April Fools: Disney Acquires 20th Century Fox (That Part’s Real …)
By Ethan Cannistra, Contributing Writer
On Wednesday, February 20th, The Walt Disney Company officially acquired the film division of 20th Century Fox. A major reason that Disney wanted to buy the Fox Studio was to regain the Marvel properties that Fox currently has the rights to. These properties include all of the characters under the Marvel brands of X-men and Fantastic Four. Since 20th Century Fox has owned the film rights to these two properties since 1994, Disney has not been able to include them in their Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, when Disney bought Fox they also gained all of their film rights, including X-men and Fantastic Four. This now allows Disney to include the X-men and Fantastic Four characters into their Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige officially announced a release date for an upcoming Marvel movie on Monday. Fantastic Four will be released on June 7, 2019. Feige said that a Marvel Fantastic Four movie has been in the works for over two years and was shot in secret. However, he could not make an official announcement until the Disney and Fox merger was finalized. During Feige’s big announcement on Monday, he also took some time to announce the cast of the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. The cast includes John Krasinski (Reed Richards), Emily Blunt (Sue Storm), Zac Efron (Johnny Storm), and Dwayne Johnson (Ben Grimm). Fortunately, fans do not have to wait long to watch the film. Fantastic Four coming out this summer may be one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood history.
Feige also took some time to announce that Marvel is currently developing an Avengers versus X-men movie. Feige said that they do not yet have a cast for the film but it will be released on June 12, 2022. According to Feige, Avengers versus X-men will be the culmination of Marvel’s phase 4 which will start later this year with Fantastic Four. Marvel is planing on releasing several X-men and Avengers films within the next few years in order to introduce new characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Feige also said that Avengers Versus X-men may be the most ambitious crossover that Marvel has ever done.
Marvel being able to keep these projects under wraps for the last couple years is a very impressive feat. This marks the first time Marvel was able to film an entire movie with nobody knowing. A Fantastic Four movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe is something that audiences thought they would not see for a long time. For this reason, Kevin Feige wanted to make sure the movie could come out right as the deal between Fox and Disney closed, in order to reward the loyal Marvel fanbase.
