Disney buys Marvel

[Border Reiver]

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/disney-to-buy-marvel-for-4-billion/

Walt Disney and Stan Lee

Uncle Walt and Stan the Man

does this mean that Wolverine/Mickey Mouse crossovers are next?

til next time true believers

[Dollface]

Okay thats it, i will buy plane ride to disneys, stop taking my meds and start killing people.

[Border Reiver]

OK, calm down.  The only reason to do that would be the Wolverine/Mickey Mouse  crossover - a Wolverine/Donald Duck cross over would be awesome, but only to see who has the worst temper....

I will withhold jusdgement until we see what disney tries to do - lets face it, marvel superheroes have been slapped on lunchboxes since the 50s at least, so the merchandising aspect isn't going to change, and as long as the comic books make money they won't change.  Capitalism works that way.  the movies will have greater resources to draw on, so that may be a good thing, so long as they don't gear them for the disney channel - any Hanna Montana/[insert any Marvel character here] crossovers and you and I will need to co-ordinate our schedules for maximum effect.

[Blue Kitty]

I was starting to wonder why they were showing such shows as Spectacular Spider-man and X-men Evolution on Disney XD

Oh no

According to Disney senior video president and chief financial officer Tom Staggs, "As the current agreements in place sunset we will look to exploit the library of characters more broadly."

"This is a big library of properties and we think there is real opportunity. We plan to evaluate where those opportunities are greatest and how we can leverage those across both Marvel and Disney."

[Zombiedude]

It doesn't really seem like marvel needs this.

[Blue Kitty]

[Chesire Cat]

No sir, I don't like it.


Disney is a very conservative company and I will be saddened by a watered down "family friendly" Marvel.

[WriterofAllWrongs]

Chip and Dale/Squirrel Girl crossover comics.  The very idea drives me... nuts?

[0bsessions]

Disney is a very conservative company and I will be saddened by a watered down "family friendly" Marvel.

Lest you forget, DC has been owned by Warner Brothers for a long while now. I sincerely doubt this will effect the quality of their output. Let's not forget that ABC puts out stuff other than the Jonas Brothers. They're also responsible for the likes of Lost, the Clerks movies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Scrubs, Reservoir Dogs, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

Disney isn't going to just jump in and start editing the shit out of everything. They want to make money and a company doesn't survive as long as they have without realizing fucking with a successful product does not bring in money.

[Chesire Cat]

Yeah, well, try buying porn with a Mastercard, there are conservative companies that manage to get by.

Though if what you say is true, then I take back my statement, Disney might not "fuck with my shit". But hopefully it will mean an X-Men 4 will come out... And maybe X-Men Orgins: Wolverine II wont. But in my experience all holding my breath does is leave me breathless.

[Zombiedude]

I just hope they don't mess with Deadpool

also

[The extra letter]

I just want to see Donald Duck with a Symbiote.

[Tom]

I've been following this on CBR, I'm quite shocked and gravely concerned but I'm sure that the comics will mostly be left untouched. Disney seems to only really be interested in Film and TV production, distribution, etc. and character licensing. To mess with Quesada's marvel seems very much like bad business.

[Hat]

Yeah, well, try buying porn with a Mastercard

This seems less like an act of moral censorship and more like pragmatism to be honest.

Also want a Darkwing Duck/Howard the Duck crossover now

[Border Reiver]

That would be decent.

[satsugaikaze]

There are people in Disney who run a business rather than use Necronomicons on old and buried fairytales, so I'm not expecting Marvel to change their output of material greatly.

However, I don't mean to be rude, but can someone please explain the logic behind why they fuck they did this for in the first place aside from getting 4 billion dollars?

[Hat]

However, I don't mean to be rude, but can someone please explain the logic behind why they fuck they did this for in the first place aside from getting 4 billion dollars?

I feel the thing where you cut down the quote by intervals and make them bigger and bigger until you are left with the most relevant part of the quote in a giant quote box is kind of played out but I can't figure out a better way to do it so let's just skip to the end, and make it green (THE COLOUR OF MONEY)

$$$ 4 BILLION DOLLARS $$$

[Felrender]

From what I've heard of the deal, it's like when Pixar got bought, with allowance for the fact that Marvel makes movies using resources from non-Disney/ABC sources.  Disney has zero control over content.

I'm waiting for somebody to offer to buy DC.

[Joseph]

Warner Bros. has owned DC for forty years.

[satsugaikaze]

Hat you could have just summarised your reply in "they're a bunch of whores" =P

But I keep hoping that they've got some sort of motive aside from money, because Marvel Entertainment can't be doing too badly in the money category considering all the successed they've had by themselves.

[Gridgm]

the punisher
that is all

[0bsessions]

Hat you could have just summarised your reply in "they're a bunch of whores" =P

But I keep hoping that they've got some sort of motive aside from money, because Marvel Entertainment can't be doing too badly in the money category considering all the successed they've had by themselves.

Financial security. Yeah, Marvel's films have been doing very well lately, but comic book publication hasn't been doing exceedingly well for anyone since the late nineties. Having a large financial backer has kept DC afloat for years. This was a sensible business decision from Marvel's standpoint and serves to solidify the company at the ground level, giving them opportunity to take a few more risks with their licenses. Certain licenses Marvel probably couldn't have supported and marketed on their own (Such as the impending Namor and Ant Man movies) will now have a big time financial backer that can help them out.

the punisher
that is all

Okay? Ummm...context maybe?

[Jeans]

Now I can steal Marvel comics with a clean concience!

Fuck Disney.

And a small addendum.

[Border Reiver]

Yes, because the small business person who purchased the comics to sell to you will totally be reimbursed by The Mouse for their losses.  That level of theft only hurts the little guy, you schmuck!

[a pack of wolves]

That's presuming he wasn't referring to downloading them and that he only has an independent comic shop near him. Where I live there's a Forbidden Planet as well as Borders and Waterstones selling comics (although in the last two cases only trade paperbacks and graphic novels). Happily our local independent shop seems to be doing well despite the competition, probably because in their smaller space they have a better collection than the chains combined.

[Jeans]

Yes, because the small business person who purchased the comics to sell to you will totally be reimbursed by The Mouse for their losses.  That level of theft only hurts the little guy, you schmuck!

Seeing as we're on the internet I figured people would understand that "stealing" does not mean carrying out a bag of comics under my arm, cackling madly whilst twirling my curled moustachio. You are familiar with the concepts of torrents, yes?

[ackblom12]

I think he's referring to not purchasing them at all. On the other hand I don't see you purchasing much of what Marvel has to offer nowdays anyway.

[Blue Kitty]

One good thing from this, no more terrible Fox Marvel movies.  Soon, soon they will all come back to Marvel Studios

[Jeans]

First of all: This is in Norway. For one trade paperback I will typically shell out something like 35 bucks.

I always, ALWAYS buy comics from indie publishers like Top Shelf or Knockabout, because they actually need the money, and treat their artists and workers fairly. Disney is a massive corporation and right up there with Conoco-Philips, Microsoft and Nike in terms of pushing people around just because they can. The sole purpose of their business is hauling in truckloads of money for the people on top, and they're doing it in the most atrociously unethical manner possible. They don't need my money, I don't want to give them money, and the comic book store where I buy my comics at would only get a miniscule amount. I'd rather slip a five dollar bill in their tip jar.

I think he's referring to not purchasing them at all.

In that case, I'm being a "schmuck" every time I buy off of Amazon as well. This argument assumes that I would have bought the comic if I hadn't downloaded it too, which isn't realistic at all.

Finally, yeah, I'm not going to download a lot of Marvel comics because frankly I think most Marvel comics published today aren't worth reading at all.

[0bsessions]

One good thing from this, no more terrible Fox Marvel movies.  Soon, soon they will all come back to Marvel Studios

False. Fox owns the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four in "perpetuity," meaning that as long as they continue to develop them, they will retain the license. Unfortunately, Fox will hold the licenses for as long as they're relevant.

[Chesire Cat]

Fortunately Fantastic 4 are incredibly boring, so Fox is welcome to the rights for as long as they want to make shitty Marvel movies.

[talen wolf]

Given that Marvel was hemorrhaging money every month they did this to keep the comic and movies going...Disney has more money then God and the Saudis

[0bsessions]

Ummm...what?

Marvel's probably about the most profitable comic company out there...

Sure, they're not doing nearly the business they did in the early nineties and having Disney in charge should help financial matters, "hemorrhaging money" isn't just a stretch, it's an outright incorrect statement. Where the hell did you get that idea? Economy aside, Marvel's actually at one of the more profitable points they've been since the late nineties. For June, the last reported month in sales estimates, Marvel more than doubled the next closest competitor for overall cash influx ($13.1 million versus DC's $6.2 million). That may not seem like a whole lot of money for most big corporations, but let's take into account that the #3 publisher on the month, IDW, took in less than a million on the month.

Did you just pull that out of nowhere, or do you actually follow any of this stuff?

[Tom]

@Jeans: Yeah, here in Australia we have the same problem also, are you sure that because Disney's in control pay distribution is going to change?

ALSO:

FANTASTIC FOUR

Despite the sale of Marvel Entertainment to Disney, "The Fantastic Four" will remain at Twentieth Century Fox. Variety reports Akiva Goldsman has been brought on to produce a reboot of the franchise. Michael Green, co-writers of "Green Lantern" has been tapped to provide the script. Since this is being classified as a reboot, it will, presumably, feature a completely new cast./quote]

[0bsessions]

It should also be noted that Goldsman's resume also includes such hits as I, Robot, Deep Blue Sea, Lost in Space and Batman & Robin.

I smell Oscar!

[Chesire Cat]

Is that sarcasm? Because thats a pretty shit resume.

[Alex C]

It's a particularly nice setup when you consider the inroads Disney has as a distributor and marketing machine in foreign countries compared to Marvel. That's not to say Marvel ignores foreign markets and or anything (Marvel UK disproves that idea out of hand), but Disney is well, Disney. Even the Ducktales TV series was translated to a bazillion different languages. I don't really know much about current comics trends, but I do know historically that even taken alone Disney's comics division has often had a bigger presence overseas than Marvel. Rather makes sense when you consider that Steve Rogers was probably a hard sell during the Suez Crisis...

[Ozymandias]

It should also be noted that Goldsman's resume also includes such hits as I, Robot, Deep Blue Sea, Lost in Space and Batman & Robin.

I smell Oscar!

Amusing, because Goldsman actually has an Oscar (for A Beautiful Mind).

Also, I, Robot was decent. He was also only co-writer. Seriously, the dude's resume looks like a checklist of awful action movies.

[Dazed]

I, Robot was quite a ways from being decent. I would go with staggeringly mediocre at best.

[Hat]

Also, I, Robot was decent. He was also only co-writer. Seriously, the dude's resume looks like a checklist of awful action movies.

I like how being a writer basically excuses someone from all responsibility for a movie

[KvP]

Actually writers are often the last people responsible for how movies turn out. Sure, they write up what's supposed to go into the movie, but once it leaves their hands there are studio people, MPAA people, not to mention script doctors and auteur directors who all put their own spin on the story. For example, Quentin Tarantino wrote the original script for Natural Born Killers (hence an explicit reference to the future Kill Bill movies at the beginning that ties it into QT's movie universe) but he ended up disowning the film because Oliver Stone exercised too much control over the finished product, turning it into a ham-handed message movie about the sensational media. Also if you listen to the Director's Commentary for the Steven Soderbergh film The Limey, he invites in the original screenwriter for the film, and over the course of the film the screenwriter continually blasts Soderbergh for fucking with his vision and they debate the merits of the final product. It's actually quite fascinating.

Which isn't to say that Goldsman is brilliant and has been fucked by the industry, just saying, his status as a writer doesn't necessarily confer any special responsibility for his films.

[Tom]

Wait, Goldsman is producing isn't he?

[satsugaikaze]

"Join us, we have financial security"

Pussies. =P Kidding, of course. Thanks for the info, it makes the deal sound slightly more reasonable now.

From the article I read, Marvel's income seems to be up in the hundreds of millions due to licensing and film. Also, from what the article states, Disney aren't going to touch the fuck out of Marvel's releases at all, at least for the next few years.

Unfortunately, Sony can still release as many Spidermans as they want, which is probably the only thing I'd want Disney to have a hand in (to stop the bloody idea, of course).

[Hat]

Also, I, Robot was decent. He was also only co-writer. Seriously, the dude's resume looks like a checklist of awful action movies.

I like how being a writer basically excuses someone from all responsibility for a movie

I don't think anyone understands that I'm being quite serious here.

[Ozymandias]

Also, I, Robot was decent. He was also only co-writer. Seriously, the dude's resume looks like a checklist of awful action movies.

I like how being a writer basically excuses someone from all responsibility for a movie

Nah, like...I'm just saying- there was another dude involved in I, Robot.

Also, yeah, it does excuse someone sometimes. Like Joss Whedon and Alien: Resurrection wherein he wrote a script then saw the movie and was like "whaaaat theeee fuuuuuuck?"

[Jeans]

Or so he claims.

[Surgoshan]

Disney bought Pixar.  As a result, John Lasseter became CEO of Disney.

John Lasseter was half the reason that Pixar was awesome.  The other half was that everyone at Pixar listened to him

In short, Disney ate Pixar and gained all its awesome as attributes.  Disney is a corporate zombie, and now it owns Marvel.  It will absorb the awesome of Marvel (FUCKING SPIDERMAN, BITCHES!) and allow that awesome to continue.

Quit whining; Pixar was awesome and Pixar is now in control of Disney.  Pixar is now also in control of Marvel.  This means more independent creative control because Lasseter, CEO of Disney, is the fucking man.

[satsugaikaze]

Didn't you hear?

Disney still can't touch half of Marvel's shit for the next few years.

[Tom]

One of Marvel's latest ventures is motion comics. For those unfamiliar with the concept it is quite simply a half-way point between comics and full-blown animation. Currently, Spider-Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D. (Bendis and Maleev) is being serialised fortnightly with a serialised adaptation of Whedon and Cassaday's "Gifted" arc of Astonishing to come later in October.

More information here, plus a free live stream of the first Spider-Woman episode.

So, what do you think? Does the format work commercially? How will the current merger between Disney and Marvel affect this?

[ty.pitre]

I would be excited if Pixar did a Marvel Superhero movie. That would be awesome.

As it is, Marvel has been BLAH for me for quite awhile now - I stopped caring about the characters and the plots, and then just about everything else. Civil War was great. It was also the end of my Marvel fanboy-ism.

But seriously, imagine a Spider-man Pixar movie. It seems wrong, but it feels so, so right.