The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, is the interconnected series of films based on the Marvel Comics. It incompasses everything from the Avengers to Ant-Man, Black Widow to Black Panther, Captain Marvel to Captain America. This vast world of cinematic superheroes is about to get much bigger.
Walt Disney Studios, which owns and distributes the films produced by Marvel Studios, has recently bought out 21st Century Fox, an unprecedented acquisition that will change the landscape of Hollywood forever. Never has such a major film production company been bought by another. While this centralization of entertainment is something that edges forebodingly close to a monopoly, it nevertheless spells good news for fans of the MCU.
In the 1990s, Marvel Comics was faring very badly when it came to finances. Teetering on bankruptcy, the company sold the film rights to many of its characters and teams, such as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Spider-Man. This meant that when Marvel Studios was created and the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, they could not legally use these properties in their stories since studios such as Sony Pictures and 21st Century Fox were the ones who technically owned the rights to them.This is why the X-Men have never shown up in an Avengers movie and why Spider-Man was never even mentioned until eight years into the series. However, with the acquisition of Fox, Disney (and therefore Marvel) can now incorporate these lost characters into their movies.
With the poor critical reception of several of the X-Men movies and all of the Fantastic Four films, this acquisition is also good news for these struggling franchises. Marvel holds a very strong track record as far as quality goes, with almost all of its films being well received by both critics and audiences. The creative possibilities granted by these new additions will hopefully make for great movies in the coming years.
Comments