A Comcast and Fox Deal Isn’t Such A Bad Thing and Here’s Why
Maybe the 65 Billion dollar bid isn’t such a bad thing. Now, before you crucify me, understand that when I first heard the news I was probably a lot like you. Up in arms, voiced raised, and swearing in frustration.
How could they?
Marvel was so close to reuniting its ensemble of characters. Finally, after all of these years, we would get to see Wolverine, Mr. Fantastic, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Doom, and so many more share the screen with our favorite Avengers. We started dreaming, imagining, and playing out all the possible scenarios in our heads…and then Comcast crushed it. While Disney can still tender another offer, if I was Fox, that Comcast offer looks pretty enticing. $65,000,000,000 cash. Not $52,400,000,000 in shares that may go up in value or may go down.
Cash. Cold, hard cash.
And in a world where cash is King, they should take the cash. If this happens and Comcast purchases Fox, what will happen to our favorite mutants, families, and their respective villains? In a word?
Nothing
Things will most likely remain status quo. Marvel Studios will keep plugging away at their properties and Comcast will begin to plug away at theirs. And maybe, if we’re lucky, the Comcast and Fox deal will do one of two wonderful things.
First, maybe they will inject new life into two different floundering franchises. Let’s be honest. Aside from Deadpool, Fox hasn’t had a great X-Men movie in years. And, if and when they do, the quality of the movies goes up and down like a rollercoaster.
For whatever reason, the X-Men franchise always seems to sandwich in a bad movie between some good ones.
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- X-3: The Last Stand
- X-Men: Apocalypse
If the casting from Apocalypse shows us anything, it’s don’t get your hopes up for Dark Phoenix. And let’s not even get started on the disaster that is the Fantastic Four franchise.
Second, maybe Comcast will strike a deal with Disney just like Sony did. The Sony/Disney deal for Spider-Man worked beautifully. Not only did it work beautifully, it showed the world that two rival companies can co-exist for the better good. So why can’t a Comcast and Fox deal work the same?
Spider-Man made his debut in Captain America Civil War and immediately after his arrival, he proceeded to steal the show. He was, without glorifying him too much, the star of that movie. Even his solo movie, Homecoming was outstanding. It’s lighthearted treatment of the character and genre was a breath of fresh air.
Worst case scenario
And what’s the worst that could happen? We never see the characters on the screen again?
Not likely. We are in a time period similar to that of the era of Western Movies. The movie companies bombard the audience with so much of one thing (westerns) that the audience watches until they simply can’t take it anymore. And then they stop watching.
And besides…
Marvel has announced that they will be making 20 more movies after the release of Avengers 4. I don’t know about you but it sounds to me like they have their hands full. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s when someone has their hands full, try to not take on more.
The last two Star Wars movies are perfect examples of this. Disney knows that they have a money maker in Star Wars so they continue to pump out average movie after average movie in an effort to make a dollar. Whereas a company who isn’t spread so thin takes their time to hash out the details of a proper movie experience.
I’m not saying that if Disney does end up purchasing Fox the movies will be terrible. What I am saying is that maybe it’s a good thing that Comcast has jumped in with a bigger offer.
The bigger picture
Think about what would happen if Disney had a monopoly on the comic book market…
Any sort of repercussion for a bad movie would only exist in its ratings because as long as it has the Marvel logo on it, fans will continue to come. I for one am happy that Comcast and injected some life into the acquisition and hope that they are able to buy Fox.
What do you think? Would you be happy if the Comcast and Fox deal went through? Let me know below.
Cheers,
Joel
