Disney To Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion

[CBright7831]

According to the New York Times (via Topless Robot), Disney has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock. This deal gives Disney rights to over Marvel’s 5,000+ characters, not to mention control over Marvel’s licensing, publishing, and film production capabilities. This acquisition is interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is that one year ago Marvel re-upped its contract with Paramount to distribute its next five films, including Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and Thor, among others. Furthermore, there are a plethora of loose ends, licensing-wise, that Disney will have to contend with before this deal starts to show its true worth.

Undoubtedly, the effects of this massive shift in the entertainment industry will be felt for quite some time. This is one of the largest acquisitions in Disney’s recent history, surpassed only by its acquisition of Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006 (and I think it’s safe to say that deal had a pretty significant impact on both companies involved).

More details on the repercussions of this deal are sure to come in the near future, but for now, you can find some highlights from the press release after the jump. Leave your thoughts, excitements, and predictions of doom and gloom in the comments.

SOURCE

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

Well as long as it doesn't spell the end of all Marvel characters being able to appear in each others films...

Is this the end of Marvel: Islands of Adventure at competing Universal Studios themepark?

 

[Mattdotcom]

Also worth mentioning is that Sony retains the rights to Spider-Man and Fox retains Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. I suppose those deals will expire someday and trigger a mighty bidding war, but I don't dick about the business of a cartoon studio/tween sex factory buying a comic book publishing group.

 

[vivisectvi]

Who gets the Iron Man franchise? That was Marvel Studios, right? And that studio is a part of the deal. Uh-oh....

Right now I'm laughing my ass off at the thought of seeing Marvel characters in a Kingdom Hearts sequel..

 

[CBright7831]

Who gets the Iron Man franchise? That was Marvel Studios, right? And that studio is a part of the deal. Uh-oh....

Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk = all Disney and Disney also owns the rights to the animation department of Spider-man and X-Men.

I was listening to Slashfilm's filmcast a few weeks ago (/Filmcast Ep. 63 - District 9 @ 59:19) and they said something about the rights to Superman will be coming up in a few years - meaning there might be a bidding war to end all bidding wars for Superman between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC.

HOLY SHIT someone is going to make bank on that.

 

[ZGangsta]

I was listening to Slashfilm's filmcast a few weeks ago and they said something about the rights to Superman will be coming up in a few years - meaning there might be a bidding war to end all bidding wars for Superman between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC.

HOLY SHIT someone is going to make bank on that.

I'm pretty sure you're misinformed on that.

The Siegel and Shuster estates have been making a big stink in recent years over royalty payments, but DC owns the character.

 

[CBright7831]

I was listening to Slashfilm's filmcast a few weeks ago and they said something about the rights to Superman will be coming up in a few years - meaning there might be a bidding war to end all bidding wars for Superman between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC.

HOLY SHIT someone is going to make bank on that.

I'm pretty sure you're misinformed on that.

The Siegel and Shuster estates have been making a big stink in recent years over royalty payments, but DC owns the character.

Warner Bros Has Lost Krypton; Will Lose Superman in 2013

 

[ZGangsta]

I was listening to Slashfilm's filmcast a few weeks ago and they said something about the rights to Superman will be coming up in a few years - meaning there might be a bidding war to end all bidding wars for Superman between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC.

HOLY SHIT someone is going to make bank on that.

I'm pretty sure you're misinformed on that.

The Siegel and Shuster estates have been making a big stink in recent years over royalty payments, but DC owns the character.

Warner Bros Has Lost Krypton; Will Lose Superman in 2013

I thought that got settled earlier this summer, but looking around, I guess not.

 

[ChrisMWaters]

Wonder if that means that some characters will no longer exist?

Like...the Punisher, for example.

 

[Kurt Angle Mark]

I was listening to Slashfilm's filmcast a few weeks ago and they said something about the rights to Superman will be coming up in a few years - meaning there might be a bidding war to end all bidding wars for Superman between Disney/Marvel and Warner Brothers/DC.

HOLY SHIT someone is going to make bank on that.

I'm pretty sure you're misinformed on that.

The Siegel and Shuster estates have been making a big stink in recent years over royalty payments, but DC owns the character.

Warner Bros Has Lost Krypton; Will Lose Superman in 2013

I thought that got settled earlier this summer, but looking around, I guess not.

Seriously though how valuable is the Superman rights to someone else if all they get is Krypton, Clark Kent, Superman in his 30's costume, Lois Lane and the Daily Star.

All his powers, current costume, world famous S logo, Daily Planet, supporting cast and history belong to DC/Warner

 

[vivisectvi]

Wonder if that means that some characters will no longer exist?

Like...the Punisher, for example.

I doubt it. The last thing they want to do after paying $4 Billion is to start losing fans left, right and centre. Actually, I doubt there's any cause for alarm when it comes to the actual comics themselves. As for the films, well, Disney owns Miramax and they still churn out some not-so-kid friendly flicks.

 

[bps21]

4 billion dollars.

They could have saved so much if they'd have bought it when it was bankrupt in 97 if they'd have had the forsight to realize comic book movies can make money.

 

[Big Green]

4 billion dollars.

They could have saved so much if they'd have bought it when it was bankrupt in 97 if they'd have had the forsight to realize comic book movies can make money.

From what I'm hearing, they overvalued Marvel. If you were a stockholder, you made a little bit of money a couple of days ago because of Marvel's stock jumping due to the purchase.

 

[bps21]

Funny non-story that no one will care about.

When I was a senior in highschool my AP economics class had a contest where we invested 10,000 dollars (obviously fake) into the stock of our choice. I dumped all mine into Marvel at like $2.00 or a $1.50 or something stupidly low since they had declared bankrupcy.

Fucking thing never moved all year and I didn't score well...

I'd really like to be regraded on that today.

 

[starvenger]

4 billion dollars.

They could have saved so much if they'd have bought it when it was bankrupt in 97 if they'd have had the forsight to realize comic book movies can make money.

Oddly enough, there's a book called Comic Wars about the Marvel bankruptcy and how Toy Biz came to own the property. Not much to do with the actual comics, but it's a decent read for nonfiction*.

*This assumes that this is actual nonfiction and not Ben Mezrich-style nonfiction.

 

[pochorenella]

I really think that most comic-book geeks are overreacting with the negativity output on this buyout. Of course I could be mistaken but there's been hardly any problems with the WB-owned DC so there's no reason to think Marvel comics are gonna be neutered or something, so I think the Punisher will still be killing crooks and Wolverine will still be slashing ninjas, and I sincerely doubt they'll be teaming Ghost Rider with Goofy anytime soon (although nobody complained when Green Lantern teamed with Daffy, did they?) The comics division should stay fairly independent, and the marketing opportunities are terrific, as well as possible Pixar/Marvel colaborations, although you have to remember that plenty of Marvel movie properties are already locked for several years with other studios or are well underway in-house so the movies could take a while. Marvel animation is already on Disney channels but we could expect some more stuff coming, and hopefully this means Spectacular Spider-Man will be renewed and have a long (and well-deserved) life on Disney's XD. So I think the positives far, far outweigh the negatives here.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Funny non-story that no one will care about.

When I was a senior in highschool my AP economics class had a contest where we invested 10,000 dollars (obviously fake) into the stock of our choice. I dumped all mine into Marvel at like $2.00 or a $1.50 or something stupidly low since they had declared bankrupcy.

Fucking thing never moved all year and I didn't score well...

I'd really like to be regraded on that today.

47.41 as of right now

 

[Mattdotcom]

I really think that most comic-book geeks are overreacting

Understatement of the decade. Although, of all the complaining and postulating I've seen online from the nerd contingent, their worry over what this means for the Kingdom Hearts video game is especially infuriating in its dumbass-ocity.

 

[bps21]

Funny non-story that no one will care about.

When I was a senior in highschool my AP economics class had a contest where we invested 10,000 dollars (obviously fake) into the stock of our choice. I dumped all mine into Marvel at like $2.00 or a $1.50 or something stupidly low since they had declared bankrupcy.

Fucking thing never moved all year and I didn't score well...

I'd really like to be regraded on that today.

47.41 as of right now

What kind of economics teacher grades you on trying to make quick money on the stock market? I'd be rich goddamnit. RICH.

 

[Smues]

We did that too, but we had I think $100,000, and you weren't allowed to invest in just one stock. I don't remember all the rules but there was a minimum number of companies you had to buy and a minimum number of shares you had to buy. I bought a bunch of Microsoft that had some decent gains during the quarter we did this, so while I didn't finish near the top (and the top teams actually won actual cash) I ended with a decent grade and full points.

 

[Big Green]

Funny non-story that no one will care about.

When I was a senior in highschool my AP economics class had a contest where we invested 10,000 dollars (obviously fake) into the stock of our choice. I dumped all mine into Marvel at like $2.00 or a $1.50 or something stupidly low since they had declared bankrupcy.

Fucking thing never moved all year and I didn't score well...

I'd really like to be regraded on that today.

47.41 as of right now

What kind of economics teacher grades you on trying to make quick money on the stock market? I'd be rich goddamnit. RICH.

My calculations show that you would've made just over $200,000.

 

[luke-o]

I honestly don't see why geeks and nerds are getting their knickers in a twist over this. The comics will stay as they are as they are a different entity of Marvel and the films won't change either. The profits of said films will just go into someone elses pockets.

 

[CBright7831]

I honestly don't see why geeks and nerds are getting their knickers in a twist over this. The comics will stay as they are as they are a different entity of Marvel and the films won't change either. The profits of said films will just go into someone elses pockets.

I dont either. I think we may see some Marvel characters rides at Disney in a few years and we may also see current and future Marvel cartoons on Disney - but thats all I see happening. I dont see Captain America showing up in Kingdom of Hearts or Iron Man making a cameo in any Pixar movies.

 

[Sabre]

Funny thing with Disney Rides.

Disney Florida probably wont be able to because Universal bought rights to use Marvel Characters, its the same principal that Sony owns Spiderman. Disney will just get royalties from every ticket sold in Island of Adventure.

 

[CBright7831]

Well there goes my dreams for a kickass Deadpool ride.

:'(

 

[Shooting Star]

Haven't all the Kevin Smith movies come out under Disney owned studios?

 

[Sabre]

Yes, Miramax.

 

[Mattdotcom]

And Disney made Kevin Smith put Big Bad Pete in all of his movies!



Wait no that was Kevin Smith

 

[luke-o]

Haven't all the Kevin Smith movies come out under Disney owned studios?

Not all. The Weinstien's left in 2005 and founded The Weinstein company who put out Clerks 2 and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Smith hasn't dealt with Miramax since the Weinsteins left.

 

[Black Lushus]

Disney also had Touchstone, Dimension Films and Hollywood Pictures who weren't exactly putting out nothing but G and PG movies either. Take a look at their pages on Wiki. There's some seriously R rated shit on those lists. This is such a non-issue, really...