20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC) was a home video distribution arm that distributed films produced by 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Animation and several third-party studios, as well as television series by 20th Television, Searchlight Television, 20th Television Animation and FX Productions (until 2020) in home entertainment formats.
For 38 years, 20th Century Home Entertainment was the distinct home video distribution arm of Fox Entertainment Group. It was formed in 1982 as 20th Century-Fox Video. On March 20, 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, and as a result, its operations were folded into Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Disney's own home entertainment division.
History
20th Century-Fox Video (1981–1982)
From 1976 to 1981, the video distribution arm had been under a deal with a home entertainment company called Magnetic Video, a small independent home video distributor founded by Andre Blay and Leon Nicholson that was based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, after a previous relationship with the company. In March 1979, 20th Century-Fox acquired Magnetic Video. In late 1981, Fox renamed Magnetic Video Corporation to 20th Century-Fox Video and continued to be headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
During this time, 20th Century-Fox Video released a few titles for rental only, including Eye of the Needle, Caveman, Death Hunt, Dr. No, A Fistful of Dollars, Rocky, Taps, For Your Eyes Only, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (aka Chu Chu and the Philadelphia Flash), La Cage aux Folles II, and Star Wars. While sale tapes were in big boxes that were later used by CBS/Fox in its early years (dubbed "Fox Boxes" by VHS collectors), Video Rental Library tapes were packaged in black clamshell cases. Similar approaches were taken by other companies; however, none lasted long.