Nearly a month after preliminary talks momentarily took place, Disney has resumed negotiations with Fox to purchase some of the Murdoch company’s key film and TV assets, according to media reports.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported Sunday that the potential deal would involve 20th Century Fox’s TV and movie studios, as well as Fox’s holdings in U.K. TV provider Sky and several U.S. cable networks. Fox’s flagship TV network would not be included in any deal, nor would Fox News and Fox Sports.
The talks come as Disney prepares to launch two new streaming services, one built around sports programming from ESPN, and the other around TV and movie properties from Walt Disney Studios and other companies under Disney’s umbrella like ABC, Freeform, Pixar and Lucasfilm.
A deal with Fox would give Disney additional content for the latter as media companies race to stake their claim on content to promote their own streaming services. The Disney streaming service will put the company head-to-head with Netflix, which will lose streaming rights to Disney shows and movies.
But the possibility of a deal also comes as the Justice Department has moved to sue AT&T to block its planned acquisition of Time Warner, arguing that it would give the company too much control over content creation and distribution. It remains to be seen how the Trump administration would view a a deal that would give Disney similarly large market power.
If a deal is reached and the Justice Department approves, Disney could gain control of a vast content library that includes property adjacent to some of the mouse house’s biggest earners.
Among other intellectual property, Fox owns distribution rights for “Star Wars: A New Hope,” and holds film rights to the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” franchises from Marvel. Those titles remain the last major Marvel comic book characters whose film rights are not currently owned by Disney and Marvel Studios.
Representatives for Disney and Fox did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s requests for comment.
All the 'Star Wars' Behind-the-Scenes Shakeups Since Disney Bought Lucasfilm (So Far)
In September 2017, Lucasfilm announced it had parted ways with "Star Wars: Episode IX" director Colin Trevorrow just months before the film was set to begin production, and then revealing a week later that JJ Abrams would take his place. But that's hardly the first shakeup of the modern "Star Wars" era. Here's all the drama that's happened since Disney bought Lucasfilm (and the "Star Wars" franchise) in 2012.
All three new numbered "Star Wars" movies ("The Force Awakens," "The Last Jedi," and the untitled Episode IX) were originally announced for May launches before being pushed to December.
Michael Arndt was originally hired to write "The Force Awakens" but was replaced because his draft wasn't coming along as quickly as the powers that be at Lucasfilm wanted -- director JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan took over screenwriting duties.
Josh Trank, the first director hired for the standalone anthology film that we now know as "Untitled Han Solo Film," was fired from the project in May 2015 amid reports of drama on the set of his "Fantastic Four" film, with producer Simon Kinberg reportedly calling him "erratic." Trank later said he left "Star Wars" because he wanted to do "something original."
Colin Trevorrow landed the "Episode IX" directing gig in 2015, and wrote the first script with his writing partner Derek Connolly. But Lucasfilm ultimately nixed their screenplay, and in August, Jack Thorne was reported to have taken over those duties. (Lucasfilm still hasn't made any official announcement about Thorne.)
Phil Lord and Chris Miller were hired to direct "Han Solo" from Lawrence Kasdan's script, and made it through most of production before being fired in June 2017. Reports credited a conflict with Lucasfilm over their filmmaking style. Ron Howard was then brought in to finish the project.
Michael K. Williams landed a supporting role in the Han Solo movie, but after Ron Howard replaced Lord and Miller, the amount of additional shooting was apparently extensive enough that Williams no longer had time for the film. His character ended up being cut from the film completely.
Trevorrow was replaced on "Episode IX" by "The Force Awakens" director JJ Abrams, who Disney also announced would write the screenplay with "Argo" and "Batman V Superman" scribe Chris Terrio.
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From the first ‘The Force Awakens’ script to the departure of ”Episode IX“ director Colin Trevorrow
In September 2017, Lucasfilm announced it had parted ways with "Star Wars: Episode IX" director Colin Trevorrow just months before the film was set to begin production, and then revealing a week later that JJ Abrams would take his place. But that's hardly the first shakeup of the modern "Star Wars" era. Here's all the drama that's happened since Disney bought Lucasfilm (and the "Star Wars" franchise) in 2012.
