Marvel at WDW

[MJ6987]

On his last podcast, Lou Mongello described the acquisition of Marvel as being possibly the most significant event in Disney history!

Further, in his New Year look back at 2017 he seemed to spend half the airtime talking about Marvel (mainly the movies)

Now, I get that Lou was already a comic book fan as well as being a massive Disney fan, but I would have thought that this intersection of the Venn diagram would be pretty small?

I have a feeling that once Disney get the full green light on putting Marvel into WDW we're going to go into a period of several years where almost every WDW major announcement will involve Marvel going into the parks. I’m not looking forward to this as I’m not really a Marvel fan.

Is this just me?

 

[lazyboy97o]

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

 

[Prince-1]

Is this just me?

Yes it is just you.

 

[MJ6987]

Yes it is just you.

Lol, I thought it might be after listening to how excited Lou and his sidekick were about the whole thing!

 

[drizgirl]

Not just you.

 

[Prince-1]

Lol, I thought it might be after listening to how excited Lou and his sidekick were about the whole thing!

Disney cannot put any Marvel characters (Avengers, Hulk, Cap...any character found in Universal) at Wdw. It’s a non-issue.

 

[MJ6987]

Disney cannot put any Marvel characters (Avengers, Hulk, Cap...any character found in Universal) at Wdw. It’s a non-issue.

Well, not at the moment, but surely at some point they are going to buy Universal out of that contract, probably at the point at which Universal is ready to replace their Marvel land with Nintendo or whatever else. I would think that Universal are probably stuck in a sort of time warp with that land anyway, not able to develop or update.

 

[danlb_2000]

Well, not at the moment, but surely at some point they are going to buy Universal out of that contract, probably at the point at which Universal is ready to replace their Marvel land with Nintendo or whatever else. I would think that Universal are probably stuck in a sort of time warp with that land anyway, not able to develop or update.

They have to use the comic representations of the characters, but they can, and have, done updates and they can also add new attractions if they want. Right now Marvel is probably one of the greatest bargains in theme park licensing, so Universal is unlikely to give it up any time soon.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

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

Here's the thing. How much money do you think Uni is going to pump in to a franchise they don't own. They can't develop any "new" rides. They can only maintain what they have.

At some point...that land becomes valuable to them...a lot more valuable than just keeping the limited bit of the Marvel franchise that they can control - away from Disney.

Now that Comcast has dropped out.....Fox comes to Disney....what happens if Disney says:

"Hey..we'll give you the rights to Planet of the Apes....Predator...and Kingsman.....plus a boatload of money - for relinquishing of the rights to Marvel. - Those franchises don't fit in our parks anyway- they do yours!"

I think Uni makes that deal.....At the end of the day...there will be a "deal".

 

[imperius]

Here's the thing. How much money do you think Uni is going to pump in to a franchise they don't own. They can't develop any "new" rides. They can only maintain what they have.

At some point...that land becomes valuable to them...a lot more valuable than just keeping the limited bit of the Marvel franchise that they can control - away from Disney.

Now that Comcast has dropped out.....Fox comes to Disney....what happens if Disney says:

"Hey..we'll give you the rights to Planet of the Apes....Predator...and Kingsman.....plus a boatload of money - for relinquishing of the rights to Marvel? Those franchises don't fit in our parks anyway- they do yours!

I think Uni makes that deal.....At the end of the day...there will be a "deal".

Well this isn’t correct at all. They can develop new rides, no idea where you got they couldn’t. Ah yes the drawing power of Predator vs Spider-man. Sign me up!

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Well this isn’t correct at all. They can develop new rides, no idea where you got they couldn’t. Ah yes the drawing power of Predator vs Spider-man. Sign me up!

That's not correct all. It depends on how you interpret the contract. Either way Uni hasn't ... and will not...develop any new rides around the Marvel franchise. - If they announce something - it will be on the news. And not as a marketing strategy.

 

[Bairstow]

If the deal goes through and Disney buys Fox, the X-Men movie rights can be returned to Marvel Studios... and Disney still wouldn't be able to build X-Men attractions East of the Mississippi.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

If the deal goes through and Disney buys Fox, the X-Men movie rights can be returned to Marvel Studios... and Disney still wouldn't be able to build X-Men attractions East of the Mississippi.

Under the current agreement/contract - you are correct....for the existing universe - but if they expand the universe.........

FWIW...they didn't do much with SW - So I'm not holding my breath.

 

[imperius]

That's not correct all. It depends on how you interpret the contract. Either way Uni hasn't ... and will not...develop any new rides around the Marvel franchise. - If they announce something - it will be on the news. And not as a marketing strategy.

Minus the Iron Legion ride in development.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Minus the Iron Legion ride in development.

I might stand corrected.....but it is outside the original Marvel Universe. They could introduce Tony Stark's cat in the next movie and make a ride out of that. You're talking about oranges....I'm eating apples. There is nothing Uni gains from this....unless its posturing...and it's not a wise decision by Uni.

And as a footnote: If Disney wanted to create an "Iron Legion Ride" - they absolutely could....a new franchise off of something that they own. You can read the contract if you'd like. But nothing Uni does with Marvel moving forward is exclusive to Uni

I've only seen a patent for that (Iron Legion) - have they actually announced the ride?

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Disney cannot put any Marvel characters (Avengers, Hulk, Cap...any character found in Universal) at Wdw. It’s a non-issue.

I'm not sure how it works via the Merchandising side of it...But, wasn't there a rule that Disney couldn't use the word MARVEL in anything in WDW including beyond the parks? Take the one store at Disney Springs West Side...

Before.....

Present Version...

 

[lazyboy97o]

Well, not at the moment, but surely at some point they are going to buy Universal out of that contract, probably at the point at which Universal is ready to replace their Marvel land with Nintendo or whatever else. I would think that Universal are probably stuck in a sort of time warp with that land anyway, not able to develop or update.

Nintendo isn’t replacing Marvel at Islands of Adventure.

Here's the thing. How much money do you think Uni is going to pump in to a franchise they don't own. They can't develop any "new" rides. They can only maintain what they have.

At some point...that land becomes valuable to them...a lot more valuable than just keeping the limited bit of the Marvel franchise that they can control - away from Disney.

Now that Comcast has dropped out.....Fox comes to Disney....what happens if Disney says:

"Hey..we'll give you the rights to Planet of the Apes....Predator...and Kingsman.....plus a boatload of money - for relinquishing of the rights to Marvel. - Those franchises don't fit in our parks anyway- they do yours!"

I think Uni makes that deal.....At the end of the day...there will be a "deal".

Universal has lots of licensed properties. Marvel is in all likelihood the cheapest.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Marvel is in all likelihood the cheapest.

Don't know about the cheapest. But I get the point. At the end of the day it comes down to business decision for both Disney and Uni.

1. We see Uni recognizing that "we've got a shelf life with this...and the clock keeps ticking" .... plus it inhibits us to grow in that space.
2. Or they say...We're going to milk this for all it's worth...even if it ends up costing us money.

I think they ultimately come to the conclusion that option 1 is the correct approach (they probably have already)....and they are looking for some sweeteners (besides the cash) to let it go.

 

[Bairstow]

A key reason you haven't seen Universal rush to build more Marvel stuff at Islands is that their Marvel stuff has negative synergy for them- every Marvel action figure or T-shirt they sell at the place is putting pennies in their competition's pocket. Their smartest play is to let the attractions stand as they are and enjoy parasitic promotion for them by other studios that have the movie rights.

 

[lazyboy97o]

A key reason you haven't seen Universal rush to build more Marvel stuff at Islands is that their Marvel stuff has negative synergy for them- every Marvel action figure or T-shirt they sell at the place is putting pennies in their competition's pocket. Their smartest play is to let the attractions stand as they are and enjoy parasitic promotion for them by other studios that have the movie rights.

Every wand is putting money into their competitor’s pocket, a competitor who just become an even bigger one in the past few weeks.