Disney buys Marvel

Never saw this one coming

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/entertainment/20646229/detail.html

A bit of a surprise here but it kind of makes sense. Disney owns the domestic rights to Marvel's animated TV shows.

Meanwhile, will this mean that Disney will begin to distribute the films independently funded by Marvel rather than Paramount (this means films such as Iron Man 2 and The Avengers)?

I have to believe that part of the deal would be the distribution of all future Marvel Studios movies.

I would assume that they would get the film rights to these films, but not X-Men, Spider Man, etc. Otherwise, why buy it?

I believe that X-Men and Spider-Man stay with their original studios but I'm not sure about Fantastic Four

The film rights to X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four stay with the studios. Meanwhile, Marvel holds the film rights to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Captain America.

You may have to check about FF. I had heard that it was just a 2 picture deal

But wasn't Fox wanting a third film?

Wow. Didn't see this one coming at all. Good move by Disney IMO. Would be very interested in reading about this in more detail though.

More details on the story:

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-8-31-breaking-disney-to-buy-comic-book-powerhouse-marvel-for-4-billion

Buscemi wrote:More details on the story:

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2009-8-31-breaking-disney-to-buy-comic-book-powerhouse-marvel-for-4-billion

Thanks for the link.

Seems like smart business from Disney. Good time to do it as well with Marvels current full slate and renewed interest in its franchises.

Wow, who could expect this? It'll be weird to see the Disney castle at the start of the Iron Man 2 trailer.

I read that the films currently in development will stay with the studios that they are at. LIke spiderman 4, 5 and 6 at sony, and Iron Man 2 and 3 and the avengers and Thor at Paramount, but once their licensing runs out, the rights go to Disney.

So either Disney would start rebooting the franchises, or see the disney castle in front of spiderman 7

I'm quite interested to see what will eventually become of Universal's ownership of the Marvel characters in its Universal Studios theme parks? Will they eventually have to be removed and Disney bring them on board of their own theme parks?

Also, will we find Zac Efron in future installments of the movies after the current deals expire? That is scary...

According to this article about it:

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=14889&count=0

the Marvel characters WON'T appear in the theme parks. But I was intrigued by that part from John Lasseter in the end about a possible Marvel/Pixar collaboration.

Buscemi wrote:But wasn't Fox wanting a third film?

I don't like to quote myself but looks like that third film is happening. It will be a reboot and not follow the first two.

A reboot already? The first one came out 5 years ago! Honestly, I must be the only one who thinks this is a stupid move on disney's part. The only good thing to come of this will be the long over due Ghost Rider 2: The Golden Years.

IPKI$$ wrote:A reboot already? The first one came out 5 years ago! Honestly, I must be the only one who thinks this is a stupid move on disney's part. The only good thing to come of this will be the long over due Ghost Rider 2: The Golden Years.

At first I thought they would be getting some sort of percentage from the films currently in production.

But now that I know they don't, the move does seem kind of weird. Why do it now for a future purchase? The marvel slate is busiest within these couple of years, and I doubt Disney will just want to be making sequels, and if they are planning 'reboots' then it is way too early to do that as IPKI$$ just said.

Yeah, this is a future deal with no immediate cash-in for disney and they don't even get the most profitable characters. And honestly, Marvel's losing its steam anyway. And with Disney's penchant for straight to DVD spinoffs of successful franchises, it's just a matter of time before they've exhausted yet another once loved brand name. This is the prime time for WB/DC to take over the comic book movie niche.

Actually Fox is doing the Fantastic Four reboot, not Disney. They are probably just milking the rights before they lose them.

This is going to suck big time for film lovers. Disney's sure to fuck up Marvel's stuff and make it WAY more commercialistic (read: dumbed down) and prob more kid friendly.

IPKI$$ wrote:Yeah, this is a future deal with no immediate cash-in for disney and they don't even get the most profitable characters. And honestly, Marvel's losing its steam anyway. And with Disney's penchant for straight to DVD spinoffs of successful franchises, it's just a matter of time before they've exhausted yet another once loved brand name. This is the prime time for WB/DC to take over the comic book movie niche.

How is Marvel losing steam? They just started making and distributing their own films last year...

mfrendo wrote:This is going to suck big time for film lovers. Disney's sure to fuck up Marvel's stuff and make it WAY more commercialistic (read: dumbed down) and prob more kid friendly.

for one, i don't think Marvel was ever high-brow--or especially "mature"--entertainment to begin with (and, believe me, this is coming from a fan)...

for two, didn't disney distribute Pulp Fiction?

mfrendo wrote:This is going to suck big time for film lovers. Disney's sure to fuck up Marvel's stuff and make it WAY more commercialistic (read: dumbed down) and prob more kid friendly.

Umm... Disney is all about the Benjamins from what I can tell. It's kind of obvious that films like Iron Man make a ton of cash, so if its still working when they get it, I'm sure they won't be changing it.

NSpan wrote:

mfrendo wrote:This is going to suck big time for film lovers. Disney's sure to fuck up Marvel's stuff and make it WAY more commercialistic (read: dumbed down) and prob more kid friendly.

for one, i don't think Marvel was ever high-brow--or especially "mature"--entertainment to begin with (and, believe me, this is coming from a fan)...

for two, didn't disney distribute Pulp Fiction?

They did, and I thought about that, but that was back when Miramax was run by the Weinsteins, who, whatever your opinion of them may be, had a good set of balls on them.