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But, What About the Spider-Man Ride

There has been a lot of speculation as to what effect the Disney Acquisition will have on the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Theme Park in Orlando (which has a great Marvel Super Hero Island with, in my opinion, the greatest ride of all time—The Spider-Man Ride).  I'm not sure if you know, but Islands of Adventure competes with another little theme park in Buena Vista called Disney World.  Now that Disney will own Marvel, many have pondered the fate of the Marvel Presence in the Universal owned theme park. 

The Orlando Sentinel Reports,

The deal apparently won't upend Disney's main theme-park rival, Universal Studios Inc., which has an entire area dedicated to Marvel characters in Islands of Adventure, one of two parks in its Universal Orlando resort.

Universal's long-standing agreement with Marvel gives it exclusive U.S. rights east of the Mississippi River to certain characters for use in theme-park attractions. And the agreement stands for as long as Universal continues to operate the Marvel Super Hero Island area, which features rides such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk Coaster and Doctor Doom's Fearfall.
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Marvel has several long-term agreements in place already with various other companies for many of its characters, including movie deals with Paramount, Sony and Fox, for such characters as Iron Man, X-Men, Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor. Those contracts will be honored until their terms expire, which could be several years or more in some cases.
Marvel also has various deals with the two-park Universal Orlando. The agreements governing two of Universal's hugely popular rides, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk roller coaster, appear to be virtually perpetual deals. According to Universal's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Universal Orlando retains American rights east of the Mississippi River for as long as its attractions are in operation. 

Universal and Marvel also have various deals for everything from merchandise sales to the theming of many other portions of the Orlando resort's Islands of Adventure theme park.

When asked about Marvel's deals with other film studios for pending movie projects, Iger said Disney would honor the terms of those contracts. He did not specifically comment on Marvel's theme-park deal with Universal Orlando, nor did the Marvel executives participating in the conference call.

In addition, Tom Schroder at Universal Orlando has made the following statement : "Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal's Islands of Adventure and the Marvel characters are a beloved and important part of the Universal Orlando experience. They will remain so. Our guests are going to get to meet Spider-Man and all our other Marvel characters. We believe our agreement with Marvel stands and that the Disney/Marvel deal will have no impact on our guest experience."

Suffice to say, I think the Spider-Man Ride will be around for a while. 

More news and a video of the awesome Spider-Man ride after the jump.
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Here are some of the political cartoons people have sent me.  I will give credit to the artist if I know--clicking the link will get you to their site.  Feel free to add your own in the comments below.
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Daryl Cagle
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See more pictures plus videos after the jump.
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More Details on Disney Acquisition of Marvel Emerge

ComicsContinuum has the highlights of the conference call where the acquisition was announced. 

Newsarama has the Industry Reaction

Comic Book Resources has in depth coverage and offers the following bullet points on their expanded coverage: 

  • Existing licensing and distribution deals should remain where they are.
  • Disney believes there’s real opportunity with the Marvel catalog of characters and will work on where those opportunities are greatest and how best to leverage them across the existing Marvel and Disney infrastructure.
  • Disney executives went to great lengths during the call to make the point that they don’t pretend to be more expert than Marvel is in handling their characters, citing the hands-off relationship Disney has had with Pixar since the acquisition of that studio. Disney said Marvel manages the properties from a business perspective very intelligently and trusts them to make the right decisions for these products for a long time to come.
  • Disney said the deal was attractive not just because they’re buying great characters, stories and brand, but about working with people who know these characters best and how best to work with them in other media.
  • Again, referencing the Pixar deal, Disney finds working as one company with Marvel removes friction and creates value that’s very compelling. Licensing offers very attractive opportunities, but nothing is better than being one. International expansion of Marvel properties through Disney was cited as a potential growth area.
  • Cable channel Disney XD is currently running about 20 hours a week of Marvel content and Disney has been looking to license more Marvel content and this deal gives them that opportunity as well as the opportunity to expose these characters internationally.<.li>
  • With regards to video game publishing, Disney praised Marvel’s licensing agreements with some of the best video game producers and publishers in the business and said moving forward they will consider what’s best for each individual property as each licensing deal comes up for renewal and that there would likely be a blend of licensed and self-produced/self-distributed titles.
  • With respect to Paramount’s distribution deal with Marvel and the Iron Man franchise, Disney has every intention to respect the deal that’s in place, but noted that it’s in their best interest, overtime, to become the sole distributor of Marvel films.
  • Will Disney3D be used for Marvel movies? That will be determined by those who are in charge of producing Marvel’s theatrical films.
  • When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got “pretty excited, very fast.” Disney will look at all opportunities and thinks there are some exciting product that could come from this sort of partnership.
  • Disney said this deal is expected to benefit Marvel’s retail efforts, being able to leverage Disney’s shelf space and relationships with major chains and distributors.
  • The deal began when Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger reached out to Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter earlier this year. Again, Disney noted that they believe in the creative team at Marvel and see no reason to upset that applecart.
  • Disney has not made any real estate decisions and sees no reason to move Marvel Studios from their headquarters in Manhattan Beach, California. No mention of Marvel Publishing’s offices in New York City was made.
What is clear is that this is a game-changer in the comics Industry.  Joe Quesada doesn't want you to worry.  In fact, just today, he twittered, “Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged and Tom Brevoort remains grouchy.”

More News after the jump.
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