20th Century Fox to Release Feature Films on Disney+

Disney had their newest earnings call today, and during the presentation, Disney CEO Robert Iger revealed a few more details about how they aim to handle 20th Century Fox films going forward. Since the merger, they've kept the 20th Century Fox brand alive but have canceled several projects that were previously greenlit getting the ax after the move to Disney. During the call, Iger highlighted the studio and what they plan to do with it, and the current plan is that the studio will focus on a "select group of high-quality movies" regarding releases in theaters, and they'll also distribute some films from the studio exclusively on Hulu or Disney+.

Evidently, Disney still sees value in the studio's brand, but they are taking a more conservative approach to the studio's output. Likely this would be a perfect banner to keep their R-Rated wing of films, like the Deadpool franchise for instance or the previous greenlit X-Force film. It's unclear if Marvel will do that though, as Once Upon A Deadpool showed a PG-13 version of the franchise would also work. Fans are hoping the next film keeps its edge, and we'll be interested to see how Disney approaches it.

After the Disney merger, several films were closed down. So far Disney has closed down development on Mouse Guard, News of the World, On the Come Up, and Fruit Loops and three of those movies came from Fox 2000, the division run by Elizabeth Gabler. Mouse Guard, which is based on the David Peterson graphic novel series about guardian Mice who defend the realm, was shut down before it started production in May. As for the reasoning why insiders are saying that Disney thought it was too expensive for a movie they didn't see a franchise in.

Peterson attempted to find a new home for the film but that didn't end up happening, and it's a shame too, as the test footage looked fantastic.

Disney isn't shuttering everything, however, as several projects started by former Fox Film President Emma Watts are moving forward, like The Great Game (the Kingsman prequel), Fear Street, and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story. Other films coming up from Fox are Free Guy, Death on the Nile (the sequel to Murder on the Orient Express), and Avatar 2. We imagine the other Avatar sequels will also have no issues getting through.

Do you think this approach will work for Disney and 20th Century Fox? Let us know in the comments!