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

[AndyDursin]

Comcast officially confirmed their plans. Going to be an interesting summer.

https://www.cmcsa.com/news-releases/new ... enty-first

[KevinEK]

I understand that Disney just upped their offer to try to outbid Comcast.
I'll be curious to see if and when Comcast matches the new bid.
There's a great line from an old (and bad) episode of Miami Vice from the 1980s, where Crockett and Tubbs butt into an auction where the bad guy is bidding on some artwork. Crockett keeps raising his hand to raise the bidding, forcing the bad guy to keep raising to keep his hold on it. Eventually, the bidding gets high enough that the bad guy is forced to pay twice his original bid to get the same item. Crockett's comment: "Make him buy it for lots and lots of money"...

[AndyDursin]

Didn't read much about this, but saw a quick blurb that Disney would have to sell the RSNs as a condition of any potential Fox deal. So that won't be a part of this.

[AndyDursin]

Comcast drops out, Disney wins, more superhero movies to follow!

[KevinEK]

This is being publicized as a loss for Comcast (although they're still chasing after SKY), but I would argue that they succeeded in their goal here: they forced Disney to pay a higher price for something they could have gotten for less had Comcast not bid the situation up.

The question now will be what Disney will do with the Fox assets and production facilities. Do they simply take the Fox library for streaming, fold the Marvel stuff into their inventory and trash the rest? Or do they wind up with a new version of Touchstone? I don't think the Fox lot in Century City is closing its doors anytime soon, but I've been wrong before.

[AndyDursin]

The thing is, look at something like GLASS. Universal and Shyamalan had to work with Disney to secure whatever elements from UNBREAKABLE they needed, but they did. Disney didnt want to get that involved seemingly even though this film looks to have a lot of commercial potential.

Its just odd this deal comes at a time when Disney's branding is so heavy that it's making nothing but a diet of franchise films for kids. How do the Fox assets fit?

My feeling is they will use the content to drive their online streaming service and take some of the more successful IPs like Die Hard and Alien to power that platform. So we will see an Alien internet series or movie or something like it.

Disney hasnt had a problem making those mostly lousy Netflix series R rated...theyre pushed aside online and dont interfere with the brand mostly....but I would be surprised if they actually keep producing theatrical features as Fox has or basically restart Touchstone using Fox as a de facto label. I dont see how that fits with what they are doing and how they have phased out Touchstone over the last 10-15 years.

[KevinEK]

We'll have to see how Disney manages this.

I again do not see a scenario where Disney closes the Fox lot, sells the real estate and tells Ryan Murphy, Seth MacFarlane and their profitable shows to jump in the lake, among other things. There's simply too much money to be made, and Fox is already raking in huge profits one way or the other.

It's possible that Disney sells off some assets, like Fox Searchlight - unless they wish to keep it on as an awards bait outfit like it currently functions - this would give them a ready-made existing Miramax scenario without needing to do anything other than leave it in place.

It's also possible that Disney sells off some programming wings, like FX. I'm honestly unsure how the Disney group deals with shows like the Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans.

The main people I see losing their jobs are the middle management folk who were part of the upper superstructure of Fox's personnel.
I don't think that all the other existing and continuing material just gets cancelled.

[AndyDursin]

I was thinking more along the lines of how they were going to work with theatrical product going forward. Unless they are planning on re-establishing themselves in the marketplace with "Touchstone product" like you said Kevin, I just don't see Fox continuing on as a movie studio as they have been. From what I read a lot of people at Fox are expecting to lose their jobs, and it's a foregone conclusion. At what level I don't know, but the notion I see sometimes that they are going to leave Fox alone for them to operate as they have -- I don't see it.

Doesn't mean they will shut everything down -- and the television end is a whole other matter. I suppose they will keep making FAMILY GUY with all the revenue it generates (would only make sense), but man, compare that show and its irreverent humor to the PC comedies ABC produces -- the often race-driven likes of MODERN FAMILY, BLACKISH, FRESH OFF THE BOAT, etc. -- and it's a strange fit.

All of it (outside the Marvel component) is a strange fit and it will be interesting to see what Disney does. FX doesn't fit at all with Disney's brand. Shows like MAYANS, TABOO, none of them do. Will they keep making them? Sell them off to another network? Rebrand FX as the Marvel Channel (my thought lol).

If they're willing to dump James Gunn from a hugely popular series like GUARDIANS, willing to axe Roseanne from the #1 rated show on TV -- are they really going to produce content like those series and movies that don't gibe with their brand?

That's the big question that we'll all have to wait to find out.

[KevinEK]

The firings of Gunn and Barr are irrelevant. That would have happened regardless of which company was employing them. (And Barr's rantings of late have become sadly comical, in an unintentional way. She wasn't fired because she voted for Trump - she was fired for acting in an offensive, childish manner, after knowing full well what the consequences were.)

There are definitely people at Fox who will lose their jobs - and they're the people who are in what will now be completely duplicative management positions. (The situation Gordan Gecko referred to in Wall Street as "all the paperwork going back and forth between all these Vice Presidents!")

There's certainly a possibility that Disney will just grab the catalogue and IPs they want and dump the rest. If all they wanted here was the library and the IPs, that would make sense.
They could allow the contracts with folks like Ryan Murphy to lapse and/or sell off their outlets.
They could even sell the Century City backlot - it's a hugely valuable piece of real estate and Disney could reap billions from doing so.

I just think they could make even more money by keeping as much of it as they can.
No, it doesn't fit with the current Disney brand - if all Disney wants to be about is kids' programming, animation, comic book movies and Lucasfilm.
My thinking is that Disney will absorb what they can of the other areas and yes, use them like a Touchstone wing. As I said, the Fox Searchlight awards bait outlet is a cheap prestige unit for them, and it's already in place.
I don't think they call any of that Disney or Marvel - simply because none of that stuff fits in their brand. They may keep the name Fox for that programming and even for that wing of movies - as it's an easy place to put the more adult-oriented product. (I'm thinking that's the likeliest scenario)


In the meantime, Comcast has succeeded in the slyest move of all - they forced Disney to pay an additional 20 billion dollars without it costing Comcast a dime. You can hear the sarcasm dripping from Brian Roberts' congratulations to Disney. He made Disney pay nearly 25% more for the same thing they were already buying - not a bad day at the office for him.

[AndyDursin]

No shocker here -- in Deadline's summary of what's going to happen to Fox personnel, there's news 20th Century Fox TV & ABC Studios (Disney's TV production brand) will merge. As for movies, there's this nugget:

There are sharp executives, but they will have to wrap their arms around the fact that a large part of their focus will be streaming-service movies, a jolt for execs who’ve been shepherding theatrical-release films for years.

So as we've basically expected, Disney bought Fox for the back catalog and broadcast outlets, will basically dismantle the studio and if anything use the brand name as a banner for adult-content for "streaming service movies". If that.

RIP guys!

https://deadline.com/2018/10/disney-fox ... 202478704/

[tjguitar85]

Apparently FOX might buy back it's own RSN's - at a discount vs. what they sold for!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/26/rupert- ... isney.html

[AndyDursin]

Smart business maneuvering by Murdoch. Very smart. Netflix praised Fox the other day about how local news and sports are the future for live, non streaming TV -- they're the two areas you can always count on for getting people to their sets. As much as I'm disappointed one of the major Hollywood studios is basically gone forever, from a Fox perspective, it's smart business knowing they can rely on news/sports -- those things will always get viewers. How entertainment is consumed is absolutely changing.

[AndyDursin]

Deal is done. Says Tom Rothman, former Fox head:

“I think it’s bad for consumers and anti-competitive — deeply anti-competitive,” he said. “And consumers will ultimately suffer. What I think the loss to consumers is, is a tremendous loss of originality. That’s the greatest threat the movie business faces.”

RIP Fox.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/disn ... 203167859/

[AndyDursin]

Shock (for some) as Disney shuts down Fox 2000 -- the Fox label that produced "mid tier" (i.e. non-super hero movies) hits like HIDDEN FIGURES and DEVIL WEARS PRADA:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... on-1196298?

So basically this is just what we anticipated...Disney isn't suddenly going to start making "adult movies" again, so there goes a whole slew of film-going choices that might have driven people to the theater. Or any of us who are tired of dumb comic book movies.

Meanwhile, thousands of jobs gone (4,000-10,000 perhaps), a studio that no longer exists, and one big corporation controlling more of your viewing choices.

A dark day in Hollywood indeed...

[mkaroly]

Well, Fox should have never allowed Disney to buy them out. Disney is gross on every level.