What studio will Disney buy next? (1 Viewer)

[John*Wells]

I wasn’t sure what forum the question belongs in. The launch of Disney + got me thinking about it.

 

[jcroy]

The other big movie companies are owned by huge multimedia conglomerates.

Universal -> Comcast
Warner -> AT&T
Paramount -> ViacomCBS
Sony

Either a conglomerate sells off their tv/movie studio assets, or Disney buys up a smaller operation. For the latter, in principle they do can a hostile takeover of Lionsgate/Starz since Lionsgate is publicly traded on the NYSE.

 

[jcroy]

For most other takeovers, it would have to be a private sale/buyout since many smaller movie companies are not publicly traded on stock exchanges.

 

[jcroy]

For a merger of Disney with another giant conglomerate, it might be blocked by the anti-trust division of the US Department of Justice (and other international counterparts).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

 

[Kevin Hewell]

For a merger of Disney with another giant conglomerate, it might be blocked by the anti-trust division of the US Department of Justice (and other international counterparts).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

Like that's going to happen.

 

[jcroy]

Like that's going to happen.

(Without going heavily into politics).

More likely it will be dependent on how many political enemies Disney has in congress and other governments overseas.

Disney most likely does a lot of lobbying and "buying" politicians on boths sides,

 

[John*Wells]

When I posted the topic, I was thinking Sony. Maybe

 

[jcroy]

When I posted the topic, I was thinking Sony. Maybe

Besides Spiderman, what other synergies does Sony's ip have in common with Disney?

(ie. Besides a large catalog from Columbia/Tristar, Screen Gems, etc ...).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_TriStar_Television

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Pictures#Motion_Pictures_and_Home_Entertainment

 

[John*Wells]

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/12/13/ryback-firmly-believes-disney-will-buy-wwe/

Opinions on Disney buying WWE?

I would vote No. WWE is not something I’d want my kids watching. Furthermore, it doesn’t fit the idea of family oriented fun imo

 

[Chip_HT]

I think it would be funny after Fox made a huge deal to get WWE programming to fill out their TV schedule to make up for selling the production studio off.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This doesn’t fit Disney’s branding. Although not every Fox title fits into the Disney brand, enough of what Fox had to offer did; the brand itself isn’t wholly incompatible with Disney. I would argue that WWE at its core doesn’t fit, which is different from having a core that fits and an occasional product that strays from that.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I have a hard time thinking that Disney would want to buy WWE too due to their family brand.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

20th Century Fox offered Disney:

• 20th Century Fox, a film studio that had very little crossover with its own offerings
• Fox Searchlight, which filled the gap left by Miramax's decline and eventual sale
• Twentieth Television, a bigger television studio with a deeper bench of both intellectual property and top TV producers under contract than Disney's own ABC Studios
• FX Networks, a top cable performer
• National Geographic Partners (majority stake), another top cable performer
• Hulu (30 percent stake), taking Disney from a minority partner to the controlling partner

I don't see how any other studio offers the same kind of value. Most of what they would bring to the table would be duplicative to what the post-acquisition Disney already has.

 

[Nick*Z]

In my not so humble opinion, Disney Inc. should stop acquiring more assets and start paying a bit more attention to their asset management program, making their very deep catalog of goodies readily available to everyone on Blu-ray.

This means releasing the rest of their animated classics, plus all of their live action catalog as well with all of the archived extra features already produced for them during the DVD era; plus, release the Touchstone titles still MIA, plus perform full-blown restorations on their back catalog and their ABC titles (which need it badly), and, since they now own Fox, Disney needs to get busy of making the original Star Wars trilogy available on Blu - sooner rather than later.

They also need to do a full inspection of Fox asset management and release the deep catalog still MIA from that studio's seemingly bottomless archives. In addition, Disney Inc. needs to make the complete version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks available on Blu-ray, and release Song of the South to Blu too.

It's pointless to own a lot of stuff, only to let most of it molder in vaults, never to see the light of day. Disney's a huge operation. But they have a very small mindset on what constitutes worthwhile catalog releases in hi-def. For shame!

 

[The Obsolete Man]

IIRC They were considering buying Hasbro back in 2012, but that was around the time of the Lucasfilm buy, so that never happened. It's not quite a studio but it does have some successful TV and toy IPs

That would get 'em a lot of properties to exploit... GI Joe, Ponies, and most importantly, ROM and Micronauts are restored at Marvel and available for movies.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Disney’s asset protection department is among the best in the business. Please do not conflate a particular title not being available in your preferred format to mean that the elements are being neglected.

I find it interesting that you say Disney should release certain titles on Blu-ray to make them “readily available to everyone.” The truth is that in the year 2019 and going forward, Blu-ray in particular and physical media in general is a niche that continues to have enthusiast support but is rapidly declining among the general public that makes up the overwhelming majority of Disney’s customers. There are numerous titles on Disney+ in phenomenal quality that have either never been released on physical media or haven’t been released in a disc format, or in an HD format. And for the vast majority of the public today, putting that material on Disney+ makes it more accessible to them than a Blu-ray ever would be.

I’m sorry but I find it a bit crazy when people post “Disney needs to...” Disney doesn’t need to do any of these things. Full stop. They are the most popular media company in the world today and they are in that position because they are producing and distributing content that most people like and in the way most people today want to access it. Yes, it would be nice if certain things came to disc that aren’t. But the future of this company will not be tied to disc sales. Compared to all of the revenue streams Disney has, disc is but a tiny piece of the puzzle, one that grows smaller all the time. You could say that Disney has been among the quickest to de-prioritize discs, but that’s just them being smart about where the business is going and deciding that their effort is best spent evolving with technology and consumer preferences rather than doing things as they’ve always done them and acting mystified when the results change. That latter path is the one MGM took, and that’s why they exist in name only as a holding company to strip mine their existing intellectual property to outsource to outside production and distribution entities. That latter path is the one Paramount took, and why they have all new management and are restructuring everything, hoping to survive. That latter path is the one Sony took, and that’s why they’re surviving by the skin of their teeth and by virtue of outsourcing their biggest productions to Disney. That latter path is the one Fox took, and that’s why they don’t exist anymore. I could go on all night.

There is not one single solitary catalog title which, released on disc, could save a studio from failing. And conversely, there is not one single solitary catalog title which, by choosing not to release on disc, will doom a studio to collapse.

 

[Bryan^H]

Yeah, I have a hard time thinking that Disney would want to buy WWE too due to their family brand.

Yeah, but with a flip of the Switch WWE could be easily be "family oriented". Remember the mid 80's when it was about as wholesome as an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One thing Disney has tried to do in recent years, with more success than not, is to stay out of contemporary politics. The McMahon family is intertwined with contemporary politics. A decision to enter that business either by joining forces with or buying assets from the McMahons may present a PR hassle that Disney would prefer to avoid.

But more generally, it doesn’t seem to fit in with their current business model. I don’t think a purchase gets them anything they need, but could cost them things they’d prefer not to give up.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, but with a flip of the Switch WWE could be easily be "family oriented". Remember the mid 80's when it was about as wholesome as an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

Was it? Not to me, as it was always on the edge to me.

 

[Bryan^H]

Was it? Not to me, as it was always on the edge to me.

The "Golden era" (83-93) is PG rated, and the WWE constantly stress that they are a "family friendly" organization. The "Attitude Era" in the late 90's was a big departure to edgy-very adult content including bad language.


I find Disney buying WWE absurd. It is a slow sinking ship, they wouldnt want a dying company. I think Vince has been looking to get out for a while now.