You might come to this news thinking it's old, that this had already happened. And no, it hadn't. In December, Disney made an offer to buy 21st Century Fox for US$52.4 million.
The sum for which Disney merges its conglomerate with Fox is 71.3 billion dollars, and this offer was approved by shareholders only in the last few hours. In this vote concludes a war that had Comcast as an opponent, another media conglomerate that owns much of NBC. The truth is that Comcast ended up dropping out of this battle, according to company statements, to acquire European TV operator Sky.
This purchase can mean many things regarding the goals Disney has for the future, but the main challenge is to stop Netflix. The company co-founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, who is the number one in streaming services, and as Disney doesn't want to be less, it will launch its own online content platform in 2019. In addition, the mouse company announced in 2017 that the content hosted on the red portal will be withdrawn at the end of this year.
A non-trivial fact regarding this operation is that, despite the purchase being made, approval from regulatory authorities is still pending, and the final agreement to seal the transaction. Unlike the news we received in December, today shareholders approved the purchase, which is the most significant step in this operation.
If we do a little memory, we remember that Disney previously acquired Pixar after a scandalous negotiation and then did the same with Marvel and the entire package of George Lucas's companies (LucasFilm, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light & Magic) that includes the Star Wars saga.
Clearly, when we see all the content that Fox has (or had), we can't help but think of essential series and movies like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Avatar, X-Files, Planet of the Apes and part of Marvel content like The Fantastic Four, Deadpool and X-Men. Now we'll see what will happen with the most important franchises and channels:
X-Men, The Fantastic Four and Deadpool Return Home
Without a doubt, one of the happiest news for fans of Stan Lee's universe. But not everything is rosy; despite the chances being greater than ever, for that to happen both franchises will have to meet on the big screen to resolve that union. Remember that the first character to return home was Spiderman, who belongs to Sony and through an agreement we could see Peter Parker played by Tom Holland within the Avengers universe and with his own movie (Spiderman: Homecoming). The hope for that to happen has a name and surname: Kevin Feige. The head of Marvel was at one time a producer of X-Men and has shown agreement that both franchises coexist in peace.
What is truly an enigma is Deadpool and The Fantastic Four. The first mentioned is one of the most successful sagas, although its adult content makes it difficult to see the character played by Ryan Reynolds with Mickey's ears. As for the Fantastic Four, we well know that their experiences on the big screen were not the best, both in their first installments and in their poor reboot, but it's a franchise that can easily adapt to Disney's terms.
Fox in recent years has paid a lot of attention to the mutant franchise. In addition to the last trilogy starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, Dark Phoenix, The New Mutants and Gambit are still to be released while on the small screen Legion continues in a great moment. We'll see if Disney continues all these projects and with the same line, not only because of the childish criteria of the mouse company but also in terms of merchandising (since at Disney everything becomes dolls and action figures).
The Simpsons, Family Guy and Adult Animation
The Simpsons is a series that is close to reaching 30 years and has lost all the spark of its early seasons, so the biggest unknown lies in how much Disney can influence its content. However, having this series in the catalog is a plus that no other platform has today (and it's worth remembering the prediction regarding the purchase by Disney). Some time ago, the opportunity of a second movie was considered, which would be an ideal kickoff for The Simpsons to triumph again... or sink into failure.
On the other hand, we have Family Guy, an exclusive adult series with sharp and dark humor, something that when thinking about Disney puts us in a plane of concern for its future. We'll see if Disney bets on adult series and how it could reformulate it within its content.
Also added to this purchase are Hulu, FX, National Geographic and more than 350 international channels. NatGeo, which now strives to create fictional content, will probably find what it's looking for.
We still have loose ends, and one of them is Avatar, the ambitious and costly franchise of James Cameron, which is one of the ones that fits best in Disney's line (beyond its suspicious resemblance to Pocahontas) and the one that will have the least problems.
Finally, although Fox puts its main focus on sports channels, it's true that FX is one of the great entertainment channels with a great catalog of adult series with fundamental sagas of the genre like Alien, Predator and Planet of the Apes: will they survive in a company that seeks more family-friendly content, or will Disney itself reconvert to get in tune with its new acquisition? Everything is still unknown and anything can happen.
