Wonder Twin Powers Actuate!!!
So I woke up this morning to find that amidst the fires that are slowly, once again, burning California down, that Disney had acquired Marvel. While some people are freaking out or starting to talk bad about it, I have decided to look at it in a positive light. I mean after all Marvel was bankrupt only a few short years ago, and to now see it land on stable ground makes me happy to see that some of the titles I grew up with might just have some stable ground.
Granted this bit of news will cause rampant speculation in the days to come, but in truth we won’t say anything become of this for a least a few years.
I always saw Marvel as The Man when it came to comics anyway. And I don’t mean “Yo, dawg you da man!!!” but more of “I will not work for The Man!!”. So to see these two come together just means more corporate America at work.
I am way excited at maybe seeing the possibility of Marvel properties with Pixar but at least we won’t have to worry about licensing rights when comparing The Incredibles with The Fantastic Four. So who knows, this could work out good for both companies. I mean just look at what it’s done for Harry Potter.
I think that what’s going to happen is Disney will walk in and trim some of the fat as far as Marvels excessive titles goes. Hopefully we won’t see 100 different X-Men titles anymore and maybe even a more cohesive storyline within the Marvel universe. I seriously doubt that they will try to make the comics more kid friendly. They themselves have been quoted as saying “If it isn’t broke…”
As far as the films go, they have only one way to go and that’s up. Fans such as myself have been somewhat disappointed for years at the quality of films being put out by Marvel studios. I mean there have been 3 Punisher films in the past 20 years and all of them blew. 2 Hulk films. 4 Captain America movies. I think what will happen is Disney will give them their own studio (much like Dreamworks which is owned by Disney as well) and let them make their movies. As long as they stay within the quality standards of Iron Man then it could work out for the better.
If anything, as a comic writer myself, it makes me wonder if we will see more Indy Comic companies more prodominante or if Disney will choke out Marvel and then we will see more Creator owned comic companies like what happened when Image was created. Who knows, only time will tell.
Here is a list of other companies Disney owns. Hopefully, it will help you reach your own conclusions.
The Walt Disney Studios
* Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group
o Walt Disney Pictures
o Touchstone Pictures
o Hollywood Pictures
o ImageMovers Digital
o Miramax Films
+ Miramax Family Films
+ Dimension Films (Disney owns the Dimension Films library for all films released before September 30, 2005)
+ Miramax Television
o Disneynature
o DreamWorks (for films made by Touchstone only, its sister company, DreamWorks Animation SKG, is still distributed and owned by Paramount Pictures)
o Animation
+ Walt Disney Animation Studios (formerly Walt Disney Feature Animation)
+ Pixar Animation Studios
+ DisneyToon Studios
* Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (formerly Buena Vista Distribution)
* Buena Vista International
o Miravista Films
o Patagonik Film Group (joint venture between Disney and Artear Argentina)
* Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (distributes under the following labels: Walt Disney Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Touchstone Home Entertainment, Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment, Miramax Home Entertainment, Dimension Home Video, ABC Video, Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
* El Capitan Theatre
* Disney Music Group
o Walt Disney Records
o Hollywood Records
o Mammoth Records
o Lyric Street Records
o Buena Vista Records
o Disney Music Publishing (see Buena Vista Music Group page for a list of publishers that are part of Disney Music Publishing)
* Disney Theatrical Productions
o Hyperion Theatrical
o Disney Live Family Entertainment
+ Disney on Ice – produced by Feld Entertainment
+ Disney Live — produced by Feld Entertainment
* Disney Character Voices International
Not to mention, ABC and ESPN