Marvel Land

[rteetz]

Interesting points. But where would a California themepark go? There is no room there for them to put it. I guess they could buy up property (expensive) or put it in one of the many parking lots but there really isnt much room to insert a new park there.

They wouldn't build an entire new park in California if anything it would be a single ride or an expansion.

 

[Kronk N Tink]

If I am correct Guardians of the Galaxy can be used in Florida since there is no representation in Uni. We will continue to see charcters that are not in Uni or part of the contract coming to wdw resort.

Even that one is kinda fuzzy, Iron Man was recently a member of GotG and is also an Avenger (who would be off limits due to the Cap and Hulk connections) they could make a case to lump the whole group together.

 

[Polydweller]

Even that one is kinda fuzzy, Iron Man was recently a member of GotG and is also an Avenger (who would be off limits due to the Cap and Hulk connections) they could make a case to lump the whole group together.

Right, there just has to be representation of any member of the Marvel group/family at UNI. And your example shows that the relationships can be intricate. Once any member of a group/family is represented at UNI the whole group/family is out for Disney.

Instead of looking for loopholes, just take it for granted that the Disney lawyers know that contract backwards and would let them use characters if it was possible and it just isn't based on how careful they have been at WDW up to now.

 

[EricBowser]

Who buys a billion dollar product and can't control 100% of it?

Why does this contract exist in the first place and how was it not bought out by Disney? Deals are always broken, seems pretty weak on Disney's part to just let this happen.

Hollywood Studios has a few fun rides but as a family, we only pick this as a 1-day park on our trip. Didn't help for our trip next week (starts 1/19), backlot tour being closed really stinks.

 

[disneylovin24]

Who buys a billion dollar product and can't control 100% of it?

Why does this contract exist in the first place and how was it not bought out by Disney? Deals are always broken, seems pretty weak on Disney's part to just let this happen.

Hollywood Studios has a few fun rides but as a family, we only pick this as a 1-day park on our trip. Didn't help for our trip next week (starts 1/19), backlot tour being closed really stinks.

You gotta guess Disney was content with the money it would be making from the films and was more interested in the film aspect of it all. And it also can make theme parks off of it everywhere but Florida. I am sure Disney can make enough of off Marvel that not being able to have rides in Florida was a small hit.

 

[rteetz]

Who buys a billion dollar product and can't control 100% of it? Why does this contract exist in the first place and how was it not bought out by Disney? Deals are always broken, seems pretty weak on Disney's part to just let this happen. Hollywood Studios has a few fun rides but as a family, we only pick this as a 1-day park on our trip. Didn't help for our trip next week (starts 1/19), backlot tour being closed really stinks.

Universal the former owner of marvel already had rides in their park. They did not want to change the rides or build new ones. Therefor they had this contract formed.

 

[DanBoris]

Who buys a billion dollar product and can't control 100% of it?

Why does this contract exist in the first place and how was it not bought out by Disney? Deals are always broken, seems pretty weak on Disney's part to just let this happen.

Hollywood Studios has a few fun rides but as a family, we only pick this as a 1-day park on our trip. Didn't help for our trip next week (starts 1/19), backlot tour being closed really stinks.

This sort of thing probably exists in almost any media related acquisition. It happened with the Lucasfilm acquisition, Fox retained the rights to distribute the the original 6 films (Episode four in perpetuity). This wasn't any surprise to Disney, they knew about the contract and decided it wasn't a deal breaker. In the grand scheme of things the use of the Marvel characters in one resort is not a big deal. Disney will make far more money off the movies then they ever will off Marvel characters in the parks. I would think far worse, but obviously still not a deal breaker, is that Disney doesn't have the rights to do Spiderman movies, Sony still owns those rights.

Also note that this isn't a deal that Disney can just choose to break unless they want to pay a lot of money. It's not the sort of deal that has to be periodically re-negotiated. It exists in perpetuity with the only change being an increase in the licensing fee based on the US Consumer Price Index.

 

[DanBoris]

Universal the former owner of marvel already had rides in their park. They did not want to change the rides or build new ones. Therefor they had this contract formed.

Universal never owned Marvel and didn't have Marvel rides prior to this contract When the idea to build Islands of Adventure came up they made this deal with Marvel so that they could have a Marvel area in the park when it first opened.

 

[rteetz]

Universal never owned Marvel and didn't have Marvel rides prior to this contract When the idea to build Islands of Adventure came up they made this deal with Marvel so that they could have a Marvel area in the park when it first opened.

ok but the contract between disney and universal is what I'm talking about. Before disney owned marvel marvel had a prior contract with universal so they could have marvel areas in their parks. So marvel was in universal before disney owned them.

 

[DanBoris]

ok but the contract between disney and universal is what I'm talking about. Before disney owned marvel marvel had a prior contract with universal so they could have marvel areas in their parks. So marvel was in universal before disney owned them.

Ah, ok, yes that is correct. The contract was pre-existing and Disney was required to abide by the contract when they purchased Marvel.

 

[WMorganS]

Ah, ok, yes that is correct. The contract was pre-existing and Disney was required to abide by the contract when they purchased Marvel.

I read the contract myself a couple of years ago, and I'd swear the wording was that no one could use Marvel in a theme park within a few hundred miles of a Universal park. Of course, that might have been a leaked early draft or something, and it was a long time ago.
edit: Does anyone have a link to it online?

 

[rag10576]

There's bound to be a fight coming on the use of charcters. At some point either Disney allows Uni to expand or Disney will have to pay up for the rights. I dont see them not capitalising on Marvel in their parks especially the Florida resort.

 

[Polydweller]

I read the contract myself a couple of years ago, and I'd swear the wording was that no one could use Marvel in a theme park within a few hundred miles of a Universal park. Of course, that might have been a leaked early draft or something, and it was a long time ago.
edit: Does anyone have a link to it online?

Nope, east of the Mississippi. Anywhere else Disney can use them.

What you might be referring to are the sections about advertising. Any advertising using Marvel characters within about 100 miles of Universal Florida can only be for a national/international promotion. So Disney can use the characters to advertise a movie on the resort and express monorails. But it has to be that level.

 

[Polydweller]

There's bound to be a fight coming on the use of charcters. At some point either Disney allows Uni to expand or Disney will have to pay up for the rights. I dont see them not capitalising on Marvel in their parks especially the Florida resort.

If a fight was possible maybe but that contract simply doesn't allow for it. Uni would have to make some big mistake to lose the characters cause there are clauses that allow Uni to correct mistakes. So even a mistake doesn't cause Uni to lose their rights. There just is no way for Marvel to come to Disney in Florida.

 

[DanBoris]

I read the contract myself a couple of years ago, and I'd swear the wording was that no one could use Marvel in a theme park within a few hundred miles of a Universal park. Of course, that might have been a leaked early draft or something, and it was a long time ago.
edit: Does anyone have a link to it online?

Here is the contract:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1262449/000119312510008732/dex1057.htm

As someone else said you could be thinking about the advertising clauses. There is also a section of the contract about a retail concept that Marvel was developing which couldn't be built within 60 miles of Universal.

 

[rag10576]

I do see a way though. Advertising. With the new HP area opening , Uni still has to promote Marvel. Looks luke disney will let them keep what they have . But capitalise in other charcters not in the family of avengers or fantastic four.

 

[tjkraz]

I do see a way though. Advertising. With the new HP area opening , Uni still has to promote Marvel. Looks luke disney will let them keep what they have . But capitalise in other charcters not in the family of avengers or fantastic four.

Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and X-Men, at the very least. That leaves Marvel's cupboard fairly bare...at least in terms of characters that have high name recognition among the general public.

Guardians of the Galaxy will get some play this summer, but I highly doubt Disney green-lit that film in hopes that it would lead to a Florida theme park attraction.

I'm sure there are differing opinions on some levels at Disney but reality is they get guaranteed character promotions and licensing revenues from their biggest theme park competitor without having to build a single thing. Universal would want a lot of money to terminate the agreement, and there's no good reason for Disney to spend that money. They'd end up funding Harry Potter Phase 4 at IOA.

 

[rag10576]

I agree. Hopefully we will see some promotion of Guardians of the Galaxy and Big Hero 6 at WDW.

 

[rteetz]

I agree. Hopefully we will see some promotion of Guardians of the Galaxy and Big Hero 6 at WDW.

Yeah another monorail wrap

 

[ElCapitanAmerica]

You will not see a marvel character in a WDW theme park period. You could see theme on a monorail only on the resort line, you could see them in a resort, or in a store outside a theme park. You will not see a marvel character that currently exists in a WDW theme park. Disney could create their own characters and out those in the theme parks tho but they would need to have a great deal of success before that happens.

It looks like Disney can sell some level of merchandising for Marvel characters though, I spotted a Thor 2 : Dark World comic book (more like an illustrated book drawn by Ron Lim) being sold in Norway at Epcot.