Disney Planning to Buy More Movie Franchises

What Disney Will Do With Fox's Movies, Franchises & Studios

Disney's acquisition of Fox will include a huge range of movie and TV franchises, and several different studios. Here's what we know so far.

Late last month, it became official; Disney will be purchasing the bulk of Fox's film and television output. After a short but tense battle with rival corporate giant Comcast, the House of Mouse emerged victorious, and the deal is expected to be finalized by summer 2019.

Whilst the industry is still waiting to see if Disney receives the foreign regulatory approvals it needs to complete its purchase, fans of Fox's many movies and franchises have been anticipating the deal with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. There's certainly excitement with regards to the X-Men and Fantastic Four finally being able to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what about Fox's more adult-oriented franchises, like Alien and Deadpool? And what will happen to the long in-development Avatar sequels?

Related: How The Disney Purchase Has Already Impacted Fox

Here's a look at what Disney have already stated they said they have in store for 20th Century Fox, along with a few theories pertaining about  properties that remain up in the air.

• This Page: Avatar, X-Men and Deadpool
• Page 2: Fantastic Four, Fox Searchlight and Fox's In-Development Movies
• Page 3: Fox Animation and Fox TV

Avatar Becomes a Disney Property

One of the biggest jewels in the Fox crown, the all-time box office champAvatar, has no less than four sequels currently in development.Avatarmade $2.79 billion at the worldwide box office back in 2009, and Avatar 2,3,4 and5 are planned for release between 2020 and 2025.Avatar 2&3 are filming currently.

While all four sequels being made isn't guaranteed just yet (Avatar 2 &3 have to perform well, first), it's easy to see that Avatar was one of the big fish swimming in Fox's pool that attracted Disney to the buyout. Disney CEO Robert Iger has already stated his desire to "be associated with and expand" iconic IP likeAvatar, so audiences will definitely be seeing at least a couple of sequels forAvatar - this time under a Disney banner. With the first two sequels already in production, they will most likely manage to be released on their planned 2020 and 2021 release dates.

Avatar already has a themed ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom, named Avatar: Flight of Passage, and word is gnag movie-goers can expect to see some of the original creatures from that ride in the firstAvatarsequel.

Related: James Wan is Stealing James Cameron's Underwater Thunder

The X-Men Come Home to Marvel

MCU fans have long thought that there was little likelihood of Wolverine and the X-Men returning "home" to Marvel, as Fox continued to keep a tight hold on the franchise. In recent years they've been actively seeking to expand production on X-Movies, withDeadpool and its sequel proving to be smash hits, another prequel X-Men movie on the docket inX-Men: Dark Phoenix; the comic book-slash-horror movieNew Mutants ironing out its kinks for a late 2019 release. Channing Tatum's troubledGambitmovie and a James Franco-ledMultiple Manfilm are also in development.

As Iger has already mentioned his enthusiasm for bringing the X-Men and their associated characters under the Disney flag, the confirmation that Disney will fairly quickly be taking overAvatarandX-Men movie development while downsizing 20th Century Fox is unsurprising.X-Men: Dark PhoenixandNew Mutants will finally be released as planned in 2019. Beyond that, its anyone's guess where the X-Franchise will go; but an introduction into Kevin Feige's Marvel Cinematic Universe is expected (albeit not for some time).

Gambit is still currently set for release in 2019, but the fast-approaching release date seems unrealistic at this point. Channing Tatum was first announced to be playing the character all the way back in May 2014, so patience is clearly a strong suit for the actor and his passion project.  Precious little has been heard onMultiple Man since it was announced in November 2017. That said, Disney are unlikely to impede each movie's progress if development has already been humming along for some time.

Deadpool Lives

One element of the Fox X-Verse that will definitely continue ahead as-is would be a second sequel to Deadpool and/or its planned spinoff,X-Force.Deadpoolhas been such a money-maker (the two movies have collectively grossed $1.5 billion dollars at the global box office) and shown so much staying power in the cultural zeitgeist that Disney would be stupid not to let the brand continue to flourish. By the time eitherDeadpool 3orX-Force are released a few years from now - perhaps even being one and the same film - Marvel Studios may even be ready to begin work on integrating Deadpool into the MCU... though we're not sure how that would work.

Page 2: Fantastic Four, Fox Searchlight and Fox's In-Development Movies

• Avatar 2 (2022)Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)Release date: Nov 01, 2019
• X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)Release date: Jun 07, 2019
• New Mutants (2020)Release date: Aug 28, 2020
• Avatar 3 (2024)Release date: Dec 20, 2024
• Avatar 4 (2026)Release date: Dec 18, 2026
• Avatar 5 (2028)Release date: Dec 22, 2028

Doctor Strange 2's Trailer Secretly Teased Scarlet Witch's Villain Twist

About The Author

Daniel Woburn (75 Articles Published)

Daniel Woburn has been a contributor to Screen Rant since 2018. Before this, he wrote for What Culture and was a Deputy Editor at Close-Up Film. He's been consuming comic books, movies and Buffy the Vampire Slayer like they were sunlight, ever since he was a sapling. Daniel obtained a BA in American Studies from the University of Kent, Canterbury. Prior to that, he was a student at the BRIT School in Croydon, where he studied Media & Moving Image. Former alumni Adele once offered to roll him a cigarette. It's been 13 years, and he won't shut up about it.

More From Daniel Woburn

Disney Planning to Buy More Movie Franchises

Source: https://screenrant.com/disney-deal-fox-franchises-studios-plan/

Share this post