r/AlternateMediaHistory

Here's my look at a timeline where 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Studios), who distributed DWA's films from 2013 to 2017, had bought DreamWorks Animation in 2016 instead of NBCUniversal, and the potential changes in it to our timeline:

1. Larrikins wouldn't have been cancelled, and would still be released in 2018.

2. Both AwesomenessTV and Oriental DreamWorks would still be sold off.

3. Disney would still buy 21st Century Fox in 2019, and would still shut down Blue Sky Studios in April 2021, but this time merging it with DreamWorks Animation. DreamWorks could've finished and released Nimona, or it could've still been sold off to Netflix.

4. The DreamWorks Animation TV shows made for Netflix (i.e. Voltron: Legendary Defender, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts) or other services would move to Disney+ and/or Hulu once DreamWorks' contracts with them expire, and the TV shows made for Peacock would instead be made for Disney+ and/or Hulu.

5. The movie adaptations of Spirit Untamed, Gabby's Dollhouse and Cocomelon, as well as the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon (and its upcoming sequel), would not have been made, or at least in be straight-to-streaming films in both Spirit and Gabby's cases.

6. Orion and the Dark would have a theatrical release instead of being straight-to-streaming.

What do you guys think?

Let's imagine that in this reality, Mark Ruffalo had played the Hulk in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk," instead of Edward Nurton. If that had happened, the universe would have been coherent, and there wouldn't have been the script conflicts that occurred between Edward, who later left without expressing any desire to play the Hulk again, while Mark would have easily followed Marvel's vision. Furthermore, in my universe, when ViacomCBS bought Marvel in 2009, Paramount signed distribution deals with other studios to share the profits. This way, instead of being relegated to a supporting role, the Hulk is a major character in his own film and other installments, thanks to Universal distribution.

We all know how the CBS/Viacom split and re-merger went.... 

• Viacom failed, CBS thrived 
• They both ended up worse than before in 2019 
• Then was sold to the infamous Skydance label, who is trying to buy another studio.......

 

But if the split was done a little differently.... then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t have been stuck like this.... 

Today I will be seeing the AU where CBS kept Paramount Pictures to see what the definitively better timeline is 

Let’s Begin. 

CBS Corp 

• They keep Paramount Pictures, which makes more films due to not absorbing DreamWorks (including the CBS Films catalog), Nickelodeon movie rights are sold back to New Viacom to avoid a Star Trek level rights dispute again. The Paramount Parks are also retained as they have the studio for it, with a licensing deal with Viacom. 
• DiC Entertainment is acquired by Paramount Pictures as its TV family animation arm to replace Nick and to expand its KEWlopolis deal (which when it shuts down sees DiC become a 3^(rd) party supplier of content for Nick, Disney, CN, and The Hub). DiC also helps with the launch of Paramount Animation in 2011 instead of DWA. 
• In 2009, as CBS is financially stable unlike Viacom when asked to buy them, buys Marvel Entertainment and sees CBS stock grow like Disney’s did when the MCU caught on. Paramount allows UNiversal to release Hulk content. 
• CBS-All Access is a much bigger service than before. 
• In 2014, Lionsgate would set CBS-Paramount as its international distribution partner for English speaking territories instead of Vice-versa like in our timeline. 
• In 2016, Spider-Man still enters the MCU, untouched. 
• In 2016, at Sega weakest point, is acquired by CBS. Finished in 2017, makes them one of the biggest gaming companies ever. 
• IN 2018, due to replacing everything Viacom gave them, no longer merges with them, instead selling to Verizon 
• Under Verizon, CBS-All Access buys Starz (and places it under Showtime Networks), which means they get both Sony and Lionsgate pay-1 deals (And is willing to renew Sony Pictures) 
• CBS-All Access becomes Paramount+; however, CBS Corp keeps its name. Paramount+ doesn’t force Marvel to make TV Shows focus on the other studios at the company like DiC to produce content for it. 
• Due to not owning the X-Men, doesn’t create the disastrous multiverse saga to try to merge them into it. 
• Simon and Schuster and Marvel merge into one company 
• Thanks to the various smart acquisitions, CBS is too big for Skydance to even CONSIDER buying them. 
• Paramount is actually profitable for once. 
• Verizon would likely spin off CBS in 2026-2027 to better get with Comcast. 
• By the end... CBS becomes one of the biggest media companies in the world.

 

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Viacom 

• To replace Paramount Viacom buys DreamWorks, which also makes more films without Paramount. 
• Spielberg stays at the company as they aren’t fighting with Paramount for attention. DreamWorks Television handles all non-cable Television. 
• DreamWorks expands distribution to the UK, Oceania, and Canada. With Universal Pictures handling International Distribution and DVD Rights. 
• DreamWorks retains rights to its entire library. 
• DreamWorks releases theatrical content from Nick, MTV, and BET. 
• DreamWorks Animation is reacquired in 2010; Nickelodeon Movies is folded into DWA (although Nick Productions still collabs on film adaptations) and sees DreamWorks Pictures take the 2010 DreamWorks Animation logo (and later the 2019 one) 
• Classic Media is a division of Nickelodeon starting in 2012. 
• Amblin Entertainment becomes a division of DreamWorks in 2015 but will still collab with other studios. Amblin Television is shutdown 
• Katzenburg keeps running DWA post-2016. 
• Awesomeness TV takes over TeenNick (which also rebrands into Awesomeness) in 2014. 
• Spike TV becomes the DreamWorks Network instead, but other than that remains the same. 
• National Amusements in 2019, following the sale of CBS Corp, merges into Viacom as its theatre arm. Viacom goes private to fix itself for the time being.  
• Pluto TV is still acquired to give them some digital assets but instead retains a major licensing deal with Hulu. 
• Skydance successfully buys Viacom in 2025, merging MTV, Nick, and BET Studios into one giant DreamWorks Television. Skydance Games becomes DreamWorks Game Studio. Due to the Hulu licensing deal cannot place its content into a new streamer, so David focuses on his OWN company instead of buying another studio immediately (or buying a stake in Hulu). Viacom keeps DreamWorks and Skydance separate to avoid losing major talent (although select distribution is shared).

 

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Effects on Other Companies: 

• Hasbro

 

Has to share Transformers with 2 studios still. 

• Universal

 

Revamps Universal Animation Studios to make more Kids/adult animated shows (Which replaces DWATV in this AU) for Hulu, other networks, and preschool shows for Sprout, and acquires more animated films from other studios (Reel FX, DNEG, for example). Buys the Hulu stakes from other studios. 

• Disney

 

Due to losing Marvel, no longer has the energy to buy Lucasfilm (Which goes to Fox). Bob Iger still foolishly shuts down Touchstone (much earlier due to no DreamWorks deal), so instead buys Warner Bros. after AT&T is blocked (One major studio would likely still be sold sadly). CW, CNN, and the Turner Sports package are spun off as one CW network group (Potentially sold to AT&T and later maybe Viacom in 2026). New Line Cinema is shut down, but WB still makes 8-10 theatrical films (Due to not being a multi-label studio anymore). Warner Animation Group also survives due to outsourcing animation being cheaper to retain (and is mainly franchise focused (but collabs with Pixar on select projects). Disney Television Animation is kept separate from WB Animation (Which absorbs Williams Street & CN Studios though). Discovery is acquired by Disney through A&E in 2022. ABC Studios is folded into Warner Bros. Televsion. A&E is sold in 2026 successfully. HBO/HBO Max replaces Disney+ in this AU. Warner Bros. Games moves to Disney Experiences (And back to WB in 2026) 

Warner Bros. absorbs all of Disney Entertainment into it's structure.

• 21st Century Fox (Rebranded Fox Corp in 2019)

 

Fox successfully buys Lucasfilm in 2012. A better Star Wars sequel trilogy releases along with Indiana Jones 5 coming out sooner. FoxNext/LucasArts merges to form Fox Games Group and remains a major game player. Lucasfilm Animation rebrands to be the secondary animation studio of Fox as the film arm of Industrial Light & Magic. Fox retains its Locksmith Animation deal from 2017 and keeps Blue Sky alive post-2017. Fox Television Animation returns to family shows with The Clone Wars and Star Wars Detours helping. In 2019, due to being a bigger studio doesn’t split from Fox (New Fox Entertainment never exists, instead 20^(th) make the content for Fox still). Meaning 20th benefits from Fox’s AVOD growth, selling Hulu to NBCU and buying Tubi (Fox's Pay-1 window service), Bento Box (And the Gumby franchise), Marvista, TMZ, and maybe Roku. Fox 2000 never shuts down (Which means 3000 Pictures never exists) and is instead repositioned to make Tubi/streaming content and select theatricals (absorbing Zero-Day Fox) 

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• Wildbrain

 

Same but minus the DiC library (Or is acquired by CBS/DiC itself) 

• SDS

 

The DVD JV is between Universal and Fox instead. 

• Sony Pictures-

 

Buys Paws Inc. and Rovio instead. But still produces the Garfield show with Nick. 

• Miramax-

 

Sold to Lionsgate instead (beIN gets a stake in the combined studio). Miramax Animation (2019 version) becomes Lionsgate Family. With Spyglass, this unites the 2 Weinstein studios once more.  

• Lionsgate-

 

Sells Starz in 2019 to CBS as said before; Lionsgate then waits for a buyer. And waits...... 

But overall, it just comes to show that one asset can create a butterfly effect for literally everything else. Making the industry look different with one move. 

But what do you think? 

• Did I exaggerate? 
• Do you see this ending worse than our AU? 
• Have any other AU M&A ideas?

 

Yes, I'm more than aware this is very unlikely to have happened given there would most likely be endless scrutiny and possible antitrust laws abound (especially given Disney had already bought Fox in 2019), but let's say Disney bought both WarnerMedia and MGM Holdings in 2022 instead of Discovery Inc. and Amazon respectively in a three-way merger (if such a thing would be accepted in the film industry), how differently do you things would have been with Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer under Disney?

Here are some things that possibly could've happened:

1. Disney would sell off CNN.

2. MGM would be reunited with its pre-1986 library, since it was owned by Warner Bros. under Turner Entertainment.

3. MGM would still obtain the full rights to James Bond from Eon Productions, maybe even earlier than 2025.

4. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures would be rebranded to United Artists Studios (or United Artists Studios Motion Pictures).

5. DC Studios would operate as a separate studio from Warner Bros. under Disney (much like how Marvel Studios acts separate under Disney), with James Gunn still being made in charge.

6. The DC Extended Universe would likely still be rebooted into the DC Universe.

7. Crossovers between Marvel and DC would likely happen, if later rather than sooner.

8. Disney would've formed the division "Disney Animation Circle", which would operate Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and Warner Animation Group.

9. HBO Max and Epix would merge with Disney+ and Hulu.

10. Disney and Warner Bros. would've promoted each other's 100th anniversaries in 2023.

The studio structure would be: Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Marvel Studios, DC Studios, Lucasfilm, Searchlight Pictures, New Line Cinema, Orion Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Warner Animation Group, Disney Television Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, 20th Animation, and Disneynature.

What do you think? Please try and be civil though.

This is a major change for Disney, specifically the transition to New Waltograph. This font was first introduced in 2006 in the new Walt Disney Pictures logo. As a result, Josh D'Amaro decided to rebrand to align with the other networks and studios. And here's the announcement of Disney's transition to New Waltograph, which has become Disney's primary font.