Disney & Fox Merger Moving Forward

UPDATE: Here is a spinet from the official press release about the deal in regards to X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four.

"Combining with Disney are 21st Century Fox’s critically acclaimed film production businesses including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Searchlight and Fox 2000, which together offer diverse and compelling storytelling businesses and are the homes of Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, as well as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Hidden Figures, Gone Girl, The Shape of Water, and The Martian – and its storied television creative units, Twentieth Century Fox Television, FX Productions and Fox21, who have brought The Americans, This Is Us, Modern Family, The Simpsons, and so many more hit TV series to viewers across the globe. Disney will also acquire FX Networks, Fox Sports Regional Networks, Fox Networks Group International, Star India, and 21st Century Fox’s interests in National Geographic Partners, Hulu, Sky, Tata Sky and Endemol Shine Group. 21st Century Fox remains committed to completing its proposed acquisition of the shares in Sky it does not own, and anticipates that the acquisition of Sky will close by June 30, 2018"

If you want to read the entire official press release, go here.

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The long rumored Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox assets appears to be moving forward today. Variety reports that Disney has set a $52.4 billion all-stock deal to acquire Fox assets. According to reports, the transaction revealed early this morning has a total value of $66.1 billion, with the house the mouse built assuming $13.7 billion in debt from Fox. This was the statement issues by Disney:

“The acquisition of this stellar collection of businesses from 21st Century Fox reflects the increasing consumer demand for a rich diversity of entertainment experiences that are more compelling, accessible and convenient than ever before,” said Iger. “We’re honored and grateful that Rupert Murdoch has entrusted us with the future of businesses he spent a lifetime building, and we’re excited about this extraordinary opportunity to significantly increase our portfolio of well-loved franchises and branded content to greatly enhance our growing direct-to-consumer offerings. The deal will also substantially expand our international reach, allowing us to offer world-class storytelling and innovative distribution platforms to more consumers in key markets around the world.”

While this deal will have implications far reaching beyond Marvel, this deal should allow the rights to make both X-Men and Fantastic Four related movies revert back to Marvel Entertainment. No word on how long it will take everything to be finalized or when this deal might actually start to impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Those things will likely be fleshed out more in the coming days, so stay-tuned.