Searchlight Pictures

Did You Know?

• Slumdog Millionaire is the studio's highest-grossing film, earning over $377 million against a $15 million budget.
• Searchlight's films have amassed 51 Academy Awards, 30 Golden Globe Awards, and 56 BAFTA awards.

History

In the early 1990s, Fox executives sought to replicate the success of Disney's Miramax. In 1994, Fox announced a new subsidiary, bringing in Thomas Rothman from The Samuel Goldwyn Company as its founding president. Its first release, The Brothers McMullen (1995), was followed by films like Girl 6 and Stealing Beauty (1996), which were critically praised but not commercially successful. The Full Monty (1997) became the studio's first commercial breakthrough and earned its first awards. In 2006, Fox Atomic was created for genre films but closed in 2009. In 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced the split of News Corporation into two companies, with Fox Searchlight's parent becoming 21st Century Fox. Fox Stage Productions formed in June 2013, and in August 2013, 20th Century Fox started a theatrical joint venture with producers Kevin McCollum, John Davis, and Tom McGrath.

Related units

Searchlight Television, the TV arm of Searchlight Pictures, began operations in April 2018 under the leadership of David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield. The division creates both original content and television adaptations of Searchlight’s film catalog for cable, streaming, and broadcast platforms, covering documentaries, scripted series, and limited series. In April 2019, Hulu ordered the series The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried, from Searchlight Television and 20th Television. Other projects in development include a City of Ghosts adaptation with ABC Signature and an Inheritance Trilogy adaptation with Westbrook Studios. In October 2021, Hulu ordered a sequel series to Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part I from the same production partners. In March 2019, the studio launched Searchlight Shorts, acquiring festival short films for its YouTube channel. The first two acquisitions were Birdie and Skin, with Skin winning the 2018 Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.