Fox Film

Fox Film Corporation
IndustryFilm
Predecessors
  • Greater New York Film Rental Company
  • Box Office Attraction Company
FoundedFebruary 1, 1915; 109 years ago (1915-02-01) in Fort Lee, New Jersey
FounderWilliam Fox
DefunctMay 31, 1935; 89 years ago (1935-05-31)
FateMerged with Twentieth Century Pictures
Successor20th Century-Fox (now 20th Century Studios)
Subsidiaries
  • Fox-Case Corporation
  • Fox Movietone Corporation
  • Sunshine Comedy

The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1915 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox. It was the corporate successor to his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attraction Company (founded 1913).

The company's first film studios were set up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but in 1917, William Fox sent Sol M. Wurtzel to Hollywood, California to oversee the studio's new West Coast production facilities, where the climate was more hospitable for filmmaking. On July 23, 1926, Fox Studios bought the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

After the Wall Street Crash of 1929, William Fox lost control of the company in 1930, during a hostile takeover. Under new president Sidney R. Kent, the new owners merged the company with Twentieth Century Pictures to form 20th Century-Fox in 1935.