According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first casualty of the $71.3 billion merger between Fox and Disney will be the Fox 2000 label run by Elizabeth Gabler.
This move comes as a surprise, since the mid-budget division had scored numerous critical and box office successes, among them: The Devil Wears Prada, Walk the Line, Life of Pi, and Hidden Figures. Created 20 years ago, Fox 2000 had carved out a niche of making movies with crossover appeal to both men and women. But according to THR, Disney executives saw the label as being redundant and having too much overlap with other studios in the new corporate family, like Fox Searchlight Pictures.
The Fox-Disney merger was only formally completed on Wednesday. But prior to the official takeover, Disney had announced it was looking to rim $2 billion from its film production staff budget by 2021. Though many in Gabler’s team have already been laid off, it’s not clear what will happen with Gabler and whether she will find another home in the new Disney family.
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