Disney's New Plans for All Those Marvel Characters

The Disney/Marvel deal is about to become official. It was announced this summer, but Disney's acquisition has to go before the board on December 31st, although that seems like a formality given what the House of Mouse would be picking up. Disney's Robert Iger told the Associated Press yesterday that the company's plans for Marvel involve using some of the thousands of lesser-known characters in a variety of ways. "Instead of making a $200 million movie and kind of betting the farm on one character, you can develop a television pilot, a television series," Iger said of Disney's designs on its new catalog of goodies. I can think of three immediate reasons why that's the way to go. Number one, Marvel isn't doing that right now. Its video game market is there, the comics still sell, and there are the movies. But TV has lagged behind the others. So this kind of move would bolster that part of the empire. Secondly, it's a smart way to introduce some of these characters instead of, as Iger says, making a new Iron Man every time out. Marvel doesn't have a pristine record at this point, so as valuable as the stockpile of characters is, they can't all succeed as films.Third, Disney doesn't control some of the comic giant's characters for a few years thanks to existing deals with studios across town, so in the short term, this could be a wise way to wait out the current contracts for Spidey, Wolverine, and others. There are over 5,000 Marvel characters, although the vast majority of those probably aren't ones you'd want to roll out in standalone projects (keep in mind that even with a "vast majority" being relegated to background stuff, that still leaves about 1,000 characters to choose from, and that's plenty). Disney takes a lot of heat for various reasons, and it certainly hasn't been the best couple of years in the studio's long history, but I don't think there's any denying how shrewd this acquisition was and sounds like it will be. Disney immediately made itself a major player in the comic book wars and it will be able to do what Sony/Paramount/Fox/Universal can't: Give all of the Marvel Universe one home. All the more reason why this vote should be passed this week, in addition to more reasons that will probably make just as much sense down the line.

Comments

[Will]

I think this makes Disney's theme park division much more marketable to teenagers as well. Money that is slipping away to Six Flags and Universal Studios may, in theory come back to Disneyland/World when the chances of meeting Spiderman and Going On "Mr. Wolverine's Wild Ride" are thrown into the equation...

[strategy games]

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[Fighting games]

What a great job i completely agree with you when saying t's a smart way to introduce some of these characters instead of, as Iger says, making a new Iron Man every time out

[Ben 10 games]

Very interesting, if Disney decided to take the Marvel characters to the market i know that they know what they are doing, anyway its going to be interesting.

[Jimmy]

Those plans are really interesting, they are trying to take the Marvel characters to a really new direction, I'm really anxious to see the upcoming results form Disney!
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[free online games]

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[Jodasen]

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[tinggi badan]

Secondly, it's a smart way to introduce some of these characters instead of, as Iger says, making a new Iron Man every time out. Marvel doesn't have a pristine record at this point, so as valuable as the stockpile of characters is, they can't all succeed as films.