Disney to Acquire Marvel for $4 Billion
Wow… definitely didn’t see this one coming. It’s a pretty huge announcement that will send shockwaves through the entertainment industry this morning, as Disney has unveiled intentions to purchase Marvel Entertainment for somewhere in the range of $4 billion. The deal still has to be approved by Marvel shareholders, but it would put Disney in charge of some 5,000 comic book characters and numerous profitable movie franchises. Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, who will remain on board to oversee Marvel properties, had this to say:
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses… This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”
It does seem like a good match in that it allows Disney to reach out to a slightly older audience and re-invent their image a bit, while also giving Marvel access to massive amounts of marketing muscle and cash. It’s still not clear whether or not the general public will notice much of a difference in the short term, but from a business standpoint it certainly seems to make a lot of sense. Thoughts? (Thanks to Goon for the heads up.)
Comments (26)
I wonder how or if this will affect the current movies that they have in the pipeline like Avengers, Cap A, Thor, and future Iron Man movies. Will these now be released by Disney or will the original deals stay in place? I think it’s good for both sides. It’s good for Disney because they grow their brand portfolio, and it’s good for Marvel because now they don’t have to do it all themselves in terms of raising money and trying to fund their own projects. Plus you’ll have the renewal of the classic Disney vs. Warner rivalry. First it was with their animation studios and characters, and now that the two companies own the two biggest comic book rivals in Marvel and DC respectively, it’s game on.
Posted by Maopheus on August 31st, 2009I can’t wait for the inevitable disney vs marvel heroes cross-over fighting game.
Posted by Matt on August 31st, 2009So what does this mean for Universal Studios – Spiderman Ride, Hulk Coaster, etc…
Posted by BigHungry on August 31st, 2009So on the inevitable DVD releases, they’ll be 30 minutes of ads and trailers? Marvel has been decidedly mediocre anyway, taking the middle road. I’ll take the ’specatular failure or great success’ swing for the fences that WB has done.
Posted by Kurt on August 31st, 2009umm .. first (i think)
Posted by blackmothra on August 31st, 2009i posted this in the Halloween 2 comments this morning.
hmmm interesting…I’m wondering what happens with Disneyland and Universal Studios too. Will there be a Marvel-land or Comic Book Island at Disneyland now. Because that would be awesome. I’ve never been to a theme park as clean and well taken care of as Disneyland. As far as movies go, I think this is a good merger. The marketing cash alone will be huge for Marvel.
Posted by Mike on August 31st, 2009Over here in southern cali, we have a Six Flag’s Magic Mountain rollercoaster theme park that have rides based on DC characters such as Batman The Ride and Superman The Escape.
I’m sure that Disney could create a whole new marvel-themed section in their theme parks the same way they recreated toon town from Who Framed Roger Rabbit here in Disneyland.
4 Billion is probably chunk change to the empire of Disney. Based on wiki they made over 37 billion in revenue in 08.
Most of the films from the Marvel universe have been family-friendly. I’m guessing that we will probably see more Fantastic 4-type films and less Blade 2/Punishers type films unless they go under their arthouse division which would be Miramax Films.
Posted by Primal on August 31st, 2009Does this explain the announced reduction in the number of films being produced by Disney earlier this year after a successful 2008?? I remembered not totally understanding Disney’s dramtic reduction in film numbers and lay-offs. Also interesting because at the time a lot of the other studios flowed Disney’s lead and reduced their production slate. Could it be the other studios felt Disney was scaling back due to economic climate only to be bamboozled by this announcement?!
Posted by rus in chicago on August 31st, 2009I think its a bad idea, notice how problems DC has had becasue they were attached at the hip to Warner Brothers…
Posted by MJS on August 31st, 2009Disney is definitely not Warner Bros
Posted by Mike on August 31st, 2009Everything worked out great with The Muppets!
I just died a little on the inside.
Posted by MoriaOrc on August 31st, 2009Either this will help Disney to reach new audience or they’ll water down the Marvel movies even more now. The latter scares me.
Posted by modesilver on August 31st, 2009I own Marvel shares and it just jumped $9 so I’m happy about that.
Posted by Niklas on August 31st, 2009“So on the inevitable DVD releases, they’ll be 30 minutes of ads and trailers? Marvel has been decidedly mediocre anyway, taking the middle road. I’ll take the ’specatular failure or great success’ swing for the fences that WB has done.”
I COMPLETELY AGREE!
marvel has all these movies coming out and now thier going to sell to disney. What a horrible mistake. DC, which hasn’t got near as movies made as marvel have far better movies, and make far better decisions. now only if they would get thier butts in gear and make a movie.
Posted by rick on August 31st, 2009Warner Bros. has owned DC Comics for 40 years. Marvel has been treading water as a brand for many years, and they are lucky that someone as high profile as Disney is willing to save them.
And this doesn’t have to mean random cartoon characters in the pages of Marvel. Disney is home to plenty of mature content, ABC Studios and Miramax prove that.
Posted by Chitown Jason on August 31st, 2009@ Niklas
according to the press release you now own Disney shares…at a transfer rate of approximately .76 to every one share you owned of Marvel.
Posted by Mike on August 31st, 2009AS long as Miley Cyus isn’t cast in any Marvel films, then I’m fine with this.
Posted by Matt Keith on August 31st, 2009It’s not going to change anything.
Posted by Greg on August 31st, 2009Can anyone say MONEY MONEY MONEY!.
Posted by jaime on August 31st, 2009Jaime,
MONEY MONEY MONEY – I don’t know about anyone else but I made some SEEEEEERIOUS bank on my Marvel stock. It was the first stock I ever bought, have been holding on to it for around 4-5 years = CHA-FING-CHING!!!
I didn’t even know there were discussions going on – what a lovely, lovely surprise.
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on August 31st, 2009I’m just excited about the prospect of Hugh Jackman making the Wolverine movie he always wanted; a song and dance musical in the tradition of Mary Poppins.
Posted by Nuno on September 1st, 2009@ Mark, yeah. I just noticed that. However, they will also pay put $30 / share so its all good. Their stock has been very profitable since Ironman.
Posted by Niklas on September 1st, 2009put = out
Posted by Niklas on September 1st, 2009Marvel needed to make a deal. They couldn’t go on forever being independent and relying on licensing their characters through movie and merchandising deals to provide their revenue stream. Their traditional publishing business doesn’t exist anymore. With the new Marvel deal, it actually works for them. They do not need to make the movie deals themselves, they don’t need to go and find the financing, and always worry about that. Plus this frees up the comic book guys to go and do more adventurous and creative work without having to worry about the bottom line. I’m not saying that all of a sudden it’s open purse strings and Marvel doesn’t have to worry about being a profit maker, but now it means they don’t have to report earnings every quarter and justify themselves to their shareholders like Ed. Hell, that’s why a lot of people probably bought shares in Marvel was in anticipation of this acquisition.
Posted by Maopheus on September 1st, 2009No, I don’t think a lot of people were anticipating this – I sure as hell wasn’t. I bought shares years ago because I believed that Marvel was finally going to enter the movie making business and I knew the films would make a shit-ton of money – I had no idea how right I would be.
I think Disney was late in coming to the party – they should have done this deal a few years ago and saved themselves a billion – but I think it’s a win-win. Actually a win-win-win because I also won.
See you later – Scrooge McDuck and I are going for a swim in my vault of gold coins.
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on September 1st, 2009Bad news, Muppets died after Disney took over. Disney completely messed up the Judge Dredd movie, how can they be expected to handle 5000+ characters when they can’t even get one comic movie correct? Heck Disney can’t even market Mickey Mouse, they’d rather sell HS Musical 9 or tween skank star X. ABC news has become a bit of a joke with John Stossel pushing his pro big business propaganda wrapped in a populist ‘libertarian’ veneer wrapper. Some of ABC’s ‘news pieces’ are little more than paid infomercials.
Maybe the Rocketeer movie was ok, I’ve never watched it, but it’s probably ok since the creator and the producers of the Flash TV show were involved.
Posted by Duke Togo on September 3rd, 2009Leave a Reply