21st Century Fox to potentially be sold to Disney.

[Iroscato]

I'm quite drunk so sorry if this is the wrong forum, and dunno if this is legit but ;

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/mobile.reu ... SKBN1D62GU

Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox film and television conglomerate has held talks to sell most of the company to media giant Walt Disney Co, CNBC reported on Monday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Fox's shares jumped 7.1 percent to $26.76 in afternoon trading in response. Disney shares climbed 1.7 pct to $100.33.

The two sides are not currently talking, CNBC said, but had held talks in the last few weeks, reflecting a view among Fox executives that the media company could not reach the size needed to compete with Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and other major media players

If true...well the immediate thought is FUCKING X-MEN MIGHT MEET THE AVENGERS!??!!?? but I'll let the more mature thinking seep in slowly.

Thoughts?

[Dragon Angel]

Disney, which under U.S. rules could not own two broadcast networks, would not purchase all of Fox, CNBC reported. It would not seek to buy Fox’s sports programming assets for fear of running foul of antitrust laws with its own ESPN network, and would also not buy Fox News or Fox’s broadcast network or local broadcasting affiliates, the report said.

I had a mental image of Disney's clean family-friendly image being shown at one point ..... and then Sean Hannity flashes in the next second.

But, even if it were allowed, it probably wouldn't change a thing I suppose. Fox News would still stay Fox News as it always was.

[Zaune]

Huh. I always thought it was going to be Google that became large and powerful enough to secede from the United States first.

[Crazedwraith]

If true...well the immediate thought is FUCKING X-MEN MIGHT MEET THE AVENGERS!??!!?? but I'll let the more mature thinking seep in slowly.

Isn't that like the only condition under which Jackman said he'd be Wolverine again? If he got to be in the Avengers.

They'd have a hell of a time fitting the continuities together.


OTOH Marvel could stop trying to kill X-Men in favour of the fucking Inhumans.

[Iroscato]

Disney, which under U.S. rules could not own two broadcast networks, would not purchase all of Fox, CNBC reported. It would not seek to buy Fox’s sports programming assets for fear of running foul of antitrust laws with its own ESPN network, and would also not buy Fox News or Fox’s broadcast network or local broadcasting affiliates, the report said.

I had a mental image of Disney's clean family-friendly image being shown at one point ..... and then Sean Hannity flashes in the next second.

But, even if it were allowed, it probably wouldn't change a thing I suppose. Fox News would still stay Fox News as it always was.

Looks as though the Fox Gestalt Entity is considering selling its entire film production slice of the pie to Disney, meaning Fox would then remain entirely news and sports.

The thought of the parent company of Faux Noose redoubling its efforts into developing its foul offspring is one to chew on, though...

[Elheru Aran]

If true...well the immediate thought is FUCKING X-MEN MIGHT MEET THE AVENGERS!??!!?? but I'll let the more mature thinking seep in slowly.

Isn't that like the only condition under which Jackman said he'd be Wolverine again? If he got to be in the Avengers.

They'd have a hell of a time fitting the continuities together.


OTOH Marvel could stop trying to kill X-Men in favour of the fucking Inhumans.

They just tried Inhumans and it was a huge flop, wasn't it? Or is that your point, they should kill the Inhumans off?

Anyway, yes, Jackman has said he'd only be Wolverine again if he got to play with the Avengers. Context suggests he was joking (IIRC, he's said it a time or two at conventions), but they could always try to take him up on it.

And as they're starting the Infinity War arc in the MCU... conceivably they could just pop Jackman in, since one fan-theory I've heard for the MCU is that Infinity War 1 (Avengers #3) is going to culminate in some sort of multiverse-causing event via Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. This would give the MCU a chance to replace Downey and Evans and possibly Hemsworth, who IIRC are reaching the ends of their contracts. The only X-men involved in the original Infinity Gauntlet comics were Cyclops and Wolverine.

[Iroscato]

Something's fucked up when Disney has enough money to go "Why buy the rights to these characters when we could just buy the fucking film studio they belong to?!"

[Gandalf]

Something's fucked up when Disney has enough money to go "Why buy the rights to these characters when we could just buy the fucking film studio they belong to?!"

More than just the comic book properties, I'd wager a big part of it is their catalogue of other programs.

From what I recall reading a while back, Disney is looking to establish their own streaming service to compete with Netflix. If they can get the early years of The SImpsons, Futurama, and similar, then they would have quite the base for subscribers.

[Elheru Aran]

Something's fucked up when Disney has enough money to go "Why buy the rights to these characters when we could just buy the fucking film studio they belong to?!"

More than just the comic book properties, I'd wager a big part of it is their catalogue of other programs.

From what I recall reading a while back, Disney is looking to establish their own streaming service to compete with Netflix. If they can get the early years of The SImpsons, Futurama, and similar, then they would have quite the base for subscribers.

This, yeah. They can't build a streaming empire a la Netflix without more mature content. Certainly they have a lot of films available via their Touchstone and Buena Vista distributors, but those aren't as popular on streaming as shows are. Their TV channel ABC is known for being largely family-friendly for the most part. So they need something with a little more oomph, a little more cussing, little more violence, to draw in watchers. Weren't Lost and 24 Fox shows? And, in their time at least, extremely popular? So there you go.

[The Romulan Republic]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Bad news, they're reportedly doing this so that they can focus on the sports and "news" wings of the network.

In other words, Fox wants to focus on its true purpose as the unofficial Ministry of Propaganda for the Republican Party.

[Ziggy Stardust]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a good thing? I mean, only a fraction of the X-Men movies that have been made were any good, and even then a large part of that was driven by having unusually good casting (notably Jackman, Stewart, and McKellan, who elevated at least a few of those films from being generic garbage into something interesting). Why would trying to cram this franchise into the already over crowded Marvel clusterfuck of a film universe improve anything?

[Sea Skimmer]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Bad news, they're reportedly doing this so that they can focus on the sports and "news" wings of the network.

In other words, Fox wants to focus on its true purpose as the unofficial Ministry of Propaganda for the Republican Party.

Fox already split those functions apart at the corporate level several years ago as part of the fallout of the News of The World scandal. Which might sound like a formality but actually involves an immense amount of paperwork and reshuffling... which then no longer has to be done in the process of selling the studio arm should that happen to sell off the Studio arm. Which means they can do a deal quick and not spend a hundreds of millions on lawyers in the process. So this really will have no effect on Fox news, it will just make stockowners rich and give Disney something to spend its giant money pile on. Though rich as Disney is they still can't do a deal like this outright from cash on hand; Apple could do it oh like FIVE TIMES OVER.

[Marko Dash]

just a longshot, but what if they bring back or reboot firefly.

[Gandalf]

just a longshot, but what if they bring back or reboot firefly.

Or they could focus on more profitable properties, and ones not so tied to the recently scandal ridden Joss Whedon.

[Vendetta]

If true...well the immediate thought is FUCKING X-MEN MIGHT MEET THE AVENGERS!??!!?? but I'll let the more mature thinking seep in slowly.

Isn't that like the only condition under which Jackman said he'd be Wolverine again? If he got to be in the Avengers.

They'd have a hell of a time fitting the continuities together.


OTOH Marvel could stop trying to kill X-Men in favour of the fucking Inhumans.

They just tried Inhumans and it was a huge flop, wasn't it? Or is that your point, they should kill the Inhumans off?

They've been trying to make people love the Inhumans and forget the X-Men in the comics for years with just as little success. Basically any character over the last few years who would have been a mutant in the '90s is now a secret Inhuman (like the new Ms. Marvel), and the X-Men are always wrong even when they're right (see: AvsX, IvsX).

The only Inhuman anyone cares about is Ms. Marvel.

And maybe Lockjaw. Who is a dog and that is cheating.

It's because Ike Perlmutter is amazingly salty that Fox has the X-Men rights (also the reason the Fantastic Four got cancelled). Ike Perlmutter is also legendarily cheap and the Inhumans and Iron Fist series being rushed, cheap, and shit are also his fault (as well as Scott Buck). This is also why there is no crossover between Marvel movies and TV. Because they're actually seperate companies after Kevin Feige successfully argued to Disney that Perlmutter was holding the movies back (esp. Civil War) by wanting to do them on the cheap. Perlmutter and Feige do not like each other.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

just a longshot, but what if they bring back or reboot firefly.

Next, people will be suggesting The Orville/Star Wars crossover.

[/cold shivers]

[Elheru Aran]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a good thing?

Quality aside? Mostly fanboying. Let's face it, there's a significant portion of the comic-book-movie-watching public who will jump all over any kind of crossover movie. There's a reason The Avengers made serious cash. Likewise BvS. It might shit major turds all over the origin material, but they'll watch it because it's THEIR HEROES on the BIG SCREEN.

Granted if it's really bad, yeah, after the initial opening their profits will fall off sharply once reviews come out and word of mouth spreads, but there's still people who will watch anything as long as it's got their brand on it. The success of the MCU is proof positive of that, I don't think they've had any movies so far that can be described as absolute failures. Iron Man 3, Thor: Dark World and Age of Ultron are the only ones I can think of that didn't do too well, and IIRC they still turned profits.

[Coop D'etat]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a good thing?

Quality aside? Mostly fanboying. Let's face it, there's a significant portion of the comic-book-movie-watching public who will jump all over any kind of crossover movie. There's a reason The Avengers made serious cash. Likewise BvS. It might shit major turds all over the origin material, but they'll watch it because it's THEIR HEROES on the BIG SCREEN.

Granted if it's really bad, yeah, after the initial opening their profits will fall off sharply once reviews come out and word of mouth spreads, but there's still people who will watch anything as long as it's got their brand on it. The success of the MCU is proof positive of that, I don't think they've had any movies so far that can be described as absolute failures. Iron Man 3, Thor: Dark World and Age of Ultron are the only ones I can think of that didn't do too well, and IIRC they still turned profits.

Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron both made bank at the box office, they were the second and third biggest grossing MCU films and both were some of the biggest box office takes in film history. Finacially they were the complete opposite of failures (unless your idea of success is replicating the lightning in a bottle that was the Avengers). I think you're confusing fan retrospective opinion with business success. Both were pretty well received critically as well, so you can't hang that on them either (unlike BvS).

The worst the MCU has done from the business side was the 2nd Thor and the Hulk movie, neither which flopped or even failed, just didn't do so well that they can be considered unambigious successes.

[Solauren]

I see the decision to purchase Fox having gone like this.

"How much to get the X-men and other Marvel characters back from Fox?"
"$$$$$"
"Hmm... and how much to just by Fox outright, then internally transfer the rights?"
"$$$.... I'll get right on that."

[Simon_Jester]

Given how much Fox would have charged for the Firefly rights that it pretty obviously never planned to use, I can totally believe that it would be cheaper to buy out the damn company than to get them to give up IP they ever did intend to use.

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a good thing? I mean, only a fraction of the X-Men movies that have been made were any good, and even then a large part of that was driven by having unusually good casting (notably Jackman, Stewart, and McKellan, who elevated at least a few of those films from being generic garbage into something interesting). Why would trying to cram this franchise into the already over crowded Marvel clusterfuck of a film universe improve anything?

Because Marvel has a higher hit rate of making good movies. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that Marvel Cinematic movies featuring the X-Men will be better than Fox movies featuring same.

[Vendetta]

I dunno, they're already going to have to work on "why has nobody heard of Captain Marvel" given they're setting her movie in the '90s.

"There are approx one squillion mutants and nobody talked about it" is a bit of a hard sell.

[Enigma]

How's this going to affect any future Deadpool movies?

[The Romulan Republic]

So... good news, we'll probably get a Marvel X-Men film someday.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a good thing?

Quality aside? Mostly fanboying. Let's face it, there's a significant portion of the comic-book-movie-watching public who will jump all over any kind of crossover movie. There's a reason The Avengers made serious cash. Likewise BvS. It might shit major turds all over the origin material, but they'll watch it because it's THEIR HEROES on the BIG SCREEN.

Might I suggest that anyone who expects a comic book film adaptation to "faithfully" follow the original comics (when the comics are a very different format and span decades of often-contradictory material over multiple continuities) is a) being highly unrealistic, and b) ensuring their own disappointment.

For me, pretty much all I ask is that the characters are basically recognizable, that there are protagonists I can like and sympathize with and villains who are both threatening and possessing a personality, and a coherent plot and decent pacing (ie, doesn't drag or speed by too fast). And that the film avoids any clear racism/sexism/etc. And, if the film has a big budget, that it doesn't end up looking cheap despite that.

And most of those are things I'd ask of any film, in any genre.

Granted if it's really bad, yeah, after the initial opening their profits will fall off sharply once reviews come out and word of mouth spreads, but there's still people who will watch anything as long as it's got their brand on it. The success of the MCU is proof positive of that, I don't think they've had any movies so far that can be described as absolute failures. Iron Man 3, Thor: Dark World and Age of Ultron are the only ones I can think of that didn't do too well, and IIRC they still turned profits.

Pretty much, yeah. Although I do wish that Marvel would vary their style/formula a bit more at times.

[bilateralrope]

How's this going to affect any future Deadpool movies?

It means all the rights for them are now held by Disney, clearing up all the lawyer problems.

I see the decision to purchase Fox having gone like this.

"How much to get the X-men and other Marvel characters back from Fox?"
"$$$$$"
"Hmm... and how much to just by Fox outright, then internally transfer the rights?"
"$$$.... I'll get right on that."

You're assuming that Fox was willing to sell at any price. That's not guaranteed. Companies do sometimes hold onto rights, doing the minimal they need to keep them, just to ensure that nobody else uses them to make any serious competition.

[bilateralrope]

just a longshot, but what if they bring back or reboot firefly.

What did Firefly have that makes it worth rebooting ?

I'm talking about things that appeared on-screen. Not things that it had the potential to have if it had continued.