E-Paper
Did Disney buy the rights to the Bible? Debunking the bizarre social media rumour
A popular trend on X claimed that Disney had bought the rights to the Bible.
Disney is without a doubt, one of the most vilified companies in the world, mocked by its own consumers half the time. Hardcore Marvel fans accuse of it ruining their favourite film franchise, saying it has all gone downhill after Tony Stark left for the Elysian Fields. Regular watchers wonder how they can watch 10,000 shows to keep track of what’s happening in the movies. MAGA folks claim it’s ruining myths, legends and even history by gender- or colour-swapping important characters.
In fact, when Washington Post published a factually inaccurate op-ed asking: “Why doesn’t Argentina have more black players?” ahead of the country’s 2022 Football World Cup final against France, one of the most viral responses was: “Because we are a country, not a Disney movie.” Disney is also on a collision course with Elon Musk who is backing former The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano for “discrimination and wrongful termination”. Earlier, Musk had warred with Disney after the company pulled advertising from X.
Amid all this, a social media trend claims that Disney has bought the rights to the Bible.
When did the rumour start?
While the rumour of Disney buying the Bible has been around for years, its modern iteration seems to be inspired by an article on parody website Babylon Bee from 2018 that claimed Disney had bought the rights to the “Bible from its Author” for $7.02 billion. The article claims: “Disney is buying the intellectual property rights to the Bible for $7.02 billion from its Author. In a statement announcing the purchase, Disney said it planned to release a major Bible sequel in 2020 The Christ Awakens, kicking off a big-budget trilogy.”
It added: “That exciting new franchise launch will be followed by around 36 more planned sequels, reboots, remakes, and spin-offs, the company said. While some of the stories will follow the overarching plot of God establishing his Kingdom, other stories will be offshoots of characters and worlds within the biblical narrative such as Shamgar: A Judges Story, Rise of Habakkuk, Song of Solomon 2: Gaza Heat, and Dirty Job, a gritty follow up to the book of Job starring Mike Rowe.”
A video to the same effect, by TikTok user @Claretas.Voice in which she reiterated a few of the claims made in the Babylon Bee article, appears to have gone viral on social media.
Can the Bible be bought?
Even Disney, with all its monies, can’t really buy the Bible because there’s no one version. For starters, the commercial rights of various versions belong to different owners. Zondervan, a Christian publishing company holds the commercial rights for the New International Version (NIV) Bible in North America. Zondervan is part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing Inc. The King James Version is owned by The Crown which is part of the Firm’s collection which is protected under Royal Charter and only the Cambridge University Press is allowed to publish it.
On the other hand, several editions of the bible including the American Standard Version (ASV), Darby Translation (DARBY), Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA), World English Bible (WEB), Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA) are available in the public domain and can be printed and distributed by anyone.
The history of Bible’s printing
The Gutenberg Bible was the earliest major book printed in Europe using mass-produced metal movable types. It marked the start of the so-called Gutenberg Revolution and the era of printed books in West. 49 versions of the book exist, and no complete copy have been sold since 1978. There are various different versions of the tome that is actually a collection of 66 stories.
