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Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: Scott on August 31, 2009, 10:27 AM

Title: Marvel Comics
Post by: Scott on August 31, 2009, 10:27 AM
Disney buys Marvel for 4 billion dollars (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/disney-to-buy-marvel-for-4-billion/)

That is Crazy...I would guess that also includes all movie rights etc as well as the comics
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: DSJ™ on August 31, 2009, 10:39 AM
At that price, me thinks yup (http://kdka.com/business/marvel.comics.disney.2.1153967.html)
Quote
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including favorites such as the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.

This will be interesting...  :-\
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Dressel Rebel on August 31, 2009, 11:05 AM
Speaking for myself, I've always wanted to see the 7 Dwarves versus the Fantastic Four, so this news has been long in the making for me.


(http://thecia.com.au/reviews/s/images/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-3.jpg) vs  (http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/14751/486712-ultimate_fantastic_four_001_super.jpg)
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Brian on August 31, 2009, 12:15 PM
Interesting (and unexpected) news, I wonder what it will actually mean for the Marvel properties.  The general consensus on talkbacks/etc. (like at Newsarama) seem to believe this is horrible news.  I could see that side of it, I guess it depends how much Disney "interferes" with Marvel business.  Many people have felt that is what holds DC back sometimes (particularly with movies, etc.), is its relationship with Warner Bros.  That being said, it could mean next to nothing at all (particularly for actual comic books).  Disney owns so much these days (ABC, ESPN, Miramax, etc.), and I don't know if you necessarily see a huge difference there.  It will be most interesting to see what it means for the upcoming Marvel movies like Iron Man 2, Cap, Thor, Avengers, etc.

A few bullet points I read over at CBR (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22747):

-Disney executives went to great lengths during the call to make the point that they don’t pretend to be more expert than Marvel is in handling their characters, citing the hands-off relationship Disney has had with Pixar since the acquisition of that studio. Disney said Marvel manages the properties from a business perspective very intelligently and trusts them to make the right decisions for these products for a long time to come.

-With respect to Paramount’s distribution deal with Marvel and the Iron Man franchise, Disney has every intention to respect the deal that’s in place, but noted that it’s in their best interest, overtime, to become the sole distributor of Marvel films.

-When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got “pretty excited, very fast.” Disney will look at all opportunities and thinks there are some exciting product that could come from this sort of partnership.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Jeff on August 31, 2009, 01:37 PM
-When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got “pretty excited, very fast.”

Sounds like we can expect some sort of Spiderman action figure cameo in Toy Story 3...   :P

It will be interesting to see how fast and how strong the Mouse's grip squeezes Marvel.  No matter what happens on the movie front, I'd expect to see quite a few things - Spidey cartoon on Disney Channel, Marvel stuff at the Disney themeparks (and probably the loss of marvel at places like Universal Studios).  Should be interesting to see how it all shakes out...
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: name on August 31, 2009, 01:59 PM
The theme parks struck me too as an issue...Universal has sunk a fortune into a Marvel presence.  I'm not sure if the Mouse is going to let their biggest Orlando competitor draw visitors using Marvel, or if they'll enjoy taking licensing money out of Universal's pockets...
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: DSJ™ on August 31, 2009, 02:14 PM
Disney: Marvel's existing deals to stay in place (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-marvels-existing-deals-to-stay-in-place-2009-08-31)

Disney/Marvel: Variations on a Theme Park (http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/08/31/disneymarvel-variations-on-a-theme-park/)

Disney Buys Marvel: What We Know About The Deal (So Far)  (http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/08/31/disney-buys-marvel-what-we-know-about-the-deal-so-far/)
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Brian on August 31, 2009, 02:53 PM
Sounds like we can expect some sort of Spiderman action figure cameo in Toy Story 3...   :P

It will be interesting to see how fast and how strong the Mouse's grip squeezes Marvel.  No matter what happens on the movie front, I'd expect to see quite a few things - Spidey cartoon on Disney Channel, Marvel stuff at the Disney themeparks (and probably the loss of marvel at places like Universal Studios).  Should be interesting to see how it all shakes out...

Yeah, I know that Disney's channel "Disney XD" (formerly Toon Disney) currently shows quite a bit of Marvel toons - Spectacular Spider-Man, Spidey and his Amazing Friends, X-Men: Evolution, as well as the 90s batch of toons including Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man: Unlimited, and the Avengers (the crappy version missing Cap/Iron Man/Thor).  I wonder if this means anything for other shows, as I know that Cartoon Network is set to have a SuperHero Squad show this year, and Nicktoons is currently airing Wolverine and the X-Men (quite good I think) as well as an Iron Man cartoon (I think the upcoming Avengers one in 2010/2011 is slated for NickToons as well).
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Phrubruh on August 31, 2009, 05:35 PM
I think Disney's first move is to pull the Amazing Spiderman ride out of Universal Studios Florida and put it in the Muppetvision 3D theater at DCA! Heck, former imagineers designed it originally for Roger Rabbit. It's high time that puppy came home.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Angry Ewok on August 31, 2009, 06:07 PM
My initial reaction is that this is terrible news for Marvel fans. The Disney Corporation is such a putoff for me, but I don't know why or when I started feeling this way... but all a sudden I want to spend more time and money with Dark Horse and DC comics.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: efranks on August 31, 2009, 07:40 PM
That's pretty shocking news.  I assumed that Marvel, with the recent film success, was in a position to grow their own brand and profits and getting bought by a company like Disney wouldn't be something they'd be interested in.

Obviously you have to ask the questions about what a Disney owned Marvel will mean for the direction and contents of the comics and films.  The one bullet point in the CBR article that I did find interesting was the mention of Pixar.  Who wouldn't like to see a Marvel cartoon done by the talent at Pixar?

With anything like this it's wait and see.  See if Disney starts to meddle with the superheroes we know and love or if they let the Marvel team run things and just provide them with more outlets for retail or in the parks or internationally. 

Here's something else to think about also; what could this mean for Hasbro and Disney?  Hasbro, of course, has the Marvel license, and they already work closely with Disney for Star Wars and a couple other items.  Could this deal give Hasbro another in with Disney?  Could we see Disney start to throw more manufacturing Hasbro's way?

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Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Diddly on August 31, 2009, 08:13 PM
Well, this is shocking news but it doesn't really affect me since I don't really read comics. And I doubt Disney will be rushing to release DVD sets of the Marvel animated series either.

At least we'll finally get that awesome crossover between Darkwing Duck and Batman!











... oh, yeah. :-[
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Phrubruh on September 1, 2009, 10:45 AM
Now that Disney owns Marvel, when are they going to close the circle and buy LFL ?
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Chris M on September 1, 2009, 12:44 PM
All I want to know is what kind of cool ride/attraction will this get at Disney World.  I'm guessing anything Marvel based would end up at Hollywood Studios.

That said, I'm not  a comic fan but understand the fascination with the Marvel world.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: JediJman on September 1, 2009, 02:40 PM
Wow, that is surprising news.  I also thought Marvel was seeing lots more success on their own, but I'm betting $4B is hard to turn down.  If Disney honors their comment about hands-off approach similar to Pixar, I think we'll see very little impact on the comics - or at least on any existing assets (Maybe they'll leverage distribution to create more comics based on other Disney characters).

We will definitely see an impact on the cartoons and tie to the Disney Channel.  That makes perfect sense given the existing Marvel programming, so I'll buy Jeff's forecast that we see a new Spidey cartoon and maybe even some Avengers and X-Men reboots in the future as well.  Movies will likely see a bigger impact - I know there was a lot of discussion initially about casting someone like Robert Downey as Stark and I'm betting that Marvel will lose some of the creative freedom that has made it such a success in recent years.  The upcoming Avengers movies might not see the impact, but further out movies like Spiderman 4 and Iron Man 3 are the ones I'm concerned about.

As for the Theme parks, I'm sure there are plans to either pull Marvel out of Universal or start negotiating some huge licensing fees.  Rather than just a fall out of the deal, I'd bet that this was one of the key motivators in the buyout. 
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Sugart on September 1, 2009, 08:53 PM
Smart move by Disney themepark wise

Universal has to pay Disney for licensing= Win. Disney gets to collect royalties when Universal should be seeing a large increase in revenue due to HP.

Universal buys out of contract and has tp spend millions re themeing Marvel Island after spendind hundreds of millions on HP= win.

I personally love the move.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: Phrubruh on September 2, 2009, 10:59 AM
Marvel island could use a retheming anyway. It's the ugliest piece of IOA.
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: name on September 2, 2009, 01:17 PM
Interesting bit from NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/09/disney_marvel_and_the_tortured.html?sc=fb&cc=fp)
Title: Re: Marvel Comics
Post by: efranks on September 2, 2009, 08:28 PM
That article was pretty good. 

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