Last year,Disneycompleted its $71.3 billion merger with Fox, effectively marking one of the most important shifts in media ever. While casual moviegoers may not have noticed the change, behind the scenes, it’s been significant, and things are going to continue to shift dramatically. Disney has been making sweeping changes to 20th Century Fox, now branded as 20th Century Studios, since taking over. One of the biggest changes? The former Hollywood giant will now be releasing roughly four movies a year. And that’s just the beginning.
According to a new report, former Fox head Emma Watts, one of few major female executives at the top of the food chain in Hollywood, departed her post at the end of January. It’s said Watts couldn’t handle the changes being made by Disney, which left Fox as a shadow of its former self. The studio that brought usDie Hard,Alien,Planet of the Apesand more will now cut its slate from roughly seven movies per year to four, while also focusing on creating content for Hulu and Disney+. And it seemswhat movies are getting made at 20th Century Studioswill be heavily watered down.
The superhero properties that Fox was formerly in control of, such asDeadpool,Fantastic FourandX-Men, have beenhanded over to Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Meanwhile, the studio is working on projects like reboots ofHome AloneandCheaper By the Dozen. Aside from that, there will be some adult dramas produced, but the bread and butter, for now, are James Cameron’s plannedAvatarsequels. Four will be produced, if all goes well. As, Bill Mechanic, former CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment tells it, the once meaningful label now means next to nothing.
“I don’t think the label means anything anymore. It’s a repository for rights to either remake pictures or use characters. You’re making four movies a year out of branded product.”
While this is seemingly bad news for Hollywood, and ultimately bad news for moviegoers who like variety, from a business perspective, it’s easy to see where Disney is coming from. A slew ofprojects that Disney inherited from Fox, such asDark Phoenix,Stuber,The Art of Racing in the Rain,Ad Astraand, to a lesser degree,Alita: Battle Angel, flopped at the box office. This resulted in heavy losses. Disney, rather swiftly, axed most of Fox’s production slate as a result.
There were some bright spots, such asFord vs Ferrari, which has performed well at the box office and is up forBest Picture at the Oscars this weekend. But the rough times aren’t over yet.The Call of the Wild, which stars Harrison Ford, is set to hit theaters later this month and comes with a hefty $125 million production budget. Unfortunately, it’s on track to make just $15 million opening weekend. Sad as it may be, Fox wasn’t churning out movies people were paying to see. Disney, meanwhile, has churned out hit after hit in recent years. But, ultimately, that means more of the same, just with a different name attached to it. This news comes to us viaThe Hollywood Reporter.
