The 20th Century Fox Story (1980-1989)

Thanks to the incredible success of "Star Wars" (1977) and "Alien" (1979), 20th Century Fox reported its biggest financial earnings by far and entered the 1980's with high hopes. In 1981, businessmen Marvin Davis and Marc Rich purchased the studio. Their period of ownership was profitable but short lived due to Rich's tax evasion charges and shady business dealings. In 1985, just in time for the studio's 50th anniversary, Davis sold Rich's interests in the studio to Australian multi-business magnate and investor Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corporation. Murdoch would eventually buy out Davis' shares and in doing so, he acquired full ownership of the studio. After being fully independent for a half a century, Fox would finally join the ranks of the other major Hollywood studios and become the property of a separate media conglomerate. By the end of 1985, Fox would become a division of News Corporation. Always looking to expand his business and media interests, Murdoch quickly considered branching the Fox name out into other forms of media. Newly appointed studio chairman and CEO Barry Diller was only too happy to oblige. After trying and failing to launch a fourth major broadcast television network during his years as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Diller successfully launched the FOX television network in 1986. Towards the very end of the decade, the FOX network would premiere its and 20th Century Fox Television's longest running success: the smash hit, half-hour animated comedy "The Simpsons."

Of course, the box office hits were plentiful throughout the decade. Among the biggest were the next two installments in the "Star Wars" saga (1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" and 1983's "Return of the Jedi"), "Nine to Five" (1980), "The Verdict" (1982), "Romancing the Stone" (1984) and its sequel "The Jewel of the Nile" (1985), "Cocoon" (1985, the film that brought Don Ameche back to the studio after 40 years and won him an Oscar), "Commando" (1985), "Prizzi's Honor" (1985), "Aliens" (1986), "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986), "Broadcast News" (1987), "The Princess Bride" (1987), "Raising Arizona" (1987), "Wall Street" (1987), "Big" (1988), "Working Girl" (1988), "The Abyss" (1989) and "The War of the Roses" (1989). Several very popular franchises also began during this decade including "Porky's" (1981), "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984), "Highlander" (1986), "Predator" (1987), "Young Guns" (1988) and perhaps most notably: "Die Hard", the 1988 surprise box office smash that catapulted Bruce Willis from comedic television actor to Hollywood's next A-list box office action star overnight.

Those films and well over 100 others are all chronologically listed here in this latest chapter of the 20th Century Fox story. Fox continued to clean up at the box office throughout the blockbuster obsessed 80's. Little did anyone in Hollywood (including Fox management themselves) know that the studio was about to set some surprising new box office records during the 90's...starting with a slapstick Christmas comedy from former teen "dramedy" filmmaker John Hughes.

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