Last December, the deal between the two companies was announced. There was some competition with Comcast, but Disney triumphed, spending over four times the amount they paid for Marvel, LucasFilm and Pixar put together ($15.69 billion). Now the deal has cemented with Disney and Fox shareholders agreeing to the 71.3-billion-dollar merger.
Disney is set to acquire the majority of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox assets including Avatar, Deadpool and Planet of the Apes. For a while there was some speculation of just how Disney will handle the property of The Simpsons, but that particular franchise isn’t destined to be added to the Disney canon (for now at least) as Fox intends to keep the dysfunctional family. “There are no plans for them to go anywhere other than FOX.” Fox CEO, Dana Walden, declared.
Fox’s own animation studios, Blue Sky and the parent Fox Animation, are facing an uncertain future; around 5,000 to 10,000 employees at Fox are expected to be laid off and many in-development Fox projects are at risk of cancellation. Blue Sky might become Disney’s go-to for animated movies with more mature themes than their image allows, but there has been no mention of plans so far.
The merger is expected to be completed during the first half of 2019.
> Charlotte Lenihan
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