A Century of Film

 

20th Century-Fox

 

The Studio

The studio originally began as Fox.  It began with William Fox and its start came in 1904.  “Fox’s initiation into the movie business came in 1904 when he purchased from J. Stuart Blackton of the Vitagraph Company the Brooklyn nickelodeon (which, given the five-cent admission fee, was then the generic name for movie theaters).  The location was 200 Broadway, and the price was $1,600.  This was an inauspicious beginning, for, indeed, Fox had been swindled.  Prior to the sale, Blackton hired customers to fill the 146-seat house.  Once the deal was closed and Fox’s name appeared on the lease, the day’s admissions totaled two.”  (The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox, Stephen M. Silverman, p 30)

Fox brought his own name into it in 1915 and he rose quickly: “No other major studio was regularly making these kinds of movies.  During 1915, its first year of business, Fox Film took in $3.21 million, more than a tenfold increase over the $272,401 posted the previous year by the Box Office Attractions Company.  Of that 1915 total revenue, profits totaled $523,000.  The following year, gross revenues climbed to $4.24 million, with profits of $365,000.  In less than two years the company had catapulted into the front ranks of American movie studios and had, according to the trade paper Wid’s Daily, established itself as ‘a concern whose films would, without question, bring money to the box office.’  It was the fastest arrival the motion picture industry had ever seen.”  (The Man Who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox, Vanda Krefft, p 157)

“On February 1, 1915, William Fox formally incorporated the Fox Film Corporation in New York.  The next year he bought the Selig Studio in Edendale (Selig had moved to east Lost Angeles), and in 1917 Fox opened his own studio on Sunset and Western Boulevards in Hollywood.”  (Silverman, p 39)  “[A] Fox discovery was one of the screen’s first sex symbols, Theodosia Goodman, the daughter of a Cincinnati tailor, hired in January, 1916, for $75 a week.  She was thrown into erotic dress and re-christened Theda Bara.”  (Silverman, p 40)

“During Fox Film’s first two years, Fox had made movies that primarily reflected the world as he knew it: a harsh environment full of melodramatic passions and events.  Now, in relative prosperity, he began to make movies that mirrored the world as he thought it ought to be.  Stories acquired a dimension of social consciousness and commented more explicitly on timely issues.”  (Krefft, p 217)  But then, after a few years of going strong, the studio was rocked.  “In the summer of 1919, Fox Film sustained the biggest jolt of its history so far.  Theda Bara quit. … Although Theda had recently lost some of her drawing power, she was still Fox Film’s biggest star and the most visible driving force behind its success.  Her movies had put the studio on the map, defined its brash, modern identity, and helped finance whirlwind expansion.  To many, she was the face of Fox Film.  Fox had no one lined up to take her place.”  (Krefft, p 269-270)

“Fox’s anxious penny-pinching paid off.  By late 1923, Fox Film had built up sufficient reserves to take another run at making an expensive, important movie.  The national economy was beginning to rally, and Fox understood that if he made a truly great movie, even theaters allied with rival studios would want to book it in order to share in the profits.  The project he chose was The Iron Horse, an epic about the building on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.”  (Krefft, p 341)

“The Warners’ Vitaphone proved unreliable.  Sound and picture frequently fell out of sync.  William Fox picked up the slack with his Movietone sound-on-film system (popularized by his western hit, In Old Arizona (1929), which was also the first talkie to contain scenes filmed outdoors).  That became the industry standard.”  (Silverman, p 54)

In 1927, Fox would buy controlling stock in MGM but Louis B. Mayer went to Hoover after he was elected and eventually Fox was forced by the government to divest his shares.  It was part of Fox’s expansion as “following his March 1927 purchase of New York’s Roxy Theatre, he made two other major acquisitions that transformed the company into one of the nation’s largest exhibition circuits.”  (Krefft, p 463)  In fact, it would be those theaters that would make the studio so enticing to Darryl F. Zanuck when he later bring forward the merger that would make the current company.  But the fallout from all of that would be Fox’s ouster from the company that bore his name in 1930.

“Fortunately for Fox, the first presentation of the Academy Awards took place on May 16, 1929, and honored films released in 1927 and 1928, by far the studio’s two strongest years.”  (Krefft, p 456)  While people remember Wings as the Picture winner, it was Fox’s Sunrise that won Best Production and the studio won five Oscars overall, including Director and Actress.

But Fox was falling behind the other studios, without major stars, without a visionary head and its theaters were the main thing it had to offer when the eventual merger that would save the company came along.

“Each party needed something the other had to offer.  Would a Fox union with Twentieth Century be a merger or a takeover? … They agreed to a merger.  Schenck would resign from United Artists and becomes chairman of the board, and Sidney Kent president, of what would be called Twentieth Century-Fox.  As usual, Zanuck got the top billing.  Zanuck would be vice president of Twentieth Century.”  (Twentieth Century’s Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Culture of Hollywood, George F. Custen, p 194)

The logo would carry over from Twentieth Century and would incorporate Fox into the bottom of it.  For a full history of the logo, please go here, which is also where I got the image at the top.

“By 1935, the producer’s place within the studio system had been altered by the trend toward decentralization of his power.  Every studio with the exception of Warner Brothers had dispensed with a mode of production organized around a single supreme production authority.  But at Twentieth Century-Fox, with Schenck’s backing, Zanuck put in practice what Thalberg had briefly attained and what Selznick had yearned for: a studio with a virtually autonomous production head.”  (Custen, p 196)

“Darryl Zanuck’s 20th Century-Fox was no place for an Auteur.  Movies were made on what amounted to an assembly line: writers wrote, directors directed, actors acted, cutters cut and Zanuck himself supervised every detail on each stage of production.  At Twentieth, the script was the star.  It had to be, for Zanuck was star-poor. … Zanuck wisely decided to build up from the script, rather than down from the star.  With good scripts, he could borrow stars from other studios and meanwhile develop his own stable of personalities.”  (Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics, Philip Dunne, p 44)

“His major inherited assets at Fox were Shirley Temple and Will Rogers, and he had big plans for both.  But soon after Zanuck assumed power and before he could use him in a picture, Rogers was killed in a plane crash, which left Zanuck with only half of Fox’s assets – and Shirley Temple unfortunately had to grow up.  Fox’s legacy to Zanuck, then, was an aging Shirley, Janet Gaynor, Warner Oland, who played Charlie Chan, and Warner Baxter, who played practically everything else.”  (Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking: A Biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, Mel Gussow, p 68)

“To add to this roster of players Zanuck brought with him from Twentieth Century some of his loyal stars, including Loretta Young and Fredric March, and he also retained for the future a player who was under a nonexclusive contract to Fox Films.  Zanuck was impressed neither by his personality nor his price, but decided to hang on to him just in case.  Which was how he came to have Henry Fonda available when he was needed.”  (Zanuck: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Last Tycoon, Leonard Mosley, p 155)  Later, Zanuck would use Fonda’s desire to play Tom Joad to lock him down: “He signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century-Fox, albeit reluctantly.  And he was given the part of Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, and played himself into movie history.  He inveighed against the contract later, because he maintained no other role Zanuck gave him stood up to Tom Joad.”  (Mosley, p 191)

One of the things that isn’t often written much about is the disaster that befell Fox, possibly the worst disaster ever for those who love old films:  “On Sunday, July 9, 1937, around 3:00 a.m., a series of explosions shook the Little Ferry, New Jersey, warehouse to which Twentieth Century-Fox had banished all its prints and negatives of William Fox-era movies. … The entire archive was obliterated.  Gone forever were the only known copies of most of the films Fox had produced.”  (Krefft, p 721-722)

“Sydney Kent, president of the entire corporation, died in March 1942.  From the very inception of Twentieth Century-Fox, he had total faith in Zanuck’s tastes, and when he died some of Zanuck’s leverage also departed.  Kent was succeeded by Spyros Skouras, head of Fox’s theaters.  While Zanuck learned to negotiate a working relationship with Skouras (who was headquartered in New York), the two men neither liked nor understood each other.”  (Custen, p 270)

“There were no combination producer-directors on the Fox lot until Ernst Lubitsch arrived in early 1943.  Otto Preminger was next, and Preston Sturges signed in 1947.  But these were experiments.  Later, when Hawks came to Fox to do some films in the late 1940s, Zanuck always had a Fox producer (Sol C. Siegel) assigned to his films”.  (Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck: The Golden Years at Twentieth-Century Fox, ed. Rudy Behlmer, p 58)

“From the early days at Warners, Zanuck has let many of the big ones get away, and they have become stars in spite of Zanuck.  In the early forties, his daughter Darrylin wanted him to discover one of her playmates, a beautiful raven-haired, violet-eyed English girl but Zanuck said, ‘You and your friends!’ and let Elizabeth Taylor go to MGM.  He fired Rita Hayworth and later Marilyn Monroe.”  (Gussow, p 166)

“Fox’s profits were impressive in the immediate post-World War II period, continuing and even accelerating the wartime trend.  In 1946 the studio earned a profit of $22.6 million, by far the largest figure in the young company’s history, and in 1947 profits were a still-robust $14 million.”  (Twentieth Century-Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935-1965, Peter Lev, p 102)

“His films from 1948 to 1952 included some good but non-controversially successful program movies like Call Northside 777 with James Stewart, Unfaithfully Yours with Rex Harrison, The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck, All About Eve with Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, David and Bathsheba with Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward, Mister 880 with Edmund Gwenn, Five Fingers with James Mason, The Snows of Kilimanjaro with Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward and Peck, and People Will Talk with Cary Grant.  But in that same period came such joltingly challenging movies as The Snake Pit with Olivia de Havilland (which subsequently changed U.S. medical practices for treating the mentally unbalanced), Twelve O’clock High (which dared to criticize the orthodox viewpoint on war and heroism), Pinky, Viva Zapata! with Marlon Brando (which did what Zanuck as a good Republican said he would never do, and that was take the viewpoint of the rebel leader against the government), and an even more uncompromising view of American attitudes towards it black and white subjects in No Way Out, with Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark.  They were big, they were bold and, on a falling market, they made money.  So it was not surprising that in 1950 Time magazine put Zanuck on its cover and hailed him as one of the greatest movie-makers of his time.”  (Mosley, p 241)

“A verity of evidence suggest that Darryl Zanuck was a reluctant participant in the Hollywood Blacklist, which began with the Waldorf Declaration.  Zanuck did not attend the meetings at the Waldorf Astoria, but Fox was represented by Spyros Skouras and Joseph Schenck.  Schenck, in particular, was strongly committed to the blacklist.  Zanuck gave Ring Lardner Jr. a new screenplay assignment on 12 November 1947, after Lardner had testified before HUAC.”  (Lev, p 110)

“In mid-1951, Fox’ plan for the ‘divorce’ between production and exhibition sides of the business was approved in court with a deadline of two years for implementation.” (Lev, p 162)  That was the end of the real distinction between the major studios and the minor ones as the majors would no longer have their own theaters to distribute films to.  But other things were also changing.  “In the ‘Old Hollywood’ of the 1930s and 1940s the loss of stars under long-term contracts would have been disastrous, but in the ‘New Hollywood’ of the 1950s one could make single or even multiple picture deals with absolutely first-rank acting talent.  Following this trend, Fox signed Cary Grant, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Clark Gable to appear in one or more films.”  (Lev, p 166)

Fox’s CinemaScope was a huge success when it came out in 1953.  “By early November every major studio in Los Angeles was licensed by Fox to make CinemaScope pictures – with the exception of Paramount.”  (Behlmer, p 238)  Finally, though, in 1956, Zanuck left the studio to become an independent producer of films and things did not go well over the next several years.

“In 1962, Fox lost $39.8 million after taxes, and in the three preceding years the company had lost an additional $48.5 million in feature film production.  To keep itself going, the Studio had sold 260 of it 334 acres just outside Beverly Hills to the Aluminum Company of America for $43 million.  In Rome, production had started on Cleopatra, which began to sop up money faster than Fox could pour it in.  The Studio was dying.  Bankruptcy threatened, the sound stages were closed, the parking lots were empty.  Spyros Skouras was fired as president, and Darryl Zanuck, after first threatening a proxy fight, was elected to take his place and save the sinking skip.”  (The Studio, John Gregory Dunne, 1968)

To get an idea of what the state of Fox was in 1967, I would have to quote the entirety of John Gregory Dunne’s The Studio.  He was allowed complete access to the lot for a year and the book he wrote is one of the most masterful narrative books about film ever written.

“[There was] a $161.3 million loss on features produced between 1963 and 1970, greater than either the $145 million profit on The Sound of Music or the $61.4 million made when Fox licensed its pre-1963 features to television.”  (Silverman, p 266)  If not for those two things, Fox would have gone under.

Things get tricky in these years.  There have been several books written about the period just after this, when Dick Zanuck would get ousted from the studio (by his own father) and then the elder Zanuck would also step down.  In fact, for all of the studio’s history up through 1985, the best summation is the first 10 pages of The Films of 20th Century-Fox.

In the seventies, Fox did okay with two huge disaster films (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno), then Alan Ladd, Jr. took over and he took a gamble on George Lucas and his new Sci-Fi film and Star Wars became the biggest film of all-time and set up a lucrative franchise at the studio (though, they had unwisely given Lucas all the merchandising rights).  In the mid-80’s, though, two key events happened that really changed the studio, first with its purchase by Rupert Murdoch and second, the development of the fourth major network on television.

Before it expanded into “news”, Fox developed its own shows for television, but it also gave the studio a network on which their own movies could play to gain more exposure.  The studio would move decently along, with any major smashes for several years (after Return of the Jedi left theaters, it would be five more years before Fox had either a $100 million film or a Top 5 for the year film, both of which came with Big in 1988).  But in the 90’s, it came roaring back, first with Home Alone (the #1 film of the year and one of the biggest hits of all-time) then a string of other successes (the second Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day) before Star Wars came back to help the studio regain its status, first with the Special Edition releases then with the prequels.  It would do okay in the 2000’s, never slipping too low but also rarely getting above 4th place among the major studios at the box office, though it would finish the decade strongly with Avatar, the biggest domestic film of all-time to-date.

In the late 90s also came the arrival of Fox’s in-house independent arthouse studio with Fox Searchlight.  It wouldn’t, for the most part, be a big business boost (only three films grossing over $85 million) but it would reap the awards.  Since its inception, while the main studio has earned 387 nominations and just over 100 wins at the various awards, Fox Searchlight has earned 524 nominations and 200 wins including a Best Picture win for Slumdog Millionaire.

Note:  For all things below, I have included Fox Searchlight, including statistics.  I often, especially in the awards, mention when films are Searchlight films.

Notable Fox Films

note:  These are Fox notables.  Unless stated otherwise, assume it’s the first Fox film to do whatever is listed, not the first ever.

  • Gertie the Dinosaur  –  first Fox film  (1914)
  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans  –  first Oscar winner for Best Picture  (1927)
  • In Old Arizona  –  first all-talking film  (1929)
  • Stand Up and Cheer!  –  first Fox film with Shirley Temple  (1934)
  • Dante’s Inferno  –  first 20th Century-Fox release  (1935)
  • In Old Kentucky  –  last Will Rogers film; released posthumously  (1935)
  • Ramona  –  first all-Technicolor feature film  (1936)
  • All About Eve  –  nominated for an all-time record 14 Oscar nominations  (1950)
  • Inferno  –  first 3D film  (1953)
  • The Robe  –  first film released in CinemaScope  (1953)
  • The Abominable Snowman  –  first Hammer film released through Fox  (1957)
  • The Sound of Music  –  first film to gross over $100 million; second highest grossing film all-time to-date  (1965)
  • The French Connection  –  the last Fox film to win Best Picture to-date  (1971)
  • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  highest grossing film of all-time to-date; first film to gross over $300 million  (1977)
  • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  –  highest grossing sequel to-date; third film ever and first sequel to gross over $200 million  (1980)
  • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi  –  highest grossing sequel to-date  (1983)
  • Home Alone  –  third highest grossing film of all-time to-date giving Fox three of the four highest grossing films from April, 1991 to August, 1993  (1990)
  • The Brothers McMullen  –  the first film from Fox Searchlight  (1995)
  • The Full Monty  –  the first Fox Searchlight film nominated for Best Picture  (1997)
  • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace  –  first sequel to gross over $400 million, third highest grossing film of all-time to-date giving Fox six of the 11 highest grossing films of all-time  (1999)
  • Juno  –  first Fox Searchlight film to gross over $100 million  (2007)
  • Slumdog Millionaire  –  first Fox Searchlight film to win Best Picture; highest grossing Fox Searchlight film  (2008)
  • Avatar  –  highest grossing film of all-time; first film to gross over $700 million  (2009)

The Directors

Raoul Walsh

  • Films:  13
  • Years:  1915 – 1960
  • Average Film:  58.9
  • Best Film:  The Red Dance
  • Worst Film:  The Revolt of Mamie Stover

Walsh had two different runs at Fox, one at the original Fox up through 1935 and then returning 20 years later in the twilight of his career for some weak final films.  In between, he did his best work at Warners.

Frank Borzage

  • Films:  11
  • Years:  1925 – 1932
  • Average Film:  71.6
  • Best Film:  7th Heaven
  • Worst Film:  Young America

Winner of Best Director at the Oscars twice while at Fox, Borzage was often teamed with Janet Gaynor and the films they made together were some of the brightest spots at Fox during the years before the merger.

John Ford

  • Films:  31
  • Years:  1920  –  1952
  • Average Film:  69.6
  • Best Film:  The Grapes of Wrath
  • Worst Film:  Tobacco Road

The best and longest lasting of the Fox directors and the only one aside from Borzage to win Best Director twice at the studio and one of only three directors (and the first) in the Zanuck era to have a film win Picture and Director (How Green Was My Valley).  What he didn’t do at Fox, though, were Westerns, with just three among his 31 films.

Irving Cummings

  • Films:  22
  • Years:  1928 – 1946
  • Average Film:  57.9
  • Best Film:  Down Argentine Way
  • Worst Film:  Behind That Curtain

Cummings was a relentlessly mediocre director but he was a major director at Fox for a long time, even earning an Oscar nomination in 1929 for In Old Arizona.

Henry King

  • Films:  36
  • Years:  1933 – 1962
  • Average Film:  61.4
  • Best Film:  Call Northside 777
  • Worst Film:  Prince Valiant

He directed 16 films at Fox that earned Oscar noms including seven that were nominated for Best Picture (even though he was nominated for Best Director just twice).  In back-to-back years he directed The Song of Bernadette and Wilson which combined for 22 Oscar nominations and 9 Oscars.

Norman Foster

  • Films:  10
  • Years:  1937 – 1940
  • Average Film:  61.9
  • Best Film:  Think Fast, Mr. Moto
  • Worst Film:  Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

Not particular good but he worked fast and cheap, directing series films at Fox.  Of the 10 films I have seen by him at the studio, six were Moto films, three were Chan films and the last was a Cisco Kid film.

H. Bruce Humberstone

  • Films:  14
  • Years:  1936 – 1962
  • Average Film:  60.1
  • Best Film:  To the Shores of Tripoli
  • Worst Film:  Madison Avenue

Like Foster, he began with series, doing four Chan films and a Cisco Kid film but then he graduated to bigger things branching out into all the genres.

Walter Lang

  • Films:  34
  • Years:  1937 – 1961
  • Average Film:  62.0
  • Best Film:  The King and I
  • Worst Film:  Song of the Islands

Though he directed 13 Oscar nominated films at the studio, the only big one was at least by far his best film: The King and I.

Otto Preminger

  • Films:  15
  • Years:  1937 – 1954
  • Average Film:  63.3
  • Best Film:  Laura
  • Worst Film:  Whirlpool

A producer at Fox for years, Preminger was finally allowed by Zanuck to direct and Laura proved he belonged there (earning him an Oscar nom) even if he never again reached those heights while at Fox (though he did several times after he left Fox).

Henry Hathaway

  • Films:  30
  • Years:  1940 – 1960
  • Average Film:  62.9
  • Best Film:  Call Northside 777
  • Worst Film:  Prince Valiant

His best years were before he joined Fox but he was a proficient director during his two decades at the studio, especially in 1951 when he directed four films.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

  • Films:  13
  • Years:  1946 – 1972
  • Average Film:  73.6
  • Best Film:  All About Eve
  • Worst Film:  Cleopatra

How many directors have both their best and worst films nominated for Best Picture?  Mankiewicz began as a writer and then a producer before Zanuck finally let him start directing.  He won four Oscars in two years for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve and went out with a bang with Sleuth but he also made Cleopatra which almost sank the studio.  Without Cleopatra his average film goes up to 76.9.

Henry Koster

  • Films:  19
  • Years:  1948 – 1965
  • Average Film:  62.0
  • Best Film:  My Cousin Rachel
  • Worst Film:  Wabash Avenue

The last of the Henry directors came along at the end of the Studio Era.  He wasn’t a great director and what was by far his best film (Harvey) wasn’t at Fox.

Jean Negulesco

  • Films:  20
  • Years:  1948 – 1970
  • Average Film:  59.2
  • Best Film:  How to Marry a Millionaire
  • Worst Film:  Three Coins in the Fountain

Unfortunately arriving at Fox after his one Oscar nomination (Johnny Belinda), he was prolific in the 50s, directing 16 films in the decade.  They weren’t very good but he made a lot of them.

The Stars

Janet Gaynor

The Fox star as the studio transitioned from silent to sound and the winner of the initial Best Actress Oscar.  Gaynor worked a lot with director Frank Borzage and was often teamed with Charles Farrell.  To me, Gaynor was definitely the best actress of the first decade of the Sound Era.
Essential Viewing:  Sunrise, Lucky Star, 7th Heaven, Street Angel

Shirley Temple

The little star was Fox’s biggest money, especially in the first few years after the merger with 20th Century.  There is the famous story (repeated in numerous books listed towards the bottom) where John Steinbeck let Zanuck end a meeting after he heard that Temple broke a tooth, noting how important Temple was to the studio.  She faded after she hit adolescence and eventually left pictures.
Essential Viewing:  Bright Eyes, Curly Top, Heidi

Henry Fonda

The classic actor was never exclusively signed to Fox but they kept finding films for him and he would eventually sign a long-term contract so that he could play Tom Joad.
Essential Viewing:  The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, My Darling Clementine

Gregory Peck

The quintessential decent man and a perfect successor to Henry Fonda.  He developed from Fox and was in a number of key films, including a Best Picture winner and a nominee before the Studio Era ended.
Essential Viewing:  Gentleman’s Agreement, 12 O’Clock High, The Keys of the Kingdom

Tyrone Power

Power’s matinee good looks and charisma made up for having a much more marginal ability when compared to Fonda or Peck.
Essential Viewing:  Son of Fury, The Mark of Zorro, The Razor’s Edge, Nightmare Alley

Betty Grable

Acting was never her strong suit but she was America’s #1 pin-up girl during World War II and she was a huge star throughout the entire decade.
Essential Viewing:  How to Marry a Millionaire, Pin Up Girl, Down Argentine Way

Marilyn Monroe

She started as a bit player and her early Fox work included All About Eve.  But then people (men) started to notice her and she was off and running.  She would leave Fox at the top of her game in 1956.
Essential Viewing:  The Seven Year-Itch, How to Marry a Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bus Stop

Sigourney Weaver

Even had she done nothing but the Alien films for the studio, that probably would be enough.  But she also gave them one of the best acting performances of her career, earned two Oscar nominations and had a key role in the highest grossing film of all-time.
Essential Viewing:  Alien, Aliens, The Ice Storm, Avatar, Working Girl

Genres

“One important approach that Zanuck brought to Fox from his years at Warner Bros., was a cycle of biographies of great men (and, in a few instances, women).”  (Lev, p 30)

“Almost a quarter of the movies made during Zanuck’s tenure there were set between 1865 and 1902; a third were musicals. … No other studio gave the musical a decidedly rural twist.  … And, before other studios were making wide use of it, Zanuck decided that the nostalgic world of musicals meant our memories would be recorded in Technicolor.  Between the years of three-strip Technicolor’s perfection (1936) and the widespread industry shift away from black and white (1954), almost two out of every three color films made in Hollywood were done at Twentieth-Century Fox.”  (Custen, p 200)

“Twentieth Century-Fox did not make the so-called integrated musicals of MGM, where musical elements developed plot and character and vice versa.  Fox musicals were more like revues or variety shows, where the musical numbers are realistic moments of the plot (e.g., nightclub scenes, or trips to the theater) rather than fantasy expressions of the characters’ inner feelings.”  (Lev, p 88)

But Fox was most-known for Social Dramas, films with a message like The Grapes of Wrath or Gentleman’s Agreement, even though less than a third of the films I have seen from Fox are Dramas.  They did like Mystery series, with a few Sherlock Holmes films, the Moto films (eight in all) and the Charlie Chan films a series that produced over 20 films over a decade covering both the original Fox and 20th Century-Fox.  That would continue in later years as they would make big franchises in a different genre, Sci-Fi with first, Planet of the Apes (seven films through 2011) and then Star Wars as well as X-Men in Action.  They would also embrace Action Cop films in later years making two of the best of them (The French Connection, Die Hard).  Fox wasn’t big on War films before 1941 with just a handful but they got big during the war (I’ve seen six from 1943 alone) and continued through the 50s.  They weren’t as big on Westerns as other studios but they made their fair share with a few from John Ford and several Cisco Kid films.  They would embrace Parodies among their Comedies, first with the Flint films, then with Mel Brooks followed by Hot Shots and the terrible current trend of Parody films (Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans).

The Top 100 20th Century-Fox Films

  1. The Princess Bride
  2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  3. The Grapes of Wrath
  4. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  5. All About Eve
  6. M*A*S*H
  7. Alien
  8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  9. Moulin Rouge!
  10. The French Connection
  11. Slumdog Millionaire
  12. The Ice Storm
  13. In America
  14. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  15. Sideways
  16. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
  17. All That Jazz
  18. The Hustler
  19. The Ox-Bow Incident
  20. Sleuth (1972)
  21. Minority Report
  22. Miller’s Crossing
  23. Say Anything
  24. Kingdom of Heaven
  25. Broadcast News
  26. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
  27. The Verdict
  28. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
  29. The Commitments
  30. The Descendants
  31. Kagemusha
  32. Night and the City (1950)
  33. Juno
  34. Grand Canyon
  35. Solaris
  36. Young Frankenstein
  37. Pickup on South Street
  38. Breaking Away
  39. The Diary of Anne Frank
  40. Black Swan
  41. The Crucible (1996)
  42. Romeo + Juliet
  43. A Letter to Three Wives
  44. Oscar and Lucinda
  45. The Full Monty
  46. The Tree of Life
  47. The Gunfighter
  48. Betrayal
  49. Kinsey
  50. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  51. Once
  52. Barton Fink
  53. The Darjeeling Limited
  54. Never Let Me Go
  55. 7th Heaven (1927)
  56. Die Hard
  57. Two for the Road
  58. Gentleman’s Agreement
  59. The Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  60. The Leopard
  61. Aliens
  62. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
  63. Patton
  64. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
    ***.5
  65. Nosferatu the Vampyre
  66. Walkabout
  67. Fight Club
  68. Edward Scissorhands
  69. Sons and Lovers
  70. X2
  71. Walk the Line
  72. Prizzi’s Honor
  73. Panic in the Streets
  74. The Stunt Man
  75. The Good Thief
  76. X-Men
  77. My Darling Clementine
  78. Notes on a Scandal
  79. (500) Days of Summer
  80. Sexy Beast
  81. Thank You for Smoking
  82. Fantastic Mr. Fox
  83. 127 Hours
  84. The Phantom of Liberty
  85. I ♥ Huckabees
  86. Lucky Star
  87. The Bravados
  88. No Way Out (1950)
  89. Bulworth
  90. The Savages
  91. Boomerang (1947)
  92. Compulsion
  93. Dead Ringers
  94. Down with Love
  95. Raising Arizona
  96. Big
  97. Crazy Heart
  98. 28 Days Later
  99. Quills
  100. Garden State

Notable 20th Century-Fox Films Not in the Top 100

note:  Includes all films I have either already reviewed or have current plans to review in the future (for Adapted Screenplay) as well as all films I saw in the theater.

The Bottom 10 20th Century-Fox Films, #1469-1478
(worst being #10, which is #1478 overall)

  1. The Hills Have Eyes 2
  2. Big Momma’s House 2
  3. Say It Isn’t So
  4. Epic Movie
  5. Meet the Spartans
  6. Turbo: A Power Ranges Movie
  7. Vampires Suck
    0 stars
  8. Horror of Party Beach
  9. Myra Breckenridge
  10. Freddy Got Fingered

Notes on Films

note:  These are just tidbits on some of the films.  The films are listed in alphabetical order.  Unless I have something specific to say, I don’t mention films that have full reviews elsewhere or films that I saw in the theater from 1989 to 2005 (they are all mentioned in those Nighthawk Awards).

  • Big Trouble in Little China  –  I rewatched this recently with Veronica because she loves it.  I hated it even more than I used to.  Insipidly stupid at every level.
  • Black Widow  –  I was probably in the minority since my approach to this film was “who cares about Theresa Russell when Debra Winger is right there!”
  • Dreamscape  –  For a mostly no-name director (Joseph Ruben), a visionary Sci-Fi film.
  • Gleaming the Cube  –  Set and filmed in Orange County, this was the first film I ever saw where I recognized locations.
  • Hangover Square  –  I saw this because Stephen Sondheim in one of his books mentioned the Bernard Herrmann score was fantastic.  He was right.
  • Harry and Tonto  –  Not a bad film but the pick of Art Carney for Best Actor over Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino is one of the most bizarre choices the Academy has ever made.
  • The History of the World Part I  –  It did not hold up that well when I watched it with Veronica but there are still some very funny scenes.  It’s good to be the king.
  • How I Got Into College  –  The process is so different now I don’t know that it would find an audience today but it hilariously satirizes a lot of what I went through.
  • Ice Cold in Alex  –  Really good film that I saw because it was BAFTA nominated.  See it if you can.  Great cast.
  • Knight and Day  –  Kind of the opposite of Gleaming, because I recognized the locations but they got them all wrong.  Uses the geography of Boston at complete random.
  • Lake Placid  –  This movie is completely ridiculous but it’s hard to get more ridiculously awesome than the scene where a crocodile eats a bear.
  • Leave Her to Heaven  –  Widely regarded as a classic but just a 69 on my scale.  Tierney’s performance, to me, is really the only solid thing about it.
  • Love is News  –  Given that it stars both Tyrone Power and Loretta Young, neither of whom do anything for me, this is a surprisingly engaging and charming Rom-Com.
  • Lucas  –  Kerri Green as a cheerleader.  Formative film for me.
  • Northwest Frontier  –  Like Ice Cold in Alex, directed by J. Lee Thompson when he was still a good director and earned BAFTA noms.  Really good.
  • Office Space  –  I feel the need to point out that I took my baseball bat to my printer in 1998, a year before this film was released.  With one swing, it went from one piece to fifteen.  It was very satisfying.
  • Pigskin Parade  –  Mediocre Comedy but the first solid proof that Judy Garland had real acting talent.
  • The Poseidon Adventure  –  How to do a disaster movie right.  Not great but good solid entertainment and good acting (a rarity in the genre).
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show  –  Saw it at midnight in a theater my first time.  The right way to see it.  Not a huge fan but “The Time Warp” is an awesome song.
  • The Simpsons Movie  –  Proof that it works better in a half-hour format.  Good but not remotely close to the level of the best the show has had to offer.
  • Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake  –  James Leer is right.  It’s not bad.  Actually, it’s maybe the most enjoyable film Power ever made.
  • The Vanishing  –  A great example of why you don’t remake films even if it’s the same director.  Sandra Bullock is damn cute though.
  • X-Men: First Class  –  Didn’t see it in the theater but it’s one of the better X-Men films, especially the magnificent scene where Magneto confronts the men in Argentina.  Fantastic music in that scene.
  • X-Men: Last Stand  –  This is why you don’t hand your franchise over to Brett Ratner.  Not terrible (to me, anyway, many do think it’s terrible) but a big fall from the first two.
  • Witchcraft  –  Very effective mid 60’s British Horror film.

The 8 Most Under-Rated Fox Films

These are all films that I rate at **** that have never appeared in TSPDT’s Top 1000 (now 2000) or their Top 250 21st Century Films (now 1000).  I also eliminated any films that were nominated for Best Picture or Best Director as well as any massive box office hits.  These eight films are what is left – under-rated by awards groups at the time, under-rated at the box office, under-rated by current critical esteem.  I list them in chronological order.

  1. The Gunfighter
  2. Betrayal
  3. The Commitments
  4. Grand Canyon
  5. The Crucible
  6. Oscar and Lucinda
  7. Solaris
  8. Kingdom of Heaven

The Best Fox Films by Decade

  • 1920’s:  Sunrise
  • 1930’s:  Lucky Star
  • 1940’s:  The Grapes of Wrath
  • 1950’s:  All About Eve
  • 1960’s:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • 1970’s:  Star Wars
  • 1980’s:  The Princess Bride
  • 1990’s:  The Age of Innocence
  • 2000’s:  Moulin Rouge
  • 2010’s:  The Descendants

note:  All of these are high **** except Lucky Star which is ***.5.  I’ve seen 152 films from the studio in the 30s and not a single one managed to make ****.

The Worst Fox Films by Decade

  • 1920’s:  Behind That Curtain
  • 1930’s:  The Little Colonel
  • 1940’s:  Whirlpool
  • 1950’s:  Spacemaster X-7
  • 1960’s:  Horror of Party Beach
  • 1970’s:  Myra Breckinridge
  • 1980’s:  Porky’s Revenge
  • 1990’s:  Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
  • 2000’s:  Freddy Got Fingered
  • 2010’s:  Vampires Suck

The Best Fox Films by Genre

  • Action:  The French Connection
  • Adventure:  Kingdom of Heaven
  • Comedy:  M*A*S*H
  • Crime:  Miller’s Crossing
  • Drama:  The Grapes of Wrath
  • Fantasy:  The Princess Bride
  • Horror:  Black Swan
  • Kids:  The Miracle on 34th Street
  • Musical:  Moulin Rouge
  • Mystery:  Sleuth
  • Sci-Fi:  Star Wars
  • Suspense:  Night and the City
  • War:  Patton
  • Western:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The Worst Fox Films by Genre

  • Action:  Megaforce
  • Adventure:  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
  • Comedy:  Freddy Got Fingered
  • Crime:  Street Kings
  • Drama:  Atlas Shrugged Part I
  • Fantasy:  Monkeybone
  • Horror:  Horror of Party Beach
  • Kids:  Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
  • Musical:  The Pirate Movie
  • Mystery:  The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
  • Sci-Fi:  Damnation Alley
  • Suspense:  The Vanishing
  • War:  no film below **.5
  • Western:  Bad Girls

The Most Over-Rated Fox Films

  1. Avatar
    far from a bad film but with such bad writing and at mid *** it didn’t deserve to gross such a ridiculous amount of money or win Picture at the Globes
  2. The Sound of Music
    again, a good film but not worthy of Best Picture or being the second highest grossing film of all-time upon its original release
  3. Suspiria
    don’t know where people get the idea this should be going up the TSPDT list
  4. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
    mid ** and Veronica would say that’s massively overrating it, yet also on the TSPDT list
  5. Point Break
    again, ** (though V likes Keanu), but again, shouldn’t be anywhere near the TSPDT list

The Statistics

note:  These numbers might not match up with the total films.  That’s because this includes documentaries.  The numbers here under years also have to do with the release date, not their Oscar eligibility, so not necessarily the same as my statistics for various years.

Total Films 1912-2011: 1493  (1st)

Total Percentage of All Films 1912-2011:  9.82%

  • 1912-1929:  42  (10.52%)  (3rd)
  • 1930-1939:  152  (11.59%)  (3rd)
  • 1940-1949:  213  (16.42%)  (1st)
  • 1950-1959:  225  (15.31%)  (1st)
  • 1960-1969:  173  (10.41%)  (1st)
  • 1970-1979:  127  (7.38%)  (3rd)
  • 1980-1989:  135  (7.15%)  (2nd)
  • 1990-1999:  157  (6.97%)  (3rd)
  • 2000-2009:  223  (8.30%)  (1st)
  • 2010-2011:  46  (8.97%)  (1st)

note:  54 of the 152 films from the 1930’s are Fox films before the merger.
note:  28 of the 157 films from the 1990’s are Fox Searchlight films.
note:  80 of the 223 films from the 2000’s are Fox Searchlight films
note:  19 of the 46 films from the 2010’s are Fox Searchlight films

Percentage I’ve Seen of All Fox Films 1914-2011:  58.42%
Percentage I’ve Seen of All Fox Films (pre-merger):  16.38%
Percentage I’ve Seen of All 20th Century-Fox Films:  67.13%
Percentage I’ve Seen of All Fox Searchlight Films:  96.95%

note:  I have seen all of the top 200 grossing Fox films.  I have seen every Fox film that has grossed over $50 million.

note:  For the numbers below, the second number in the 30’s is Fox (pre-merger).  The second number from the 90’s on is Fox Searchlight.  The main number is for the whole studio (including pre-merger Fox and Searchlight).

Percentage I’ve Seen by Decade:

  • 1914-1919:  14.00%
  • 1924-1929:  14.00%
  • 1930-1939:  28.31%  (18.88%)
  • 1940-1949:  56.95%
  • 1950-1959:  62.67%
  • 1960-1969:  66.28%
  • 1970-1979:  77.91%
  • 1980-1989:  80.36%
  • 1990-1999:  85.33%  (90.32%)
  • 2000-2009:  90.69%  (98.77%)
  • 2010-2011:  92.00%  (100.00%)

note:  The vast majority of pre-merger films are lost.  Except for 1914 and 1915 (two films each year), there is no year before the merger where I am above 30%.
note:  I have seen at least 50% of all films in every year after 1938.  I am over 60% for every year after 1961.  I am over 70% for every year after 1985.  I am over 80% for every year after 1999.  For Fox Searchlight, I have seen every film after the year 2000.

Biggest Years:

  • 35:  2006
  • 29:  1939
  • 28:  1942, 1951
  • 27:  1941
  • 26:  1940, 1952, 1957, 1960

note:  Fox has the most films of any studio in 1937, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1976, 2003, 2006, 2008

Biggest Years by Percentage of All Films:

  • 1942:  24.56%
  • 1939:  24.17%
  • 1937:  22.52%
  • 1952:  22.41%
  • 1951:  22.40%

Biggest Years by Percentage of Fox Films I’ve Seen:

  • 2010:  100%  (24 for 24)
  • 1996:  100%  (18 for 18)
  • 1994:  100%  (13 for 13)
  • 1978:  100%  (7 for 7)

Best Year:

  • 1950:  3 films in the Top 10, 5 in the Top 20
  • 1979:  3 films in the Top 10, 4 in the Top 20
  • 1972:  1 film in the Top 10, 5 in the Top 20
  • 1997:  3 films in the Top 10, 3 in the Top 20

Average Film By Decade:

note:  The second number from the 90’s on is Fox Searchlight.  The main number is for the whole studio (including Searchlight).

  • 1914-1929:  67.83
  • 1930-1939:  62.42
  • 1940-1949:  63.18
  • 1950-1959:  61.61
  • 1960-1969:  58.01
  • 1970-1979:  58.06
  • 1980-1989:  53.94
  • 1990-1999:  54.05  (63.26)
  • 2000-2009:  51.47  (63.51)
  • 2010-2011:  59.80  (68.26)
  • 1914-2011:  58.26  (64.18)

note:  This does beg the question of whether older films are better (or just fewer older films are bad – supported by the notion that no Fox films released before 1960 are rated below *.5 and no films before 1950 are rated below **) or whether the ones that are worse are simply harder to find.

Best Years for Average Film:

1926-1994:

  • 1929-30:  71.71
  • 1927-28:  71.00
  • 1912-26:  68.50
  • 1950:  68.40
  • 1947:  67.44

1995-2011 (20th Century-Fox):

  • 1998:  63.17
  • 2005:  60.50
  • 1999:  60.46

1995-2011 (Fox Searchlight):

  • 1995:  74.00 (only one film)
  • 2003:  72.30
  • 1997:  71.11

Worst Years for Average Film:

1926-1994:

  • 1993:  39.83
  • 1994:  43.64
  • 1982:  46.53

1995-2011  (20th Century-Fox):

  • 2007:  29.93
  • 2008:  38.00

1995-2011  (Fox Searchlight):

  • 2009:  48.67
  • 1999:  54.67

Star Rating:

note:  The percentage of all Fox films, 1912-2011, including Searchlight for each star rating.

  • ****:  4.33%
  • ***.5:  5.48%
  • ***:  38.36%
  • **.5:  28.08%
  • **:  14.01%
  • *.5:  3.92%
  • *:  3.52%
  • .5:  2.10%
  • 0:  0.20%

Eras:

  • Top 10 most films every year.

Fox starts slower than most majors (because so many films are lost) and by the merger in 1935 was in 5th place.  It would jump into 3rd place in 1941 and move into 2nd place in 1942.  It would pass MGM and move into 1st place in 1961 and has been there every since.

The Top Films:

Fox would win just the second Nighthawk in 1928 and would its first post-merger in 1940, just the third studio to win two awards.  But it would have to wait 30 years for its next award, finally becoming the 6th studio to win three.  It would win two more in the decade but still be the sixth each time.  It would be the fifth studio to win six and seven.

  • Nighthawk Winner:  1928, 1940, 1970, 1977, 1979, 1987, 2008
  • 3 Films in the Top 10:  1950, 1979, 1997
  • 5 Films in the Top 20:  1950, 1972
  • Top 10 Films:  59
  • First Year in the Top 10:  1928
  • Latest Year in the Top 10:  2011
  • Top 20 Films:  135
  • Best Decade for Top 20 Films:  1980’s  (22)
  • Worst Decade for Top 20 Films:  1920’s  (3)

Nighthawk Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  216
  • Number of Films That Have Won Nighthawks: 57
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  127
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  20
  • Best Picture Nominations:  32
  • Total Number of Nominations:  675
  • Total Number of Wins:  126
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Sound  (49)
  • Director with Most Nighthawk Nominated Films:  Henry King  (10)
  • Best Film with No Nighthawks:  The Darjeeling Limited
  • Best Film with No Nighthawk Nominations:  Moulin Rouge
  • Number of Films That Have Earned Drama Nominations:  117
  • Number of Films That Have Earned Comedy Nominations:  77
  • Number of Films That Have Won Drama Awards:  30
  • Number of Films That Have Won Comedy Awards:  28
  • Drama Picture Nominations:  32
  • Comedy Picture Nominations:  22
  • Total Number of Drama Nominations:  288
  • Total Number of Comedy Nominations:  216
  • Total Number of Drama Wins:  52
  • Total Number of Comedy Wins:  53
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Actress  (44 – Drama  /  34 – Comedy)
  • Best Drama Film With No Nominations:  Solaris
  • Best Comedy Film With No Nominations:  Bend It Like Beckham
  • Most 2nd Place Finishes:  The Hustler  (5)
  • Most 6th Place Finishes:  Nosferatu the Vampyre  (3)
  • Most Top 10 Finishes:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  /  Young Frankenstein  /  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  (15)
  • Most Top 20 Finishes:  The Princess Bride  (20)
  • Films With at Least One Top 10 Finish:  332
  • Best Film Without a Top 10 Finish:  The Good Thief
  • Films With at Least One Top 20 Finish:  397
  • Best Film Without a Top 20 Finish:  Monte Cristo

Most Nighthawk Nominations:

  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  14
  2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  13
  3. Alien  –  13
  4. The Last of the Mohicans  –  12
  5. The Grapes of Wrath  –  11
  6. The Hustler  –  11
  7. M*A*S*H  –  11
  8. Patton  –  11
  9. Kagemusha  –  11
  10. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  /  Slumdog Millionaire  –  11

Most Nighthawks:

  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  12
  2. Alien  –  8
  3. The Princess Bride  –  7
  4. Sunrise  –  6
  5. The Grapes of Wrath  –  6
  6. M*A*S*H  –  6
  7. Slumdog Millionaire  –  6
  8. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace  –  5
  9. The French Connection   –  4
  10. The Last of the Mohicans  –  4

Most Nighthawk Points:

  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  680
  2. Alien  –  575
  3. The Grapes of Wrath  –  555
  4. Sunrise  –  515
  5. M*A*S*H  –  510
  6. Slumdog Millionaire  –  485
  7. The Princess Bride  –  460
  8. The Last of the Mohicans  –  420
  9. The Hustler  –  415
  10. The French Connection  –  390

Most Drama Nominations:

  1. All About Eve  –  8
  2. The Hustler  –  7
  3. The Verdict  –  7
  4. The Grapes of Wrath  –  6
  5. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  6
  6. Alien  –  6
  7. The Crucible  –  6
  8. The Ice Storm  –  6

Most Comedy Nominations:

  1. Young Frankenstein  –  9
  2. Barton Fink  –  8
  3. The Princess Bride  –  7
  4. nine films  –  6

Most Drama Wins:

  1. The Hustler  –  5
  2. Sunrise  –  4
  3. The Grapes of Wrath  –  4
  4. The French Connection  –  4
  5. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  4

Most Comedy Wins:

  1. Sideways  –  5
  2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  4
  3. M*A*S*H  –  4
  4. Young Frankenstein  –  4
  5. Prizzi’s Honor  –  4

Most Drama Points:

  1. The Hustler  –  465
  2. The Grapes of Wrath  –  400
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  390
  4. Sunrise  –  375
  5. The French Connection  –  370

Most Comedy Points:

  1. Young Frankenstein  –  490
  2. Sideways  –  425
  3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  405
  4. M*A*S*H  –  395
  5. The Princess Bride  –  380

All-Time Nighthawk Awards

  • Best Picture
  1. The Princess Bride
  2. Star Wars
  3. The Grapes of Wrath
  4. Sunrise
  5. All About Eve

Analysis:  Seven films win the Nighthawk though All About Eve isn’t one of them (the other three are M*A*S*H, Alien and Slumdog Millionaire).  Another 25 films earn Nighthawk nominations with six of them being #2 films including Lucky Star even though it’s only ***.5 (1930 is a weak year).  In total, 61 films make the Top 10 and 113 make the Top 20.  Fox wins seven Picture awards each in both Drama and Comedy with 32 total Drama nominations and 22 total Comedy nominations.
Nine films win the Oscar though Slumdog, which is Fox Searchlight, is the only one to do it since 1971.  The first two (Sunrise, Cavalcade) were from before the merger.  There have been 61 other nominees, 6 of were just Fox and eight of which are Searchlight.  Since 2003 there have been 8 nominees, all of which were Searchlight except for Avatar.  Fox has also had several of the worst nominees ever in this category (Doctor Dolittle, Cleopatra, Towering Inferno, Peyton Place, Three Coins in the Fountain, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing).  From 1949 to 1955, Fox had six films nominated for Picture, none of which were nominated for Director or Screenplay and of their seven nominees from 1962 to 1969 five of them were not nominated for Director or Screenplay.
At the Globes, Fox has won 8 Drama awards and 13 Comedy awards.  But through 1977, Fox had won five of each but from 1979 to 2005, Fox won no Drama awards and won 8 Comedy awards before finally taking three Drama awards in the last four years.  Searchlight has won two Drama awards (Slumdog, Descendants) and only one Comedy award (Sideways).
Eight films have won the BAFTA with another 28 nominees.  Only one film (Last King of Scotland) has won British Film with another 11 earning nominations.  The Full Monty and Slumdog are both among the oddities that have won Picture but not British Film.
Both Sideways and Slumdog won the BFCA while 19 other films have earned nominations.  With the BFCA coming out at the same time as Searchlight, only 7 of the 21 nominated films are from the regular studio.  In five different years (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011), Searchlight has had multiple nominees.
Moulin Rouge, Little Miss Sunshine and Slumdog have won the PGA while nine other films have earned nominations.
The most dominant critics winners are Sideways (4 wins), Grapes of Wrath and Sons and Lovers (two each when there were only two groups).  Slumdog also won two while 16 other films have won one each including three years where multiple Fox films won one each (1970 – M*A*S*H, Patton, 1977 – Star Wars, Turning Point, 2011 – Tree of Life, Descendants).

  • Best Director
  1. John Ford  (The Grapes of Wrath)
  2. George Lucas  (Star Wars)
  3. Ridley Scott  (Alien)
  4. F.W. Murnau  (Sunrise)
  5. William Friedkin  (The French Connection)

Analysis:  Six Fox films win the Nighthawk though instead of Friedkin it’s Robert Altman (M*A*S*H) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog).  There are also another 27 nominees and 37 more Top 10 finishes.  There are eight Drama winners and 27 more nominees as well as 7 Comedy winners and 20 nominees.
There are 11 Oscar winners including three that didn’t win Best Picture (7th Heaven, Bad Girl, Grapes of Wrath).  There are also another 39 Oscar nominees including five in 1943 and 1944 and three in 1977.  In the 30s, Fox won the award twice but earned no other nominations.  The longest streak was 1956-61 while the longest drought was 1989-1996.
Eight Fox films have won the Globe, though there are big droughts (from 1947 to 1960, from 1960 to 1971 and from 1985 to 2008).  There are another 25 nominees with A Hatful of Rain the only film to earn a nomination without a Picture nom.  Prizzi’s Honor is the only winner from the Comedy categories.
Fox has done well at the BAFTAs here.  It has won seven awards in just over 40 years and the main studio has won five awards just since its last Oscar.  There have also been 13 other nominees.
Three Fox films have won the BFCA (Moulin Rouge, Minority Report, Slumdog) while six other films have earned nominations.
Six films have won the DGA, though, like at the Oscars, after 1971 there is just one winner and its a Searchlight film (Slumdog).  There have been 33 nominees with Joseph L. Mankiewicz the only director with two wins and the only one with more than two nominations (he has three).
Prizzi’s Honor and Tree of Life both won three awards while Elia Kazan won two awards in 1947 (for both Gentleman’s Agreement and Boomerang, both of them Fox films) and Sons and Lovers won two awards in 1960, both when there still only two groups.  Aside from that, Thin Red Line and Slumdog both won two awards while 13 films have won one each.

  • Best Adapted Screenplay:
  1. The Princess Bride
  2. The Grapes of Wrath
  3. All About Eve
  4. M*A*S*H
  5. The Ice Storm

Analysis:  Seven films win the Nighthawk but again, one of my Top 5 is out (Ice Storm) though Sunrise, Sideways and Slumdog are all in.  There are another 27 nominees.  There are 6 Drama winners and 32 nominees and 8 Comedy winners and 12 nominees.
There have been 10 Oscar winners but they are spread out oddly with one each in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s but none in the 60s, three in the 70s, none in the 80s or 90s and then two in 00s and one in 2011.  There have also been 32 other nominees including at least two in every decade.  Of the four Fox Searchlight films to earn nominations only 127 Hours failed to win the award.
Four of the five Globe winners in the Screenplay category are adapted (All About Eve, Five Fingers, Sideways, Slumdog).  Fox would go an astounding 52 years between wins in this category (yes, the category would be defunct for a decade during that, but still).  There have been 28 Fox films nominated for Screenplay at the Globes an 18 of them qualify as adapted though none between 1985 and 2000.
In the years where there was one BAFTA category, one winner (Julia) and three nominees were adapted.  Since the split, Fox has won this category six times and earned eight other nominations.
There have been two BFCA winners (Sideways, Slumdog) and three nominees.
The Snake Pit won two WGA awards.  There have also been seven winners in the genre category era as well as eight winners since the adapted split.  There have been 138 total films nominated for the WGA.
Sideways swept all the critics awards.  Naked Lunch won four awards while Slumdog won two and Hustler, Pretty Poison and Descendants won one each.

  • Best Original Screenplay:
  1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  2. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  4. Say Anything
  5. Broadcast News

Analysis:  The only Nighthawk winners are Butch, Discreet, Broadcast News and Miller’s Crossing.  There are 19 other Nighthawk nominees.  At my Globes, there are 6 Drama winners and 14 other nominees as well as 4 Comedy winners and 20 other nominees.
There have been 10 Oscar winners including Miracle on 34th Street which won both awards.  It would take until 1944 for Fox to win this award and there would be no winners between 1954 and 1969 and none between 1979 and 2006.  The peak was 1944 to 1954 (when, admittedly, there were two categories) when Fox managed 22 nominations and 5 wins with four nominations in 1944 and five in 1950.
Of the Globe nominees, one winner (Miracle) and 10 other nominees qualify as original.  Of the BAFTA nominees, three early winners were original and there have been three winners since the split as well as eight early nominees and four nominees since the split.  There have been three BFCA winners (In America, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno) and four nominees.  Panic in the Streets was the only original script to win an award in the genre era while six films have won since the adapted / original split.  As mentioned above there have been 138 total films to earn nominations which includes 26 Fox films just from 1948 to 1950.  An Unmarried Woman won four awards while Breaking Away, Broadcast News, Juno and The Savages won two each and Bulworth and In America each won one.

  • Best Actor:
  1. Henry Fonda  (The Grapes of Wrath)
  2. Paul Newman  (The Hustler)
  3. Gene Hackman  (The French Connection)
  4. George C. Scott  (Patton)
  5. Roy Scheider  (All That Jazz)

Analysis:  There are eight Nighthawk winners but this time two of them don’t win the Nighthawk (Scott, Scheider).  But aside from the first three, there are Michael Caine (Sleuth), Newman again (The Verdict), William Hurt (Broadcast News), Forrest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland) and Clooney (The Descendants).  There are also another 28 nominees.  There are nine Comedy winners with more in the 80’s (four) than there were before the 80’s (three) and another 26 Comedy nominees.  There are also nine Drama winners (De Niro for King of Comedy and Douglas for Wall Street instead of Hurt) and 30 other nominees.
There have been eight Oscar winners but they are oddly spaced.  There was one winner for the old Fox (Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona) then the merged company would have to wait until 1956 for Yul Brynner to win and another 14 years before the next Oscar.  But then, Fox won three Oscars in four years (Scott, Hackman and Art Carney).  Since then, though, just one win for the main corporation (Douglas) and two recently for Fox Searchlight (Whitaker, Jeff Bridges).  There have been 36 other nominees, including three in 1972 and twice losing to a Fox winner.  Fox Searchlight is also riding a four year streak of nominees through 2011, the longest streak in studio history.
Fox has won the Globe Drama award nine times, but they are spread out.  After winning in 1944 (Alexander Knox for Wilson) it wouldn’t win again until Scott in 1970.  And it would win five total times through 2000 but Fox Searchlight has won four times in just the last six years (Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, Bridges, Clooney).  There have been 29 other nominees including two each for Sons and Lovers and Sleuth.  There have been 8 Comedy winners (all from the main studio), two each in the 50’s, 80’s and 00’s and one in 1974 and 1993.  There have also been another 30 nominees including two for M*A*S*H.  In 2006, Fox won Comedy (Borat) while Searchlight won Comedy (Last King of Scotland).
There have been 11 BAFTA winners although Gene Hackman won for two different Fox films in 1972 (The French Connection, The Poseidon Adventure).  There have been another 28 nominees.  The last three winners have all been Searchlight films.  Since the last regular studio nomination in 2005, Searchlight has two wins and six other nominations.
Of the three BFCA winners and seven other nominees only Russell Crowe (Master and Commander) and Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line) weren’t from Searchlight films.  Just in the last four years, Searchlight has two wins and five total nominations.  It’s always the same at SAG with two Searchlight winners and five nominees as opposed to two regular studio nominees (in this case Tom Hanks (Cast Away) and Phoenix).
Whitaker swept all six critics awards in 2006.  The next best is three wins for George C. Scott (when there were only three groups) and three for Jack Nicholson (Prizzi’s Honor) when there were five groups.  Six other actors have won two awards each while a whopping 23 others have won one each.

  • Best Actress
  1. Bette Davis  (All About Eve)
  2. Holly Hunter  (Broadcast News)
  3. Anne Baxter  (All About Eve)
  4. Natalie Portman  (Black Swan)
  5. Michelle Pfeiffer  (The Fabulous Baker Boys)

Analysis:  There have been 10 Nighthawk winners although neither Davis nor Baxter wins the award.  It does include, aside from the other three, Janet Gaynor (twice), Olivia de Havilland (Snake Pit), Ingrid Bergman (Anastasia), Joanne Woodward (Three Faces of Eve), Bette Midler (Rose) and Cate Blanchett (Oscar and Lucinda).  There have been 39 other nominees including the two from All About Eve and two from The Turning Point.  The only Drama winner who didn’t win the regular award is Jane Fonda for Julia.  There have been a total of 9 Drama winners and 44 total nominees.  In Comedy, there have been 8 winners and 34 total nominees.
A total of 12 films won the Oscar but that includes three films that all shared the initial Oscar for Janet Gaynor.  Fox won three straights Oscars (1955-57) following Paramount’s three straight Oscars.  It had three nominees in both 1957 (including the winner) and 1977 (when it didn’t win).  In addition to the 12 winners there have been 40 nominees including two each for All About Eve and Turning Point.
There have been 9 Drama winners at the Globes, most recently about once a decade (1979, 1989, 1999, 2010) along with 21 other nominees with Anastasia receiving two nominations (though Eve and Turning Point only one each).  There have been 14 Comedy winners but that includes winners in some really weak years like 1974 (Raquel Welch for Three Musketeers) and 1994 (Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies).  Kathleen Turner won back-to-back awards for Fox in 1984 and 1985 (Romancing the Stone, Prizzi’s Honor) while Walter Lang directed three winners in five years in the 50s.  Fox took both awards in 1956 and 1979.  There have also been another 22 Comedy nominees.
At the BAFTAs, Fox won four times in a decade (1969, 1970, 1973, 1978) and then didn’t win again for 27 years, winning six awards overall with another 24 nominations.  In 1969, it earned three nominations.  Fox Searchlight has won two BFCA with Fox winning another and there have a total of 10 nominations for the two studios combined (including winners).  There have been three SAG winners and seven other nominees.
Michelle Pfeiffer is the grand critics winner (5 awards) with four each for Sally Field (Norma Rae), Holly Hunter (Broadcast News) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry) while Reese Witherspoon won three (Walk the Line), four others win two and 15 others win one each.

  • Best Supporting Actor:
  1. Alec Guinness  (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)
  2. George Sanders  (All About Eve)
  3. Ben Kingsley  (Sexy Beast)
  4. Mandy Patinkin  (The Princess Bride)
  5. George C. Scott  (The Hustler)

Analysis:  Five performances win the Nighthawk but not Sanders (the best #3 of all-time) or Kingsley.  Instead, Clifton Webb (Laura) and Kirk Douglas (A Letter to Three Wives) win.  There are also another 30 nominees.  There are four Drama winners (all of whom win the Nighthawk) and four Comedy winners (Patinkin, Michael Lerner (Barton Fink), Richard Pryor (Silver Streak), Thomas Haden Church (Sideways)).  There are 41 total Drama nominees and 27 total Comedy nominees including three each for Star Wars, The Princess Bride and Barton Fink.
There have been 10 Oscar winners, seven from 1938 to 1952 then a 25 year gap, again in 1977 and 1985 then another big gap to 2006.  There are also 35 other nominees including two each for Peyton Place and The Hustler and an another one for Julia.  Fox managed three nominations in 1950 and an astounding four in 1977 but hasn’t had one since 2006 and not one for the main studio since 1991.
The studio has won seven Golden Globes including back-to-back odd choices of Richard Attenborough for The Sand Pebbles and Doctor Dolittle but hasn’t won the award since 1974.  It does have 21 nominations including two each for The Hustler and Julia.  Surprisingly, it has been nominated more recently for the main studio (Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010) than Searchlight (Church in 2004).
After winning an early award at the BAFTAs (Fred Astaire in 1974 for Towering Inferno), the studio would go over 20 years before its next award, winning again in 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2006.  It has also earned 8 other nominations including a second for Inferno.  Fox has won three BFCA awards (Quills, Sexy Beast, Sideways) and earned five other noms.  However, in spite of five nominations, no Fox film has yet won SAG in this category.  Church would win five critics awards with four actors winning two awards each and 12 others winning one award.

  • Best Supporting Actress:
  1. Sarah Bolger  (In America)
  2. Joan Allen  (The Crucible)
  3. Sigourney Weaver  (The Ice Storm)
  4. Celeste Holm  (Gentleman’s Agreement)
  5. Jane Darwell  (The Grapes of Wrath)

Analysis:  There are four Nighthawk winners though this is the lowest crossover with only Bolger winning the award along with Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H), Jeannie Berlin (The Heartbreak Kid) winning weak years and Vanessa Redgrave (Julia) just outside the Top 5.  Aside from that there are 37 other nominees including two each from The Song of Bernadette, Gentleman’s Agreement, All About Eve and Enemies a Love Story.  There have been 3 Drama winners, 6 Comedy winners, 40 Drama nominees and 27 Comedy nominees (including three from Young Frankenstein).
Fox has won 9 Oscars and earned 49 nominations but for only 41 films.  The 8 films with two nominations (including Gentleman’s Agreement which also won the award) is a record for any studio and Fox did it twice in 1949 (Pinky, Come to the Stable) and again in 1950 (All About Eve) and then in back-to-back years again in 1988-89 (Working Girl, Enemies a Love Story).  Fox hasn’t won the award since Marisa Tomei’s surprise win in 1992 and though Searchlight has earned 8 of those nominations in just over a decade, it has never won.
The studio has won 7 Globes but hasn’t won since 1988.  It has also earned another 33 nominations.  There have been two BAFTA winners (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Ice Storm) and another 16 nominations.  Joan Allen (The Crucible) and Virginia Madsen (Sideways) would win the BFCA with seven other nominees.  No Supporting Actress has yet won at SAG in spite of 9 nominations (all but one of which were for Searchlight films).
Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor) would win all five existing critics awards.  Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don’t Cry), Madsen and Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life but shared with other films) would win four each.  Two others would win two each and 14 actresses would win award each.

  • Best Ensemble
  1. All About Eve
  2. The Princess Bride
  3. The Crucible
  4. In America
  5. The Hustler

Analysis:  This is based on the total points for acting for all members of the cast.  Four of them have very strong leads while The Princess Bride has a massive list of great supporting work.

  • Best Editing:
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. Slumdog Millionaire
  3. Alien
  4. The Princess Bride
  5. The French Connection

Analysis:  The first four would win the Nighthawk as would Sunrise, The Grapes of Wrath and M*A*S*H while 26 other films would earn nominations.
Eight Fox films have won the Oscar though only one before 1965 (Wilson) and only one since 1979 (Slumdog) while five won in the 70s.  Another 44 films have earned nominations and Fox had three nominees each (including the winner) in both 1970 and 1977.  Every Fox film with 10 or more Oscar nominations earned an Editing nom.
Six films have won the BAFTA with another 13 nominations.  Avatar won the BFCA with two other nominees.  Eleven films have won the ACE with four of them since 2001 after a 22 year gap.  There have also been 37 ACE nominees.  Slumdog and Black Swan won critics awards.

  • Best Cinematography:
  1. The Last of the Mohicans
  2. Sunrise
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  4. Alien
  5. Kagemusha

Analysis:  There is a sixth perfect score for Cinematography: The Grapes of Wrath.  As usual, that doesn’t mean these all win the Nighthawk (French Connection does while Alien and Kagemusha don’t).  Including the winners there are 35 total Nighthawk nominees.
Fox has won 22 Oscars for Cinematography including both awards in 1941 and 1944 and at least one winner each year from 1941 to 1946 and 1959 to 1964.  Including the winners, it’s had 89 total nominees including 27 in the 40’s and 19 in the 50’s.  It did go almost 30 years between winners (1974 to 2003).
Only five films have won the BAFTA with only Last of the Mohicans and Slumdog since 1980 with another 18 nominations.  Avatar and Tree of Life won the BFCA with two other nominees.  Four films have won the ASC (Hoffa, Thin Red Line, Slumdog, Tree of Life) with seven other nominees.  Tree of Life won all five critics awards, Barton Fink won four, Fabulous Baker Boys and Thin Red Line won three each while two others won two and two others beyond that won one each.

  • Best Original Score:
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. The Last of the Mohicans
  3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  4. The Princess Bride
  5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Analysis:  The other three Star Wars films also have perfect scores.  Eight Fox films win the Nighthawk (Star Wars, Empire, Phantom Menace, Revenge, Mohicans, Princess Bride, Laura, Slumdog) while another 26 earn nominations.
Fox has won 14 Score Oscars as well as two Adapted Score Oscars, though again, it had a long stretch between winners (1977 to 1997).  In total, 88 films have been nominated for one of the Score awards (including winners).
Fox has won 7 Globes, usually about once a decade (1949, 1969, 1977, 1980, 1995, 2001, 2008).  It has also earned 20 nominations.  Seven films have won the BAFTA with another 14 nominations.  Minority Report and Slumdog won the BFCA with two other nominees.  Four films have won critics awards.

  • Best Sound:
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. The French Connection
  3. Die Hard
  4. Moulin Rouge
  5. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Analysis:  All of these earn perfect scores as do (in chronological order) Alien, Kagemusha, Empire, Jedi, Fight Club, Phantom Menace, Minority Report and Revenge of the Sith.  Yet, the Nighthawk winners are Lifeboat, Patton, French Connection, Star Wars, Alien, Die Hard, Last of the Mohicans and Phantom Menace.  There are also 41 more Nighthawk nominees, one of the studio’s best categories.
Fox has done well here with 13 Oscars, at least in one in every decade since the 40’s (except the 10’s so far) and two in all but the 80’s and 00’s.  It has been nominated an additional 41 times including three nominations in 1977.
Fox has won nine BAFTAs as well as earning 17 other nominations.  In the 80’s and 90’s, Fox won the award only twice while earning 11 other noms but in the 00’s, it has won four times with only two additional noms.  Avatar won the BFCA while three others have been nominated.  Master and Commander, Walk the Line and Slumdog have won CAS while nine other films have earned noms.

  • Best Art Direction:
  1. Moulin Rouge
  2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  3. Kagemusha
  4. Alien
  5. The Princess Bride

Analysis:  Only three films win the Nighthawk: Star Wars, Alien and Kagemusha.  There are also 38 other nominees including Moulin Rouge (losing to Fellowship) and Princess Bride (losing to Last Emperor).
Fox has won the Oscar a whopping 22 times including both Oscars in 1942 and one of the two Oscars in four straight years (1941-44), though it wouldn’t win the award between 1979 and 2001.  The studio would earn another 59 nominations with three each (including a winner) in 1955, 1956 and 1964.
Fox has won 6 BAFTAs with another 18 nominations.  Avatar won the BFCA while two others have been nominated.  Fox has won the ADG five times while earning nine other noms.  Moulin Rouge won the LAFC.

  • Best Visual Effects
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. Avatar
  3. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  4. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  5. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Analysis:  There are also perfect scores for Alien, Independence Day and the other two Star Wars films.  Fox does great here with 13 Nighthawk winners including the first four (chronological) Star Wars films and eight winners in the 70’s and 80’s alone.  There are also 29 other nominees.
Fox has had more winners here (19) than regular nominees (17).  That includes four winners in six years from 1962 to 1967 and 6 winners in 10 years from 1977 to 1989 including three Star Wars films (in fact, from 1977 to 1986 every Fox film nominated in the category won the award).  Predator, in 1987, was the first Fox film to lose the award since 1959 not to lose it to another Fox film (though that award, in 1970, when Patton lost to Tora Tora Tora is the only time Fox has been nominated twice in one year).
Only four Fox films have won the BAFTA (Jedi, Aliens, Day After Tomorrow, Avatar) while 12 other films have earned nominations.  Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes won the BFCA while Tree of Life was nominated.
Avatar is the biggest film ever at the VES, winning six awards and losing five others (three of them to itself).  Attack of the Clones and Rise of the Planet of the Apes have also done well while 17 other films have earned nominations.

  • Best Sound Editing
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. Fight Club
  3. Die Hard
  4. Alien
  5. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Analysis:  I actually have 10 Fox films with a perfect 9 here, one of the categories that Fox excels at.  The other perfect 9 scores go to Minority Report and the other four Star Wars films.  But the 10 winners are slightly different (Night and the City, Patton, French Connection, Aliens instead of Fight Club, Minority and the last two Star Wars films, though Fight Club loses to Phantom Menace).  There are also 38 other nominees.
I appreciate Fox in this category much more than the Oscars do, with the studio only winning four awards (Star Wars, Aliens, Speed, Master and Commander) with 10 other nominees, especially in 1999 when both Phantom Menace and Fight Club lost to The Matrix.
Avatar is the rare film to win two awards and earn a third nominations from the MPSE while Damien: Omen II simply won two.  Seven films have won an award and earned a second nom, 25 films have won the award, 8 films have earned two noms but didn’t win and 37 more have earned just one nom.

  • Best Costume Design:
  1. Moulin Rouge
  2. Kagemusha
  3. The Princess Bride
  4. Kingdom of Heaven
  5. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Analysis:  With the other three films against stiff competition (Fellowship of the Ring, Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha), only Star Wars and Kagemusha win the Nighthawk though 36 films have earned nominations and the studio has never gone very long between nominations.
Fox won four early Oscars through 1956 but has only won four Oscars since with Moulin Rouge its only Oscar since 1979.  It has won three BAFTAs (Those Magnificent Men, Kagemusha, Master and Commander) and earned 14 other noms.  Black Swan is the only film to earn a BFCA nom.  Three Fox films have won the CDG (Slumdog, Crazy Heart, Black Swan) and another 18 films have earned noms.

  • Best Makeup
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. Moulin Rouge
  3. Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi
  4. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  5. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Analysis:  Eight Fox films win the Nighthawk although only Star Wars, Jedi and Phantom Menace from my Top 5.  Also winning are Young Frankenstein, Alien, Quest for Fire, Aliens and Princess Bride.  Another 24 films earn nominations.
Fox has won three Oscars (Planet of the Apes, Quest for Fire, Mrs Doubtfire) and earned five other nominations.  It has won three BAFTAs (Quest for Fire, Name of the Rose, Last of the Mohicans) and earned 10 other nominations.  Only two films have earned BFCA noms (Avatar, Black Swan).  Moulin Rouge won four MUASG awards with Cast Away and Planet of the Apes winning an award each and six other films earning nominations (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Bedazzled earned two noms each).

  • Best Technical Aspects
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. Alien
  3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  4. Kagemusha
  5. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Analysis:  Simply adding up all the points in the technical categories.  The first Star Wars is one of the best films ever on this list, irregardless of studio.

  • Best Original Song:
  1. “Jai Ho”  (Slumdog Millionaire)
  2. “Falling Slowly”  (Once)
  3. “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”  (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
  4. “Storybook Love”  (The Princess Bride)
  5. “Suicide is Painless”  (M*A*S*H)

Analysis:  Three films both win the Nighthawk and earn a second nomination (Slumdog, She’s the One, Love Me Tender) with seven other films earning just a win and an additional 21 films just earning a nomination.
The only Fox film to do the double (win plus a nomination) is Slumdog.  Twelve films just win the Nighthawk.  The studio won nine Oscars from 1943 to 1979 then only one more between 1979 and 2007 (1988) before winning three straight from 2007 to 2009.  An additional 37 films have earned nominations and only twice has the studio gone more than three years between nominations (a seven year gap from 1980 to 1987 and a ten year gap from 1997 to 2007).
Fox has won seven Globes including two in a row in 2008 and 2009.  They have also earned 16 other noms.  Fox did manage a nomination during the short-lived BAFTA category for Give My Regards to Broad Street.
Amazingly, Fox won this award four times in a row at the BFCA (adding 127 Hours to the Oscar winners although The Wrestler won instead of Slumdog) as well as earning three other noms.

  • Best Animated Film:
  1. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Analysis:  That’s the only Animated Film to earn ***.5 or **** from me and thus is the only one on the list (and is the only Nighthawk nominee).
There have been two Oscar nominations: Ice Age and Fox.  The Simpsons Movie and Fox both earned Globe noms and BAFTA noms.  There have been four BFCA noms: Waking Life, Ice Age, Simpsons, Fox.  There have been eight Annie nominations but they tend to favor the big studio films.  Fox won two critics awards and Waking Life won one.

  • Best Foreign Film:
  1. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
  2. Kagemusha
  3. The Leopard
  4. Nosferatu the Vampyre
  5. Phantom of Liberty

Analysis:  Kagemusha wins Foreign Film at the Nighthawks while four others earn nominations, though The Leopard doesn’t (coming in sixth in a very tough year) and Liliom does.
Fox has won two Oscars (Discreet Charm, Volver a Empezar, which was a 20th Century Fox International Classics release) and seven other nominations (one from Searchlight).  For me, see the section above on Foreign Films.  There have been eight Globe noms including two each in 1974 and 1982 but has never won the award.  There have been no BAFTA noms.  The only BFCA nom is Water.  No Fox film has won a critics award.

  • Best Film (by my points system):
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. The Princess Bride
  3. Alien
  4. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  5. Kingdom of Heaven

Analysis:  This is a category that simply adds up all the points I use in my system.  The Princess Bride benefits from lots of acting while the others benefit from great Tech work across the board.

  • Best Film  (weighted points system)
  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  2. The Princess Bride
  3. Alien
  4. All About Eve
  5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Analysis:  Star Wars finishes just one point above The Princess Bride with a big drop to Alien and another big drop to Eve (which finishes so high because of the acting which is weighted higher).  Kingdom of Heaven is 6th and Empire is 9th.

Best Films With No Top 5 Finishers:

  • Sideways
  • Minority Report
  • Miller’s Crossing
  • Sleuth
  • The Ox-Bow Incident
  • The Verdict
  • The Descendants
  • The Commitments

note:  These are all the films that earn a 94 or higher that don’t manage to land in the Top 5 in any category.

Worst Film with a Top 5 Finish:

  • Avatar

Nighthawk Notables

  • Best Film to Watch Over and Over:  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Best Line  (comedic):  “Hello.  My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die.”  (Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride)
  • Best Line  (dramatic):  “You don’t know the power of the dark side.”  (James Earl Jones in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)
  • Best Opening:  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Best Ending:  Slumdog Millionaire
  • Best Scene:  the trench sequence in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Best Kiss:  Freida Pinto and Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
  • Best Death:  Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride
  • Most Gut-Wrenching Scene:  John Hurt’s death in Alien
  • Most Heart-Breaking Scene:  “Say goodbye to Frankie, Dad.”  (Sarah Bolger in In America)
  • Best Use of a Song (Dramatic):  “Elephant Love”  (Moulin Rouge!)
  • Best Use of a Song (Comedic):  “You Can Leave Your Hat On”  (The Full Monty)
  • Best Original Song from a Bad Film:  “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”  (Mannequin)
  • Best Soundtrack:  Juno
  • Best Non-Rock Soundtrack:  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Watch the Film, SKIP the Book:  Sideways
  • Read the Book, SKIP the Film:  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
  • Funniest Film:  The Princess Bride
  • Best Guilty Pleasure:  Cannonball Run
  • Worst Film by a Top 100 Director:  Cleopatra  (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
  • Worst Film I Saw in the Theater:  Down Periscope
  • Worst Sequel:  Big Momma’s House 2
  • Best Sequel:  Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  • Worst Remake:  The Vanishing
  • Best Remake:  The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
  • Performance to Fall in Love With:  Millie Perkins in The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Performance for the 14 Year Old in Me to Fall in Love With:  Kerri Green in Lucas
  • Sexiest Performance:  Cate Blanchett in Oscar and Lucinda
  • Highest Attractiveness / Acting Ability Ratio:  Penelope Cruz in Woman on Top
  • Best Performance in an Otherwise Terrible Film:  Arthur Kennedy in Peyton Place
  • Coolest Performance:  Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  • Best Opening Credits Sequence:  Juno
  • Best End Credits Sequence:  Slumdog Millionaire
  • Best Tagline (comedic):  “When it comes to love sometimes she just can’t think straight”  (Kissing Jessica Stein)
  • Best Tagline (dramatic):  “In space no one can hear you scream”  (Alien)
  • Best Poster:  Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  • Best Teaser:  Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  • Best Trailer:  Star Wars Special Edition
  • Best Cameo:  Rainn Wilson in Juno
  • Sexiest Cameo:  Marilyn Monroe in All About Eve
  • Funniest Cameo:  Martin Sheen in Hot Shots Part Deux
  • Best Animated Character Performance:  George Clooney in Fantastic Mr. Fox

note:  Soundtracks I Own from Fox Films (chronological):  all six Star Wars films (and the box set that comes with an extra disc for the first three films), The Princess Bride, Say Anything, Toys, Last of the Mohicans, She’s the One (which is really just a Tom Petty album), Anastasia (Veronica’s), Moulin Rouge (both volumes), Juno and The Darjeeling Limited while back when I had tapes instead of cd’s, I used to have the Hot Shots soundtrack.

At the Theater:  By the end of 2011, I had probably seen over 1000 films in the theater at some point or another.  I saw 67 Fox films in the theater, including seeing all six Star Wars films at least seven times each (Episode IV I have seen in the theater 20 times – 13 times originally and another 7 times for the special edition).

Awards

Academy Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  345
  • Number of Films That Have Won Oscars:  107
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  179
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  47
  • Best Picture Nominations:  70
  • Total Number of Nominations:  951
  • Total Number of Wins:  212
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Cinematography  (89)
  • Number of Films with Nominations I Haven’t Seen:  3
  • Directors with Most Oscar Nominated Films:  Henry King  (16)
  • Best Film with No Oscar Nominations:  The Ice Storm
  • Year with Most Fox Nominated Films:  1950  (10)  /  2006  (11)  *
  • Year with Most Fox Nominations:  1977  (35)
  • Year with Most Fox Oscars:  1977  (10)

Oscar Oddities:

  • In 2006, four of the films were Searchlight films while in 1950, obviously, they were all just 20th Century-Fox films.
  • The 35 nominations in 1977 is tied for the fourth most ever but the most extraordinary thing is that 33 of them came from just three films.  It is the only year in history where three films from the same studio had double digit nominations.  It is only of three years when even two studios did it.
  • The Best Picture nominations break down like this: 8 for Fox, 9 for Fox Searchlight, the other 53 for 20th Century-Fox.
  • The Turning Point is tied as the biggest loser at the Oscars, going 0 for 11.
  • On the flip side, Slumdog is the only film with more than 5 nominations not to lose at least 3 of them (it went 8 for 10).
  • The only film to earn multiple nominations and win them all is Cocoon (2 for 2).
  • Henry King dominates with 16 nominated films (including 7 Picture nominees), for a total of 66 nominations and 18 Oscars.  In fact, no other director has ever been more successful at one studio at the Oscars.

Most Oscar Nominations

  1. All About Eve  –  14
  2. The Song of Bernadette  –  12
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  11
  4. Julia  –  11
  5. The Turning Point  –  11
  6. How Green Was My Valley  –  10
  7. Wilson  –  10
  8. The Sound of Music  –  10
  9. Patton  –  10
  10. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  /  Slumdog Millionaire  –  10

note:  All three of the films nominated for 11 awards are from the same year.  Most lists don’t have Star Wars with 11 noms (including the Oscars themselves) but I count special awards in normal Oscar categories (like the Sound Editing award it won) as a nomination.

Most Oscar Wins:

  1. Slumdog Millionaire  –  8
  2. Patton  –  7
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  7
  4. All About Eve  –  6
  5. How Green Was My Valley  –  5
  6. Wilson  –  5
  7. The King and I  –  5
  8. The Sound of Music  –  5
  9. The French Connection  –  5
  10. four films  –  4

Most Oscar Points:

  1. All About Eve  –  625
  2. Patton  –  540
  3. Slumdog Millionaire  –  510
  4. How Green Was My Valley  –  480
  5. The Song of Bernadette  –  480
  6. The French Connection  –  465
  7. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  455
  8. Julia  –  450
  9. Wilson  –  435
  10. The Sound of Music  –  425

Oscar Nominated Films:

  • There are only four years where no Fox films earned Oscar nominations: 1930, 1981, 1995, 2007 (and Searchlight had a nominee in 2007).
  • From 1936 to 1999 there were never back-to-back years with fewer than 2 Fox films nominated and that streak goes from 1936 to the present if you include Searchlight.
  • Fox has lead with the most nominated films 13 times although, ironically, not in 1950 when it had its own high of 10 films nominated.
  • The high number for nominated films in one year is 7 in 1984.
  • Whether alone or combined with the Fox Corporation, 20th Century-Fox was generally in 6th place among total nominated films until the late 40s.  By 1956 it was in third place by itself (second when counting Fox).  Through 2011, it is in third place by itself but in 1st when also counting Fox and Searchlight.

By Decade:

note:  The first number is just 20th Century-Fox.  The second number also includes Fox (20s and 30s) and Fox Searchlight (90s to present).

  • 1920’s:  0  /  6  (5th)
  • 1930’s:  19  (6th)  /  28  (6th)
  • 1940’s:  68  (2nd)
  • 1950’s:  73  (2nd)
  • 1960’s:  37  (2nd)
  • 1970’s:  35  (3rd – tie)
  • 1980’s:  28  (5th)
  • 1990’s:  29  (5th – tie)  /  33  (4th)
  • 2000’s:  15  (10th)  /  31  (2nd – tie)
  • 2010’s:  3  (9th – tie)  /  7  (4th)
  • Total:  307  (3rd)  /  345  (1st)

Oscar Nominations:

  • 20th Century-Fox has had the most total nominations 13 times plus two more times for Fox and one more time where it has the most when combined with Searchlight.
  • Fox lead for the first two years though by its end in 1935, it had dropped to fifth.  20th Century-Fox, even without Fox, passed Columbia into 6th place in 1941 after just seven years.  It would pass Warners and RKO in 1950, moving into 4th (and combined with Fox would have been in 2nd).  It moved into 3rd in 1955 and 2nd in 1958 but was so far behind MGM that even the Fox nominations wouldn’t have gotten it close to 1st place.  By 1979 the combined nominations put it in 1st and it took 1st on its own in 1987.  It dropped from 1st place in 1995 though when combined with Fox it would have stayed until 2008 and when also combined with Searchlight it is still in 1st.  As of 2011, 20th Century-Fox is in 3rd (846), Fox Searchlight is in 14th (73) and Fox is in 22nd (36) though combined they are easily in 1st.

Years with Most Total Oscar Nominations:

  • 1977:  35
  • 1955:  26
  • 1950:  25
  • 1944:  23
  • 1943, 1947, 1965, 1970, 1972:  22

By Decade:

note:  See same note above for total films.

  • 1920’s:  0  /  20  (1st)
  • 1930’s:  38  (7th)  /  54  (7th)
  • 1940’s:  179  (1st)
  • 1950’s:  179  (2nd)
  • 1960’s:  132  (2nd)
  • 1970’s:  139  (1st)
  • 1980’s:  83  (5th)
  • 1990’s:  49  (8th)  /  57  (8th)
  • 2000’s:  46  (8th)  /  92  (2nd)
  • 2010’s:  3  (11th – tie)  /  22  (3rd – tie)
  • Total:  848  (3rd)  /  951  (1st)

Oscar Wins:

  • Fox’s longest streak with at least one win is 1952 to 1972 followed by 1937 to 1950.
  • The longest streak with no wins is 1997 to 2000, although if you count Searchlight the only streaks of more than one year are 1934 to 1936 (when the two companies were combining) and 1990-91.
  • 20th Century-Fox has lead all films with wins 11 times plus twice when it was still just Fox and once Searchlight did it.  It lead three years in a row from 1969 to 1971.
  • When Slumdog won 8 Oscars in 2008 it was as many as all of the Searchlight films combined to that point and as many as 20th Century-Fox had won from 1994 to 2008.
  • Fox was still in 1st place in total Oscars as late as 1934.  20th Century-Fox wouldn’t equal its parent company until 1941 by which point they were tied for 7th place among studios though combined they were in 2nd.  With a few big years in a row, Fox would leap into 4th place but by 1947 it was all the way in 2nd place where it would stay for decades.  In 1978, combined with Fox it moves into 1st place but wouldn’t do it on its own until 2001.  It would be passed by Paramount in 2011 but when combined it is easily in 1st.

By Decade:

note:  see note up above for films

  • 1920’s:  0  /  8  (1st)
  • 1930’s:  5  (8th)  /  11  (6th)
  • 1940’s:  41  (1st)
  • 1950’s:  36  (2nd)
  • 1960’s:  30  (3rd)
  • 1970’s:  40  (1st)
  • 1980’s:  12  (6th)
  • 1990’s:  6  (12th)  /  8  (10th – tie)
  • 2000’s:  8  (11th – tie)  /  24  (1st)
  • 2010’s:  0  /  2  (7th)
  • Total:  178  (2nd)  /  212  (1st)

Critics Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Won Critics Awards:  98
  • Number of Films With Multiple Awards:  49
  • Best Picture Wins:  26
  • Total Number of Awards:  264
  • Category With the Most Awards:  Actor  (47)

Most Awards:

  1. Sideways  –  22
  2. The Tree of Life  –  15
  3. Prizzi’s Honor  –  12
  4. Slumdog Millionaire  –  10
  5. The Fabulous Baker Boys  /  Broadcast News  –  9

Most Points:

  1. Sideways  –  1541
  2. The Tree of Life  –  938
  3. Prizzi’s Honor  –  824
  4. Slumdog Millionaire  –  667
  5. Broadcast News  –  664

Most Points by Critics Group:

  • NYFC:  Broadcast News  –  340
  • LAFC:  Sideways  –  390
  • NSFC:  The Tree of Life  –  270
  • BSFC:  Sideways  –  240
  • CFC:  Sideways  –  370
  • NBR:  The Turning Point  –  230

Golden Globes

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  196
  • Number of Films That Have Won Globes:  67
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  98
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  23
  • Best Picture Nominations:  79
  • Best Picture Wins:  21  (13 Comedy / 8 Drama)
  • Total Number of Nominations:  417
  • Total Number of Wins:  101
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Picture  (79)
  • Best Film with No Globe Nominations:  The Princess Bride

Globe Oddities:

  • Since 1952, Fox has won Best Picture 18 times and Best Director 6 times but it has only won Best Screenplay twice (Sideways / Slumdog).
  • Every film nominated for at least six awards won at least one award.  Of the nine films nominated for five awards, four of them (Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man, Zorba the Greek, An Unmarried Woman, The Verdict) didn’t win any.
  • All of the films nominated for six or more awards earned Picture and Director nominations and all but Moulin Rouge earned Screenplay noms.  Of the films nominated for five, Doctor Dolittle wasn’t nominated for Director or Screenplay, Silkwood wasn’t nominated for Screenplay and three of them predated the Screenplay category.
  • Breaking Away is one of just three films (and the only Fox film) through 2011 to earn Picture, Director and Screenplay but no other nominations.

Most Globe Nominations:

  1. The Sand Pebbles  –  7
  2. Julia  –  7
  3. Sideways  –  7
  4. All About Eve  –  6
  5. M*A*S*H  –  6
  6. The Turning Point  –  6
  7. Prizzi’s Honor  –  6
  8. Working Girl  –  6
  9. Moulin Rouge!  –  6
  10. nine films  –  5

Most Globes:

  1. Prizzi’s Honor  –  4
  2. Working Girl  –  4
  3. Slumdog Millionaire  –  4
  4. five films  –  3

Most Globe Points:

  1. Prizzi’s Honor  –  400
  2. Sideways  –  345
  3. Working Girl  –  335
  4. Julia  –  325
  5. The Turning Point  –  325
  6. Slumdog Millionaire  –  320
  7. Moulin Rouge!  –  310
  8. The French Connection  –  300
  9. The Sand Pebbles  –  285
  10. M*A*S*H  /  The Descendants  –  285

Guild Awards

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  242
  • Number of Films That Have Won Guild Awards:  68
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  105
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  20
  • Best Picture Nominations:  11
  • Total Number of Nominations:  511
  • Total Number of Wins:  117
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Screenplay  (138)
  • Best Film with No Guild Nominations:  Alien

Most Guild Nominations:

  1. Avatar  –  22
  2. Black Swan  –  15
  3. Moulin Rouge  –  12
  4. Slumdog Millionaire  –  12
  5. Master and Commander: Far Side of the World  –  10

Most Guild Wins:

  1. Slumdog Millionaire  –  10
  2. Avatar  –  9
  3. Moulin Rouge  – 6
  4. Walk the Line  –  5
  5. Patton  –  4

Most Guild Points:

  1. Avatar  –  700
  2. Slumdog Millionaire  –  670
  3. Black Swan  –  505
  4. Moulin Rouge  –  470
  5. Little Miss Sunshine  –  445
  6. Sideways  –  395
  7. The Descendants  –  345
  8. Walk the Line  –  340
  9. Master and Commander: Far Side of the World  –  315
  10. Patton  –  260

Highest Percentage of Guild Points:

  1. The Sound of Music  –  20.00%
  2. Patton  –  18.84%
  3. The Turning Point  –  17.77%
  4. The French Connection  –  16.26%
  5. All About Eve  –  13.95%
  6. The Sand Pebbles  –  12.88%
  7. The Hustler  –  12.71%
  8. Breaking Away  –  12.38%
  9. Prizzi’s Honor  –  12.14%
  10. Avatar  –  11.99%

Guild Points of Interest:

  • Avatar earns almost half its points from the Visual Effects Society, earning more points there than all but 7 other Fox films have earned total.
  • While six Fox films have won the DGA (all of which won the WGA as well), the only one to do it since 1971 is Slumdog Millionaire (a Fox Searchlight film) and thus is the only one to win the PGA as well.
  • Those six films won 24 of their 28 guild nominations.
  • The only two films to earn nominations from every Tech guild are Avatar and Black Swan.
  • Since Fox Searchlight began, it has 119 nominations and 26 wins while in that same period, 20th Century-Fox has 175 nominations and 33 wins.

The BAFTAs

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  129
  • Number of Films That Have Won BAFTAs:  49
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  80
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  24
  • Best Picture Nominations:  36
  • Best Picture Wins:  8
  • Best British Film Nominations:  12
  • Best British Film Wins:  1
  • Total Number of Nominations:  367
  • Total Number of Wins:  96
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Actor  (39)
  • Best Film with No BAFTA Nominations:  The Princess Bride

Most BAFTA Noms:

  1. Moulin Rouge!  –  12
  2. Black Swan  –  12
  3. The Full Monty  –  11
  4. Slumdog Millionaire  –  11
  5. Julia  –  10

Most BAFTA Wins:

  1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  9
  2. Slumdog Millionaire  –  7
  3. Julia  –  4
  4. The Commitments  –  4
  5. Romeo + Juliet  –  4
  6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  –  4

Most BAFTA Points:

  1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  600
  2. Slumdog Millionaire  –  595
  3. The Full Monty  –  495
  4. Julia  –  460
  5. Moulin Rouge!  –  400
  6. The Commitments  –  370
  7. Black Swan  –  370
  8. Romeo + Juliet  –  330
  9. The Last King of Scotland  –  330
  10. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  –  325

Broadcast Film Critics Awards  (Critic’s Choice Awards)

  • Number of Films That Have Earned Nominations:  43
  • Number of Films That Have Won BFCA Awards:  21
  • Number of Films With Multiple Nominations:  23
  • Number of Films With Multiple Wins:  5
  • Most BFCA Noms:  Black Swan  (12)
  • Most BFCA Wins:  Avatar  (5)
  • Best Picture Nominations:  21
  • Total Number of Nominations:  115
  • Total Number of Wins:  33
  • Category With the Most Nominations:  Picture  (21)
  • Best Film with No BFCA Nominations:  The Ice Storm

BFCA Points:

  1. Sideways  –  405
  2. Black Swan  –  375
  3. Slumdog Millionaire  –  330
  4. Avatar  –  325
  5. 127 Hours  –  260

All Awards

Most Nominations:

  1. Black Swan  –  54
  2. Slumdog Millionaire  –  52
  3. Avatar  –  51
  4. Sideways  –  47
  5. Moulin Rouge!  –  45
  6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  –  35
  7. Julia  –  34
  8. Little Miss Sunshine  –  33
  9. Prizzi’s Honor  –  30
  10. The Descendants  –  30

Most Awards:

  1. Sideways  –  42
  2. Slumdog Millionaire  –  31
  3. Avatar  –  22
  4. Prizzi’s Honor  –  19
  5. Moulin Rouge!  –  19
  6. The Tree of Life  –  17
  7. Patton  –  16
  8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  15
  9. The French Connection  –  15
  10. Walk the Line  –  15

Total Awards Points

  1. Slumdog Millionaire  –  2895
  2. Sideways  –  2812
  3. Black Swan  –  1812
  4. Moulin Rouge!  –  1674
  5. Prizzi’s Honor  –  1667
  6. Avatar  –  1655
  7. Julia  –  1513
  8. All About Eve  –  1390
  9. The Descendants  –  1355
  10. The French Connection  –  1278

Highest Awards Percentage:

  1. Gentleman’s Agreement  –  19.11%
  2. All About Eve  –  19.04%
  3. 7th Heaven  –  17.61%
  4. Cavalcade  –  14.97%
  5. Sideways  –  14.82%
  6. Slumdog Millionaire  –  14.54%
  7. Bad Girl  –  14.50%
  8. Prizzi’s Honor  –  14.21%
  9. Julia  –  13.66%
  10. Sunrise  –  13.64%

Lists

Lists for studios are harder because I have to come up with them myself.  There are no books that rank the best films by studio and no way to sort through them on the IMDb or TSPDT.

The TSPDT Top 25 TriStar Films

  1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans  (#8)
  2. The Leopard  (#74)
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  (#115)
  4. All About Eve  (#116)
  5. My Darling Clementine  (#121)
  6. Alien  (#129)
  7. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie  (#160)
  8. The River  (#165)
  9. The Grapes of Wrath  (#174)
  10. The Thin Red Line  (#212)
  11. The Tree of Life  (#239)
  12. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  (#274)
  13. How Green Was My Valley  (#326)
  14. Aliens  (#341)
  15. Suspiria  (#366)
  16. The King of Comedy  (#371)
  17. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  (#379)
  18. The Innocents  (#390)
  19. The Hustler  (#397)
  20. Fight Club  (#436)
  21. The Sound of Music  (#439)
  22. Barton Fink  (#489)
  23. Kagemusha  (#492)
  24. Laura  (#495)
  25. Die Hard  (#517)

note:  The numbers in parenthesis are the position on the most recent (2019) TSPDT list.  I had to make some changes just from last year, though the top 13 is the same as last year.  Suspiria jumped up several spots (I fail to find that a coincidence given the remake’s release this year) as did Aliens while Die Hard and Laura moved up enough that The Phantom of Liberty dropped from 23 to out of the Top 25.  Films that were as high as the Top 20 in earlier years but are no longer on the list include Young Mr. Lincoln, Walkabout and The Day the Earth Stood Still.  If I used the actual January 2012 list (the actual end of the Century of Film), the top 5 films would all be in the Top 100 and Thin Red Line would be nowhere near the Top 25 for Fox.

The IMDb Top 10 Fox Films

  1. Fight Club
  2. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  3. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  4. Alien
  5. Aliens
  6. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
  7. All About Eve
  8. Die Hard
  9. 12 Years a Slave
  10. The Princess Bride

Top 10 U.S. Domestic Box Office  (through 31 December 2011)

  1. Avatar  –  $760.50 mil
  2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  $460.99 mil
  3. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace  –  $431.88 mil
  4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith  –  $380.27 mil
  5. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones  –  $310.67 mil
  6. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi  –  $309.30 mil
  7. Independence Day  –  $306.16. mil
  8. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  –  $290.27 mil
  9. Home Alone  –  $285.76 mil
  10. Night at the Museum  –  $250.86 mil

Top 10 U.S. Domestic Box Office (all-time, adjusted to January 2019)

  1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  –  $1608.41 mil
  2. The Sound of Music  –  $1286.64 mil
  3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  –  $886.57 mil
  4. Avatar  –  $878.70 mil
  5. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi  –  $849.35 mil
  6. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace  –  $815.51 mil
  7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  –  $637.13 mil
  8. Independence Day  –  $625.49 mil
  9. Home Alone  –  $611.63 mil
  10. Cleopatra  –  $606.66 mil

Books

The Studio, John Gregory Dunne, 1968

One of the best books on film ever written.  Dunne was given the run of Fox for a year by Richard Zanuck and he made great use of it.  You get the behind-the-scenes look at the disaster of Doctor Dolittle and the way the studio was sinking money into big budget road-show musicals that would eventually topple the Zanuck dynasty.  Anyone with a real interest in film has to read this book.  I suggest the Vintage paperback edition first published in 1998 which contains the 1985 Foreword that Dunne wrote and his 1997 Introduction, both of which help explain how the book came to be written.  I don’t quote much from it in the piece at the beginning because so much of it is so detailed about that specific year but it really is vital to understanding the history of the studio.

Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking: A Biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, Mel Gussow, 1971

A biography of Zanuck so if what you care about is films, you can skip the first few chapters and if you’re just interested in Fox, you can skip a few more, covering his time at Warners.  But it’s a decent book on Zanuck and his quirks and his time running Fox, all the way through his return (but before his subsequent ouster).  More useful in trying to understand Zanuck as a man than as a filmmaker.

Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics, Philip Dunne, 1980

A well-written book, which makes sense, since it was the memoir of Zanuck’s chief writer for a long time.  Dunne talks frankly and honestly about his long tenure at the studio, writing a lot of the hits over the years and eventually becoming a director as well.  Essential for any fan of classic Hollywood or Fox.

Zanuck: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Last Tycoon, Leonard Mosley, 1984

A very solid book about Zanuck that focuses more on his time as a movie-maker and a bit less than some of the other books on his personal life.  It focuses even more intensely on his time at Fox because of the point of the title.

The Films of 20th Century-Fox: A Pictorial History, Tony Thomas and Aubrey Solomon, 1985 (Revised and Enlarged Ed.)

One of the great coffee table studio books that goes through every film made by the studio.  It, sadly, takes all of the Fox films made before the merger and relegates them to an appendix in the back, just listing the director and stars.  But it gives good descriptions of the other films in the studio’s history and plenty of stills.

John Ford: The Man and His Films, Tag Gallagher, 1986

One of the best books on Fox’s greatest and most important director.  It’s a biography of Ford but he spent so much of his time directing at Fox that it also provides quite a bit on the studio as well.

The Zanucks of Hollywood: The Dark Legacy of an American Dynasty, Marlys J. Harris, 1989

A much more gossipy book than the others on this list, this book wasn’t all that helpful, at least to me.  If you want to know about Zanuck’s life and the tawdry details of his death and the fight over his will, then this is the book for you.  Much less useful when wanting to know about Zanuck as a filmmaker and his time at Fox.

Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck: The Golden Years at Twentieth Century-Fox, ed. Rudy Behlmer, 1993

One of three indispensable film books edited by Behlmer that captured the memos of the era, this one focuses specifically on the years that Zanuck was the VP in charge of pictures at Fox (1935 to 1956).  It provides great insights into the films and talent at the time and should be read by any serious film fan.  It isn’t quoted a lot in the introduction because the memos focus mostly on specific films (or stars) but it is vital to understanding Fox and its history.

Twentieth Century’s Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Culture of Hollywood, George F. Custen, 1997

A solid book that gives the history of Zanuck’s work at Fox.  Actually, it covers much of Zanuck’s early life and especially his work at Warner Brothers before he ascended at Fox and really only the second half of the book covers his time at Fox.  It also basically ends when he first leaves the company in 1956 and doesn’t much address his return to the company in the sixties.  Still, it is a valuable book, both on Zanuck and on the history of Fox.

Twentieth Century Fox: Inside the Photo Archive, ed. Rob Easterla, Kevin Murphy, Miles Scott, 2004

If you want a coffee table book to lay on your coffee table and that guests might pick up and flip through, this is the best kind.  It’s simply some 240 pages of photos from the studio.  Some of them are stills from films, some are photos during filming, some are stars on break.  It’s just a great book to lay on the table and flip through when you have some time.

Twentieth Century Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935-1965, Peter Lev, 2013

A very good book that gives a small history of the pre-1935 era at the beginning and of the post-1965 era at the end but is perhaps the best book on how Fox was as a business and a studio during the Zanuck-Skouras years because it focuses more on the studio and less on Zanuck personally.

Styling the Stars: Lost Treasures from the Twentieth Century Fox Archive, Angela Cartwright and Tom McLaren, 2014

Another wonderful coffee table book.  This one is full of stills from wardrobe and makeup tests.  So, it’s mostly stars standing around (some with some very real close-ups and you can get idea of how much makeup stars are wearing on camera).  But again, just a few hundred pages of photos of movie stars – something great for the coffee table.

The Man Who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox, Vanda Krefft, 2017

This is a voluminous piece of work with detail on the level of a Ron Chernow biography.  Krefft devotes over 900 pages to the man who first founded the Fox Film company and named it after himself, but who was gone even before the merger.  You can tell how much detail is in it just by looking at the quotes in my introductory piece and how many pages are between each quote and what years they cover.  It is a good book, especially for any true lover of film history, but it is a bit exhausting as well.

Reviews

The Best 20th Century-Fox Film I Haven’t Yet Reviewed

Kagemusha  (1980, dir. Akira Kurosawa)

Why do we fight?  What are we fighting for?  Sometimes the question is who are we fighting for?  In feudal Japan, that was often the case with various samurai having promised their service to a lord.  Losing your leader can be greatly demoralizing.  So here we have the story of a man who isn’t who people think he is and the ways he must try to be much more of a man than he has ever been before.

A thief is saved from crucifixion by a man whose older brother is a revered lord.  The man has realized the thief greatly resembles his older bother and there could be a tactical advantage of having such a kagemusha (it generally means a political decoy but it translates more to “shadow warrior”).  This become far more important when, on the eve of a battle, the lord is mortally wounded by a sniper.  Now the kagemusha must not only be placed in his position to fool the lord’s enemies but to fool his own men.  His men need to know they are still fighting for something.

So many things will come into play.  There are the generals who want to maintain their places and keep the lord and his men from being decimated in battle.  There is a son who is angry that his inheritance has been pushed back and feels that he should now be in command.  There is the thief himself who must find in himself the measure of a man much greater than he had ever hoped to be.

And, of course, this is Akira Kurosawa, so this is all being played about on a grand scale.  Kurosawa was the greatest director in the world for some 20 years, from the end of the Second World War (and especially the late 40’s) all the way until 1965 when he broke with his famous star, Toshiro Mifune.  But all of those films were in black-and-white.  Kurosawa had made one film in Japan in color (which hadn’t gotten strong reviews in spite of an Oscar nomination) and was forced to make his next in the USSR.  This time, the studio didn’t have enough movie to make this on the scale that Kurosawa wanted, with glorious period costumes, magnificent color cinematography, fantastic direction and a magnificent dual performance from Tatsuya Nakadai as both the lord and the thief, so Lucas and Coppola came to his rescue, getting Fox to jump into the deal (at this point, with the second Star Wars film coming out, Lucas’ stock at Fox was pretty much limitless) and giving the world the first true Kurosawa epic, a film of remarkable length and style.

All of this, it would turn out, would actually be a warm-up for the next Kurosawa film to come, also in glorious color with period costumes, also with a magnificent performance from Nakadai, the incomparable Ran.  But this film, which would somehow lose the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and astoundingly not even earn a nomination for its costumes gives us more than enough to appreciate just how truly great a filmmaker Kurosawa was and how much we lost in that decade where he was struggling to get any films made.

The Worst 20th Century-Fox Film I Haven’t Yet Reviewed

Horror of Party Beach  (1964, dir. Del Tenney)

I first saw this film the same way I imagine the vast majority of people who have seen this film first saw it: when it aired on MST3K back in the late 90’s.  By that point, it had already gained some notoriety from appearing in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.  It really is an awful film, a complete zero with not a single ounce of talent evident anywhere in it.

Was there ever any hope for actually making a good film?  On one level, it’s a beach party film, the (thankfully) rather short-lived genre about a bunch of teens having fun on the beach, complete with (usually not very good) songs.  On another level, it’s a monster movie, a rip-off of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a film long famous for the creature which often makes people forget that the film itself isn’t very good.  It would have been unwise for a good filmmaker to attempt to combine the two and Del Tenney, whose other films include The Curse of the Living Corpse (which was released with this film on a double-bill) and I Eat Your Skin was anything but.  We can’t rank him with Ed Wood, though, because he lacked Wood’s vision and attempts to write and act in his films as well.

What’s interesting about this film is that also tries to have a message.  It’s actually an anti-nuclear film.  I would say anti-nuclear bomb, but unlike Godzilla, where nuclear testing is what awakens and empowers him, the monster here comes from waste and he mutates awfully damn quickly (as Mike says about it on MST3K: “Sure, most radiation is harmful eventually, but ours does massive damage in a matter of seconds.”).  Then he stumbles out onto the beach (actually there were two monster suits made and one shrank so they had to use a teenager in that one) and starts to terrorize the local teens.

Eventually it will come out that sodium will stop the monsters (why? who the fuck knows) and so the main doctor involved (of course there’s a doctor involved) heads to New York to get some, which leads to one of the best lines in the MST3K episode when he actually drives through Washington Square (“And down to Greenwich Village for no reason.”  “How many more will die if I do a little sightseeing? Four or five at most, right?”).

Look, if you really feel the need to watch this, do yourself a favor and either watch the robots watching the film or get yourself your own group of robots and watch the film.  It’s better than trying to take it seriously.

Bonus Review

Hots Shots Part Deux  (1993, dir. Jim Abrahams)

Doing a parody is a tricky business.  If you do it right, there are elements that will be timeless and will continue to be funny no matter what.  But if you do it wrong, if you rely too much on contemporary references, someone watching just a few years down the road might watch the whole thing and barely ever laugh.  It also makes it a tricky bit to go back to a parody that you haven’t seen in a while, especially one you remember enjoying quite a bit.  So we get to Hot Shots Part Deux.

The team of Zucker, Zucker and Abrahams had made Airplane!, Top Secret and the first Naked Gun but when one of the brothers went off to do Ghost, Abrahams decided to make his own parody, Hot Shots.  Like the best elements of their successes, Hot Shots worked best when it stuck to parodying the general genre of such action films as Top Gun rather than relying on contemporary references.  But it also relied on some genuinely hilarious performances from Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes and Lloyd Bridges.  Then came the sequel and this time the films being skewered were the second and third Rambo films and instead of being a fighter pilot, Sheen was built up as an action hero, albiet the kind of action hero who runs out of arrows and has to shoot a chicken.

The second film relies on parodying specific film references that are funnier if you know them but also can work on their own (like the limo ride in No Way Out or the bed scene from Basic Instinct) but it can also get a bit crass when it relies on things that someone might remember from a history book (Saddam Hussein) or will only remember if you’re old enough and will be completely forgotten before too long (like Bush 41 puking on the Japanese P.M.).  Or, they try to make the joke about Sheen having to rescue Richard Crenna like Stallone had but that works more because Crenna gives a fun performance rather than having to know Crenna’s role from the Rambo films.

The film works best when it takes something and pushes it just a little too far (like, instead of adding nails and glass to his gloves for his fight, Sheen adds sprinkles) or a bit of a misunderstanding (what seems like a steamy description of a lesbian college love affair is actually a discussion about bungee-jumping).

But the real heart of the film and the reason it works as well as it does is because Charlie Sheen really gives it his all.  He was still more of an action actor at this point (you could consider that Sheen in these two films is also parodying his own shitty rescue film Navy SEALs) but, like another actor who would eventually go completely off the deep end, Mel Gibson, Sheen actually has a natural flair for comedic acting.

In the end, what you get out of this film may depend on what you put into it.  I still enjoy it when Lloyd Bridges continues to list the litany of things on his body that have been replaced but cringe whenever the humor gets too stupid or crass.  But in the end, this film may still have the single best scene from any film of this entire genre, as Sheen travels downriver, chronicling his mission in his journal and up the river comes his father on his own journey to kill Colonel Kurtz and that wonderful moment when they look at each other and go “Loved you in Wall Street!”

Post-2011

History:  Though Fox has continued decently with some franchises (namely X-Men and Planet of the Apes), only finishing with a total gross below $1 billion once since 2005, only once has it finished above $1.5 billion.  With Murdoch headed towards retirement and with Star Wars passed over to Disney, it was finally announced that the studio would be split and sold and Disney ended up making the winning bid, allowing the combination of Fox’s Marvel properties to join with Disney’s and reuniting Star Wars with its original studio.  Fox Searchlight, meanwhile, continues to reap awards winning Best Picture at the Oscars three times since 2011, as many as all other studios put together.

Stars:  I could have mentioned Hugh Jackman up above, given his four films as Wolverine (plus one cameo) plus his starring role in Australia.  But since 2011, he has played Wolverine three more times (plus another cameo), showed his comedic chops (Eddie the Eagle) and even reminded people that he is a first-class singer (The Greatest Showman).  Through early 2019, Fox has had just 70 films earn $130 million or more and Jackman has been in 11 of them.

The Films:

note:  I am listing these in rank order.  The ranks are approximate and not cumulative (so, say, placing Prometheus at #47 fits it in with the original list, not accounting for the 9 films listed above it on this list).  These are not all the post-2011 films I have seen, but ones I have reviewed (or will be reviewed), think are notable, saw in the theater or just want to list.

Statistics:  Within days after this posts, I will be at 144 of the 154 Fox films since 2011, including all 51 of the Searchlight films and all 15 films from 2018.  There is still no Fox film grossing over $50 million that I haven’t seen.  It will have had another year of 3 Top 10 films (2014) and two more Nighthawk Awards (2014, 2018) becoming just the third studio to reach eight and just the second to reach nine.  That also gives Fox Searchlight four wins just on its own.  In terms of Star Rating, there have been a higher percentage of **** and ***.5 films but also of ** films than historically with fewer *** and **.5 films.

Average Film by Year Since 2011 (Searchlight in parenthesis):

  • 2012:  55.26  (64.43)
  • 2013:  55.86  (64.25)
  • 2014:  66.52  (72.75)
  • 2015:  54.78  (59.86)
  • 2016:  56.50  (67.40)
  • 2017:  63.57  (65.50)
  • 2018:  61.15

note:  It doesn’t include a Searchlight number for 2018 because as of yet I have seen Super Troopers 2 and haven’t seen The Old Man and the Gun or Can You Ever Forgive Me and with only three films seen so far that would really throw off the results.  I’ll update it when I’ve seen those two films.

All-Time Awards:  Landing in the Top 5 in all-time categories are Birdman (Original Screenplay, Supporting Actress, Editing, Cinematography, Ensemble, Total Points), 12 Years a Slave (Supporting Actress), The Revenant (Actor, Cinematography, Tech, Total Points), Gone Girl (Actress, Ensemble), The Greatest Showman (Art Direction, Costume Design, Original Song), The Grand Budapest Hotel (Original Screenplay, Art Direction), The Favourite (Supporting Actress, Art Direction, Costume Design), The Shape of Water (Art Direction, Tech, Total Points), Life of Pi (Visual Effects), The Peanuts Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 3 (Animated Film).  Birdman is actually #1 in Weighted Points, just two points above Star Wars while The Revenant comes in 5th, just six points behind Alien with The Shape of Water in 6th, just nine points behind.

Nighthawk Notables:  Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola) is the Worst Film by a Top 100 Director.  The scene where Leo sleeps in the horse is a potential Most Gut-Wrenching Scene.  Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) is now Performance to Fall in Love With.  The Greatest Showman is now the Best Soundtrack.  I have seen 16 more films in the theater including five in 2017, my most for Fox since 1997.  The Greatest Showman is the only post 2011 soundtrack I own.

Nighthawk Awards:  There have been two more Nighthawk winners since 2011 (Birdman, The Favourite) while Grand Budapest, Gone Girl, Revenant and Shape of Water earn nominations.  The Shape of Water ties for the most noms (14) while Revenant manages 13, Birdman 12 and The Favourite 11.  Birdman ties for the second most wins with 8 while its 630 points is the second highest.  Of the major categories, since 2011 it has won most of them twice with Director just once, Actress just once and Adapted Screenplay not at all.  Of the Tech awards, only the two Sound awards and Visual Effects haven’t been won since 2011 and it hasn’t won Animated (two noms) or earned a Foreign Film nom.

Academy Awards:  Lupita Nyong’o would be the first Searchlight winner for Best Supporting Actress.  Since 2011, Fox has won all the major awards (Picture three times, all for Searchlight, Director four times, once for the main studio, though only Birdman won Picture, Director and Screenplay) and most of the Tech awards at least once (three times for Cinematography).  It has earned an incredible 14 nominations for Picture in just seven years (yes, there are more nominees now, but that’s still as many as it earned from 1988 to 2011 combined).  It has yet to win Editing even though, with 8 nominations, it’s the Tech category where it has earned the most nominations.  With half as many nominated films as Disney and far fewer than Warner Bros, Searchlight has by itself the second most Oscar nominations this decade (96), just one behind Disney, not including the 59 for 20th Century-Fox.  The two studios account for 7 of the 13 films since 2011 to earn 9 or more nominations.

The Critics:  Since 2011, 16 more films have earned a total of 60 critics awards, including three more for Picture and 10 more for Actor.  New highs were set for the BSFC (260 for both 12 Years a Slave and Birdman), CFC (400 for 12 Years a Slave) and the NBR (240 for The Martian and The Post).  The main Fox studio hasn’t done that well; 11 of the films, winning 50 awards are Fox Searchlight and another two films, covering 4 awards are DreamWorks films distributed by Fox.  That leaves just Gone Girl, The Revenant and The Martian.  But, with six wins between those last two, it made 2015 the best year for the main Fox studio at the critics awards since 1991.

Golden Globes:  The only awards that the studio (mostly Spotlight but some Fox) has not won since 2011 are Supporting Actress (0 for 6) and Foreign Film (no noms).  The biggest films are Three Billboards (380 points, 6 noms, 4 wins), Birdman (330 points, 7 noms), The Shape of Water (325 points, 7 noms) and 12 Years a Slave (305 points, 7 noms).  While six films have won Picture (though two of its Oscar winners, Birdman and Shape of Water, lost to other Fox films, Grand Budapest and Three Billboards), two have won Director (Revenant, Shape) and two have won Screenplay (Birdman, Three Billboards) none have won all three.

The BAFTAs:  No Fox records have been broken (though Shape of Water tied the record with 12 noms) but the top leaderboards have been altered for noms (Grand Budapest had 11, 12 Years and Birdman had 10 each), wins (5 each for Grand Budapest, Revenant and Three Billboards) and points (535 for Three Billboards, 440 for Shape, 420 for Grand Budapest, 410 each for 12 Years and Revenant).  There have been seven more Best Picture nominees and three winners (12 Years, Revenant, Three Billboards) and two more British Film winners (Brooklyn, Three Billboards).

BFCA:  Fox films have earned 13 Best Picture nominations since 2011 (five of them for the main studio).  The Favourite set a new BFCA record by going 0 for 11.  Sideways has had its point total exceeded by The Shape of Water (510), Birdman (475) and 12 Years a Slave (470) with The Shape of Water (13) the new high for nominations followed by 12 Years (12) while Birdman tied the Fox record with 5 wins.  Both 12 Years and Shape won Picture which means Fox Searchlight has 4 Best Picture wins while Fox itself has none.

The Guilds:  In 2017, Sam Rockwell would become the first Supporting Actor from a Fox film to win SAG after Lupita Nyong’o became the first Supporting Actress winner in 2013.

Awards:  The top three is completely rewritten with The Shape of Water (64 – second all-time), 12 Years a Slave and Birdman (61 for both).  Also landing in the Top 10 are The Favourite (52), Grand Budapest (50), Revenant (48) and Life of Pi (46).  Wins are also dominated by new films: Birdman (31), Budapest (25), Revenant (24), Shape (22), 12 Years (22).  And, of course, they dominated points: 12 Years (2616), Birdman (2584), Shape (2419), Budapest (1963), Revenant (1953).  But none of those films have over 12% of the total points.

Box Office:  The only two films to make the Top 10 are the two Deadpool films which landed at #5 and 6.