Plausibility Check: Merger of Disney and MCA in the 70's

In this thread: The Next Company to be Swallowed up by Disney It was mentioned that Disney almost merged with MCA (Onetime parent company of Universal Studios) at some point in the 1970's.

What would be a good POD for this to happen?

How would it affect future theme park developments in Orlando?

If Disney was only doing G, PG and soft PG-13 flicks, would Universal be relegated to doing only hard PG-13 and R flicks later on?

And if it did happen, and Don Bluth still left the Disney studio with John Pomery and Gary Goldman, which other studio would their open their doors to Bluth?
- Paramount?
- Columbia?
- Fox?
- Warner Bros?
 
Hmmm. I knew Wasserman wanted to buy Sea World, his interest in Disney doesn't surprise me.

Well assuming their merged output in movies, the first obvious effect is that their market share goes from 13.4% to 19.4% with Disney's 6% added for 1970-1980 (depending on when the two are added together, of course). That catapults them to being the biggest movie studio, above Paramount's 15% average for the decade [1]. That's a serious bump, and something of a disruption in the Hollywood power structure.

Does Universal Disney flex their muscles a bit? Who does Wasserman pick up to turn Disney around? Barry Diller & the Killers don't start up until 1974 for instance, so the exact year depends. There's a number of other potentials though too.

As for Bluth? If--and that's a big if--he leaves, whoever wants to compete with Universal/Disney I guess. WB knows animated movies, they may give him a berth. Columbia, Fox, Paramount, and MGM I doubt at the time but perhaps United Artists? Also depends on the year though, of course, and what butterflies are stirring.

Neat POD though.


[1] If anyone is curious the rest are: WB 14.5%, Fox 13.9%, United Artists 11.5%, Columbia 10.2%, MGM 5.8%; most of that Fox score on the basis of Star Wars alone.
 
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