It’s finally happening, at 12:02 am ET on March 20, 2019, Disney’s merger with Fox will be official! Back in November 2017, it was revealed that Disney was in talks to purchase Fox’s film and cable television divisions along with a few other assets.
Before the deal could be finalized, there were some issues that needed to be dealt with including other potential buyers and getting the deal approved by regulators. The $71 Billion deal will see Disney acquire 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.
There is no telling just how big of an impact this will have on the industry especially with Fox now becoming a subsidiary, the movie industry will go in a different direction as Fox was one of the “big six” meaning one less competitor on the market.
The rights for the Fantastic Four, Deadpool and X-Men films will finally be returned to Marvel so we can expect to see movies in development sometime in the very near future but it also means that many of jobs will more than likely be lost as well, which is never good news.
We can only wait and see what repercussions will come but hopefully, it will be more good than bad for everyone involved.