Disney Shuts Down Fox's "Adult Movie" Division, Lays off Thousands

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Eric W.
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Re: Disney Buying Fox? Ugh

#16 Post by Eric W. »

It's too big and yet regardless of the political window dressing I see more and more of these super conglomerates all over the place and in various businesses and fields.

Technocracy.

KevinEK
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Re: Disney Buying Fox? Ugh

#17 Post by KevinEK »

One other wrinkle to this - if Disney acquires Fox, that means they have all of the rights to the entire Star Wars franchise immediately, rather than needing to wait until 2020.
I doubt that would mean they'd do an "original version" Blu-ray release as some fans have hoped they would, but it would consolidate the entire franchise in one swift stroke.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Disney Buying Fox? Ugh

#18 Post by AndyDursin »

It would but that isn't what's driving this deal at all. The Wall Street Journal's piece basically confirms what I suspected, which is they are buying Fox for the cable outlets, AVATAR and Marvel.

Also that Fox as a film production entity is basically going to go away, resulting in even fewer movies than we see already. If that's the case I would expect they will sell off some of their assets:
Fox’s movie studio may be scaled back significantly and folded into Disney’s own film operation.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/disney ... ssion=true

The end result for the viewer is that this isn't going to be good news in any case. I never felt that Disney was buying Fox with the intention of diving back into making "adult product" and that sure does not seem to be the case.

Either way a lot of people will be losing their jobs if this deal is consumated...

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AndyDursin
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Re: Disney Buying Fox? Ugh

#19 Post by AndyDursin »

Deal is done. Disney gets larger, a lot of people will be losing their jobs, and viewers will have one less outlet that occasionally produces some quality programming beyond comic books for folks over the age of 13.

This is chilling from a home video perspective as well. Be thankful we had years of Fox remastering their films and releasing them/licensing them out to other companies on Blu-Ray. Once Disney consumes the library, it's going to go under lock and key or streaming only. The hell, they haven't put THREE MEN AND A BABY and WHAT ABOUT BOB out on disc in HD -- streaming is what they care about, and comprises a lot of where this deal was being driven.

Netflix carries a lot of Fox's TV programming, especially from FX. Disney will take all of it back for their own service, which was paramount to this happening.

http://deadline.com/2017/12/disney-fox- ... 1202219012
The acquisition gives Disney access to one of the largest and most lucrative TV libraries, which includes such titles as The Simpsons and Family Guy. But there is a lot of overlap between the two studios, with duplicated creative and business teams, so layoffs are inevitable.

Blending together the two corporate cultures also will be a challenge, sources say. It is exemplified by FX Networks where longtime CEO John Landgraf has built a close-knit team and a very specific culture that would not easily fit into with the new parent company.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV (Non-Broadcast) Assets

#20 Post by mkaroly »

No one wins with this...I hate Disney.

And thinking about it - if there ever was going to be an official TRUE LIES BR release, that has gotta be truly dead at this point. Glad I still have my DVD copy of it. There probably won't even be a deluxe edition THE ABYSS release now either.

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AndyDursin
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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV (Non-Broadcast) Assets

#21 Post by AndyDursin »

From Fox's perspective, I get it. Fox News, Fox sports and the broadcasting side brings in a very consistent, and reliable, stream of income. Entertainment is turning into a fragmented, riskier game where streaming and HOW people consume media is changing, quickly. The market for smaller-scale adult movies is shrinking and that audience is staying away with some exceptions from theaters -- with a lot of that type of content going to streaming instead.

The home entertainment side, which we care about here, is changing too and just isn't bringing in the big money it used to.

It's all sad, though. Comic book nerds think cancer has been cured. Were their lives truly changed for the better when Downey showed up for the 8th time playing IRON MAN in the 7th SPIDER-MAN movie?

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV (Non-Broadcast) Assets

#22 Post by AndyDursin »

Deadline's analysis is fascinating.

Get ready for Paramount to merge with Sony or a similar deal. They're the next domino to fall.
The joint forces between Disney and 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000 and Fox Searchlight are the closest we’ve seen to a monopoly in Hollywood, and puts the studio in a position to expand its shelf space across all entertainment ancillaries, not just at the box office but also at Walmart and other retailers selling DVDs and merchandise, in international TV deals (as existing Disney and Fox deals expire), and premium pricing across all distribution channels. It will be daunting for rivals to compete. The new Disney will also be spending so much on P&A for its movies, they will be able to drive the best terms for commercial time.

“If I was an independent mom-and-pop theater, I would just close down; there’s no way to survive,” one distribution studio executive cried about one potential casualty of the merger. “With a 40% market share, how do you negotiate against that? These types of mergers use to be illegal, but not anymore.” Indeed, the most immediate question following a combined Disney-Fox slate is whether the merger will up rental terms on Fox product to the terms Disney enjoys on its films.
http://deadline.com/2017/12/disney-fox- ... 202221594/

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#23 Post by andy b »

For anyone who has been in the “old film industry” & I write strictly from a European point of view, Disney & Fox were made for each other.

Go back into the late 1960’s & most certainly into the 1970’s & beyond, it was very difficult to decline a Disney or Fox release, no matter what the terms were, due to the fact that any cinema needed Disney product for holiday periods. After Star Wars came along in 1977 & cinemas took income that had not been seen since the 1950’s (I did a number of spot visits during this time & one site sold 2000 hot dogs in a 3-day period! Which had a far greater profit than the seat price, who could refuse the Fox terms??) a large number of sites were actually saved due to that single film, Fox threw agreements about on no end of product. “We have XX coming so you take YY no choice & no negotiations, very simple” Disney’s best was making screens play animated films or children’s films 4 showings a day & not allow alternate evening product, so yes, The Jungle Book & the rest played that 8.30pm show to empty screens many times, smart owners & managers ran the film with no light, so the projectors showed the hours but saved on lamps & power.

So while the report brings this up as a new “monster in the closet” it really is nothing new when it comes to these two studios & I personally worked many releases for both so I am aware of some of the restrictions they placed on cinema chains & individual owners.
Case of the past repeating itself.

Just a rumour I was told that the terms from CIC for ET back in 1982 were staggering for the first 3 weeks of distribution, but then just like today's megger releases who could refuse the chance to open that Friday night & not have ET on the screen. I only did the London release so had no link to the terms that were really played out to the chains.

It really is an old story just with a new millennial twist on it & as more & more companies consume each other it will only get worse.
So, who will buy the down & out MGM, Warner Bros. lets face it they own almost the entire catalogue as it is due to buying Ted Turner's companies! Paramount, well again Warner Bros. have already had a few home entertainment deals with them, so why not?

The future I see & I figure I won’t be about for the end, I am not one of the Highlander immortals is 1 or 2 companies feeding the industry & everyone else will get a shot only if they can get distribution through those megger corporations.
Who knows time will tell.

Regards
Andy b

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#24 Post by tjguitar85 »

What's shocking to me is the regional sports networks. A lot of FS1's live baseball content came from the Regional contracts. ESPN certainly doesn't need any more MLB windows. Does that mean less national games for fans? Do those extra games that were on FS1 move to MLB Network?


i can see why FOX would dump those channels - they're expensive and more people are cancelling cable every year.

It seems like a gamble.

I don't know why Disney would be producing less films / TV than what Disney and FOX are doing now. If people are going to buy movie tickets, buy cable subscriptions or watch TV commercials, the content will be made. Disney isn't just going to shut down FX and FXX, they'll just rebrand it with some Disney sounding name (Then again, they removed ABC reference from "ABC Family"). I can't believe Disney would get the same carriage fees on FX and FXX if they just put 24 hrs of back catalogue on all the air.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#25 Post by AndyDursin »

Yeah I dont know. FS1 has nothing to do with the sale, nor does Fox Sports itself. The regional networks from what I can see are just a throwaway. Fox didn't want them, ESPN absorbs them, but they're all local contracts so it's not as if they can do anything with them on a national scale outside manage those channels. But MLB may have parameters for cut ins and such that are really flexible . The MLB Network seems to take whatever they want from regional stations at will.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#26 Post by tjguitar85 »

AndyDursin wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:34 pm Yeah I dont know. FS1 has nothing to do with the sale, nor does Fox Sports itself. The regional networks from what I can see are just a throwaway. Fox didn't want them, ESPN absorbs them, but they're all local contracts so it's not as if they can do anything with them on a national scale outside manage those channels. But MLB may have parameters for cut ins and such that are really flexible . The MLB Network seems to take whatever they want from regional stations at will.
From this article it sounds like the RSN's are more than just a toss in.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/spor ... ports.html

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AndyDursin
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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#27 Post by AndyDursin »

Yet the whole premise of that article admits that nobody wants them and is trying to make a case against it.

Given the fact that ESPN has laid off hundreds of employees over the last couple of years, and Disney has been rumored to want to dump it because of losses, I just have a hard time believing they really wanted these RSNs. They've been shrinking, not wanting to expand.

They have the resources to make something out of it, but IMO in no way was it a driving interest in Disney's desire to buy Fox's assets.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#28 Post by KevinEK »

I agree with Andy that the biggest win Disney gets out of this situation is really having the library of Fox material to use for their upcoming streaming service.
I believe that may have been the snag that has prevented the big Fox/Hulu deal from being completed. We had heard in July that thousands of episodes of Fox TV shows, including the entire series of MASH, were about to go up on Hulu - and then crickets for the rest of the year. If this purchase was in the offing, that well may have quashed the earlier deal, since Disney would want exclusive access to that content for its own service.
My expectation is that in a couple of years when the Disney Site goes live, we'll see some serious compartmentalization at the various streaming services.
-Disney will have all the old Fox-owned shows, plus all the ABC shows and affiliated Disney Channel content. That will include all the Fox and FX programming as well, such as "X-Files" and the Ryan Murphy series. They'll also have all the Marvel TV series - unless Netflix holds any continuing rights to the Daredevil/Jessica Jones/etc group.
-Netflix will have all of its original programming that it still has rights to, as well as the AMC shows, WB content and anything else Netflix can pull in before the Disney bomb goes off.
-Hulu will have its original programming, plus some other programming from HBO, Showtime, WB and anything else it can get its hands on.
-CBS All Access is an interesting one - they may pull back all of their CBS/Paramount programming so that if you want to see, for example, any Star Trek online or any of the NCIS shows online, you'd be required to go to CBS All Access.

We're rapidly headed toward an a la carte streaming world where people will be required to have increasingly expensive memberships to these various websites in order to view their content.



Regarding the production of new shows, I'm not convinced that Disney will just fold up the Fox network programming or the FX programming, etc. I agree that it's possible, but I think it's more likely that Disney will keep a profitable business running - there is a lot of money to be made in grown-up programming, and Disney just acquired a large generator of it. I would be shocked to see FX suddenly turned into another purveyor of Disney XD kids' shows, or just an outlet for Marvel Television. Similarly, while I agree there will absolutely be consolidation between the merged companies, I believe Disney will keep the Fox shingle open, even at a reduced footprint. I also believe they'll keep the Fox Searchlight shingle open, as that's a regular awards film contender and profitable in its own way. Will the entirety of the current Fox operation and all of its current contracts be extended into Disney? Not at all. There will be a lot of people at Fox who are going to lose their jobs for sure. But at the same time, I don't think this is just in service of making more kids-friendly shows, cartoons and comic book franchises. If anything, Fox and Fox Searchlight may effectively become the new Touchstone.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#29 Post by AndyDursin »

The issue isnt that things like Fox Searchlight aren't profitable ... It's that it's not profitable enough for a corporation like Disney whose driving strategy is swinging for the billion dollar fence of Marvel and Star Wars.

That's the big question. I did read an interview with the producers of The Exorcist series and even they worry that show may not fit the Disney brand going forward.

It's just curious to me that Disney consciously decided to cultivate their brand and divorce themselves from Touchstone, Hollywood, plus end distribution deals with Miramax and the last remnants of DreamWorks. Their entire output has become kid friendly franchises and toons.

FX and the shows it produces don't seem to be a good fit in their culture. I think it's much more likely they turn it into a Marvel like teen channel than continuing producing heavy adult content like Taboo and The Americans.

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Re: Disney Buys Fox, Acquires Film/TV Assets, Fox Keeps Broadcast Outlets

#30 Post by KevinEK »

I'm going to hope you're wrong on that.

Disney already has channels it can use for that kind of thing. And I don't think with an acquisition like this that Disney is looking for just comic book franchises.
For their streaming service, they will need a LOT of content, and that includes new content.
I could see them operating a separate Disney Kids streaming service, but there's a heck of a lot of profit to be made from having more grown-up fare.


I could well be proven wrong, and we'll have to see how this plays out.
If it goes the way you're thinking, we're likely to see a new indie company rise up out of the situation before very long.
Fox Searchlight, by the way, is more of an acquisition manager - they basically skim through the various film festivals every year and pick out the titles they think are the best bait.
Sony Pictures Classics does the same thing.
I don't anticipate that idea stopping any time soon.

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