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.

Three for Four

Hot on the heals of the acquisition news, Variety reports that 20th Century Fox has hired Producer Akiva Goldsman to oversee a reboot of the Fantastic Four movie franchise. They also report that a new script will be written by Michael Green (Heroes, Green Lantern).  It is not clear whether any of the original cast, (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis ) or if Tim Story will direct.  Somehow, I doubt it.  I should note, in light of the Marvel/Disney news, that Fox will continue to own the "Fantastic Four" movie franchise so long as it continues making the films.  I'll bet we may here similar announcements from Sony and Fox about the X-Men, and Spider-Man franchises as well this week.

Andy Jewett, Guest Artist on SubCulture Sunday

Andy Jewett has done a funny color guest strip for the Subculture guys. It's free.  GO check it out here.

She's Like the Wind, Without Swayze

The first Chapter of  "THE WIND" from imachinecomics is online.  Check it out here  It's good stuff and free.

I couldn't help but notice they missed Metropolis, Illinois, Home of Superman

SciFi Wire has the list of Must Visit Sci Fi locations. Here is their map.

It Isn't easy being Green
Last week I mentioned that the Green Lantern movie is have having trouble getting going because of Australian currency fluctuations.  Now, it turns out that The Green Hornet, Box Office Mojo  is reporting that the superhero movie has been moved back five months, from an original release date of July 7, 2010, to Dec. 17, 2010.  Seth Rogen stars (and wrote the script with Evan Goldberg (Superbad).  Kato will be played by Jay Chou (Curse of the Golden Flower).  The movie also stars Cameron Diaz, Nicolas Cage and Edward James Olmos.  The movie may not be out, but I got to see the car at SDCC.  There is a picture to the left.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Finally Three Quick Videos I found out about from Inside the Magic and Orlando Attraction Magazine.  The first is the debut of the new dragon at Fantasmic.  The second is a history of the haunted mansion, and the third involves some Fantasmic cast members who, in their free time . . . let's just say they put this video in the "And Now for Completely Different" Category: