Disney Reportedly Placing Classic Fox Movies into its Vault

Disney acquired 20th Century Fox back in March of this year. And while it seems smooth-sailing so far, theaters are having difficulties in screening classic Fox films since the acquisition.

Vulture reports that one of their programmers attempted to acquire rights to screen Fox films for their 24-Hour Science Fiction and Horror Marathons, which takes place every spring and fall at the Drexel Theater. Joe Neff, the marathon's director, wanted to screen two classic Fox films; the original version of The Omen as well as the remake of The Fly (1986). However, after Disney acquired Fox, Neff's requests to screen the said movies were denied.

The outlet says Neff was told that the Fox booking contact offered a "very brief apology" because they could no longer book "repertory titles with the theater."

The report also mentioned that Neff has heard rumors about Disney making older Fox titles unavailable to for-profit theaters. Some programmers and theater managers also got calls about their existing bookings which have been "revoked." As more and more people get denied for screening requests, he realized that the rumors could be true. Which may ultimately result in theater managers like him, to be required to not screen Fox films at all.

Disney is yet to make a statement about the quiet placing of classic Fox films back to their vault. However, one possible reason why the company is doing this is because of its streaming service, Disney+, which is set to launch a month from now. The audience will no longer need screening rights to watch their favorite classic films because they could access it through their streaming service.

With that said, there's no telling of why Disney is denying screening rights to theaters. For now, we could only wait for further announcements from the company to confirm the outlet's claims.

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