165-570: Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including Fox , Goldwyn , Metro , Warner Brothers , and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Beaumont's greatest successes were during the silent film era, when he directed films including John Barrymore 's Beau Brummel (1924) and the silent youth movie Our Dancing Daughters (1928), featuring Joan Crawford . He then directed MGM's first talkie musical, The Broadway Melody (1929). The latter film won
330-461: A 2003 interview, Maria remembered that she "had a terrible temper" and "from one moment to the next, you didn't know what hit her. We were not used to this. But we took it like a thunderstorm that would pass, because the next minute she could be very nice." Maria Kutschera had indeed been a novice at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg and had been hired by the von Trapp family. However, she was hired only to be
495-468: A Nazi regime. Georg is depicted in the film as a humorless, emotionally distant father. In reality, third child Maria Franziska von Trapp (called "Louisa" in the film) described her father as a doting parent who made handmade gifts for the children in his woodshop and who would often lead family musicales on his violin. She has a different recollection of her stepmother Maria Augusta Kutschera , whom she described as moody and prone to outbursts of rage. In
660-461: A VFX company that worked on Avatar and The Jungle Book , was purchased in April 2017 to operate as Fox VFX Lab. Technoprops' founder Glenn Derry would continue to run the company as vice president of visual effect reporting to Gerard Bevan and John Kilkenny, VFX president. On October 30, 2017, Vanessa Morrison was named president of a newly created 20th Century Fox division, Fox Family, reporting to
825-545: A bid from Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal ) for $ 65 billion, Disney counterbid with $ 71.3 billion. On July 19, 2018, Comcast dropped out of the bid for 21st Century Fox in favor of Sky plc and Sky UK . Eight days later, Disney and 21st Century Fox shareholders approved the merger between the two companies. Although the deal was completed on March 20, 2019, 20th Century Fox was not planning to relocate to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank , but retained its headquarters at
990-469: A buyer for the film and the studio. Instead, Ice Age was released by Fox in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Animation on March 15, 2002, to critical and commercial success, receiving a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003. Ice Age would spawn a franchise and bolster Blue Sky into producing feature films and becoming a household name in feature animation. From 2000 to 2010, 20th Century Fox
1155-451: A comedy feature film titled Ice Age . Studio management pressured staff to sell their remaining shares and options to Fox on the promise of continued employment on feature-length films. The studio moved to White Plains, New York and started production on Ice Age . As the film wrapped, Fox, having little faith in the film, feared that it might bomb at the box office. Fox terminated half of the production staff and tried unsuccessfully to find
1320-587: A completely new score for the entire production if the producers were willing to wait while they completed work on Flower Drum Song . The producers quickly responded that they would wait as long as necessary. The Sound of Music stage musical opened on November 16, 1959, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City and ran on Broadway for 1,443 performances, winning six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In June 1960, Twentieth Century-Fox purchased
1485-420: A day with reserved seating and an intermission similar to Broadway musicals. Kaplan identified forty key cities that would likely be included in the roadshow release and developed a promotional strategy targeting the major newspapers of those cities. During the Salzburg production phase, 20th Century-Fox organized press junkets for American journalists to interview Wise and his team and the cast members. No one
1650-488: A deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge 's Metromedia television stations. Murdoch went ahead alone and bought the stations, and later bought out Davis' remaining stake in 20th Century-Fox for $ 325 million. From 1985, the hyphen was permanently deleted from the brand name, with 20th Century-Fox changing to 20th Century Fox . To gain FCC approval of 20th Century-Fox's purchase of Metromedia 's television holdings, once
1815-661: A deal with the inventor Henri Chrétien , leaving the other film studios empty-handed, and in 1953 introduced CinemaScope in the studio's groundbreaking feature film The Robe . Zanuck announced in February 1953 that henceforth all 20th Century-Fox pictures would be made in CinemaScope. To convince theater owners to install this new process, 20th Century-Fox agreed to help pay conversion costs (about $ 25,000 per screen); and to ensure enough product, 20th Century-Fox leased access to CinemaScope to any rival studio choosing to use it. Seeing
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#17328770266381980-504: A decline of its television ratings; As a result, NBC let their contract to show the film lapse in 2001. That year on November 30, The Sound of Music was broadcast one time on the Fox network, in the heavily edited 140-minute version. Since 2002, the film has aired on ABC on a Sunday before Christmas and has been broadcast on its sister cable network, Freeform , periodically around Easter and other holidays. Most of its more recent showings have been
2145-465: A default notice in regards to its licensing agreement for the under-construction 20th Century Fox World theme park in Malaysia by Genting Malaysia Bhd. In November 2018 Genting Malaysia filed suit in response and included soon to be parent The Walt Disney Company . On December 14, 2017, Disney announced plans to purchase most of 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $ 52.4 billion. After
2310-413: A film every 12–18 months. The deal was to bolster Blue Sky's output and replace the loss of distributing DreamWorks Animation films, which are now owned and distributed by Universal Pictures . The first film to be released under the production company was Ron's Gone Wrong , which was released on October 22, 2021, by 20th Century Studios and was the only film to be released by the studio. Technoprops,
2475-596: A group of Brownshirts , led by the Gauleiter Hans Zeller, waiting outside the villa. To cover his family's tracks, the Captain maintains they are headed to the Salzburg Festival to perform. Zeller insists on escorting them to the festival, after which his men will accompany the Captain to Bremerhaven. Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slips away and seeks shelter at
2640-539: A happy marriage. The von Trapp family lost most of its wealth during the worldwide depression of the early 1930s , when the Austrian national bank folded. In order to survive, the family dismissed the servants and began taking in boarders. They also started singing onstage to earn money, a fact that caused the proud Georg much embarrassment. In the film, the von Trapp family hike over the Alps from Austria to Switzerland to escape
2805-441: A huge international cast, into release as another source of quick cash. This offended Zanuck, still 20th Century-Fox's largest shareholder, for whom The Longest Day was a labor of love that he had dearly wanted to produce for many years. After it became clear that Something's Got to Give would not be able to progress without Monroe in the lead (Martin had refused to work with anyone else), Skouras finally decided that re-signing her
2970-576: A larger reconstructed set at Fox studios, while some shots of the original gazebo were filmed on the grounds at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg. Most of the soundtrack to The Sound of Music was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal , who also adapted the instrumental underscore passages. Both the lyrics and music for two new songs were written by Rodgers, as Hammerstein died in 1960. The soundtrack album
3135-427: A little corny, The Sound of Music will win over all but the most cynical filmgoers with its classic songs and irresistible warmth." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The Sound of Music is one of the most commercially successful films of all time. Four weeks after its theatrical release, it became
3300-468: A more difficult time casting the role of the Captain. Many actors were considered for the part, including Bing Crosby , Yul Brynner , Sean Connery , and Richard Burton . Wise had seen Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him for the role, but the stage actor turned down the offer several times. Wise flew to London to meet with Plummer and explained his concept of the film; the actor accepted after being assured that he could work with Lehman to improve
3465-504: A one-time only broadcast that became one of the top 20 rated films shown on television to that point with a Nielsen rating of 33.6 and an audience share of 49%. The film was not shown again until NBC acquired the broadcast rights in June 1977 for $ 21.5 million for 20 showings over 22 years. The first NBC broadcast of the film was on February 11, 1979. NBC continued to broadcast the film annually for twenty years. During most of its run on NBC,
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#17328770266383630-553: A total domestic gross of $ 163,214,076 and a total worldwide gross of $ 286,214,076. Adjusted for inflation, the film earned about $ 2.366 billion at 2014 prices—placing it among the top ten highest-grossing films of all time. The Sound of Music has been included in numerous top film lists from the American Film Institute . The first American television broadcast of The Sound of Music was on February 29, 1976, on ABC , which paid $ 15 million ($ 84.9 million in 2023) for
3795-561: A total of 41 weeks at number one. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all time, with over $ 67.5 million in worldwide rentals ( $ 125 million in gross receipts), surpassing Gone with the Wind , which held that distinction for twenty-four years. It was still in the top ten at the US box office in its 100th week of release. The Sound of Music completed its initial four-and-a-half year theatrical release run in
3960-402: A tutor to young Maria Franziska, who had contracted scarlet fever and needed her lessons at home; she was not hired to be a governess to all of the children. Maria and Georg married for practical reasons rather than love and affection for each other. Georg needed a mother for his children, and Maria needed the security of a husband and family once she decided to leave the abbey. "I really and truly
4125-520: A video game based-studio 20th Century Games. Similar to its predecessors— FoxNext , Fox Interactive and 20th Century Fox Games—it acts as a distributor and has partnered with other triple-A game studios. Its first title was Aliens: Fireteam Elite . On February 8, 2022, Steven Spielberg's 2021 film version of West Side Story , among its seven Academy Award nominations, earned 20th Century Studios its first Best Picture nomination post-rebranding. The Sound of Music (film) The Sound of Music
4290-578: A work designed for the stage into a film that could use the camera to emphasize action and mood and open the story up to the beautiful locations of Salzburg and the Austrian Alps. The "Do-Re-Mi" sequence in the play, for example, was originally a stagnant number; Lehman transformed it into a lively montage showing some of the beautiful sites of Salzburg, as well as showing Maria and the children growing closer over time. Lehman also eliminated two songs, "How Can Love Survive?" and " No Way to Stop It ", sung by
4455-485: A year later. President Spyros Skouras brought in a series of production executives, but none had Zanuck's success. By the early 1960s, 20th Century-Fox was in trouble. A new version of Cleopatra (1963) began production in 1959 with Joan Collins in the lead. As a publicity gimmick, producer Walter Wanger offered $ 1 million to Elizabeth Taylor if she would star; she accepted and costs for Cleopatra began to escalate. Richard Burton 's on-set romance with Taylor
4620-419: Is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise from a screenplay written by Ernest Lehman , and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer , with Richard Haydn , Peggy Wood , Charmian Carr , and Eleanor Parker . The film is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical composed by Richard Rodgers , with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Lindsay and Crouse . It
4785-730: Is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios , the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of The Walt Disney Company . It is headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles, which is leased from Fox Corporation . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by this studio in theatrical markets. For over 80 years, 20th Century has been one of
4950-428: Is an amendment to the original agreement between 20th Century Fox and HBO that Disney inherited after its acquisition of Fox in 2019, and as such, is not expected to be renewed. Following the end of the 20th Century-HBO deal, Disney plans to retain the 20th Century films on their own streaming platforms going forward after 2022. The first film to this new strategy was Ron's Gone Wrong . Also in 2021, Disney had launched
5115-685: Is based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp and is set in Salzburg , Austria. It is a fictional retelling of her experiences as governess to seven children, her eventual marriage with their father Captain Georg von Trapp , and their escape during the Anschluss in 1938. Filming took place from March to September 1964 in Los Angeles and Salzburg. The Sound of Music
Harry Beaumont - Misplaced Pages Continue
5280-609: Is comfortable with an excess of hearts and flowers, but there is no valid reason for hiding honest emotion. This has always been a major element in the theatre, and it's my conviction that anyone who can't, on occasion, be sentimental about children, home or nature is sadly maladjusted. Richard Rodgers The film had its opening premiere on March 2, 1965, at the Rivoli Theater in New York City. Initial reviews were mixed. Bosley Crowther , in The New York Times , criticized
5445-535: Is presently one of five live-action film studios within the Walt Disney Studios, alongside Walt Disney Pictures , Marvel Studios , Lucasfilm , and its sister speciality unit, Searchlight Pictures . 20th Century also releases animated films produced by its animation division 20th Century Animation . The most commercially successful film series from 20th Century Studios include the first six Star Wars films, X-Men , Ice Age , Avatar , and Planet of
5610-463: Is referred to as "Captain" in the film, but he held a noble title of " Ritter " (hereditary knight) which had higher social status than a naval officer. Austrian nobility was legally abolished in 1919 and the title von was proscribed; however, both continued to be widely used unofficially as a matter of social courtesy. Georg was offered a position in the German Kriegsmarine ; Nazi Germany
5775-412: Is when they sing "The Sound of Music" on their own after Maria leaves. Charmian Carr refuted the claim that the voices of the child actors were dubbed in the film and on the soundtrack. Carr contended that all of the children who are in the film sing on the track, but four other children were added to most of the songs to give them a fuller sound; they did not replace them as singers. The voices of some of
5940-567: The Best Picture Academy Award that year, and Beaumont was nominated for Best Director . Beaumont was married to actress Hazel Daly . The couple had twin daughters Anne and Geraldine, born in 1922. On 22 December 1966, Beaumont died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California . His gravesite is at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale . 20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. , formerly 20th Century Fox ,
6105-523: The Bollywood market, then expand to several Asian markets. In the same year, 20th Century Fox started Fox International Productions , but the division was closed in 2017. Chernin Entertainment was founded by Peter Chernin after he stepped down as president of 20th Century Fox's then-parent company News Corporation. in 2009. Chernin Entertainment's five-year first-look deal for the film and television
6270-583: The Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement , and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical . In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed The Sound of Music as the 55th greatest American film of all time, and the fourth -greatest film musical. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in
6435-518: The Felsenreitschule , Nonnberg Abbey , Mirabell Palace Gardens, Residence Fountain, and various street locations throughout the Altstadt (Old Town) area of the city. Wise faced opposition from city leaders who did not want him staging scenes with swastika banners. They relented after he threatened instead to include old newsreel footage featuring the banners. Rainy days were a constant challenge for
6600-561: The National Film Registry , finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 1938 in Salzburg , at the end of the Federal State of Austria regime, Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey . However, her youthful enthusiasm and lack of discipline cause some concern. Mother Abbess sends Maria to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be
6765-499: The first film and direct its sequel in the prequel trilogy, starting in 2011. In late 2006, Fox Atomic was started up under Fox Searchlight head Peter Rice and COO John Hegeman as a sibling production division under Fox Filmed Entertainment. In early 2008, Atomic's marketing unit was transferred to Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox, when Hegeman moved to New Regency Productions. Debbie Liebling became president. After two middling successes and falling short with other films,
Harry Beaumont - Misplaced Pages Continue
6930-598: The highly acclaimed Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical , which became a significant success at the box office and won five Academy Awards , including Best Director ( Robert Wise ) and Best Picture of the Year . 20th Century-Fox also had two big science-fiction hits in the decade: Fantastic Voyage (1966), and the original Planet of the Apes (1968), starring Charlton Heston , Kim Hunter , and Roddy McDowall . Fantastic Voyage
7095-431: The major American film studios . It was formed in 1935 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation by the merger of Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures , and one of the original " Big Five " among eight majors of Hollywood's Golden Age . In 1985, the studio removed the hyphen in the name (becoming Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation) after being acquired by Rupert Murdoch 's News Corporation , which
7260-633: The "20th Century Fox" name was Underwater , which was released on January 10, 2020. After the box office failures of films like Dark Phoenix and Stuber , Disney halted development on several projects , though films such as Free Guy and the Avatar sequels managed to continue production. Fox's slate would be reduced to 10 films per year, half of them being made for the Hulu and then-upcoming Disney+ streaming services. Projects from 20th Century Fox franchises such as Star Wars , Home Alone , Cheaper by
7425-850: The "Games of the Century" slogan, but the division failed due to the video game crash of 1983 . By 1984, Rich had become a fugitive from justice, having fled to Switzerland after being charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with tax evasion, racketeering and illegal trading with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis . Rich's assets were frozen by U.S. authorities. In 1984 Marvin Davis bought out Marc Rich 's 50% interest in 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation for an undisclosed amount, reported to be $ 116 million. Davis sold this interest to Rupert Murdoch 's News Corporation for $ 250 million in March 1985. Davis later backed out of
7590-615: The 1935 merger as its founding in recent years, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915. The company's films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their opening credits as well as its opening fanfare, but with the name changed to 20th Century-Fox. After the merger was completed, Zanuck signed young actors to help carry 20th Century-Fox: Tyrone Power , Linda Darnell , Carmen Miranda , Don Ameche , Henry Fonda , Gene Tierney , Sonja Henie , and Betty Grable . 20th Century-Fox also hired Alice Faye and Shirley Temple , who appeared in several major films for
7755-475: The 1946 level, 20th Century-Fox gambled on an unproven process. Noting that the two film sensations of 1952 had been Cinerama , which required three projectors to fill a giant curved screen, and "Natural Vision" 3D , which got its effects of depth by requiring the use of polarized glasses, 20th Century-Fox mortgaged its studio to buy rights to a French anamorphic projection system which gave a slight illusion of depth without glasses. President Spyros Skouras struck
7920-590: The 1950s, with Dean Martin and director George Cukor . The troubled Monroe caused delays daily, and it quickly descended into a costly debacle. As Cleopatra ' s budget passed $ 10 million, eventually costing around $ 40 million, 20th Century-Fox sold its back lot (now the site of Century City ) to Alcoa in 1961 to raise funds. After several weeks of script rewrites on the Monroe picture and very little progress, mostly due to director George Cukor's filming methods, in addition to Monroe's chronic sinusitis , Monroe
8085-465: The Apes . Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as The Sound of Music and Titanic , both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and became the highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Twentieth Century Pictures ' Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck left United Artists over a stock dispute, and began merger talks with
8250-528: The Baroness and agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. However, the Baroness learns that the Captain's feelings for Maria have not changed, so she peacefully calls off the engagement and returns to Vienna while encouraging the Captain to express his feelings for Maria, who marries him. While the couple is on their honeymoon, Max enters the children into the Salzburg Festival against their father's wishes. Having learned that Austria has been annexed by
8415-415: The Baroness, who noticed the Captain's attraction to Maria, hides her jealousy by indirectly convincing Maria that she must return to the abbey. Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her growing romantic feelings for the Captain, so she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her purpose in life. When Maria returns to the villa, she learns about the Captain's engagement to
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#17328770266388580-403: The Captain attempts to fire Maria. However, he hears singing from inside the house and is astonished to see his children singing for the Baroness. Filled with emotion, the Captain joins his children, singing for the first time in years. The Captain apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay. Impressed by the children's singing, Max proposes that he enter them in the upcoming Salzburg Festival , but
8745-451: The Captain disapproves of letting his children sing in public. During a grand party at the villa, where guests in formal attire waltz in the ballroom, Maria and the children look on from the garden terrace. When the Captain notices Maria teaching Kurt the traditional Ländler folk dance, he steps in and partners Maria in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace. Confused about her feelings, Maria blushes and breaks away. Later,
8910-622: The Captain is away in Vienna , Maria makes playclothes for the children out of drapes that are to be changed. She takes them around Salzburg and the mountains while teaching them how to sing. When the Captain returns to the villa with Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite , and their mutual friend Max Detweiler, they are greeted by Maria and the children returning from a boat ride on the lake, which ends abruptly when their boat overturns. Displeased by his children's clothes and activities and Maria's impassioned appeal that he get closer to his children,
9075-474: The CinemaScope process including Carousel and The King and I (both 1956). CinemaScope brought a brief upturn in attendance, but by 1956 the numbers again began to slide. That year Darryl Zanuck announced his resignation as head of production. Zanuck moved to Paris, setting up as an independent producer, seldom being in the United States for many years. Zanuck's successor, producer Buddy Adler , died
9240-551: The Dozen , Night at the Museum , Diary of a Wimpy Kid , and Ice Age were later announced for Disney+. These projects would later be fully revealed during Disney's Investor Day in December 2020 as feature films for the aforementioned streaming service. The first of these projects was Home Sweet Home Alone , which was released on November 12, 2021. On January 17, 2020, Disney renamed
9405-563: The Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles, which is currently leased to Disney by 21st Century Fox's successor, Fox Corporation , for seven years. Various units were moved out from under 20th Century Fox at acquisition in months after the merger along with several rounds of layoffs. The Fox Research Library was folded into the Walt Disney Archives and Walt Disney Imagineering Archives in January 2020. The last film to use
9570-483: The Japanese branch of 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Fox Japan, was absorbed into Disney Japan; 20th Century Studios' previous involvement with Toei Company as the Japanese co-distributor and Asian distributor for Dragon Ball films ended and were later taken over by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Releasing (via Sony Pictures Releasing International ). On February 9, 2021, Disney announced that Blue Sky Studios
9735-666: The Japanese version had Japanese dialogue with English songs, and other versions were released with foreign subtitles. The film was a popular success in every country it opened in, except the two countries where the story originated, Austria and Germany. In these two countries, the film had to compete with the much-loved Die Trapp-Familie (1956), which provided the original inspiration for the Broadway musical, and its sequel Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958); both films are still widely popular in German-speaking Europe and considered
9900-529: The Mann Theater and Tulsa, Oklahoma , the following night. Despite the "sensational" responses from the preview audiences, Wise made a few final editing changes before completing the film. According to the original print information for the film, the running time for the theatrical release version was 174 minutes. The film was still in release when the Motion Picture Association film rating system
10065-612: The Nazis, which would not have been possible; Salzburg is over two hundred miles from Switzerland. The von Trapp villa, however, was only a few kilometers from the Austria–Germany border, and the final scene shows the family hiking on the Obersalzberg near the German town of Berchtesgaden , within sight of Adolf Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus Eagle's Nest retreat. In reality, the family simply walked to
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#173287702663810230-599: The Phoenix studio. However, Fox Animation Studios in Los Angeles would be renamed to 20th Century Fox Animation between 1998 and 1999. The Phoenix studio would face financial problems, eventually with Fox laying off 300 of the nearly 380 people who worked at the Phoenix studio to "make films more efficiently". After the box-office failure of Titan A.E. , Fox Animation Studios would shut down on June 26, 2000. Their last film set to be made would have been an adaptation of Wayne Barlowe 's illustrated novel Barlowe's Inferno , and
10395-510: The Sound of Music featured a preview of the documentary and interviews by Diane Sawyer . Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney , The Sound of Music was made available on the Disney+ streaming service upon its debut on November 12, 2019, and then on Hulu on December 18, 2023. The Sound of Music film adaptation, like the stage musical, presents a fictionalized story inspired by
10560-622: The Third Reich , the couple return to their home, where the Captain receives a telegram, ordering him to report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the Kriegsmarine . Strongly opposed to the Nazis and their ideology , the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria immediately. That night, the von Trapp family attempt to flee to Switzerland, but they are stopped by
10725-568: The United States on Labor Day 1969, the longest initial run for a film in the US, having earned $ 68,313,000 in rentals in the United States and Canada. It played for 142 weeks at the Eglinton Theatre in Toronto. It was the first film to gross over $ 100 million. By December 1970, it had earned $ 121.5 million in worldwide rentals, which was over four times higher than the film's estimated break-even point of $ 29.5 million in rentals. The film
10890-711: The United States, the number of tickets sold exceeded the total population. By January 1966, the film had earned $ 20 million in distributor rentals from just 140 roadshow engagements in the United States and Canada. Worldwide, The Sound of Music broke previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries, including the United Kingdom, where it played for a record-breaking three years at the Dominion Theatre in London and earned £4 million in rentals and grossed £6 million—more than twice as much as any other film had taken in. It
11055-549: The Wind , and it held that distinction for five years. The film was popular throughout the world, breaking previous box-office records in 29 countries. It had an initial theatrical release that lasted four and a half years and two successful re-releases. It sold 283 million admissions worldwide and earned a total worldwide gross of $ 286 million. The Sound of Music received five Academy Awards , including Best Picture and Best Director . The film also received Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress ,
11220-454: The abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt. Zeller and his men soon arrive and search the abbey, but the family is able to escape using the caretaker's car. When Zeller's men attempt to pursue, they discover their cars will not start, as two of the nuns have sabotaged their engines. The next morning—after driving to the Swiss border—the von Trapp family make their way on foot across
11385-434: The adult actors had voice doubles, including those of Peggy Wood and Christopher Plummer. Principal photography began on March 26, 1964, at 20th Century-Fox studios in Los Angeles, where scenes were filmed from Maria's bedroom and the abbey cloister and graveyard. The company then flew to Salzburg, where filming resumed on April 23 at Mondsee Abbey for the wedding scenes. From April 25 through May 22, scenes were filmed at
11550-440: The artist over ten weeks and explained his objective for each scene, the feeling that he wanted to convey and the visual images that he wanted to use. When Zuberano was finished, he provided Wise with a complete set of storyboards that illustrated each scene and set which the director used as guidance during filming. Zuberano's storyboards and location photos were also used by art director Boris Leven to design and construct all of
11715-504: The authoritative von Trapp story. Austrians took exception to the liberties taken by the filmmakers with regard to the costumes, which did not reflect the traditional style and the replacement of traditional Austrian folk songs with Broadway show tunes. The film's Nazi theme was especially unpopular in Germany, where the Munich branch manager for 20th Century-Fox approved the unauthorized cutting of
11880-495: The box-office for the first two CinemaScope features, The Robe and How to Marry a Millionaire (also 1953), Warner Bros., MGM, RKO, Universal-International , Columbia , UA, Allied Artists , and Disney quickly adopted the process. In 1956, 20th Century-Fox engaged Robert Lippert to establish a subsidiary company, Regal Pictures , later Associated Producers Incorporated to film B pictures in CinemaScope (but "branded" RegalScope). 20th Century-Fox produced new musicals using
12045-577: The chairman & CEO and Vice Chairman of 20th Century Fox. The family division would develop films that appeal to younger moviegoers and their parents both animated films and films with live-action elements. Also, the division would oversee the studio's family animated television business, which produces holiday television specials based on existing film properties, and oversee feature film adaptation of its TV shows. To replace Morrison at Fox Animation, Andrea Miloro and Robert Baird were named co-presidents of 20th Century Fox Animation. 20th Century Fox issued
12210-473: The character animation of MTV Films' first film Joe's Apartment . Following the studio's expansion, Blue Sky produced character animation for the films Alien Resurrection , A Simple Wish , Mouse Hunt , Star Trek: Insurrection and Fight Club . VIFX was later sold to another VFX studio Rhythm and Hues Studios in March 1999. According to Blue Sky founder Chris Wedge , Fox considered selling Blue Sky as well by 2000 due to financial difficulties in
12375-541: The character of the Captain. Plummer especially helped change a character lacking substance into a stronger, more forceful complex figure with a wry sense of humor and a darker edge. Lehman completed his final draft on March 20, 1964. Lehman's first and only choice for Maria was Julie Andrews. When Wise joined the project, he made a list of his choices for the role, which included Andrews as his first choice, Grace Kelly , and Shirley Jones . Wise and Lehman went to Disney Studios to view footage from Mary Poppins , which
12540-444: The character. Wise also spent considerable time and effort on casting the secondary characters. For the role of Max Detweiler, Wise initially considered Victor Borge , Noël Coward , and Hal Holbrook among others before deciding on Richard Haydn. For the character of Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Wise looked for a "name" actress—Andrews and Plummer were not yet widely known to film audiences—and decided on Eleanor Parker. The casting of
12705-498: The characters of Elsa and Max. In January 1963, he saw the Fox English-dubbed version of the two German films. Not especially impressed, he decided to use the stage musical and Maria's memoir for most of his source material. While Lehman was developing the screenplay, he and Zanuck began looking for a director. Their first choice was Robert Wise , with whom Lehman had worked on the film adaptation of West Side Story , but Wise
12870-462: The children and Plummer in the background. In February 1964, Kaplan began placing ads in the trade papers Daily Variety , Weekly Variety , and The Hollywood Reporter to attract future exhibitor interest in the project. The studio intended the film to have an initial roadshow theatrical release in select large cities in theaters that could accommodate the 70-mm screenings and six-track stereophonic sound. The roadshow concept involved two showings
13035-518: The children's characters began in November 1963 and involved over two hundred interviews and auditions throughout the United States and England. Some of the child actors interviewed or tested, who were not selected, included Mia Farrow , Patty Duke , Lesley Ann Warren , Geraldine Chaplin , Shelley Fabares , Teri Garr , Kurt Russell , and The Osmonds . Most of the actors selected had some acting, singing, or dancing experience. Charmian Carr , however,
13200-424: The company, so Wise arranged for scenes to be shot at St. Margarethen Chapel and Dürer Studios (Reverend Mother's office). From May 23 to June 7, the company worked at Schloss Leopoldskron and an adjacent property called Bertelsmann for scenes representing the lakeside terrace and gardens of the von Trapp villa. From June 9 to 19, scenes were shot at Frohnburg Palace, which represented the front and back façades of
13365-484: The death of her husband Georg in 1947. Hollywood producers expressed interest in purchasing the title only, but Maria refused, wanting her entire story to be told. In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $ 9,000 (equivalent to $ 101,000 in 2023), hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay, and Franz Grothe to supervise the soundtrack, which consisted of traditional Austrian folk songs. The Trapp Family
13530-466: The entire third act of the film following the wedding sequence—the scenes showing Salzburg following the Anschluss . Robert Wise and the studio intervened, the original film was restored, and the branch manager was fired. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , The Sound of Music holds an approval rating of 83% based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Unapologetically sweet and maybe even
13695-472: The family's scheming music director in the film. He is based on the Reverend Fr. Franz Wasner , a secular clergyman who was their musical director for over 20 years while also serving as the family chaplain and accompanied them when they left Austria. The character of Friedrich, the second oldest child in the film version, was based on Rupert, the oldest of the real von Trapp children. Liesl, the oldest child in
13860-510: The family's story that were kept in the musical. Maria had been hired to teach just one child, but the 1956 film made her governess to all seven children. The 1965 film adaptation was influenced by other musicals of its era, such as Mary Poppins , the Rodgers and Hammerstein television production of Cinderella , and the stage production of Lerner and Loewe 's Camelot (coincidentally all starring Julie Andrews ). Screenwriter Ernest Lehman
14025-404: The film adaptation rights to the stage musical for $ 1.25 million ($ 12.9 million in 2023) against ten percent of the gross. In December 1962, 20th Century-Fox president Richard D. Zanuck hired Ernest Lehman to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the stage musical. Lehman reviewed the original script for the stage musical, rearranged the sequence of songs, and began transforming
14190-664: The film be delayed so Wyler could direct The Collector . Zanuck told him to tell Wyler to make the other film, and that they would move ahead on schedule with another director, ending Wyler's participation. Meanwhile, Wise, whose film The Sand Pebbles had been postponed, read Lehman's first draft, was impressed by what he read, and agreed to direct the film, joining the picture in October 1963, and flew to Salzburg with associate producer Saul Chaplin and members of his production team to scout filming locations, including many that Wyler had identified. When he returned, Wise began working on
14355-406: The film was heavily edited to fit a three-hour time slot—approximately 140 minutes without commercials, which inevitably cut around 30 minutes out of the original film. On April 9, 1995, Julie Andrews hosted a four-hour NBC special broadcast of The Sound of Music uncut (minus the entr'acte) with the musical numbers shown in a letterboxed format. The availability of the film on home video led to
14520-584: The film's "romantic nonsense and sentiment", the children's "artificial roles", and Robert Wise's "cosy-cum-corny" direction. Judith Crist , in a biting review in the New York Herald Tribune , dismissed the film as "icky sticky" and designed for "the five to seven set and their mommies". In her review for McCall's magazine, Pauline Kael called the film "the sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat", and that audiences have "turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming
14685-525: The film's release. The film is often included in boxed sets with other Rodgers & Hammerstein film adaptations. A 40th anniversary DVD, with "making of" documentaries and special features, was released on November 15, 2005. The film made its debut issue on Blu-ray Disc on November 2, 2010, for its 45th anniversary. For the Blu-ray release, the original 70 mm negatives were rescanned at 8K resolution , then restored and remastered at 4K resolution for
14850-433: The film, was based on Agathe von Trapp, the second oldest in the real family. The names and ages of the children were changed, in part because the third child was also named Maria, so the producers changed her name to Liesl because they thought that it would be confusing to have two characters called Maria in the film. The von Trapp family had no control over how they were depicted in the film and stage musical, having given up
15015-419: The film. After hiring musical supervisor Roger Edens , Wyler, Lehman, and Edens traveled to Salzburg to scout filming locations. In two weeks they managed to see approximately seventy-five locations—an experience that helped Lehman conceptualize several important sequences. During that trip, Lehman began to have reservations about Wyler's commitment to the project and communicated this to Zanuck, who instructed
15180-452: The filmmakers used artistic license to convey the essence and meaning of their story. Georg Ludwig von Trapp was indeed an anti-Nazi opposed to the Anschluss , and he lived with his family in a villa in a district of Salzburg called Aigen . Their lifestyle depicted in the film, however, greatly exaggerated their standard of living. The actual family villa located at Traunstraße 34, Aigen 5026
15345-465: The films produced by 20th Century and Searchlight in home media under the 20th Century Home Entertainment label. The first film released by Disney under the studio's new name was The Call of the Wild , which was released on February 21, 2020. That same year, Ford vs. Ferrari (2019), among its four Academy Award nominations, earned the studio its first Best Picture nomination post-Disney acquisition. In
15510-589: The first time ABC aired the entire film in its original Todd-AO aspect ratio, using the 2010 4K restoration as the basis. In the United Kingdom, the BBC acquired the film rights, paying a corporation record $ 4.1 million. The Sound of Music was first broadcast on BBC One on December 25, 1978, and as of December 2016, fifteen times since, mostly around Christmas time . As the BBC channels in Britain are not funded by advertising there
15675-400: The frontier into Switzerland to safety and freedom. The real Maria von Trapp has a brief uncredited cameo as a passerby, alongside her daughter Rosmarie and the daughter of Werner von Trapp, during "I Have Confidence". The Sound of Music story is based on Maria von Trapp's memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers , published in 1949 to help promote her family's singing group following
15840-434: The full version in a four-hour time slot, complete with the entr'acte. ABC first broadcast a high-definition version on December 28, 2008. On December 22, 2013, the annual broadcast had its highest ratings since 2007; the increase in ratings was credited to NBC's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live! —a live television adaptation of the original musical which aired earlier that month. The December 17, 2023, broadcast marked
16005-634: The history of the von Trapp family. The musical was based on the West German film The Trapp Family (1956) rather than Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoirs, as director Vincent J. Donehue had seen the film and decided that it would make a good vehicle for Mary Martin . The musical followed the film's plot so closely that the New York Times review of the West German film noticed that it "strongly suggests 'The Sound of Music,' often scene by scene." The West German screenwriters made several significant changes to
16170-412: The last two scenes shot in the gazebo—for the songs "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"—principal photography concluded on September 1, 1964. A total of 83 scenes were filmed in just over five months. Post-production work began on August 25 with three weeks of dialogue dubbing to correct lines that were ruined by various street noises and rain. In October, Christopher Plummer's singing voice
16335-466: The lilting R-H tunes, magnificently mounted and with a brilliant cast". The "wildly mixed film reviews" reflected the critical response to the stage musical, according to The Oxford Companion to the American Musical . After its Los Angeles premiere on March 10, The Sound of Music opened in 131 theaters in the United States, including a limited number of roadshow events. After four weeks, it became
16500-457: The local train station and boarded a train to Italy, from which they travelled to Switzerland, France, and London. The Trapps were entitled to Italian citizenship since Georg had been born in Zadar , Dalmatia , Austria-Hungary , which had been annexed by Italy after World War I. From London they emigrated to the United States on their Italian passports. The fictional character Max Detweiler acted as
16665-469: The management of financially struggling Fox Film , under President Sidney Kent. Spyros Skouras , then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters , helped make it happen (and later became president of the new company). The company had been struggling since founder William Fox lost control of the company in 1930. Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures merged in 1935. Initially, it
16830-511: The new $ 100 million animation studio. Fox 2000 Pictures was formed to specialize in mid-budget-ranging films targeted towards underserved groups of audiences, with Laura Ziskin brought on as president. In August 1997, Fox's Los Angeles-based visual effects company, VIFX, acquired majority interest in Blue Sky Studios to form a new visual effects and animation company, temporarily renamed "Blue Sky/VIFX". Blue Sky had previously did
16995-415: The new governess to his seven children: Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The Captain has been raising his children using strict military discipline following the death of his wife; they have scared away several governesses by playing tricks. Although the children misbehave at first, Maria responds with kindness and patience, and soon the children come to trust and respect her. While
17160-503: The new studio. It was soon given its name with Rothman as its founding president. Fox Family Films was tasked with producing films geared towards families, under John Matoian . Fox Animation Studios was established on August 9, 1994, designed to compete with Walt Disney Feature Animation , whom had found success in the Disney Renaissance . Don Bluth and Gary Goldman of the failing Sullivan Bluth Studios were appointed to head
17325-409: The number-one box office film in the United States, from revenue generated by twenty-five theaters, each screening only ten roadshow performances per week. It held the number one position for thirty of the next forty-three weeks, and ended up the highest-grossing film of 1965. One contributing factor in the film's early commercial success was the repeat business of many filmgoers. In some cities in
17490-542: The number-one box office film in the country and held that position for thirty out of the next forty-three weeks in 1965. The original theatrical release of the film in America lasted four and a half years. A few months after its United States release, The Sound of Music opened in 261 theaters in other countries, the first American film to be completely dubbed in a foreign language, both dialogue and music. The German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions were completely dubbed,
17655-464: The original interior sets at Fox studios, as well as some external sets in Salzburg. The von Trapp villa was filmed in several locations: the front and back façades were filmed at Frohnburg Palace, the lakeside terrace and gardens was a set constructed on a property adjacent to Schloss Leopoldskron called Bertelsmann, and the interior was a constructed set at Fox Studios. The gazebo scenes for "Something Good" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" were filmed on
17820-510: The profits to acquire resort properties, soft-drink bottlers, Australian theaters and other properties in an attempt to diversify enough to offset the boom-or-bust cycle of picture-making. Foreshadowing a pattern of film production still yet to come, in late 1973 20th Century-Fox joined forces with Warner Bros. to co-produce The Towering Inferno (1974), an all-star action blockbuster from producer Irwin Allen . Both studios found themselves owning
17985-540: The publicity campaign for the film. After reading the script, Kaplan decided on the ad line "The Happiest Sound in All the World", which would appear on promotional material and artwork. Kaplan also brought in outside agencies to work with the studio's advertising department to develop the promotional artwork, eventually selecting a painting by Howard Terpning of Andrews on an alpine meadow with her carpetbag and guitar case in hand with
18150-479: The rights to books about burning skyscrapers. Allen insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios and announced that as 20th Century-Fox was already in the lead with their property it would be career suicide to have competing movies. Thus the first joint-venture studio deal was struck. In hindsight, while it may be commonplace now, back in the 1970s, it was a risky, but revolutionary, idea that paid off handsomely at both domestic and international box offices around
18315-407: The same role on Mary Poppins , prerecorded the songs with a large orchestra and singers on a stage before the start of filming. In her book, The Sound of Music: The Making of America's Favorite Movie , Julia Antopol Hirsch says that Kostal used seven children and five adults to record the children's voices; the only scene in which the child-actors' singing is heard in the released version of the film
18480-871: The same year, held-over production president Emma Watts left the company. On March 12, 2020, Steve Asbell was named president, production of 20th Century Studios, while Morrison was named president, streaming, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production to oversee live-action development and production of Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Studios for Disney+ . Philip Steuer will now lead physical and post-production and VFX, as president of production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production. Randi Hiller will now lead casting as executive VP casting, overseeing both Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Studios. Steuer has served as executive VP of physical production for Walt Disney Studios since 2015, and Hiller has led casting for Walt Disney Studios since 2011. Both will dual-report to Asbell and Sean Bailey . On September 1, 2020,
18645-409: The script. Wise shared Lehman's vision of the film being centered on the music, and the changes he made were consistent with the writer's approach—mainly reducing the amount of sweetness and sentimentality found in the stage musical. He had reservations about Lehman's opening aerial sequence because West Side Story , whose screenplay Lehman had also written, had used a similar opening sequence, but he
18810-480: The sickly, goody-goody songs." Wise later recalled, "The East Coast, intellectual papers and magazines destroyed us, but the local papers and the trades gave us great reviews". Indeed, reviewers such as Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "three hours of visual and vocal brilliance", and Variety called it "a warmly-pulsating, captivating drama set to the most imaginative use of
18975-503: The stations of the long-dissolved DuMont network, Murdoch had to become a U.S. citizen. He did so in 1985, and in 1986 the new Fox Broadcasting Company took to the air. Over the next 20-odd years the network and owned-stations group expanded to become extremely profitable for News Corporation. Then in 1993, 20th Century Fox bought the superhero rights to the X-Men , while the Fantastic Four
19140-569: The story as a stage musical for Mary Martin . Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who had won the Pulitzer Prize for State of the Union . They approached Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to compose one song for the musical, but the composers felt the two styles—traditional Austrian folk songs and their composition—would not work together. They offered to write
19305-453: The studio in the 1930s. Higher attendance during World War II helped 20th Century-Fox overtake RKO and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to become the third most profitable film studio. In 1941, Zanuck was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Signal Corps and assigned to supervise the production of U.S. Army training films. His partner, William Goetz , filled in at 20th Century-Fox. In 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of
19470-529: The studio to "20th Century Studios", which served to help avoid brand confusion with Fox Corporation. Similar to other Disney film units, distribution of 20th Century Studios films is now handled in North America by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and internationally by their sub-division Buena Vista International , while Searchlight Pictures operates their own autonomous distribution and marketing unit. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes
19635-410: The studio, laid off the entire staff to save money, axed the long-running Movietone Newsreel (the archives of which are now owned by Fox News ), and made a series of cheap, popular pictures that restored 20th Century-Fox as a major studio. The saving grace for the studio's fortunes came from the tremendous success of The Sound of Music (1965), an expensive and handsomely produced film adaptation of
19800-433: The studio. During the next few years, with pictures like Wilson (1944), The Razor's Edge (1946), Boomerang , Gentleman's Agreement (both 1947), The Snake Pit (1948), and Pinky (1949), Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. 20th Century-Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams ' Leave Her to Heaven (1945), starring Gene Tierney , which
19965-433: The trail of film stardom" on August 6, 1935, when they each received a six-month contract with 20th Century-Fox after spending 18 months in the school. The contracts included a studio option for renewal for as long as seven years. For many years, 20th Century Fox identified themselves as having been founded in 1915, the year Fox Film was founded. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary. However, it has considered
20130-427: The transfer to Blu-ray, giving the most detailed copy of the film seen thus far. On March 10, 2015, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition —a five-disc set featuring thirteen hours of bonus features, including a new documentary, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg . A March 2015 episode of ABC's 20/20 entitled The Untold Story of
20295-410: The unit was shut down in April 2009. The remaining films under its Atomic label in production and post-productions were transferred to 20th Century Fox and Fox Spotlight with Liebling overseeing them. In 2008, 20th Century Fox announced an Asian subsidiary, Fox STAR Studios , a joint venture with STAR TV , also owned by News Corporation. It was reported that Fox STAR would start by producing films for
20460-563: The villa. Karath could not swim and was in danger during the capsizing boat scene. The "Do-Re-Mi" picnic scene in the mountains was filmed above the town of Werfen in the Salzach River valley on June 25 and 27. The opening sequence of Maria on her mountain was filmed from June 28 to July 2 at Mehlweg mountain near the town of Marktschellenberg in Bavaria. During filming, Birch trees were added and then removed. The brook that she walks through
20625-405: The visual effects industry in general. In February 1998, following the success of Fox Animation Studios' first film Anastasia , Fox Family Films changed its name to Fox Animation Studios and dropped its live action production. which would be picked up by other production units. The actual Fox Animation Studios would become a division of the formerly-named Fox Family Films, being referred to as
20790-473: The world. 20th Century-Fox's success reached new heights by backing the most profitable film made up to that time, Star Wars (1977). Substantial financial gains were realized as a result of the film's unprecedented success: from a low of $ 6 in June 1976, stock prices more than quadrupled to almost $ 27 after Star Wars release; 1976 revenues of $ 195 million rose to $ 301 million in 1977. With financial stability came new owners, when 20th Century-Fox
20955-411: The writer to finalize the first draft of the screenplay as quickly as possible. Lehman completed the first draft on September 10, 1963, and sent it to Wyler, who had no suggestions or changes to add. At that time, Lehman also secretly gave a copy of the script to the agent of Robert Wise, whom Lehman still wanted as the director. Later that month, Wyler's agent approached Zanuck asking that production on
21120-415: Was Daniel Truhitte in the role of Rolfe. Rehearsals for the singing and dance sequences began on February 10, 1964. The husband-and-wife team of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood , who had worked with Andrews on Mary Poppins , worked out the choreography with Saul Chaplin on piano—the arrangements could not be altered under Rodgers and Hammerstein's contract. The stage choreography was not used because it
21285-477: Was a model who worked part-time in a doctor's office and had no ambition to pursue a career as an actress. After a friend sent her photo to Wise's office, she was asked to interview. Wise later recalled, "She was so pretty and had such poise and charm that we liked her immediately." Marni Nixon , who had dubbed a number of film actresses' singing parts in film musicals, was cast as a character–Sister Sophia–rather than dubbing another voice. The last person to be cast
21450-630: Was also a major success in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, where it played for as long as two years at some theaters. It was not a universal success, however, with the film only enjoying modest success in France and it was a flop in Germany. It also initially performed poorly in Italy, but a re-release after the Oscars brought better results. It was number one at the US box office for a further 11 weeks in 1966, for
21615-523: Was bought in 1998. Then Bryan Singer directed the first film and the second film , while Brett Ratner was hired to direct the third film of the original trilogy. In 1994, 20th Century Fox would establish four new divisions: Fox Searchlight Pictures , Fox Family Films , Fox Animation Studios , and Fox 2000 Pictures . Fox Searchlight would specialize in the specialty and indie film market, with Thomas Rothman , then president of production at The Samuel Goldwyn Company , being brought on to head up
21780-495: Was busy preparing work for another film, The Sand Pebbles . Other directors were approached and turned down the offer, including Stanley Donen , Vincent J. Donehue , George Roy Hill , and Gene Kelly . In January 1963, Lehman invited one of his favorite directors, William Wyler , to travel to New York City with him to see the Broadway musical. After seeing the show, Wyler said he hated it, but after two weeks of Lehman's persuasion, Wyler reluctantly agreed to direct and produce
21945-773: Was cancelled as a result of its closure. The studio's film library and intellectual properties are retained by Disney. Although Disney did not give an exact date as to when the studio would be closing down initially, former animator Rick Fournier confirmed on April 10 it was their last day of operation, three days after founder Chris Wedge released a farewell letter on social media. Nimona would be picked up by Annapurna Pictures in early 2022 for release on Netflix in 2023. On November 22, 2021, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution and WarnerMedia reached an agreement to allow select 20th Century Studios films be shared between Disney+ , Hulu , and HBO Max through late 2022. The new agreement negotiated by Gerard Devan and John Gelke
22110-485: Was dubbed by veteran Disney playback singer Bill Lee . Wise and film editor William Reynolds then edited the film. Irwin Kostal orchestrated the musical numbers, and he underscored the film with background music consisting of variations on Rodgers and Hammerstein's original songs to amplify or add nuances to the visual images. Wise arranged for two sneak-preview showings in Minneapolis on Friday, January 15, 1965, at
22275-679: Was fired from Something's Got to Give and two months later she was found dead. According to 20th Century-Fox files, she was rehired within weeks for a two-picture deal totaling $ 1 million, $ 500,000 to finish Something's Got to Give (plus a bonus at completion), and another $ 500,000 for What a Way to Go . Elizabeth Taylor's disruptive reign on the Cleopatra set continued unchallenged from 1960 into 1962, though three 20th Century-Fox executives went to Rome in June 1962 to fire her. They learned that director Joseph L. Mankiewicz had filmed out of sequence and had only done interiors, so 20th Century-Fox
22440-466: Was formed in June 2013. In August, the same year, 20th Century Fox started a theatrical joint venture with a trio of producers, both film and theater, Kevin McCollum , John Davis and Tom McGrath. On September 20, 2017, Locksmith Animation formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, who would distribute Locksmith's films under 20th Century Fox Animation , with Locksmith aiming to release
22605-571: Was implemented in 1968, and it was given a "G" rating ("general audiences") in 1969. The Sound of Music was filmed in Todd-AO by Ted McCord and produced with DeLuxe Color processing. Aerial footage was photographed with an MCS-70 camera. The sound was recorded on a 70 mm six-track using a Westrex recording system. The sets used for the film were based on the storyboards of sketch artist Maurice Zuberano, who accompanied Wise to Austria to scout filming locations in November 1963. Wise met with
22770-560: Was inspired by the opening of West Side Story and saw the musical as "a fairy tale that's almost real". The film incorporated many "fairy tale" tropes which included the idyllic imagery in the hills of Salzburg , the European villas, and the cross-class Cinderella-like romance between Maria and Captain Von Trapp. As Maria walks down the aisle to be married, the pageantry is explicitly both Guinevere and Cinderella. In keeping with this tone,
22935-591: Was large and comfortable, but not nearly as grand as the mansion depicted in the film. The house was also not their ancestral home, as depicted in the film. The family had previously lived in homes in Zell am See and Klosterneuburg after being forced to abandon their actual ancestral home in Pula following World War I . Georg moved the family to the Salzburg villa shortly after the death of his wife Agathe Whitehead in 1922. Georg
23100-422: Was looking to expand its fleet of U-boats , and Korvettenkäpitan (Lieutenant Commander) von Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World War I, having sunk 11 Allied merchant ships totaling 47,653 GRT and two Allied warships displacing a total of 12,641 tons. With his family in desperate financial straits, he seriously considered the offer before deciding that he could not serve
23265-476: Was lovingly and carefully produced under Zanuck's supervision. It was finally released at a length of three hours and was well received. At the next board meeting, Zanuck spoke for eight hours, convincing directors that Skouras was mismanaging the company and that he was the only possible successor. Zanuck was installed as chairman, and then named his son Richard Zanuck as president. This new management group seized Cleopatra and rushed it to completion, shut down
23430-409: Was no need to cut scenes to fit within a timeslot and the film was screened in the full 174-minute version without breaks. The film has been identified as part of BBC's programming in the event of an outbreak of nuclear war. The Sound of Music has been issued on VHS , LaserDisc , and DVD numerous times. The first DVD version was released on August 29, 2000, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of
23595-488: Was not in love," Maria wrote in her memoir, "I liked him but didn't love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after." They were married in 1927, not in 1938 as depicted in the film. They had been married for over a decade by the time of the Anschluss and had two of their three children together by that time. Maria and Georg enjoyed
23760-522: Was not yet released. A few minutes into the film, Wise told Lehman, "Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!" Andrews had some reservations—mainly about the amount of sweetness in the theatrical version—but when she learned that her concerns were shared by Wise and Lehman and what their vision was, she signed a contract with Fox to star in The Sound of Music and one other film for $ 225,000 ($ 2.21 million in 2023). Wise had
23925-514: Was plastic filled with water which was put there during filming. The final scene of the von Trapp family escaping over the mountains was filmed on the Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps . The cast and crew flew back to Los Angeles and resumed filming at Fox Studios on July 6 for all remaining scenes, including those in the villa dining room, ballroom, terrace, living room, and gazebo. Following
24090-463: Was re-released in 1973, and increased its North American rentals to $ 78.4 million. By the end of the 1970s, it was ranked seventh in all-time North American rentals, having earned $ 79 million. The film's re-release in 1990 increased the total North American admissions to 142,415,400—the third-highest number of tickets sold behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars —and about 283.3 million admissions worldwide. The Sound of Music eventually earned
24255-501: Was released by RCA Victor in 1965 and is one of the most successful soundtrack albums in history, having sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The album reached the number one position on the Billboard 200 that year in the United States. It remained in the top ten for 109 weeks, from May 1, 1965, to July 16, 1967, and remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 238 weeks. The album
24420-685: Was released in West Germany on October 9, 1956, and became a major success. Two years later, Liebeneiner directed a sequel, The Trapp Family in America , and the two pictures became the most successful films in West Germany during the post-war years. Their popularity extended throughout Europe and South America. In 1956, Paramount Pictures purchased the United States film rights, intending to produce an English-language version with Audrey Hepburn as Maria. The studio eventually dropped its option, but one of its directors, Vincent J. Donehue , proposed
24585-403: Was released in the United States on March 2, 1965, initially as a limited roadshow theatrical release . Initial critical response to the film was mixed, but it was a major commercial success, becoming the number-one box office film after four weeks, and the highest-grossing film of 1965. By November 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest-grossing film of all-time, surpassing Gone with
24750-404: Was released on December 1, 2023, compiling all of the previously released music, as well as the complete instrumental score, demo versions, songs with alternative scoring (i.e. solely instrumental), alternative Christopher Plummer vocals recorded prior to their removal for the final film, and interviews with Richard Rodgers , Robert Wise and Charmian Carr . Wise hired Mike Kaplan to direct
24915-432: Was renamed 21st Century Fox in 2013 after it spun off its publishing assets . Disney purchased most of 21st Century Fox's assets , which included 20th Century Fox, on March 20, 2019. The studio adopted its current name on January 17, 2020, in order to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation, and subsequently started to use it for the copyright of 20th Century and Searchlight Pictures productions on December 4. 20th Century
25080-403: Was set to be done entirely with computer animation . Another film they would have made was The Little Beauty King , an adult animated film directed by Steve Oedekerk , which would have been a satire of the films from the Disney Renaissance . It would predate Shrek (2001). Chris Wedge, film producer Lori Forte, and Fox Animation executive Chris Meledandri presented Fox with a script for
25245-434: Was shut down in April 2021, and was succeeded by 20th Century Animation . A spokesperson for the company explained that in light of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic 's continued economic impact on all of its businesses, it was no longer sustainable for them to run a third feature animation studio. In addition, production on a film adaptation of the webcomic Nimona , originally scheduled to be released on January 14, 2022,
25410-502: Was signed with 20th Century Fox and 20th Century Fox TV in 2009. On June 28, 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation would be split into two publishing and media-oriented companies: a new News Corporation and 21st Century Fox , which operated the Fox Entertainment Group and 20th Century Fox. Murdoch considered the name of the new company a way to maintain the 20th Century Fox heritage. Fox Stage Productions
25575-534: Was sold for $ 720 million on June 8, 1981, to investors Marc Rich and Marvin Davis . 20th Century-Fox's assets included Pebble Beach Golf Links , the Aspen Skiing Company and a Century City property upon which Davis built and twice sold Fox Plaza . In 1982, the company decided to try on capitalizing the video game industry by forming the company's first video game division, Fox Video Games, in order to sell cartridges for consoles and computers, under
25740-464: Was speculated in The New York Times that the newly merged company would be named "Fox-Twentieth Century". The new company, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31, 1935. Kent remained at the company, joining Schenck and Zanuck. Zanuck replaced Winfield Sheehan as the company's production chief. The company established a special training school. Lynn Bari , Patricia Farr and Anne Nagel were among 14 young women "launched on
25905-538: Was surrounding the media. However, Skouras' selfish preferences and inexperienced micromanagement on the film's production did nothing to speed up production on Cleopatra . Meanwhile, another remake—of the Cary Grant hit My Favorite Wife (1940)—was rushed into production in an attempt to turn over a quick profit to help keep 20th Century-Fox afloat. The romantic comedy entitled Something's Got to Give paired Marilyn Monroe , 20th Century-Fox's most bankable star of
26070-714: Was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 1965, 1966, and 1968 and the second best-selling of the entire decade, spending a total of 70 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart . It also stayed 73 weeks on the Norwegian charts, becoming the seventh best-charting album of all time in that country. In 2015, Billboard named the album the second greatest album of all time. The album has been reissued several times, including anniversary editions with additional tracks in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. The Sound of Music: Original Soundtrack Recording (Super Deluxe Edition)
26235-503: Was the highest-grossing 20th Century-Fox film of the 1940s. The studio also produced film versions of Broadway musicals, including the Rodgers and Hammerstein films, beginning with the musical version of State Fair (1945), the only work that the partnership wrote specially for films. After the war, audiences slowly drifted away. 20th Century-Fox held on to its theaters until a court-mandated "divorce"; they were spun off as Fox National Theaters in 1953. That year, with attendance at half
26400-663: Was the international distributor for MGM / UA releases. In the 1980s, 20th Century Fox – through a joint venture with CBS called CBS/Fox Video – had distributed certain UA films on video; thus UA has come full circle by switching to 20th Century Fox for video distribution. 20th Century Fox also makes money distributing films for small independent film companies. In 2006, 20th Century Fox terminated its production with Bad Hat Harry Productions for 5 years, because Bryan Singer left X-Men: The Last Stand to direct Superman Returns (2006) for Warner Bros. Pictures , then he returned to produce
26565-674: Was the last film made in CinemaScope ; the studio had held on to the format while Panavision lenses were being used elsewhere. Zanuck stayed on as chairman until 1971, but there were several expensive flops in his last years, resulting in 20th Century-Fox posting losses from 1969 to 1971. Following his removal and replacement by Dennis Stanfill as chairman, and after an uncertain period, new management brought 20th Century-Fox back to health. Under president Gordon T. Stulberg and production head Alan Ladd, Jr. , 20th Century-Fox films connected with modern audiences. Board chairman Dennis Stanfill used
26730-455: Was then forced to allow Taylor several more weeks of filming. In the meantime during that summer of 1962 Fox released nearly all of its contract stars to offset burgeoning costs, including Jayne Mansfield . With few pictures on the schedule, Skouras wanted to rush Zanuck's big-budget war epic The Longest Day (1962), an accurate account of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, with
26895-451: Was too restrictive. Breaux and Wood worked out all-new choreography better suited for the film that incorporated many of the Salzburg locations and settings. They even choreographed the newly added puppet dance sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd". The choreography for the Ländler strictly followed the traditional Austrian folk dance. The musical arranger Irwin Kostal , who also had worked in
27060-446: Was unable to think of a better one and decided to keep Lehman's. Other changes included replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with a more romantic number, and a new song for Maria's departure from the abbey—Rodgers provided "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence", especially for the film. Lehman completed the second draft on December 20, 1963, but additional changes would be made based on input from Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer about
27225-421: Was unavoidable. But days before filming was due to resume, she was found dead at her Los Angeles home and the picture resumed filming as Move Over, Darling , with Doris Day and James Garner in the leads. Released in 1963, the film was a hit. The unfinished scenes from Something's Got to Give were shelved for nearly 40 years. Rather than being rushed into release as if it were a B-picture, The Longest Day
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