There's a new Disney Princess... and it's Anastasia!
21 March 2019, 17:32
The iconic character can finally be crowned a princess after the Disney-Fox merger deal goes through
Anastasia has officially become a Disney princess!
Now that Walt Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox in a mammoth media deal, the animated beauty can technically be crowned a Disney Princess, joining the likes of Cinderella, Belle, Moana, Elsa, and Snow White.
Despite the fact that Meg Ryan’s plucky heroine has been mistaken for Disney royalty many times since the movie first hit screens in 1997, the musical was actually produced by Fox Animation Studios, meaning that before the merger Anastasia wasn’t a princess at all.
You’d be forgiven for being confused though as the popular film about the grand duchess escaping her family's execution was in fact directed by former Disney animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.
The deal will see tons of movies, TV shows and characters that were originally created by Fox, now become Disney property – and Anastasia is just one of the famous faces to switch ownership.
The huge Hollywood takeover, which has been in motion since the end of 2017, includes Fox’s movie and TV production studios and the rights to major films including X-Men, Deadpool, The Simpsons, Titanic, Avatar and the Alien and Predator franchises, among many others.
It’s been dubbed as the biggest ever media merger, with a whopping 71.3 billion dollars exchanging hands.
