Rumours have been circulating for some time now over Disney's latest purchase, although it wasn't until Today (Thursday 14th December) that everything was made official. The move not only links Disney with the successful studios, but also its subsidiaries, Fox Searchlight, Fox 2000 and Blue Sky.
The news broke when The Walt Disney Company released a statement; both companies have "entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox" for a grand total of $52.4 billion dollars. The move will see Disney take over both Fox's TV and film studios, as well as its TV channels like FX ('American Horror Story') and National Geographic. Disney will also be taking streaming service Hulu under its wing. 21st Century Fox will keep its name and its channels will remain as Fox, Fox News, Fox Business Network.
"The agreement also provides Disney with the opportunity to reunite the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool with the Marvel family under one roof and create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories that audiences have shown they love", continues the statement. It's too early, at the moment, to determine what plans Disney have in store for us, but the prospects are certainly exciting! Disney have also acquired 'Avatar' and the rights to other productions like, 'The Simpsons', 'Planet of the Apes', 'Alien, 'Kingsman' and 'Die Hard' adding them to its already huge catalogue of films. In terms of TV, 'Modern Family', 'This Is Us' and 'The Americans' will also be included in the move.
The uniting of the two companies has a lot of significance for Disney's theme parks; in its Orlando branch, they already have an area dedicated to 'Avatar'. Disney is very quickly becoming unstoppable, and despite the benefits, it might not all spell good for viewers.
A streaming service?
Rupert Murdoch will retain his physical studios in Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles. Disney's CEO, Bob Iger had announced his departure from the company with plans to leave in 2019. That date has now been delayed until 2021. According to experts, this beast of a shakeup to the media industry is only making way for Disney's own streaming service in 2019. Given Disney's own productions, and its now recently acquired franchises, the company is fast becoming serious competition for other streaming services like Netflix.
How will the move affect us Brits? I hear you ask. For the moment, Disney is pressing ahead with its plans for a US only streaming service, but it's highly likely that they'll make it available internationally too. Fox was about to acquire 61% of the shares in Sky, one of the main TV companies in Europe, if the deal goes through in time, those shares will also become part of Disney.
There's still a lot we don't know, but we hope both Disney and Fox give us more details as they go.
