After weeks of speculation, it has finally been confirmed that Disney has purchased 20th Century Fox! The full press release doesn’t seem to indicate whether 20th Century Fox will continue to operate as it’s own entity under Disney’s ownership or if all of Fox’s properties will be absorbed under the Disney banner, nor does it specifically name-drop the Alien or Predator series when listing the bigger Fox properties.
“The Walt Disney Company and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox, including the Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television studios, along with cable and international TV businesses, for approximately $52.4 billion in stock (subject to adjustment). Building on Disney’s commitment to deliver the highest quality branded entertainment, the acquisition of these complementary assets would allow Disney to create more appealing content, build more direct relationships with consumers around the world and deliver a more compelling entertainment experience to consumers wherever and however they choose. Immediately prior to the acquisition, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.
Combining with Disney are 21st Century Fox’s critically acclaimed film production businesses, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox 2000, which together offer diverse and compelling storytelling businesses and are the homes of Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, as well as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Hidden Figures, Gone Girl, The Shape of Water and The Martian—and its storied television creative units, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21, which have brought The Americans, This Is Us, Modern Family, The Simpsons and so many more hit TV series to viewers across the globe. Disney will also acquire FX Networks, National Geographic Partners, Fox Sports Regional Networks, Fox Networks Group International, Star India and Fox’s interests in Hulu, Sky plc, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group.
“The acquisition of this stellar collection of businesses from 21st Century Fox reflects the increasing consumer demand for a rich diversity of entertainment experiences that are more compelling, accessible and convenient than ever before,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “We’re honored and grateful that Rupert Murdoch has entrusted us with the future of businesses he spent a lifetime building, and we’re excited about this extraordinary opportunity to significantly increase our portfolio of well-loved franchises and branded content to greatly enhance our growing direct-to-consumer offerings. The deal will also substantially expand our international reach, allowing us to offer world-class storytelling and innovative distribution platforms to more consumers in key markets around the world.”
Art by Michael Pucciarelli.
“We are extremely proud of all that we have built at 21st Century Fox, and I firmly believe that this combination with Disney will unlock even more value for shareholders as the new Disney continues to set the pace in what is an exciting and dynamic industry,” said Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox. “Furthermore, I’m convinced that this combination, under Bob Iger’s leadership, will be one of the greatest companies in the world. I’m grateful and encouraged that Bob has agreed to stay on, and is committed to succeeding with a combined team that is second to none.”
So the big question is what does this all mean for the Alien and Predator franchises? I think the knee-jerk reaction to hearing that Disney now owns Alien and Predator would be to expect that the series would lose their R-rating and subsequently their edge. Disney is, however, certainly no stranger to putting out R rated films. For the better part of the 90s and into the early 2000’s, Disney owned Miramax Films which distributed many of Quinten Tarantino’s films.
Will Disney continue with Scott’s plans for the prequel series, will they turn their sights on rebooting the series or will future Alien films simply be dropped? How does this merge effect The Predator which is currently in post-production? Until we hear more from Disney, the shape the future of franchises is simply unclear for now.
Another concern I have following this deal is what happens to the publishers of the expanded universe. Since the 80s, Alien and Predator comics have been within the care of Dark Horse comics. My worry is that like with Star Wars, Disney may shift the comics away from their traditional publishers to the Disney owned publisher, Marvel.
As well as that, Disney doesn’t use Titan Books to publish their Star Wars novels. Titan has been publishing Alien and Predator books for nearly the better part of the last decade and in my opinion, they’ve been doing a great job with regularly publishing great books! I’d hate to see the expanded universe move away from Dark Horse or Titan.
Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest Alien and Predator news! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!
Update #1 (15/12/2017) – This update is not directly related to Alien or Predator but is in regards to Deadpool’s move over to a Disney owned Marvel. Addressing that concerns that the buy-out would result in Deadpool losing it’s R-rating, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger confirmed that there is a place within a Disney owned Marvel for R-rated content:
““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.”
This should appease fans that are concerned that any Alien or Predator films under Disney ownership would automatically be PG-13 rated. Thanks to Russ for the news.
Update #2 (15/12/2017) – Those of you worrying about how this new buy-out might effect The Predator, fear not! All films that are currently in production are safe!
On the film front, employees are being told that films are still being greenlit and that production on such major upcoming releases as “Gambit,” an X-Men spinoff, is expected to still commence in the coming months.
Like Rice, Snider has stressed that over the next year and a half until the deal closes, it will be “business as usual” and she told staffers that she expects them “to do what we do at a high level of excellence and with our typical swagger.”
Hopefully this extends to all the current and upcoming merchandising releases. This comes via Variety. Thanks to Whos_Nick for the heads up.
Not without being edited for mass appeal.
This is deeply disappointing but expected.
Bloody disgusting.
https://bloody-disgusting.com/the-further/3515059/disney-shut-20th-century-fox-likely-avoid-genre-films/
https://www.slashfilm.com/disney-fox-merger-family-friendly-projects/
Lol indeed
There is a sister company that is owned by Disney and they have produced r rated movies in the past, I can't remember the name of the company, touchstone or mirrormax I think?.... but I remember reading a article that had concerns about deadpool moving to Disney, it was thought that deadpool may be delivered by these companies in the future! Hopefully alien an predator can follow suit
Anyways movies get shelved for many reasons. Usually because no one can come up with a story that has anything to say or place to go.
Oh I remember the Disney "vault" days - I thought you were referring to actual live action films that were shelved for years on end.
I think the only ones still locked away are things like Song of the South that they'd rather scrub from their oeuvre.
Then again, they probably won't be doing anything with either property for a while. So it might as well be the same as locking them up in the literal Disney Vault.
I don't recall them handling other popular franchises in this way, but I'm definitely out of the loop. What other franchises have they locked away? Alien and Predator are staples of the horror/scifi realm - I wouldn't think they'd do that two these two. Maybe remake after remake (which I don't think is a better alternative) but locked away for decades?
Other than that maybe a stand alone Star Wars story where Darth Vader leads a group of storm troopers to investigate why one of their outposts hasn't responded only to discover the xenomorphs have taken over.....lol ok that's just a dream.
Also, split focus between the stylistic/artful aspects of the film with proper characterizations of the cast. Merely focusing on gorgeous sets, ambient music, and thematic elements aren't going to move the story. The movie is going to stagnate if the cast doesn't have enough personality to drive the story forward. (I personally like them having the sex picked out prior to casting. Then their attributes can influence how that character behaves to a certain extent - idk it just makes the characters more relatable to me.)
I think it has become a trope for Alien films, though. Purely because of Ripley. If it's an Alien film, it's going to have the main female character survive until the end. It's definitely bad writing and marketing in giving it away but it's still to do with gender and trope. I can pretty much assume that when I get an Alien film with a female lead, she'll make it to the end because she's the female lead.
I guess because one of the effective things about Alien was that we weren't supposed to get Ripley was going to make it to the end. Obviously we've moved on from that now but it's just become such an Alien thing that I find it detrimental.
That it's going to be obvious who lives has nothing to do with tropes or gender, it's just lazy writing or marketing.
I'd hope in future they don't make it so obvious. Increase the number of female characters so it's not so hard to pick out the 1 women out of the 4 who is receiving the most attention in marketing or in the run-up. And most importantly make all the characters - regardless of gender - interesting.
Or do what they did with Alien to start with - write them unisex. And stick it through to casting, pick whoever is the best.
Ripley wasn't vulnerable either.
She wanted to go to the Engineers planet to demand for an explanation or something. Was really serious about it.
Where did you get the idea she wanted revenge?
Anyway, I said she was kind of a little different.
That doesn't apply to either Ripley or Shaw.
Yes, a new type of protagonist altogether that breaks the cycle of what we've been shown before. That would be fantastic.
I wouldn't even call them "strong female characters", they're never devoid of a big sense of vulnerability.
Well, Sarah Connor is the exception; I loved how she become totally nuts in Terminator 2... then she began crying because of the trauma and all of that, but well, it was consistent, and she was much different than Ripley, who I can take as a predecessor.
But definitely I don't another one of these so-called "strong female protagonists". I don't want another Sarah Connor, and more than all, I don't want another Ripley. Create a new kind of female protagonist. Or just give me a new kind of protagonist, regardless of gender.
Quite.
She's a protagonist without an arc. We get she's tough at the start and she's tough at the end. Any changes in her character were due to Jacob's death and were effectively dealt with before they got to Planet 4.
How can I take credit for such cultivating truths??
I'm with you there. That's what I was saying - I'd like to see a character-driven protagonist over a half-assed copy of a character that has been recycled countless times, be they male or female. Said it in a much more eloquent way, but I guess that's the message I was going for.
I presume you're talking about the repetition of the character, via Daniels and Shaw, and on this level only, I agree. If a new Aliens film is to be made with the idea of a strong female lead, it should be Ripley or nothing. I am tired of seeing second rate Ripley knockoffs. The character, be it man or woman just has to work well for the story.
Shaw was indeed a step in the right direction. Daniels, not so much, but damned if I can figure out why it struck me that way. Her character just felt bland for some reason.
Oh, just admit it. Admit you said it.
I must admit...I have not read Alien: The Cold Forge
Oh I agree - I even though I'm not stuck on a particular gender either, I wouldn't mind seeing a male protagonist take the helm at this point. (By the way, that's Huggs quote, not mine!)
Blue Marsalis
Do we really need another Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor though? A lot of Scifi/Horrors go for the Ripley/Connor archtype, which I tend to find unconvincing - they're trying so hard to emulate those characters, instead of possessing the virtues and values that'll propel the story forward on their own. They end up being devoid of personality. Can't we just have a strong female protagonist, or hell, just a female protagonist with the amount of "character" needed to move the story? As much as I like Ripley, I do need a break from her.