Monday, August 31, 2009

Disney buys Marvel for $4 Billion

Call this the most surprising thing I've heard in a long time, but as of this morning, Disney is the works of buying out Marvel Entertainment. Under the deal, it would mean that Disney owns full rights to over 5,000 Marvel properties.

What does this mean? To be honest, I'm not sure yet. There's a lot of things that make sense, such Disney already owning the broadcast and distribution rights to Marvel cartoons of the '90s such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and more, all of which currently air on Disney XD; not to mention that they also air re-runs of the latest Spider-Man cartoon, The Spectacular Spider-Man.

But then there's the stuff that brings confusion. Like, what will happen to shows like Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man: Armored Adventures, both of which air on Nicktoons Network; and then there's The Black Panther on BET and Marvel Super Hero Squad on Cartoon Network set to air later this year. Also, there's already pre-existing deals for upcoming Marvel films and games such as Iron Man 2, Thor, and more, which are being produced with studios such as Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, amongst others.

The one aspect that really has me curious is Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. Not that I had any intention of going there any time soon, but if recall correctly, about 50% of that theme park is dedicated to Marvel and its characters. So does all of that just get chopped off Universal Studios and sent to Disney World? If so, that's got to be really painful for Universal's tourist attraction rate. If any more news comes from this deal, I'll be sure to inform you.

via AP (Yahoo!)

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