The Rebooted "Keep Hope Alive" (that the rights can revert back to Marvel) Thread - - - - - - - - - - Part 19

[Iceman]

Dark Phoenix was a terrific comic book back in the day, but I'm hoping Feige and company don't have any plans to revive it. The "Woman gains great power - but can't control it!" story was done with both Jean and Wanda and is more than a tad outdated. Let Writer/Director/Producer Simon Kinberg bury Dark Phoenix for good and have the X-Men start fresh in the MCU.

No need to see the same story 3 times when there’s so many other good stories they could use.

 

[Flint Marko]

Yes. Comcast is a content distributor as well as an ISP. Disney is neither. Plus Comcast already owns NBCUniversal, so doubling that content production in light of their distribution (albeit regional) presents issues.


Comcast is better off picking up smaller production companies. Like they did with Dreamworks.

Wow. And people still want to argue that Disney is the bigger of two evils...? I still really can't wrap my head around it. They have a long history of distributing more adult fare under smaller studios.

Dark Phoenix was a terrific comic book back in the day, but I'm hoping Feige and company don't have any plans to revive it. The "Woman gains great power - but can't control it!" story was done with both Jean and Wanda and is more than a tad outdated. Let Writer/Director/Producer Simon Kinberg bury Dark Phoenix for good and have the X-Men start fresh in the MCU.

Hear, hear.

It's gonna be nice to not have to sit through the same old X-men movie again and again and again.

 

[WeaponXCII]

It seems to be a news drought at the moment.

Hopefully we get a storm soon! *ba dum tss!*

 

[Raiden]

The difference is that Dark Phoenix is a big storyline and not just a character. ASM2 was not a particular storyline so wouldn't affect future films. ASM, on the other hand, is the origin storyline and Marvel didn't get to do that because it had now been done twice.

At the moment DP has only been done once in X3 but if the film with that title is released it will have been done twice.

If they can help it, Marvel should not allow DP to be released so it won't interfere with any potential future plans. And at the moment they can help it since it hasn't been released and they're on the verge of getting the full rights back, which wasn't the case with Spidey where it would only be usage and not full rights.

100% agreed. If they let DP to be released (which is a major event in X-Men lore), then MCU X-Men won't ever get to use it again without looking like they're just recycling old ideas. I hope Disney will buy Fox in time and stop DP from going to the theatre. They can perhaps put it in their streaming service, and because it was Fox who paid for the whole movie, they won't be obligated to try to recoup its investment. MCU X-Men should be done right, and to do that they must not allow Fox X-Men to influence its future any further.

 

[Big Bang]

It seems to be a news drought at the moment.

Comcast is off in the distance trying to gather another storm.

Wow. And people still want to argue that Disney is the bigger of two evils...? I still really can't wrap my head around it. They have a long history of distributing more adult fare under smaller studios.

Yeah, people always have their personal biases. It is what it is.

 

[Timebomb]

Wow. And people still want to argue that Disney is the bigger of two evils...? I still really can't wrap my head around it. They have a long history of distributing more adult fare under smaller studios.



Hear, hear.

It's gonna be nice to not have to sit through the same old X-men movie again and again and again.

Yeah I am ready for something new with the X Men. That plus I'm a Scott Summers fan so looking for some redemption there

 

[Dark Raven]

What are people's predictions of what Comcast will do and how Fox will respond?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

It seems to be a news drought at the moment.

I don't think waiting helps Comcast. Since their bid is 'unsolicited' everybody involved in the acquisition (including the DOJ) is working toward closing the Disney deal and the farther they get with that process, the harder it is for Comcast to jump in.

In this case there is something of an expectation that Comcast will make another bid, but the longer they wait, the stronger that bid needs to be.

If Comcast bids $41 per share some time next week, I think that could be too little, too late.

So from my point of view, no news is good news (though I don't realistically think Comcast is done).

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Any further attempts by Comcast will only make it even more embarrassing for them when fox, again, says no.

 

[MasterCat]

If they can help it, Marvel should not allow DP to be released so it won't interfere with any potential future plans. And at the moment they can help it since it hasn't been released and they're on the verge of getting the full rights back, which wasn't the case with Spidey where it would only be usage and not full rights.

I'm not sure you understand that this is a $178 million dollar film. Any responsible person at Disney would just say "We make as much as we can on this and audiences will accept an X-Men reboot in 2021."

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

What are people's predictions of what Comcast will do and how Fox will respond?

I can imagine several different things happening and I don't know which is most likely.

I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast is at least approaching Disney and testing the waters regarding if they can get Sky.

I don't know how Disney would react to that, but if I were Disney, I'd offer it to them a at a reasonable price to avoid paying $90 billion for Fox (and also cover some of the debt being generating with the latest bid).

But it that isn't happening or can't be worked out, I have a feeling Comcast may push all their chips to the center of the table. We've already heard rumors of $41 per share (or ballpark $76 billion), but I think Comcast needs to make a bigger statement than that. I wouldn't be surprised to see Comcast go to something like $82 billion, and if so, I think that might be about as high as they'll go.

 

[Iceman]

I don't think waiting helps Comcast. Since their bid is 'unsolicited' everybody involved in the acquisition (including the DOJ) is working toward closing the Disney deal and the farther they get with that process, the harder it is for Comcast to jump in.

In this case there is something of an expectation that Comcast will make another bid, but the longer they wait, the stronger that bid needs to be.

If Comcast bids $41 per share some time next week, I think that could be too little, too late.

So from my point of view, no news is good news (though I don't realistically think Comcast is done).

Yeah, same here. A huge bid when everything is nearly tied up would just piss people off. It would be different if these bids didn't have big regulatory hurdles to cross and could be accepted, processed and completed within a short space of time and degree of certainty. If that were the case then you would welcome higher bids at any stage.

 

[Big Bang]

What are people's predictions of what Comcast will do and how Fox will respond?

Comcast will keep trying until they can't try anymore. It certainly looks like Fox's Board has made up its mind, hence Comcast will go directly to the shareholders to try to derail the deal. Ultimately I don't think Comcast will succeed.

 

[Crimz]

I'm not sure you understand that this is a $178 million dollar film. Any responsible person at Disney would just say "We make as much as we can on this and audiences will accept an X-Men reboot in 2021."

They will wait much longer than that to reboot the X-Men if they release Dark Phoenix. The Fox X-Men still has fans and it would be bad move to reboot so soon with previous films still fresh in the public's mind. Spider-man is a rare case that would not be repeated as Marvel doesn't own the rights it's just a deal with Sony. The X-Men would be owned 100% by Marvel and they would let the franchise rest before tackling it again. 2024 may be the earliest we get a Marvel X-film.

The Fantastic Four are fortunate as the Fox versions have no fans and it's already been 3 years since the last one. If they wait until 2022 to release an FF film it would have been 7 years since the last one which should be enough time to get the stink off the franchise.

 

[Raiden]

Comcast will keep trying until they can't try anymore. It certainly looks like Fox's Board has made up its mind, hence Comcast will go directly to the shareholders to try to derail the deal. Ultimately I don't think Comcast will succeed.

The shareholders at Fox knew that the DOJ favors the Disney deal more than the Comcast's, and I believe it will help make their decision easier and reject any further bid from Comcast. Another thing is that Comcast's stock is valued lower so they don't any flexibility and they can only offer cash, compared to Disney's cash & stock offer they just don't have a more entice deal on the table. I hope Fox didn't postpone the stockholder meeting on July 10, but I think right now Disney looks to be in a much stronger position right now and in the future.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I thought I read that the 10th voting was post-poned.

 

[Big Bang]

I thought I read that the 10th voting was post-poned.

It has but it will eventually be rescheduled since Fox accepted Disney's updated bid. I forget the timeline, but they have to allow enough time for the materials to be sent out to shareholders, and Gov entities.

In the meantime, Disney continues along the way to regulatory approval. If they get that it could be the final nail in the coffin as Disney can just cite the approval already having been received in any new offers. There are other markets they have to get approval, but the US is the biggest one that had the most potential for blockage.

 

[Dark Raven]

I was the news yesterday that the meeting on the 10th was postponed. I hope not too far off though. It's time to vote soon and stop faffing around and entertaining all these offers from Comcast. Comcast can keep bidding until they are blue in the face if they are determined to get it at all costs. A line must be drawn somewhere.

 

[WeaponXCII]

What could Comcast do to win over Murdoch and the US government and make Disney seem unappealing now?

Is there anything he can do? Does simply offering more money work? Or is it over for him? Will he even know when to throw in the towel? Or does he think he's like Cap who can do this all day?

On a related note, one of the most pressing questions for me is this: How will we know when Comcast throws in the towel? Will they just go quiet or make an official statement or something?

 

[Dark Raven]

On a related note, one of the most pressing questions for me is this: How will we know when Comcast throws in the towel? Will they just go quiet or make an official statement or something?

Maybe after the shareholder meet? Perhaps Fox will make a statement that they are not entertaining any other offers. But that isn't Brian Roberts giving a public statement himself. Maybe he'll just go quiet.

But then he could be secretly plotting his next move.

 

[Big Bang]

On a related note, one of the most pressing questions for me is this: How will we know when Comcast throws in the towel? Will they just go quiet or make an official statement or something?

Probably not until after the shareholders vote to approve the deal. Once they've done so, and if Disney has received full clearance from the US and relevant markets, then it can close the deal.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I thought I read that the 10th voting was post-poned.

It is. Even with, hypothetically, no additional bid from Comcast, Fox needs to rewrite and resend all the ballots since the deal now is different than the the deal originally presented.

... and considering the situation, I'm sure they'll hold off on printing new ballots until they see what Comcast does in the coming days. No point in printing something they may never use.

 

[WeaponXCII]

Maybe after the shareholder meet? Perhaps Fox will make a statement that they are not entertaining any other offers. But that isn't Brian Roberts giving a public statement himself. Maybe he'll just go quiet.

But then he could be secretly plotting his next move.

Probably not until after the shareholders vote to approve the deal. Once they've done so, and if Disney has received full clearance from the US and relevant markets, then it can close the deal.

That would definitely make sense. I hope we get word on that meeting soon....

 

[ADollarADay]

Comcast will keep trying until they can't try anymore. It certainly looks like Fox's Board has made up its mind, hence Comcast will go directly to the shareholders to try to derail the deal. Ultimately I don't think Comcast will succeed.

I would argue that Comcast has already succeeded though even if they quit now (which they won't). Disney is spending an extra 20B (albeit not all in stock, but still an extra 20B). That could easily have been used to issue higher dividends, aggressive stock buyback, international growth (think fast growth of disney streaming service, hulu, espn+), theme park growth (20B = DL Chongqing, Texas, New Delhi, and buying up a hefty share of DL Tokyo or DL Japan 2/China 3).

As Comcast will drive the price up even further that will mess up Disney's expansions, stock buyback, and higher dividends plans even more. It'll also take longer for them to deleverage and get a clean balance sheet like they have now.

 

[Iceman]

Comcast will keep trying until they can't try anymore. It certainly looks like Fox's Board has made up its mind, hence Comcast will go directly to the shareholders to try to derail the deal. Ultimately I don't think Comcast will succeed.

They seem to be in the far weaker position at the moment.