After days of suspense, good news finally cropped up just yesterday evening. It read that Disney has officially unveiled its $52.4 billion deal to acquire big parts of the Fox empire including the 20th Century Fox film and television studios, Fox’s stake in Hulu and other assets.
At this point one remembers that on November 6, word broke that Disney was in talks to buy most of 21st Century Fox.
The transaction, if cleared by regulators in Washington, could prove to be a seismic shift for Hollywood as it tries to compete with the likes of Netflix and will be the first time in modern history that one of the six major studios has eaten up another major.
Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger said during a media call on Thursday that the company demonstrated that in its past acquisitions the studio has respected the culture and talent acquired, and that executive talent always ended up getting more opportunities.
While he didn’t discuss the future of specific Fox executives, Iger said, “I’ve always been impressed with them as competitors.”
Disney is eager to take over Fox’s TV production and distribution business, but how it plans to integrate Fox’s film business is still not known.
There’s widespread speculation that the film operation, headed by Stacey Snider will be folded into Disney and become a label alongside Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios and Pixar, thus reducing the overall number of films that the six major studios feed theaters each year.
Overseeing it all will be Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn who runs the most successful film studio in Hollywood, including Disney’s own live-action studio and Disney Animation Studios, in addition to Hollywood’s most impressive stable of production silos.
We are sure after hearing all this Disney would be jumping with joy in his grave.
