X-Men coming to the MCU! Disney buys 21st Century Fox.
At 12 a.m. today The Walt Disney Company finally finished its official purchase of 21st Century Fox – the first part of the Mouse’s cunning master plan to crush Netflix and slay Amazon Prime before Jeff Bezos can build his first L5 Orbital Station.
As well as the movie business merger, opening up the possibility of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men entering the MCU for the first time – including the future project of an Avengers Versus X-Men film (hopefully, please, better than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the deal also lands Disney with 21st Century Fox’s combined ownership stake in Hulu.
Should come in very handy for Disney’s coming subscription service’s war to steal most of Amazon Prime and Netflix’s lunch – the opening salvos of which sadly took down every Marvel TV series on Netflix, from Daredevil to Punisher. The inclusion of ESPN+ will keep those boring ‘ol sports fans happy, too.
Robert Iger, Disnet’s CEO, told SFcrowsnest, “This is an extraordinary and historic moment for us—one that will create significant long-term value for our company and our shareholders. Combining Disney’s and 21st Century Fox’s wealth of creative content and proven talent creates the preeminent global entertainment company, well positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era.”
That’s code for ^%^^&ing up Netflix and Amazon Prime big-time, by the way!
All the Fox News stuff had to be spun off to allow the merger to go through, leaving the Igerster and Disney holding the cards for 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, in their deck.
Straight flush, I’d say.
The upcoming live-action Star Wars TV series is now likely to be joined by TV series set in the Avatar universe, the Alien and Predator franchises, and might even herald a return of a Walking Dead-like Planet of the Apes TV series (cartoon, or live-action, who is to say?).
And what will happen to Netflix and Amazon Prime, then?
