From Entertainment Weekly:
"Joe Kosinski’s Tron Legacy is getting a little help from above. EW.com has learned that the CG-extravaganza due out at the end of the year received some key input from some very brilliant filmmakers, mainly the elite brain trust at Pixar in Northern California. In late March, the Tron filmmakers chose to show a very early working cut of the film starring Garrett Hedlund and Jeff Bridges to Pixar’s John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, The Incredibles director Brad Bird, Toy Story 3 screenwriter Michael Arndt, and others. The one-day exercise was done in advance of some planned re-shoots scheduled for June with the intent of beefing up the very things that Pixar is so good at: character, emotion, and theme.
Following the screening — and other viewings with various live-action filmmakers in Los Angeles — Disney hired Arndt and Bird to write some pages for the upcoming re-shoots, which lasted six days last month. Original writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz ('Lost') were also integral in the writing at this time. 'Tron is very much Joe Kosinski’s vision, a vision which is thrilling to me and I hope is thrilling to the fans,' said Sean Bailey, Disney’s president of production. 'What I give Joe and the filmmaking team immense credit for, is this was all born out of how do we give the fans the best movie we can. We were very fortunate that Pixar wanted to play a part in it.'
So is this inter-studio collaboration a sign of things to come for Disney, under the new regime of studio head Rich Ross and Bailey? The answer seems to be yes. With Disney now essentially an umbrella company for not only Pixar but Marvel and DreamWorks Studios too, it makes a lot of sense. And Bailey, who was first a producer on Tron before being hired by Disney in January, is certainly encouraged by the positive experience of working with those famed filmmakers up north. 'Certainly being able to have an open dialogue with our formidable partners in Pixar, Marvel, and DreamWorks is really interesting to me.'
Tron Legacy will bow on Dec. 17."
Now all doubts aside, can this movie fail? Unless they change the pronounciation of the character's name and remove any hint of humor, no they can't.
Showing posts with label Pixar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pixar. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Disney CEO lays down fears on Marvel and CAPTAIN EO
From ComingSoon.net:
"Walt Disney Company President and CEO Bob Iger made a surprise press conference appearance at Disney's D23 Expo, answering questions about the expo and Disney's plans for the future.
One of the hot questions was in regard to Disney's announcement last week that the company had acquired Marvel Entertainment, the news of which (so far) has not made any appearance at the Expo.
Iger stressed the notion that fans can expect Marvel to continue to operate as it has.
'We're not planning on any 'Disneyfication' of Marvel,' said Iger, '...Our intention is to keep Marvel as an entity.'
Iger went on to explain that he has met with a great many Marvel talents and that, like the acquisition of Pixar, Disney's primary goal is to stay on the sidelines and let the artists do what they do best.
He did admit that he was excited about the chance for some cross-pollination in the future, though nothing is planned as of yet.
Iger reiterated that part of what is so intriguing about Marvel is that the deal is designed to play out in the long run, having characters that 'transcend gender and age.' In the short term, Disney just has to wait until some of the Marvel deals already in place with other studios and theme parks 'work their course' and, until then, 'there isn't much planning to be done.'
Another question asked about the possible return of Michael Jackson's Captain EO to the Disney Amusement Parks. Though Iger firmly stated that there are no plans at this time, he admitted that he doesn't fully rule out the possibility, explaining that the film was recently screened for himself and other Disney executives.
'It's actually really good,' said Iger, 'There's a simplicity to it. [Michael Jackson] is charming.'
'We are looking at it,' he went on, 'It's the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we want to make sure we do it right.'"
Good to know the Big Boss is keeping things flowing.
"Walt Disney Company President and CEO Bob Iger made a surprise press conference appearance at Disney's D23 Expo, answering questions about the expo and Disney's plans for the future.
One of the hot questions was in regard to Disney's announcement last week that the company had acquired Marvel Entertainment, the news of which (so far) has not made any appearance at the Expo.
Iger stressed the notion that fans can expect Marvel to continue to operate as it has.
'We're not planning on any 'Disneyfication' of Marvel,' said Iger, '...Our intention is to keep Marvel as an entity.'
Iger went on to explain that he has met with a great many Marvel talents and that, like the acquisition of Pixar, Disney's primary goal is to stay on the sidelines and let the artists do what they do best.
He did admit that he was excited about the chance for some cross-pollination in the future, though nothing is planned as of yet.
Iger reiterated that part of what is so intriguing about Marvel is that the deal is designed to play out in the long run, having characters that 'transcend gender and age.' In the short term, Disney just has to wait until some of the Marvel deals already in place with other studios and theme parks 'work their course' and, until then, 'there isn't much planning to be done.'
Another question asked about the possible return of Michael Jackson's Captain EO to the Disney Amusement Parks. Though Iger firmly stated that there are no plans at this time, he admitted that he doesn't fully rule out the possibility, explaining that the film was recently screened for himself and other Disney executives.
'It's actually really good,' said Iger, 'There's a simplicity to it. [Michael Jackson] is charming.'
'We are looking at it,' he went on, 'It's the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we want to make sure we do it right.'"
Good to know the Big Boss is keeping things flowing.
No ANT-MAN for Pixar
From Slashfilm:
"After Disney announced that they would be acquiring Marvel Entertainment, Disney
CEO Bob Iger revealed during a confrence call that 'Pixar boss John Lasseter talked to the Marvel guys about' the possibility of working together on a Pixar film, and 'they all got excited about it. We think there’s ultimately some exciting product that come of that. Sparks will fly!' Then earlier this week Entertainment Weekly reported that 'Pixar already has their eye on Ant-Man.' If that is true, both director Edgar Wright and Marvel head Kevin Feige know nothing about it…
CHUD contacted Wright, who has been developing the big screen adaptation for the last five years, for comment. Wright confirmed that he’s still attached to the project, but hasn’t had much time to work with Joe Cornish on the second draft because of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
'I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase,' wrote Wright. 'The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar’s work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them.'
It seems pretty opbvious that the rumor started as an idea in all the Disney/Marvel speculation, and somehow morphed into news in this big Hollywood game of telephone. Wright, like others, also questions the idea that Pixar would be interested in doing 'a shrinking film' since 'Toy Story and A Bug’s Life already cover this territory to some extent.' As for Wright’s take on the second teir superhero character…
'It’s true that the character is not considered one of the Marvel brand leaders and that is precisely what excites me about it. I want to make a film inside the Marvel Universe that is something a little different; a genre film within the superhero genre so to speak,' says Wright. 'My spin on Ant-Man is very different than a straight superhero origin - and very much live action. At some point in this century, I intend to stop talking about it and make the [darn] thing.'"
UPDATE:
From ComingSoon.net:
"Following his presentation this morning at Anaheim's D23 Expo, John Lasseter held a press conference, fielding questions about upcoming projects, including dismissing a rumor that Pixar may be looking at Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and offering a sly 'no comment' on potential sequels to other Pixar properties.
'I had met all the folks from Marvel a couple of times and they're terrific,' says Lasseter a man of few words regarding Pixar's interest in Marvel properties, 'The whole 'Ant-Man' thing is just a rumor.'"
WELL HURRY UP!! DUH!!
"After Disney announced that they would be acquiring Marvel Entertainment, Disney
CEO Bob Iger revealed during a confrence call that 'Pixar boss John Lasseter talked to the Marvel guys about' the possibility of working together on a Pixar film, and 'they all got excited about it. We think there’s ultimately some exciting product that come of that. Sparks will fly!' Then earlier this week Entertainment Weekly reported that 'Pixar already has their eye on Ant-Man.' If that is true, both director Edgar Wright and Marvel head Kevin Feige know nothing about it…CHUD contacted Wright, who has been developing the big screen adaptation for the last five years, for comment. Wright confirmed that he’s still attached to the project, but hasn’t had much time to work with Joe Cornish on the second draft because of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
'I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase,' wrote Wright. 'The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar’s work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them.'
It seems pretty opbvious that the rumor started as an idea in all the Disney/Marvel speculation, and somehow morphed into news in this big Hollywood game of telephone. Wright, like others, also questions the idea that Pixar would be interested in doing 'a shrinking film' since 'Toy Story and A Bug’s Life already cover this territory to some extent.' As for Wright’s take on the second teir superhero character…
'It’s true that the character is not considered one of the Marvel brand leaders and that is precisely what excites me about it. I want to make a film inside the Marvel Universe that is something a little different; a genre film within the superhero genre so to speak,' says Wright. 'My spin on Ant-Man is very different than a straight superhero origin - and very much live action. At some point in this century, I intend to stop talking about it and make the [darn] thing.'"
UPDATE:
From ComingSoon.net:
"Following his presentation this morning at Anaheim's D23 Expo, John Lasseter held a press conference, fielding questions about upcoming projects, including dismissing a rumor that Pixar may be looking at Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and offering a sly 'no comment' on potential sequels to other Pixar properties.
'I had met all the folks from Marvel a couple of times and they're terrific,' says Lasseter a man of few words regarding Pixar's interest in Marvel properties, 'The whole 'Ant-Man' thing is just a rumor.'"
WELL HURRY UP!! DUH!!
John Lasseter presents the Future of Disney Animations!
From ComingSoon.net:
"In addition to last night's news that Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi will voice [characters in] Rapunzel, John Lasseter was also in London today to reveal news and show clips that were expected to premiere at D23 Expo.
Empire magazine attended the presentation in which Lasseter revealed that Timothy Dalton will voice a character called Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, 'who's something of a luvvie and wears lederhosen.' The magazine described a animation test they saw of the character and the trailer:
'We saw a tiny animation test with Mr. Pricklepants (who's cute in a spiky way), but the big news was a lengthy Toy Story 3 clip and trailer. The clip showed Andy packing from college, and emptying all his toys into a black bin bag for storage in the attic. He hesitates over Woody and Buzz, finally putting Woody in the box of things to take for college. But all the toys are panicked - especially Woody, who's worried for his friends. When Andy is distracted by his little sister and leaves the garbage bag on the landing instead of upstairs in the attic, his mother takes it out to the [curb] - and a frantic Woody has to save his friends from a rapidly approaching [garbage truck].
We also saw the as-yet unreleased trailer, which showed bits of the same scene, but developed the story. Clearly the toys end up being sent to a daycare centre, where they are horribly abused by the little kids - and after that it's time for a break-out attempt to find a safe haven, and hopefully a new owner, in a cruel world. It looks every bit as good as its titanic predecessors.'
Empire also says Lasseter revealed the story for Cars 2:
'The story sees Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), his pit team and new pit boss Mater head around the world for the Race of Champions, to take place in five different countries and involve the champions of different disciplines like Formula One and rally driving. First up is a race in Tokyo, starting at Mount Fuji and heading downtown (somewhat reminiscent of 'Mater's Tall Tales' short ['Tokyo Mater'] about drift-racing); then there's a German race through the Black Forest; then 'Porto Corsa' in Italy, which is based partly on the Monte Carlo Grand Prix; then a 24-hour race around Paris (...somewhat like Le Mans...) and finally a thrilling climax in London, approaching Buckingham Palace (where the guards appear to be Land Rovers).'
But all this racing is not the only focus. Mater, who we know from the series of cartoon shorts 'Mater's Tall Tales' is prone to exaggeration, gets involved in a 'Hitchcockian' case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent called Finn McMissile (who looks a heck of a lot like an Aston Martin) and becomes embroiled in a huge spy thriller. Only no-one believes him. That too comes to a head at Buckingham Palace.
Along the way there are towtruck-abroad pictures to be taken at the Oktoberfest in Germany (where Mater wears 'Materhosen') and harassing the aforementioned Palace Guards.'
Next up was a presentation on the new Winnie the Pooh movie that is in the works:
'Lasseter followed that - and a series of gorgeous production stills - with Winnie-the-Pooh, which the studio is bringing back to the big screen in spring of 2011, and which we are assured will not just be for little kids. The writers went through the archives and the books of A.A. Milne and found five stories that had never been filmed, combining the plots of all five into a feature-length story. Burny Mattinson, an animator who's been at Disney for over 50 years and who worked with Walt on the original Pooh films, is working closely with directors Steve Anderson, Clark Spencer and Don Hall.'
And lastly they saw concept art for The Bear and the Bow:
'It's Pixar's first real attempt at a leading female character (and a female director in Brenda Chapman), and focuses on Merida (Reese Witherspoon), a princess in 10th century Scotland. She's something of a wild child who's most at home in the Highlands rather than in the family castle, and is somewhat alienated from her family: King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Queen Eleanor (Emma Thompson) and her much younger triplet brothers. We don't know many details of the plot, except that it's less about finding a prince and more about Merida's relationship with her mother... but we do know that there will be a baddie, who's a [unknown] (she prefers 'Wise Woman') and is voiced by Julie Walters. Only concept art for that one, but gorgeous concept art.'"
A NEW WINNIE-THE-POOH MOVIE?! AND TIMOTHY DALTON (James Bond and the villain from The Rocketeer) IN TOY STORY 3?!
"In addition to last night's news that Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi will voice [characters in] Rapunzel, John Lasseter was also in London today to reveal news and show clips that were expected to premiere at D23 Expo.
Empire magazine attended the presentation in which Lasseter revealed that Timothy Dalton will voice a character called Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, 'who's something of a luvvie and wears lederhosen.' The magazine described a animation test they saw of the character and the trailer:
'We saw a tiny animation test with Mr. Pricklepants (who's cute in a spiky way), but the big news was a lengthy Toy Story 3 clip and trailer. The clip showed Andy packing from college, and emptying all his toys into a black bin bag for storage in the attic. He hesitates over Woody and Buzz, finally putting Woody in the box of things to take for college. But all the toys are panicked - especially Woody, who's worried for his friends. When Andy is distracted by his little sister and leaves the garbage bag on the landing instead of upstairs in the attic, his mother takes it out to the [curb] - and a frantic Woody has to save his friends from a rapidly approaching [garbage truck].
We also saw the as-yet unreleased trailer, which showed bits of the same scene, but developed the story. Clearly the toys end up being sent to a daycare centre, where they are horribly abused by the little kids - and after that it's time for a break-out attempt to find a safe haven, and hopefully a new owner, in a cruel world. It looks every bit as good as its titanic predecessors.'
Empire also says Lasseter revealed the story for Cars 2:
'The story sees Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), his pit team and new pit boss Mater head around the world for the Race of Champions, to take place in five different countries and involve the champions of different disciplines like Formula One and rally driving. First up is a race in Tokyo, starting at Mount Fuji and heading downtown (somewhat reminiscent of 'Mater's Tall Tales' short ['Tokyo Mater'] about drift-racing); then there's a German race through the Black Forest; then 'Porto Corsa' in Italy, which is based partly on the Monte Carlo Grand Prix; then a 24-hour race around Paris (...somewhat like Le Mans...) and finally a thrilling climax in London, approaching Buckingham Palace (where the guards appear to be Land Rovers).'
But all this racing is not the only focus. Mater, who we know from the series of cartoon shorts 'Mater's Tall Tales' is prone to exaggeration, gets involved in a 'Hitchcockian' case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent called Finn McMissile (who looks a heck of a lot like an Aston Martin) and becomes embroiled in a huge spy thriller. Only no-one believes him. That too comes to a head at Buckingham Palace.
Along the way there are towtruck-abroad pictures to be taken at the Oktoberfest in Germany (where Mater wears 'Materhosen') and harassing the aforementioned Palace Guards.'
Next up was a presentation on the new Winnie the Pooh movie that is in the works:
'Lasseter followed that - and a series of gorgeous production stills - with Winnie-the-Pooh, which the studio is bringing back to the big screen in spring of 2011, and which we are assured will not just be for little kids. The writers went through the archives and the books of A.A. Milne and found five stories that had never been filmed, combining the plots of all five into a feature-length story. Burny Mattinson, an animator who's been at Disney for over 50 years and who worked with Walt on the original Pooh films, is working closely with directors Steve Anderson, Clark Spencer and Don Hall.'And lastly they saw concept art for The Bear and the Bow:
'It's Pixar's first real attempt at a leading female character (and a female director in Brenda Chapman), and focuses on Merida (Reese Witherspoon), a princess in 10th century Scotland. She's something of a wild child who's most at home in the Highlands rather than in the family castle, and is somewhat alienated from her family: King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Queen Eleanor (Emma Thompson) and her much younger triplet brothers. We don't know many details of the plot, except that it's less about finding a prince and more about Merida's relationship with her mother... but we do know that there will be a baddie, who's a [unknown] (she prefers 'Wise Woman') and is voiced by Julie Walters. Only concept art for that one, but gorgeous concept art.'"
A NEW WINNIE-THE-POOH MOVIE?! AND TIMOTHY DALTON (James Bond and the villain from The Rocketeer) IN TOY STORY 3?!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Disney Owns Marvel Entertainment
From ComingSoon.net:
"A huge announcement this morning - Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!
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.
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.
'Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,' said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. 'This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.'
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
UPDATE #1: In a conference call, the companies said that the deals for movies for characters at other studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.) will stay in place under the terms set by Marvel and the other studios.
UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got 'pretty excited, pretty fast.' They say there's definitely an opportunity there.
UPDATE #3: The deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers stays in place as well, but Disney would like to self-distribute down the line. 'When the time comes we'll take a closer look at it.' It was actually stated that the deal still included five films, so that is one more film after The Avengers."
OH. MY. GOSH.
Continuing information from FilmSchoolRejects:
"As you probably know by now, the big entertainment news of the day is The Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment. Shortly after the $4 billion dollar deal was announced, a shareholder conference call was held to explain some of the details. If you didn’t have a chance to sit through the call yourself, don’t worry, as we’ve got you covered. Below you will find our quick guide to what is going on — based on the information we have in front of us.
1. Disney has an 'If it ain’t broke…' viewpoint toward Marvel Studios. Walt Disney President Bob Iger said specifically that Disney will have an 'if it ain’t broke…' attitude when it comes to the future of Marvel films. All of the creative control — including use of 3D, which characters will get movies, etc — will remain in the hands of the people who know the Marvel Universe best: the people at Marvel. Sure, this might change down the road, but the initial sentiment is that Disney does not intend to come in and take control of Marvel’s creative world.
2. All previous deals are still in place. Paramount is still going to distribute up to five more Marvel Studios films, including Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. The also could still distribute an Ant-Man movie. As well, there are still existing deals in which other studios hold the cinematic rights to certain characters. Those are not changing. So Spider-Man is staying at Sony, X-Men is staying with Fox, and so on. Disney intends to bring those characters back in-house at some point, but there’s no indication that it will be happening anytime soon.
3. John Lasseter has met with Marvel about a Pixar team-up. Executives stated that not only has John Lasseter, the man behind Pixar and now Disney Animation, already met with the folks at Marvel, but that they were also so excited that they had to be told to calm down. The meaning here is simple: something is brewing between Marvel and Pixar, and there’s no way that can be a bad thing.
4. Disney is a brand machine. From a film marketing standpoint — and for that matter, a brand marketing standpoint — Disney is a powerhouse. Pirates of the Caribbean, the films of Pixar and all the way down to television with shows such as 'Lost' via their ownership of ABC, Disney knows how to sell a brand. And selling the Marvel brand means more Marvel fans, more recognition in the mainstream and for those of us keeping score, more money down the road to make Marvel movies.
5. Disney backing means Marvel budgets. Disney is a smart company. During the conference call they said, in effect, that their goal is to shine a brighter light on Marvel. Which likely means marketing dollars, added funding for development and (hopefully) increased marketshare. With big Daddy Disney backing them up financially, Marvel will be able to operate at a higher level. Assuming creative control stays the same (which appears to be the case), Marvel fans can only count on more of what they love from their favorite brand.
6. A lot of details are yet to be hashed out. One very important thing to keep in mind is that there will be a great gestation period here. Marvel Entertainment has a lot of existing deals — theme parks, movie distribution, etc. — and all of those contract will be honored by Disney. It will take them a long time to reign in the Marvel Universe and obtain full creative control.
As you can see, there are good intentions all around — Disney doesn’t want to screw up their $4 billion dollar purchase, so its likely that they will let the highly profitable Marvel Studios do their thing. The questions don’t arise until far down the line, when Disney begins to take back the rights to Marvel characters. How will they handle these franchises? How many movies will they release per year? All of these questions are yet to be answered, and may not be answered for a long time. At this point, all we can say is that this deal appears to be a good one for Marvel.
Update: Paramount Pictures had the following to say via press release today:
'Paramount Pictures has enjoyed a productive and fruitful relationship with Marvel Studios from the start of our distribution agreement in 2005,' the statement began. “So much so, we announced a five-picture slate distribution deal last year which includes worldwide distribution rights for upcoming films: Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man 3. This distribution deal will be unaffected by today’s transaction. We look forward to continuing to work with Marvel and, with today’s announcement, to working with Disney to replicate the incredible success of Iron Man on all our future collaborative projects.'
Looks like all is well in the love triangle of Marvel/Paramount/Disney. All three have nothing to lose and everything to gain by seeing Marvel’s movies churn out a profit, so I would suspect that they will all play nice until the contract is up."
FURTHER continuing information from Jim Hill Media:
"Mickey, meet Spidey. Spidey, Mickey. In a deal that (I’m sure) the Disneyana community will have trouble wrapping its head around, The Walt Disney Company announced plans today to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction worth an estimated $4 billion.
As to what actually drove the Mouse to pursue Marvel & its library of over 5,000 characters … As Disney CEO Bob Iger explained in an investor’s conference call earlier this morning, this wasn’t a deal that either company really had to make. But from a creativity, technology and global reach point of view, Marvel & its stable of superheroes had a gain by joining forces with the Magic Kingdom.
Mind you, a lot of folks are now trying to draw parallels between The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios back in 2006 and today’s deal with Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Though – to be honest – a more apt comparison would probably be Mickey purchasing the Muppets & the 'Bear in the Big Blue House' characters back in February of 2004.
You see, back when Disney hammered out that deal with The Jim Henson Company, they had to agree to honor all of Henson’s pre-existing licensing deals, film production & TV distribution agreements. Waiting – in a lot of cases – for years ‘til those rights ultimately reverted back to The Walt Disney Company’s control.
Only in the past year has the Mouse really had been in a position to start taking full advantage of Fozzie Bear & friends. Which is why you’ve only recently begun to see the Muppets enjoy a more elevated status within Disney’s world. With those characters now starring in the Disneyland Resort’s upcoming promotional campaign, and a new Halloween TV special as well as a Muppet theatrical release being in the works for 2010.
Such is the case with Marvel Entertainment, Inc. as well. Given that Marvel Studios already has deals in place with Sony (for Spider-Man), Paramount (for Iron Man), Fox (for the X-Men) and Universal (for The Incredible Hulk), it’s going to be the better part of a decade (if not longer) before The Walt Disney Company finally reclaims the film rights for most of these franchises.
Likewise when you factor the theme parks rights for many of these properties have already been farmed out (EX: The deal that Universal Studios has in place for use of these characters in the Marvel Super Hero Island section of its Islands of Adventure theme park. Not to mention that 'Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man' attraction that’s been wowing guests for years at IOA as well as at Universal Studios Japan) … Disney really has to be in this for the long haul in order to get maximum value out of this $4 billion acquisition.
But that’s exactly what The Walt Disney Company seems to be willing to do here. Take the long view. They’ve already seen the positive impact that running 20 hours of programming featuring the Marvel characters has had on the ratings over at Disney XD. And over the next 10 years or so, they hope to leverage Marvel Entertainment, Inc. stable of superheroes in ways that will make the Mouse far more competitive in the fields of video gaming, MMORPGs as well as with emerging technologies.
Getting back to the Pixar acquisition now … One important thing that Disney took away from its $7 billion deal to acquire Pixar is how important is not to meddle. To let an already-successful company keep its pre-existing corporate ure. And that’s just what the Mouse allegedly intends on doing with the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. acquisition deal. They’re just going to let Marvel be Marvel. More importantly, stay Marvel.
But – that said – Disney officials are planning on still using their Company’s global reach as well as their pre-existing relations with retail giants to super-charge Marvel’s earnings potential. I mean, this is Mickey that we're talking about here.
Speaking of potential … As part of today’s investors teleconference, Iger did mention that John Lasseter – prior to Disney formalizing this acquisition deal – sat down with the creative team at Marvel. And as John brought up the idea of Pixar making movies that featured the Marvel characters and the folks at Marvel brought up the idea of producing comic books that featured the Pixar characters, it was up to the Disney attorney in the room to put the brakes on. In essence say 'Slow down. We haven’t actually made this deal yet.'
Well, as of this morning, there is a deal in place for The Walt Disney Company to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. And provided that Marvel shareholders do approve this deal (which would involve them receiving $30 in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share that they own), things could all be wrapped up before the holidays. Which makes for one [heck] of a present for all us pop ure fans out there.
I mean, imagine that: Donald Duck and Howard the Duck will soon be part of the same corporate family. Who’d have thunk it?"
"A huge announcement this morning - Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!
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.
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.
'Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,' said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. 'This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.'
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
UPDATE #1: In a conference call, the companies said that the deals for movies for characters at other studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.) will stay in place under the terms set by Marvel and the other studios.
UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got 'pretty excited, pretty fast.' They say there's definitely an opportunity there.
UPDATE #3: The deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers stays in place as well, but Disney would like to self-distribute down the line. 'When the time comes we'll take a closer look at it.' It was actually stated that the deal still included five films, so that is one more film after The Avengers."
OH. MY. GOSH.
Continuing information from FilmSchoolRejects:
"As you probably know by now, the big entertainment news of the day is The Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment. Shortly after the $4 billion dollar deal was announced, a shareholder conference call was held to explain some of the details. If you didn’t have a chance to sit through the call yourself, don’t worry, as we’ve got you covered. Below you will find our quick guide to what is going on — based on the information we have in front of us.
1. Disney has an 'If it ain’t broke…' viewpoint toward Marvel Studios. Walt Disney President Bob Iger said specifically that Disney will have an 'if it ain’t broke…' attitude when it comes to the future of Marvel films. All of the creative control — including use of 3D, which characters will get movies, etc — will remain in the hands of the people who know the Marvel Universe best: the people at Marvel. Sure, this might change down the road, but the initial sentiment is that Disney does not intend to come in and take control of Marvel’s creative world.
2. All previous deals are still in place. Paramount is still going to distribute up to five more Marvel Studios films, including Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. The also could still distribute an Ant-Man movie. As well, there are still existing deals in which other studios hold the cinematic rights to certain characters. Those are not changing. So Spider-Man is staying at Sony, X-Men is staying with Fox, and so on. Disney intends to bring those characters back in-house at some point, but there’s no indication that it will be happening anytime soon.
3. John Lasseter has met with Marvel about a Pixar team-up. Executives stated that not only has John Lasseter, the man behind Pixar and now Disney Animation, already met with the folks at Marvel, but that they were also so excited that they had to be told to calm down. The meaning here is simple: something is brewing between Marvel and Pixar, and there’s no way that can be a bad thing.
4. Disney is a brand machine. From a film marketing standpoint — and for that matter, a brand marketing standpoint — Disney is a powerhouse. Pirates of the Caribbean, the films of Pixar and all the way down to television with shows such as 'Lost' via their ownership of ABC, Disney knows how to sell a brand. And selling the Marvel brand means more Marvel fans, more recognition in the mainstream and for those of us keeping score, more money down the road to make Marvel movies.
5. Disney backing means Marvel budgets. Disney is a smart company. During the conference call they said, in effect, that their goal is to shine a brighter light on Marvel. Which likely means marketing dollars, added funding for development and (hopefully) increased marketshare. With big Daddy Disney backing them up financially, Marvel will be able to operate at a higher level. Assuming creative control stays the same (which appears to be the case), Marvel fans can only count on more of what they love from their favorite brand.
6. A lot of details are yet to be hashed out. One very important thing to keep in mind is that there will be a great gestation period here. Marvel Entertainment has a lot of existing deals — theme parks, movie distribution, etc. — and all of those contract will be honored by Disney. It will take them a long time to reign in the Marvel Universe and obtain full creative control.
As you can see, there are good intentions all around — Disney doesn’t want to screw up their $4 billion dollar purchase, so its likely that they will let the highly profitable Marvel Studios do their thing. The questions don’t arise until far down the line, when Disney begins to take back the rights to Marvel characters. How will they handle these franchises? How many movies will they release per year? All of these questions are yet to be answered, and may not be answered for a long time. At this point, all we can say is that this deal appears to be a good one for Marvel.
Update: Paramount Pictures had the following to say via press release today:
'Paramount Pictures has enjoyed a productive and fruitful relationship with Marvel Studios from the start of our distribution agreement in 2005,' the statement began. “So much so, we announced a five-picture slate distribution deal last year which includes worldwide distribution rights for upcoming films: Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man 3. This distribution deal will be unaffected by today’s transaction. We look forward to continuing to work with Marvel and, with today’s announcement, to working with Disney to replicate the incredible success of Iron Man on all our future collaborative projects.'
Looks like all is well in the love triangle of Marvel/Paramount/Disney. All three have nothing to lose and everything to gain by seeing Marvel’s movies churn out a profit, so I would suspect that they will all play nice until the contract is up."
FURTHER continuing information from Jim Hill Media:
"Mickey, meet Spidey. Spidey, Mickey. In a deal that (I’m sure) the Disneyana community will have trouble wrapping its head around, The Walt Disney Company announced plans today to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction worth an estimated $4 billion.
As to what actually drove the Mouse to pursue Marvel & its library of over 5,000 characters … As Disney CEO Bob Iger explained in an investor’s conference call earlier this morning, this wasn’t a deal that either company really had to make. But from a creativity, technology and global reach point of view, Marvel & its stable of superheroes had a gain by joining forces with the Magic Kingdom.
Mind you, a lot of folks are now trying to draw parallels between The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios back in 2006 and today’s deal with Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Though – to be honest – a more apt comparison would probably be Mickey purchasing the Muppets & the 'Bear in the Big Blue House' characters back in February of 2004.
You see, back when Disney hammered out that deal with The Jim Henson Company, they had to agree to honor all of Henson’s pre-existing licensing deals, film production & TV distribution agreements. Waiting – in a lot of cases – for years ‘til those rights ultimately reverted back to The Walt Disney Company’s control.
Only in the past year has the Mouse really had been in a position to start taking full advantage of Fozzie Bear & friends. Which is why you’ve only recently begun to see the Muppets enjoy a more elevated status within Disney’s world. With those characters now starring in the Disneyland Resort’s upcoming promotional campaign, and a new Halloween TV special as well as a Muppet theatrical release being in the works for 2010.
Such is the case with Marvel Entertainment, Inc. as well. Given that Marvel Studios already has deals in place with Sony (for Spider-Man), Paramount (for Iron Man), Fox (for the X-Men) and Universal (for The Incredible Hulk), it’s going to be the better part of a decade (if not longer) before The Walt Disney Company finally reclaims the film rights for most of these franchises.
Likewise when you factor the theme parks rights for many of these properties have already been farmed out (EX: The deal that Universal Studios has in place for use of these characters in the Marvel Super Hero Island section of its Islands of Adventure theme park. Not to mention that 'Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man' attraction that’s been wowing guests for years at IOA as well as at Universal Studios Japan) … Disney really has to be in this for the long haul in order to get maximum value out of this $4 billion acquisition.
But that’s exactly what The Walt Disney Company seems to be willing to do here. Take the long view. They’ve already seen the positive impact that running 20 hours of programming featuring the Marvel characters has had on the ratings over at Disney XD. And over the next 10 years or so, they hope to leverage Marvel Entertainment, Inc. stable of superheroes in ways that will make the Mouse far more competitive in the fields of video gaming, MMORPGs as well as with emerging technologies.
Getting back to the Pixar acquisition now … One important thing that Disney took away from its $7 billion deal to acquire Pixar is how important is not to meddle. To let an already-successful company keep its pre-existing corporate ure. And that’s just what the Mouse allegedly intends on doing with the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. acquisition deal. They’re just going to let Marvel be Marvel. More importantly, stay Marvel.
But – that said – Disney officials are planning on still using their Company’s global reach as well as their pre-existing relations with retail giants to super-charge Marvel’s earnings potential. I mean, this is Mickey that we're talking about here.
Speaking of potential … As part of today’s investors teleconference, Iger did mention that John Lasseter – prior to Disney formalizing this acquisition deal – sat down with the creative team at Marvel. And as John brought up the idea of Pixar making movies that featured the Marvel characters and the folks at Marvel brought up the idea of producing comic books that featured the Pixar characters, it was up to the Disney attorney in the room to put the brakes on. In essence say 'Slow down. We haven’t actually made this deal yet.'
Well, as of this morning, there is a deal in place for The Walt Disney Company to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. And provided that Marvel shareholders do approve this deal (which would involve them receiving $30 in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share that they own), things could all be wrapped up before the holidays. Which makes for one [heck] of a present for all us pop ure fans out there.
I mean, imagine that: Donald Duck and Howard the Duck will soon be part of the same corporate family. Who’d have thunk it?"
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