BLACK PANTHER huge hit!

[BrianLo]

Did I just call the new coaster an E? Oops.

This is potentially really dense: but are you saying it is not an E-ticket?

The presumption was always that it was an E, so I'm just not sure if the oops is implying you are spilling something we already assumed or actually oops it's not an E?

 

[Bob Harlem]

Last question from me....why is the Potter coaster taking up so much room? Track length? It appears to be taking up the entire plot left behind from 2 massive B&Ms

Think something closer to 7 dwarves mine train, but if it actually was built to its original planned length and detail (and then some) -- and not to what it wound up like, I think it'll surprise a lot of folks.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Has anyone seen any Black Panther merch outside of the parks at Disney Springs or World of Disney?

Went to the Disney Store across the river at the Cherry Hill Mall while running some errands last Tuesday. If you walked by, unlike every other major Disney movie release, you wouldn’t have known BP was coming out on Friday. Breaking from tradition, the product for the film wasn’t at the front of the store and was smushed between Star Wars and general Marvel at the back of the store. Absolutely floored at how little Black Panther merch they had. Like it didn’t take up a single island unit; they had the puffy suit, a T’Challa action figure and maybe a child’s tee. Don’t know what it’s like at the other stores around the country, but I just couldn’t believe they completely bungled this so close to release and the website has lots of products, even quality items for adults, like the BP necklace and the bead bracelet, now sold out.

It’s like Frozen all over again.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Think something closer to 7 dwarves mine train, but if it actually was built to its original planned length and detail (and then some) -- and not to what it wound up like, I think it'll surprise a lot of folks.

Indoor, outdoor or both?

 

[marni1971]

Indoor, outdoor or both?

Both.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Went to the Disney Store across the river at the Cherry Hill Mall while running some errands last Tuesday. If you walked by, unlike every other major Disney movie release, you wouldn’t have known BP was coming out on Friday. Breaking from tradition, the product for the film wasn’t at the front of the store and was smushed between Star Wars and general Marvel at the back of the store. Absolutely floored at how little Black Panther merch they had. Like it didn’t take up a single island unit; they had the puffy suit, a T’Challa action figure and maybe a child’s tee. Don’t know what it’s like at the other stores around the country, but I just couldn’t believe they completely bungled this so close to release and the website has lots of products, even quality items for adults, like the BP necklace and the bead bracelet, now sold out.

It’s like Frozen all over again.

Hey dreamfinder,
We must be close, I'm in Philly and Cherry hill mall is the closets one to me. Is this the Disney store right outside of Macy's. Haven't been in that one for a while.
The stores have always lagged behind the website. The one at the Deptford mall is not great either.

love the Mr. Potatoe head Black Panther.

 

[GCTales]

Hey dreamfinder,
We must be close, I'm in Philly and Cherry hill mall is the closets one to me. Is this the Disney store right outside of Macy's. Haven't been in that one for a while.
The stores have always lagged behind the website. The one at the Deptford mall is not great either.

love the Mr. Potatoe head Black Panther.

Philly area is fortunate. multiple Disney stores within reasonable drive (Used to live in the northern burbs near Doylestown). Now in Memphis where the nearest Disney store is ~3hrs away.

 

[OG Runner]

I have a question also, are you sure that they cannot use Black Panther in the Florida Parks?
Last year, though a bit unimpressive, they did have a Doctor Strange meet & greet at Disney
Studios. (it is on youtube)

 

[elchippo]

I stand corrected! Sorry. I thought Black Panther was like Guardians and Doctor Strange- that it would be okay for the FL parks. I thought the characters off limits were those with some presence at IOA.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Universal will decide when and if they will give up the Marvel rights. It will do it when they decide to use the space for something else, not when Disney or those here think they will. It is not if Marvel is profitable for them but when something else is more profitable. That is why they are building HP and the Simpson's in all their parks. Marvel is limited to Orlando only as the Japanese contract is up in about 10 years.

Universal has Nintendo rights and will make good use of it in Park #3. Volcano Bay doesn't count. We'll know Universal's plans with Marvel going forward when that new park is formally announced and whether it includes Marvel. If it doesn't, Disney can argue that they are squating and fight for the right to use it in Florida.

Then again a new park in Texas using Marvel and any of the newly gained Fox IP's would negate this nonsense and be a smashing, hulk style success.

 

[Bender123]

I stand corrected! Sorry. I thought Black Panther was like Guardians and Doctor Strange- that it would be okay for the FL parks. I thought the characters off limits were those with some presence at IOA.

The contract is publically available, but there are numerous omissions and oddities that both companies continue to test the limits of.

Its a boring, but insightful, read.

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

 

[Donald Razorduck]

I would also like to point this out:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...tate-settle-80-million-hobbit-lawsuit-1018478

I would imagine some folks are working up a Potter-esque type deal for the theme park rights while appeasing the family like the did with J. K. That could make Marvel rights expendable and a buy out could help pay for the Hobbit rights. I'm sure Spider and the other rides would be grandfathered in.

 

[seascape]

I would also like to point this out:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t...tate-settle-80-million-hobbit-lawsuit-1018478

I would imagine some folks are working up a Potter-esque type deal for the theme park rights while appeasing the family like the did with J. K. That could make Marvel rights expendable and a buy out could help pay for the Hobbit rights. I'm sure Spider and the other rides would be grandfathered in.

Disney will never pay Universal for the Marvel rights. They have more than enough IP to fill all their parks even if they built more. Universal will eventually decide they can make more money using their own IP. Remember they purchased DreamWorks Annimation Studio and all their IP. The only thing Disney should do is make sure Universal follows the contract and use it to force Universal to constantly improve the Marvel presence in IOA. First rate standards are subjective but it means keeping it to the same level Universal set with HP.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Universal has Nintendo rights and will make good use of it in Park #3. Volcano Bay doesn't count. We'll know Universal's plans with Marvel going forward when that new park is formally announced and whether it includes Marvel. If it doesn't, Disney can argue that they are squating and fight for the right to use it in Florida.

The contact is for the second gate and has no prohibition against “squatting.” In fact allows just that with the families.

Disney will never pay Universal for the Marvel rights. They have more than enough IP to fill all their parks even if they built more. Universal will eventually decide they can make more money using their own IP. Remember they purchased DreamWorks Annimation Studio and all their IP. The only thing Disney should do is make sure Universal follows the contract and use it to force Universal to constantly improve the Marvel presence in IOA. First rate standards are subjective but it means keeping it to the same level Universal set with HP.

Universal has other, more expensive licensing deals that would be considered to dump first.

 

[danlb_2000]

I have a question also, are you sure that they cannot use Black Panther in the Florida Parks?
Last year, though a bit unimpressive, they did have a Doctor Strange meet & greet at Disney
Studios. (it is on youtube)

It all goes back to the "family" clause. I am no expert on the comics but Doctor Strange seems to have a looser connection to other characters prior to when Island of Adventure was built, whereas Black Panther has always been closely associated with the Avengers.

 

[danlb_2000]

Universal has Nintendo rights and will make good use of it in Park #3. Volcano Bay doesn't count. We'll know Universal's plans with Marvel going forward when that new park is formally announced and whether it includes Marvel. If it doesn't, Disney can argue that they are squating and fight for the right to use it in Florida.

Then again a new park in Texas using Marvel and any of the newly gained Fox IP's would negate this nonsense and be a smashing, hulk style success.

I don't believe the contract would allow Universal to put Marvel attractions in another gate in Florida. The contract gave them the option to build elsewhere but they did not exercise that option so they have lost it. I think this would also apply to another gate in Florida. Either way, nothing in the contract says that Universal must continue to expand on Marvel, only that they have to properly maintain what they have built.

 

[Bender123]

It all goes back to the "family" clause. I am no expert on the comics but Doctor Strange seems to have a looser connection to other characters prior to when Island of Adventure was built, whereas Black Panther has always been closely associated with the Avengers.

That's basically correct. Its also a similar issue with the movies. Deadpool is (was, I guess) included in the X-Men family, Spiderman was his own grouping and there are a bunch of weird offshoots that were never really decided on, hence we get Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in both the XMen and the MCU, but having different backgrounds.

Disney can pretty much win on characters not included in "families" without much trouble, but some, like Capt America, are pretty much locked up directly. The other issue is they need to be actively used in the parks. On top of all this, Disney cant use the word "marvel" in a theme park attraction at WDW, at all...which is where the weird "Mainline Avenger movie ads cant go on the Epcot monorail beam" thing came from, because it enters the park and could be considered an "attraction".

 

[righttrack]

The IPs inspire attractions but they aren't the attraction themselves. Sure it's a "theme park" and from that flows the creative drive and story for those visiting. I don't see a reason why WDW wouldn't want access to the Marvel IP. For right now, it's licensed elsewhere and the fees they make are a hedge on their own park business. If Universal is doing better than they are in Florida, then they still have that cash flow. If not, they're still getting that cash flow. Long-term, I'm sure when the licensing is up for renewal, WDW is going to ask for a lot more. They've developed these properties beyond their wildest dreams. They've had many successful movies and introduced these characters not only to a younger audience but even to an older audience to whom they were less accessible as merely comic book characters.

Black Panther was read by comic geeks like myself. That's how you interacted with the story. With the movie, with everything that's been done, all that investment, that audience has grown tenfold at least. They will want to reap the benefits of that investment long-term and will.

 

[Bender123]

The IPs inspire attractions but they aren't the attraction themselves. Sure it's a "theme park" and from that flows the creative drive and story for those visiting. I don't see a reason why WDW wouldn't want access to the Marvel IP. For right now, it's licensed elsewhere and the fees they make are a hedge on their own park business. If Universal is doing better than they are in Florida, then they still have that cash flow. If not, they're still getting that cash flow. Long-term, I'm sure when the licensing is up for renewal, WDW is going to ask for a lot more. They've developed these properties beyond their wildest dreams. They've had many successful movies and introduced these characters not only to a younger audience but even to an older audience to whom they were less accessible as merely comic book characters.

Black Panther was read by comic geeks like myself. That's how you interacted with the story. With the movie, with everything that's been done, all that investment, that audience has grown tenfold at least. They will want to reap the benefits of that investment long-term and will.

The licensing will never be up for renewal, so long as Uni keeps paying for upkeep, paying their fees and has 10,000 sq ft of Marvel dedicated retail space. Its almost 100% on Universal to decide they don't want it anymore and I doubt they have any desire to do so util a more profitable property comes along.

 

[smile]

why doesn't anybody seem to talk about how marvel had already started to explode before the disney purchase? uni had a part in that.

a lot of talk here makes it seem like twdc lifted marvel out the muck and made them into something when, in actuality, the ball had already starting rolling...
spiderman had an immensely popular world-class attraction that helped 3 HUGE movies and iron man had come out the year before - granted, twdc took it to another level, but still