For fans of the Star Wars saga’s first two trilogies, the classic Alfred Newman fanfare and the iconic Fox logo are every bit as much of the Star Wars experience as the old green Lucasfilm logo and the words ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’. Today, Disney announced that another part of that heritage has been lost as the word ‘Fox’ will be retired, changing the name of the newly purchased company from 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios.
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.