In addition to Disney being interested in purchasing Fox Studios, now it’s reported other companies are interested as well, which includes Sony.
With Fox Studios apparently up for sale, that means their X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four properties (among others) could end up at rival studios, which down the road may mean the X-Men paired with Marvel.
If Sony does end up getting Fox Studios, it’s possible Sony could mix their Spiderverse and the Fox Studios X-Men characters, which would include Venom, Carnage, Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, etc.
What would be interesting if Sony does get the X-Men characters is that they could always loan them out to Disney’s Marvel Studios, similar to the Spider-Man deal, or who knows, maybe one day there will be a big Sony and Marvel Studios crossover as the two companies appear to be on good terms.
The NY Times reports that Comcast and Verizon are showing interest in Fox Studios as well, and notes if someone offers the right price, it appears that Fox Studios will be sold.
Fox Studios also distributes the James Cameron Avatar movies, has the rights to Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise and lots more.
From the perspective of a fan of comic book movies, I’m actually hoping that Fox Studios isn’t sold. While an Avengers and X-Men movie would be cool, there’s no doubt Disney and Marvel Studios would dumb the X-Men and Deadpool movies down, clean them up and make them family friendly “popcorn” movies. Gone would be the R-rated unique and fresh approaches that Deadpool and Logan offered.
Sony has yet to prove itself for its own comic book movies, so keeping the X-Men away from Sony can only be a good thing. I actually recall at one time there was talk of Sony selling its own movie division, so Sony purchasing Fox Studios may be nothing more than talk.
Both Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld seem to be against any sale of Fox Studios for the moment.
It’s also said the Justice Department could stop any sale of Fox Studios do a rival company due to anti-trust laws.
