Searchlight Pictures

Background: Fox Searchlight Pictures was formed in 1994 under News Corporation (and now owned by The Walt Disney Company) as a division of 20th Century Studios (previously 20th Century Fox Film Corporation) for independent, arthouse, foreign, horror, and African-American film releases. In January 2020, Disney announced that it would remove "Fox" from the company's name, renaming it to "Searchlight Pictures".

1st Logo (1995)
Fox Searchlight Pictures Trailer logo

Logo: On a black background is a vertical white line on the middle-left which protrudes to the bottom of the middle. On the right of the line is:

FOX-- SEARCHLIGHT-- PICTURES-

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Just the soundtrack of the trailer.

Availability: Ultra rare. Seen after the 1994 20th Century Fox logo on the trailer for The Brothers McMullen.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (March 22-November 8, 1996)
Fox Searchlight Pictures (1996)Fox Searchlight Pictures (1996, Widescreen)

Nicknames: "Searchlights", "Still Searchlights", "Fox Structure", "Still Fox Structure", "Fox Searchlight Structure"

Logo: It's the still version of the 1994 20th Century Fox logo, except "20th CENTURY FOX" is replaced with "FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES", with "SEARCHLIGHT" in the middle larger, and with "FOX" above and "PICTURES" below, respectively. The News Corporation byline is still there.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the movie/trailer.

Availability: Rare. Seen on trailers for very early Fox Searchlight Pictures releases. However, the only films with this logo are Girl 6, She's the One, Looking for Richard, and The Secret Agent. Current prints of She's the One and Looking for Richard have the next logo or the 1994 20th Century Fox logo plastering it, though it survives on Girl 6 with the 1994 logo preceding it.

Editor's Note: Since this logo lasted for a short time, it's probably a placeholder.

3rd Logo (February 21, 1997-February 11, 2011)
Fox Searchlight Pictures - CLG WikiFox Searchlight Pictures - CLG Wiki

Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights", "Fox Structure II", "Fox Searchlight Structure II"

Logo: We start out looking at a city skyline, most likely that of Los Angeles. The camera begins to move right, past a searchlight. The searchlight turns on, followed by two more in the background turning on. We then reach the middle of the Fox "stack" structure, but instead of seeing a narrow "CENTURY", we see a large "SEARCHLIGHT". The camera pulls back and reveals "FOX" above and "PICTURES" below. After the logo is finished zooming out, the byline "A NEWS CORPORATION COMPANY" fades in, then the rightmost searchlight moves towards us, filling the screen with light, then we fade out.

Variants:
 * On some films, the News Corporation byline is slightly smaller. Primarily, this is used for movies with a wider aspect ratio, but on some movies, such as Slums of Beverly Hills, The Impostors, 20 Dates, Boys Don't Cry, and Dreaming of Joseph Lees, it is used on the regular 16:9 version of the logo, while some wider films, such as Titus and Sexy Beast, use the regular byline instead.
 * A bylineless version exists, but it was used solely for corporate purposes and never appeared on any film.

FX/SFX: The movement of the camera.

Music/Sounds: The 1994 Fox fanfare, later replaced in 1999 with the 1997 fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On some films, like 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, there is a low-toned version of the fanfare.
 * Another variant uses the short version of the 1997 Fox fanfare.

Availability: Common. It's seen on indie, art-house, and foreign movie releases distributed by Fox from this era. The logo premiered on Blood and Wine and made its final theatrical appearance on Cedar Rapids (though the trailers for said film use the next logo instead).

Editor's Note: Same as the 1994 20th Century Fox logo.

4th Logo (2010-December 13, 2019)
Fox Searchlight Pictures 2010Fox Searchlight Pictures (May 31, 2013 color palette)Fox Searchlight Pictures - CLG WikiFox Searchlight Pictures open matte logo (2013)Fox Searchlight Pictures fullscreen logo

Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights II", "Enhanced City Skyline Searchlights", "Fox Structure III", "Fox Searchlight Structure III"

Logo: This is a redone and more realistic version of the last logo, based on the structure of the 2009 20th Century Fox logo. This time, it is in a dark/orange evening environment. There are newer and more realistic textures added to the FSP structure, we can see palm trees at the bottom at the start and near the right at the end, and it's more obvious at the end that the searchlight is pointing at us when it fills the screen with light.

Trivia: This logo is based on the 2009 TCF logo designed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha and was animated at Blue Sky Studios.

Variants:
 * There are variants where the structure is seen in an extreme close-up (ala cropped from scope into 1.78:1) or shown at a far distance in the entire 16:9 frame.
 * There is a 4:3 variant seen on some TV spots.
 * Starting with the release of Enough Said on September 20, 2013, the News Corporation byline is excluded and the logo is bylineless for the first time since the 1995 logo. This is mainly due to the split of News Corporation on June 28, 2013.
 * On the trailer for Tolkien, after the screen is filled with light, it fades to a dark grey background with a silver rectangle. The object has a large "25" on the left with "YEARS" inside the 5 on in the first quarter on the left, and in the other three quarters is the print logo, minus the searchlights.

FX/SFX: Very nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: The 1997 Fox fanfare or silence.

Availability: First seen on the trailers for The Tree of Life, Cedar Rapids and later trailers for Win Win (the logo premiered on the film itself). The last film to use this logo with the News Corporation byline was The Way Way Back, released on July 5, 2013. The last film to use this logo was A Hidden Life.

Editor's Note: It's a suitable successor to the previous logo.

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1st Logo (February 14, 2020-)
Searchlight Pictures (2020)

Nicknames: "CGI City Skyline Searchlights III", "Enhanced City Skyline Searchlights II", "Searchlight Structure"

Logo: Nearly the same as the final Fox Searchlight Pictures logo, except "FOX" has been removed from the top of the structure, and the words are slightly taller and bigger. The Los Angeles cityscape and mountains in the background are more realistic and bigger with greater depth, and the sky backdrop is much different.

FX/SFX: Still very nice CGI from Blue Sky Studios, this time in collaboration with MOCEAN.

Music/Sounds: The 1997 Fox fanfare, same as the last logo.

Availability: First seen on "For Your Consideration" spots for Jojo Rabbit, and premiered on Downhill.

Editor's Note: Like the 20th Century Studios logo, it may take some time to get used to, but it is still an excellent logo.