News Disney and Fox come to terms -- announcement soon; huge IP acquisition

JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
andysol said:
Biggest thing out of this isn’t even the movies- it’s the 60% control of Hulu. They just got their adult streaming “network” to compete with Netflix.

A funny side park-related note is that Universal has Marvel and Simpsons, so just like that- they have another IP land based around a Disney owned property. :)
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And Comcast is a minority partner with Disney now. Strange bedfellows indeed.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
I don't think they fully own Avatar and such but perhaps they do. Would appreciate if someone could explain.
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It feels much different than Pixar or Marvel or Lucasfilm, because 20th Century Fox doesn't have much an identity and most of the movies are't big merchandise sellers. Doesn't fit too well with the "franchise strategy" in my opinion. And the franchise strategy works when done well.
 
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the.dreamfinder

the.dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
egg said:
I don't think they fully own Avatar and such but perhaps they do. Would appreciate if someone could explain.
!

It feels much different than Pixar or Marvel or Lucasfilm, because 20th Century Fox doesn't have much an identity and most of the movies are't big merchandise sellers. Doesn't fit too well with the "franchise strategy" in my opinion. And the franchise strategy works when done well.
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Not sure, but it might be similar to the arrangement Lucasfilm had with 20th Century for the prequels where the IP is controlled by Lightstorm and Fox distributes it.
 
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doctornick

Well-Known Member
egg said:
It feels much different than Pixar or Marvel or Lucasfilm, because 20th Century Fox doesn't have much an identity and most of the movies are't big merchandise sellers. Doesn't fit too well with the "franchise strategy" in my opinion. And the franchise strategy works when done well.
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In terms of franchises, I think the biggest benefit is completing the stuff Disney already owns -- getting the full distribution rights for Star Wars and getting the X-Men and Fantastic Four movie rights. That's stuff that can be easily monetized by existing divisions of Disney.

I would agree, however, that this deal doesn't work as much in regards to franchises, but works better in terms of the back catalog of films and TV properties. This is a big deal for Disney as they plan to launch a streaming service and hope to compete with Netflix. The Fox catalog gives them a substantial amount of additional content to offer in the streaming service from the start making it of broader interest to consumers and more viable.

I'm wondering what Disney would do with the acquired studios. They could use 20th Century Fox to produce/release more "adult" content if they were inclined and could use Spotlight for smaller artsy releases. Blue Sky seems completely superfluous so I would expect them to spin that off to another studio that could use a beefed up animation department (Paramount maybe?)
 
Tavernacle12

Tavernacle12

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
In terms of franchises, I think the biggest benefit is completing the stuff Disney already owns -- getting the full distribution rights for Star Wars and getting the X-Men and Fantastic Four movie rights. That's stuff that can be easily monetized by existing divisions of Disney.

I would agree, however, that this deal doesn't work as much in regards to franchises, but works better in terms of the back catalog of films and TV properties. This is a big deal for Disney as they plan to launch a streaming service and hope to compete with Netflix. The Fox catalog gives them a substantial amount of additional content to offer in the streaming service from the start making it of broader interest to consumers and more viable.

I'm wondering what Disney would do with the acquired studios. They could use 20th Century Fox to produce/release more "adult" content if they were inclined and could use Spotlight for smaller artsy releases. Blue Sky seems completely superfluous so I would expect them to spin that off to another studio that could use a beefed up animation department (Paramount maybe?)
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I kind of assume the Fox studios would all remain and work the way Touchstone used to. There's no way the IP alone are worth the asking price, so I assume they'll be kept up and running in the same way Lucasfilm and Pixar are, but also run separately. I seriously doubt there's a future where Disney considers much of those properties 'in house' as they do with Marvel and Star Wars (unless the Fox division has a new IP which makes a ton of $$$ and Disney adopts it into their bigger brand). Agreed on Blue Sky, shutting it down seems dumb and Disney can presumably just sell it afterwards. I imagine Simpsons, X-Files, and the like will all remain segregated from the Disney of today, though I could see some franchises like Planet Of The Apes or Alien popping up in theme parks since they fit better than others.
 
HauntedMansionFLA

HauntedMansionFLA

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
In terms of franchises, I think the biggest benefit is completing the stuff Disney already owns -- getting the full distribution rights for Star Wars and getting the X-Men and Fantastic Four movie rights. That's stuff that can be easily monetized by existing divisions of Disney.

I would agree, however, that this deal doesn't work as much in regards to franchises, but works better in terms of the back catalog of films and TV properties. This is a big deal for Disney as they plan to launch a streaming service and hope to compete with Netflix. The Fox catalog gives them a substantial amount of additional content to offer in the streaming service from the start making it of broader interest to consumers and more viable.

I'm wondering what Disney would do with the acquired studios. They could use 20th Century Fox to produce/release more "adult" content if they were inclined and could use Spotlight for smaller artsy releases. Blue Sky seems completely superfluous so I would expect them to spin that off to another studio that could use a beefed up animation department (Paramount maybe?)
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I agree this is a good deal with the content for the streaming service. Disney has a huge amount of content from years back when they did the TV show. I would love to see shows that haven't been seen in years. I'm sure there will be a tier system for up charges.
 
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doctornick

Well-Known Member
Tavernacle12 said:
I kind of assume the Fox studios would all remain and work the way Touchstone used to.
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It's hard for me to figure. Logically, TWDC would keep Fox studios up and running as it currently is and use that as a more adult film division. But Disney could already be having a more adult division with Touchstone and simply doesn't use it much. Philosophically, TWDC seems to only be interested in tentpole blockbusters (especially of marketable IPs that can lead to consumer products) or animation films. Yes, there's the occasional smaller film (Disneynature, the Dreamworks stuff they distributed but that deal is done, etc.) but those are rare. Disney, I think, releases the smallest number of films of all the major film studios.

Running 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight as they currently are being done would be a big shift in philosophy for TWDC's movie division. With all the money Disney would be spending to acquire those studios, though, it would be hard to imagine them not utilizing them to their full extent. But that would mean Disney being interested in producing Oscar bait fare and other films that don't have corresponding toy lines.
 
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doctornick

Well-Known Member
HauntedMansionFLA said:
I agree this is a good deal with the content for the streaming service. Disney has a huge amount of content from years back when they did the TV show. I would love to see shows that haven't been seen in years. I'm sure there will be a tier system for up charges.
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The content would clearly be the big win here for TWDC. They'd be free and clear to carry all the Star Wars films plus the two largest grossing films of all time (Avatar, Titanic). Fox's superhero movies have been hit or miss, but would provide a good amount of content combined with the existing MCU for subcontent of superhero films. And of course they'd have access to 20th Century Fox's substantial catalog from a century of existence (including classics like Sound of Music, Cleopatra, The Robe, the Shirley Temple films, etc.) which would make for a strong compliment to Disney's existing library.
 
IanDLBZF

IanDLBZF

Well-Known Member
I believe this would not be the first time they tried to acquire Fox. Remember that they acquired Fox Family Channel and Saban Entertainment back in 2001.
doctornick said:
The content would clearly be the big win here for TWDC. They'd be free and clear to carry all the Star Wars films plus the two largest grossing films of all time (Avatar, Titanic).
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Agreed. While they wouldn't need to necessarily use any IPs from Fox (sans AVATAR) in the parks, it would open up the door of opportunity.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
The content would clearly be the big win here for TWDC.
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This. Although I have to wonder if they ever considered just making a back cataloge deal (+ the rest of Marvel and Avatar), instead of the whole studio and television divisions and all the production responsibilities that go with it.
 

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