Disney Rumors
Bob Iger must not have gotten the job of ambassador to China.
The reason I’m saying he didn’t get the job is because of the newest rumor out of Fort Mickey. That Disney is looking to buy out MGM Studios. As bad a shape as Disney is in, they are looking at yet another spending spree. And that reeks of Iger. Although, it’s not the absolutely absurd price of $70 billion that he paid for Fox.
No, MGM is going for the bargain basement price of $5 billion.
Frankly, it’s still a bad idea and it’s not much of a bargain. Sure, they get the MGM Film Library, combined with Fox’s library they will have the biggest selection of titles in the world but is that worth $5 billion?
It also gets them the Epix streaming service, so they can kill off one very minor competitor. Epix halo property is Pennyworth, which is based on a character owned by DC. Definitely, not worth the money there.
Let’s look at the franchises. Rocky, Fargo, Stargate, The Pink Panther, Legally Blonde and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Of those six IPs only, Handmaid is still active. And there has to be a question mark over that one. Its primary audience consisted of women (and men who identify as women) that were convinced that Trump was going to forcibly impregnate black lesbians against their will as well as men who identify as women… I think? Look, I’m only going off of the lead actress’ jawline here, I never really watched it. But one thing is for sure, no Trump means, no audience for this show, it will be dead in a year.
Of the dormant franchises, the only one with any real potential is Stargate. The problem with that is political. Stargate’s core audience has always leaned Right. Not by much but it was right of center. The one time they leaned Left was Stargate Universe and that was the show that sank the SG IP. There is no way in hell the Disney of 2021 can make vaguely Right-wing anything. It cannot be done. Any Stargate they make will be Woke garbage worse than the Last Jedi.
That does leave the one franchise I forgot to mention.
Disney would indeed own the movie rights to the most toxically masculine character in movie history.
And what on Earth could Woke AF Disney do with 007.
When I typed “Current James Bond” into google, this is (I shit you not) the first picture that popped up.
Well now that I think about it, the 007 code number has already been given to diverse woman of color, who Womansplains to Bond that he better stay out of her way or he’d regret it!
The rights to James Bond are definitely nowhere near $5 billion. Not now anyway, not after Daniel Craig gets done with him. The character needs to be recast and does anyone on Earth think that it won’t be the usual Woke stunt casting?
Anyway, that is the rumor. That Disney is once again paying top dollar for a bunch of dead franchises that would take years to get into production. I find this entirely credible.
Next rumor:
Come this Friday we will know if the other rumor from Disney is true or not. That Magento is going to be on WandaVision.
There have been authorized demi-leeks that have claimed a character will be entering the story and this one will be as big as the “return of Luke.” It won’t, but I admit to being curious as to which Magneto they go with.
It would make sense in terms of the story arc as it is developing. Wanda is trying to put her family back together, first Vision, then the twins, her brother (from another universe), and finally her father. In the comics, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were originally fathered by the Whizzer. When that name got too stupid to be used anymore, parentage was switched over to Magneto and there it stayed for a long time. Long enough to remain head-canon for those who care.
In some iterations of the comics, Wanda Maximoff is a being who is the same person in every universe. Consequently, it’s not that out of the box for the Scarlet Witch to be able to pluck a replacement Quicksilver out of another universe. *. This also serves as an ice breaker to the multiverse, which Marvel has openly committed to with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse Madness.
So why not a father as well. One who is not the Whizzer, (no one could keep a straight face if they went that route).
It does leave the question of which Magneto?
Michael Fassbender is forty-three and Elizabeth Olsen is thirty-one. I suppose the math works but it’s ultra-cringe. However, it wouldn’t be too hard to pile ten years on any character that Fassbender is playing at this point in his life. Dye his hair gray at the temples and draw in a few wrinkles and yes, you could buy Erik leaving a couple of bundles of joy in his wake as he is banging his way across post-Soviet Eastern Europe. And it gives Marvel a Magneto who is good for at least fifteen more years at about the same age.
However, both Fasbender and Ian McKellen are known to have been approached by Disney to reprise the role. McKellen is eighty-one. Which means that Magneto would have been in his early fifties during the launch window. A little late in life but hardly unheard of.
If this rumor is true, then it depends on which Magneto Disney wants. McKellen has a longer association with the character as well as having been in much better X-Men movies. Kevin Feige worked with him back when Feige was working on the first X-Men movies. Sir Ian also brings prestige to the part being both gay and a knight. However, he is eighty-one. How long will they have him?
Fassbender doesn’t have the age problem but he is associated with the X-Men films that were released during that franchise’s decline. Does Disney really want their Marvel strongly linked with those?
Regardless, I suspect that Disney will attempt both. Starting with McKellen and then somehow swaping him out for Fassbender.
Or there may be nothing to these rumors at all. They are after all rumors. Take them with a grain of salt.
Okay, I’m done here.
* Although, I can think of one universe that would make her reunion with Quicksilver really, really awkward.
