Searchlight Pictures is a Disney subsidiary that manages independent, comedy-drama, art-house, foreign and horror films. From its inception in 1994 to its acquisition by Disney in March 2019, it served as a division of its sister company, now known as 20th Century Studios.
Prior to acquiring the studio, Disney previously tackled the independent film market with its acquisition of Miramax (and its then-new sister branch Dimension) in 1993, only to sell that unit in 2010 as part of its decision to focus more on its core assets and acquisitions. Unlike the situation with Miramax, which operated mostly with complete autonomy, Disney will have a stronger incentive to keep Searchlight under the fold due to its potential use as a major player for Academy Awards as well as a content producer for its various streaming platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu.
On January 17, 2020, to reflect the studio's new ownership and to distance itself from Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corporation (the spin-off company that retained the broadcasting, sports and news assets not bought by Disney), the studio, which was known at the time as Fox Searchlight, had the "Fox" name dropped from the brand.
- 12 Years a Slave
- 20 Dates
- 20 Days Later
- 127 Hours
- (500) Days of Summer
- 2046 (with Block 2 Distribution and Jet Tone Pictures; Taiwan distribution only)
- Adam (2009)
- The Aftermath
- Amelia
- Among Giants
- Another Earth
- Antwone Fisher
- Baggage Claim
- The Banger Sisters
- Battle of the Sexes
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Bee Season
- Belle (2013)
- Bend It Like Beckham
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Best Laid Plans
- A Bigger Splash
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Black Swan
- Blood and Wine
- Bootmen
- Boys Don't Cry (with IFC FIlms)
- Brooklyn
- The Brothers Mc Mullen
- Brown Sugar
- Calvary
- Can You Ever Forgive Me?
- Cedar Rapids
- Conviction
- Crazy Heart
- Cyrus
- The Darjeeling Limited
- The East
- Enough Said
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (home video release only, most releases are branded under 20th Century Fox)
- Far from the Madding Crowd (2015 version)
- The Favourite
- The Full Monty
- Garden State
- Gentlemen Broncos
- Gifted
- Goodbye Christopher Robin
- The Good Girl
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- A Hidden Life
- Hitchcock
- Imagine Me & You
- I Think I Love My Wife
- Isle of Dogs
- Jackie
- Jojo Rabbit
- Juno
- The Last King of Scotland
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Lucy in the Sky
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
- A Midsummer Nights Dream
- My Life In Ruins
- My Neighbor Totoro (with Studio Ghibli, Streamline Pictures and Troma, of all companies. Interestingly the only G-rated film in the entire Fox Searchlight Pictures and Troma catalogues)
- Napoleon Dynamite (with Paramount Pictures)
- Never Let Me Go
- Notes on a Scandal
- The Old Man & the Gun
- Once
- One Hour Photo
- Polish Wedding
- Ready or Not (2019)
- Ruby Sparks
- The Secret Life of Bees
- The Sessions
- Shame
- The Shape of Water
- Sideways
- Slumdog Millionaire (with Warner Bros.)
- Sound of My Voice
- Stoker
- Street Kings
- Sunshine
- Table 19
- Thank You for Smoking
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Tolkien
- Trance
- The Tree of Life
- A United Kingdom
- Waitress
- Whip It
- Wild
- The Wrestler
- All of Us Strangers
- Antlers
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Chevalier (2022)
- Downhill
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Fire Island (distributed by Hulu)
- The French Dispatch
- Fresh (2022) (with Legendary Pictures; co-distributed with Hulu)
- Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (U.S. distribution only, co-distributed with Hulu)
- Kinds of Kindness
- The Menu
- Next Goal Wins (2023)
- The Night House
- Nightmare Alley (2021)
- Nomadland
- Not Okay (distributed by Hulu)
- The Personal History of David Copperfield
- Poor Things
- Rye Lane
- Seconds (2014) (film adaptation)
- See How They Run
- Theater Camp
- Wendy
