Fox Reportedly Favors Disney Over Other Potential Buyers

The news that Fox is circling a deal with Disney has been the 'will they, won't they' storyline that fans have been watching with carefully-measured hopes. After initial excitement that the deal was being worked out, we then heard that Fox and Dinsey couldn't come to a deal - only to now learn that the deal between the two companies may be closer than ever!

Additional reporting on the potential deal has come in, with Bloomberg dropping the following update:

"21st Century Fox Inc., the global film and TV company controlled by the Murdoch family, would prefer to sell some assets to Walt Disney Co. because it's a better strategic fit and presents fewer regulatory hurdles, people familiar with the matter said."

For super hero fans, the upswing of having Fox choose Disney is obvious: Bringing the X-Men properties into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a prospect that fans have wanted, ever since the MCU first began. A major step was made when Sony collaborated with Marvel Studios to make Spider-Man: Homecoming, leaving just Fox's X-Men and Fantastic Four as the holdouts to creating a fully complete Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Fox, having the inconsistencies in its superhero movies and TV projects course-corrected by the consistently successful Marvel Studios is an equally lucrative prospect.

At this point, it's fair for fans to be cautiously optimistic that this deal is going to happen. The specifics of the deal aren't fully clear, but it seems that Fox would sell it's 20th Century Fox movie and TV assets to Disney, while keeping other divisions like Fox News and Fox Sports. Disney would gain access to the impressive global market share and distribution network Fox has established, while Fox would gain the branding genius of Disney. Speaking of the latter: gaining the Fox market share of entertainment assets would be a major move in helping Disney launch its 2019 streaming service as a potential Netflix/Hulu competitor.

We'll keep you updated on the status of the Fox/Disney deal as it develops.