The Cost of Disney Buying Out Fox

For the past few years there has been a common joke going around the film community that Disney owns so much IP that they might as well own everything. They are the biggest corporation, studio, presence in pop culture and has gobbled up a startling amount of properties to house under its banner and one of those things is Fox studios. The company hasn't had the same luck with their blockbusters as other studios, but they produced some fine under-the-radar films with Oscar winners under their belt. Now on the surface some fans will be looking at this as a plus since the X-men are now under Marvel again. On the other hand there are so many aspects to this merger that will make your head explode as to what Disney has won. And here is the breakdown:

The Classics

Not to everyone's dismay, sadly, Disney now owns a good deal of classic films such as The Grapes of Wrath, Oscar winner How Green Was My Valley, and other assortments such as Patton and the Roger and Bernstein musicals. Not only will this bring in more prestige to Disney's back catalog but it will be treated similarly to their own classics right now, which is to say unavailable. The Disney Vault is a genius, if frustrating, piece of marketing that Disney has mastered in releasing their older films for a short period before shutting off production and letting the title go out of print. It creates hype and a surge of profit. The website Vulture did an article on how this is being implemented on the Fox catalog right now and for true cinephiles who believe in physical media it can be a scary reality.

The Animation

While Fox isn't thought of for its animation leg it does have a number of titles that are not only good, but would make Disney's mouth water. A popular favorite among many a childhoods would be Ferngully, Anastasia, and Titan A.E. Each one of these has a cult following and don't think for a second that Disney won't monopolize on that. Also don't forget that Blue Sky Studios was under Fox too. This'll include the Ice Age franchise, the Rio series, and the Peanuts Movie, not to mention the upcoming Spies in Disguise. One of the criticisms that this studio has had is that their films are very kid friendly. They don't have that adult overtone that you find in Pixar movies, nor do they have the creativeness of Universal's animation division. These films are looked upon as little kid family films, and guess what. That's Disney's bread and butter. For a studio that started out in animation acquiring such titles as Ice Age, while played out, is a three billion dollar monster now under their house. Heck yeah they're going to continue making those and pushing out merchandise.

The Family Films

What Disney has been lacking in their live action department for the past decade or so are the family films. Fox's most well known property that gets played every year around Christmas is Home Alone. Not only does Disney now own the five or so Home Alone movies but now they can remake them, because what else can Disney do? To continue, Fox has a lot of solid memorable family friendly franchises such as Night at the Museum. Solid trilogy, childhood wonder, plus comedy and heartfelt performances equals $$ for the mouse. Don't forget that Fox also has Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Alvin and the Chipmunks. For crying out loud Disney has the Chipmunks!! For the past decade Disney has been dropping the ball on their live action game by focusing on dark remakes and inspirational sports movies, but now they literally bought childhood memories.

The Controversy

Disney is not one to admit past mistakes. Famously, the corporation has buried their most infamous movie Song of the South because it was declared too racist. With their streaming service coming up it sounds like they're editing out small parts of their older movies that alluded to or were racist as well. Disney loves to change their history, similar to how they changed their animation, and with the extensive back catalog under the Fox studio there are certainly going to be unpleasant entries that may be swept under the rug with Song of the South such as Charlie Chan. The film series was mostly done by Fox and many see him as a bad stereotype of Asian characters. It also doesn't help it that the majority of actors playing the Chinese detective were white. Will Disney deem him too offensive? I don't know, but I do know that this character plays an important role in film history, especially with how Hollywood treated Asian characters in cinema after WWII, and it would be a shame if Disney gets rid of them. Because when you get rid of the problem and let time forget it then you remove all the discourse you could have had about it and the understanding as to how cinema evolved passed it.

The Franchises

I went over a little bit on Fox's animation and family friendly franchises, but what's astonishing is that they have so many other franchises for Disney to sink their teeth into. From Avatar to Die Hard, X-Men to Alien, Predator and The Fly, Fox studios has an incredible library for brands. Y'all know that Disney is all about them brands, so for them to revamp the Alien/Predator universes, continue the Taken series, or recast Bruce Willis and start with that Year One story they've been knocking about for Die Hard, Disney has so many potential projects that they'll be set for the next fifty years on crafting universes, franchises, and theme parks.

The Verdict

Overall, Disney has gained an immense library that would easily fill its weak spots. Some of this library may never be seen again, others will be lost for a short period, some may get censored, and most assuredly some will get remakes. Disney does not care for history, only product. While Fox may not have had as many hits in recent years it is still sad to see one of the big players hang up their hat and crumble underneath the mouse. Take this time to mourn, buy, and live on Fox properties while you still can.