Disney in move to buy Marvel
There’s a lot of carfuffle in “O” town at the moment over the $4 Billion Disney purchase of Marvel Comics. There’s a lot of speculation over Disney’s plans for the brand and it seems Disney will end up having a few options:
1) Disney continues to license the names to Universal.
2) Disney withdraw the rights to use the names of Hulk, Spider-man, Iron Man and Marvel’s other 5,000 characters.
3) Disney eventually buys Universal.
I prefer to see this in a positive light although I quite understand the viewpoints of those who prefer the more traditional Disney characters and the family values they bring. The purchase of Marvel means that Disney will be able to offer something different and their expertise will develop the Marvel brand further than it has ever gone in my opinion so I don’t see Disney withdrawing the rights to the characters for the foreseeable future.
Having the Disney name behind them will help Marvel expand globally and will help Disney get back its following among the males species, something they lost with stuff like Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers.
There’s a way to go yet before this deal is consummated as it will have to go through an antitrust review not to mention get the approval of Marvel’s shareholders. Further, details will have to be worked in regard to licensing rights that Marvel has with other studios.
Overall, interesting times ahead … but I’d still have loved to be a fly in the Universal boardroom when they found out about this deal. 🙂 Let me know what you make of this deal.
