It was a few years ago (after DLR had announced Guardians would be taking over ToT in DCA), but I read an article that detailed the Marvel theme parks contracts and Universal has to re-up it every few years but I’m positive it’s a deadline they make sure to never miss.
And the main focal point of the article was how Universal decided not to pick-up the Guardians of the Galaxy rights for the theme park because it was such a small part of the comic universe with not a huge fan following. So of course, when Disney buys Marvel & sees that, what do they make their #1 priority to immediately place into the theme parks? Guardians of the Galaxy, of course. And there was a bit in the article about how they cemented its place with making Rocket and baby Groot cute characters that could sell them lots and lots of cute merch in the parks. And it worked quite well for them, I’d say.
I would also see Avenue Q if I ever had the chance. We got a good laugh from the songs we did listen to from the soundtrack. Especially “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English”, as I have a B.A. in English and it’s more than a little bit true because I had one teacher in a create writing class straight out tell us, you really don’t get into this for the money, you will be a starving artist if all you do is write.
You’re probably talking about the excellent* That Darn Marvel Contract article from Inside Universe (*I helped with it lol).
Basically Universal doesn’t need to renew or re-up anything, it’s in perpetuity. There are conditions where the contract can be voided, but those are mostly around maintaining the land and accurately representing the characters.
Specifically about Guardians:
“So what about Guardians of the Galaxy?”
Per the agreement, a Marvel-based attraction cannot be featured at Walt Disney World if the family is in use at Universal Orlando. With Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot, it is clear that those characters are not related to any of the families that Universal uses in their park, which is why Disney is allowed to bring the characters to Walt Disney World.
One fun aspect of the language of the contract says Disney CANNOT use the Marvel name in their theme park related offerings. That’s why we have Avengers Campus, the Super Hero Marathon (that goes through the park), but at Disney Springs has a Marvel labeled store.
It was a different article, but I’m so glad you linked this one! It actually has the text of the contract and the other article I was referencing definitely stated (at least in my memory of it) that Universal had to renew their rights every so often but reading yours, that is definitely wrong. And the reason I remembered the rest of the other article so well was because of they specifically talked about Disney picking up on Guardians and how the rights for it allowed them to include it in a theme park East of the Mississippi and went into all sorts of detail on their decisions around Guardians, including down to being able to market Rocket & baby Groot as adorable translating to large increases of merchandise sales.
And then I remember distinctly thinking about that article as I walked through a store inside Islands of Adventure in Sept 2023 and spotted this adorable Rocket & getting a chuckle about how Universal was now banking on that ability too.
I love flow charts and I would absolutely prefer one around Marvel/MCU contracts with theme parks to the usual flow charts I make for work (much less exciting).
I checked. The contract is up for renewal in 2029, so in theory Warner Bros Discovery can decide its no longer available for rent.
So a better comparison would be The Simpsons, which is due to expire a year earlier and all reports indicate Universal isn’t going to renew (we’ll likely know sometime for certain within the next three years).
On a related note, i wonder what the deal is with the Transformers, a Paramount property. I haven’t heard any updates about Paramount Park Korea in years. Like WBD, they’re sitting on plenty of franchises that could be adapted to a theme park.
