News Disney and Fox come to terms -- announcement soon; huge IP acquisition

[Casper Gutman]

Universal only has the movie rights to Hulk.

And kinda/ sorta Namor.

But everything else aside, I don’t know why any Marvel fan would want Disney to have theme park rights for the property over Uni. Spider-Man remains one of the three or four greatest rides in Orlando and Uni has some neat ideas for new Marvel rides. Disney, meanwhile, drags its feet on integrating even the hottest IPs into the American parks - Star Wars Land should have begun construction as soon as Disney got the property and California’s Marvel area should have gone vertical no more than a year after the first Avengers at the very latest.

 

[Quinnmac000]

Universal only has the movie rights to Hulk.

Not exactly, they have full rights to she-hulk, distribution of the hulk and the rest of the characters, character/distribution of Namor which is shared with Legendary which was why he wasn’t in iron man 2 and they only used an Easter egg and said characters related to Namor

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Universal forbid Disney of using the Marvel name in there parks due to Universal using the Marvel name in Orlando. Which explains why Disney could give Sky & some of RSN to Comcast in exchange for the distribution film rights to the Hulk & the usage of the Marvel name in there parks excluding Orlando & Japan.

 

[Stripes]

I don't want to ruin anyone's hopes or anything but I'd doubt if the Orlando Marvel rights are anything more than a speck of dust in the Fox deal. Disney already has more IP than they know what do with.

 

[Rodan75]

I don't want to ruin anyone's hopes or anything but I'd doubt if the Orlando Marvel rights are anything more than a speck of dust in the Fox deal. Disney already has more IP than they know what do with.

Hopefully Fox will show they they can focus on more than their 5 core brands.

 

[seascape]

Universal forbid Disney of using the Marvel name in there parks due to Universal using the Marvel name in Orlando. Which explains why Disney could give Sky & some of RSN to Comcast in exchange for the distribution film rights to the Hulk & the usage of the Marvel name in there parks excluding Orlando & Japan.

The Marvel rights in Japan end in late 2020s. The use of the Marvel name in the Universal contract are only for America. So before you know it you will see Disney advertisements all around the world touting Marvel around the world. If nothing changes with the contract is the US, you are correct and Disney can't use the Marvrl name for their themepark attractions. However if you think Disney will just give away the Fox RSNs and 39% of Sky for nothing but Distribution rights to certain film characters and to be able to use the Marvel name for US themepark attractions you have been smoking something. Remember Universal gave Oswald back so NBC could hire a sports announcer. Disney spent a grand total of $0.00 on that. Also if you think Comcast would rather have the themepark rights to Marvel in Orlando and nowhere else in the world than own 100% of Sky you are delusional. The rights to Marvel are important to Comcast but only to be a thorn in Disney's side. They care about HP. They even care more about the Simpsons than Marvel. Look at how much they have spent on the Simpsons compared to Marvel. There is a bigger Simpson land in California than Orlando and they have worldwide rights to them. Universal will build HP, Simpsons and Nintendo stuff all over the world. How much longer do you think they want to spend upgrading Marvel rides that can only be in Orlando while the development costs for their other rides and attractions can be split among many parks? Comcast is a business and Brian Robert's cares about his Company, Comcast Cable.

Bottom line is if Comcast can buy out Disney's 39% share of Fox for $12 billion and sell their 30% state in Hulu for about $5 billion Roberts would take that and give back all the Marvel rights. Comcast and Disney would both be better off owning 100% of their subsidiaries. On the other hand if Comcast kept their 30% in Hilu, Disney kept the 39% in Sky and Universal had to deal with using Disney own the Simpson and Marvel IP Universal uses they two companies would have to end their fights because Hulu and Sky are way more important to both companies than themeparks IP.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

There are only three possible outcomes to what impacut there could be.

Not sure if typo or clever wordplay.

 

[seascape]

Not sure if typo or clever wordplay.

Good one. I always use my cell phone and as a result have too many typos. Anyway I hope everyone remembers that as a consumer I am against both proposed mergers but as a Fox shareholder I prefer the Disney offer for tax reasons. Further as a consumer I would like the DOJ to appeal the AT&T case and go after Comcast on the NBC Universal merger. We need much more competition and smaller businesses not giant multinationals that not only don't care about consumers but have no interest in the wellbeing of the country they were founded in. Walt Disney was proud of American Businesses and their technological advances. The company today only cares about itself and profits like every other large corporation.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Hopefully Fox will show they they can focus on more than their 5 core brands.

Worked out real well for General Motors...

 

[Indy_UK]

Like said, the Marvel theme park rights are such a minor thing in this whole senerio. I really don’t think WDW is too bothered either. They decided to go with Guardians in Epcot where it’s going so obviously had no plans for a Marvel land because of the restrictions.

I think Long term Disney will try and get the remainder of Hulu but with controlling interest, they may not need to in order to do what they want with the platform which I think is to go worldwide.

 

[Rodan75]

Like said, the Marvel theme park rights are such a minor thing in this whole senerio. I really don’t think WDW is too bothered either. They decided to go with Guardians in Epcot where it’s going so obviously had no plans for a Marvel land because of the restrictions.

I think Long term Disney will try and get the remainder of Hulu but with controlling interest, they may not need to in order to do what they want with the platform which I think is to go worldwide.

From other reports the Hulu control structure will probably be an issue immediately after closing. Disney having majority is helpful but Comcast and AT&T could make life painful. So I suspect that Hulu will be resolved sooner rather than later post transaction close (regardless of who gets Fox in the end).

 

[marni1971]

Sorry, this has probably been already mentioned before, but, @marni1971 and others, how will Disney Parks be affected by this deal if it goes trough? It’s so much money, and I can imagine Disney parks being hurt by it. Will they stop investing again like some years ago? New rides and lands getting cancelled?

The parks will - along with the rest of the company - have expenditures re evaluated and checked.

 

[Stripes]

For anyone wanting to know about Comcast's current thinking I recommend setting your DVR to record Squawk on the Street for the next few days. I trust David Faber's Comcast sources immensely, and he usually talks about it, but I can't make any promises.

 

[Casper Gutman]

The parks will - along with the rest of the company - have expenditures re evaluated and checked.

That’s ominous. On the plus side, if WDW sinks back into a stupor, a vengeful Uni might find it the perfect time to increase spending at their parks.

 

[Emm]

All i know is all this talk has made me excited for John McClane's yippie- ki- yay Christmas Celebration at Hollywood Studios. The throwing Hans Gruber off nakatomi plaza overlay of Tower of Terror will be great.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't want to ruin anyone's hopes or anything but I'd doubt if the Orlando Marvel rights are anything more than a speck of dust in the Fox deal. Disney already has more IP than they know what do with.

But how are we gonna obsess about the completely unrealistic prospect of WDW building $2 bil in new simulators based on marvel for us? With absolutely no advantage to them??

 

[LSLS]

I don't want to ruin anyone's hopes or anything but I'd doubt if the Orlando Marvel rights are anything more than a speck of dust in the Fox deal. Disney already has more IP than they know what do with.

Yeah. As much as everyone wants Disney to find a way to get those rights, I see zero reason why Disney would actually care about it. If they want to use Marvel, there are already IP they can include (and based off what they put into lands, the 2 they have already used are more than enough to build a land at WDW). There is just no incentive other than the Disney fans would love it (and that's just not incentive). I think they'd rather squeeze an extra couple million profit out of the deal than get those rights.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yeah. As much as everyone wants Disney to find a way to get those rights, I see zero reason why Disney would actually care about it. If they want to use Marvel, there are already IP they can include (and based off what they put into lands, the 2 they have already used are more than enough to build a land at WDW). There is just no incentive other than the Disney fans would love it (and that's just not incentive). I think they'd rather squeeze an extra couple million profit out of the deal than get those rights.

Also...nobody ever considers how advantageous it is to have marvel references all over BOTH juggernaut complexes in town. That’s exposure to about 80,000,000 annual gateclicks.

And Disney makes free money off its competition...there’s no disadvantage to this.

It’s far more likely Comcast would walk away from that contract than Disney ever lifts a finger to buy it out.

 

[Bender123]

Also...nobody ever considers how advantageous it is to have marvel references all over BOTH juggernaut complexes in town. That’s exposure to about 80,000,000 annual gateclicks.

And Disney makes free money off its competition...there’s no disadvantage to this.

It’s far more likely Comcast would walk away from that contract than Disney ever lifts a finger to buy it out.

If I recall from previous insider posts, Universal makes a killing off the Marvel contract compared to what they pay. Its entirely likely that Uni wont want to lose that license unless they have another property they can slide in for less that would generate more.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If I recall from previous insider posts, Universal makes a killing off the Marvel contract compared to what they pay. Its entirely likely that Uni wont want to lose that license unless they have another property they can slide in for less that would generate more.

No argument...it’s advantageous for them too...

They pay a fee for a big draw.

Disney gets a fee for NO OVERHEAD...which is the type of dream iger and his beaners wake up happy from in the morning.

I am too common sense about this...I really feel like someday people won’t go “maybe they can get the marvel rights...” on 90% of the Park discussion threads?

But it’s definition of insanity Time