This is the second in a two-part exploration of the Disney-Fox deal. You can read part one here.
Though the Disney Company’s $71.3 billion bid to acquire 21st Century Fox has been met by pop-culture fans with rapturous glee, the threat of Disney establishing a modern monopoly on the entertainment industry may become a reality in this deal. There’s a logic to Disney purchasing the company that owns major stock in the streaming market plus intellectual properties closely tied to them, such as James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). The deal, however, will lead to Disney owning an estimated 30% of the film industry. Many may not mind a company like Disney owning so much stake in one industry, but there’s major concern when one considers the mediocre quality of the art Disney has produced in the last decade.
This is the first in a two-part exploration of the Disney-Fox deal. Part two can be found here.
In July of 2018, the Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, as well as its many assets in film, television, and streaming services, for a reported $71.3 billion. This should be no surprise, as Disney has been a face for cold American corporatism for decades. The squeaky clean façade Disney desperately upholds in the face of their relentless pursuit of capital has made them an easy target for both harmless lampooning and legitimate criticism. Unfortunately, conversations about media are swamped by a nostalgia-fueled pop-culture, further amplified by social media echo chambers. Whereas many fans will worship Disney’s purchase in hopes of the Fox-owned X-Men getting name dropped in Avengers 7: The Quest for More Money (2026), this acquisition should instead be met with grave concern about the effect a modern monopoly may have on the quality of future art across the entertainment industry.
“I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.”
Ten years have passed since Nick Fury uttered those words to Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man, the film that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What felt like nothing more than a tease of an unlikely promise eventually came to fruition four years later in what was, at that point, one of the most daring ensemble features: The Avengers. Since then, Marvel Studios never looked back, expanding the world that once featured a mere six heroes to a galaxy that features over 30. With Avengers: Infinity War being pegged as the final chapter in the MCU as fans currently know it, audiences knew that the first of this two-parter, one which sees the long-anticipated Thanos (Josh Brolin) finally make his way to earth, would come at a high cost.
Avengers: Infinity War is the culminating chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 10-year run, one which has seen our heroes go toe-to-toe with the likes of a sentient killer android, a literal goddess of death, and even an aged Michael Keaton. In Infinity War, the stakes are upped as the Avengers face their most daunting challenge yet: The Mad Titan Thanos, one of the strongest beings in the universe, and his Black Order. While the Avengers have managed to avoid significant losses to their core in their past battles, the odds are that not everyone will make it out of this fight alive. With the film set to hit theaters tomorrow night, we asked you which characters you thought were most likely to die. Here are the top three likely deaths, according to you.
Among fans of superhero movies, few films garner as much adoration as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Even in a decade where theaters and box-offices alike have been dominated by a rejuvenated interest in superhero stories, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t hold the original Spider-Man movies in the highest esteem, often regarded as second only to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). With Coral Gables Art Cinema holding a one night only after-hours screening of Spider-Man (2002) later this month, I had to ask: how does Sam Raimi’s foray through the world of superheroes hold up nearly twenty years later?