21st Century Fox Studio Sold To Disney! Sale Finalized See Post #368 (1 Viewer)

[Sean Bryan]

Hopefully, Disney continues to allow movies that are more edgy than Disney's output to be made under that 21st Century Fox label. We can only hope for that now

That’s the plan (as far what has been reported so far)

 

[Bryan^H]

Nope. When you've bought enough power, everything can be for sale.

Yup.

I have never been a fan of Disney's business practices. This is, and always has been bad news. Nothing good can come from it.

 

[Bryan^H]

Bye, bye Fox catalog titles on disc

 

[Malcolm R]

It would be nice if the only thing we noticed in the transition was a little note under the Fox logo on future releases that says "A Disney company".

 

[dpippel]

I doubt it will be that subtle. Disney likes to run over everything like a steamroller. Branding is their REAL business.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney has stated that they intend to continue putting out more adult-themed content under the Fox banner, and I hope that winds up being true. I can't imagine that Disney spent all of this money simply to put Fox out of business, or to buy the home video rights for Star Wars movies that were coming back to them eventually anyway, or for a handful or Marvel characters that they've done just fine without. My cynical hope is that Disney wants even more of the market share than they currently have, but that they've realized they're hitting the limits of what can be gotten when all content has to be acceptable for the widest possible audience. My hope is that they will empower Fox to make the types of movies that Disney isn't making currently, because that is a segment of the market that they don't currently service.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I doubt it will be that subtle. Disney likes run over everything like a steamroller. Branding is their REAL business.

I think they'll keep whatever "R" movies under the Fox banner while indicating it's a Disney company.

 

[Malcolm R]

My cynical hope is that Disney wants even more of the market share than they currently have, but that they've realized they're hitting the limits of what can be gotten when all content has to be acceptable for the widest possible audience. My hope is that they will empower Fox to make the types of movies that Disney isn't making currently, because that is a segment of the market that they don't currently service.

That's my hope as well, but Disney previously created the Touchstone division for precisely this purpose and have largely abandoned it, using it mostly in recent years to distribute films produced by Dreamworks. I don't believe there's been a Touchstone release since 2016.

 

[dpippel]

Disney has stated that they intend to continue putting out more adult-themed content under the Fox banner, and I hope that winds up being true. I can't imagine that Disney spent all of this money simply to put Fox out of business, or to buy the home video rights for Star Wars movies that were coming back to them eventually anyway, or for a handful or Marvel characters that they've done just fine without. My cynical hope is that Disney wants even more of the market share than they currently have, but that they've realized they're hitting the limits of what can be gotten when all content has to be acceptable for the widest possible audience. My hope is that they will empower Fox to make the types of movies that Disney isn't making currently, because that is a segment of the market that they don't currently service.

Didn't they already try this strategy with Miramax?

 

[Todd Erwin]

I doubt you will see "A Disney Company" or something to that effect at the bottom if the Fox logo. We have yet to see such wording on the Marvel and Lucasfilm logos.

 

[Malcolm R]

I doubt you will see "A Disney Company" or something to that effect at the bottom if the Fox logo. We have yet to see such wording on the Marvel and Lucasfilm logos.

Doesn't Disney just put their own logo in front of those?

I guess it depends on how much distance they want to cultivate between the two brands, if they intend to keep them separate at all.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That's my hope as well, but Disney previously created the Touchstone division for precisely this purpose and have largely abandoned it, using it mostly in recent years to distribute films produced by Dreamworks. I don't believe there's been a Touchstone release since 2016.

Didn't they already try this strategy with Miramax?

I'm hoping that they've realized that a) there's a large potential marked for films that aren't "all ages" material and b) that they realize they've forgotten how to serve that market and c) that the Fox brand and the people there are currently positioned to cater to that market.

I just find it hard to believe that Disney spent all of these billions just to put Fox out of business, or just to get the home video rights to the Star Wars films a couple years early, or just to get a few X-Men characters back.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Doesn't Disney just put their own logo in front of those?

No, they don't. The very end of the credit scroll does say "Distributed by Walt Disney Studios" but there's no logo prior to the beginning of the film.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Doesn't Disney just put their own logo in front of those?

Only on Pixar films.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I'm waiting to hear what the verdict is on Blue Sky Animation Studios.....

 

[John*Wells]

Bye, bye Fox catalog titles on disc

I was hoping to get the 1973 Version of Miracle on 34th Street with Sebastian Cabot this year. No dice now

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Bye, bye Fox catalog titles on disc

I'm not quite sure it'll be as simple as that. There are licensing deals underway for this year that will have to be honored. Beyond that, Disney just started expanding their licensing game a year or so ago, so their toes are already in that water. And Fox is still currently the distributor for mainstream MGM physical releases, and that deal doesn't just get turned off overnight.

I think it's probably likely that we'll see less catalog releases carrying the actual Fox brand on the case, but it's been that way for a while. I think they'll still be happy to take the checks from companies like Kino, Twilight Time and Criterion when it comes to licensing.

Here's hoping, at any rate.

 

[Sam Favate]

Great article:

The 20th Century Fox Logo: A Brief History

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/20th-century-fox-logo-a-576643/1-193553

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm thinking of the thousands of people that are going to lose their jobs because of this merger.

I've read some estimates as high as 10,000 people being laid off over the next several months.

That's my hope as well, but Disney previously created the Touchstone division for precisely this purpose and have largely abandoned it, using it mostly in recent years to distribute films produced by Dreamworks. I don't believe there's been a Touchstone release since 2016.

That's my big fear, too. Disney has never known what to do with films targeted at more mature audiences. The 20th Century Fox brand is a much more prominent label than Touchstone was, but it doesn't change the underlying issue.

Didn't they already try this strategy with Miramax?

Miramax was Disney's boutique label. The more apt comparison is with Fox Searchlight, which Disney is also acquiring as part of this deal. The best thing they can do on that front is simply keep their hands off and let the money flow in.

I'm waiting to hear what the verdict is on Blue Sky Animation Studios.....

It's already listed prominently on the Our Businesses page of the Walt Disney Company corporate website, so I don't see it going anywhere in the near term.

Over the longer term, I could see it becoming Disney's service shop for crapping out commercials, ABC network holiday specials, and direct to video sequels.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yeah, I'm not sure what Blue Sky has to offer Disney, really. Their main franchise, Ice Age, seems to have petered out, they don't seem interested in making Rio 3, and their last two originals haven't really set the box office on fire (The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand). They didn't even release a film in 2018 (first year without a film release since 2010).

I've enjoyed most of their films, but I think they'll definitely be an afterthought at Disney. They do have three films in the pipeline, though.