Don’t
be tempted by the idea of superheroes colliding in an Avengers/X-Men
crossover. The downsides of Disney potentially acquiring Fox outweigh
the benefits for fans.
Ira Madison III
11.07.17
12:42 PM ET
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
“The
Avengers can team up with the X-Men!” was one of the staler takes
to circulate late Monday after news broke that Disney is looking to
do a 21st Century Fox mambo and acquire
most of the company.
It sparked a lot of speculation online that Disney is looking to
reunite its X-Men and Fantastic Four
franchises
with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is certainly enticing. But
at the center of all of this, it's troublesome that the excitement
over seeing Magneto versus Thor has outweighed the negative aspects
of a potential Fox acquisition by Disney.
Though
talks are currently off the table, Disney has long been interested in
creating their own streaming service to rival Netflix and Hulu. As it
turns out, it's not even the prospect of bringing the X-Men into the
Marvel fold that's the most alluring to them. Fox owns the rights to
properties like Buffy
the Vampire Slayer,
The
Simpsons,
Bob's
Burgers,
and Futurama
which would lure viewers to their rival streaming service,
particularly if those shows are kept off Netflix and Hulu, along with
all of Disney's movies and the films in 21st Century Fox's catalog.
For Disney, this is all about control of the future and the future is
streaming.
A
few things weren't in discussion to be acquired, like F/X and Fox
News and Fox Sports, mostly because the latter could bring antitrust
issues into play. Disney owning Fox News and ABC News and also Fox
Sports and ESPN would be a dangerous monopoly that the government and
consumers would fight back against. But even without that particular
monopoly, Disney would still wield a hell of a lot of control in the
film industry if they were to acquire Fox.
Just
take a look at the films this year that were both Disney and Fox
properties. Beauty
and the Beast.
Ghost
in the Shell.
Star
Wars: The Last Jedi.
Guardians
of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.
Thor:
Ragnarok. Murder on the Orient Express.
Alien:
Covenant.
Logan.
War of the Planet of the Apes. Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle.
That's a hefty pull of this year's film revenue and also most of the
major releases from this year. Disney owning more films and producing
nearly half the studio movies released in any given year could become
troubling for filmmakers and even critics.
Just
this week, The
Los Angeles Times
revealed that they've been banned
from film screenings
by Disney: "This year, Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer
The
Times
advance screenings, citing what it called unfair coverage of its
business ties with Anaheim.
The
Times
will continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when
they are available to the public." Since the announcement,
journalists from Flavorwire, The
Washington Post,
and The A.V. Club have stood in solidarity with The
Times
and said they will not cover Disney films until the ban is lifted.
When
you think about Disney pettily wielding their power against critics
for purported unfair reporting, which is eerily similar to some other
person in power this year whose name escapes my mind, think about how
much worse that would be if Disney also controlled Fox's properties.
It's not the first time a studio has done this and it probably won't
be the last, but giving Disney that much power in Hollywood doesn't
particularly bode well for anyone besides Disney. Nevermind the fact
that it also doesn't bode well for Fox employees who have jobs that
would become obsolete once Disney absorbs the company.
But
on the subject of the X-Men, as
I've noted before,
Fox is doing rather creative things with the franchise thanks to
Logan,
Legion,
and the upcoming New Mutants and it's probably the separation from
the Marvel Cinematic Universe that allows it that freedom. Having
these mutants be beholden to the world that Marvel and Disney have
created could be stifling. Marvel Studios is like a well-oiled
machine at this point, yes, and its film and television schedule is
planned, meticulously, years in advance. But what this means is that
there’s little room for error or experimentation. Outside of
anomalies like Thor:
Ragnarok and
Guardians
of the Galaxy,
each film manages to maintain the same tone and visual aesthetic.
With Marvel, you know what you’re going to get. The same goes with
Pixar. Or Disney's rabid obsession with turning all of their animated
films into “live-action” ones instead of making new animated
classics.
Fox's
problems with their Marvel franchises can be fixed in-house. 1.) Get
rid of X-Men director and producer Bryan Singer; at this point, we've
had enough of his vision and it’s bordering on repetitive. 2.) Put
some respect on the Fantastic Four's name, one of Marvel's greatest
comic book franchises. The success of Legion
opens the door for a killer Fantastic Four television series, where
it would probably do much better than it has in bloated blockbusters.
3.) Give Storm her own fucking movie. If this one doesn't happen
soon, then I'm going to be signing a petition to let Disney do
whatever it wants with Fox.
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