Disney had their presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday, giving those in attendance new looks at various upcoming films, such as Avengers: Endgame and Toy Story 4. As this was the first CinemaCon since the merger with Fox finalized last month, the presentation also featured updates to Fox’s film offerings, and it sounds like several of Fox’s franchises will be continuing on now that they’re part of the Disney family.
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ComicBook.com was in attendance for the presentation and Fox’s Emma Watts explained that they “intend to do our part and it is in that spirit that we will continue to create new stories.” Among those franchises continuing post-Disney merger? Planet of the Apes, Kingsman, Avatar, Alien, and the Maze Runner movies.
The idea that Avatar has a future post-merge isn’t a huge surprise. James Cameron’s first Avatar film already had something of a relationship with Disney even before the merger. Pandora — The World of Avatar is a theme area inspired by the film located within Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. The first film was also hugely successful and with four planned sequels — the first set to be released next year — its future wasn’t really too much in doubt.
The Kingsman mention also isn’t a huge surprise. A third installment of that franchise as well as a prequel film are both currently in the works. Alien and the Apes franchise are a little more surprising. Both of those franchises most recently released films in 2017 — Alien: Covenant and War of the Planet of the Apes.
In addition to the franchises expected to continue post-merger, the presentation also noted the closure of one specific franchise — X-Men. Watts hinted that the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix will conclude that franchise as we know it.
“It’s the perfect sendoff for our epic X-Men series,” Watts shared with the audience after showing footage from the film.
Since even just rumors of Disney’s purchase of Fox emerged fans have wondered what it would mean for the franchise with many — including sources at Disney and Marvel Studios — expressing excitement at the X-Men characters being absorbed into the MCU. With Dark Phoenix apparently the end of this take on the franchise, it also may open the door for new stories and new films under Marvel Studios. Watts’ comments seemingly confirmed that the proper X-Men series will conclude in its current form, likely leading to new actors being cast to fill roles when the MCU welcomes the X-Men into their world.
What do you think about the update about certain Fox franchises at Disney? Let us know in the comments below.
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