Umm 21st Century Fox Purchase?

[the.dreamfinder]

If you look at all the openings of the most recent movies that begin with castle sequence, they've dropped the "Walt" part. It just says "Disney" now. HOWEVER...that said, someone "in the know" has said that things should be turning around in the near future as far as the parks and quality. I'm hopeful.

Was it JT?

 

[TwilightZone]

If this deal goes through, this is the end of the “Walt Disney” part of the Walt Disney Company.

The walt disney part died when eisner took over.

 

[Pixieish]

Was it JT?

I honestly don't remember. I've read a ton on here today and with kid distractions, etc. etc...

 

[TwilightZone]

The line between Disney and other theme parks becomes even more blurred. What's the appeal of Disney if Universal has the same properties in their parks? Ridiculous.

better quality rides. or less screens. depends on how creative disney is that day

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Ok, then. Let's put to bed this snarking idiocy of the hateratti that is claiming that the core Disney will be lost (or has already been lost) in all the acquisitions:

1. Core Disney is and always has been mostly based on acquisition: public domain folktales and stories; Peter Pan; Alice; Davy Crockett; Pooh; Mary Poppins. Compared to famous and original Disney creations (Mickey and pals), the acquisitions totally overwhelm anything originated from Uncle Walt and his merry band. And so if Disney acquires Marvel like they acquired Pooh, or if they acquire Star Wars like they acquired Poppins... it's all, now, core Disney.

2. Core Disney is always about adding and growing properties through original content and acquisition. <insert Walt's quotes on growing and moving forward>

3. Disney isn't abandoning anything that's 'core Disney.' In fact, Disney is frantically doubling down on anything and everything Mickey and friends: Disney Jr. series; castle stage shows; upgrading the Mickey M&G; new Mickey shorts (the 3D theatrical release and the new web shorts); and at long last, a Mickey E-Ticket ride. You'd almost think that Disney's gearing up to make a case to Congress to extend copyright soon by showing how they're using and innovating their core property...

4. The work of core Disney in the past 10 years is not abating and only growing. Not from Pixar or Muppets or LucasFilm or Marvel, but from Disney studios we have in the past 10 years:

Moana
Zootopia
Big Hero 6
Frozen
Wreck-It Ralph
Winnie the Pooh
Tangled
The Princess and the Frog
Bolt
Alice in Wonderland
Tron: Legacy
Pirates Franchise Movies
(John Carter)*
Oz the Great and Powerful
(The Lone Ranger)*
Saving Mr. Banks
Maleficent
Into the Woods
Cinderella
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Pete’s Dragon
Beauty and the Beast

*(They all can't be winners )​

To think that Disney studios will be overwhelmed and disappear amongst the acquisitions is laughable. It has strength to stand up to the acquisitions, plus, it is the very the acquisitions that wind up being subsumed and overwhelmed into the Disney brand.

Really?

I can’t even because you think you’re right and nothing will change this. If you like Bob Iger’s vision for the company, an ever increasing collection of BRANDS, GM of the entertainment industry if you will, that’s fine. But it’s not Disney. Bob Iger’s vision for the company is impressive to business folks and fans who have bought into his version of “Disney”, but it’s shallow.

I don’t want a marginalized Disney that is dumbed down and shallow, as we see with the parks nowadays.

I want future generations to have the same relationship with Disney that I did when I grew up. Excellent storytelling, characters and art that grows up with you in a meaningful way.

Bob could give five sh-ts about that and this deal wouldn’t help the current situation either.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

The walt disney part died when eisner took over.

Really?

The guy who, with Frank Wells, Jeffrey Katzenberg and hundreds of animation artists and Imagineers, led the company to heights it had not reached since Walt died with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, “The Lion King”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Toy Story”, Disneyland Paris, the original Disney MGM Studio tour, Typhoon Lagoon, Tower of Terror, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tokyo DisneySea, The Disney Afternoon. That’s just a smattering of what they achieved from 84-94.

Bob’s legacy is buying other people’s companies and riding the coattails of their efforts.

Bob Iger would have been the guy who would have called “Snow White” Walt’s Folley. He can’t see what something can become.

He has no vision for Disney.

 

[GoofGoof]

How dare you put Star Wars and Avatar in the same sentence. That's just...AWFUL!

In all seriousness, though - that's just it - there is no financial risk to be taken. As far as I can tell, he is financing them himself (or with outside investors). The studio is just distributing them - which means after they are finished, he pays for them and makes them, he delivers them and Fox is the one responsible for advertising, getting them into theaters and managing home video releases, for a (comparatively small) cut.

That's why he's been able to be as crazy and ambitious as he is with the films, because a studio isn't holding the purse strings. No studio in their right mind would be financing a billion dollars filming four sequels to a single film, even one as profitable as Avatar was. Or let him get away with the scheduling and rescheduling of them, etc. Particularly one that has shown absolutely no legs in terms of merchandising.

As to what they will do at the box office this time...Avatar was the perfect storm of market and and technology. It was a crappy time at the box office, it was a new resurrection of 3D for this generation, and the first film that was made specifically for the technology. It's difficult to see how that lightning can be captured in a bottle again.

The Boss Baby made a hair under $500M worldwide. I can’t imagine any way they don’t average at least that over the 4 Avatar films. If they spend a billion to make and a billion to market the films that’s at least break even. The first sequel will almost certainly draw at least a billion worldwide (even if its lousy) based purely on the original.

 

[sedati]

The walt disney part died when eisner took over.

Or possibly when Walt died. There was plenty of great stuff in the 80s, but it also had a whatever sticks mentality about it. I think the company has established a better foundation now, and has a surer sense of what that “core” actually entails.

Entertainment that is satisfying for the whole family while delivering a moral tale told with whimsy and great artistry. That is what I expect from anything bearing the Disney name, and with surprising regularity, that is what I have been getting from the company lately.

 

[bhg469]

um

Dont tell me you think those movies are good.... They single handedly ruined my ability to drive around my very expensive and fast Japanese car without police thinking I was some punk idiot. Also the movies stink worse than hot garbage.

 

[2351metalcloud]

Another Simpsons prediciton comes to light....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Kids

According to James B. Stewart's book DisneyWar, Fox Kids' history is intertwined with that of the syndicated children's program block The Disney Afternoon. DuckTales, the series which served as the launching pad for The Disney Afternoon, premiered in syndication in September 1987, airing on Fox's owned-and-operated stations as well as various Fox affiliates in many markets. This may have been due to the fact that The Walt Disney Company's chief operating officer at the time, Michael Eisner, and his then-Fox counterpart, Barry Diller, had worked together at ABC and at Paramount Pictures.[6]

In 1988, Disney purchased independent television station KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, later changing its call letters to KCAL-TV. The station's new owners wanted DuckTales to be shown on KCAL, effectively taking the local television rights to the animated series away from Fox-owned KTTV. Furious at the breach of contract, Diller pulled DuckTales from all of Fox's other owned-and-operated stations in the fall of 1989. Diller also encouraged the network's affiliates to do the same,[7] though most did not initially. As Disney went forward in developing The Disney Afternoon, Fox (whose schedule at the time was limited to prime time programming on Saturday and Sunday nights) began the process of launching its own children's programming lineup.

Fox Kids originated as a programming block that aired on the Fox network from the September 8, 1990, to September 7, 2002. The block aired on Saturday mornings throughout its existence, with an additional block on Monday through Friday afternoons airing until January 2002. Fox Kids is the only form of daytime television programming, outside sports, aired by the Fox network to date.[3][4] Following then-Fox parent News Corporation's sale of Fox Kids Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Family_Worldwide_Inc.

In 1993, IFE acquired the assets of defunct British ITV broadcaster Television South, whose holdings included the library of U.S. studio MTM Enterprises. In 1997, IFE was acquired by News Corporation; the MTM library was melded into 20th Century Fox Television's library, while the remainder was melded into Fox Kids Worldwide (a merger of its Fox Kids unit with Saban Entertainment), to form Fox Family Worldwide. Fox and Saban planned to leverage the popular Fox Kids lineup to turn The Family Channel—which was re-branded as the Fox Family Channel following the purchase—into a competitor to other children's-oriented cable channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. The subsidiary also established international Fox Kids networks in Europe and Latin America.

After facing struggling ratings and a failed attempt by Saban to buy out News Corp's stake in the venture, Fox Family Worldwide was later sold to its current owner, The Walt Disney Company, in 2001 for $5.3 billion. The purchase gave Disney ownership of the channel, then known as Fox Family Channel, the international Fox Kids channels (which were later re-branded as Jetix, and then Disney XD), and rights to the Saban Entertainment library. The subsidiary has since been amalgamated into the Disney–ABC Television Group, while Saban Brands has since re-gained ownership to some of the properties it previously held, particularly Power Rangers.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

I highly doubt a possible purchase of Fox is because to suck up theme park ip's, this is without question a very intelligent move to acquire a ton of valuable ip's for a streaming service.

This is a move to help stop the bleeding of ESPN, if Disney has a streaming service where all of Fox and their own ip's become exclusive, you have a serious potential cash cow.

Jimmy Thick- Kinda like that one woman who thought she would be the "only" Harley Quinn at her company Halloween party...

 

[mikejs78]

If you look at all the openings of the most recent movies that begin with castle sequence, they've dropped the "Walt" part. It just says "Disney" now. HOWEVER...that said, someone "in the know" has said that things should be turning around in the near future as far as the parks and quality. I'm hopeful.

Only from the castle logo. The coroporate name has always been 'Disney', they are just using the last name as the top brand. Then below it are the different studios: 'Walt Disney Pictures' for live action and 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' (which is displayed prominently after the castle in all of the animated features with Mickey as Steamboat Willie). I think you're reading too much into the new logo (which is still Disney's signature and name, BTW...)

 

[Pixieish]

Only from the castle logo. The coroporate name has always been 'Disney', they are just using the last name as the top brand. Then below it are the different studios: 'Walt Disney Pictures' for live action and 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' (which is displayed prominently after the castle in all of the animated features with Mickey as Steamboat Willie). I think you're reading too much into the new logo (which is still Disney's signature and name, BTW...)

Oh, I'm aware of all that. I just tend to think that castle image is what sticks in people's brains the most.

 

[DisneyJayL]

Dont tell me you think those movies are good.... They single handedly ruined my ability to drive around my very expensive and fast Japanese car without police thinking I was some punk idiot. Also the movies stink worse than hot garbage.

I meant the Fantastic Four.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

If this works and Disney gets the X-Men & Fantastic Four back think of the biggest MCU film that would have the Avengers, Revengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four take on Onslaught?

 

[deeevo]

Based on what?

When the "Walt Disney Company" started focusing all their attention on profit over the experience. This happened in the parks (After hours up-charges, big white tents in TL, over crowded parties ect..) and in the movie theater (live action remakes...easy $$). I can not pin point when it happened exactly but it did. I do not blame Disney. This is the business cultural we live in today. The company I work for is the same way. A very large company that has to answer to stock holders so they cut cost and employee benefits anyway they can to make more profit to show Wall Street. It has happened all around us and it is not just Disney.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Plus while Deadpool is part of Marvel & most likely made by Marvel Studios Deadpool's sequels would be released under the Touchstone banner.

 

[ohioguy]

This potential includes film/TV rights to: X-Men, Simpson’s, Kingsmen, Die Hard, Deadpool, Fantastic 4, Avatar.

Did I miss anything major?

Alien

Planet of the Apes

Ice Age

 

[MichRX7]

Now they can overlay Testrack with "The Cannonball Run." With so many inebriated Epcot guests already on the ride, this would be a more appropriate fit.

I'd rather they did CB2 so we can get the 1980s AA's of Catherine Bach, Susan Anton and their Lambo.

 

[MichRX7]

Where does the queue start for the John McClane meet and greet because I am fast passing that son of a.....

And the best part? No need for a Christmas overlay, because everyone KNOWS this IS a Christmas movie...