6 Years Later, The Biggest Winner Of Disney Buying Fox Is Not What I Expected

In December 2017, Disney announced one of their most massive deals of all time. They would take over 21st Century Fox, an American movie studio founded in 1935 after a Great Depression-era merger of Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Studios. After its 2017 announcement, the Fox deal was finalized in March 2019. This would give Disney control of the production and distribution of all of Fox’s major franchises, as well as access to all the company’s movie and TV library.

The closing of the Fox deal came nearly a decade after Disney also acquired Marvel Studios. This gave them the control to shape the superhero franchise’s main content, but the Fox deal expanded that even more. Fox had rights to certain Marvel characters and stories such as X-Men. The Disney acquisition meant that the Mickey Mouse company could fully handle the MCU content, including both the mainline and Fox-owned content. In this massive Fox deal, however, a different franchise seems to be the clear winner.

What’s Worked & What Hasn’t After Disney Bought Fox

Planet Of The Apes Was A Mixed Bag

In the first six years of the Fox deal, there have been some clear winners and losers. The Planet of the Apes reboot was a mixed bag for Disney. War for the Planet of the Apes was one of Fox’s last big franchise films before the company’s acquisition, and it did well with critics and at the box office. Last year saw the first Planet of the Apes movie since Disney took over, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This film had more mixed reviews when compared to its predecessor and made far less money.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes made $397.3 million worldwide, while War for the Planet of the Apes brought home $490.7 million worldwide.

Other franchises formerly owned by Fox have done incredibly well. This includes Avatar: The Way of Water, which made a record-setting $2.3 billion worldwide. The MCU content has also been pretty big, including last year’s Deadpool and Wolverine. However, these successes cannot solely be attributed to Disney. In both cases, these franchises were thriving beforehand and would have been successful regardless. Time will also tell how Fantastic Four and further X-Men will turn out now that Disney is in control.

Disney Has Brilliantly Revived Both The Alien & Predator Franchises

Both Franchises Have Had Successful Films Recently

Despite a small hiccup with Planet of the Apes, there are two franchises that Disney has truly brought back to life. These are the Predator and Alien franchises. In both cases, these Fox franchises seemed relatively dead before the Disney deal. Alien: Covenant was released in 2017 and didn’t do so well commercially. The installment made just $240.8 million worldwide, and on an estimated $97 million budget, that does not cut it to form a significant profit. The movie also did not do very well among critics, getting a mixed 65% Tomatometer.

The 2022 movie Prey never hit theaters, but even as a Hulu exclusive, it was a huge hit with critics and audiences.

However, the interest completely changed last year with the release of Alien: Romulus. The film has a Certified Fresh 80% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, with ScreenRant‘s Graeme Guttmann giving it 7 out of 10 stars, writing that “Romulus feels like a classic Alien movie.” The film was better received than even the likes of 2012’s Ridley Scott film Prometheus. Romulus made $350.8 million on an estimated $80 million budget, turning a profit and becoming one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time.

Prey had a similar success story. While Covenant lowered some audience’s faith in the Alien franchise, the Predator movies were in even more dire straits. 2018’s The Predator vastly underperformed, as did the 21st Century’s other Predator-exclusive film, Predators. The 2022 movie Prey never hit theaters, but even as a Hulu exclusive, it was a huge hit with critics and audiences. With this movie, Disney did the same thing they managed to do with Alien: Romulus last year; they made the best movie in the franchise since the 1980s. Both instances were remarkable franchise restorations, rejuvenating interest in them.

Both Franchises Now Have Exciting Futures Under Disney

The Predator Franchise Just Released A Great Film

Not only are the Alien and Predator franchises alive again, but they have immediate and exciting futures. The post-Prey legacy is active right now, as the Predator series had a franchise first with the Hulu release of the adult animated film Predator: Killer of Killers. This movie was the best-rated movie in the entire Predator franchise. It builds up the hype for Predator: Badlands, which is set for release later this year. In addition to these two 2025 releases, a Prey sequel is also in development.

Title

RT Critic Score

RT Audience Score

Predator (1987)

80%

87%

Predator 2 (1990)

29%

44%

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

21%

39%

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

12%

30%

Predators (2010)

65%

52%

The Predator (2018)

34%

32%

Prey (2022)

94%

74%

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

95%

90%

On the other hand, the Alien franchise is set to expand into the TV landscape with Alien: Earth. Romulus is also set to get a sequel, continuing the storyline of the well-reviewed 2024 film. Both of these busy slates show that Disney has not only made new films in each franchise, but it has boosted the health of each series. Given the Predator and Alien track records, before Disney bought Fox, this is not the win I expected, but it makes for some thrilling franchise development.

Created by

Jim Thomas, John Thomas

First Film

Predator

Cast

Carl Weathers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Peter Hall, Peter Cullen, Derek Mears, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Françoise Yip, Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers

Movie(s)

Predator, Predator 2, Predators, Predator, Prey