• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

News FOX selling out to Disney?

JD said:
So if Marvel got back the X-Men, and the FF which characters would they not have access to? With the Sony deal could they still do their own versions characters like Venom and Black Cat,or would those characters be out of bounds since Sony is giving them their own movies?
Click to expand...

Sony still owns the Spidey rights; they basically just loaned the character to Marvel to use in their films, in exchange for Marvel handling the creative process for Sony's Spider-Man films and letting them be set in the MCU. So I'd say that, yes, this deal would still leave Marvel without access to the full Spidey universe of characters, though a friendly relationship with Sony could help there.

Also, I think Universal still has distribution rights to the Hulk, which is why Marvel hasn't made another Hulk solo movie.
 
Christopher said:
Sony still owns the Spidey rights; they basically just loaned the character to Marvel to use in their films, in exchange for Marvel handling the creative process for Sony's Spider-Man films and letting them be set in the MCU. So I'd say that, yes, this deal would still leave Marvel without access to the full Spidey universe of characters, though a friendly relationship with Sony could help there.

Also, I think Universal still has distribution rights to the Hulk, which is why Marvel hasn't made another Hulk solo movie.
Click to expand...

Why can't they offer to buy the distribution rights back from Universal?
 
Christopher said:
Sony still owns the Spidey rights; they basically just loaned the character to Marvel to use in their films, in exchange for Marvel handling the creative process for Sony's Spider-Man films and letting them be set in the MCU. So I'd say that, yes, this deal would still leave Marvel without access to the full Spidey universe of characters, though a friendly relationship with Sony could help there.

Also, I think Universal still has distribution rights to the Hulk, which is why Marvel hasn't made another Hulk solo movie.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I know Sony has the rights to the Spidey characters, but what I was wondering is how their deal works with determining which characters Marvel will be able to use. It was a completely separate thought from the Fox deal, and just about the characters Marvel has access to. Since Sony is using my examples of Venom and Black Cat in their own movies, does that mean that they would never be able to appear in an MCU movie? If they did would they be the same versions we're seeing in the Sony versions or new MCU versions?
Doesn't Universal or another none Marvel/Disney company also have the rights to Namor? Or have they reverted back to Marvel now?
 
Anwar said:
Why can't they offer to buy the distribution rights back from Universal?
Click to expand...

I don't know much about business. But I know that Marvel signed away these rights in the first place at a time when it was failing and desperate to avoid bankruptcy, so it follows that the terms of the contracts were very, very favorable to the buyers. That's why it's been so hard for Marvel to get the rights back.


JD said:
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I know Sony has the rights to the Spidey characters, but what I was wondering is how their deal works with determining which characters Marvel will be able to use. It was a completely separate thought from the Fox deal, and just about the characters Marvel has access to. Since Sony is using my examples of Venom and Black Cat in their own movies, does that mean that they would never be able to appear in an MCU movie? If they did would they be the same versions we're seeing in the Sony versions or new MCU versions?
Click to expand...

What I meant was, the fact that Sony is going ahead with making their own movies about those characters seems to indicate that they're holding onto their rights. Maybe they'd loan them to Marvel case-by-case for a good enough reason, like how Aunt May debuted in Civil War -- but, seriously, does anyone expect the Black Cat or Silver Sable to show up in an MCU movie about Black Panther or Captain Marvel or whoever the other stars of Phase Whatever will be?


Doesn't Universal or another none Marvel/Disney company also have the rights to Namor? Or have they reverted back to Marvel now?
Click to expand...

I think I heard that they reverted a few years back. Not certain, though.
 
Christopher said:
I don't know much about business. But I know that Marvel signed away these rights in the first place at a time when it was failing and desperate to avoid bankruptcy, so it follows that the terms of the contracts were very, very favorable to the buyers. That's why it's been so hard for Marvel to get the rights back.
Click to expand...

That is a myth. Most rights were sold years before Marvel's bankruptcy troubles in 1995-1997. The Spider-Man rights that ended up at Sony were originally sold in the 80s to Cannon Films, and Sony did'nt get them until 1999, after Marvel was stable again. The X-Men rights went to Fox in 1994; discussions had begun in 1992. Fox' Fantastic Four rights grew out of Constantin's rights (who produced the infamous 1994 film). The Hulk had been set up at Universal by 1992.

The more likely reason the contracts were made the way they were is that no one saw the value in (non-Batman/Superman) superhero movie rights in the 1990s.
 
Christopher said:
What I meant was, the fact that Sony is going ahead with making their own movies about those characters seems to indicate that they're holding onto their rights. Maybe they'd loan them to Marvel case-by-case for a good enough reason, like how Aunt May debuted in Civil War -- but, seriously, does anyone expect the Black Cat or Silver Sable to show up in an MCU movie about Black Panther or Captain Marvel or whoever the other stars of Phase Whatever will be?
Click to expand...
I was actually talking about those characters appearing in MCU Spider-Man movies, I'm a little confused about how all of this works with Spidey being in the MCU movies, but then his supporting characters not being in the MCU.
The one Spidey character I could see having a role to play in the MCU outside of Spider-Man movie is Norman Osborn, he would be a perfect rival for Tony Stark.
 
JD said:
I was actually talking about those characters appearing in MCU Spider-Man movies, I'm a little confused about how all of this works with Spidey being in the MCU movies, but then his supporting characters not being in the MCU.
Click to expand...

The Spider-Man movies themselves are technically still Sony films, made as co-productions with Marvel Studios. Creatively, they're in the MCU, but business-wise, they're as much Sony films as the previous two Spidey series were. So any and all Spidey-related characters are fair game for the actual Spidey solo films.
 
If Disney does buy most of Fox's assets, it will be interesting to see what it sells off. For one thing, I don't think the Feds will allow the deal to go through without Disney selling off some of the Fox franchises because by owning 21st Century Fox, Disney would have too much control of the cinematic market. However, as long as it wasn't too much, I suspect Disney would be okay with selling off or letting Fox keep some franchises. I also wonder if Disney would be allowed to acquire Blue Sky Studios because of the animation powerhouse Disney already is and would be even moreso should a deal be made. I will say it would be interesting for Disney to own Anastasia, Robots, The Peanut Movie, Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who, Epic, and Ferdinand.
 
Christopher said:
Also, I think Universal still has distribution rights to the Hulk, which is why Marvel hasn't made another Hulk solo movie.
Click to expand...

Universal owns the rights to produce, not distribute, a solo Hulk movie, and Marvel doesn't see the money being there to make it worthwhile to co-produce one like they did with Spider-Man. Although the relationship there isn't nearly as frosty as the one Disney has with Fox; beyond Fox owning the distribution rights to the original Star Wars in perpetuity, Fox gets the revenue from licensing and merchandising deals regarding the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters. Fox was infamously salty, for example, over Disney's absolute refusal to allow X-Men toys to be made for Days of Future Past, and Disney also withholds the X-Men / F4 characters from things like video games.
 
Starscream2112 said:
Does Fox own the Irwin allen shows? Would Disney get the rights to Time Tunnel and Lost In Space?
Click to expand...

The rights to Time Tunnel seem to be owned by Fox, but I'm not sure about Lost in Space because Fox seemingly has no part in the new Netflix series which may or may not mean anything.
 
Ketrick said:
The rights to Time Tunnel seem to be owned by Fox, but I'm not sure about Lost in Space because Fox seemingly has no part in the new Netflix series which may or may not mean anything.
Click to expand...

Weird -- I just went to IMDb to look up the "Company Credits" page for the upcoming remake, and it gave me a signup screen for IMDb Pro instead. So I can't find out what companies are involved. What the hey?
 
Christopher said:
Weird -- I just went to IMDb to look up the "Company Credits" page for the upcoming remake, and it gave me a signup screen for IMDb Pro instead. So I can't find out what companies are involved. What the hey?
Click to expand...

The Wikipedia article said Legendary Television, Synthesis Entertainment, and Applebox.
Edit:
I wonder if Disney would acquire the minority stake in Boom! Studios with its potential acquisition of Fox assets. If so, would Disney keep it, sell it, or even buy the rest of Boom! Studios?
 
Last edited:
Is Boom! owned by Fox? I wonder if they would just make Boom! part of Marvel if they got it in the sale. It could be interesting to see what Marvel would do with things like Lumberjanes, Planet of the Apes, or Power Rangers.
Christopher said:
The Spider-Man movies themselves are technically still Sony films, made as co-productions with Marvel Studios. Creatively, they're in the MCU, but business-wise, they're as much Sony films as the previous two Spidey series were. So any and all Spidey-related characters are fair game for the actual Spidey solo films.
Click to expand...
So we could see Tom Hardy's Venom in a movie with Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
 
JD said:
So we could see Tom Hardy's Venom in a movie with Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
Click to expand...

I guess so. At least, as I understand it, there's no business or legal reason why that couldn't happen. Whether the parties involved want it creatively is another matter.
 
JD said:
Is Boom! owned by Fox? I wonder if they would just make Boom! part of Marvel if they got it in the sale. It could be interesting to see what Marvel would do with things like Lumberjanes, Planet of the Apes, or Power Rangers.
So we could see Tom Hardy's Venom in a movie with Tom Holland's Spider-Man?
Click to expand...

Fox owns a minority stake in Boom! and has a deal to make movies based on Boom! properties. They don't have full ownership so Disney probably wouldn't be able to merge it with Marvel. Not only that, Federal regulators may make selling the stake in Boom! one of the conditions for accepting Disney buying Fox.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top