We already know that Disney is intent on turning almost its entire animated back catalogue into live-action or CGI-hybrid movies, especially since it has seen them turn into a mini goldmine. So no one should be all that surprised to learn that it has its sights on classic movies from the 20th Century Fox for a refresh via the incoming Disney+ service. Among the titles under consideration? Home Alone, Night At The Museum and Cheaper By The Dozen.
Announced by Mouse House CEO Bob Iger at an earnings call for shareholders, the idea is to turn the likes of those properties and the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid adaptation rights into... something for the streaming service. Quite what form the new versions will take remains to be seen, but we can likely expect a blend of movies and TV shows. As part of the Disney/Fox merger, Disney+ will also release some original Fox movies.
Iger also confirmed what we already knew – that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and his team will now oversee all the characters once held by Fox, including the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
The company is also planning drastic changes to the Fox film development schedule, shutting down a swathe of projects in the works and taking it in a new direction. James Cameron's work on the Avatar sequels is, naturally, not impacted and Iger mentioned that there will be more Planet Of The Apes films, though nothing has been announced about that as of yet.