If the merger is agreed upon by US competition regulators, the original Star Wars trilogy will be owned by Disney as well.
In what came as a somewhat surprise, both Bob Iger (CEO of Walt Disney) and Rupert Murdoch (21st Century Fox) have announced the agreed upon deal between the two entertainment juggernauts. The agreement means Disney will own Fox’s movies, television studios, regional sports networks, international holdings, and other investments. This means that Disney will now own the original Star Wars trilogy which means Disney now controls the entire franchise. It also means Disney owns the rights to thousands of Marvel characters and popular television series like Modern Family and The Simpsons.
However, what most people don’t know is that Disney will be held responsible for Fox’s $13.7 billion in debt as part of the stock deal, thus making the total value of the transaction an astounding amount of $66 billion. Also, Bob Iger has extended his contract as CEO of Walt Disney to the end of 2021 and Rupert Murdoch’s son James will supposedly be a key figured in the integration of the two firms. Nonetheless, there is the concern that the deal will be denied and Disney will pay Fox a $2.5 billion break-up fee and should this happen it is unknown if the two companies will try to merge in the future. Regardless, should this happen, it means that us geeks will hopefully see a decent Fantastic Four film in the near future and who knows, maybe even some interaction between the MCU superheroes and the new mutants.
