Disney Buys Marvel For $4 Billion; Possible Pixar Superhero Movies To Come

Now this, is huge. Ripples are blasting through Hollywood today, from the CEO of 20th Century Fox, to the boom mic operators working on set. Walt Disney Company announced Monday it had agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment for an estimated amount of $4 billion. Many fanboys might immediately see this as an abomination, that Disney will imprint its family-friendly mentality to more adult superhero franchises that Marvel has recently put out. But it actually SHOULD not be that bad of a situation for Marvel fans.

Disney acquired Miramax Films in 1993, which has delivered some brutal and extremely adult R-rated films over the past two decades; such as Pulp Fiction and Kids. So Disney has proven that it doesn’t intend to interfere with their subsidiary studios creatively, rather to ensure that they can obtain budgets and sustain their projects financially. However, Miramax was not in the business of putting out big-budget superhero films that appeal to people of all ages. Although Marvel Studios has been a major player in producing multi-billion dollar franchises, some of their properties have been given the “family-friendly treatment,” (i.e. Fantastic Four) which could prove to continue now that Disney has control of the financing. This might be a major factor though with Disney/Pixar. Pixar already made a massively successful animated superhero movie in 2004 with The Incredibles, and now that Disney has the rights to hundreds of new superhero characters, they will most likely be converting their new Marvel properties into Pixar feature films.

Pixar studio boss John Lasseter commented on the possible  Marvel/Pixar future, saying:

“We’ve talked about this internally. We think there’s ultimately some exciting product that come of that. Sparks will fly!”

Disney also said that it plans to exploit, “lesser-known Marvel characters.”

As I alluded to earlier, in regards to the ripple effect that is currently sweeping through Hollywood, competing studios that currently have Marvel intellectual rights are immediately taking action in reaction to this news. Variety reported on Monday that Fox has hired screenwriter  Michael Green  (producer/writer for Smallville, Everwood and Heroes; and co-writer of the upcoming Green Lantern movie) to RE-BOOT the Fantastic Four franchise. You heard me right. After the PG atrocity that was Fantastic Four in 2005, and the follow-up piece of crap that was Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007, Fox wants to RE-BOOT this awful Marvel franchise TWO YEARS after the second installment made audiences puke all over themselves.

Disney’s acquisition of Marvel does not affect the deals for movies in place at other movie studios, such as Spider-Man, X-Men and yes, Fantastic Four at 20th Century Fox. Paramount still holds to rights to distribute up to five Marvel films, including: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers and possibly one more unannounced film. So the fact that Fox announced this RE-BOOT the day after Disney’s Marvel acquisition is a testament to the huge ripple effect it has had on the film industry.

So at this point I’m kind of like, “Meh” on the entire situation. On one hand, Disney has all the money in the world to finance any Marvel property it wants. Disney has a stellar reputation of quality which should shine through as they develop these superhero properties. On the other hand, from a personal standpoint, after The Dark Knight proved that superhero franchises can be dark, adult, serious, smart and badass, that is the approach that I prefer in superhero adaptations; so I’m wary of Disney putting their Jonas Brothers/Miley Cyrus imprints on Deadpool 2 or Iron Man 3.

What Do You Think? Discuss.