The Disney-Fox Merger

[Jean Valjean]

So this is pretty huge news in a year with all sorts of pop cultural news.  2017 saw Wonder Woman, DC's first team-up in Justice League, Marvel kick out three highly rated superhero films, a great purge of Hollywood, a really great Blade Runner sequel, a really great Stranger Things sequel, some other  successes, some other huge failures...Oh, and 20th Century Fox put out a couple of perfect films called War for the Planet of the Apes and Logan.  They also put out Alien: Covenant, which was a great villain movie, but understandably not the best horror film in the Alien franchise.

 

But the pop culture news that will probably have the longest, most historically significant effects will be that of Disney acquiring the aforementioned 20th Century Fox, who probably won't be able to make films quite like the ones that they made this year.  So we'll probably never see another Logan, or anything as mature as War for the Planet of the Apes, and I seriously wonder if another hardcore Ridley Scott Alien movie will ever be made.  On the bright side, you get to see an eventual Wolverine crossover with the Avengers...because the Avengers lineup totally needs more characters.

 

This acquisition carries a lot of implications.  I was wondering what people's thoughts were on this, and what they think Disney will be able to do with all of this.  Obviously, there's the superhero stuff, but this is a $52 billion deal, with a B.  And Disney is now $14 in debt.  Obviously, Disney bought a lot more than a couple of superhero properties, and I'd like to start speculating about what they're going to do with all of that.

 

So here's what I'm thinking:

• There might be some home alone sequels.  I'm not a fan of the idea, but there's a good chance of making money out of it.  Honestly, though, if they're going to make sequels to great movies starring Macaulay Culkin, I think that they'd to a great job with The Pagemaster, which has a lot more opportunities for sequels.  And yes, Disney owns that now.
• Speaking of nostalgic children's movies from the 90's, Disney now owns The Slandlot and Mrs. Doubtfire.
• They have distribution rights to The Princess Bride.  I don't think that it would be smart to remake that movie, but perhaps they'll try a sequel or something.  Lord knows, they're going for a remake of A Wrinkle in Time, so anything's possible (of course, with that one, the made-for-television film was mas o menos and wasn't considered a classic).
• James Cameron's Avatar sequels will be coming out in a few years, and it was smart to buy Fox before those got released.  I wonder if those will look any different under Disney.  I mean, James Cameron is typically a tyrant on-set, and would Disney reign him in?  I'm curious about what effect this will have behind-the-scenes.  And will Pandora be somewhat Disnified?  I'm just curious.  Honestly, before this merger happened, I thought that Disney was going to just buy the remaining Marvel properties and the rights to Avatar off of Fox.
• They now have the rights to Titanic, the other highest grossing film of all time directed by James Cameron.  Obviously, you can't really make any sequels off of that, but there's still probably ways to make money off of that.  The only thing that I can think of is to make a theme park attraction based off of that, but that's probably not a good idea just because it's pretty distasteful.  Well, they own it, and they can at least boast that.  They'll probably ask James Cameron to make a special edition with better colors or something just to have an excuse to re-release it on its 25th anniversary.
• There's an upcoming Cameron-produced film called Alita: Battle Angel, which looks rather interesting.  It that gets any sort of following, then it's good on Disney to get the rights to it before it's even a thing.
• They own The Abyss, and True Lies.
• They don't have the rights to Terminator, so that's something.  At least, I think they don't.  The rights have shuffled between companies.  But come to think of it, I believe that the latest plans for a film were going to be by 20th Century Fox.  So yeah, Disney basically now owns James Cameron's entire legacy.
• But I think that this might actually give them the rights to the Predator franchise, which was distributed by Fox.  Not sure...but in any case, I'm not dying for any Predator sequels.  The series was never that great, in my opinion, and I also don't necessarily think that it would be a crime if it was turned PG-13.  It's not like the Alien movies, where the very nature of the antagonist basically makes them rated R by default.  Actually, since the Predators have already appeared in a PG-13 crossover movie (which was actually pretty fun, albeit demeaning to the majesty of the Xenomorphs), I can totally see them appearing in the MCU now as villains.  Come to think of it, Disney, make that happen!
• Forget all this stuff about Alien and The Terminator and The Predator, the pinnacle of horror films is The Fly, and we know that this is where the money is at.  Disney is unstoppable now!  At this rate they're just going to buy Jeff Goldblum.  He'll get a tattoo on him saying "If lost, return to Bob Iger."
• Disney will absolutely make sequels to Night at the Museum.  That's a match made in Heaven.
• Perhaps make sequels to War for the Planet of the Apes set in the far future, when Charlton Heston comes back from outer space.  Make a trilogy out of it.  Market it well so that it makes a ton more money than War for the Planet of the Apes did. Make sure not to release it at the same time as a Spider-Man sequel.
• What the heck are they going to do with The Simpsons?
• People keep on accidentally thinking that Anastasia is a Disney film...but now they're right.
• I'm personally a fan of Don Bluth's Titan A.E., and would love to see a Disney sequel to that.  Not that you can make a sequel to it, since it tied up all loose ends and ended pretty well...I'm just a fan.
• They now own the rights to Cheaper by the Dozen, which I can actually see them using.  It's actually surprising that it wasn't a Disney film to begin with.
• Not that they'll do anything with it, but as it happens, they now have the rights to The Passion of the Christ.  You know, the single goriest film I've ever seen.
• Because of Winn-Dixie might actually get remade, because that's down Disney's alley.
• Robots (that animated film with Robin Williams) has potential for them.
• As much as I don't like this, they'll probably make more Ice Age sequels.
• I think that they have the rights to Eragon, actually.  Which was a bad movie based off of a bad book, but I can definitely see Disney taking the source material and improving it.
• Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is definitely their kind of thing.  And I would love a sequel, because I liked Natalie Portman's character in that.  She was just so emotionally resonant with me.
• I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that they now own the rights to the Die Hard franchise.
• Nim's Island was already basically a Fox movie that wanted to be a Disney movie.  I'm not sure if this gives Disney the rights to them, since Fox was only the U.S. distributor, but still, if this gives Disney some distribution rights, I can see Disney promoting a sequel or remake of this.
• I can definitely see Disney wanting to do things with The Dark Is Rising.
• They'll have rights to the Percy Jackson series and I'm pretty sure that they can turn that into a huge juggernaut if Marvel ever begins slowing down.
• The first two Narnia films were distributed by Walt Disney, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader was distributed by Fox, so I guess this means that Disney has the whole franchise again, not that I think that they're going to do much with it.  Still, sometime in the future, when they sense the opportunity, they might.
• Maybe they'll make sequels to City of Ember, since the book has sequels.  We'll see.  Or just start from scratch.  It's just an option for them.
• Disney might decide to make good movies about Alvin and the Chipmunks that aren't basically about music and stardom and CGI chipmunks.
• They now have the film Life of Pi.  Not that they can make any sequels to that or anything.  It's just cool to own it.
• *gag* they have the rights to Maze Runner.  Which, for the record, is bad.  And the books are bad.  It's just bad.  That having been said, Disney can take a bad property and keep only the basic premise in order to create good movies.  They have a long history of it.
• I've heard people say for a long time that Disney should buy the rights to The Peanuts, and well, now they have The Peanuts Movie.  Which I've heard is pretty good.  Maybe Disney will make more Peanuts movies.
• They have the rights to Independence Day.  Not that they'll make a sequel anytime soon, but perhaps in a decade there will be a public yearning for it, and with Disney at the helm, it's guaranteed to make a profit.
• They have The Revenant...which no, is still not as gory as The Passion of the Christ.  Come to think of it, though, if Leonardo wants to keep his reputation as "the guy who suffers a lot in movies," he should really play Jesus at some point.
• Can you imagine a Disney version of Taken?
• They have several films by David O. Russel.  No sequel potential here, just bragging rights.
• They now have multiple films by Steven Spielberg.  Huge bragging rights.  Minority Report, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and The Post.  Also, they will have The Book Thief, scored by John Williams.  No franchises here, just super-huge bragging rights.

 

If Disney does end up making any R-rated superhero films, can we please get an AVW crossover where Aliens continually impregnate Wolverine and burst out of his chest?  That would be amazing, thank you very much.

 

Additionally to all of these movie possibilities, Disney also has dozens of local sports channels and National Geographic.  National freaking Geographic, the magazine that I read when I try to figure out what I'm going to do one day when I have the money to travel.  A.K.A. the best magazine ever.  The one where it's psychologically impossible not to subscribe.  So basically, I can't boycott Disney even if I wanted to.

 

I wonder what's next.  A Disney purchase of SEGA?  Studio Gibli?  I honestly think that Universal Studios is next, just so they can get their hands on E.T. and Jurassic Park. (especially if they want to tattoo Bob Iger's name onto Jeff Goldblum).

 

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the merger, although I almost bought stock the day before they made the announcement.  The only reason I didn't was because I had a lot of travel to do on Wednesday for family.  Huzzah, right?

 

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Edited December 15, 2017 by Jean Valjean

[CHTrilogy]

The arts are under attack! Freedom of expression is being squelched! The authorities are trying to silence any view contrary to their own!