This month, The Walt Disney Company has expressed interest in acquiring 20th Century Fox, the film and television studio owned by 21st Century Fox, which would leave Fox with its sports and news divisions. Of course, when the word of this first got out, the studios called it off. But talks would resume, indicating that this deal could be a real possibility. And last week, the two studios stepped closer to making it happen.
Following up on last week’s report that a deal could be finalized this week, comes word that everything could be signed on the dotted line as soon as Thursday. The cost of this deal could be up to $60 billion dollars. More on the story below.
Variety says that the deal would include key entertainment and sports assets including the film and TV studio. Of course, acquiring film and TV have been key parts of this deal. Not only would it allow Disney to expand their entertainment line, it would also allow them to merge X-Men and Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something that fans have been waiting for, for a very long time. It would also allow them to have full rights to the original Star Wars trilogy, which was distributed by Fox.
While this deal between Disney and Fox is big – and that’s an understatement – it could also be possibly one of the worst things to happen. As aforementioned, Disney will be able to expand by acquiring major studio, but the move will also limit the number of projects that a filmmaker can pitch to. If Disney were to continue making family friendly films or films that can reach a wide audience after they acquired Fox, it would mean the end for the R-rated material that we have become accustomed to seeing from Fox. So that means, no more films like Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, Logan, or Deadpool.
But this is so much more than just a mega-studio monopolizing the industry. There are jobs on the line. What will this mean for everyone who works at Fox, which has its own public relations department to promote its films and TV series? What will this mean for those who are currently working on those same films and TV shows?
Neither studio would comment on the status of the deal. We will keep you posted should anything come up.
[Source: Variety]
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