Disney buys 21st Century Fox for £39 billion

The Walt Disney film empire has grown larger today, as the company acquired much of 21st Century Fox., bringing the tantalising prospect of new LEGO themes.

A deal was finalised today that will see the Walt Disney company buy a significant amount of 21st Century Fox’s business. Disney’s new acquisition is better known as 20th Century Fox, with the famous logo remaining as such at the beginning of many of the distributor’s movies. The cost of the deal to the Mouse house is $52.4 billion (£39 billion).

The BBC reports further on the deal:

The purchase includes Fox’s film and television studios, as well as its 39% stake in satellite broadcaster Sky.

The move adds to Disney’s back catalogue high-grossing films such as the original Star Wars movies, the Marvel superhero pictures, Avatar and Deadpool, as well as TV hits such as Modern Family and The Simpsons.

There is concern that having so many movie releases coming from Disney will limit competition and have an impact on creativity in the industry, but it is yet to be announced whether Disney will run Fox as a separate studio or have tight control over the production slate. The US Department of Justice is likely to look at the merger to confirm its validity.

For Marvel geeks, the move is causing excitement as rights to X-Men movies are owned by Fox, and this deal would bring them into the Disney stable so that the characters may show up in the Marvel cinematic universe. This also brings Star Wars: A New Hope distribution rights to Disney, along with many other franchises including Avatar. Does that bring with it the opportunity that new films and franchises could be turned into LEGO themes? The possibilities are tantalising…