Marvel's Next Step

[flavious27]

Now that Universal has, IMO, made it clear that they'll be holding onto Marvel in Florida for quite some time in the future, I'm starting to wonder if this Marvel purchase was really such a smart expenditure in the first place. :shrug: No use in the WDW parks for the indefinite future, very limited opportunities for application in the California parks, and all the major Marvel franchises have been made into movies in the past few years by studios other than Disney... besides just merchandise sales, what are they gaining from this acquisition?

There are many franchises that marvel has, thor and captain america are the newest ones that haven't been used before. thor is doing very well and should produce a profit, it also will bring in some nice merch and home media sales. Marvel still sells comics and graphic novels, and they produce animation that disney uses for xd.

 

[Captain Neo]

Universal just announced they are redoing their spider man attraction so they plan to keep the marvel theme park rights long term.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Now that Universal has, IMO, made it clear that they'll be holding onto Marvel in Florida for quite some time in the future, I'm starting to wonder if this Marvel purchase was really such a smart expenditure in the first place. :shrug: No use in the WDW parks for the indefinite future, very limited opportunities for application in the California parks, and all the major Marvel franchises have been made into movies in the past few years by studios other than Disney... besides just merchandise sales, what are they gaining from this acquisition?

I believe only X-Men and Spider-Man remain at other studios. Marvel Studios has been making it's the other films for some time now.

 

[Skip]

I believe only X-Men and Spider-Man remain at other studios. Marvel Studios has been making it's the other films for some time now.

X-Men, Daredevil, Punisher (I believe?), Ghostrider, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four are all with other studios. Marvel controls Ironman, Thor, Captain America, Hulk (I believe they bought those rights back from Universal...), The Avengers, and any other movies they decide to release based on characters not included in the aforementioned former franchises...

Keep in mind though the Marvel acquisition is really long term. Eventually Disney will get back the filming rights for the biggest properties, and it can use Marvel for every theme park property sans Florida. Marvel's core business is still comics and graphic novels which sell quite well to my understanding, and Disney is salivating at the TV possibilities with XD - they can finally reel in the elusive young boys demographic with Marvel-themed TV shows.

 

[Captain Neo]

In theory could Disney announce an Asgard land and iron man eticket anytime they want or would that be an issue with e universal theme park rights. They really should have bought dc comics from wb instead.

 

[misterID]

I'll just say this again, I seriously doubt when they purchased Marvel that adding attractions at their theme parks was a top priority. Films and Merch is what they want.

 

[Krack]

In theory could Disney announce an Asgard land and iron man eticket anytime they want or would that be an issue with e universal theme park rights. They really should have bought dc comics from wb instead.

In Orlando? No. Everywhere else? Yes.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

In theory could Disney announce an Asgard land and iron man eticket anytime they want or would that be an issue with e universal theme park rights. They really should have bought dc comics from wb instead.

The Avengers is what really kills any hope for worthwhile Marvel attractions at WDW. I read some excerpts from the Marvel-Uni contract on this board (possibly earlier in this thread?), and Uni has rights to all character "families" that they currently are using. For those that don't know, the Avengers are a team of superheroes for when the baddies are too bad for a single superhero to handle. I think just about everyone worthwhile has been in the Avengers at one point or another, and that puts a whole lot of Marvel off-limits for WDW.

I think the Avengers now have Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor and others. All of them plus their ancillary related characters would presumably be Uni property just from having the Spiderman ride. If they were feeling plucky, they could probably even add in Iron Man, Cap and others with the re-do of the Spiderman CGI and take advantage of publicity from the almost-certain-hit Avengers movie coming next year.

 

[lazyboy97o]

In Orlando? No. Everywhere else? Yes.

We need to dig up the contract between Marvel and Merlin Entertainments. Marvel Super Heros 4D at Madame Tussauds London has not even been open for a year. I'm curious as to when the deal was actually made and how much it gives Merlin in terms of length and exclusivity.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

We need to dig up the contract between Marvel and Merlin Entertainments. Marvel Super Heros 4D at Madame Tussauds London has not even been open for a year. I'm curious as to when the deal was actually made and how much it gives Merlin in terms of length and exclusivity.

I think it is in the US, east of the Mississippi in perpetuity for as long as Uni uses the characters. Marvel did not know they were going to be bought by Disney 10 years down the line, so they were not worried too much about reserving future theme park rights.

 

[Captain Neo]

This situation is just so weird. Disney should buy out universals contract and universal should then go and redo marvel superhero island into transformers land or something.

 

[JT3000]

This situation is just so weird. Disney should buy out universals contract and universal should then go and redo marvel superhero island into transformers land or something.

There's a lot of things Disney "should" do, but in this case, the ball isn't in their court. Unless Disney ponies up a VERY large sum of money, this is a closed case. I'm much more interested in the Japan situation. No one appears to have the details on that.

 

[roadtripper]

I read the contract a few months ago. Uni has the rights to the current characters the have built rides for as long as they do not shut them down. They are not allowed to build any new rides using Marvel characters and they can't reuse the same characters already in use on a completely new ride. I don't think refurbs are included in that shut down rule. Hulk just got a new paint job so they will be keeping that for a while. I'm not a lawyer but that's what I got out of it.

Wouldn't count on Disney having Marvel rides in their FL parks any time soon, but overseas is a different story. There had been plans in Dubai pre Disney owning Marvel but those fell through when Dubai's economy collasped.

Disney is already using the Avengers on Disney XD and it's a pretty good show from the one I saw. Considering that most of Disney's profit is coming from advertising on their TV channels and ESPN anymore it seems that having the rights to use Marvel on TV is a good call.

 

[Poofiesdream]

can't wait to see what happens now!

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think it is in the US, east of the Mississippi in perpetuity for as long as Uni uses the characters. Marvel did not know they were going to be bought by Disney 10 years down the line, so they were not worried too much about reserving future theme park rights.

That is the contract between Marvel and MCA (Universal). I am talking about the one that enabled the 4D show at Madame Tussauds London that is less than a year old.

 

[Disday]

Screamscape has said recently that Iger has taken a plan to buy out Universal's Marvel contract before the board. Jim Hill has said in a podcast that there are people working behind the scenes with Universal trying to see what it would take for Disney to get the Marvel rights.

 

[Skipper Dan]

There is a rumor of an Iron Man themed attraction coming to Disneyland themed around the Stark Expo. If it replaces Innoventions like it is rumored to, I'd say when the time comes, we have a similar round shaped building at Epcot that could be used for it... No I'm not talking about Test Track...

Dude, you just gave me goosebumps.

Can anyone else say, PERFECT?! Holy crap! A showcase of Tony Starks inventions, with an attraction, all inside that building?! (Or another) but in EPCOT?! YES! It's amazing. Wow. I'm winded now. :lol::sohappy:

 

[Captain Neo]

There's a lot of things Disney "should" do, but in this case, the ball isn't in their court. Unless Disney ponies up a VERY large sum of money, this is a closed case. I'm much more interested in the Japan situation. No one appears to have the details on that.

Doesn't Universal japan have the same spider-man ride IOA does. Its probably the same rules.

 

[Krack]

I read the contract a few months ago. Uni has the rights to the current characters the have built rides for as long as they do not shut them down. They are not allowed to build any new rides using Marvel characters and they can't reuse the same characters already in use on a completely new ride. I don't think refurbs are included in that shut down rule. Hulk just got a new paint job so they will be keeping that for a while. I'm not a lawyer but that's what I got out of it.

I think you should re-read the contract as your understanding of the details is inaccurate. Universal has the rights to any of the characters in use in the park (and their associated "family members") - that includes images painted on a wall somewhere; in other words, pretty much every character that has ever appeared in more than one issue of a Marvel Comic book. Secondly, there is nothing in the contract that says they cannot build new attractions with Marvel characters. They pretty much can do anything they want with Marvel characters as long as it is done on the Marvel Superhero Island. The only things they can't do are use IP that doesn't belong to Marvel Comics (for example, the likenesses of the film versions of the characters) or materially misrepresent the characters (they can't make Wolverine a woman). And not only are they allowed to routine maintenance, they are required by contract to do so.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Doesn't Universal japan have the same spider-man ride IOA does. Its probably the same rules.

Japan is fair game. The exclusivity provisions between Marvel and Universal only apply to the Eastern U.S.