[NEWS] Disney to buy Marvel

#11
Hey now. I loved Kingdom Hearts. It combined the characters of my childhood with my favorites from Square with an amazing story.

I think Disney is going to use the Marvel brand to bring in the young male population. Bring the cool cartoons back to ABC on Saturday Mornings, add X-men to the afternoon line-up on Disney and Marvel themed attractions at the theme park, among countless other things. They are seriously diversifying their target audience with this acquisition, and if the family friendly folks at Disney allow Marvel to keep doing what it does best, this will be a very good thing for fans of Disney and Marvel alike.

I watch a lot of Disney right now for my nearly 4-year old daughter. I'd love to squeeze in an episode of X-men in between the Imagination Movers and Tigger and Pooh. :D
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#16
I just can't imagine it being a terrible failure.
The biggest issue I have is that Disney does not know when to quit milking a franchise. They wanted Pixar to make 10 toy stories rather than develop new material. Perhaps they've learned and they will let Marvel run themselves more like Pixar than the other companies they have taken stewardship over, but I'm not sure that's their plan.
 
#17
The biggest issue I have is that Disney does not know when to quit milking a franchise. They wanted Pixar to make 10 toy stories rather than develop new material. Perhaps they've learned and they will let Marvel run themselves more like Pixar than the other companies they have taken stewardship over, but I'm not sure that's their plan.
That's what I'm looking at as the model. Pixar is obviously doing well, better than any other animation company it seems, and I think Disney understands what makes Marvel work. If I were Marvel, I would have been jumping at this opportunity because it provides them with access to a ton of resources at Disney and Pixar, and I anticipate that it will improve their product.

Of course, Disney could do the overbearing "we're Disney" thing and ruin it, but I'm assuming they allow Marvel to continue to do their thing and provide them with the resources they need to improve.
 
#18
Michael Eisner was the maniac who damaged the Disney/Pixar relationship and almost lost them. Robert Iger was named President and CEO and came in and repaired that fiasco immediately after Eisner left. Disney is a marketing machine which will push the Marvel stuff even further, and is distributing Pixar much further as well. They do have their corporate culture rules, however, I think that Marvel will still be able to keep much of their own identity - Disney will be adding their bulk to distribute them more.

There's only so much princess stuff they can do, and now they can pull in that younger male market. It will certainly be an interesting combination.

Maybe a new theme park could be planned.....Land of Marvel.....
The Spiderman ride would have people swinging between buildings.
Ironman games where you blowup as many people as you can fly over.
Fantastic Four Land: see how much heat you can take in the flame chamber...

The Disney Imagineers will have a field day for sure!
 
#20
Michael Eisner was the maniac who damaged the Disney/Pixar relationship and almost lost them. Robert Iger was named President and CEO and came in and repaired that fiasco immediately after Eisner left. Disney is a marketing machine which will push the Marvel stuff even further, and is distributing Pixar much further as well. They do have their corporate culture rules, however, I think that Marvel will still be able to keep much of their own identity - Disney will be adding their bulk to distribute them more.

There's only so much princess stuff they can do, and now they can pull in that younger male market. It will certainly be an interesting combination.

Maybe a new theme park could be planned.....Land of Marvel.....
The Spiderman ride would have people swinging between buildings.
Ironman games where you blowup as many people as you can fly over.
Fantastic Four Land: see how much heat you can take in the flame chamber...

The Disney Imagineers will have a field day for sure!
I just look foreward to the "toned-down" Marvel stories and comics... Wolverine will still have claws, but never kill anyone and certainly never smoke... can't have the big marketable mutant do anything un-disney, especially if he is going to team up with Buzz Lightyear to take out the Evil Zerg/Magneto team.
 
#21
i Just Look Foreward To The "toned-down" Marvel Stories And Comics... Wolverine Will Still Have Claws, But Never Kill Anyone And Certainly Never Smoke... Can't Have The Big Marketable Mutant Do Anything Un-disney, Especially If He Is Going To Team Up With Buzz Lightyear To Take Out The Evil Zerg/magneto Team.

Qft
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#22
So, in hindsight, at least as far as the movies are concerned, I believe Supes had this. I kinda hedged, and said that it would either be very good, or horribly bad; it hasn't been horribly bad.
 
#25
Wow - what a thread necromancering!
Didn;t see this originally - as a big classic Marvel fan (not the late 90's and 00's crap) there's no way that Disney's purchase of Marvel can be seen as anything but a huge success.
Back in 2009, there's no way any comics fan would have believed that superheroes would dominate pop culture and garner as much mainstream attention and interest as they have.

Unless you're the kind of fan who has to have their niche small ("as soon as it becomes popular, they're ruined for me!") than Disney's success growing Marvel's brand is a hands-down good thing.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#26
I think it's been good as far as the movies are concerned. My son loves the whole Disney Infinity thing, but there are definitely some merchandising issues that Disney has when it comes to marketing towards females or at least young girls, and their fights with Sony and Fox over Spidey, Fantastic Four and certain X-Men has damaged at least one of those brands. Not saying Marvel was any better, so I have to call my prediction of horrifically bad to have completely missed the mark. And it seems like they may even redeem Star Wars so the evil empire may not be all bad.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#28
So, creating a tutorial for the board filters reminded me that I had this thread on my Watch list. Now that we've completed three phases of the MCU, are you guys willing to revisit these takes?
It appears I already did that in 2015.

Although I'm somewhat fatigued by all the tentpole movies being comic books right now with only a handful of other franchises deemed viable (Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious and Star Wars). Most attempts to create new IPs are failing spectacularly and I think that's because these films largely follow similar plot outlines and insert characters as appropriate.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#29
Although I'm somewhat fatigued by all the tentpole movies being comic books right now with only a handful of other franchises deemed viable (Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious and Star Wars). Most attempts to create new IPs are failing spectacularly and I think that's because these films largely follow similar plot outlines and insert characters as appropriate.
Let's stipulate, for the sake of argument, that I agreed with you that that was a problem. I'm not sure how I feel about you appearing to frame your statement as though the fault somehow lies with comic book movies.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#30
Let's stipulate, for the sake of argument, that I agreed with you that that was a problem. I'm not sure how I feel about you appearing to frame your statement as though the fault somehow lies with comic book movies.
I'm more inclined to blame Disney than comic book movies themselves. So far they've been good stewards but it doesn't change the trend they have largely driven has lead to less off-beat offerings for folks looking for something different.