Future of Marvel characters/properties in Disney Parks

[revskabadger]

So I read a little while ago that with the release of the new Phineas & Ferb/Marvel crossover special coming out soon that Spider-Man & Iron Man will be new meet & greet characters at Disney Land (didn't read any specifics if they will be at WDW or if they will be temporary or permanent fixtures at DLC just yet).

Disney & Marvel Studios have been making strides in recent months reattaining film rights to various Marvel characters that have been under other studios in the past. They just got back the film rights to Ghost Rider & Blade among a few others.

Universal Studios still has limited rights to use Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure, but this appears to be changing. Has anyone read any more info regarding the future use of Marvel comics characters in the Disney Parks? Will there be a big announcement regarding this at D23 next month?

 

[RandomPrincess]

So I read a little while ago that with the release of the new Phineas & Ferb/Marvel crossover special coming out soon that Spider-Man & Iron Man will be new meet & greet characters at Disney Land (didn't read any specifics if they will be at WDW or if they will be temporary or permanent fixtures at DLC just yet).

Disney & Marvel Studios have been making strides in recent months reattaining film rights to various Marvel characters that have been under other studios in the past. They just got back the film rights to Ghost Rider & Blade among a few others.

Universal Studios still has limited rights to use Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure, but this appears to be changing. Has anyone read any more info regarding the future use of Marvel comics characters in the Disney Parks? Will there be a big announcement regarding this at D23 next month?

Disney can do what ever they want with Marvel in the parks West of the Mississippi aka Disneyland Resort but any characters or members of the same character family featured in Universal Orlando can't be used in any WDW parks. So all the Avengers and X-men are out.

 

[nytimez]

Universal Studios still has limited rights to use Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure, but this appears to be changing.

This does NOT appear to be changing.


...can we close the thread now?

 

[ChrisFL]

Universal Studios still has limited rights to use Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure, but this appears to be changing.

No, it isn't changing. Nothing per the contract is changing and won't be for the foreseeable future.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

It's that time of day!

 

[danlb_2000]

So I read a little while ago that with the release of the new Phineas & Ferb/Marvel crossover special coming out soon that Spider-Man & Iron Man will be new meet & greet characters at Disney Land (didn't read any specifics if they will be at WDW or if they will be temporary or permanent fixtures at DLC just yet).

Disney & Marvel Studios have been making strides in recent months reattaining film rights to various Marvel characters that have been under other studios in the past. They just got back the film rights to Ghost Rider & Blade among a few others.

Universal Studios still has limited rights to use Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure, but this appears to be changing. Has anyone read any more info regarding the future use of Marvel comics characters in the Disney Parks? Will there be a big announcement regarding this at D23 next month?

Can you point to any evidence of this changing? Uni did a major overhaul of Spiderman a little over a year ago, doesn't sound like something they would do if they planned to give up the rights.

 

[lebeau]

I looked at my calendar. Really? Is it time for another Marvel thread again already? Seems like just yesterday we had three or four of them goin g at once. Time really is flying by...

Should be another thread popping up here in 3...2...1...

 

[Disneyhead'71]

What if Disney went to Universal and said, "We have this really cool Ironman/ Stark Expo attraction that we have developed for Disneyland. We would really like to bring it to WDW. You guys don't have an Ironman attraction, so it wouldn't really be a conflict. Sooo, what would you guys trade to let us have Ironman?"

So guys, what would it take? Rights to do a Thor or Captain America attraction at Marvel Super Hero Island.? Or something like including the option to buy Universal Orlando Resort Passes (with transportation options) when booking WDTC packages?

 

[Skip]

Why, why, why are we even starting up this inane conversation again? I give it a page or two until that guy who kept claiming the publicly-available contract is "fake" and that the real one is set to expire "real soon" returns...

 

[danlb_2000]

Why, why, why are we even starting up this inane conversation again? I give it a page or two until that guy who kept claiming the publicly-available contract is "fake" and that the real one is set to expire "real soon" returns...

Shhhhhh.... the real one is a secret.

 

[wdisney9000]

I think some people just start threads for no reason other than to start a thread with their name on it. I'm gonna go outside and watch the grass grow. I will learn more from.that than anything another marvel thread will teach me.

 

[Captain Neo]

Instead of a thread like this a better question would be how much it would cost for Universal to walk away.

 

[lebeau]

What if Disney went to Universal and said, "We have this really cool Ironman/ Stark Expo attraction that we have developed for Disneyland. We would really like to bring it to WDW. You guys don't have an Ironman attraction, so it wouldn't really be a conflict. Sooo, what would you guys trade to let us have Ironman?"

So guys, what would it take? Rights to do a Thor or Captain America attraction at Marvel Super Hero Island.? Or something like including the option to buy Universal Orlando Resort Passes (with transportation options) when booking WDTC packages?

Universal already has the rights to do that if they wanted. And Iron Man too.

 

[lebeau]

Instead of a thread like this a better question would be how much it would cost for Universal to walk away.

Answer: Much, much more than Disney is willing to pay. Disney would be foolish to even consider it. And while Disney is plenty foolish, they aren't nearly dumb enough to shell out top dollar to buy back Universal's rights when 1. They have plenty of other IPs to use and 2. They have plenty of other places to use Marvel.

 

[Captain Neo]

Answer: Much, much more than Disney is willing to pay. Disney would be foolish to even consider it. And while Disney is plenty foolish, they aren't nearly dumb enough to shell out top dollar to buy back Universal's rights when 1. They have plenty of other IPs to use and 2. They have plenty of other places to use Marvel.

Well just the other day they paid off Paramount a huge amount of money to get the distribution rights to the Phase One marvel films so it could happen though I agree it's less likely. I could see Universal eventually dropping the Marvel stuff if a better opportunity comes around like Lord of the Rings for example.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Legit question I'd love to know the answer to!

 

[RSoxNo1]

Instead of a thread like this a better question would be how much it would cost for Universal to walk away.

I would say, "Enough money for them to replace the land, cover the loss of business during whatever downtime is there, and potentially fund a 3rd gate"

 

[Wikkler]

I can't wait to meet Spiderman!​

 

[danlb_2000]

I would say, "Enough money for them to replace the land, cover the loss of business during whatever downtime is there, and potentially fund a 3rd gate"

I wouldn't be surprised if that number was well north of $1 billion at this point. The big problem with buying back the rights is that the ROI on this is hard to calculate. If they spend a $1 billion on the rights, then say another $250 million on an attraction at WDW, how long would it take to earn that investment back? WDW is already the most attended theme park resort in the world so it's never going to be able to get the sort of percentage attendance bump that Uni got for from Harry Potter.

I would think the ROI on movie rights would be much easier to calculate and probably get the return on that pretty quickly.

 

[Captain Neo]

I wouldn't be surprised if that number was well north of $1 billion at this point. The big problem with buying back the rights is that the ROI on this is hard to calculate. If they spend a $1 billion on the rights, then say another $250 million on an attraction at WDW, how long would it take to earn that investment back? WDW is already the most attended theme park resort in the world so it's never going to be able to get the sort of percentage attendance bump that Uni got for from Harry Potter.

I would think the ROI on movie rights would be much easier to calculate and probably get the return on that pretty quickly.

Yea that doesn't make sense then. Makes more sense to spend a billion on DHS with Star Wars instead.