All The Fox Film Franchises Disney Now Owns

It speaks volumes that, when reports of the Disney/Fox deal first broke, all the emphasis was on the Marvel angle - with almost no mention of the fact that it incorporates the rights to the biggest box office hit of all time, and its ensuing sequels.

While Disney has had its finger in the Avatar pie for a while, what with their Pandora theme park in Orlando, Florida, there have been questions asked about just how enduring Avatar will really prove as a franchise. Director James Cameron, currently at work on the first of four proposed sequels, recently admitted that if the second and third Avatar movies don't do as well as hoped, it's likely the last two won't happen.

Even so, the director stresses that, even prior to purchasing Fox, Disney have "a bigger investment in Avatar... in terms of spent money," so they probably won't be in a hurry to put the series to bed.

While Avatar set the world on fire on its 2009 release (to the tune of $2.78 billion, lest we forget), interest in the property would seem to have waned somewhat since. Still, James Cameron movies have an uncanny habit of proving their naysayers wrong, at least in commercial terms, so best not to rule out that five-film series just yet.