Major Rumor Marvel in ToT update page 25

[3DisneyFanz]

You underestimate DC"s presence in six flags parks. Here in Texas they are opening an entirely new Gotham area this summer. A Catwoman's Whip ride, a Harley Quinn spinner, and a Riddler's Revenge coaster. This fits in with the already installed Batmans and Freeze coasters. The same goes for every other 6 Flags park, the DC/Looney Tunes licenses are the last ones they have after giving up all the rest around 2010.

Is retheming possible? Sure, but at what cost? 6Flags over Texas alone would have the retheme nearly a third of the park, most of it being brand new. The cost of retheming every single on of their parks, along with the lost revenus of having these attractions closed in the process and the lost value of having licenseless rides, and the lost sales of DC merch are all big pills to swallow.

So sure, it's possible, but why would Six Flags want that to happen?

Now, if Warner Bros absolutely wanted to pull the license from Six Flags, they actually can. They have escape clauses in their contract, and the only reason Six Flags HAS these licenses to begin with was because they used to be ownded by Time Warner.

Either way though, you have to assume Universal would actually want to
A: Give up rights to the, undeniably, bigger brand
B: Take 1/5 of IOA down for a complete refurb/retheme for a good portion of a year or more
C: Want to tackle something like this when they have major construction plotted out to 2020 currently
D: End up giving Disney something back they can then roundly use to attack the exact same demographic that Universal has leads in - teenage boys and young men.

Consider these notions as well:
*Hulk will have just reopened when these negotiations start
*Spider-Man can't simply be "rethemed". A whole new movie, ride motion, sets, queueu, etc have to be built in
*Universal turns over a ton of merch currently. They'd have to walk away from all that
*There have been strong rumors that they are actually going in the opposite direction and *adding* rides to the area.
*The value of something like the DC license is heavily hinged on the performance of Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad. If they don't do well (as in amazing), you can kiss any chance of DC getting out of Six Flags goodbye.
*Even if Disney got Marvel, the best anyone can hope for over the next 4-5 years is some rethemes, parades, and M&Gs. Their construction schedule is pretty full right now. And there won't be a 5th gate just for Marvel, which means you get to have it shoehorned into an existing park. Considering MK is at near capacity, DHS and AK are getting huge upgrades currently, that means Future World is where it would most likely get dropped. Proceed to riot.

I joke all the time that between Star Wars, Marvel and Disney itself tWDC now owns my childhood. I personally don't want to see Disney get control of the Marvel properties for the theme parks right now. Unfortunately I have zero faith that they would be able to do it justice under the current leadership team. Maybe my feelings will change in 5 years when we see Toy Story and Star Wars in HS but for now I prefer it where it is.

 

[Eoghann]

Well - that argument would've worked two years ago - but the fact is they ARE building something new. At least two new lands, probably three new lands, and possibly FOUR new lands for DHS, so criticizing them for re-theming one ride there by saying they should build new...they are building new also.

Again, I can't get too worked up about this because it makes no sense. This is the same group of folks can't take Expedition Everest down for 4 weeks to fix the Yeti. You really think their gonna shut down ToT for several months in a park that's already half closed and has only 5 rides?

Yeah it's not the re-theming in and of itself, it's the apparent stupidity of this re-theme that gets me. I don't even like ToT, but it's not hard to recognize something doesn't need fixing. I feel like there's a piece to this that hasn't come out yet.

1) It's an exercise by Disney to identify the leaks
2) It's a blue sky proposal and no more than that
3) It's a distraction from something else
4) Cocaine...

 

[skier_pete]

1) It's an exercise by Disney to identify the leaks
2) It's a blue sky proposal and no more than that
3) It's a distraction from something else
4) Cocaine...

5th option - it's floating a balloon to see public reaction. Even the rumor focuses on the DCA version. Perhaps they want to see what the reaction is from fans on both coasts. Most of the negative reaction I see here is regarding Florida, which makes sense since this board is dominated by WDW fans over here, but perhaps there is not the same level of fervor about the DCA version - which would lead them to reconsider the theme there. The conversion in DCA makes infinite more sense than in Florida, only because they want to put in a Marvel land but have almost no room to do so.

I've always thought that Disney would be reticent about putting Marvel in the parks in Florida not just because of the deal, but because of the confusion between Universal and themselves. Unless they can actually pull marvel out of Universal Florida - I would think they really wouldn't WANT Marvel in their parks. Both resort having Marvel would make that connection even harder to dinguish, having guests showing up at WDW asking "where is the Spiderman ride?".

 

[Phicinfan]

5th option - it's floating a balloon to see public reaction. Even the rumor focuses on the DCA version. Perhaps they want to see what the reaction is from fans on both coasts. Most of the negative reaction I see here is regarding Florida, which makes sense since this board is dominated by WDW fans over here, but perhaps there is not the same level of fervor about the DCA version - which would lead them to reconsider the theme there. The conversion in DCA makes infinite more sense than in Florida, only because they want to put in a Marvel land but have almost no room to do so.

I've always thought that Disney would be reticent about putting Marvel in the parks in Florida not just because of the deal, but because of the confusion between Universal and themselves. Unless they can actually pull marvel out of Universal Florida - I would think they really wouldn't WANT Marvel in their parks. Both resort having Marvel would make that connection even harder to dinguish, having guests showing up at WDW asking "where is the Spiderman ride?".

6th option, this is Disney tweeking Universal to see what reaction it gets. I have no doubt that there is someone clueless in the Disney chain that sees no issue with this, thinking that Marvel is a big draw, and that this would be a huge help to a park that is struggling with changeover. Add to that, there has to be someone thinking....Universal is pushing us...what would be the reaction if we decided to push the marvel aspect in FL, and CA quickly? Marvel in CA is a given, at some point, but in FL?!?!?

Only time will tell, but can say responses I have read so far from those who have emailed key management is Disney is 100% denying this rumor. Not hedging, denying. So I doubt it happens, and wonder if this wasn't a shot across the bow of Uni.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

My wife just read that ToT could receive a guardians of the galaxy makeover. I hope this is not true.

 

[jade1]

Yea I'm in the completely stupid camp on this one, wait that didn't come out right but you know what I meant.......or did you?

Sorry loved Dead Pool.

 

[Eoghann]

If I was feeling really cynical, and lets face it I usually am...

Wouldn't it be a great way to get attention, stick the knife in to executives that "I" clearly don't like and generally cause trouble to spread a rumor like this. And the great thing is, when it doesn't happen... well the outcry changed their minds because not only are they worthless, unimaginative hacks, but they're cowards too. And lets face it a portion of the fans will buy that, the conspiracy theorists are already in full flow.

Seems like a certain spirited commentator is in a no lose position on this one. I will watch with interest.

 

[EricInPA]

The "Disney will tell China to inflate the Shanghai Disneyland attendance numbers" rumor is another great no-lose rumor for Disney pessimists/conspiracy theorists.

 

[rteetz]

The "Disney will tell China to inflate the Shanghai Disneyland attendance numbers" rumor is another great no-lose rumor for Disney pessimists/conspiracy theorists.

It's actually the other way around. China is telling Disney to inflate the numbers for TEA.

 

[Eoghann]

It's actually the other way around. China is telling Disney to inflate the numbers for TEA.

Either way it's an unprovable. If the numbers are better than WDW everyone shouts "See, they're faked!", if they're not everyone shouts "See even after faking them they're still low, it's a failure!".

Honestly China doesn't need Disney to inflate the numbers. If they want people to go to the park, they'll just send them to the park.

 

[rteetz]

Either way it's an unprovable. If the numbers are better than WDW everyone shouts "See, they're faked!", if they're not everyone shouts "See even after faking them they're still low, it's a failure!".

Honestly China doesn't need Disney to inflate the numbers. If they want people to go to the park, they'll just send them to the park.

That's true but I don't see this park breaking the MK numbers and if it does I think the numbers were inflated a bit.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Didn't Disney make a Tower of Terror film based off the ride? Aren't they working on a remake? Why, if they are looking at dropping twilight zone, wouldn't they just re-theme it to the movie they made? Keep the IP in house and have minimal changes to the ride while promoting a new movie? Or am I missing something really obvious? (besides them wanting to cash in on Marvel merch)

 

[101disneyfan]

Didn't Disney make a Tower of Terror film based off the ride? Aren't they working on a remake? Why, if they are looking at dropping twilight zone, wouldn't they just re-theme it to the movie they made? Keep the IP in house and have minimal changes to the ride while promoting a new movie? Or am I missing something really obvious? (besides them wanting to cash in on Marvel merch)

They closed Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland nine months before the release date of The Country Bears movie. This is not unprecedented.

 

[rteetz]

They closed Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland nine months before the release date of The Country Bears movie. This is not unprecedented.

And they're having a country bear themed 5k there in September when they don't have a country bear attraction.

 

[ChrisFL]

5th option - it's floating a balloon to see public reaction. Even the rumor focuses on the DCA version. Perhaps they want to see what the reaction is from fans on both coasts. Most of the negative reaction I see here is regarding Florida, which makes sense since this board is dominated by WDW fans over here, but perhaps there is not the same level of fervor about the DCA version - which would lead them to reconsider the theme there. The conversion in DCA makes infinite more sense than in Florida, only because they want to put in a Marvel land but have almost no room to do so.

I've always thought that Disney would be reticent about putting Marvel in the parks in Florida not just because of the deal, but because of the confusion between Universal and themselves. Unless they can actually pull marvel out of Universal Florida - I would think they really wouldn't WANT Marvel in their parks. Both resort having Marvel would make that connection even harder to dinguish, having guests showing up at WDW asking "where is the Spiderman ride?".

That and DCA's tower is a much lower quality attraction than WDW's

 

[Madteaparty001]

They closed Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland nine months before the release date of The Country Bears movie. This is not unprecedented.

Was the attraction as popular as ToT? Didn't the movie bomb? (did they know it would bomb?) Did they replace it with something better?

 

[rteetz]

Was the attraction as popular as ToT? Didn't the movie bomb? (did they know it would bomb?) Did they replace it with something better?

Yes the movie wasn't that great (I do own it though). They replaced country bears with the Winnie the pooh ridein DL I believe.

 

[101disneyfan]

Was the attraction as popular as ToT? Didn't the movie bomb? (did they know it would bomb?) Did they replace it with something better?

That was not the point that I was making. I was responding to a post on "how can they do this with a ToT movie in development?"

 

[Madteaparty001]

That was not the point that I was making. I was responding to a post on "how can they do this with a ToT movie in development?"

The question wasn't how, it was why, why would Disney spend the money to change ToT to GotG when they could change it to ToT movie style, saving the IP cost, spending less on a redo, and promoting a new movie. If Disney is truly about the $$$ these days and ToT is on their list of 'must change' then it makes sense. Or they could decide to not fix what isn't broken.

 

[Eoghann]

The question wasn't how, it was why, why would Disney spend the money to change ToT to GotG when they could change it to ToT movie style, saving the IP cost, spending less on a redo, and promoting a new movie. If Disney is truly about the $$$ these days and ToT is on their list of 'must change' then it makes sense. Or they could decide to not fix what isn't broken.

Because Disney isn't a single entity. It's a series of very large divisions that operate much like fiefdoms. Unless this initiative has been spearheaded by Iger himself, the existence of that movie isn't really playing into the decision.