The Disney/Fox Merger

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FrauBlucher
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The Disney/Fox Merger

#1 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:10 pm

That f*@king mouse. Disney truly sucks. It's absurd that they will no longer license Fox films to repertory theaters.

This from Glenn Erickson (although he is unaware of Roma's pending release)
And more distressing rumors are afoot. There were more merger-related layoffs at 20th Fox just a day or so ago, many from their home video department. The word online is that repertory theaters are being told that Fox titles will no longer be made available to them. And just yesterday I heard from a European home video executive, that Fox is no longer licensing its films to him. Is that policy the same for other vendors? Placing paranoia aside, we can figure out for ourselves that Disney isn’t plotting to rake in millions by making Sonja Henie musicals and other Fox oldies only available via its streaming site. The launch of Disney’s streaming platform is revolving around its new Marvel and Star Wars TV series.

Just the same, this might indeed be the beginning of the strangling of hard media, which the big companies have been treating like a necessary irritant for at least ten years. An unanswered question here is, how will this impact MGM discs, when Disney inherits Fox’s home video distribution contract? Already we have Netflix, that seems to purposely not make discs of many of its shows. The choice seems to be hit and miss. The first seasons of the Netflix Marvel shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage eventually made it to Blu-ray in the U.S., but no sign of the second or third seasons, and no sign of Iron Fist, The Punisher or The Defenders. (Some of these have been released on disc overseas.) The Netflix Lost in Space reboot has also appeared on disc. But no sign whatsoever of Roma, The Ballad of Buster Skruggs, Okja, etc. on disc.

I think this is definitely the ‘disruptive’ mode of marketing that happens when a broad field of providers dwindles down to a few behemoth companies — the biggest power no longer just competes on the level of products, it uses its heft to demolish all other competing delivery systems. The idea is to make theaters kowtow to studio demands, and to eliminate most discs. Why go to all the trouble of making a product, when you can instead sell limited access from the web? For the consumer, it may eventually come down to a choice of subscribing to ten different streaming companies, or nothing. What’s available will be at the whim of corporate overseers.

We used to say that movies have lives of their own, but the streaming model may make most of them less accessible than ever. Netflix wiped out Blockbuster with its mail-rent system, and then dropped all but a few of its deep library, both for hard rental, and then on its streaming site. Just think, it will be just like before home video: movies will distributed or withheld, and changed as deemed fit — without our being informed. Hundreds of Fox movies from the 1930s that are already difficult to see, will be shoved deeper into storage, because the corporate committees will deem them to have insufficient profitability to be made available. And since we’ll have nothing permanent in our hands with which to compare an altered presentation, we’ll have to accept the ‘intellectual rights holder’s’ version of the truth. You know, like the ‘rumor’ that there ever was a movie simply called Star Wars, without the ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’ alterations.

With that in mind, the CineSavant office contains twenty years’ worth of older Fox DVDs and Blu-rays of variable quality. They may suddenly jump in value!

But I’d rather that those discs were not about to become rare, that they will instead continue to be readily available to be owned.

Thanks for your reportage Mr. Hunt.

And thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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soundchaser
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#2 Post by soundchaser » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:20 pm


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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#3 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:28 pm

All things considered this might be a good move to step away from the associations with the entities the Murdochs still have with the Fox name, and cuts down on the confusion people not educated on the deal have.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#4 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:34 pm

soundchaser wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:20 pm
Not sure where else to post this: Disney is dropping the “Fox” branding entirely going forward.
Jesus

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swo17
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#5 Post by swo17 » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:37 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:34 pm
soundchaser wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:20 pm
Not sure where else to post this: Disney is dropping the “Fox” branding entirely going forward.
Jesus
Disney wrote:We would prefer you say "Walt"

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soundchaser
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#6 Post by soundchaser » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:40 pm

I assume they'll leave the studio logos intact on their pre-existing films, but who knows? It would be odd to imagine Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? without Tony Randall playing the drumset at the beginning...

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movielocke
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Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#7 Post by movielocke » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:42 pm

Well it was 20th century before it and fox film merged in the 1930s, and became thereafter 20th century fox.

But given what ailes has done to the fox brand, this isn’t hugely surprising.

But amusing that it took a merger rename to undo a merger rename.

Also in an update on the repertory holdings, the American cinematheque has a lot of Fox films scheduled right now.

So the freeze last fall was probably more about merger repertory personnel shuffling and on ramping the Fox assets into the Disney rep system.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#8 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:47 pm

Oh yeah, super amusing

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movielocke
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#9 Post by movielocke » Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:34 pm

it's ironic like a song that doesn't have anything ironic in it.

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senseabove
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#10 Post by senseabove » Fri Jan 17, 2020 7:06 pm

movielocke wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:42 pm
Also in an update on the repertory holdings, the American cinematheque has a lot of Fox films scheduled right now.
As far as I understood it, non-profit/academic rep theaters were always safe(r) under the new stipulations, so the AC probably isn't a good barometer. It's theaters that do a mix of first-run and rep not being allowed to show Fox/Disney rep titles anymore that was the issue, e.g. someone that wanted to show Die Hard on Christmas Eve and Frozen II the rest of the week. The notable counter-evidence for that that I've seen, though, is the Castro in San Francisco, which has been playing a steady mixture of rep and current Disney/Fox releases, but my suspicion is that they pull in a significant enough amount of money for Disney with their sing-a-long matinees that Disney might be more willing to work with them...

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Finch
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#11 Post by Finch » Fri Jan 17, 2020 7:21 pm

At least they're retaining Alfred Newman's fanfare.

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willoneill
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#12 Post by willoneill » Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:55 pm

senseabove wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 7:06 pm
movielocke wrote:
Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:42 pm
Also in an update on the repertory holdings, the American cinematheque has a lot of Fox films scheduled right now.
As far as I understood it, non-profit/academic rep theaters were always safe(r) under the new stipulations, so the AC probably isn't a good barometer. It's theaters that do a mix of first-run and rep not being allowed to show Fox/Disney rep titles anymore that was the issue, e.g. someone that wanted to show Die Hard on Christmas Eve and Frozen II the rest of the week. The notable counter-evidence for that that I've seen, though, is the Castro in San Francisco, which has been playing a steady mixture of rep and current Disney/Fox releases, but my suspicion is that they pull in a significant enough amount of money for Disney with their sing-a-long matinees that Disney might be more willing to work with them...
Just speaking for my own local independent theatre The Mayfair, they have a weekly podcast where this has been frequent topic over the last few months. So far, they're still able to do their monthly Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings, and they were able to show Die Hard just before Christmas. But they also used to show The Sound of Music every year over the holidays, and this year were refused.

Of note, The Sound of Music is on Disney+, while RHPS and Die Hard are (obviously) not.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#13 Post by Rayon Vert » Sat Jan 18, 2020 12:52 am

Why don't they really update and call it 21st Century while they're at it?

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Re: Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

#14 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:18 pm

Here's what it looked like one year before the '34 merger

Image

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Altair
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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#15 Post by Altair » Sat Jan 18, 2020 10:38 pm

It actually looks pretty cool to me - but will Disney be actively using the '20th Century Pictures' branding going forward to many new films? Or will they just mainly keep it for legacy properties?

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#16 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat Jan 18, 2020 11:58 pm

Makes me sad -- as the (or, at least, a) one-time Fox family "summer house" is right down the street from where we live. ;-)

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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#17 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:39 pm

Altair wrote:
Sat Jan 18, 2020 10:38 pm
It actually looks pretty cool to me - but will Disney be actively using the '20th Century Pictures' branding going forward to many new films? Or will they just mainly keep it for legacy properties?
They have a past history, and a mostly successful one, at putting out R-rated or more adult-oriented films with their former Touchstone and Hollywood labels, and for a time their deal with Miramax was as successful as well as being a lightning rod of controversy for the company at times. I try to be optimistic but I think it could work if they are learning from the failures of the Fox releases since the merger was completed. Bigger-budget action films and franchises for 20th Century, and Oscar bait for Searchlight.

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cdnchris
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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#18 Post by cdnchris » Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:59 pm

Exactly. They'll keep it and more than likely treat them as their new Touchstone/Hollywood/Miramax arms.

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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#19 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Jan 21, 2020 2:06 pm

Not sure where it leaves Fox's TV studio, but hopefully it can follow the same model. FX is starting to integrate more with Hulu, with some shows that were in production now being sent straight to Hulu. The overall thinking is that Hulu is picking up where Disney+ is in terms of the Fox library and the un-family friendly portion of the catalog, which I'm a big fan of in the long run of what we're seeing. They went from being really a poor man's Netflix with the user interface from hell, to being my favorite service all around.

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Brian C
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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#20 Post by Brian C » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:18 pm

FWIW - and I have no idea how meaningful it is one way or the other - I saw a 35mm print of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE last night that was credited to the Walt Disney Co.


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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#22 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:35 am

I wouldn't jump to too many conclusions there, lots of stuff like this is happening online now.

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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#23 Post by FlickeringWindow » Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:56 am

Brian C wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:18 pm
FWIW - and I have no idea how meaningful it is one way or the other - I saw a 35mm print of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE last night that was credited to the Walt Disney Co.
Disney owns it via ABC, who purchased the Selznick International library decades ago.

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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#24 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Aug 14, 2020 1:18 pm

Disney rebranding their TV studios. 20th Television is actually what it used to be called back in the 70's-80's if my memory of MASH reruns served me well. Cool that they are resurrecting the Touchstone label, if just for television.

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Matt
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Re: The Disney/Fox Merger

#25 Post by Matt » Mon Jan 01, 2024 2:57 am

Years on from this acquisition I idly wonder what Disney got out of it. The Simpsons and Family Guy? Distribution rights to the first Star Wars movie? National Geographic? The X-men and Fantastic Four rights? None of those seem worth $71 billion, even all together.

I understand maybe they wanted the film and TV catalog to fatten up their streaming services, but… well, we’ve seen how that’s worked out for everybody. Disney+ had not yet launched at the time of the deal, and streaming a massive catalog of on-demand content was still the big dream.

And they have basically locked up the Fox film catalog, just as they did with their own Touchstone catalog—from both physical media and repertory screenings.

My only guess is that the international TV options were worth it as a way to expand distribution. Or it’s just been a bad deal, which is seeming more likely. And now Warner Bros. Discovery is circling Paramount, even as they continue to lay off their own staff, slash budgets, and pull the plug on films for tax write-offs.

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