Fox film boss Stacey Snider addressed the elephant — or mouse — in the room at the closing day of CinemaCon, as she acknowledged Acknowledged the studio’s uncertain future given the looming Disney acquisition.
“Today we face a new transition,” Snider told U.S. movie exhibitors, after revisiting the glittering history of her studio. “I have no more insight into the transaction than you do.”
“But I’m holding on to the very basics which helped make ‘The Greatest Showman’ a hit,” Snider said of the Hugh Jackman musical, now in it’s rare 18th week in theaters.
The presentation also made reference to the merger. Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool opened with a pretaped clip in a trashed hotel room at Caesar’s Palace, lying in bed with the studio’s domestic distribution head Chris Aronson. Implying they had a rough night, Hugh Jackman then emerged from another room in a bathrobe, brushing his teeth.
Aronson begs off, saying he’s late to greet the exhibitors.
“He is so fucked. Looks like Comcast really dodged a bullet,” Deadpool joked, referring to Disney’s rival bidder for Fox’s film and TV assets.
As the men exit the den of iniquity, one last straggler emerges from under the bed — it’s Disney’s beloved dog Pluto, who looks like he’s had the roughest night of all.
The December buyout infused the Disney with a bevy of Fox properties, including its film and TV studios and much of its non-broadcast television business, including regional sports networks and cable networks such as FX, FXX and Nat Geo.
Top film franchises like “X-Men,” “Avatar,” “Deadpool” and “Fantastic Four” now fall under the Disney umbrella, if and when the merger mees regulatory approval in the next 12 to 18 months.
Snider briefly addressed consolidation at at a CinemaCon panel on Wednesday, telling a crowd of exhibitors that “we all live with uncertainty of a business and that is an experience that changes — just buckle up and be professional and play our game.”