Disney’s $71 billion deal to buy most of 21st Century Fox will take effect on Wednesday, March 20, the companies said Tuesday morning.
It will be an epochal event in the entertainment business — the merging of two movie studios and the end of Fox as we all knew it.
Staffers at the 20th Century Fox studio are bracing for layoffs and other big changes.
Disney is already the king of the box office. And if the company’s $71.3 billion deal for most of 21st Century Fox goes through, it will add even more big-name franchises — including Deadpool, the X-Men and Avatar — to its roster.
The end result: A company with clout unmatched by any other traditional movie maker.
This year’s box office sales show how formidable the new super-company could be. Thanks to “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Incredibles 2” and “Deadpool 2,” Disney (DIS) and Fox (FOXA) together control nearly half of the domestic market share so far in 2018, according to Box Office Mojo.
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