Comic Book Guy
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- Feb 13, 2015
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I feel this deserves its own thread since I see a lot of misinformation/misunderstanding on here about the state of the rights of the FF. The post won't be too long, it's not hard to explain. Basically, i see a lot of people here thinking that Fox owns the rights out right to FF; they don't. They own the distribution rights. Constantin Film is the studio that owns the production rights to FF. THAT BEING SAID, it's undeniable that Fox has a big part in the production of FF and for all intents and purposes it seems that Constantin Film lets Fox handle most of the creative side of things.
That being the case, this bombing of FF does not mean Fox will just wholesale the FF back to Marvel, they can't, only Constantin Film has the right to do that. What this does mean, however, is that it will be easy for Fox to see that FF is not enough of a worthwhile investment to continue putting time and resources into because of the fact they have to split the earnings with several parties and don't even have merchandising rights. To this end, rather than Marvel getting the rights back out right which is unlikely to happen because Constantin Film is not a big film studio and only has so many properties, what could happen is that Fox decides to wash their hands clean of FF and give up the distribution rights for it. This will leave Constantin Film looking for another company willing to pick up distribution and primary funding/production of the film and that will obviously immediately lead them to Marvel/Disney. They could strike a deal very similar to the one Fox and Constantin Film had where Constantin Film still owned the rights to the characters and made money off of the movies but production and distribution was left primarily in Fox's hands. Only difference is that the FF being under Marvel/Disney will obviously open them to the MCU. This would be a very attractive proposition to Constantin Film and I'm sure they would see the opportunity for significant revenue increase.
Another avenue that could take place is that rather than give up the FF distribution rights for nothing, Constantin Film could sign off on a deal between Fox and Marvel where Marvel give Fox the go ahead on an X-Men TV series (or maybe just the X-Men TV rights out right) and maybe some cash considerations in exchange for the rights to distribute FF. I see this as the most likely scenario.
Either way, I don't see a case where the FF don't end up back in the hands of Marvel/Disney at this point. It's just not enough of a worthwhile proposition for Fox to keep it going. It consistently underperforms for them, this time to an epic level, and brings their company really bad press every time they release one. This for a film they probably barely get 45% of the revenue from (if that...) and are forced to make one every 7 years when they really don't want to. Either way I feel this is the final nail in the coffin and the faction inside Fox that wants to cleanse themselves of this property will get their wish.
That being the case, this bombing of FF does not mean Fox will just wholesale the FF back to Marvel, they can't, only Constantin Film has the right to do that. What this does mean, however, is that it will be easy for Fox to see that FF is not enough of a worthwhile investment to continue putting time and resources into because of the fact they have to split the earnings with several parties and don't even have merchandising rights. To this end, rather than Marvel getting the rights back out right which is unlikely to happen because Constantin Film is not a big film studio and only has so many properties, what could happen is that Fox decides to wash their hands clean of FF and give up the distribution rights for it. This will leave Constantin Film looking for another company willing to pick up distribution and primary funding/production of the film and that will obviously immediately lead them to Marvel/Disney. They could strike a deal very similar to the one Fox and Constantin Film had where Constantin Film still owned the rights to the characters and made money off of the movies but production and distribution was left primarily in Fox's hands. Only difference is that the FF being under Marvel/Disney will obviously open them to the MCU. This would be a very attractive proposition to Constantin Film and I'm sure they would see the opportunity for significant revenue increase.
Another avenue that could take place is that rather than give up the FF distribution rights for nothing, Constantin Film could sign off on a deal between Fox and Marvel where Marvel give Fox the go ahead on an X-Men TV series (or maybe just the X-Men TV rights out right) and maybe some cash considerations in exchange for the rights to distribute FF. I see this as the most likely scenario.
Either way, I don't see a case where the FF don't end up back in the hands of Marvel/Disney at this point. It's just not enough of a worthwhile proposition for Fox to keep it going. It consistently underperforms for them, this time to an epic level, and brings their company really bad press every time they release one. This for a film they probably barely get 45% of the revenue from (if that...) and are forced to make one every 7 years when they really don't want to. Either way I feel this is the final nail in the coffin and the faction inside Fox that wants to cleanse themselves of this property will get their wish.
