What if Time Warner accepted 21st Century Fox's bid in 2014? (2024)

In June 2014, 21st Century Fox made a bid to acquire Time Warner, which had similarly spun off its publishing assets, for $80 billion in a cash and stock deal. The deal, which was rejected by Time Warner's board of directors in July 2014, would have also involved the sale of CNN to ease antitrust issues. On August 5, 2014, 21st Century Fox announced it had withdrawn its bid for Time Warner. The company's stock had fallen sharply since the bid was announced, prompting directors to announce 21st Century Fox would buy back $6 billion of its shares over the following 12 months. but What if Time Warner accepted 21st Century Fox's bid in 2014?

Here's what might have happened.

Changes[]

• Sprig Plantar first appeared in the Sprig Plantar fanmade Warner Bros cartoon from 1927 and he would be the mascots for those 2 fanmade logos called, Warner Bros. Animation Studios and Warner Bros. Family Animation Entertainment.
• MGM would be owned by WB because MGM would co-produce Tom & Jerry (2021 Movie).
• Hanna-Barbera would still remain and produce Jellystone (2021 TV Show) instead of Warner Bros. Animation.
  • Lacey Productions would still be co-owned by Hanna-Barbera with Bohbot Entertainment and Saban Entertainment after 2001.
  • Hanna-Barbera would co-own MGM's pre-1986 cartoon library with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 1997.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (2016) would still produce new episodes after 2019.
    • Remove twerking moments.
    • Lacey, Katie, Cherry Blossom, Paige, Nicole, Aldrine and other LaceyPowerPuffGirl and AldrineRowdyruffBoy's OCs would actually be canon to The Powerpuff Girls.
    • Zane would be Blossom's boyfriend instead of Jared.
    • Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup would join Hanna-Barbera's mascot roster since 1998.
    • After the success of The Powerpuff Girls (2016-present), Dexter's Laboratory gets a revival in 2017 called Dexter's Laboratory '03.
      • The intro for it would be the same as the season 2-4 intro except it's reanimated in HD and Widescreen.
• Family Guy would still remain on air on Adult Swim.
• The upcoming Batgirl movie would never be cancelled, this movie should be released in theaters on March 17, 2023 and Ben Affleck would be Batman instead of Michael Keaton in the upcoming Batgirl movie.
• Scoob: Holiday Haunt would also never be cancelled, this movie should be released direct-to-video on DVD and Blu Ray on December 13, 2022.
• Fox would be owned by WB and it would keep the fox label on the 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures logos because Fox and WB would make a deal to make the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. and Fox Television Studios would still remain.
• Lucasfilm would be also owned by WB for the Star Wars franchise and the Indiana Jones franchise because Lucasfilm would team up with Fox and WB to make Star Wars Episode 7, 8, and 9 as part of the Sequel Trilogy and Lucasfilm would also team up with WB and Paramount to make Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
• Tim Burton would be directing Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. and Batman Triumphant would never be cancelled, this movie would be released in 1999 and Tim Burton would direct this movie.
• Superman Lives would never be cancelled, this movie would be released in 1998 and Tim Burton would direct this movie as well.
• WB would still own the rights to The Lego Movie Franchise.
• The Lego Batman Movie 2 and The Billion Brick Race: A Lego Movie would never be cancelled, The Lego Batman Movie 2 would be released in theaters on February 4, 2022 and The Billion Brick Race: A Lego Movie would be released in 2021.
• Joker (Movie) would be released on October 2, 1981 because this film takes place in 1981 while its sequel Joker: Folie à Deux would be released on October 5, 1984.
• Wonka (Prequel Movie) would be released on December 14, 2011.
• DC Films would be still intact and it would never be rebranded into DC Studios.
• Jon Berg would still be the Co-Chairman of DC Films instead of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
• DC Extended Universe would be still intact to make more DC Extended Universe movies and it would never be rebooted into James Gunn's DC Universe.
• News Corporation wouldn't sell Fox Family Worldwide to Disney.
  • In addition, Fox Family will retain its name instead of being rebranded to ABC Family (2001-2016) and Freeform (2016-present).
  • Jetix would be owned by Fox instead of Disney.
  • Fox Children's Productions would remain after 1996 as 20th Century Fox Television's children's division.
  • Saban would keep the rights to Power Rangers, Digimon and Lacey after 2001.
  • News Corporation would acquire DIC Entertainment in 2008.
    • DIC wouldn't do the American English dub with Sailor Moon.
    • The 2015 Inspector Gadget series would be produced by DIC Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television for Fox Kids instead of DHX Media for Teletoon and Family Channel, and it will be heavily altered to avoid its negative reception.
      • The designs for Penny and Maryland Claw are more identical to the G&tG artwork while the ones for Gadget, Brain, Chief Quimby, Dr. Claw and M.A.D. Cat are more to the 1983 one.
      • Talon Claw wouldn't exist due to being seen as an unnecessary love interest for Penny.
      • M.A.D. Cat is male in the 2015 TV series.
      • Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker, Tegan Ross and Teryl Rothery would have reprised their roles as Gadget, Chief Quimby, Dr. Claw, Brain, Penny and Maryland Claw.
      • It would be traditionally-animated instead of CGI.
      • The Gadgetmobile would return.
      • Fidget, Digit and G2 became additional main characters in the series.
• Cartoon Network would air reruns of some Fox Kids, Saban and DIC shows since 2014.

Films[]

Animated[]

• The Simpsons Movie (2007)
• Team Chemical X and Power Rangers: The Lacey Crossover Team-Up (2018)
• The Bob's Burgers Movie (2021)

Blue Sky Studios[]

• Ice Age (2002)
• Trolls (2003)
• Bolt (2004)
• Robots (2005)
• Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2007)
• Megamind (2008)
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
• The Wild Robot (2009)
• Zootopia (2010)
• Megamind: Back in Action (2010)
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2010)
• Rio (2011)
• Trolls 2: Mount Rageous (2011)
• Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3: Planet of the Pies (2012)
• Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate (2013)
• Rio 2 (2014)
• Zootopia 2 (2015)
• The Angry Birds Movie (2015)
• Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
• Trolls 3: A Space Adventure (2016)
• Robots 2 (2017)
• Rio 3 (2017)
• The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2018)
• Ice Age: The New Adventure (2019)
• Mutts (2020)
• Foster (2021)
• Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
• Strange World (2022)
• The Angry Birds Movie 3 (2023)
• The Garfield Movie (2024)
• Zootopia 3 (2024)
• Elio (2025)

Live-action[]

• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)

DC Extended Universe[]

• Red (2010)
• Man of Steel (2013)
• Red 2 (2013)
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
• Suicide Squad (2016)
• Wonder Woman (2017)
• Justice League (2017)
• The Flash (2018)
• Aquaman (2018)
• Shazam (2019)
• Black Adam (2019)
• Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
• Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
• Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
• The Batman (2021)
• The Suicide Squad (2021)
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2022)
• Man of Tomorrow (2022)
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2022)
• Batgirl (2023)
• Blue Beetle (2023)

Television[]

Animated[]

• The Simpsons (1989-present)
• Jimmy Two-Shoes (2009-2012)
• Megamind Rules! (2014-2017)
• The Powerpuff Girls (2014-present)

Live-action[]

• TBA

Video Game[]

• Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights (2002)
• Cartoon Network Racing (2006)
• Lacey's Sky High Journey (2019)

Other Media[]

• TBA

Gallery[]

Print logos[]

On-screen logos[]

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See Also[]

• TBA

Trivia[]

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