# Why not 21st Century Fox?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637 "2004-11-14T01:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/1 "2004-11-14T01:04:35Z")
Had the powers-that-be at 20th Century Fox ever considered changing the name of their company to 21st Century Fox? ---
**Author:** ![pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/2 "2004-11-14T01:17:41Z")
I heard that some random guy had bought the trademark “21st Century Fox” and planned to sell it to Fox at the turn of the century for a rather large sum of money. So they just stuck with 20th instead when the time came! Could just be a (rather crap) UL though… ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/3 "2004-11-14T01:45:52Z")
I heard that too. They do use 30th Century Fox at the end of Futurama, maybe they should just go with that. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/4 "2004-11-14T02:07:29Z")
In one of the \*Bathroom Readers \* books, supposedly Fox has already gotten the rights to it. No cite though, just something I read. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/5 "2004-11-14T02:57:40Z")
> [@Pretend My Name Is Witty](#): > > …they just stuck with 20th instead when the time came! For real? I thought they became Fox Searchlight Pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/6 "2004-11-14T03:07:35Z")
Signifying nothing, I wrote a Star Trek fanfic that suggested Twenty-Fourth Century Fox was negotiating “holonovel” rights to a character’s life story, on the unspoken assumption that Paramount would have long gone belly-up by then. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/7 "2004-11-14T04:00:01Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > For real? I thought they became Fox Searchlight Pictures. Searchlight is the “[independent arm](http://www.foxsearchlight.com/aboutus/)” of [20th Century](http://www.foxmovies.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/8 "2004-11-14T05:28:37Z")
There is a registered trademark of “21st Century Fox”, filed in 1996 by . . . guess who, 20th Century Fox Corp. (See the [U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office](http://www.uspto.gov/).) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/9 "2004-11-14T10:16:54Z")
It’s a strong and instantly recognisable brand. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. 2000 AD comic {started in 1977, when most British comic titles lasted a couple of years at best} endured years of speculation as to what the title would change to when the big odometer in the sky clicked over. It’s still called 2000 AD. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-21st-century-fox/274637/10 "2004-11-14T11:56:37Z")
FYI, “20th Century Fox” is actually the result of a merger of two companies, 20th Century Pictures and Fox Pictures, in 1935.