News Disney confirms multiple EPCOT projects are paused

RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
1. Black Panther is off limits for WDW, but it's a question where "Wakanda" or any supporting characters from him would be off limits. The publicly available contract does not really talk about such details.

2. Technically, I don't think Universe has rights to use Black Panther either. the contact basically says that they lose rights to additional characters if they didn't use them in a (long since passed) time frame. Black Panther is prohibited from other parks east of the Mississippi not because Uni is using him and has the rights, but because he is in the "family" of other characters that are used/rights owned by Uni (e.g. Captain America and the Avengers family).
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I believe you are correct. Basically in order for either Disney or Universal to explicitly use the Black Panther character they would have to go to the negotiation table. However, Disney is very likely free to use Wakanda and most (if not all) other characters without breaching the existing contract.

I believe the hiccup is two fold. Black Panther exists as part of the legacy Avengers, therefore he is covered by that aspect of the contract. He is also represented on a mural currently in place at Marvel Super Hero Island.
 
CJR

CJR

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
I could be wrong, but I don't see the Simpsons license being overly valuable to Universal now.

While the Simpsons are still popular to an extent, they certainly don't have the cultural cachet they had 20 years ago, and I don't think they're adding many new fans. I don't think the Simpsons area is driving very many guests to Universal that wouldn't be going otherwise.

I'd guess the biggest benefit to extending the license at this point would just be not having to spend the money to retheme that whole area.
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Like you mentioned, they probably don't want to retheme it again, yet, when other areas need more attention.

Really though, it's still a pretty decent guest spending area too from carnival games to beer sales. Almost any other IP would struggle to get similar guest spending in that area. It's possible, but they could probably do that by replacing something struggling like Shrek, F&F, or KZ.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
doctornick said:
1. Black Panther is off limits for WDW, but it's a question where "Wakanda" or any supporting characters from him would be off limits. The publicly available contract does not really talk about such details.

2. Technically, I don't think Universe has rights to use Black Panther either. the contact basically says that they lose rights to additional characters if they didn't use them in a (long since passed) time frame. Black Panther is prohibited from other parks east of the Mississippi not because Uni is using him and has the rights, but because he is in the "family" of other characters that are used/rights owned by Uni (e.g. Captain America and the Avengers family).
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It's understood that core X-Men and Avengers are the exclusive use for Universal. And Black Panther is core Avengers.

The clearest sign of that is that DL has had and continues to have Black Panther M&Gs and WDW didn't.

Also, there's an addendum to the contract that's not public which makes it difficult for any of us to know the full extent of allowed or excluded Marvel characters in WDW. All we can go by is what Marvel characters WDW have already used: The current MCU Guardians roster (maybe excluding Drax) and Doctor Strange.
 
Disnutz311

Disnutz311

Disney World Purist
What’s the price tag? Before COVID, Disney had money. What’s it worth? 250 mil or 500 mil for the rights? A cool billion? I wonder if Disney ever talked cold hard cash. It’s worth a ton. They would make it back in a few years
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Disnutz311 said:
What’s the price tag? Before COVID, Disney had money. What’s it worth? 250 mil or 500 mil for the rights? A cool billion? I wonder if Disney ever talked cold hard cash. It’s worth a ton. They would make it back in a few years
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I think a realistic approach would be to negotiate for individual characters as opposed to everything. Universal signing off on a Wakanda could put a pile of money in their pocket without doing anything. The counter argument is that a fully fleshed out Wakanda area could be a major hit to Universal's attendance.
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
I believe the hiccup is two fold. Black Panther exists as part of the legacy Avengers, therefore he is covered by that aspect of the contract. He is also represented on a mural currently in place at Marvel Super Hero Island.
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MisterPenguin said:
It's understood that core X-Men and Avengers are the exclusive use for Universal. And Black Panther is core Avengers.
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Black Panther also made his original debut in Fantastic Four and did some occasional temp work for the team.
 
WDWtraveler

WDWtraveler

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of Friday, October 2, 2020. While multiple EPCOT projects were put on hold, a new construction wall has appeared between the Italy and American pavilions.

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J

J4546

Well-Known Member
unless they saw my brazil pavilion idea and are using it!!!! but probably not
 

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Make-Epcot-Great-Again

Member
FigmentJedi said:
Black Panther also made his original debut in Fantastic Four and did some occasional temp work for the team.
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The Fantastic Four and especially Doctor Doom are the biggest missing pieces in the MCU in my opinion... Reed Richards would’ve been a great fit for Future World since he’s an expert in chemistry, biology, space, engineering, physics, etc etc etc
 
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castlecake2.0

castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
Very big area, there’s a merch cart that was formerly Kim possible back there. Italy doesn’t have an outdoor beer/wine cart does it? Maybe something along the lines of that?
 

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