Disney In Talks to Acquire Majority of 21st Century Fox

wow .. just wow.

The sci-fi fantasies of stories of my youth are coming true where giant corporations control large chunks of the country.

I mean .. what .. will like half the movies that come out now be owned by Disney?
 
wow .. just wow.

The sci-fi fantasies of stories of my youth are coming true where giant corporations control large chunks of the country.

I mean .. what .. will like half the movies that come out now be owned by Disney?

One number I saw was 39% of film industry
 
No backlot. That is probably the difference between the low 50B price and the 60B that was tossed around.

My guess is Hulu becomes the outlet for the inherited more adult content, Disney's branded streaming service will cover the more "Disney" properties. Iger came out this a.m. and said Hulu will not become the Disney streaming service, so I'm guessing a content split where Disney can hide a connection with the more adult content will still owning a majority of the system they stream on will be appealing. A huge amount of this deal is predicated on Fox's regional sports channels. If they can't stem the issues at ESPN, Disney has probably overpaid.

The two international pieces are also significant though this provides a slight complication for Fox's takeover of the rest of Sky. Personally I think the regulators in the UK will allow it to proceed as Disney probably holds a better reputation than Murdoch after his well-publicized issues with the Fleet Street tabloids. These international assets aren't really bread and butter fits for Disney so it will be interesting how they handle them.

James Murdoch is not guaranteed a senior job at Disney though it is expected he will be offered one. Iger is looking more and more like a Disney vampire. He's never going to go away without a wooden stake. On the other hand, if this deal works out as well as Marvel and Lucasfilm, most shareholders won't be reaching for the garlic anyway.

The IP is significant. Especially in terms of filling out a Disney streaming service. Owning things like The Simpsons, which is probably as annoying to US as their owning Marvel in Orlando is to WDW, is probably just a bit of small snickering around the Parks Executive Suites. More an irritant and a bit of snide jokes than anything significant.

As for U.S. anti-trust measures, the issue with the studios being a significant force could be a problem. Big anti-trust cases are typically political driven. I'm not going into much of it here, but the current administration could try and thumb their nose at Iger and get in the way of the deal, or look at it as a way of potentially keeping a rival billionaire out of the next election cycle. Iger has been put out as a possible candidate before this deal, but now says he is staying at Disney through '21. Strategically, the current administration might be pleased about keeping him on the political sidelines. Or not. Politicians are hard to predict.

Lion's Gate and MGM are probably looking around in fear of bigger fish, or to see which fish will pay them the most. They are too small to have their own OTT service, but joining with Comcast or being bought out by Netflix or Amazon might be more attractive.

Theater chains are now shaking in their boots. They are losing leverage with every one of these deals. Of course, they've been consolidating at a rapid rate to try and maintain their leverage, so it's hard for them to complain too much.

Fox's smaller umbrella studios, like Searchlight, is probably going to get cut dramatically. It just doesn't fit with the Disney model of a few large tentpole films per year. I'm guessing the overall output of movies from the Fox families will drop in the years after the acquisition closes. Though Disney will need more films, even middling hits as opposed to just home run sequels, to drive the streaming service.
 


There are so many things with this deal. The Disney streaming package will look extremely tempting if it comes in at reasonable price. What becomes of the adult movies (couldn't think of a better term!) that Disney controls now. Could they really give them to Netflix or Amazon in the US or internationally? Universal Resort is in a bad way, medium to longer imo. Short term things will be fine but as time goes on the connection between who owns the IP becomes very clear. Two big zones in their parks are now promoting the competition. This shows the folly of licensing your IP for your rides rather than owning them even though I m looking forward to Nintendo.

I think Disney can keep the R rated/mature content and just have it all under a separate brand and for the streaming have parental calienation nitrous and stuff

Did it in the past with Touchstone and stuff
 
I think Disney can keep the R rated/mature content and just have it all under a separate brand and for the streaming have parental calienation nitrous and stuff

Did it in the past with Touchstone and stuff

Yeah, and if Disney is really looking to compete with Netflix, they're going to have to have all of these movies together - from pre-k to rated R. Netflix has the special "Kids" feature that only shows family friendly content, so a true competitor to Netflix would have to have the same or similar features.
 
So now that Simpsons are coming, I will be really curious how that could impact Universal. Can Disney pull the Simpsons from Universal in so many years and really stick it to them?
 


So now that Simpsons are coming, I will be really curious how that could impact Universal. Can Disney pull the Simpsons from Universal in so many years and really stick it to them?
It will depend on how the licensing deal was written.
 
So now that Simpsons are coming, I will be really curious how that could impact Universal. Can Disney pull the Simpsons from Universal in so many years and really stick it to them?

The Simpsons Ride is probably my favorite ride. Ever. And best land. BUT it is in a horrible building and only has an off the shelf ride to go with it. Universal would take the hit losing the awesome Springfield theme but would gain it back making it into Minions Land or using it to expand Nintendo Land.

It would be a minor annoyance more then sticking it to them.
 
So now that Simpsons are coming, I will be really curious how that could impact Universal. Can Disney pull the Simpsons from Universal in so many years and really stick it to them?

Do you think the Simpsons is a good fit for Disney Parks? I still remember when Simpsons clothes and lunchboxes were banned from schools. I don't think Disney wants any part of them in the parks.

They could just collect the cash that comes from Universal having to pay to keep them in their parks and/or it could become a negotiating tool to get the Marvel contract changed with minimal hurt to get that gang in Disney World.
 
I told a friend about this acquisition and his first question was "SO THEY BOUGHT FIREFLY!??!?"

And now he wants a 5th gate devoted to Firefly.
 
Do you think the Simpsons is a good fit for Disney Parks? I still remember when Simpsons clothes and lunchboxes were banned from schools. I don't think Disney wants any part of them in the parks.

They could just collect the cash that comes from Universal having to pay to keep them in their parks and/or it could become a negotiating tool to get the Marvel contract changed with minimal hurt to get that gang in Disney World.


I think The Simpsons could work in Hollywood Studios. Once Star Wars and Toy Story open up they could easily change Rock n roller coaster with a Simpsons layover as well as change that whole street to a Springfield themed area.

I'm curious, depending on the agreements Universal has, if Disney will let them keep The Simpsons area in exchange for letting them use more of Marvel in Orlando.
 
I think The Simpsons could work in Hollywood Studios. Once Star Wars and Toy Story open up they could easily change Rock n roller coaster with a Simpsons layover as well as change that whole street to a Springfield themed area.

I'm curious, depending on the agreements Universal has, if Disney will let them keep The Simpsons area in exchange for letting them use more of Marvel in Orlando.

I completely disagree that Simpsons has a fit in ANY Disney park. I get that it is acceptable humor across more age groups now but I think it's way over the Disney line of what they want sitting in their parks. They'd gladly make money off it in theaters and such, but I don't see a future for them in Disney parks.

And while I might be a different generation who has seen Simpsons go from considered "school inappropriate material" to just another cartoon, I did ask my DS what he thought about Simpsons in Disney Parks and he said "absolutely not a fit, it will be a bargaining tool."
 
soooooooooo I wonder if this deal includes the rights to the original unedited Star Wars films. I had heard Fox still owned the rights to those and that is why Disney never released them on DVD of Blu-Ray. I've always missed the original versions and wanted them back!
 
soooooooooo I wonder if this deal includes the rights to the original unedited Star Wars films. I had heard Fox still owned the rights to those and that is why Disney never released them on DVD of Blu-Ray. I've always missed the original versions and wanted them back!
From what I've seen it does include the rights to episode 4, Disney was set to have the rights for the other 5 films transferred to them in 2020 and Fox would have retained episode 4 for life. However this new deal would give them all 6 films.
 
From what I've seen it does include the rights to episode 4, Disney was set to have the rights for the other 5 films transferred to them in 2020 and Fox would have retained episode 4 for life. However this new deal would give them all 6 films.

Three more years then :/ Thanks for the info!
 
I cant grasp why so many of you think any of this is about cramming new IPs into the parks.
Because this is an incredibly Parks focused board. And I completely agree with you. This has little to nothing to do with the Parks though they may be some small part of leveraging some of the IPs at some point in the future if new material based on those IPs proves successful.
 

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