I fail to see how this is a good thing: the Walt Disney Company is buying Marvel Entertainment. The price? Four billion dollars.
Full story here.
I will be posting more on this topic, once I’ve had a chance to think it through. You see, Marvel’s greatest strength in recent years has been it’s ability to translate various properties into cinematic success (Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, etc), while DC has had immense difficulties. The primary reason for DC’s problems has been the interference run by higher levels of corporate structure, as DC is owned by Time Warner.
Will Marvel begin to suffer the same fate? I hope not, especially since the announcement of the Avengers Initiative.
7 comments
Mike says:
31 August 2009 at 9:26 am (UTC -5)
It’s a good thing because the guys from Pixar control Disney now. And Marvel Comics won’t be an inch from bankruptcy for the first time in 100 years
Grant Hamilton says:
31 August 2009 at 10:23 am (UTC -5)
Plus, imagine the crossover possibilities: Disney Princesses vs. the Avengers in an alternate timeline … Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck join the Fantastic Four … the Silver Surfer an an animated feature film with a pesky wisecracking bird and a moral at the end.
I’m excited!
Noto says:
31 August 2009 at 10:25 am (UTC -5)
I just died a little inside with every crossover you mentioned.
I might even have a tear in my eye.
T. Keith Edmunds says:
31 August 2009 at 10:58 am (UTC -5)
Donald Duck vs Howard the Duck
T. Keith Edmunds says:
31 August 2009 at 11:01 am (UTC -5)
And any of the crossovers Grant mentioned pale in comparison to the Star Trek/X-Men debacle a few years back… http://originalvigilante.tripod.com/startrekxmen.htm.
Grant Hamilton says:
31 August 2009 at 2:40 pm (UTC -5)
Well, as long as we’re talking crossovers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWyxZR69CI0
MPot says:
31 August 2009 at 9:21 pm (UTC -5)
Man, I’m looking forward t that Surfer feature!
And Marvel has been financially robust for years now.
Anyone remember that Disney was all in a huff about Howard the Duck back when Gerber was writing him the 70s? Caused Gerber to write a vicious satire of Disney in his Howard the Duck revival a few years ago. Great stuff.