People have been excited about the idea of The X-Men and Fantastic 4 characters joining Marvel's MCU for years now. With news that talks had begun people's excitement grew. Finally they burst with excitement when they heard that terms of a deal had been agreed upon. The thing is, this isn't about film rights, it never was and this won't be good for anyone involved.
For starters they know this merger will be looked at in poor light. They did so because they deliberately did not refer to it as a merger. Despite the fact that they bought all of Fox's film and television rights they didn't call it a merger in an attempt to avoid people pointing out the advancement of the Disney Monopoly. They purposely attempted to misled people into believing nothing but film rights were at play.
In reality, it was about much more. Disney secured a major grip on the film and television industries. Disney already held 29% of the box office. With Fox's additional 13% they now hold 40% of the box office. Additionally Disney gained a controlling interest in the Hulu streaming platform. If you're keeping track Disney now has a stake in the Hollywood box office almost double the next competitor. They have control over one of the largest comic companies in the world and the second largest film and television streaming service. This may not seem like an issue but it is.
In the event of a monopoly or oligopoly a few things change. First, is the consumer gets forced into a contract where they have limited options in quality and price. Speaking of quality, it will most certainly drop. That's because in markets like these with minimum to no competition, corporations are only competing with themselves. If there is no competition they have no incentive to put out a better product because it is your only choice.
Then there's the price point. You may think tickets to Disney films won't go up, but they already are. At the moment the cost increase hasn't been passed on to film goers, but they're already hurting theaters and other films. November 1, 2017 The Wall Street Journal published a piece about the new screening contract that Disney enforces on theaters. Disney will now take an unprecedented 65% of all ticket sales for their films. Additionally, if the films are not screened in the largest room the theater will pay Disney an additional 5% bringing their cut to 70%. This is ridiculous when you consider 40% of ticket sales is what every other studio takes. Additionally in the new Disney contract theaters are required to run Disney's films in their biggest rooms every screening for no less than four weeks.
Eventually theaters are going to pass this cost off to viewers. You'll be paying for higher prices, but that won't guarantee an increase in quality. It'll just hurt viewers in theaters, but Disney will be okay because they no have a controlling interest in Hulu. They'll just move their content online. But that opens an entirely new can of worms with what they can do.
Disney is the company that has re-written copyright law in the United States on three occasions to prevent their properties going into public domain like thousands had beforehand. This including suing a daycare that had used images of their characters on the walls. Disney never set their sights on just film rights. Their acquisition of Fox was always about the larger picture of increasing their control until they finally have the monopoly they've always wanted. You may choose to remain positive, but the writing is on the wall.
You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts.
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So true. Great write-up.
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