Disney Acquisition Of Fox Rumored To Be Gaining Steam

Talks of Disney acquiring certain divisions of 21st Century Fox have cooled, but after news went public both companies saw decent bumps in value on the stock market.

A new rumor suggests that talks have once again started picking up and that the Walt Disney Corporation could acquire the entertainment wings of their rival, further bolstering their media empire.

As part of Deadline’s irregular column “Bart & Fleming,” reporters Mike Fleming Jr. and Peter Bart discussed the possibility becoming ever more likely.

“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,” wrote Fleming. “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.”

If true, this is a major development in the ongoing saga between the two media giants.

While many fans point to the obvious benefits of Marvel properties coming together or Star Wars distribution rights being solved, Fleming points out some major downsides to the deal.

Should News Corp. refocus their efforts to sports and news, it would create a loss of jobs in the industry as certain redundancies are consolidated for the sake of saving money.

Sure, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four would jump back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, offering a new wave of opportunities for the future of the film and television properties.

And then there’s Star Wars, with the original film’s distribution rights belonging to 20th Century Fox in perpetuity.

And then all of the properties they’d acquire, like James Cameron’s Avatar and many others.

Of course, this deal isn’t solely contingent on IPs like those, but of the vast library of Fox’s content and distribution rights. 

While it might seem like a great idea for fans, those involved in production have a little more to worry about if the acquisition goes through.