20th Century Fox 1915-2017?

Da-Da! Da-Da! dadadadadadadaDa-Da! DaDaDaDa! Dadadadadadadadadadada-DaDaDa! Da-Da-Da-Da DA-dadada! Da-Da-Da-Da DA-dadada! Da-Da-Da-Da DaDaDaDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

That anthem always meant something special. For over 80 years, it's caused anticipation and excitement for what we were about to see. It's played before all kinds of movies, from escapes to galaxies far, far, away, small adventures of 8 year old boys scaring off thieves on Christmas eve, and even heartfelt stories of men born with scissors for hands.

These stories have been their studio's for decades just like how every other studio has their own unique films to display and share with the world. The entire library is what's made this particular company stand out from all the others But now, they will not just be THEIR stories but someone else's as well. On the day of this writing, 20th Century Fox, along with assets; Fox Searchlight, Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox Television, etc., has been sold to Disney.

Whenever I hear one of these buyout stories, I try to come to grips with it. When a company buys out another one, they're not just taking their assets. They're also taking their identity; their culture; and their work strategies. Whatever the accomplishments the bought company made, they are no longer only their's and whatever methods they used to achieve those things, they can never use them again.

I can't say whether this will turn out to be a good move or a bad move, but I can say that it will be very hard to get used to it all. It's an end of an era, no matter how you look at it.

In the realm of mass entertainment, we want multiple voices so the media doesn't sound so homogenized and manufactured. In a sort of ironic way, we like hearing different ways of appealing to our mainstream tastes. Hollywood movies are already so similar that even some difference is appreciated.

But this buyout means there are only five major Hollywood studios working now; Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Sony and that lack of variation is pretty intimidating. Only five sources of entertainment that people flock to see at the cinema. How much longer before Disney buys out the other four until it's the only behemoth that's putting out the movies everyone likes?

On the other hand, I can't deny that it's kind of exciting, having to look at a company in a different way. Maybe a new direction is what it needs to be less stale and tiresome. People of later generations will know that 20th Century Fox as a Disney company, something my generation never did. We never watched Star Wars shows on a Disney owned channel, along with shows featuring other Disney characters. The same goes for Marvel Characters.

Maybe it will make smaller companies even more appealing. There's already no shortage of studios putting out really interesting movies outside of the Hollywood system like Focus Features, A24, IFC, and Magnolia Pictures. I can imagine people being more starved for unique and off-the-beaten-path films like the kind that those companies.

But I guess, my biggest question involving this buyout is "why?" Fox's most profitable releases involve Star Wars and Marvel, both of which have already been bought out by Disney. Their other most successful films include smaller, Oscar-contending movies like Cast Away and The Martian and Avatar, one that almost no one talks about, despite it being the highest grossing movie of all time (though that hasn't stopped Disney from having an entire Avatar land at DisneyWorld). While Fox still has the rights to Star Wars IV and the X-Men films, why buy out an entire studio just so Disney can have them?

Buying out an entire film studio is different than when Disney (under Bob Iger) bought Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar. Those three were only production companies, something people have more of a fondness for than distributors. While the former has more a personal touch to their films, it's all about the money for the latter, which means they need to have as diverse a filmography as they can. Lucasfilm was known as the Star Wars/Indiana Jones Studio, Marvel was known as the Spiderman/Hulk/Captian America comics company, and Pixar was known as the Toy Story/Finding Nemo/Incredibles company. Filmgoers have a bigger connection to these companies because they made such specific properties and since Disney is a company that's all about nostalgia and childhood memories, it made sense why they would want to purchase them. But an entire studio? Where's the nostalgia in that. Kids don't go "mommy, I wanna see the new Paramount movie!"

I honestly am curious to see where it all goes from here. I really hope that we can look at this purchase the same way we look at Disney buying Marvel and Lucasfilm. We thought that those buyouts were recipes for disaster at first but we have since then love what's resulted from them. Or maybe I'm being too hopeful and all this buyout will do is make us look back wishing that it never happened.

No matter what happens though, at least we will still have that fanfare.

If you enjoy this post, please consider contributing to my Patreon for awesome perks: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8841985