Disney has officially absorbed Fox and all its franchises—What now?

Well, it happened: Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in a $71.3 billion deal, which means that franchises like Avatar, The Simpsons, X-Men, Alien, Predator and more are now officially owned by the House of Mouse. If you need proof, simply look at the new banner at the top of Disney’s corporate website. It’s properties from both media titans, mashed together:

Disney CEO Bob Iger made an official statement:

"This is an extraordinary and historic moment for us—one that will create significant long-term value for our company and our shareholders. Combining Disney’s and 21st Century Fox’s wealth of creative content and proven talent creates the preeminent global entertainment company, well positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era."

The scary thing is that Disney was pretty much already “the preeminent global entertainment company.” Now it’s…even more so. In some ways, that could be good for consumers; it’s not like Disney doesn’t produce a lot of stuff people love. The Star Wars films, Pixar movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, live-action remakes of animated classics…all of them have legions of devoted fans. If Disney shows the same kind of care managing the Fox properties, it could mean better entertainment across the board. Also, it’ll be fun to see the X-Men integrated into the MCU, which is bound to happen sooner or later.

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Still, I always get a little uncomfortable whenever one person or organization gets this much power. Disney could make life better for fans everywhere, sure, but they could also muck things up. For example, what will become of Fox’s R-rated properties, like Deadpool? Will the family-friendly Disney want to make them more appealing for a larger market? Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before the merger, Iger said that as long as the audience knows what’s coming, R-rated Disney movies are fine, but it hasn’t stopped people like Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds from wondering if censorship would be an issue.

Still, to be fair, Reynolds made that comment when news of the merger was just emerging. He seemed find yesterday:

The bigger issue to me has to do with Disney+, the studio’s upcoming streaming service. Disney is already bringing out the big guns in terms of original content, readying a live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian as well as several Marvel shows starring actors from the movies. It seems inevitable that they’re going to pull all their movies and TV shows off of other services like Netflix and put them on Disney+. Now they can pull all of Fox’s stuff, too. That’s a pretty big content drain. Basically, if you like TV and movies, you pretty much have no choice but to get Disney+ now.

Finally, the most important question: Will Lisa Simpson be included in the lineup of Disney princesses? Everything’s happening.

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