Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and… Fox?
That’s right folks, the deal is done. The good people at 21st Century Fox have now joined the club.
On the heels of receiving great news that the new Disney/Marvel release Captain Marvel has jetted past the $500 million mark internationally and is now speeding toward $800m globally.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the mouse will acquire 21st Century Fox, by 12:02 a.m. ET on the morning of Wednesday, March 20. The deal, which was first announced in December 2017 with a multi-billion-dollar price tag, will see Disney absorb the 21st Century Fox movie and TV divisions. The company announced the completion in a tweet.
21ST CENTURY FOX ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF DISTRIBUTION IN CONNECTION WITH DISNEY ACQUISITION: https://t.co/OHUJjX9w1k
— 21st Century Fox (@21CF) March 19, 2019
For Fanboys and Fangirls that includes film rights to the X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four and for film buffs that means the Avatar franchise from James Cameron, the speciality distributor Fox Searchlight (which released Oscar winners The Shape of Water and The Favourite), and TV hits like The X-Files and Empire.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox Corp., however, will remain its own entity.
While much has been made on the fan level of the potential for the X-Men characters to join Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe of the Avengers, there are plenty more unknowns. Shortly after the news hit, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds shared the following image of Wade Wilson sitting on a Disney bus sporting Mickey Mouse ears, along with the caption, “Feels like the first day of ‘Pool.”
Feels like the first day of ‘Pool. pic.twitter.com/QVy8fCxgqr
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 19, 2019
The article goes onto say that while the two companies worked out the kinks of this merger, thereby inflating opens the initial $52.4 billion to $71.3 billion after a rival bid from Comcast, some projects seemed to be in limbo, like The New Mutants and the future of the Deadpool films. “It’s all in Disney’s playground and they get to decide,” X-Men franchise producer Lauren Schuler Donner said in February.
According to the same story, The Hollywood Reporter believes around “4,000 layoffs” are in store. More details to come.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
