In one of the most surprising developments to have surfaced so far Disney is apparently in talks to purchase at least a part of 20th Century Fox. This acquisition, if successful, would give Disney control over certain assets of Fox including their movie and TV production assets allowing Fox to narrow down its focus to news and sports.
The acquisition, CNBC is reporting, stems from Fox’s desire to taper down its focus in areas it believes it can confidently scale up in i.e. news broadcasts and sports programming. As for its other media, Fox believes it doesn’t have the necessary resources to build them up to scale which Disney does. For Disney, the move will only add to its ongoing portfolio of properties it’s readying in a bid to bolster its content library in preparation for its own streaming service due to launch in the next few years.
But of course the most important question we as comic-book geeks would be asking is: Could this mean the X-Men, Fantastic Four and even Deadpool are finally headed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After Marvel’s success in striking a deal with Sony, Fox is seemingly the final company to have film rights to some of their characters (and very popular ones indeed). Such an acquisition would finally bring all its major characters under the MCU much like DC has access to all its characters including the A-listers. If true, this should definitely quench doubts of any naysayers of the superhero genre or even Marvel movies as a whole. With this move, the cinematic universe could just be getting started.
Of course it’s entirely possible the deal could fall through. Talks are in very early stages and nothing could materialize further so it’s best to keep your fingers crossed at this stage and watch out for more info. Stay tuned.
Update: The deal is now official. Read this piece to learn more.