Just back, CM's told us a secret that's gonna be HUGE

[Figment632]

^^

EC would be the last place he would be and I hate to say it but you were also missinformed.

 

[ASteelersMidget]

Couple of things here there are already traces of Marvel all over the world so I'm not sure if you're meaning rides and lands. But they have Flash shirts for sale in the store at Disney Quest and by the Star Wars stuff at D Street.

Flash is DC, not marvel.

 

[ASteelersMidget]

If that's true, then that is too bad because those movies are hot right now....but then again, these characters weren't just invented yesterday, you know? they have longevity and legions of fans. SOOOOO wish they had gotten DC superheroes..imagine Dark Knight and Superman at DHS...oh well. I am still excited about Marvel, though.

Doesn't The Six Flags company have exclusive DC Comics Theme park Rights?

 

[NoLineOntheHorizon]

Doesn't The Six Flags company have exclusive DC Comics Theme park Rights?

Yes. I think both are owned by Time Warner. What a waste!! Again, when I ride the Batman coaster or Superman, it is just a great coaster, and nothing inherently immersive about it.....just a ride that might as well be called Hulk, or Flash, or Green Lantern or whatever. whatever they decide to paint the steel and what superhero logo they put on the ride cars.

 

[DizCaptain]

Doesn't The Six Flags company have exclusive DC Comics Theme park Rights?

Too bad no one like DC Comics....what?

 

[ASteelersMidget]

Too bad no one like DC Comics....what?

 

[pilferk]

Apparently Disney owns the rights to Marvel Comics, and now that US is doing so well with HP, Disney has taken back the rights to MArvel...they are adding a major section to Hollywood Studios with several coasters based on Mavel comic charactors, and US will have to rename/re-invent any rides they have. This is suppose to begin in 2013 and be finished by 2015....this may have already been discussed on here, but just thought I'd let everyone know what we heard.

Disney can not use any of the Marvel characters, east of the Mississippi, that Universal has licensed. That includes:
Spiderman
Fantastic 4
Hulk
ANY of the X-men (or members of the "X-Universe").

Universal's agreement is basically in perpetuity. They can not change or significantly upgrade the rides (or add any new ones) and are required to maintain them to a specific standard (I'm sure that standard is outlined in minute detail in the contract). Other than that.....there is literally nothing Disney can do to break that contract other than offer Universal obscene amounts of money. And Universal has no pressure on them to accept it. Basically, Disney would likely need to pay whatever it cost Universal to build the current rides, whatever it would cost Universal to build new rides AND whatever Universal feels they would lose during the time it takes to build those new rides.

The Disney stockholders would be, I'm sure, less than pleased to see 500 million+ leave their cash coffers just to regain those rights.

Now add to the fact that Marvel does not control the media rights to other big properties (like Spiderman, X-men, Daredevil, Fantastic 4 (now 3), Iron Man (until Avengers/UM3), Thor (until Avengers), Hulk (Until Avengers), Captain America (Until Avengers), etc) which makes it hard (and somewhat less synergistic) to put them in theme parks......

CM's and Bus Drivers will often recite the rumor du jour. It's not always accurate. They might not be LYING to you...they're just wrong.

FYI, we've had this same discussion a couple times over the past couple months. If you look at the reliable sources on this subject.....the general agreement is: It ain't happening. Not until UNIVERSAL decides it's done with the characters. It would be prohibitively expensive for Disney to try to buy back those rights, and it would create huge brand confusion to try to implement a large Marvel presence in both places.

The current contract is sorta nice for Disney, too: They sit back and garner profits from their competitor while having to invest nothing in terms of maintenance, R&D, or advertising.

 

[pilferk]

Couple of things here there are already traces of Marvel all over the world so I'm not sure if you're meaning rides and lands. But they have Flash shirts for sale in the store at Disney Quest and by the Star Wars stuff at D Street.

Flash isn't Marvel. Flash is DC.

 

[doconeill]

FYI, Disney bought back the distribution rights for IM3 and The Avengers. In essence, Paramount is making money for doing nothing for them, much the way Disney is making money on the theme parks license without any of the work.

Paramount still has Thor and Captain America though.

 

[pilferk]

Please read my earlier post...they are doing that. The next couple of marvel movies are based on thor, capatain america, and the avengers, with a couple of xmen movies here and there.

Thor and Capt America are still Paramount projects,and Paramount will still Distribute them.

Iron Man 3 and The Avengers will be distributed by Disney. Disney payed out 115 million (and I think that's just the downpayment...there could be more depending on how much those 2 movies gross) to get the distribution rights. I think Paramount is still listed as the production company, though.

 

[pilferk]

The Avengers includes The Hulk, prominently featured at IOA. Another Spider-Man is in production, X-Men: First Class, and Disney is even going to air a new Hulk TV series on ABC.

Sounds like they are cutting back to me...

The Spider man movie and the X-men movie have zippo to do with Disney.

Spider man/Ghost Rider are iron clad with Sony and X-men/X-Universe/Fantastic 4 (now 3)/Daredevil are iron clad with Fox...as long as they continue to produce movies. That's why you saw Sony rushing into a reboot of the Spidey franchise (though I think the Ghost Rider franchise is going to die on the vine). Disney can't take those back (Marvel tried, once, and failed) without Sony/Fox agreeing to it...which would take a monstrous cash outlay.

The film rights to the Hulk reverted back to Marvel in 2006, when Universal couldn't meet a deadline to start principal photography for the sequel. Universal got to distribute that sequel...but their involvement with the Hulk movie rights ended there. Paramount secured the rights from Marvel for him to be part of the Avengers movies (and, I think, a movie featuring him that never got off the ground), but after that the rights revert back to Marvel.

 

[doconeill]

The Spider man movie and the X-men movie have zippo to do with Disney.

Spider man/Ghost Rider are iron clad with Sony and X-men/X-Universe/Fantastic 4 (now 3)/Daredevil are iron clad with Fox...as long as they continue to produce movies. That's why you saw Sony rushing into a reboot of the Spidey franchise (though I think the Ghost Rider franchise is going to die on the vine). Disney can't take those back (Marvel tried, once, and failed) without Sony/Fox agreeing to it...which would take a monstrous cash outlay.

The film rights to the Hulk reverted back to Marvel in 2006, when Universal couldn't meet a deadline to start principal photography for the sequel. Universal got to distribute that sequel...but their involvement with the Hulk movie rights ended there. Paramount secured the rights from Marvel for him to be part of the Avengers movies (and, I think, a movie featuring him that never got off the ground), but after that the rights revert back to Marvel.

Disney, through Marvel, will still take in money for the licensing fees for the movies, regardless of who produces/distributes them. Disney would preferably in some senses have distribution rights as they can better control the income. It can be a toss-up as to whether they'd want production to be in-house as well - and there are certain limitations to them being able to do that due to anti-trust regulations.

As I said in the post before yours (which says the same thing), Paramount DID have the distribution rights to IM3 and The Avengers, but Disney bought that back from them. The Avengers is essentially all in-house now, with it being produced directly by Marvel Studios. Not 100% sure about IM3.

 

[pilferk]

Too bad no one like DC Comics....what?

The Bat titles are still, consistently, the best mainstream titles on the market.

The X-titles are a close second (though they sell a lot better).

Spidey has REALLY gone down hill, as has Capt America (since Bucky took over and then Rogers reappeared). Even the Ultimate titles have lost their luster.

Honestly, the best titles out there are now under the Vertigo sub-brand of DC. Fables, Human Target, House of Mystery....great stuff.

 

[pilferk]

Disney, through Marvel, will still take in money for the licensing fees for the movies, regardless of who produces/distributes them. Disney would preferably in some senses have distribution rights as they can better control the income. It can be a toss-up as to whether they'd want production to be in-house as well - and there are certain limitations to them being able to do that due to anti-trust regulations.

As I said in the post before yours (which says the same thing), Paramount DID have the distribution rights to IM3 and The Avengers, but Disney bought that back from them. The Avengers is essentially all in-house now, with it being produced directly by Marvel Studios. Not 100% sure about IM3.

True, they make some money either way with Spidey and the X franchise. My point is just they don't actually control the product in any way....they just collect the checks. Disney (well, Marvel, really) doesn't have control of anything but where they put their signature on the back of those checks.

I THOUGHT that Paramount was still getting a production credit with Avengers and IM3...that was part of the buyout deal. But it's probably fair to say that Marvel Studios is pretty much in control of the content of those films (and casting, etc).

 

[doconeill]

I THOUGHT that Paramount was still getting a production credit with Avengers and IM3...that was part of the buyout deal. But it's probably fair to say that Marvel Studios is pretty much in control of the content of those films (and casting, etc).

Not sure if they are getting a production credit, but I do know that the $115m Disney paid Paramount is a "minimum guarantee", and if the films due real well, Disney will pay Paramount more, based on a fixed percentage.

 

[pilferk]

Not sure if they are getting a production credit, but I do know that the $115m Disney paid Paramount is a "minimum guarantee", and if the films due real well, Disney will pay Paramount more, based on a fixed percentage.

Yup, and I think that was why they had to give Paramount the production credit. It had to do with compensation, SAG backend guarentees for the actors involved (like Robert Downey), and some other sticking points....to make sure that Paramounts piece wasn't taken out of Disney/Marvels coffers, but off the top. The only way to give Paramount a "scale" of the revenue was to give them a production credit. Something like that....

 

[RCaroll]

Guess we wait and see then.

 

[Mickeyistheman]

I just was in the Disney Store this past weekend and boy did they have a TON of merchandise for Marvel. Thor, Capt. America and Iron Man. Don't remember really seeing any Hulk or Spidey.

Thor is the big movie for the summer as is Capt. America and I am betting you they will make money off of it. That was part of the deal when they bought Marvel. They will at some point use them in their theme parks.

Why else would they spend that amount of money for the rights.

 

[doconeill]

I just was in the Disney Store this past weekend and boy did they have a TON of merchandise for Marvel. Thor, Capt. America and Iron Man. Don't remember really seeing any Hulk or Spidey.

Thor is the big movie for the summer as is Capt. America and I am betting you they will make money off of it. That was part of the deal when they bought Marvel. They will at some point use them in their theme parks.

Why else would they spend that amount of money for the rights.

Using them in the theme parks isn't the only way to make money off a property. The movies themselves, perhaps? The comics?

Universal may also have merchandise rights to Hulk and Spidey, not sure. And merchandise rights could be limited to stuff associated with the attractions - but Disney might not want to cross too close to the border and be seen as possibly advertising a popular attraction at Universal. The others are more incidental at Universal and so not a big deal.

 

[nytimez]

Using them in the theme parks isn't the only way to make money off a property. The movies themselves, perhaps? The comics?

Universal may also have merchandise rights to Hulk and Spidey, not sure. And merchandise rights could be limited to stuff associated with the attractions - but Disney might not want to cross too close to the border and be seen as possibly advertising a popular attraction at Universal. The others are more incidental at Universal and so not a big deal.

I've definitely seen tons of Spider-Man merchandise at WDW already. I've seen some Hulk stuff, too, but not nearly as much. Last time I was there, a big part of MouseGears in Epcot was Marvel stuff, including Spidey.