Did you remember 2017 when it was announced that 21st Century Fox would be acquired by Disney. The acquisition was completed in 2019. With it, Disney effectively increased its rights over many other fictional characters mainly from the Marvel Universe. But that’s not all. This is because Disney also has the rights to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball . However, this is a very small part of the deal. We will provide all details on this topic in this article.
All assets that Fox had previously owned were acquired by Disney in 2019 when the Disney-Fox merger. Disney acquired the rights to a portion of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Franchise – Dragon Ball Z. However, this was only for making and distributing live action movies. All other rights are still held by Toriyama’s Japanese publishers.
We will discuss both the business and artistic sides of the transaction in the rest of the article. We will tell you about the acquisition and explain how it happened. This acquisition will also impact Dragon Ball.
Is Disney buying the rights to Dragon Ball?
The Walt Disney Company announced in December 2017 that it would purchase the majority of assets of 21st Century Fox. The transaction was completed March 20, 2019, with 21st Century Fox’s dissolution and the acquisition of assets by Disney. Fox Corporation was created. There were also several sales to other companies in order to secure the approval of various international anticompetitive boards.
Disney has paid 71.3 billion USD to complete the transaction. This amount must be subtracted from any constrained sales. Disney purchased the majority of its assets, including 20th Century Fox and FX, Fox Networks Group, 73% stake at National Geographic Partners, Star India, and 30% of Hulu.
Fox Corporation comprises Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Television Stations. Fox News Channel, Fox Business Networks, Fox Deportes and Fox News Channel are all part of Fox Corporation. Sky to Comcast and Fox Sports Net to Sinclair Broadcast Group were the main assets that were sold.
This was a major industry event several years ago. As we all know, Disney has finally acquired the rights to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and other major projects such as The Simpsons. This merger also had something to offer anime fans, which most people didn’t know about but could prove to be very important.
Specifically, Fox owned at the time the merger the rights to the original live action Dragon Ball movie as well as the rights for the production and distribution of live-action Dragon Ball movies. Fox was not allowed to produce or distribute anime. Disney bought all assets of Fox and the Mouse’s company obtained rights to live-action production of and distribution of Dragon Ballmovies.
This could be a great thing for the franchise’s future, as Disney may decide to concentrate on Toriyama’s series. But there’s a catch. The reason is that the first live-action Dragon Ball movie was a huge failure. Akira Toriyama felt that fans needed to be reprimanded. He decided to make a feature-length animated movie about the series.
Let’s now talk about the future of this franchise.
Disney to make new Dragon Ball films?
Disney has not released any information regarding the future of the Dragon Ball franchise beyond its rights. As we explained, Disney only has limited access to Toriyama’s franchise so they can’t do much other than produce live-action movies. But are they going?
This rumor was first reported on Instagram by ultraraw26. His insights suggest that Disney plans to launch a live action Dragon Ball cinematic universe, which would, it seems, follow Goku’s life from childhood through adulthood. Many speculate that Toriyama would be open to the idea, but after the disappointing first Dragon Ball live action film, we aren’t sure. He may, but it is not likely. It’s also important to note that anime series rarely work well in live-action format. Dragon Ball, for example, is one of those iconic franchises that needs either a proper treatment or none at all.
We aren’t sure that Disney will have the same success with the MCU. Dragon Ball has its own world, similar to Tolkien’s Middle Earth. However, it is in a different format. It’s much more rigid than Marvel comics, and there is very little space for experimentation and novelties. This is something Disney loves to do (though not always in the most creative way). There’s also the possibility of censorship which can severely limit many ideas.
It is not clear what the future holds for Disney’s Dragon Ball franchise. It is unknown at the moment if they will revive the live action franchise. But if they do, it’s going to be a difficult job. We don’t think a live-action Disney Dragon Ball film would be a good idea at this time or any other.
