Disney Buys Fox

[rodrigo_ca]

Mickey the character will be protected by trademark.

http://copyright.nova.edu/mickey-public-domain/

Does that mean, then, that at least the Steamboat Willie Mickey, if not Mickey Mouse, period, will be in the public domain soon?

Steamboat Willie will be in the public domain. Anyone who wants will be able to publish it on Youtube or release a DVD or Blu-ray. Steamboat Willie will be free to anyone who wants it. Mickey Mouse is and forever (plus one day) will be a copyrighted character, meaning that even if his shorts are on the public domain, no one is able to explore the character commercially.

[Big Disney Fan]

It's officially over!

Fox Holders Approve Disney Merger and Megadeal Reaches Next Stage
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... next-stage

Does this mean, then, that Darryl F. Zanuck will become a Disney Legend?

[Rumpelstiltskin]

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/di ... 62343.html

Around 5,000 to 10,000 Fox employees are expected to be laid off once regulatory approval is granted in various countries, and many Fox projects in development are guaranteed to be cancelled.

The merger is expected completed in the first half of 2019. At that time, Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News Channel will remain separate, is set to become one of the largest individual shareholders of the Walt Disney Company.

Bob Iger will stay on as CEO of Disney until late 2021 to oversee the integration of Fox’s businesses into Disney’s corporate culture.

I guess when you have just spent $71.3 billion, and are busy creating your own streaming service, they will need to sacrifice something. But what that something is, remains to be seen. Wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be the projects I'm looking forward to the most (which would be typically my luck).

[D82]

I’m not too pleased with this acquisition, but one positive thing I see is that now that Disney is so big it’ll probably be less likely to be bought by another company. I guess, I don’t know much about economics. I remember there were rumors not long ago that Apple wanted to buy Disney.

[willard]

I don't think Iger's successor will continue with the same strategy of acquiring things.

[Disney's Divinity]

So, Sotiris, you might know this (or somebody else might know it), of most of the well-known hand-drawn animated films that were made in the '80s-'90s, what does Disney now own at this point? Just the Don Bluth films and FernGully: The Last Rainforest?

I wonder what Disney might do with these films. I guess there's no reason to hope for much, since they haven't been doing great things with their own films on home media lately.

[Sotiris]

So, Sotiris, you might know this (or somebody else might know it), of most of the well-known hand-drawn animated films that were made in the '80s-'90s, what does Disney now own at this point?

I believe these are only it.

Wizards
Fire and Ice
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure
A Troll in Central Park
Thumbelina
Anastasia
Bartok the Magnificent
Titan A.E.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue
Once Upon a Forest
The Pagemaster
Happily Ever After
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

[Mooky]

I thought Thumbelina was a Warner Bros. production How did Fox get involved in the whole thing?

Happily Ever After
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

Disney never got around to making DTV sequels to Snow White and Pinocchio, funny that they now own the rights to these two.

[JeanGreyForever]

I thought Thumbelina was a Warner Bros. production How did Fox get involved in the whole thing?

Disney never got around to making DTV sequels to Snow White and Pinocchio, funny that they now own the rights to these two.

I think Fox got the distribution rights because the Blu-Ray is under Fox studios. It comes packaged a lot with Anastasia and/or FernGully.

That is interesting that Disney now owns those two unofficial sequels to two of their classics.

[Sotiris]

I thought Thumbelina was a Warner Bros. production How did Fox get involved in the whole thing?

Warner may have distributed it theatrically but the rights belonged to Don Bluth Entertainment which were transfered to Fox when they acquired the company to form Fox Animation Studios. The same goes for A Troll in Central Park.

[DisneyBluLife]

I thought Thumbelina was a Warner Bros. production How did Fox get involved in the whole thing?

Disney never got around to making DTV sequels to Snow White and Pinocchio, funny that they now own the rights to these two.

I think Fox got the distribution rights because the Blu-Ray is under Fox studios. It comes packaged a lot with Anastasia and/or FernGully.

That is interesting that Disney now owns those two unofficial sequels to two of their classics.

In Sweden the second DVD of Thumbelina in 2009 was distributed by Fox, and when people asked why the DVD didn't have the Swedish dub of the movie, they said that Warner still owns the dub but no longer the movie.
And I guess Fox was to lazy to pay for a new dub or to get the old one from Warner.
So in Sweden, if you buy Thumbelina on DVD it will only have English as a language option. And in Sweden you don't learn how to speak BASIC English in school until you are around 8 years old.

[JeanGreyForever]

In Sweden the second DVD of Thumbelina in 2009 was distributed by Fox, and when people asked why the DVD didn't have the Swedish dub of the movie, they said that Warner still owns the dub but no longer the movie.
And I guess Fox was to lazy to pay for a new dub or to get the old one from Warner.
So in Sweden, if you buy Thumbelina on DVD it will only have English as a language option. And in Sweden you don't learn how to speak BASIC English in school until you are around 8 years old.

That's a pity to hear. I've heard that Disney has really dropped the ball on their international dubs, usually mastering a new one to replace an older more beloved dub, but at least they haven't outright ditched dubbing altogether. I suppose Thumbelina also isn't a major enough title for Fox to care enough to make a new one or get the rights to.

[DisneyBluLife]

In Sweden the second DVD of Thumbelina in 2009 was distributed by Fox, and when people asked why the DVD didn't have the Swedish dub of the movie, they said that Warner still owns the dub but no longer the movie.
And I guess Fox was to lazy to pay for a new dub or to get the old one from Warner.
So in Sweden, if you buy Thumbelina on DVD it will only have English as a language option. And in Sweden you don't learn how to speak BASIC English in school until you are around 8 years old.

That's a pity to hear. I've heard that Disney has really dropped the ball on their international dubs, usually mastering a new one to replace an older more beloved dub, but at least they haven't outright ditched dubbing altogether. I suppose Thumbelina also isn't a major enough title for Fox to care enough to make a new one or get the rights to.

Tell me about it, even if we in Sweden have great new dubs of the Disney classics. Some of the redubs during the 90s might sound a little cheap at times (Disney hired the same studio for all the redubs so you will hear many of the same voice actors). In the 1997 Swedish redub of Alice in Wonderland, the Swedish voice actor Anders Öjebo plays 13 characters in the movie. (This is the dub that is still being used today on every Swedish VHS,DVD and Blu-ray edition) but the actors in the redubs did have better delivery than the actors in the older dubs. Which is a positive thing.

I think Disney fans outside of USA knows and are more involved (atleast I am) with the Disney Character Voices International part of the company.

[Mooky]

I think Fox got the distribution rights because the Blu-Ray is under Fox studios. It comes packaged a lot with Anastasia and/or FernGully.

Warner may have distributed it theatrically but the rights belonged to Don Bluth Entertainment which were transfered to Fox when they acquired the company to form Fox Animation Studios. The same goes for A Troll in Central Park.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I own Thumbelina DVDs with a Fox logo, but I thought that was just some sort of distribution deal with WB, I had no idea DBE evolved into Fox Animation Studios. That's really interesting.

This is off-topic, but when it comes to Don Bluth, I take it this breakdown of which studio holds distribution rights for his films is correct?
- Fox/Disney - A Troll in Central Park, Thumbelina, Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent, Titan A.E.
- MGM/Warner - The Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle, The Pebble and the Penguin
- Universal - An American Tail, The Land Before Time

[Sotiris]

This is off-topic, but when it comes to Don Bluth, I take it this breakdown of which studio holds distribution rights for his films is correct?

Yes, that's correct though I need to point out that the movies MGM owns are not owned by Warner. MGM is a separate, independent company. The confusion stems from the fact that Warner owns most of MGM's library through the acquisition of Turner Entertainment. This, however, does not apply to the Bluth films. MGM made a deal with Fox to distribute its remaining library on home video, digital, and VOD until June 2020.

Here's the breakdown of who owns Bluth's film library.

Fox
Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Thumbelina
A Troll in Central Park
Anastasia
Bartok the Magnificent
Titan A.E.

Universal
Xanadu
An American Tail
The Land Before Time

MGM
The Secret of NIMH
All Dogs Go to Heaven
Rock-a-Doodle
The Pebble and the Penguin

[willard]

Still wondering what they'll do with Blue Sky. It seems redundant to have a third animation studio which isn't as prestigious and they could probably use more money to pay of the debt, so selling seems like the best opinion. I'm sure Paramount or MGM would pay for it.

[D82]

Still wondering what they'll do with Blue Sky. It seems redundant to have a third animation studio which isn't as prestigious and they could probably use more money to pay of the debt, so selling seems like the best opinion. I'm sure Paramount or MGM would pay for it.

I hope that's what they do with Blue Sky.

I've heard that Disney has really dropped the ball on their international dubs, usually mastering a new one to replace an older more beloved dub

Yes, that’s something that has happened in Spain. Well, and in Latin America too, because we shared the same dubbings up until Beauty and the Beast, which was the first one to be dubbed here. The original dubbings of classics such as Snow White and Cinderella were replaced with new ones. I believe it was because some voice actor/actress or their descendants wanted royalties for the video profits, and Disney decided to solve the problem this way. It’s really cruel to get the voices you’ve grown with suddenly replaced. And in my case I couldn’t access the original dubs anymore because at first I didn’t own the movies on VHS; I just rented them at a video store. The new dubbings aren’t bad and I eventually got used to them, but it was quite difficult at first. They also made a new dubbing for The Little Mermaid (in Spanish from Spain) but fortunately, the original dub is still included in every DVD and Blu-ray and it’s the only one I watch (apart from the original English audio).

[Mickeyfan1990]

So, Sotiris, you might know this (or somebody else might know it), of most of the well-known hand-drawn animated films that were made in the '80s-'90s, what does Disney now own at this point?

I believe these are only it.

Wizards
Fire and Ice
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure
A Troll in Central Park
Thumbelina
Anastasia
Bartok the Magnificent
Titan A.E.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue
Once Upon a Forest
The Pagemaster
Happily Ever After
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is supposedly with CBS.


Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night is owned by Lakeshore with RLJ/Image currently handling distribution.

It is kind of ironic that Disney will be gaining Bluth films originally distributed by Warner (in addition to the 60's Batman show and movie).

[estefan]

The funny thing with MGM is Fox currently handles the home video distribution rights on their titles (which consist of MGM's post-1986 library as well as movies acquired when they merged with United Artists and bought Orion Pictures). Apparently, this deal is set to last until 2020, but I don't know if Disney will renew it.

[DisneyBluLife]

Here is the history of Disney redubs in Sweden of the first five Disney classics. I want to share my knowledge to those who are intrested.
Please tell me if you want to know more.

1. Snow White and the seven dwarfs (was originally dubbed in 1938, and was redubbed in 1982. The original dub from 1938 had according to Walt Disney himself the BEST voice for Snow White, 14 years old Tatiana Angelini. The redub from 1982 is still being used today on all VHS, DVD and Blu-ray editions.)

TV interview here with Tatiana Angelini from 1982. English subtitles are avaliable.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zFo-7Y6VP3A

2. Pinocchio (was originally dubbed 1940, and was redubbed in 1995. The dub from 1940 is only available on the first rental VHS copy from 1987. All later VHS, DVD and Blu-ray editions have the new dub from 1995.)

3. Fantasia (was originally dubbed in 1940, was first redubbed in 1960 and was redubbed again in 1986 and 2010. All VHS editions and the first DVD edition from 2000 have the 1986 dub, the newest Blu-ray and DVD editions have the new 2010 dub.)

4. Dumbo (was originally dubbed in 1946. The 1946 Swedish dub was produced in USA by Walt Disney himself as an consultant. Dumbo was later redubbed in 1972 and 1996. The first VHS edition from 1991 has the 1972 redub. All later VHS, DVD and Blu-ray editions have the 1996 dub)

5. Bambi (was dubbed in 1943, and later redubbed in 1986. The 1994 VHS had the the original 1943 dub by mistake, this was later fixed in the very last print run of the VHS. The 1994 VHS edition with the 1986 dub is more rare to find because of that. All later VHS, DVD and Blu-ray editions have the newest dub from 1986.)