Yesterday something amazing happened, Disney purchased Marvel for 4 Billion dollars. Yes, billion, four of them. What is the most startling part of this event? Well, there are a few key factors that need to be looked at. First of all we have Marvel, the comic book maker who risked it all with the start of Marvel Studios, which had a blockbuster with it's first release of Iron Man. Marvel transformed itself from a paper printer to a media shop releasing DVDs and gaining more and more control of the process as it happened. They took their library of 5000+ characters and proved that they could be made profitable. Once Marvel made the leap to the studio level they were a force that demanded respect beyond that of an intellectual rights firm. That made them stronger and a better match for Disney.
Next we have Disney, which has faltered and struggled for the past decade. Their only real hits were from Pixar, and when Steve Jobs walked, it was Disney that buckled and bought Pixar, naming Pixar heads in charge of Disney's ailing animation division. As we see the animated division improving with more Pixar films such as UP! and Disney branded ones like BOLT we can begin to see the light turned on and Disney working to become what they had once been, a true idea shop making quality films, rather than a cheap straight to DVD sequel shop. But the live action section has been struggling with the changing times.
When I grew up Disney had wholesome films, with light humor. These included Herbie the Love Bug, Freaky Friday, and The Parent Trap. Yes, I know they have all been remade but the originals shine so much better than the remakes. And there were many many more, these are just the ones that came to mind. The problem is that the world has changed and parents have changed. I mean kids I baby sat are now parents. It is a new generation, and their kids expect something different as do the parents. Disney made Bedtime Stories in the hopes that it would work like the older films and get a child audience and an adult one, but it didn't work. The same with their release of G-Force. Once again some kids saw it, but the parents weren't so interested. People didn't want to see these movies more than once. Now look at how Marvel must look to Disney. Here is a small studio with an army of characters at their disposal that appeal to young and old. Even better than that, they have proven that they can make the real money with successes like Iron Man and X-Men where parents bring the kids over, and over. Marvel fits the niche Disney has been struggling to fill perfectly.
But with all the struggles Disney has had with films, there is one thing they have always been good at, promoting. Who doesn't know Mickey Mouse, or Hannah Montana? Does anyone out there remember High School Musical. Disney knows how to take a product and promote it to the mass market. That is something that Marvel lacks. They do not have the capital or expertise to really make money off all their intellectual property. I was never a comic book reader, so Iron Man was a mystery to me. I only knew Spiderman from old cartoons, and I had no idea what the X-Men were until there was a cartoon on TV. The Fantastic Four were virtually unknown to me, while the classics like Captain America were just a name, and Thor was unheard of. Now how do you get a kid excited to see a movie when they don't know what the movie is about. Now my kids love Ironman, but have no idea who Captain America is. Marvel has a lot of work to get them to want to see a movie on him. With the lesser characters the work is even harder for Marvel. Disney knows how to make stars, and they will make stars of all the Marvel characters they can.
With this new merger I hope we will begin to see the end of the lazy aspect of Disney productions. The straight to DVD concept is dying as DVD sales plummet, and it takes away the value of the original. Beauty and the Beast was a masterpiece, but the sequels cheapened it. The same goes for the sequels of the older films like Cinderella. Disney got lazy and went for known characters rather than promote new ones. Toy Story II was supposed to be direct to DVD traditional sequel. Fortunately that changed, and allowed for an excellent sequel thanks to Pixar's high level of quality and commitment to story.
So I look forward to the year 2013 (when Marvel's contracts with Paramount expire) to new Disney films with Marvel characters. I can't wait to see my kids introduced to generations of superheros they have never heard of and I look forward to experiencing it with them.
Why did they sell?
Posted by: Olivia | September 01, 2009 at 07:10 PM
I think they sold because they knew that Disney could make them huge, especially against DC Comics, their chief rival.
Posted by: Uncle Walter | September 03, 2009 at 01:12 PM