10 Things Disney Could Do Now They Own Fox

4. Win Best Picture For The First Time

Even though Walt Disney himself holds the record for most Academy Award wins in history, picking up no less than twenty-six of the iconic gold statues, and the Best Animated Feature category is basically theirs to lose (only one of the last eleven has been won by a non Disney/Pixar movie, when neither company was even in the running), the House That Walt Built has never won the big one.

In fact, they've only ever been nominated three times; for Beauty and the Beast in 1991, Up in 2009 and Toy Story 3 in 2010. Their business associates have fared better; Touchstone Pictures have scored six Best Picture nominations, while Miramax fared much better during their affiliation with the Mouse House between 1993 and 2010, winning Best Picture with The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago and No Country for Old Men.

While it would be unrealistic to expect one of Disney's family-friendly blockbusters to trouble the established order of biopics and prestige dramas, the acquisition of Fox Searchlight could be an incredibly shrewd move should they choose to keep the production company running following the takeover.

Searchlight have produced no fewer than sixteen Best Picture nominees in the last 20 years, and have even won four out of the last ten thanks to Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman and The Shape of Water. Disney have faced plenty of criticism for refusing to take risks when it comes to their output, but by rebranding Fox Searchlight and continuing to let the division take risks on more adult-orientated content the studio could feasibly clean up at the Academy Awards for years to come.