Disney buys Marvel (Possibly Pixar movies coming)

[ManaByte]

UPDATE #1: In a conference call, the companies said that the deals for movies for characters at other studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.) will stay in place under the terms set by Marvel and the other studios.

UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got "pretty excited, pretty fast." They say there's definitely an opportunity there.

UPDATE #3: The deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America" and "The Avengers" stays in place as well, but Disney would like to self-distribute down the line. "When the time comes we'll take a closer look at it."

http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/corporate/2009/2009_0831_DISNEY_AND_MARVEL_ENTERTAINMENT.html

    August 31, 2009
    DISNEY TO ACQUIRE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

    Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters

    Acquisition highlights Disney's strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value

    Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

    Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

    Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

    "This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

    "We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.

    "Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "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."

    Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

    The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

[ManaByte]

I wonder what this means for Universal Islands of Adventure in Florida and their Marvel land?

[Human Snorenado]

Just when you thought it wasn't possible for Marvel to get any crappier... well, you know the rest.

[Phoenix Dark]

megaton

[Tauntaun]

 

[Eel O'Brian]

this is probably a good thing for their comic book line

[ManaByte]

EA is next.

[Great Rumbler]

Awesome, maybe we can finally get a good Spider-Man movie.

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[The Fake Shemp]

Sony has Spider-Man wrapped up for six movies (including the three already released).

this is probably a good thing for their comic book line

This is pretty much true.

I'm not sure how much longer the industry will survive in its current form. I don't know if Mandark has even been, but Beyond Comics is pretty much an institution around these parts (as far as local comic book shops go) and times have hit them hard. At their peak, they operated three stores (one in Georgetown, Federick and Gaithersburg) and were one of the largest comics retailers on the East Coast.

Now, they are down to two locations. And within the past month, they've had to move out of their spacious and awesome store in Lakeforest Mall (where they had been situated for almost two decades) to a patchwork store front elsewhere in Gaithersburg.

DC Comics has survived simply because Warner Bros. uses them as a tax write-off and then pillages their intellectual properties for films.

I'd imagine Disney will do the same.

[Tucah]

I've always been more of a DC guy myself (Batman + Green Lantern  ), but I think a Pixar-Marvel movie could be really cool.

[Human Snorenado]

I dunno, Pixar was the only thing keeping Disney even mildly relevant for me and it was because they kept investing in new IPs.  This just screams laziness to me.

[Mr. Gundam]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now they will make all of my favorite comics obsolete with flimsy plots and bad storylines!
 
......oh, wait...

[Himu]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now they will make all of my favorite comics obsolete with flimsy plots and bad storylines!
 
......oh, wait...

 

[EmCeeGrammar]

I think its a good thing.  Although I doubt Marvel has any reason to diversify their content now.  Disney themselves have been doing right and maybe it'll rub off.

[BlackMage]

Studio making kids animations buys studio making comics and movies for manchildren.

Irrevelant for European monocle movie conessieurs.

good show ol' chap 

[chronovore]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now they will make all of my favorite comics obsolete with flimsy plots and bad storylines!
 
......oh, wait...

Nice.

[Cormacaroni]

can't wait for a Pixar take on the Fantastic Four!

[Fresh Prince]

Deadpool movie please.

[Fresh Prince]

Does Disney own the Muppets too?

Deadpool + The Muppets = Weekly Variety Show OMG!

[Cormacaroni]

Brian Bendis just twittered: did we go the whole day without a "finding namor" joke or did i miss it?

[Mr. Gundam]

So, who do we have to kill at Fox for the rights to X-men to return to Marvel?

[Phoenix Dark]

Wolvy: The Teenage Yearz

[Cormacaroni]

People are joking all over the net but it's not like Marvel hasn't been doing kiddy stuff for years. It just never sells!

[Dickie Dee]

Still not seeing the big deal here really. Is there any reason to think that Disney wants anything besides IPs to hawk that would've been hawked anyways and will happily let the comic division sputter along?

People are joking all over the net but it's not like Marvel hasn't been doing kiddy stuff for years. It just never sells!

the last panel is so

[OptimoPeach]

this is probably a good thing for their comic book line

This is pretty much true.

What exactly is the big disparity between today's comic book industry and the comic book industry of 30 years ago? My dad used to be really big into comics in the 70s and 80s, and he still has tons of series wrapped up in storage, but he's totally indifferent to the stuff that's around today. I've never been a fan, so I always used to assume that he just grew out of it until I noticed that this sentiment seems to be virtually universal.

edit: I also remember Eel drawing parallels between video game fanboys and the present consumers of comics in one of the recent Borecasts

[Cormacaroni]

Well, they used to be part of everyday life. Every newstand sold them. Now you pretty much have to descend into nerd hell (specialty shops) to buy the things. There is still a shit-load of talent working on comics, especially with the draw of potentially creating something that could be turned into a big movie, but they're very badly marketed, on the whole. Manga proves that folks will buy fun comics in the right format for the right price...the industry just needs to catch up.

Darwyn Cooke said the other day: 'How do sell a million copies of Spider-man? A quarter a pop on iTunes.', which really struck a chord with me. I think he's bang on the money. Folks don't grow out of comics anymore than they grow out of games, cartoons or G.I. Joe. Adults will keep on buying the same stuff that excited them as kids, so long as it's of sufficient quality, in the right format, marketed right etc.

[Cormacaroni]

(Obviously I'm not saying that the future of comics is MORE Spider-man comics, in a different format. The content needs to keep evolving as well. But I think the content side is in decent shape already)

[chronovore]

Someone with more energy or economic knowledge can work out the relative cost if they're interested, but 30 years or so ago comics were 35 cents and sold in every supermarket, convenience and liquor store. Yeah, in addition to being a taste thing it's a question of access, both in terms of availability and cost. Comic shops were not the only venue to grab the monthly single issues in.

Now those singles can really only be found in comic shops, and they run US$3~4 per issue.

With the sale of trade paperbacks in Barnes and Noble and Borders, comics get a new market, a new audience, but I bet there is a dangerous marketing gap between the sales of any given monthly single and whether or not the publisher will commit to at trade paperback edition. So there could be some comics which might have flourished with access to the audiences of an upscale bookseller, but instead tanked from bad single-issue sales before it got that chance.

BTW, didn't Sony announce that comics would be part of their PSN strategy for PS3 and PSP?

[Human Snorenado]

http://superpunch.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-disneymarvel-mashups_31.html

[Cormacaroni]

Comics are almost as suited to digitization as music. The pirates are so far ahead of the indstry on this it's insane. The iTablet or the Kindle could be just what the industry needs.

[tiesto]

Hmm, not really into comics so this doesn't affect me much, but now I want to see Capcom get exclusive rights to Disney games again... that way we can get a MVC3 and a DuckTales 3 

[Yeti]

I wish it had been DC, I think they would be a better fit with Disney.

[AdmiralViscen]

I'd probably buy comics if I could look at them on my phone or Zune

[Reb]

I would need a nice big eReader that could switch from 'paper' to color.

[OptimoPeach]

Well, they used to be part of everyday life. Every newstand sold them. Now you pretty much have to descend into nerd hell (specialty shops) to buy the things. There is still a shit-load of talent working on comics, especially with the draw of potentially creating something that could be turned into a big movie, but they're very badly marketed, on the whole. Manga proves that folks will buy fun comics in the right format for the right price...the industry just needs to catch up.

Darwyn Cooke said the other day: 'How do sell a million copies of Spider-man? A quarter a pop on iTunes.', which really struck a chord with me. I think he's bang on the money. Folks don't grow out of comics anymore than they grow out of games, cartoons or G.I. Joe. Adults will keep on buying the same stuff that excited them as kids, so long as it's of sufficient quality, in the right format, marketed right etc.

Someone with more energy or economic knowledge can work out the relative cost if they're interested, but 30 years or so ago comics were 35 cents and sold in every supermarket, convenience and liquor store. Yeah, in addition to being a taste thing it's a question of access, both in terms of availability and cost. Comic shops were not the only venue to grab the monthly single issues in.

Now those singles can really only be found in comic shops, and they run US$3~4 per issue.

With the sale of trade paperbacks in Barnes and Noble and Borders, comics get a new market, a new audience, but I bet there is a dangerous marketing gap between the sales of any given monthly single and whether or not the publisher will commit to at trade paperback edition. So there could be some comics which might have flourished with access to the audiences of an upscale bookseller, but instead tanked from bad single-issue sales before it got that chance.

BTW, didn't Sony announce that comics would be part of their PSN strategy for PS3 and PSP?

So basically it's more an issue of distribution and pricing than quality? I was under the impression that the market was also diluted with with lots of disposable shit these days. Also, it seems odd that the industry has sorta faded into nerd obscurity with the advent of comic book films, especially when you consider that video games have done the exact opposite.

And I'm way out of my depth here, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't agree that digital distribution is even nearly as viable with books and the like as it is with music. Being able to thumb through a book is a big deal to a lot of people, and that physical copy fetish isn't as easy to buck as with music, where digitizing the market has always made sense (even more so now the with record labels throwing their weight around). I can get over not having a giant collection of albums to stare at, but it isn't quite the same as having a tangible book with real paper that I can hold in my hands and flip through. And I'm no old fart, I think this transcends being a stubborn prick that doesn't want to adapt to new technology. Or maybe it doesn't, who knows, maybe this is just a personal issue and I'm talking out my ass. But I can't be the only one that feels this way, and I think there's good reason for it. I can definitely see how having a Kindle would be advantageous (fiscally at least), but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over this fixation.

[Cormacaroni]

And yet here you are, reading text on the internet.

[OptimoPeach]

lol

[Cormacaroni]

The model i'm suggesting would be digital copies of single issues for cents, with collected editions for $$. Stuff you really liked and wanted on your shelf, you'd buy in a collected edition (which is kind of what I do know, except I steal all the digital copies).

[OptimoPeach]

I don't know, man, I just can't see myself ever doing it. I know I'm veering off into silliness here, but I seriously think that the tactile qualities of holding a real book and being able to scan through the pages using your hands versus using an electronic device makes it a much more personal experience. It's like the difference between handwriting and typing.

Obviously there's no real drawback, and I'm sure there are plenty of consumers that absolutely love the idea, but I don't believe it will ever be as mainstream as digitizing music or film has the potential to be.

[WrikaWrek]

Would be cool to see an X Men animated movie.

[recursivelyenumerable]

For me, it's all about the DPI.  Current e-readers still have much too low resolution to replace books, but if screens reach 300DPI I'll definitely consider switching unless the devices are all saddled with obnoxious DRM or something.

[chronovore]

I don't know, man, I just can't see myself ever doing it. I know I'm veering off into silliness here, but I seriously think that the tactile qualities of holding a real book and being able to scan through the pages using your hands versus using an electronic device makes it a much more personal experience. It's like the difference between handwriting and typing.

Obviously there's no real drawback, and I'm sure there are plenty of consumers that absolutely love the idea, but I don't believe it will ever be as mainstream as digitizing music or film has the potential to be.

You're not wrong: the tactile, smell, physical page turning barrier is significant in any kind of eBook.

For me, what turned me around is being able to have a hundred or so novels in my pocket at any given time. Baen Books has an enormous library of free books, usually the first in a series, to whet the appetite of potential buyers. Fictionwise has the Hugo finalists for short works up on their site for free every year. I still buy dead-tree books in greater proportion by far than ebooks, but I am always happy to have ebooks to read on the train, sitting in a car, waiting for my kids or wife, what have you. Convenience, and breadth of genre.

For comics, I suspect I'd have  a similar reaction. If I could get the first couple issues of a book for free on my iPod, and then have the option to hit my iTunes account with an occasional 25 cent charge for another issue, I'd do it. Let's face it though, comics companies are going to look at ebooks and make the same three mistakes they did: charge too much for them, infect them with DRM that may block the original owner's access and -definitely- will block any ability to share them with friends, and claim that there is no market -- because no-one's buying them.

[Cormacaroni]

I've explained this on here before, so forgive me if this is beating the drum a bit: after years of buying books and living in an apartment, I pretty much have to throw out a book for every one I buy. And i'm tired of carrying bags full of crap on the subway every day.

Folks bitched about vinyl being better, about games on DVD being better...and yet, and yet. When all you have to do to get more content that you like is *click*, it's pretty hard to resist.

[Diunx]

Academy for higher learning musical please.

[chronovore]

KINGDOM HEARTS III: NOW WITH MORE WOLVERINE.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

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[Diunx]

KINGDOM HEARTS III: NOW WITH MORE WOLVERINE.

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We would all fucking buy that.

[chronovore]

KINGDOM HEARTS III: NOW WITH MORE WOLVERINE.

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We would all fucking buy that.

We'd buy it even if he was just on the cover. Same as they do with the comix. (tee hee!)

[ManaByte]

Here's what's apparently going to happen with Islands of Adventure in FL:

Immediately the Marvel area is frozen. Nothing new is added.

Shortly the walk around characters will vanish as will the food theming.

Further down the line the Hulk coaster, Spider-man ride, and Doctor Doom drop ride will be re-themed.

[Diunx]

man I love the spiderman ride, I went like 5 times the last time I was in orlando.