Are Talks Of Disney Purchasing Fox Back On?
Recently reports were made that Disney had been in talks with Fox about purchasing assets such as movie and TV Studios, which caused stock to rise but these talks were also reported to have stalled.
However according to Deadline, these talks are still continuing:
“Disney is progressing speedily toward that rumored acquisition of Fox. The version I heard has the Murdoch clan keeping possession of sports and news properties, and the rest of TV and the film studio going to Disney. Radio silence right now from both studios, and given how Disney made the Marvel and Lucasfilm deals under the cone of silence, if this happens we’ll probably only know it when it’s announced. It is certainly being talked about today. Not surprisingly, the reaction around town is not enthusiasm, because of the uncertainty that comes with potentially reducing a major studio to content generators under the Disney silo system.”
However, Sony and Universal have also been reported to have been in discussions with Fox about purchasing assets, which led to further rises in Fox’s stock. So the idea of Fox leaving the TV and movie business seeming more possible. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of the assets were spilt up, with Disney buying certain aspects, such as the Marvel movie rights & back catalog of X-Men and Fantastic Four, plus franchises like Avatar or its animated series like the Simpsons or Family Guy.
It also poses the question if Fox can sell on the Marvel movie rights it has to another party or if without a Studio to make movies, eventually the rights would revert back (which wouldn’t help Fox).
Recently Avatar director James Cameron mentioned the talks, as he seemed happy with working with Disney on his upcoming Avatar projects.
As with any negotiations, I wouldn’t expect any announcement until the deal is done, but these reports keep coming up and while the idea of the X-Men joining the MCU sounds great, it does lead to questions about if Disney would continue to make movies based on franchises like Alien, Die Hard or Planet of the Apes. But having all these franchises and TV shows onboard for Disney’s upcoming streaming system would be a benefit over Amazon or Netflix.
This could all be rumours and might not come to anything, but an announcement of the takeover could be very probable.
What do you think of Disney buying parts of Fox?