In the first bit of fallout from the industry-altering $71.3 billion Fox/Disney deal, which finally became official yesterday, Disney will retire the Fox 2000 film label. The news comes as something of a surprise considering Disney previously indicated that Fox 2000 head Elizabeth Gabler would continue on after the transition, and while it remains unclear what waits for Gabler and her team since they have not officially been given pink slips, the Fox 2000 label is at an end.
The news comes from Variety, who reports that Disney remains committed to completing the Fox 2000 films currently in production including The Art of Racing in the Rain starring Kevin Costner and the thriller The Woman in the Window starring Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.
Fox 2000 and Gabler earned a strong reputation for mid-budget literary adaptations, including hits like The Devil Wears Prada and The Fault in Our Stars, as well as recent successes like Love, Simon, Hidden Figures, and The Hate U Give.
Gabler also lined up a number of exciting projects ahead of the acquisition, including League of Wives with Reese Witherspoon, Rick Famuywa’s Children of Blood and Bone, an adaptation of the new novel from The Hate U Give author Angie Thomas, and the Civil War drama News of the World with Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks.
The other major cuts of the day come on the executive side, where senior Fox staffers including President of domestic distribution Chris Aronson, international distribution chief Andrew Cripps, president of worldwide marketing Pam Levine, chief content officer Tony Sella, and Twentieth Television president Greg Meidel, who received their notice today.
No doubt, this is just the start of what is likely to be a fairly painful transition period that could result in an estimated 4,000 jobs lost, particularly in now-redundant company arms like marketing and distribution.