Should we be afraid of the Mouse house or embrase it!
With the recent Disney acquisition of Fox and the increase franchises they now own we take a look at what Disney now has at its fingers tips and ask the question.
Should the cinema community fear Disney or embrace it moving forward?
March 20th 2019 - Disney officially acquires 21st century fox for $71.3 billion.
The move struck excitement with a large audience as the potential for the future of certain franchises could be huge.
Yet is was also met with large hesitation and you could say scared audience.
Does Disney now own to much?
Have we in theory allowed them to own half of the monopoly board.
Its safe to say that the "Blockbuster" films of the year will 90% certainly be a Disney owned franchise (dont forget they now own the Star Wars Franchise as well as the Marvel universe), at least for the foreseeable future!
Even before the Fox take over the 2019 release sheet for Disney was huge:
Captain Marvel
Avengers Endgame
Aladdin (live action)
The Lion King (New CGI version)
Dumbo (live action)
Toy Story 4
Frozen 2
Star wars the Rise of Skywalker
Maleficent: Mistress of evil
I think its easy to say Disney were not going to have a bad year!
Add into this the newly acquired X-Men film, Artemis fowl along with another 7 movies which we no little about also to be released before Christmas. There will certainly be some big presents under the Mickey mouse tree!
Artemis Fowl is an interesting one, if this is a hit then Disney could turn this into a huge Franchise with another 7 novels to base the future on.
So with a lineup already so strong and avenues like the Marvel MCU growing from strength to strength you could ask why would they want to buy Fox?
What do they stand to gain?
Well lets look at the Marvel potential!
Fox not only owns the rights to the X-Men they also own the rights to the word "Mutant", the Fantastic 4.
There is the matter of Deadpool we can now include, although I feel Disney are smart enough to keep that positioned to older audiences.
With the potential for all of these new characters, movie tie ins and the obvious merchandise train that comes with it, it was no surprise that Disney wanted them!
Its not just children that Disney can now target a more grown up audience:
Alien
Avatar
Planet of the Apes
Deadpool
Kingsmen
Die Hard
All now fall under the huge mouse ears!
I wouldn't look for new films from all of the above, but I would expect most of these to feature in the themes parks at some point, as well as a increased merchandise push!
Speaking of Merchandise, you can now add "Ice Age" "Night at the museum" "Home Alone" "Alvin and the Chipmunks" can now all be added to the potential Merchandise machine aimed at younger audiences!
With the addition of the above it was no surprise that Disney also announced there own Streaming service to be launched later in 2019 (at a lower price than Netflix!).
You do have to wonder that with the additions to the Disney line up that Netflix could come under serious attack.
We already know that National Geographic will be part of the new Disney+ but imagine a streaming service with the following all available:
Firstly every Disney / Marvel / Star Wars film ever made.
All of the classic Disney TV shows.
The New Marvel and SW shows announced at the launch plus the following The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, American Dad, King of the hill, Futurama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, M*A*S*H, Homeland, American horror Story, X-Files
Now some of these will have existing contract with networks which will keep them tied up for a little while but even so there is still so much potential to get a little excited about!
However there is also the risk that it could just be a bit to much!
With the strong movie franchise line up Disney now have, what room is there for a new "Big summer movie" from other avenues?
Is anyone really going to be able to take them on in the Blockbuster war?
One thing is for certain, after the success of Endgame the bar has been set at very high standards, below par films wont cut it any more,
Better quality movies are only going to be better for the audience!
Overall there is a lot to be excited about with Disney, It would be easy to be a little worried about how there possible dominance could effect the market but if they continue to produce good quality content that surely cant be a bad thing?