Emma Watts Will Oversee Fox Productions After Disney Merger
With the Disney-Fox merger looming, Disney are taking steps to figure out who will run the Fox subdivision of films after the takeover is complete. The answer looks to be Emma Watts, who is currently 20th Century Fox’s Vice Chairman is expected to oversee the company’s output post-merger instead of her boss Stacey Snider.
Sources talking to The Hollywood Reporter have revealed that Disney are eyeing Watts for this crucial role, with Watts being preferred over Snider due to the fact that Snider has a similar role to Disney’s Alan Horn in the existing totem pole. Horn isn’t going anywhere for a while, so Watts is a better fit to report to him. (Snider is rumored to be preparing to start her own production venture.) Watts will serve a similar role to Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy (who has just renewed her contract with Disney), Marvel’s Kevin Feige, and Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar’s Edwin Catmull and Jenniffer Lee. It should be noted that Feige is expected to take over all Marvel properties that were licensed to Fox, which include existing IP like Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Deadpool, but also unused potential franchises like Silver Surfer, Starjammers, and Alpha Flight. That being said, with franchises to manage like Alien, Predator, Avatar, Planet of the Apes, Ice Age, Die Hard, Kingsman, Hercule Poirot, and plenty of others alongside several original projects, Watts will have her hands full as it is.
Watts is expected, first and foremost, to oversee the completion of the majority of 20th Century Fox’s films that are already in development before Disney greenlights new ones. (Once the merger is complete, Disney will handle scheduling of future Fox movies so that they don’t conflict with Disney’s release schedule.) Her role may possibly cover the company’s other labels like Fox 2000 and Fox Searchlight, but this depends entirely upon how Disney handles that part of the merger. Disney CEO Bob Iger explicitly stated that the latter company definitely has a future, given its status as a studio for prestige films, which will give Disney an edge in the awards circuit. Watts has been working at Fox for over 20 years, and as such, seems like an ideal person to manage the company going forward, given her successes with launching an IP like Deadpool and revitalizing Planet of the Apes, not to mention standalone success stories like The Martian and The Greatest Showman.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
