As a film enthusiast who has spent countless hours in darkened theaters and even more time poring over box office returns, I can confidently say that Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. The initial years post-merger were riddled with commercial duds that made one question the wisdom of the $71.3 billion deal. However, it seems that the tide has finally turned.
As a movie buff, I can’t help but reflect on the impact of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, one of the most significant media mergers ever. With this deal, Disney took control over 20th Century Fox’s extensive film library. However, it seemed like a wave of commercial disappointments followed as Disney navigated through this newly expanded collection of films.
Movies such as “Dark Phoenix” and “New Mutants”, which are spinoffs of “X-Men”, along with Brad Pitt’s space drama “Ad Astra”, the buddy comedy “Stuber”, Harrison Ford’s canine adventure “The Call of the Wild”, and the animated pigeon comedy “Spies in Disguise” were met with lackluster audience reception and underperformed at the box office. To make matters worse, these films did not inspire much confidence in the cinematic assets produced from the $71.3 billion megamerger.
According to senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, the Fox movie titles that were part of the deal but weren’t produced by Disney appear to have been left without a parent company. “With any merger,” he explains, “there are going to be growing pains. This is a business that moves slowly.”
It’s positive news indeed that titles previously under Fox are now beneficial rather than a hassle for Disney. In 2024, three out of the studio’s top four upcoming films – “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and “Alien: Romulus” – are properties from what was rebranded as 20th Century Studios.
1) In its premiere, “Alien: Romulus” gathered $41.5 million in the U.S. and $108 million overall, marking the second-largest opening for this sci-fi horror series. On the other hand, “The First Omen,” released last April, only managed to gross a modest $53 million globally. Despite its low earnings, the film’s production cost was just $30 million, thus minimizing significant financial losses in theaters. The first MCU movie to feature Fox-owned Marvel characters, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” broke records as the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever with over $1.14 billion in earnings. Although “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” didn’t reach the heights of other installments in the reboot franchise, it still managed to be the eighth most successful film of the year and the highest-grossing release for May.
“According to Jeff Bock, an analyst from Exhibitor Relations, the challenging phase of combining 20th Century Fox assets with Disney has ended, and the integration is now flowing more naturally within Walt Disney Studios. In other words, they’ve effectively utilized intellectual properties (IP) and event films, which are areas where Disney excels.”
The success of these recent films mirrors “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the highly anticipated sequel released in 2022, which defied skeptics’ doubts and amassed a staggering $2.3 billion globally (placing it among the top three highest-grossing movies ever). Additionally, the collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone for “Poor Things,” an indie film produced by Searchlight Pictures, emerged as a surprising hit post-pandemic, earning $117 million worldwide.
Following the success of ‘Avatar,’ ‘Planet of the Apes,’ and now ‘Alien,’ it’s safe to say that I can’t help but feel confident about their post-acquisition situation. (David A. Gross, Franchise Entertainment Research)
Gross also notes that purchases on the magnitude of a media empire like Fox can take time to pay off. “To get a handle on the film value that Disney bought from Fox,” he says, “you have to look at it over decades, not years.”
For immediate improvement, input from 20th Century is crucial following Disney’s disappointing 2023 box office performance, marked by flops like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Marvels,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and the animated film “Wish.” However, brands under Disney’s wing, such as Pixar and Marvel, are recovering. The success of “Inside Out 2” (the year’s highest-grossing movie with $1.58 billion) and contributions from 20th Century productions helped Disney become the first studio to reach $3 billion in global ticket sales in 2024. As the year comes to a close, Disney Animation’s “Moana 2” (Nov. 27) and “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Dec. 20) are expected to boost their theatrical earnings further.
According to Dergarabedian, all the movies in Disney’s 2024 lineup have received positive reviews. He notes that they’ve been consistently producing strong films, which is surprising given Disney’s dominant status in the industry. However, he considers this a significant return to form for them.
In 2024, Disney has two scheduled releases from Searchlight Pictures: “Nightbitch,” a surrealist comedy starring Amy Adams, directed by Marielle Heller (December 6), and “A Complete Unknown,” a biographical drama featuring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan (December 25). After these releases, the schedule thins out. The only upcoming films from 20th Century are Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (July 25, 2025), and “Avatar: Fire and Water” (December 19, 2025). Any additional “Avatar” sequels from James Cameron are also planned. It’s unclear how Disney intends to continue utilizing the 20th Century brand beyond these confirmed titles.
In summary, many of Disney’s recent triumphs are associated with long-standing franchises. Apart from a few established properties, Disney has either scaled back Fox’s previous lineup or released much of it on Hulu. There haven’t been many victories with original content not tied to a franchise. For instance, David O. Russell’s 2022 film “Amsterdam” and Kenneth Branagh’s 2023 movie “A Haunting in Venice” were major flops. Will Disney invest effort into creating non-branded intellectual properties that have delivered unexpected box office hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Ford v Ferrari,” and “The Greatest Showman”? Or will it stick to producing only “Alien,” “Avatar,” and “Apes” type films?
According to Gross, they are well-versed in the franchises they took over, but predicting original films is more challenging, he adds.
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2024-08-19 20:17