OK, so just a few minutes ago Twitter literally exploded with news of a major financial announcement: according to The Associated Press, The Walt Disney Co. will acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc., for $4 billion in cash and stock.
Woah! If you ever wondered how much the Marvel Universe is worth, I think you just found out.
|
|
Under the deal Disney will now control and own 5,000 Marvel characters, including Iron Man and Spider-Man. If Marvel shareholders approve the deal, they will receive $30 per share and will also receive .745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. Both the Disney and Marvel board of directors have approved the deal, but it still has to go through an anti-trust review. I don’t see there being any problem with the anti-trust review nor do I see the marvel shareholders turning up their noses to such a fantastic offer. Most likely, later this week, we should see final word on the resolution of this agreement.
Said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer:
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel`s fantastic library of characters given
its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses…This is an unparalleled
opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties
by accessing Disney`s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around
the world.”
So what does this mean to comic books fans? Well, it could be both very good and very bad at the same time. Let’s look at some quick pros and cons shall we?
Pro – Disney is a universal name with pockets so deep that God’s hand would have a hard time reaching the bottom. Marvel is no slouch either in the household name department – but let’s face it, they are no Disney. All that extra money, means way more marketing and increased traffic within the theme parks (sorry Universal but looks like you might lose the X-Men characters in your parades.)
Con – With movies like Iron Man 2, Spider-man 4, The Incredible Hulk 2, Thor , The Avengers and Captain America on the horizon, what does this mean for their development? Iron Man 2 is already in full swing so I doubt we see any type of delay with that one, but with no other pre-production or principle photography under way on some other films, could we see some eventual delay(s)?
Pro – On the flip side, with Disney having such deep pockets, that means much more available funds to push MORE movies into production. It’s not like Disney is buying Marvel because they were threatened by Marvel’s market share and were trying to buy out the competition. No, Disney bought Marvel to use the property rights, not sit on them. This could mean we start seeing Marvel characters pushed into multiple forms of media. More cartoons, more comics, more live action TV shows and definitely more movies.
Con – We could find ourselves over-saturated with watered down superheroes, quickly written scripts and under produced adaptation that are Disney is just looking to make a quick buck with. They are, after all, trying to re-coup $4 billion dollars of investment. It is distinctly possible that quality could suffer. Hopefully that won’t be the case, because whether Disney knows it or not, they are now under intense scrutiny from one of these largest, if not the largest, fan base in the world.
There are plenty of other pros and cons and we may discuss them in detail later today but for now we thought the news was worthy enough to get to you quickly.
What do you think of this mega-acquisition of Marvel by Disney? Does it make you as apprehensive as me for the future or elated that we may have an enormous opportunity to see more comic films in the future?
Disney Buys Marvel
- Bad News (60%)
- Good News (40%)
Total Votes: 2,335
Loading ...Screen Rant will keep you updated as news come out.
[UPDATE: For our analysis of what this could mean for future Marvel movies (and TV shows) check out our follow-up: So Disney Bought Marvel - What Does It All Mean?]
Source: The Globe and Mail
Disney Marvel Logo: Spoiler TV
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or if you want more frequent updates follow us on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
116 Comments
This is terrible! Disney is going to destroy Marvel! I love Spider-Man, now what is going to become of him? The is the worst thing that’s happened in the Marvel Universe sinc Captain America’s death.
Im trying as hard as I can to imagine Ghost Rider riding, uhm, Pluto!… LOL
TERRIBLE NEWS!!! You mean we’re going to have castle on a river with fireworks softening up the openings of MARVEL’S great movies? Of course, the opening is the least of our worries… what will the actual films be like? A prude, considerate Tony Stark? A calm, relaxed Hulk? A gentle, non-violent Wolverine? All PG with the occasional 12a? DISASTER! Our only hope now is in DC with Warner Bros. to keep providing decent comic book films. Such a loss
@Drew and other naysayers
how about reading the article and comments before voicing your 2 dimensional opinion.
disney own miramax which put out alot of adult movies kill bill, trainspotting and many more
Disney have already said they would step back and let marvel do their thing (why fix what’s not broken i believe was the quote) disney is more of a financial backer to put out more and better quality projects…. this is good news
this was a huge mistake on marvel’s part to sell to anyone at this time. marvel was in a very very good position to be the biggest name in merchandising and movies and were well on their way to making a ton of money. they are the most profitable movie & comic book company out their today.now all of marvel’s character’s are gaining a lot of recognition & becoming hugely profitable now and in the future. ironman 2 will be the highest grossing movie in 2010. also thor captain america avengers movie’s will be grossing more than 800 million worldwide and that is guaranteed for marvel.
Hey Guys” Disney is the perfect Host for Marvel Comics. Being the owner raises a lot of possibilities. We must have faith that Disney will do an excellent job. I like what Vic said about Superman. Superman can become a reality with Disney becoming the financial backers for Marvel.
They’re gonna make all characters gay!!!
I just hope Disney really does lets Marvel keep doing things their way. If that’s the case, it’s great news. Otherwise this could be really bad news.
@ink
as un-PC as that comment was, I couldn’t help but think of how Disney World gives a better discount to FL residents than miltiary discount and you cannot combine them. So basically if you’re in the military in FL, you don’t get squat over anyone else that visits there, and that they have a “Gay day” in Disney World. Funny, didn’t know they didn’t allow gay people the rest of the year that they need a special day just for them. When is “Straight Day?” Or would that be discrimination??
I hate Disney.
Maybe lets just look on the brighter side. More movies for marvel that is great! but with special participation of Mickey while marvel heroes knocking down their foes.
Maybe lets just look on the brighter side. More movies for marvel that is great!
I smell a crappy Kingdom Hearts sequel in the air.
thats exactly what i was thinking. kingdom hearts ultimate alliance or something. i am really bummed to hear this news and hope they don’t change what we’ve all grown to love!
Some one earlier said that there will be no more dark knight movies. Some one obviously doesn’t know about comics because Dark knight I.E. Batman is D.C. Comics which is owned by Time Warner. Also my take on this is we will see the end of comics like DeadPool And Punisher. The blood doesn’t look good to Disney. They have quoted that Comics are too violent for children and that they should be toned down. This was said several years ago when everyone was blaming school shootings on violent media. old school Disney may have been dark but the darkest thing they have done in the last few years is Hana Montana Breaks a nail. Disney also stated a few months ago that they wanted to have a way to aim at the young to teenage boys for sales. They found it! 55% when i voted of the people think this is a bad idea. That means 22.5% Will never buy another marvel comic book and the other22.5% will bail as soon as their comics are tampered with This may be a small poll But any business man Knows that this can accurately be translated large scale. Meaning if Disney messes with the comics they will loose more than half thier fan base if not more. Disney is notorious for not leaving well enough alone so that is my awnser.
This is totally gonna screw up The Avengers,Thor,Spidey and Cap films. If they cast Zac Efron as Captain America, there will be hell to pay!!
Heh yea i mean i wouldnt want Disney makeing a Awful X-men movie imagine that ! They might do somethig crazy like Screw up the Dark phoenix Saga
Disney pixar Made “the incredibles ” an that move was better than the fantastic four movies both of em
What's your opinion? Leave a Reply!
Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!