I can make you hear something just by reading four words: 20th Century Fox fanfare.
If you’ve seen a movie in your lifetime, chances are your head is now filled with snare drums, timpani and orchestral horns.
There’s also a fair likelihood that after that 20-or-so-second phrase drifts away into the foggy ether of your mind that another tune might creep in on its heels: the Star Wars theme.
The connection was finally severed in December 2015, three years and two months after Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion.
The familiar drum roll and roving spotlights of Fox’s opener were, for the first time, absent from a Star Wars title.
The filmmaker insisted it be played before his first Star Wars film, and a renaissance of sorts began for the fanfare.
In that, 20th Century Fox may have accomplished that most elusive of corporate branding goals: Connecting with a fan’s heart, not just their wallet. »