Disney to Acquire Marvel Entertainment

[HuskyCaucasian]

Reuters-

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

 

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in

cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

 

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

 

"This transaction combines Marvel`s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America,

Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney`s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes

the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney

Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

 

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney`s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.

 

The ramification:

So what will this mean for the future of Universal Islands of Adventure and its Marvel Super Hero Island? This section of the park includes rides such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, Storm Force Accelatron and The Incredible Hulk Coaster. In addition to the rides, there are many Marvel walk-around characters in the park.

[BigSqwert]

Boo

[FlaSoxxJim]

Wow. Huge Disney fan that I am, I absolutely hate it when they do this stuff.

 

You know the impact on Universal Islands of Adventure has to be among the key considerations from the standpoint of Disney parks. Out of the four rides at Marvel Island, Fearfall, Storm Force and The Hulk Coaster can all be re-themed without too much difficulty. But there's no way to re-theme Spider-Man virtual ride (great damn ride — easily my favorite non-coaster attraction ride).

[The Critic]

Hulk School Musical, comin' up!!

[FlaSoxxJim]

Hulk School Musical, comin' up!!

 

[knightni]

This means that they'll be getting a cut of the Avengers/Iron Man/Thor movies.

[ThunderBolt]

I don't know what to make of this. I've been weaning myself off Comics, but i'm a Marvel guy through and through

[whitesoxfan99]

Wow. Huge Disney fan that I am, I absolutely hate it when they do this stuff.

 

You know the impact on Universal Islands of Adventure has to be among the key considerations from the standpoint of Disney parks. Out of the four rides at Marvel Island, Fearfall, Storm Force and The Hulk Coaster can all be re-themed without too much difficulty. But there's no way to re-theme Spider-Man virtual ride (great damn ride — easily my favorite non-coaster attraction ride).

 

Universal probably has a pretty long licensing agreement and will be able to keep the Marvel themes in their parks as long as that licensing agreement is in existence.

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

Universal probably has a pretty long licensing agreement and will be able to keep the Marvel themes in their parks as long as that licensing agreement is in existence.

 

A question, though, is will they want to, seeing as those licensing fees will now go to The Mouse?

[Nixon]

According to the conference calls the parks east of the Mississippi will continue to operate as is. Meaning Marvel characters will probably get some play in Disney in Ca. Whatever money Marvel was earning out of these agreements go to Disney but Disney can't break these deals. Fox & Sony still own the rights to the movies they're currently producing, from an article I read there will be one more movie after The Avengers. Pixar is already working on a movie based on John Carter of Mars and apparently there's something else that's in the pipeline. I am f***ing stoked. The Wolverine/Xmen licenses can't be free of Fox soon enough for me.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Nixon

[whitesoxfan99]

According to the conference calls the parks east of the Mississippi will continue to operate as is. Meaning Marvel characters will probably get some play in Disney in Ca. Whatever money Marvel was earning out of these agreements go to Disney but Disney can't break these deals. Fox & Sony still own the rights to the movies they're currently producing, from an article I read there will be one more movie after The Avengers. Pixar is already working on a movie based on John Carter of Mars and apparently there's something else that's in the pipeline. I am f***ing stoked. The Wolverine/Xmen licenses can't be free of Fox soon enough for me.

 

Sony has Spiderman and Fox has Fantastic Four and X-Men. Marvel had a distribution agreement with Paramount to distribute Avengers, Iron Man, etc. but they were producing those on their own. Paramount still will be distributing the next 5 non FF, Spidey, X-Men films and then that agreement runs out. Fox is freaking terrible, I would love for those characters to go to Disney.

[FlaSoxxJim]

According to the conference calls the parks east of the Mississippi will continue to operate as is. Meaning Marvel characters will probably get some play in Disney in Ca. Whatever money Marvel was earning out of these agreements go to Disney but Disney can't break these deals. Fox & Sony still own the rights to the movies they're currently producing, from an article I read there will be one more movie after The Avengers. Pixar is already working on a movie based on John Carter of Mars and apparently there's something else that's in the pipeline. I am f***ing stoked. The Wolverine/Xmen licenses can't be free of Fox soon enough for me.

 

Andrew Stanton is directing John Carter, but he's doing it for Disney and not Pixar.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_of_Mars_(film)

 

Also, the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate owned the rights not, marvel, and Disney acquired them from the estate in 2007.

 

John Carter, like Tarzan, i interesting in that both Marvel and DC had characters from those universes in their comics. DC's John Carter connection was almost exclusively the inclusion of Tars Tarkis in the Legion of Superheroes universe, but I still always found that interesting.

 

As for the Disney/Marvel deal, I don't like it but I understand it from a financial standpoint for both sides.

[Kid Gleason]

Welp, I'm a Marvel guy (still have a pull list at my comic shop) and I am a Disney guy (leaving for Disney World in 24 days), so a certain side of me is THRILLED at the idea of the two being combined. But I have yet to read that article, so I will hold off on being too happy or mad, or even indifferent, until later.

[Steve9347]

I cant' wait to beat the s*** out of Mickey Mouse with Wolverine in the first Marvel vs. Disney game.

[RibbieRubarb]

I am very excited by this! From a theme park perspective this will be great for Disney as they can expand Hollywood Studios and create a Marvel Area. This is obviously done to combat the Harry Potter land at Universal. Also this is great for Disney in a marketing sense. They really don't have a stake in the tween/teen boy demo. Pirate stuff tends to track younger. This will be big.

 

My guess is you will see a buy-out of the liscening deal at Universal Theme parks as Disney will ramp up plans to get Marvel in there soon.

 

BTW, I agree the Spiderman ride at Universal is one of the best. I can see them redoing it as a Transformers ride. The other rides are generic and can also be easily re-themed.

 

 

Here is the latest from Screamscape.com

 

 

Disney - (9/1/09) The big news yesterday came as a shock to everyone in the industry that I’ve talked to. If you haven’t heard yet, Disney pulled out Mickey’s checkbook and wrote a deal worth $4 BILLION DOLLARS to buy Marvel Comics, the entertainment powerhouse owner of Spiderman, X-Men, Iron-Man, Thor, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Incredible Hulk and about 5,000 more characters big and small. Yes… Disney bought them all.

The implications are simply mind boggling on all fronts. What does it mean for the current and future Marvel plans to push ahead with countless films based on their characters? What does it mean for the comic book side of things? How about the huge lines of toys, video games and clothing based on these characters? Does this mean we’ll see Spiderman web slinging down Main Street USA at some point in the future or new theme park attractions based on the Marvel characters?

Even more importantly to the here and now… what will the impact be upon Universal’s existing deal with Marvel comics to use the characters at Marvel Super Hero Island at the Islands of Adveture park in Orlando? Unfortunately no one knows for certain, but I’ll break it down into what has been said so far and where things will likely stand.

From what I’ve been led to understand for years now… Universal deal to use the Marvel characters only applies to using them in IOA within the confines of Marvel Super Hero Island. I also believe that Marvel had the ability to give a final yes or no nod to any attraction that was developed for the island. The currently attractions there were approved… but with Disney calling the shots in the future, that pretty much writes off any chance of getting NEW attractions added to the island. For anyone wondering, there was a deal to use select walk-around characters at the Hollywood park as well for several years, but that deal expired and was not renewed a couple of years ago, so don’t expect to see them return to the Hollywood park. Japan also has a deal in place for their Spiderman ride, but I don’t think it extends to anything beyond that.

Universal did release a brief statement yesterday where the said that they believed that Universal’s current deal with Marvel was still valid and was expected to continue for some time. The actual terms of that deal are unknown however… as some believe it may have been signed as an “in perpetuity” deal, while most others I’ve talked to believe that it was signed on only as a “long term” licensing contract, possibly in the 25-30 year range. It may have also had a geographic limitation, which might prevent Disney from using the characters in Orlando for the time being as well, but no one is quite sure. Bottom line however… no one knows. But even if it was a forever deal, that would only apply as long as the current batch of attractions were still functional. With Disney not likely to approve any more attractions, eventually the land will become a bit stale and even the Amazing Spider-Man’s sheen could wear thin.

Disney’s own statements indicated that they planed on going along with all of Marvel’s currently agreements for the characters as a good partner, but you can count on the fact that as these deals reach the end of their terms, Disney will not renew them. This comes as no surprise however, as Marvel had no intention of renewing them anyway on their own before the Disney deal, due to Marvel’s success of late in putting out blockbuster super hero films one after the other.

So do I think we’re going to see Space Mountain become inhabited by the Silver Surfer? Will the X-Men seek out a new “Mansion” to call their own? Could we catch a glimpse of Wolvering and Sabertooth going claw-to-claw in the middle of the Matterhorn? Don’t count on it… at least not right away. While I do think that for certain we will see Marvel characters and merchandise start to appear in some of the theme parks sooner than later, I wouldn’t expect any major attractions to come out of it just yet. If anything, insiders tell us that we may see most of the activity happen on the entertainment and merchandise side of the company for the few few years, as Disney will have to come to grips and learn just how to properly handle the Marvel Universe.

That said… and being a former comic book fan myself, I do hope Disney knows enough to take a “hands off” approach to Marvel for the time being, just as they did with Pixar. Let them do what they do best and handle the Marvel Universe, and become the stable financial support that they need to grow even larger and more successful. And please don’t screw with the comic characters or try to tone the more gritty characters down. On the plus side of things, I’ve heard the Pixar crew is quite excited by the deal and may be jumping at the opportunity to bring some of the Marvel characters to life in new ways. Plus this move does give Disney direct access to the one market demographic that they had been really lacking in… tween to teenage boys who were too old to be lured in by Pirates themed merchandise, and turned off by all the Fairy and Princess stuff.