Last week a report came out saying that an announcement regarding the deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox would be announced sometime this week, causing a massive wave of speculation throughout the entertainment community. Turns out the report was spot-on, and we should know what’s going to happen with the massive deal this Thursday.
A new CNBC report confirmed that an announcement will be made on Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment division in just two days, and if it goes Disney’s way, would see the House of Mouse absorbing a massive chunk of the movie and TV landscape. This would include Fox’s movie studio, Twentieth Century Fox, many TV and sports assets, and the company's interest in Hulu, giving Disney a 60% controlling stake. All total, the deal is valued around the $60 billion range.
Comcast was also in the running for the acquisition against Disney, but the communications giant recently bowed-out of negotiations. The report indicates Disney would not get every asset, with Fox News and Fox Sports 1 being left out of the deal. But still, Disney would gain a massive library of film and TV properties, including numerous Marvel franchises (X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR), which will go a long way as they try to establish their own streaming service to go against Netflix. To much fan excitement (or derision), those Marvel characters could then be incorporated into Marvel Studio’s MCU, expanding on the number of superheroes in the shared universe.
It is worth noting to comic book fans that if the deal does pass, the status of current Fox comic book movies like DEADPOOL 2, X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX, NEW MUTANTS, and even X-FORCE would remain as-is. The deal would take some time to go into effect, even though the aforementioned value means the deal won’t have to go through an FTC and Department of Justice review (that only applies if the value is over $80 billion, much like the AT&T/Warner Bros. deal).
Obviously, it would be a big deal for Disney to get back the rights to a large swath of Marvel's comic book properties. How they would all factor into the MCU is a grand, complicated mystery, but one worth having intimate, nerdgasmic fantasies about. Things may get a little cluttered, which is my only concern when it comes to the movies. But with the MCU as we know it coming to an end after AVENGERS 4 this may be the perfect time to introduce the X-Men into the universe.
Stay tuned in the coming days!