Disney and Fox Deal Expected to Close Next Month

Many superhero fans are eager to see the X-Men and Fantastic Four join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that seems a long ways away as Disney must first finalize their deal to acquire 20th Century Fox and other assets.

According to industry insiders, executives are expecting the deal will close and be finalized in the last week of January 2019, according to a new report from NBC News.

The news came along with word of a potential blackout of Disney programming on Verizon’s Fios service, as the two have not come to a new agreement. All of this sounds like hardball between the two companies, as the entertainment giant butts heads with the telemarketing company as a fallout of Disney’s own efforts to create a streaming service.

While the news of Fios potentially losing Disney’s vast array of programming, including networks like ESPN and ABC, is disappointing to those subscribers, most fans would likely appreciate the update of the Disney and Fox deal coming to a close.

Some rumors have indicated that some of Fox’s Marvel characters could show up in one of Marvel’s 2019 movies, such as Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, or Spider-Man: Far From Home. This seems unlikely, as the movies will be months away by the time the acquisition is finalized — only Spider-Man: Far From Home has a round of reshoots coming up, and Disney would likely want to wait for a Marvel-distributed film to generate buzz they can actually make money off of.

While Fox has two X-Men movies on the docket for 2019, neither of them are said to be tying into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. X-Men: Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7th while The New Mutants is planned for August 2nd. After that, it’s a safe bet that the franchise will be rebooted entirely under the banner of Marvel Studios.

Walt Disney Company Chairman Bob Iger confirmed the properties would move under Kevin Feige’s domain, as the producer has provided five different billion-dollar box office grosses for Marvel Studios.

“I think it only makes sense,” Iger said. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”

Hopefully we learn more of what Marvel and Disney have planned for these two properties after the deal is finalized early in 2019.