Attraction Source Forum

So today it was announced that The Walt Disney Company, will purchase 20th Century Fox and its assets for $52.4 Billion. 





So Disney's purchase will add to its huge back catalogue, with such high-grossing films like the original Star Wars movies, Marvel superhero teams X-Men and Fantastic Four, Avatar and Deadpool, as well as TV hits including The Simpsons, Family Guy and The X-Files.

So, this basically means that now Disney have (pretty much) all Marvel characters left, so expect to see an even bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe!!

This also means that they can build new theme park areas based on these movies, on the topic of theme parks, 20th Fox are midway through building a park in Maylasia and are rumoured to be in talks to make an area in Motiongate Dubai, it is unknown how this will effect the development of the parks.

So whats your opinion on the purchase? 

I have mixed feelings about this latest aquisition by Disney. It will no doubt be of significant benefit to have access to the almost full catalogue of Marvel characters, although I'm not sure quite how they'll work them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe given there are already 3 Fantastic Four films, and a large number of X-Men movies, but no doubt they will find a way.

One question this does raise is how will this affect Universal's use of properties such as The Simpsons? I'm guessing that Universal will keep the existing ride and area for the duration of the agreed licence, but once that expires will they have to remove it? One concern I do have is the fact the Disney will no doubt want to use soe of these characters in their parks. Whilst the Marvel stuff will slot in as Disney are already using that, I personally really do not want to see The Simpsons go into any Disney park as in my opinion they simply would not fit.

I can't believe it, The Simpsons as Disney characters... 

Bert2theSpark wrote:I can't believe it, The Simpsons as Disney characters... 

But that does mean we have two new Disney Princesses and one new Disney Queen :lol

I expect Universal will be tied with The Simpsons in some way, similar with Marvel. I also can't see Disney wanting to have Simpsons in their parks as the characters don't fit the current direction they're going in!

If The Simpsons were to be removed though I expect we will see Nintendo take over Springfield, mainly because it's sat right next to it and will even share a food storage area with it.

It could be that Family Guy could replace The Simpsons at Universal, therefore freeing The Simpsons. As you say, Owen, I can't see The Simpsons entering a Disney park. It could just be a silent partnership with some licences/characters cherry picked.

Justin wrote:It could be that Family Guy could replace The Simpsons at Universal, therefore freeing The Simpsons.

Unfortunately Disney now own that too :lol

I have to say the theme parks are the least of my worries. I very much doubt Disney will mind having to be paid by Universal to use certain characters and franchises that don’t fit their narrative - I think in the long run we should remember Disney care about money and that is a about it, so if there is an opportunity to make it then they will.

The thing I’m extremely concerned about is how Disney are going to be with everything creatively. Fox was doing some really interesting stuff and now I worry Disney will reverse this to spin their image on it. New Mutants is a good one here. This will be the first major superhero/horror genre bending film and is expected as a trilogy, but with Disney having little experience here will this be complete? Deadpool is allegedly remaining as a 15, however Disney don’t seem awfully keen on perusing the character very far - already stating that he’s going no where near the Avengers franchise.

This doesn’t even consider the fact Disney now own FX, the creators of some of the most adult TV out there. American Horror Story will be interesting to watch, however I wouldn’t be surprised if showrunner Ryan Murphy takes it to the Universal channel as he has ties here, along with American Crime Story and Feud. I also feel for the employees who will be losing their jobs, with almost all Fox staff expected to be dropped.

Overall I’m just incredibly nervous. All all the franchises Fox had have their own feel to them, and I worry Disney is going to warp them into something unrecognisable...

On August 18th a post by Gary Snyder was posted to the online journalism platform Medium.com, revealing some very interesting, and potentially image-damaging information about The Walt Disney Company, and it’s CEO Bob Iger along with CCO Zenia Mucha.

In short, the article claims that Iger and Mucha utilised well known figures within the Disney fan community in order to manipulate the fan community and more importantly shareholders. This comes after a MiceChat posted an article blaming Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge ‘failure’ on Bob Chapek.

Whilst I find it questionable, it’s also not completely insane to think this kind of stuff could be going on.


UPDATE - The information regarding a community member going by the name of “TP2000” has been proven false, however as of now there has been no other proof for or against this article.


SOURCE - How the Walt Disney Company Co-Opted the Voice of a Community

Disney really needs to be careful. Bob Iger needs to watch his back. The perverbial storm is approaching fast.

Been keeping up to date with Disney mishaps with regards to Star Wars.. the future doesn't look good at all. With rumoured plans of Galaxy's Edge turning into an Aladdin themed area if the new attraction in 2020 doesn't become a success (which it won't).

Wether that is true or not, it doesn't detract from the fact Galaxy's Edge failed. Bob Iger, Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson.. need to go.

#TheRiseoftheFandomMenace :lol

It seems as though the author of that piece has written a fair few negative things in the past that perhaps were not always fair. [Source]. I would highly question its validity, especially things with named executives.

That being said, Disney are certainly not saints when it comes to company image and media platforms. Barring the LA Times from preview events for critical investigative reporting on Disneyland is pretty poor.

In terms of Disney's success overall, they're far from in trouble. Some things may not have gone quite to plan as they expected (one of them weirdly starting to look like Star Wars Land, where even coverage of it from Florida is low, despite it now being open to the public). And there's absolutely no chance of Star Wars Land getting re-themed to Aladdin.

Disney are now under fire, and have had a fall in stock after an senior ex-accountant has claimed the company have been inflating profits in order to make their earnings seem greater than they actually are to investors and the public. She claims the company have added addition billions of dollars of fake revenue to reports over the past 10+ years.

After trying to report the issue in the past, Disney allegedly ignored her. She later went to the SEC to help when she was fired from her senior position not a month later having worked for Disney for 18 years. She also claims the company would list high-tax purchases such as hotel rooms as lower-tax purchases, essentially a way of tax evasion.

Disney have responded in the expected way by calling the ex-employee a liar, however it’s believe SEC are going to look into the issue - possibly hinting that her claims aren’t “utterly baseless” as Disney says.

SOURCE

This is really not good and if true could have serious consequences. The sad thing is I wouldn’t put either of these incidents past the company.

And some people believe Bob Iger has done a better job for Disney than Walt Disney himself..

Time will tell if this is true or not.. As much as I don't want this to be true. I also do to expose the corrupt nature of Disney that employees have been stating for years.

Disney have announced a 10 episode documentary series covering their theme parks and attractions.

As far as I'm aware, outside of marketing material and Walt Disney talking about Disneyland on his show, I don't think they've done full length documentaries in the past so this could be really interesting. It's Disney talking about Disney so it's not going to be warts and all (and will probably use the word 'magical' far too much) but it should have access to the rides, imagineers and backstage areas that youtube series like Defunctland would never get.

Still no word on Disney+ in the UK but I'd wager either Sky, Netflix or Amazon will pick up their catalogue.

https://blogmickey.com/2019/10/behind-the-attraction-disney-docuseries-will-look-at-the-history-of-disney-theme-park-attractions-and-destinations/

abigsmurf wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 8:48 pm Disney have announced a 10 episode documentary series covering their theme parks and attractions.

As far as I'm aware, outside of marketing material and Walt Disney talking about Disneyland on his show, I don't think they've done full length documentaries in the past so this could be really interesting. It's Disney talking about Disney so it's not going to be warts and all (and will probably use the word 'magical' far too much) but it should have access to the rides, imagineers and backstage areas that youtube series like Defunctland would never get.

Still no word on Disney+ in the UK but I'd wager either Sky, Netflix or Amazon will pick up their catalogue.

https://blogmickey.com/2019/10/behind-the-attraction-disney-docuseries-will-look-at-the-history-of-disney-theme-park-attractions-and-destinations/

The Imagineering Story has been out for a while now, and if you are into the whole creation process behind attractions then you'll love it. The series is basically a look from the building of Disneyland in Anaheim right up to the current park in shanghai.
And it's not all high praise either, one thing i was surprised about but also (praised the show for) was how they look back at some of the bad ideas and how they were resolved (i'm looking at you California adventure)
If you've not seen it yet, its available on the UK Disney+