I think this isn’t actually good news and should be discussed beyond the comic book repercussions (X-Avengers). It really does seem like this will give too much leverage to one company and will reduce the options for filmmakers.
The Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Fox behemoth combined with the end of net-neutrality does not bode well for diversity and freedom of choice!
Disney’s $52.4 billion deal to acquire a significant portion of 21st Century Fox has earned the blessing of President Trump, though he reportedly first needed to be assured that Fox News wouldn’t change hands.
“In the relentless drive to eliminate competition, big business has an insatiable appetite for consolidation. Disney and Fox have spent decades profiting from the oligopolistic control that the six major media conglomerates have exercised over the entertainment industry, often at the expense of the creators who power their television and film operations. Now, this proposed merger of direct competitors will make matters even worse by substantially increasing the market power of a combined Disney-Fox corporation. The antitrust concerns raised by this deal are obvious and significant. The Writers Guild of America West strongly opposes this merger and will work to ensure our nation’s antitrust laws are enforced.”
Hehe! Yup, don’t wander off into the swamps of P&R much.
I checked Movies, TV & EE and was rather surprised there were no discussions about the deal. This would explain it and I guess Disney does qualify as a religion these days.
So much politics in these deals. Trump only approves as long as Fox News stays put and Trump disapproves of the AT&T/Time Warner deal is CNN stays put.
The acquisition includes 21st Century Fox’s renowned film production businesses, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Family and Fox Animation; Fox’s television creative units, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21; FX Networks; National Geographic Partners; Fox Networks Group International; Star India; and Fox’s interests in Hulu, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group. Disney and 21st Century Fox entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice last year under which Disney will divest 21st Century Fox’s Regional Sports Networks.
Earlier today, 21st Century Fox completed the spin-off of a portfolio of 21st Century Fox’s news, sports and broadcast businesses, including the FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network, FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Sports, FOX Television Stations Group, and sports cable networks FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network, and certain other assets and liabilities, into Fox Corporation.
Fox News wasn’t part of the deal. This was mainly the studio.
Again, for all the teeth-grinding we make about other massive, massive corporate entities, everyone here is willing to gloss over the fact that Disney has control over an insane percentage of the culture landscape, but it’s all good so long as we get an X-Men/MCU cross-over.
Pixar aside, it’s not a part of the cultural landscape I particularly care about, so I’m not personally bothered by it. I think it’s anticompetitive in the abstract, but I can’t say I care at a gut level.
Also, even if I was 100% against this, other than not watching some of my favorite film franchises in some sort of ineffective boycott (never going to happen) what could I possibly have done to affect the outcome? Jack. Shit. So I’m content to sit back and see how it plays out. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to me, honestly.
Not to mention the immediate human costs coming from massive layoffs.
The staff cuts are hitting employees at the SVP, EVP, and president level. Senior staff is expected to be among the first to be impacted. However, the cuts will be deep, with the ax falling hardest of Fox’s film team. There could be as many as 4,000 jobs cut in the merger, according to some reports.
But hey, maybe Deadpool will show up in an Avengers movie! That will make it all worth it!
Well, either they did some really poor research, or they knew about those going in…
[Edit] after reading some of that: how to move Deadpool back and forth between Avengers spin-offs and his own “profane” solo movies? Seriously? That will just kill the character (pun intended). And “New Mutants” has limited box office appeal as a horror film? Duh, I could have told them that for a lot less money. The latest trailer I saw for it was going to bring roughly 3 people out to the theater for it."
