[Deleted]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32626135/ns/business-media_biz/

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.

Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel’s superheroes in recent years. That contrasts with Disney’s recent successes among young women with such fare as “Hannah Montana” and the Jonas Brothers.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

“It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with,” Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at “full price.”

Disney said Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. That values each Marvel share at $50 based on Friday’s closing stock prices.

Marvel shares jumped $10.17, or 26 percent, to $48.82 shortly after the market opened. Disney shares fell 47 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $26.37.

Disney said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

Disney CEO Robert Iger said the acquisition combines Marvel’s “strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters” with Disney’s “unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties” and ability to maximize value across multiple platforms and territories.

[Stu]

Should make for some cool theme park rides, but how will it affect the creative direction of the comics? Will we get a retcon making Wolverine Bambi's mother's killer? Howard the Duck/Donald Duck team up?

[Deleted]

I hadn't thought about the theme park issue. Currently there's the Marvel-themed area at Universal's Island's of Adventure in Orlando (The Hulk roller coaster, Spidey 3-D ride, etc.). Not gonna make Universal very happy to have to re-theme and replace some rides.

[Stu]

Does this make Marvel's film studios part of Disney as well?

[Deleted]

Technically, yes.

Still no word yet on how the movie rights issues will be handled. (Spidey with Sony, X-Men with Fox, etc.)

[BFG]

Disney wants to do more 2d hand drawn animation.

Disney wants to appeal to tween boys.

Disney just bought Marvel.

I say that the Disney channel is gonna have a bunch of new Marvel toons sooner rather then later.

[OpTard]

well, the good news is (for now) disney is saying they plan to let marvel and marvel studios do what they do. much like miramax ran as a seperate studio, even though it was owned by disney, marvel studios will continue to run itself.

as far as theme park rides and movie rights go, contracts are contracts and sony and fox and universal studios theme parks will continue to be able to execute the licensing they agreed to with marvel until those contracts are up. disney has said they plan to honor all 3rd party licensing agreements marvel as made. the same goes, i assume, with boom studios who just this year started publishing disney and pixar comics. they i'm sure will get to continue to do that for the duration of that contract.

personally, i think disney has a pretty good track record of aquiring things and leaving them to do what they do. they bought miramax and just let it be miramax (dogma is the only example i've heard about of disney stepping in and telling miramax "no, we wont be putting this out), and when they bought pixar, well, pixar pretty much ended up taking over disney. disney seems to know that having more money doesn't necessarily mean you know better when it comes to the creative side.

[Deleted]

Well, now we can have Deadpool team up with Darkwing Duck.



I'll go sit in the corner, now...

[Stu]

Aug 31, 2009 12:23:05 GMT -5 @gatorbait said:

Well, now we can have Deadpool team up with Darkwing Duck.

Only if Disney bought Warner Brothers as well...

[OpTard]

umm.... why?

[Stu]

My Bad.

[Byrntrigan]

Aug 31, 2009 11:56:23 GMT -5 BFG said:

I say that the Disney channel is gonna have a bunch of new Marvel toons sooner rather then later.

Disney pretty much already does...

Perhaps this will make them finish running the last Silver Surfer cartoon.

[Stu]

Newsarama took it a little further and suggested live action Marvel series' on ABC. Maybe as some sort of answer to Smallville?

[DevSop]

Sept 1, 2009 18:17:40 GMT -5 Stu said:

Newsarama took it a little further and suggested live action Marvel series' on ABC. Maybe as some sort of answer to Smallville?

Runaways, Astonishing X-Men, First Class...

Yes please.

[BC]

Aug 31, 2009 12:18:26 GMT -5 OpTard said:

personally, i think disney has a pretty good track record of aquiring things and leaving them to do what they do.

Uh, no. I'll give you four letters:

E-S-P-N

[DevSop]

Sept 1, 2009 19:55:41 GMT -5 BC said:

Aug 31, 2009 12:18:26 GMT -5 OpTard said:

personally, i think disney has a pretty good track record of aquiring things and leaving them to do what they do.

Uh, no. I'll give you four letters:

E-S-P-N

Disney hasn't really fucked up ESPN. ESPN has fucked up ESPN.

[Deleted]

What's wrong with ESPN?

[Lucky]

Let me count the ways.

EDIT: But yeah, if someone wants to blame Disney for ESPN's demise I want to see evidence or an argument. Mostly ESPN's just doing the same thing ALL cable channels did and move away from the niche market it was based on and become obsessed with the celebrity and individual in an effort to widen their audience.

[Deleted]

Seriously, I'm curious to know where the ESPN hate stems from? The only problem I have with them is that they dropped the NHL a few years back.

[Lucky]

They're completely obsessed with the NFL to the point of shoving it down the throats of fans during the summer. This is of course fine if you too are obsessed with the NFL like many Americans are and want to see a special on the release of the schedule, but for those who in the middle of the summer want to see something like baseball highlights? Its pretty ridiculous.

They're obsessed with celebrity. Even in the non-stop NFL coverage they'll flood you with Brett Favre or Michael Vick or TO or whoever. They'll ignore 90% of baseball for the Yankees and Red Sox. The NBA doesn't exist except for Lebron and his world changing performances. Its all hype, hype, HYPE. That "Who's Hot?" or whatever show they did a couple of years ago was just the perfect evolution of it. Celebrities are tossed around the shows and given pointless segments.

Their announcers and analysts are almost universally morons of the highest order. Shows like Around the Horn and PTI have even encouraged them to be loud mouth idiots portraying characters instead of just making good sports comments and arguments. Idiots like Stephen A Smith, Woody Paige, and Jay Marriotti become stars because they're characters. Quality analysts like Buster Olney and Bob Ley have been marginalized because they're "boring."

Its all about the ratings and what they're showing. Which is understandable for a business, but crummy for "the world wide leader in sports." If there's a bad game on ESPN that's what you're getting. That's all that matters. Nothing else is happening. THAT GAME IS KING! Compare that to MLBN which has answered the prayer of every baseball fan by willingly jumping live to ANY game at ANY time that is the most "interesting" and "important." If there's a no hitter happening, turn on MLBN because they're showing it. If there's a pivotal run scoring situation, turn on MLBN and they're showing it. ESPN is the exact opposite. And God forbid you aren't interested in a game during one of those retarded 360 Degree nights where they MAKE you watch the game by putting it on every channel they can.

I withdrew from ESPN in a lot of ways awhile ago. I could go on and on about little baseball things because that's where I kept my interest until this season, but stuff like how completely useless Steve Phillips is, how horrible Joe Morgan is, or how ridiculous it is that they don't even show highlights on Sportscenter for some games is. But that's all just little symptoms of the big problem.

ESPN is WWE. Its Sports Entertainment. With the presence of ESPN News, the creation of so many sports alternatives, and the internet its become obsolete. Unless you're an obsessed NFL fan. Thankfully with the arrival of MLBN I've managed to complete cut it from my life like a tumor.

[Lucky]

But the truth is, I think this has little to do with Disney and isn't even really ESPN's fault. Its the way cable networks have all gone. I saw an article on the basic death of the idea of genre specific cable channels the other day. And its a simple case that with the expanded TV landscape and the internet cable networks have all chased ratings and demographics because they can no longer rely on being the natural stop for any fan of a genre or anyone interested in a certain thing. Now every cable channel wants to be a network with something that appeals to everyone. The Nashville Network becoming Spike TV. MTV marginalizing music playing on their network. Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel. The Learning Channel is TLC. Sci-Fi adding wrestling to its schedule and rebranding itself as SyFy. ESPN's just catching up.

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay

[OpTard]

don't forget cartoon network minimizing the cartoons they show.

[Byrntrigan]

Sept 2, 2009 15:41:29 GMT -5 OpTard said:

don't forget cartoon network minimizing the cartoons they show.

At least we got Boomerang for a little bit...

[Deleted]

Wow, Lucky, you and I see things very differently. Maybe it's your MLB wonkdom or something else, but ESPN has obviously left you bitter.

I agree with you completely about ESPN over-catering to the NFL fans. But you know what? It's the #1 sport in America by a long shot. As much as I could mostly care less about the NFL, I can accept the fact of its popularity. ESPN is running a business, and their business operates by charging for commercials and charging for service with the cable providers. Sometimes they even charge too much (how can ESPNU not be available in Gainesville with the 2nd largest university there?!?).

My main sports to follow are college basketball, college football, and the NHL (and now, MMA, but that's a different animal all together, currently). I couldn't be happier with ESPN's coverage of the first two, and I've accepted that the NHL has its work cut out for it getting back to mainstream relevancy. But the reality is that most Americans could care less about hockey. I'm sure the coverage on TSN is staunchly different, though.

And I know we've got a ton of baseball fans on here, and this isn't meant as a barb at any of you, but I think Americans have generally soured on baseball. I played for 14 years and umpired for 5, and even I've soured on it. Hell, I'm a life-long Tigers fan, and I could mostly care less that they're on top of their division right now. I think baseball's been suffering since the '94-'95 strike, honestly. That really left a bad taste in the fans' mouths. And since then, it's been nothing but scandal after scandal. And maybe it's just me getting older, but the pace of the games has gotten ridiculously slow, too. I'd much rather watch the Women's College Softball World Series or the Little League World series than try to sit through a full MLB game.

Again, I understand why people care so much about baseball, and you're obviously one of those. I'm not meaning this as an attack on baseball by any means, but using it as a small defense to why I think its popularity (and thus coverage on ESPN) has taken such a hit. You seem to have a personal stake in disliking ESPN's program choices because the sport you love has been relegated to the back seat by one you could care less for. I felt the same way when ESPN dropped the NHL (man, do I still miss the days of ESPN 2Nite with Buccigross and Melrose).

And on the subject of ATH and PTI, they run from 5-6pm Eastern. Are most ESPN-watching Americans even home from work and settled enough to watch these shows?

[BFG]

Sept 3, 2009 7:08:18 GMT -5 @gatorbait said:

But the reality is that most Americans could care less about hockey. I'm sure the coverage on TSN is staunchly different, though.

Yeah...except instead of NY/Boston it's Toronto/Montreal.

And really, I've always found that sports WRITERS are way more enjoyable then listen to sports radio or watching anything but games on TV. So as long as ESPN Canada (aka TSN), The Score, and Rogers Sportsnet show games I want to watch, I'm happy with them.

Plus I have Leafs TV and Raptors NBA TV for coverage of my addictions. Although if your an Ottawa fan, I'm sure Leafs TV would cause you to drink.