A “Doctor Strange” movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer? “Guardians of the Galaxy” directed by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton?
Those are the type of movies that could possibly happen now that Disney is acquiring Marvel.
In unveiling the acquisition, Disney president and CEO Robert Iger didn’t immediately focus on Marvel’s film properties, a number of which are currently tied up in deals with Sony, Fox and Paramount.
Instead, much of the introductory talk centered on how Marvel’s superheroes could drive boys to Disney’s new XD channel and produce merchandising and theme park bonanzas. A lot of questions on the motion picture side remained unanswered.
But the acquisition news had execs inside Disney and producers on the lot salivating over the titles and characters they’d like to get their development hands on.
John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar and Disney Animation, was even part of the acquisition talks, suggesting that he may take a significant role in assimilating Marvel into Disney.
But if Disney does open up the Marvel characters to a variety of its producers and execs, that would mean that Marvel Studios won’t have the same autonomy within Disney that Pixar, which the studio
acquired in 2006, enjoys.
It would be more akin to Warners’ relationship with DC Comics and arguably a step backward from what Marvel has been doing for the last several years, undermining the cohesive universe that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has been in the middle of creating.
It’s not clear yet, for example, who Feige will report to under the new structure.
So what characters can Disney-Marvel tackle? All Avengers-related characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor are currently slated to be distributed through Paramount, which will release five more Marvel movies beginning with next year’s “Iron Man 2.”
Forget about seeing a Disney version of “Spider-Man,” at least in this half of the 21st century -- if ever.
“There is no chance of Columbia ever letting go of ‘Spider-Man’ or 'Ghost Rider,’ ” says one insider. Columbia, which has a license agreement with Marvel on the characters, can keep developing features on the characters and exercising its sequel options for a long, long time.
Gary Ross is currently writing the fourth “Spider-Man,” which starts production next year for release in May, 2011, and Jamie Vanderbilt is currently penning a script for the fifth and sixth films in the lucrative franchise.
Fox is similarly on track with its “X-Men” franchise, which continue to generate millions; it has no real incentive to give those up. On the other hand, Fox’s “Daredevil” and “Fantastic Four” never got a good lift-off and are in the early stages of being rebooted, so, conceivably, they could be turned back over to Marvel and Disney for a price.
Meanwhile, on its own, Marvel is developing scripts for several projects such as “Ant-Man” with Edgar Wright and “Runaways” that could find an immediate home at Disney.
Beyond that, it’s easy enough to imagine Marvel characters showing up all over the Magic Kingdom’s various platforms. A “Runaways” TV series on ABC? Check. “Power Pack” on ABC Family? Check. A “Power Man and Iron Fist” straight-to-home animated movie? Why the heck not?
As a standalone indie, Marvel has demonstrated a knack for spinning super-hero tales that play to all demographics without alienating its fanboy base. Feige deserves a lot of credit for successfully executing that strategy.
The challenge will be to continue that track record under the Disney umbrella.
Seriously, though, this looks like a great deal for Disney, and I presume Marvel is happy as well. Many media mergers just don’t make sense, but I can easily envision Disney making back that $4B over as little as ten years, and just coining loot from then on out.
Posted by: Mens Health | December 10, 2009 at 02:07 AM
My biggest fears are what of the Marvel Max series which are intended for mature readers.This also includes the possibility of a sequel to The Punisher Warzone, although the movie rights do belong to Lions gate studios so hopefully it won't affect the R rating of the film.
Posted by: Jesse Murrieta | January 09, 2010 at 01:18 AM
Yep, this definitely is a good deal for Disney... A lot of characters and franchise they'll own afterward!
Posted by: Acai Optimum | January 24, 2010 at 03:05 PM