Two of the most famous brands in entertainment, Fox and Disney are splitting away from Century City.
Walt Disney Co. Rupert Murdoch 2019 21st Century Fox Entertainment Assets. The $71.3 billion deal does not include Studio Real Estate. However, it features Disney will move in as a tenant for at least seven years.
Disney’s space lease on the Pico Boulevard property in Los Angeles will expire next March.
Disney insiders said the company did not plan to leave the lease by the end of the year, but rather by the end of the year.
The move puts pressure on owner Fox Corp. to find new tenants for movies and TV shows to represent generations. Famous movies brought there include “The Miracle on 34th Street”, “Seven Years Itch” and “The Voice of Music”. It’s also the room for Fox Sports, the Fox Broadcasting Network and the writer’s “The Simpsons”.
According to regulatory filings, Fox receives $50 million in leased space each year.
Disney is the biggest tenant, but Fox executives say they are optimistic about finding new occupants.
“Fox lots are second to none in terms of location, advanced production and post-production facilities,” Fox said in a statement Tuesday.
Since the deal, Disney has gradually lost its fox DNA. In 2020, Disney retired the Fox brand from the logos and assets it received from Fox to minimize chaos with part of the Murdoch empire, including Fox News.
Dozens of TV studios and FX Network executives have been in their long-term offices since the acquisition — a welcome treatment for someone living in the West Side of Los Angeles that allows them to keep their commutes shorter.
Building 103 in the southeast corner of Fox has been a Disney outpost for the past six years.
However, Disney has taken steps to move the team to Burbank over the past year, with Disney owning its own historic studio and an adjoining complex that can accommodate both ABC and Disney animation.
Disney’s goal is to bring together a creative hub for its TV group that includes executives who remain in the Fox lot, who, according to knowledgeable people, have no right to comment.
The company declined to comment on the plans for Disney-owned TV shows, which remained on the Fox lot, including the dramas “9-1-1” and “9-1-1: The Lone Star”, produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear.
The early outline of the Disney-Fox deal (orchestrated by Disney CEOs Bob Iger and Murdoch) sees Century City Courtyard as one of the assets sold to Disney.
But Murdoch’s eldest son Lachlan, who served as CEO of Fox, insists that his company sticks to the major real estate that Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe and Mel Brooks once worked. (Studio founder William Fox bought 99 acres between Santa Monica Boulevard and Pico Boulevard. 101 years ago. Fox sold most of its building blocks after a financial beating in the 1963 film OPATRA, which now constitutes a large area of the century.)
Lachlan Murdoch’s office is in the Art Deco executive building, and he sees the Fox Lot as part of his company’s beating. He also recognizes the value of soundstage and auxiliary production facilities that are in high demand during the production process to support the launch of multiple streaming services.
However, Los Angeles’ production has not recovered from the strikes of 2023 writers and actors, and many buds have been drawn to other states and countries with generous tax benefits.
The change is because Fox has been seeking city approval $1.5 billion expansion of its Century City locationa project envisions adding more than 2 million square feet of new building space, including multiple new scales, post-production facilities and a new office building that is in front of Starry Avenue.
As part of the reconstruction, four historic bungalows near the center of the lot were moved to another location closer to the Olympic Boulevard.
Disney’s departure will not undermine Fox’s ambitious urban expansion plans, an executive who spoke publicly without authorization said. The Fox project is in the initial approval phase for the city.
Disney has snapped up some valuable franchises through Fox’s acquisition, including “Avatar”, “Alien” and Marvel’s “X-Men” and “Deadpool.” Disney also gained control of the river service Hulu, which maintains its base in Santa Monica.
Still, some analysts and investors say Disney’s huge payments to these properties put the Burbank Entertainment Behemoth at a disadvantage during the 2020 Covid-19-1920 pandemic.
That spring, after Disney’s theme parks closed, Disney took on additional debts, cinemas closed, and sports leagues called Time Out.
Disney has been cutting costs over the past few years.
