Spidey enters the Magical Kingdom
Some of the hottest superheroes in the universe, including ones that have made mega money for rival film studios, will enter the Magic Kingdom courtesy of a $4 billion buyout of Marvel by Disney.
The announcement of the deal Monday marked the second time president and CEO Robert Iger wowed the industry with a surprise purchase. The first time came three years ago, when, shortly after replacing Michael Eisner, he gobbled up Pixar for $7.4 billion.
As with Time Warner's ownership of DC Comics, Disney's mash-up with Marvel will provide a link to fanboys -- a lucrative market on display at every Comic-Con and every opening of a superhero movie.
The list of history's Top 25 grossing movies contains the three "Spider-Man" movies and "Iron Man," all based on Marvel characters.
Among the key reasons for the deal is Disney's desire to attract males in the same number and degree it has managed to do with young females. TV channel Disney XD recently was created to replicate the company's success in attracting girls with princesses, fairies and Hannah Montana.
At least in the beginning, Disney must share its newfound superhero wealth. Marvel has pre-existing licensing deals that allow Sony to make "Spider-Man" sequels and Fox to make "X-Men" movies, and Paramount is set to distribute the next five films from Marvel's studio. Iger said Monday that those arrangements will be honored.
"It's the right thing from a legal perspective," Iger said.
Eventually, Iger said Disney probably will become the sole distributor of Marvel movies, some of which likely will be in 3D.
Marvel's own projects include "Iron Man 2," "Iron Man 3" and movies based on Thor, Captain America and the Avengers; Paramount has worldwide distribution rights to those films. Iger and Disney CFO Tom Staggs didn't disclose any changes that might be in store concerning Marvel's pipeline.
"We'll take a look and see, but the bottom line is we like what they've been doing so far," Staggs told The Hollywood Reporter.
An enthusiastic Iger told Wall Street analysts that Marvel's product "transcends gender and age" and that Pixar impresario John Lasseter already has met with Marvel talent.
"The group got pretty excited pretty fast," Iger said, without divulging which of the 5,000 Marvel characters might get the Pixar treatment either for the big or small screen.
Staggs stressed the "unexploited" characters, hinting that they might get bigger lives online, in video games and elsewhere. More at: HR
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no, DisneyXD is new name for Jetix Channel all around the world.
