from the studio's film library. Something like this can be used as a framework on other similar studio articles. Well done! That being said, I rewrote the line mentioning Titanic and The Sound of Music to keep it more concise while maintaining the gist of their nobility. I also removed The Simpsons because that is a television series produced by sister unit 20th Television Animation, not 20th Century Fox/Studios. Even the Independent article delineates that. Only the 2007 film was released by the film studio. ~ Jedi94 (Want to tell me something?) 05:32, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 June 2024

Editoman (talk) 12:39, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

I want to put in the owners part News Corporation (1985-2013) 21st Century Fox (2013-2019) The Walt Disney Company (2019-present)

 Not done: The article lede and the History section already mention all of those companies. RudolfRed (talk) 17:27, 15 June 2024 (UTC)