Disney’s long rumoured purchase of 20th Century Fox may be happening imminently.
Whilst it’s a rumour that’s been circulating for quite some time now, we’ve resisted reporting on it due to how long it’s been a rumour, but it appears that the much discussed buyout of Twentieth Century Fox by Disney Studios is actually remarkably close to happening with CNBC reporting that an announcement of the sale could be reported as early as next week.
With a deal said to be worth in the region of $60 billion (for a comparison, Lucasfilm and Marvel, both of which have been previously acquired by Disney were valued at $4 billion each.) It would be a deal of massive proportions and it’s also reported that it would be subject to approval from the Justice Department (they recently filed against AT&T purchasing Warner Bros).
Disney had previously stated that they were not involved in such discussions and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has said that there are no plans to introduce the Marvel characters currently owned by Fox into the MCU, but it would be easy to imagine that this may be all down to the deal still being in negotiations at present. Disney likes to do its business away from press speculation, as was seen during their acquisition of Lucasfilm.
From the perspective of fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this move would likely be welcomed with enthusiasm by many fans as Disney’s acquisition would mean that many of Marvel’s characters that haven’t been able to be incorporated into the MCU such as the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, Wolverine, Galactus and Silver Surfer, could later become part of it. How this deal would affect further films in the “R-rated” series such as Logan and especially Deadpool would be a concern moving forward, with Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds recently tweeting;
“If this is true, I wonder how the fudge it would affect Deadpool?”
Deadpool director Rob Liefeld even went as far as to pen an “open letter” on Instagram to Fox’s Rupert Murdoch;
“It’s your buddy Rob. Wait on any further talks until Deadpool 2 opens and does a billion. And X-Force! This is your Star Wars franchise and you’ve only scratched the surface. Everyone on the film side has kicked into overdrive. Watch that portfolio grow!”
However, many fans would welcome the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the MCU, expecting the same sort of treatment of the characters that was seen when the studio struck its deal with Sony Pictures to relaunch Spider-Man into the MCU. How Marvel Studios would explain the appearance of these new characters may be an issue but with the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp said to be dealing with the characters’ voyage to the quantum realm, the Macroverse, it could open up a multi-universe storyline that would perhaps offer the inhabitants of the X-Men universe the opportunity to drop into the MCU reality and meet the Avengers. Doctor Strange has experienced the Multiverse which could give rise to a similar plot device and potentially Thanos, or any other character for that matter, could use the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet to open doors to alternate realities.
The deal is also said to include Fox selling all of their movie and television production assets, whilst keeping its news, sports and broadcast networks. Either way, it’s a deal of colossal importance to the film, television and entertainment industry as a whole and we may well have more to report on this very soon.