Surprise! Disney Buys Marvel
In a very surprising announcement today, Disney has revealed that they have agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of the calendar year.
The acquisition gives Disney ownership of Marvel's portfilio of some 5,000 popular characters. It's an interesting fit for Disney, but I suppose at the very least it fills a 'teen boy' gap that the company has long had.
As for what will happen with Universal's Islands of Adventure land themed solely on these characters, well, they seem safe. Apparently the licensing gives the park their use even with the new owner having their own World up the street. Universal has released a statement that the deal should not affect their park at all.
Disney President Bob Iger has also been quoted saying that they will uphold the licensing contracts in place (rides, movies, etc.) until they expire. The Orlando Sentinel has a pretty good article with a slight focus on the parks, if you'd like to check that out.
So what do you guys think, will we see a Marvel ride of some sort at the Disney Parks? The movie themed parks seem to be the best fit... I can't really see a Captain America dark ride in Fantasyland. Thoughts?
1 comments:
Very interesting story. I'd bet that you're going to see more of an impact from this deal on the television and production end of things. As you note, this is a deal aimed at the "tween" boy group. Count on a pretty quick impact on the "tween" boy cable property Toon Disney. I wouldn't be surprised to see the classic Marvel shows; that is, Spiderman, etc., quickly take positions on that channel. Perhaps this is a way out of the Jetix arrangement?
For the parks, it's hard to imagine any change to any of the parks beyond Hollywoodland. I agree with Mike, certainly no changes to Magic Kingdom/Disneyland. My prediction? Less overall integration in the parks than the acquisition of Pixar. The only place where I see some exploitation of the Marvel property (IOA) is likely to be extremely limited to avoid confusion with, and essentially advertising for, IOA.
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