6 Things You Should Know About Disney Buying Marvel

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 31, 2009

disney-marvel-2

As you probably know by now, the big entertainment news of the day is The Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment. Shortly after the $4 billion dollar deal was announced, a shareholder conference call was held to explain some of the details. If you didn’t have a chance to sit through the call yourself, don’t worry, as we’ve got you covered. Below you will find our quick guide to what is going on — based on the information we have in front of us.

1. Disney has an “If it ain’t broke…” viewpoint toward Marvel Studios. Walt Disney President Bob Iger said specifically that Disney will have an “if it ain’t broke…” attitude when it comes to the future of Marvel films. All of the creative control — including use of 3D, which characters will get movies, etc — will remain in the hands of the people who know the Marvel Universe best: the people at Marvel. Sure, this might change down the road, but the initial sentiment is that Disney does not intend to come in and take control of Marvel’s creative world.

2. All previous deals are still in place. Paramount is still going to distribute up to five more Marvel Studios films, including Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. The also could still distribute an Ant-Man movie. As well, there are still existing deals in which other studios hold the cinematic rights to certain characters. Those are not changing. So Spider-Man is staying at Sony, X-Men is staying with Fox, and so on. Disney intends to bring those characters back in-house at some point, but there’s no indication that it will be happening anytime soon.

3. John Lasseter has met with Marvel about a Pixar team-up. Executives stated that not only has John Lasseter, the man behind Pixar and now Disney Animation, already met with the folks at Marvel, but that they were also so excited that they had to be told to calm down. The meaning here is simple: something is brewing between Marvel and Pixar, and there’s no way that can be a bad thing.

4. Disney is a brand machine. From a film marketing standpoint — and for that matter, a brand marketing standpoint — Disney is a powerhouse. Pirate of the Caribbean, the films of Pixar and all the way down to television with shows such as Lost via their ownership of ABC, Disney knows how to sell a brand. And selling the Marvel brand means more Marvel fans, more recognition in the mainstream and for those of us keeping score, more money down the road to make Marvel movies.

5. Disney backing means Marvel budgets. Disney is a smart company. During the conference call they said, in effect, that their goal is to shine a brighter light on Marvel. Which likely means marketing dollars, added funding for development and (hopefully) increased marketshare. With big Daddy Disney backing them up financially, Marvel will be able to operate at a higher level. Assuming creative control stays the same (which appears to be the case), Marvel fans can only count on more of what they love from their favorite brand.

6. A lot of details are yet to be hashed out. One very important thing to keep in mind is that there will be a great gestation period here. Marvel Entertainment has a lot of existing deals — theme parks, movie distribution, etc. — and all of those contract will be honored by Disney. It will take them a long time to reign in the Marvel Universe and obtain full creative control.

As you can see, there are good intentions all around — Disney doesn’t want to screw up their $4 billion dollar purchase, so its likely that they will let the highly profitable Marvel Studios do their thing. The questions don’t arise until far down the line, when Disney begins to take back the rights to Marvel characters. How will they handle these franchises? How many movies will they release per year? All of these questions are yet to be answered, and may not be answered for a long time. At this point, all we can say is that this deal appears to be a good one for Marvel.

Update: Paramount Pictures had the following to say via press release today:

“Paramount Pictures has enjoyed a productive and fruitful relationship with Marvel Studios from the start of our distribution agreement in 2005,” the statement began. “So much so, we announced a five-picture slate distribution deal last year which includes worldwide distribution rights for upcoming films: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man 3. This distribution deal will be unaffected by today’s transaction. We look forward to continuing to work with Marvel and, with today’s announcement, to working with Disney to replicate the incredible success of Iron Man on all our future collaborative projects.”

Looks like all is well in the love triangle of Marvel/Paramount/Disney. All three have nothing to lose and everything to gain by seeing Marvel’s movies churn out a profit, so I would suspect that they will all play nice until the contract is up.

What do you think about Disney buying Marvel Entertainment?


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  • Aleric
    1. Bullshit

    2. Bullshit

    3. Bullshit

    4. Speilburg is a brand machine and he has produced a lot of turds as well as a few good movies.

    5. Bullshit, Marvel has one of the most recognized brand names out there. That is like Pepsi saying they are buying coke and they want to make Coke more recognizable. Never mind that the new logo with have the Pepsi Logo fused into it in some form or fashion.

    6. Disney is a mega corporation, I work for one of those, and history has shown me that people who should be in charge and making the right decisions are never in that position. Instead you get people who have no clue what they are doing making bad decisions and blaming the previous owners for their failures.
  • Anon
    Wow... I hope you *enjoyed* working for that mega corporation...
  • Aleric
    Been employed at one for over 15 years, my work is beyond reproach, so I am not worried.
  • #1... you know you're calling 'bullshit' on a direct quote, right?

    #2... Legal contracts, not bullshit.

    #3... Actual meetings, also not bullshit.

    #4....

    ...

    ...

    Alright, I've lost interest in responding to your claims of bullshit.
  • Aleric
    So basically Neil because I dont agree with you my reply to your article is not worth merit?

    1. You think because someone makes a quote it is valid or factual? Okay......

    2. All it takes is a stroke of the pen to change any previous contracts or finding a clause they can exploit to change something they dont like. They can also shut down and re-establish any franchise they have to better suit their agenda.

    3. Well you didn't bother to read past 3 so I suppose my other coments are valid since they are direct quotes from me...lol.
  • Look, it's one thing to be cautious about a "mega-corporation," but it's another to be paranoid -- which is how you sound. Disney bought Pixar and so far they've let Pixar do their thing. I see no reason why buying and managing Marvel would be any different.

    And sure, contracts can change -- however, based on what was said on the conference call, Disney will be waiting out those contracts out.

    In all likelihood, it will be years (yes, years) before we see an impact on movie production and/or marketing. Comics, animated properties, merchandising, etc. are all a different story.

    #4... Not talking about quality of films here, just about marketing prowess and ability to make money. Marvel already brings creative quality to the table.

    #5... I think you're overestimating Marvel's brand recognition. Beyond their A-level characters (Spider-Man, The Hulk, X-Men and now Iron Man), you'd be hard pressed to find solid name recognition in the mainstream. It isn't Coke and Pepsi. It's Coke buying Tang.

    #6... See my above comment re: Caution v. Paranoia. You can't just lump every "mega corporation" in together and say they're inherently evil. You have to look at their track record (which in the case of Disney is good), the people involved (Bob Iger, a very savvy guy) and what they're saying (see the part where I talk about what Iger is saying about their relationship with Marvel).

    And yes, your opinion is worth merit... however, you started to lose me when you just spouted "bullshit, bullshit." You're better than that, and we both know it.
  • Aleric
    But Bullshit is direct and to the point.

    As for paranoia, no it is is called experiance, been there done that, seen it done to others many times over.
  • Narc
    Wow, you're really aggressive about this...
  • Erik
    1. Look at all of their other acquisitions. They have clearly stuck to the "if it ain't broke" methodology. Take ESPN for example. I see absolutely no "Disneyfication." How about Mirimax and Touchstone? The films, "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men" aren't exactly "Disneyfied."

    2. It's a legal matter. Contracts are not broken by acquisitions, unless the contract specifically states, which these surely would not. If they did state that, then Disney would not be able to make statements to the contrary. You really think Sony or Fox would give up the rights to those franchises without a fight (which would be well-publicized).

    3. Why is this one BS again? Of course Lasseter met with Marvel representatives. Pixar is incredibly successful, largely due to the efforts of John Lasseter, and only seems to be growing in popularity. Lasseter has been able to reach multiple demographics without sacrificing quality. Why on earth would Disney not put him in the same room as representatives from Marvel, who represents their only untapped demographic, the teen/young-adult male group? It would be idiotic if they ignored the obvious potential there.

    4. Marvel's turd-to-megahit ratio was horrible before Disney. You really think it could get worse? This is definitely going to be a step-up. Iron Man was successful because Marvel poured RIDICULOUS amounts of money into its production/marketing. Their profit margin wasn't all that high, as a result, but it had many intangible successes to go along with its box office success. Disney has the resources to repeat this level of film production/marketing. I, personally, wouldn't turn my nose up at this potential awesomeness.

    5. Marvel was recognizable, sure, but had very limited funding available. Marvel films required heavy special effects, which were very expensive. Limited profits means limited funds to use on future films. This article is talking about the newfound ability for Marvel to get its name in every facet of the media, beyond its current limitations. Disney has rarely fused its branding with a subsidiary's. It's not called "The Wonderful World of ESPN," for example. "Disney & Pixar's WALL-E" is the only type of fusion I can think of, if I had to name one.

    6. Mega-corporations definitely screw things up frequently, but this doesn't seem to be one of those situations. If Marvel follows the trend of ABC, ESPN, or Pixar, I will be very pleased.
  • NotADisneyFan
    Disney is a master at designing a product for the lowest common denominator. That means they'll strip the Marvel characters and movies of anything genuinely creative or edgy, and that means they'll make inoffensive turds like the Fantastic Four movie, not smart stuff like Iron Man or the first two installments of the X-Men. I'm just glad we at least got a few good superhero movies made before Disney wrecks it for everyone.
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