Searchlight Pictures, a privately owned company headquartered in the US and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, was founded in 1994, with approximately 190 employees, and reported $66.8M in revenue as of 2025. The company specializes in entertainment, functioning as an American film production and distribution company and the specialized independent and specialty film division of The Walt Disney Studios, a segment of Disney Entertainment. Originally founded on April 29, 1994, by Tom Rothman as "Fox Searchlight Pictures" under 20th Century Fox, the studio relocated its administrative headquarters from Century City to the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, following The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019. The "Fox" prefix was formally dropped in January 2020 to legally differentiate the brand from Fox Corporation. The studio operates within prestige cinema, managing a global footprint that has amassed dozens of Academy Awards and multiple Best Picture winners, including Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, The Shape of Water, and Nomadland.
On May 26, 2026, former Searchlight Pictures executive Terence Sheridan joined JustWatch in its Los Angeles office, taking on the role of Senior VP of Media Strategy. Previously, on May 16, 2026, Searchlight Pictures was among several entities, including A24, Netflix, Focus Features, and Mubi, that reportedly circled Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” at the Cannes Film Festival following its world premiere.
Similar Companies
Subscribe for full access to Searchlight Pictures's profile
Searchlight Pictures offers 2 products in the media and telecoms services industry. Searchlight Pictures's product portfolio comprises of entertainment content rights.
Subscribe for full access to Searchlight Pictures's products in full detail
Searchlight Pictures's revenues were less than $100M in 2025. All the revenue comes from entertainment rights and distribution.
Subscribe for full access to Searchlight Pictures's revenue in full detail
Subscribe for full access to Searchlight Pictures's products in full detail 
