What Does the Disney Purchase of Fox Mean for BOOM! Studios?

from ComicBook.com/comics/2017/12/14/disney-fox-boom-studios

by Christian Hoffer – December 14, 2017

Marvel Comics isn’t the only company potentially affected by Disney‘s planned purchase of much of 20th Century Fox‘s assets.

Earlier today, Disney announced that it planned to buy a portfolio of 20th Century Fox’s assets, including its TV and movie studios, portfolio of IPs and movies, and several cable networks. The move positions Disney to compete with Netflix on a planned content streaming service and widely expands Disney’s portfolio of properties.

While a large part of the comic book universe focused on Disney purchasing back the movie rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, many forgot that Fox also had a share in another comic book company: BOOM! Studios.

BOOM! already had a first look deal with Fox’s movie and television studios, and Fox acquired a “significant minority stake” in BOOM! Studios earlier this year. The purchase gave BOOM! additional capital to greenlight more series and deepen its distribution channels, while helping Fox secure additional IPs for future projects. It’s notable that BOOM! co-owns the rights with its comics with creators, which differs from most other comic book publishers.

Fox has a number of BOOM! related projects already in various stages of development, including Lumberjanes, Goldie Vance, Snow Blind, The Empty Man, and Mouse Guard.

When asked if BOOM! would be affected by the Fox/Disney deal, VP of marketing Arune Singh responded “While we don’t have any information beyond what has already been reported in the press, we are excited for the new opportunities that this partnership provides for our friends at Fox. Both Fox and Disney are world class organizations with exceptional teams, so we look forward to their success in the future.”

“In regards to BOOM! Studios, there will be no immediate changes to how we operate day-to-day. Fox is a valued partner but they are also a minority shareholder, meaning we will continue to operate independently and pursue the same opportunities that have made BOOM! Studios such a success for over twelve years.”

The Fox/Disney deal will take a year or longer to finalize, so we likely won’t see any changes in the near future. If anything, the Disney/Fox merger could present additional opportunities for BOOM’s publishing division. Disney does license some of its kids’ comic properties to publishers like IDW Publishing, and BOOM! has a successful kid’s imprint in kaBOOM!. While we likely won’t see any changes in the immediate future, Disney could be tempted to move those licenses over to BOOM!, which previously published Disney comics like The Muppets  and Darkwing Duck.