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Disney Buys Marvel For $4B
whisper_jeff writes "Disney has announced they will be purchasing Marvel. 'Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.'"
It was a nice run while you had it, Enjoy doing princess disney stories forever more now.
oogly boogly!
Does this mean that we can expect to see unending series of cash-in sequels, like Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four 3, Iron Man 2, X-Men 4, etc?!? Oh wait...
Marvel... The company that sued NCsoft for making a game in which superheroes could be constructed because some of them could be made to look like Marvel characters? And then it turned out that the most egregious violators were actually Marvel employees?
Sounds like a good fit to me, I'm sure the companies will be really happy with each other.
Finally...
Those clashes between Marvel characters and DC Comics ones got boring so now it's time for:
Daisy vs Wolverine
Pinocchio vs Spiderman
Cinderella vs Juggernaut
If they film any of those I am soo going to see this..
Now we get to look forward to Donald Duck and Howard the Duck crossovers.
All I can say is, if this opens the door for a sequel to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 including all of the famous Disney characters I am all for it. It would be a lot of fun to whoop some Mickey Mouse or Snow White azz with characters from the Marvel roster. You know you want to, just admit it.
Universal uses Marvel trademarks in one of their Theme Park (Universal's Island of Adventure) in Central Florida. Will Universal continue to pay for these Likeness rights when they are to a rival company?
We've finally given up thinking of our own ideas and as soon as existing licensing deals run out we are going to squeeze the Marvel universe for everything we can get out of it, by giving it the "Disney" treatment".
Although... Pixar doing Marvel comics? Could be good.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
-- WSJ coverage of investor call (ongoing) emphasis mine
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Thought comic books were expensive now? Wait until Disney ups the price to help recover some of that 4 billion.
Wonder how this will affect the licensing for the Comic Book area at Universal Orlando long term. It's ALL Marvel, including the "Hulk" roller coaster.
I suppose it'll just continue for a while though, the whole thing is pretty incestous.
Thank god Batman is DC comics.
DC Comics is part of Time Warner. So is Porky Pig.
They could have bought DC Comics.
Warner Bros. already bought DC, but that wasn't necessarily "all, folks" for fans.
Marvel has been going downhill for a long time. So much so that I consider this deal to be part of a natural progression. Between poor writing and poor management, I haven't seen anything good from Marvel Comics since the late 90s, or maybe early 00s. Some of their movies have been good, some have been horrid. I know "continuity" is optional at best, but you can only "re-imagine" a plot so many times before it becomes complete drivel.
This deal will ruin Marvel like old mayonnaise ruins a dog crap sandwich.
--Not to be worried, Pitr fix.
Yes, except now Disney-fied and sanitized (look no blood!) to assure parents that little johnny won't be lead astray by those no-good comic books. If you thought that the Comics Code Authority was bad, just wait until Disney sinks their claws into the Marvel brands. I do not see how this can be considered to be good for comics in general and Marvel in particular. In fact, it will probably hasten the decline of American comics in favor of edgier manga and graphic novels coming out of Japan (a trend which was already clearly evident even before this latest deal).
I hate Fox and Rupurt Murdoch, but they were the ones to push the envelope with media. It's too bad Fox didn't have the foresight to buy properties like Marvel so that the seriously adult themes in comics can be fully developed.
Best regards.
... But doesn't Universal Pictures own the rights to many Marvel comic book movie properties? How's that going to work?
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Well, it might slow the passing of the Mutant Registration Act.
Not the movie, the Marvel character. Now Howard the Duck will finally be able to admit he's from the same universe as Donald. My inner geek is sated!
The great suckage.
I buy no Disney. They are cultural programming of the lowest order. You want a rotten child? Let them watch Disney channel 2 hours a day.
If you could contrive propaganda aimed at undermining basic human values, specifically that of respect, you could do no better than to come up with this garbage. It is particularly detrimental to the child / parent relationship - always portrayed as a way to manipulate or deceive the old buffoons.
Disney is death.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Spider-man, Hulk, and Iron Man appearing on cruise ships is just as likely.
Don't worry about that.
Disney also owns Touchstone, Miramax, Hollywood Pictures, ABC and ESPN. The original reason Disney bought Touchstone was to release non-G rated movies separate from the Disney label.
Touchstone, Hollywood and Miramax all release R-rated movies including the likes of Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, No Country for Old Men, Reservoir Dogs, The Crow and Con-Air.
How about the trend towards "Young ___" ?
Young Cindarella: "Juggy, you're ruining my flower garden!"
Young Juggernaut: "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I'm just going to repeat what pretty much everyone is saying; f*ck Disney and RIP Marvel
You do know Disney owns a PLETHORA of media companies. Many of which do some pretty gruesome stuff.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Considering Marvel has had many owners, I doubt this will make any difference. Heck, Disney is probably buying this because its suddenly extremely profitable to make movies based on comic book characters, not because they feel there's a need for a Disneyfied Thor or Dr Strange.
I know this is slashdot and we're supposed to see every change as being a corporate conspiracy against us, but frankly, Marvel could use some direction from Disney. A lot of the artwork in Marvel comics is terrible. Its a company that always seems mismanaged to me. The Disney people really understand audiences and producing quality produts.
Considering Disney owns Touchstone, Miramax, Pixar, ESPN, Lifetime, A&E, and a few dozen radio stations, I doubt they are going to suddenly go against the Marvel audience and make any serious changes. Frankly, Marvel is very much kiddified to begin with, so Im not sure what grittiness you're hoping to preserve.
Now we can rest assured that the Marvel characters will never fall into the public domain and live as part of the Disney brand for the rest of time.
no
You just need to realize which modifier is modifying what:
It may look like:
quality (branded content)
But really they mean:
(quality branded) content
If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
"Like the toupee on a fading fame
The final whistle in a losing game
Thick lipstick on a five year old girl
It makes you think it's a plastic world
A plastic world and we're all plastic too
Just a couple of different faces in a dead man's queue
The world is turning Disney and there's nothing you can do
You're trying to walk like giants
but you're wearing Pluto's shoes
And the answers fall easier from the barrel of a gun
Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb
The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun
With Coca Cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun "
Surely this must be a sign of the Apocalypse...?
When Cedar Fair (owners of Cedar Point) bought up the Paramount branded theme parks a few years ago the new company simply rebranded the Paramount movie themed rides. 'Top Gun' became 'Flight Deck', 'The Italian Job' became 'Backlot Stunt Coaster', 'Tomb Raider: The Ride' became 'Time Warp', 'Cliffhanger' became 'Riptide' and 'Drop Zone' became 'Drop Tower'.
It would probably depend on the ride, but even heavily themed rides like Top Gun and Tomb Raider made quick transitions with simply removing the respective logos.
Perhaps Marvel will help Disney with their "anti-two parent home" rage. Disney has always HATED two parent families.
Don't believe me?
Where are Donald's nephews parents?
Ariel's mother?
Goofey's Wife?
Scrooge's Parents?
Mickey's?
Miney's?
That little brat from Tailspin?
Jasmine?
I mean holy crap they hate parents apparently they are either dead or MIA!
Marvel has plenty of Parents, Kids, Grandkids, hell whole genetic lineages running through the ages.
Perhaps, just maybe, Disney will learn from Marvel... we can hope some day for an answer to the anti-parent obsession the Disney corp has...
Stop teh h8 Disney! Stop teh h8! :)
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
You do know Disney owns a PLETHORA of media companies. Many of which do some pretty gruesome stuff.
Jefe, do you know what a plethora is?
Bow-ties are cool.
as the parent of a 5 year-old and a 1.5 year-old, i could not agree with you more. the moment we disallowed the disney channel (just playhouse disney -- aimed at preschoolers) and only allowed pbs, there was a noticeable attitude change in my older son.
Did he immediately start smoking, drinking cappuccino and talking about how the capitalist bastards are going to ruin everything?
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
As he web slings around town he shouts "AHH-HOO-HOO-WEEE".
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
he original reason Disney bought Touchstone was to release non-G rated movies separate from the Disney label.
I'm pretty sure that Disney itself founded Touchstone.
Property is theft.
Kitty Pride vs The Heartless
Nonono, now we can finally answer the age old question: can Mickey kick Wolverine's butt, all in eye watering 3D!
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
"Disney Buys Marvel For $4B" - That's 75 in decimal. But 75 of what?
Claus
I can agree with the Disney channels being junk (Save SOME shows on playhouse Disney.) but some of the classic movies are very good for children. I grew up watching Disney movies, so did my brothers and sister. We are all fairly successful, well mannered, mature individuals. We are spread all over Phoenix, and still manage to get together on Sundays, and have wholesome family time.
I want some examples of how Disney is detrimental to the child/parent relationship. And I want examples of how Disney undermines basic human values.
Let's assume it is true. Is my family the exception that proves the rule? Why is it that my Mom and Dad are very important to me, when I grew up watching Disney movies for hours on end? I'm willing to bet that a lot of this "Blame Disney" and other media bashing nonsense could be plain bad parenting.
But I will agree with you jerwinch, the suite life with Zach and Cody, is straight nonsense. It's hard to find good TV shows in general, but Disney is not bad as a whole.
Indoctrinate : to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments Educate : to develop mentally, morally, or aestheti
I think they're talking about the modern channel and its overall ludicrousness. Any entity is going to change over the course of 20-60 years, leading to different types of material being produced, if they're talking about movies.
...posted for a while.
Here's a link...
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4OYGjUrdllo/SKZDW56FpYI/AAAAAAAAGLA/zHFGEjuqpPk/s400/WolvieMickey.jpg
Fox News potentially getting it' hands on the Captain America property!?!
Nonono. That must be prevented at all costs.
Those entities don't do animation, do they?
I have a hard time believing Disney will allow 'PG-13+' animation to come from one of their properties - it's too close to the core.
I'm picturing Wolverine with sporks.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
You want a rotten child? Let them watch Disney channel 2 hours a day.
It is particularly detrimental to the child / parent relationship
If your relying on television programing of any kind to teach your kids a positive child / parent relationship, Disney is probably the least of your problems. Imagine the difference if you didn't just plug the kids into the TV for 2 hours a day in the first place.
Sam Raimi decides to bring the Fantastic Four into Spidey 4 for a big crossover storyline.
SR: "Who will we cast to play Spiderman's red-headed girlfriend? I know. Kirsten Dunst!"
---
SR: "Who will we cast to play Spiderman's blonde haired love interest?"
Is Ron Howard available?
No... he's in Rumania directing "Apollo Splashdown"
SR: "Then get someone else in the Howard family. I must those famous Howard hair genes playing Gwen Stacy"
---
SR:"We need to recast Alicia Masters. Tim Story really messed up casting that part for the FF movies. I just don't see Kerry Washington as Ben Grimm's girlfriend. Get me Miley Cyrus' agent. Get her in here to read for the Alicia Masters role...."
The Marvel character?
No existe.
I'm picturing Wolverine with sporks.
Those are dinglehoppers.
Wow. Marvel has sucked at controlling its rights. They fling their lawyers around like idiots with dice. Remember "Marveloution" back when they tried to buy up all the comic book distributors and have their own little "Marvel" stores?
Fail. They were too inept. Bit off more than they could chew. The screwed up the comics industry but good so that it took nearly a decade for everybody to get back on their feet.
Now Disney, on the other hand. . .
They know how to suck the soul out of a property and employ slave labor in China to make toys in a manner only Todd McFarlane could fantasize about! Oh yes indeedy! --The seedy beginnings of Marvel, (Didja know it sprang from the same family publishing um. . , 'empire' from which the classy skin-mag "Hustler" grew? Now you do. You're welcome.), all the way through their never quite taken seriously by 'real' publisher trajectory. . , that's what makes Marvel Marvel.
And that's why Marvel has always felt edgy and honest, (if adolescent and stupid half the time) and all kind of held together with spit and. . , well, staples. It's been run by a long succession of people who don't fit into respectable society and who don't really understand business, --and who had a lot of fun (and a lot of burn-out) as a result. For all its warts, I love Marvel. --While Disney is pretty much an evil entity; It has no character and no soul except the practiced gleaming smile of a charming sociopath. --Hopefully they'll catch whatever Marvel has, get the shakes and die. But I'm not holding my breath on that.
I hope comic shops don't change too much. Comic shops are one of the few paper media outlets which don't feel like they've sold out. (They would have if they could, and heaven knows they've tried, but the truth is, they've never had any capital the rest of the world really wants or understands, and so selling out hasn't been a serious option until these movies started coming out. Until then they had nothing to sell but adolescent power/sex fantasies and the occasional gem tagging along for the ride. If Disney gets its teeth in, do we really think that people like Jeff Smith and Dave Sim could have done their thing?) Hopefully Manga will keep things creepy and weird enough to prevent the grown ups from tidying up.
After all, there's a dark and a light side to everything. Maybe Disney won't screw it up.
Heh. Yeah. . . You gotta have a dream.
-FL
Who cares? Super hero animation is stuck on TV
no, it's mostly direct-to-DVD. Check out Netflix.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
And those DVD's play where? They are some of the worst part of the Japanese animation that some think of as ubercool. The story lines are still adolescent quality with nothing that drove the revolution into the graphic novels and bleeding edge.
If they had one scintilla of a real Frank Miller, instead of paying a passing homage, then maybe I'd given them respect.
Let me put it plainly, so you can see where you went wrong:
The current crop of anime compared to where comics have gone, is the same as where SyFy is compared to true SF.
It is a pale, cheap, flimsy excuse, with a direct-to-DVD quality that doesn't fulfill the promise of the characters that it rapes for the money.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.