Forget about all of the potential anti-trust issues that are involved. Let’s gloss over the fact that one of the biggest film studios may be swallowed up by one of the biggest conglomerates on the planet. No need to discuss at length the potential homogenization of mainstream filmmaking. For now, let’s just play in fantasyland.
According to CNBC, 21st Century FOX has held discussions about selling the majority of the company to Walt Disney Co. Any such sale would not include Fox’s news and sports divisions, though important film and TV assets would be part of the deal. If this deal were somehow to go through—far from a sure thing at this early juncture—there would be far-reaching implications for the entertainment world, not all of them good (that’s a post for another time). For now, let’s just dream up three crossovers that would be fun to see now that a slew of Hollywood’s biggest franchises could end up under one roof.
Guardians of the Galaxy meet Avatar
The Guardians of the Galaxy characters will pop up in the next two Avengers movies. Unlike Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, the Guardians franchise will also have one more solo entry, Vol. 3, post-Avengers that will apparently set up the next “10, 20 years of Marvel movies,” according to writer/director James Gunn. Why not have some (extra) fun with it and send this lovable band of losers to Pandora? Continuity be damned!
It’s not like the 2009 Avatar effectively set up the four planned sequels that will cost Fox a whopping $1 billion. Really, aside from the eye-popping visuals that helped solidify 3D, did anyone really like the movie? Even if you did, are you seriously all in on four more? We love Carvel ice cream, but we’re not prepared to gorge ourselves on it anytime soon.
Rather than another flimsy CGI fest or a disappointing Guardians sequel, We’d much rather see Peter Quill try his hand at seducing a member of the Na’vi while Drax hilariously misunderstands their cultural customs.
X-Men vs. Avengers
The main X-Men franchise has begun to grow stale with last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse underwhelming and the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix not yet drumming up a ton of excitement. It’s time for some new blood.
On one hand, Disney would never have the stones to make a hard R-rated action comedy like Deadpool, a hard R-rated violent neo-Western like Logan or a straight up horror film like the upcoming The New Mutants. But on the other hand, we want to see the Incredible Hulk fight Wolverine. Right now. We don’t care what it takes to get Hugh Jackman back. Just start backing up truckloads of money to his front door in Australia ASAP.
Animated Fantastic Four
The campy mid-2000s Fantastic Four movies did not work. The dark and gritty rebooted Fantastic Four 2015 movie did not work. So why not embrace the inherent goofiness of this superhero title—one guy stretches! One guy is a rock!—while maintaining its emotional core?
Pixar nails that balance between kid friendly adventure and eye-watering themes and would be a good fit for the tough-to-nail-down Fantastic Four. If Warner Bros. can make a killing turning all of its major properties into big screen LEGOs, why can’t Disney/Fox?
