Disney buying Marvel (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer

2) Disney could give a rat's ass about the comics.

Yep and as a comic reader, that sends chills down my spine. My fear is that somewhere in the near future, Disney will pull the plug on Marvel publishing comics and have their comics go online-only and if Marvel stops publishing comics, every other company will either make the switch to online comics or close shop.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Travis, that is what keeps you completely safe. The suits probably see the monthlies as a tax to pay for the popularity of the properties they bought. They'd never, EVER get rid of tactile monthly comics. The money saved in digitizing the process and removing physical comics would be completely inconsequential to their bottom line, and very, very counter-productive to their goals.

Quite the contrary, Disney's deep pockets will probably allow quality work on lesser Marvel titles with merely decent sales to continue for longer than Marvel's current policies allow. This will open the aperture beyond Spidey, X-Men, Wolverine, Avengers being necessary for a monthly comic. With that much capital, they can take more risks on comics and lesser known heroes and stories. Disney NOT caring is quite good for the comics, creatively.

 

[Shane D]

without comics to establish the characters then there are no characters that anyone would want to see movies about.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer ">[/url]

Travis, that is what keeps you completely safe. The suits probably see the monthlies as a tax to pay for the popularity of the properties they bought. They'd never, EVER get rid of tactile monthly comics. The money saved in digitizing the process and removing physical comics would be completely inconsequential to their bottom line, and very, very counter-productive to their goals.

Quite the contrary, Disney's deep pockets will probably allow quality work on lesser Marvel titles with merely decent sales to continue for longer than Marvel's current policies allow. This will open the aperture beyond Spidey, X-Men, Wolverine, Avengers being necessary for a monthly comic. With that much capital, they can take more risks on comics and lesser known heroes and stories. Disney NOT caring is quite good for the comics, creatively.[/QUOTE]
That sounds more thought out than my own admittedly paranoid fears so I'll believe you.

 

[SilverWook]

Disney can't seem to figure out what to do with the Muppets. Except for the odd tv movie, and having Kermit edited out of the few tv specials they didn't get in the deal. So, what on earth will they do with Marvel?

I'd also hate to see some old Marvel tv show or film fall into the DVD limbo the 1960's Batman series is stuck in.

 

[MatthewA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverWook

Disney can't seem to figure out what to do with the Muppets. Except for the odd tv movie, and having Kermit edited out of the few tv specials they didn't get in the deal. So, what on earth will they do with Marvel?

I'd also hate to see some old Marvel tv show or film fall into the DVD limbo the 1960's Batman series is stuck in.

The Muppets were already floundering after Jim Henson's death; they still flounder because no one seems to be taking charge and being the singular creative force as Henson was.

I don't read comic books and know little about how Marvel is doing, but if corporate doesn't interfere, and if creative decisions aren't made by committee, they should be fine.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Well, Marvel is the #1 comic book company in the US, with over half the market share. Supposedly, the comics are worth about 40 million a year to Marvel.

As a comic geek, part of me wants to run screaming through the hills, thinking there's no way this could be good.

But, if Disney leaves the comic side alone, and just wants properties they can use for animation and movies, this could be the kick in the ass Marvel needs to create new, interesting characters instead of relying solely on Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four, who are all locked into deals with other production companies.

It could go either way, and only time will tell just how badly comic book fans will get screwed.

 

[Sam Favate]

As long as the publishing arm of Marvel (comics, hardcovers, paperbacks) doesn't constantly operate at a significant loss, Disney won't bother them.

 

[mattCR]

There have, however, been a few good muppet vehicles since his death.. though the one several wait for (Dark Crystal 2) is still in development hell, enough so that Robot Chicken managed to take a 2 minute swipe at it.

I'm trying to think of major Marvel characters that have not already made their way to the screen or have films attached.

 

[Shad R]

Wait, does Disney own the muppets again? I remember in 1999 Columbia bought the rights.
What's the deal with Kermit being edited? Is there a link? I'm a huge muppet fan.

 

[Sam Favate]

Disney does indeed own the rights to the Muppets. They bought them in the '90s. They've never changed hands, as far as I know. Perhaps Columbia had a distribution deal for some videos, but never the rights to the characters.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Disney didn't buy the Muppets until 2004. Before 2004, Disney had nothing to do with Muppets except for airing some Muppet related programming (like Fraggle Rock) on the Disney Channel.

 

[mattCR]

My kids & I sat down and watched "Dark Crystal" last night.. I am so ready for the BD of it.. one of the most beautiful looking films.

And, just so it is relevent.. it made a great limited edition Marvel comic. I have a feeling Marvel could also see a lot of "limited edition" tie in vehicles that would be virtual break even advertising in it's future.

 

[SilverWook]

Henson almost sealed a deal with Disney before his death, but they wanted the Sesame Street characters too, and that apparently was a deal breaker. The last project Henson worked on was the 3-D Muppet film that still plays in Disney theme parks today.

Disney did distribute the last two theatrical Muppet films, and aired Muppets Tonight! on ABC, before finally getting most of the Muppets body and soul a few years back. They did not get Fraggle Rock or the non-Muppet films like Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.

Kermit had a small role as narrator in Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, and The Christmas Toy. Both specials were not part of the Disney deal, and his scenes are cut from the DVD versions.

Current non-Disney Henson projects do not use the Muppet name at all, even though the style of the puppets being used is unmistakable.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by SilverWook

Disney did distribute the last two theatrical Muppet films

Muppets From Space was produced by Columbia.

 

[SilverWook]

Originally Posted by MatthewA




Muppets From Space was produced by Columbia.

You're right! I forgot about that one, and thought Muppet Treasure Island was the last feature film released.

 

[TerryRL]

According to Entertainment Weekly, "Pixar is said to be eyeballing an Ant-Man movie".

Marvel films rights currently locked with other studios...

FOX
-Daredevil (reboot coming)
-Fantastic Four (reboot coming)
-Silver Surfer (spin-off feature coming)
-X-Men (X-Men: First Class is currently being prepped, while several X-Men Origins movies are being planned along with the Wolverine sequel)
(Fox's deals state that all rights revert back to Marvel if films of these characters aren't made within a certain amount of time.)

PARAMOUNT
-Avengers (the deal includes a sequel)
-Captain America (the deal includes a sequel)
-Iron Man (the deal includes two sequels)
-Thor (the deal includes a sequel)
(Overall, the studio has a nine-picture pact with Paramount. When a ninth film is completed, all rights will be controlled by Disney.)

SONY
-Spider-Man
(Spidey is the one property that Disney probably won't be able to get their hands for for quite some time, if ever.)

UNIVERSAL
-Hulk
-Universal also has theme-park rights to several Marvel characters.
(Hulk is expected to appear in the upcoming Avengers feature, but Universal isn't likely to make another sequel.)

Disney will probably wait to make a big screen live-action flick based on a Marvel character, but look for the animation department to focus on the many less popular heroes on Marvel's sizable slate.

 

[Jose Martinez]

Marvel's deal with Fox really sucks. Fox will only keep rebooting or making crappy sequels just to keep the rights.

 

[TerryRL]

It was a very smart move of Fox to structure the deal they have with Marvel the way they did. As you stated, all the studio has to do is continue to crank out these movies, no matter how good or bad they are to maintain the rights. With the Disney deal, Fox made sure to put making new films of these franchises their top priority. As many as three new 'X-Men Origins' films are said to be "in the works" (Magneto, Deadpool, and possibly Gambit), with a second 'Wolverine' feature hitting theaters as soon as 2011. Fox also has stepped up work on the new "X-Men: First Class" movie. Reboots for both Daredevil and Fantastic Four are underway. Fox is also looking for someone to write the eventual Silver Surfer feature as well.

Disney won't be securing any of Fox's rights in the foreseeable future. The same can be said for Sony's lock-down of the Spider-Man franchise.

 

[Shane D]

i just hope incredibles doesnt get forgotten. i want more of those instead of marvel cgi.