Disney to Acquire 21st Century Fox

On 14th December, The Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox have entered into a agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox.


Disney has agreed with 21st Century Fox to acquire big parts of the company for $52.4 billion.

The deal with Fox will include following entertainment properties: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions, Fox21, FX Networks, National Geographic Partners, Fox Sports Regional Networks, Fox Networks Group International, Star India along with the interests in Hulu, Sky plc, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group.

The deal doesn't include: Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network, which will separate into a newly listed company.

The deal with Fox means a lot for Disney. Disney will now own the rights of Marvel's Deadpool, X-Men, and Fantastic Four which could mean new movies, TV series and of course, a lot of merchandise. Besides the Marvel franchise, Disney will also own the rights for the first 6 Star Wars movies from Lucasfilm which include: The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005), A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983).

Disney will also own the rights of The Simpsons and Avatar along with family movies Ice Age, Rio, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. You can read more here.

CEO Bob Iger was asked - which means a lot for Deadpool fans - about if the movie still could be R-rated. Despite Disney isn't making R-rated movies, Bob Iger said there may be potential for them to continue. ""It (Deadpool) clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool, as long as we let the audiences know what's coming, we think we can manage that fine," he said." - CS.net

Another fact is that Robert "Bob" Iger will continue as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company through the end of 2021. The 66-year-old was originally planned to exit in 2019.

You can read the full announcement by The Walt Disney Company here


Sources: TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, The Hollywood Reporter, ComingSoon.net, Brickset.com
Image: Oh My Disney