Disney/Fox Merger Creates a Movie Monster
by EG
If you thought Disney had a tight grip on the worldwide box office before, just wait. This week's merger between the studio and 20th Century Fox creates a combined studio that will reap the profits from twice as many blockbuster movies as Disney owned alone. Read on for details.
Just like that, Disney's movie studio has doubled its calendar for 2019.
In closing its historic $71.3 billion acquisition of a large swath of 21st Century Fox, the House that Walt Built has inherited 20th Century Fox film, Fox 2000 and Oscar powerhouse Fox Searchlight. The deal was finalized just past midnight ET on Wednesday.
The merger gives Disney dominion over James Cameron's Avatar franchise, the Kingsman series and the X-Men universe, including Deadpool, which will now be guided by Kevin Feige's Marvel Studios. Avatar 2 has a plum year-end release date of Dec. 18, 2020.
The nuptials also give Disney — known for all-audience tentpoles — access to a perse slate of adult dramas and specialty titles, including James Mangold's untitled Ford v. Ferrari film, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, and Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window, starring Amy Adams and Julianne Moore.
Taking over the marketing and distribution of the various Fox movies will be a complicated task. Disney has 10 movies dated for release between now and New Year's Day — many believe it will be the studio's biggest year ever — while Fox likewise has 10 (not including Searchlight titles).
Don't be surprised if some Fox titles move. James Gray's sci-fi epic Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, is set to fly into theaters May 24, the same date that Disney's Aladdin debuts. But nearly two months out, almost no marketing materials have been released for Astra, indicating that it won't be ready. (Pitt's other summer movie is Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, from Sony, which released its first trailer on Wednesday.)
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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