The world's largest media conglomerate just got bigger. Late Tuesday night, Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox was completed. The $71.3 billion dollar deal is one of the largest media mergers ever, and comes with a huge haul of properties such as movies, a movie studio, TV shows, TV networks and even a controlling stake in the TV streaming service Hulu. This is in addition to brands that Disney already owns such as Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, just to name a few.
Disney's own video streaming service, Disney+, is supposed to launch some time this year, meaning this acquisition primes them to have an immediate impact in the video streaming service landscape. Some argue this acquisition is a positive thing, as we will be getting better quality content and competition among the streaming services. That, and franchises such as the Fantastic Four and X-Men can once again be rebooted or become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Take a look a some of the positive reactions around the Twittersphere:
Once the Disney/Fox deal closes next week, it's gonna be interesting seeing what Disney is gonna be doing with the new stuff they acquired. I'm hoping they can make the animation studios they're gonna get just as amazing as what they have with Disney Animation and Pixar.
— Animated Antic (@Animated_Antic) March 12, 2019
Disney/Fox merger is officially done. Welcome back home X-Men, Fantastic 4, Deadpool, & moooooooore!
— JR AQUINO (@JRAquino) March 19, 2019
Others argue this is is a bad thing for consumers. These people feel Disney essentially has a monopoly on the entertainment industry, and many believe they are now capable of driving up prices on their massive services, as well as having too much power in the box office. There are also concerns that Disney can pretty much decide what we see in the media. Here are some negative reactions to the news:
The filmed entertainment world is now essentially a three-way fight. With theatrical distribution, it's Disney/Fox versus Universal/Comcast versus Warner Media And with streaming it's Disney versus Netflix versus Amazon. Everyone else will be on a different playing field.
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) March 22, 2019
This sucks. All three of those films are prime examples of the kinds of movies Disney would *not* make, thus why Fox as an independent studio was valuable. A different, separate studio willing to take a gamble on important and teen-centric stories, now gone. https://t.co/pNv3NZR2Fl
— Adam Chitwood (@adamchitwood)
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