With Disney buying Marvel what park in WDW will be impacted by this?

D

dizpins14

Member
Sure Disney and Universal are competitors in the Orlando theme park industry, but the Walt Disney Company and NBC/Universal are not direct competitors in every sense of their respective companies. Money coming in from the Marvel/Universal contract is not going to be pumped back into WDW so Disney can compete more with Universal. More than likely that money is going to stay within the Marvel division.

I do agree Disney could make the arrangement as uncomfortable as legally possible to force Universal to drop Marvel. I just don't see a decision being passed down by the Universal execs to remove Marvel from IOA because Disney is a "competitor." Disney isn't going to try and get the Marvel rights back because Universal is a "competitor." Universal will drop Marvel when it is ready and Disney will add Marvel when they have something of substance to offer and all outstanding contracts are fulfilled.
 
The Conundrum

The Conundrum

New Member
Mr Toad said:
No they don't. They also have the Transformers franchise correct?
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It's technically Hasbro/Paramount but Universal already has a deal signed for Transformers use in the parks and are planning a Transformers e-ticket for california and shanghai (Built on the spiderman ride tech)

They can also try for DC Comics. I'm sure DC is going to want to upstage Marvel and Six flags sure ain't doing the DC license any favors.

I also just realized that Universal can NEVER use IOA for Halloween Horror Nights anymore because they already have an issue with Dr.Suess's wife not wanting to use that land for the event and now Disney is probably not going to want to see there charecters being portrayed in such a gruesome and violent manner and if you can't access those islands how are you going to get to the rest of the park? Universal shot themselves in the foot. I know for the past few years its been USF only but it just adds 1 more restriction.
 
imagineer boy

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
So it's looking like nothing Marvel related is going to be in the parks? If so... GREAT! And they're just going to reap in profits from Marvel? Sounds great too. Perhaps they can use that money to fix up the parks.
 
PirateFrank

PirateFrank

Well-Known Member
The Conundrum said:
I also just realized that Universal can NEVER use IOA for Halloween Horror Nights anymore because they already have an issue with Dr.Suess's wife not wanting to use that land for the event and now Disney is probably not going to want to see there charecters being portrayed in such a gruesome and violent manner and if you can't access those islands how are you going to get to the rest of the park? Universal shot themselves in the foot. I know for the past few years its been USF only but it just adds 1 more restriction.
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This is very interesting. According to what I've read on the contract between Marvel and Uni, Marvel retains the rights to veto how the characters are used in the parks. With Disney's ownership of Marvel, would Disney want to exert this control to protect the Marvel brand so that it doesn't negatively affect either other characters Disney decides to use in its own parks or any future use of the IoA characters it expects to win in a buyout?

I say a resounding Yes. I don't expect Disney to raise a stink this Halloween, but next year? there might be some changes over there...
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
imagineer boy said:
So it's looking like nothing Marvel related is going to be in the parks? If so... GREAT! And they're just going to reap in profits from Marvel? Sounds great too. Perhaps they can use that money to fix up the parks.
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Actually that is not true. Rumor has it they are already working on the characters.
 
D

dizpins14

Member
Not to be negative but that was just an article stating properties Pixar could make a movie about, not what has been talked about. The writer also assumed just because Lasseter met with Marvel, Disney is looking to make a Pixar-Marvel movie. Lasseter's influence extends beyond Pixar in the Disney Universe.
 
SirGoofy

SirGoofy

Member
dizpins14 said:
The writer also assumed just because Lasseter met with Marvel, Disney is looking to make a Pixar-Marvel movie.
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They are. That's one of the reasons why Marvel was so excited about the deal. Pixar is excited as well.

Can't wait for the X-Men to be Pixar-ized.:D
 
JWG

JWG

Well-Known Member
Mr Toad said:
If you ran a company, would you pay money to enable your competitors for a product if you had viable alternatives that could be just as profitable? Short term, probably. Long term, nope.
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Maybe. It's all about dollars and cents right? So, I pay Disney X to licence Marvel. The cost is neutral to me because it's what I paid Marvel (and technically still do, Marvel will be a subsidiary).

However, the OPPORTUNITY cost shifted to the negative, because while I'm paying the same, I'm paying it to a "competitor" - I use that term loosely because while the parks are competitors Disney as a corporation is not a direct competitor with Universal Theme Parks - just the WDW theme park subset of Disney as a whole is Uni's competitor. The dollars that Disney receives likely never make it to the WDW balance sheet (my guess).

Anyway, if I have to pay y to retheme, rebuild, redesign and redo an entire section of my theme park and y is > x. Than yup, I pretty much pay the fee. For two reasons:
1) In the end, it's costing me less (all things considered)
2) I'm preventing my competitor from being able to utilize the characters themselves.

I'm not saying I have any clue what Universal will do. I don't. I have no idea how this financially impacts them in either real $'s (very little I think) or in lost opportunity/gained $'s by Disney.

I'm saying, they'll do whatever is net most positive to them. And I think, that for the short to mid-term as personal opinion only, paying some licensing fees to the greater Disney Corporation (not to WDW Theme Parks) is the answer.

I could be very wrong and only time will tell. But it looks to me like it's Universals decision to make. I can't imagine that Disney has heavy leverage to raise licensing fees significantly if Universal has an ongoing contract for their existing attractions.
 
Chezman1399

Chezman1399

Active Member
Mr Toad said:
That would be interesting...DC is strong. Batman & Supes in IoA.
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I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that's near impossible since the DC characters are licensed for a very long time, I've heard at least 20-30 more years to Six Flags when it come to theme park rights.
 
hwdelien

hwdelien

Member
The Conundrum said:
Six Flags may not even be around in 20-30 years
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Even so, a company in and out of bankruptcy is ripe for a hostile take over. Take it over, throw it in a different business unit. remove the theming and then WDW can have their way with the DC franchise. And, in the event, that DC has an excape clause in the event of a take-over. Then, at least, the contract is null and void and they can start new negotiations.
 

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