REPORT: Disney in Talks to purchase 20th Century Fox

[stevearino]

Earlier today, CNBC reported that Rupert Murdoch is in talks to sell 20th Century Fox to The Walt Disney Company.

According to NBC News, when the sale becomes finalized, Disney would own the 20th Century Fox film studio and its cable sibling FX Networks, as well as the majority of Hulu & the entire 20th Century Fox Television library including that of MTM Enterprises, Inc. to name but a few examples of FOX properties that would become owned by The Walt Disney Company.

Also, per NBC News, Disney would not, however, own FOX News and FOX Business Channel, nor would Disney own FOX Owned & Operated TV stations.

Disney would also NOT be owners of the FOX Television Network.

When finalized, among the shows Disney would become the proud owners of include the following:

1. Doogie Howser, M.D. -- Created by Steven Bochco, "Doogie Howser, M.D." lasted 4 seasons of 97 episodes on the ABC Television Network from September 19, 1989 - March 24, 1993; a Hospital Drama, "Doogie Howser, M.D." starred Neil Patrick Harris as the titular character, Dr. Douglas Howser, a teenage Medical Prodigy who whizzed by high school in 9 weeks, graduated from Princeton at age 14 and at the start of the series was a 2nd-year Resident at Eastman Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at age 16. Like most boys his age, however, Douglas still lived with his parents: dad David (James Sikking), also a doctor, and mom Katherine (Belinda Montgomery), a typical American housewife of the '80s. Aspiring filmmaker Vinny Delpino (Max Casella) served as comic relief character, as well as Douglas's best friend and neighbor since they were both children. Douglas's colleagues at the Hospital were Dr. Ben Canfield (Larry Pressman), the Hospital Chief of Services; Dr. Jack McGuire (Mitchell Anderson), a fellow resident Surgeon; and Nurse Curly Spaulding (Kathryn Layng). In the series finale, after 6 years as a Medical Doctor, Douglas Howser resigned at the ripe old age of 19 to start a new life as an actor, accompanying Vinny to Europe for a year. A little-known fact: though not exactly based on a true story, the title character on "Doogie Howser" was, in fact, based on a real person--a person who at age 15 became the youngest person to ever get his Medical Degree. Unlike the title character as played by Neil Patrick Harris, the real-life "Doogie Howser" (as I'll refer to him) NEVER used his M.D. to Practice Medicine, but rather for Cancer Research after attending Post-Graduate School.

2. Newhart -- This iconic hit '80s sitcom classic originally aired on the CBS Television Network from October 25, 1982 - May 21, 1990, lasting 8 years of 184 episodes; created by Bob Newhart, "Newhart" cast Bob as Dick Loudon, a New York writer of How-To Books who, along with wife Joanna (Mary Frann), decided to give up the New York life and start a brand-new life as the owner of the Stratford Inn in Norwich, Vermont. Other principal characters included George Utley (Tom Poston), the Inn caretaker; Kirk Devane (Steve Kampmann), a habitual liar who ran the local Minuteman Cafe next door; and Stephanie Vanderkellen (Julia Duffy), the hotel maid who, at the end of the 2nd season, met and fell in love with Michael Harris (Peter Scolari), who she eventually married. Also appearing on "Newhart" were the memorable Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (Bill Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss and John Voldstad, respectively), who took over the Cafe next door after the departure of Steve Kampmann at the end of Season 2. After voluntarily calling it quits, Bob Newhart filmed the memorable "Newhart" finale scene in secrecy, with his fellow colleagues given a fake final scene in the final script of the show; not until 20 minutes before the real scene was filmed did the rest of the cast get in on the secret real ending, with Bob reunited with Suzanne Pleshette (of his '70s "Bob Newhart Show," another MTM Enterprises, Inc. Presentation), and Bob and Suzanne reprising their '70s sitcom characters. Bob explaining to Suzanne's character Emily Hartley that he had this weird dream where he owned an Inn and there were all these weird people--hence the entire "Newhart" series revealed to be all a dream. The scene was re-enacted 4 years later when Bob Newhart hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 1994. In the meantime, here's a little-known fact about Bob Newhart--make that a double little-known fact: first off, his real first name is George--as in George Robert Newhart, the name he was born with 88 years ago on September 5, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, where Bob was born and raised, growing up in Chicago's Oak Park neighborhood. Secondly, as a young man, before becoming a TV star, Bob worked, in real life, as an Accountant, and while working, Bob and a colleague of his began trading humorous phone calls, which led Bob to begin stand-up comedy, leaving his native Chicago for TV and greener pastures, most recently on last week's "Big Bang Theory" episode.

More info can be found here at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rupert-murdoch-talks-sell-much-his-media-empire-disney-n818146

[Tubehead]

one good thing as if disney purchases fox then marvel might be able to get the rights back to the fantastic four & x-men !!

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Tubehead

one good thing as if disney purchases fox then marvel might be able to get the rights back to the fantastic four & x-men !!

http://whatculture.com/film/9-implic...ing-fox?page=2

9. X-Men In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Long before the MCU was a thing, the screen rights for Marvel's most iconic superheroes were shared between several studios. Since then, many have gravitated back towards their home turf, Spider-Man being the latest when the comic book giant brokered a loan deal with Sony last year.

The biggest Marvel property outside of the MCU is the X-Men movie franchise, which means legendary characters like Wolverine, Magneto and Professor X are off limits to Disney in their celluloid form, but that could change if the firm reaches a deal with Fox.

There has been talk of X-Men entering the MCU over the years. Adding mutants to the shared universe would broaden its horizons and allow Marvel to adapt some of its biggest comic stories in a more faithful way - the X-Men usually play a key role in its crossover events - but introducing them has always seemed an impossible task.

Fox has never shown willingness to relinquish its grip on Marvel's mutants and has movies lined up beyond 2020, but prising them away after its current film slate has wrapped would be a smoother process if Disney bought out the company's assets.

The MCU has essentially written mutants out of its lore, so dropping them into the current status quo could get messy. If Marvel was to regain the screen rights to the X-Men, perhaps the best course of action would be to incorporate them into a rebooted cinematic universe further down the line.

The kind of planetary alignment that would be needed to make this happen could realistically occur. If the current version of the MCU was to wrap up around the same time as the X-Men movies and their spinoffs, the two franchises could be relaunched together under a common umbrella.

http://whatculture.com/film/9-implic...ing-fox?page=3

8. A Fantastic Four Movie That's Actually Good

In three attempts (four if you count the low-budget Roger Corman version Marvel has tried hard to bury), Fantastic Four fans are yet to see a passable version of the property on the big screen.

The Tim Story films are watered-down trash, but they looked like thought-provoking masterpieces compared to the disastrous Josh Trank reboot of 2015.

Fantastic Four is officially a tarnished brand in Hollywood, and Fox doesn't seem to know how to repair it. If anyone can do Marvel Comics' first family justice on the big screen, surely it's Marvel itself, right?

If Disney pulls off its mooted acquisition of Fox's assets, you can bet making a decent film starring Reed Richards, Sue Storm et al will be high on its list of priorities.

Like the X-Men, the FF will likely be integrated into the MCU, but a standalone film (or films) that repairs the damaged caused by Story and Trank must come first.

Fantastic Four's cast of characters would be a great asset to the MCU if Marvel can reimagine them in a fan-pleasing way. The Thing would be a worthy adversary for the Hulk, Mr Fantastic would bring some extra brains to the series, and Galactus could serve as the big bad long after Thanos has been dealt with.