Okay, so over the past few months, Paramount-Skydance began making unsolicited offers to buy Warner Bros.-Discovery. They were all rejected for being far too low. Then a few weeks ago, WBD announced it would be open to receiving offers to buy their assets, with Comcast and Netflix being the leading candidates. P/S however was only interested in acquiring everything. So finally, this past Friday, WBD announced that they would be selling Warner Bros, specifically their studio and streaming services: Warner Bros. Entertainment, Warner Bros. Streaming (HBO, TNT Sports International), and Warner Bros. Global Experiences. After the merger, everything that didn’t fall under one of those three subsidiaries was combined with everything that came with Discovery, Inc. to become the “Global Linear Television” division. That includes Cartoon Network, CNN Worldwide, TNT Sports, and WBD International. That half of WBD will be restructured into a new company, and in all likelihood will get absorbed by some other media corporation in the future.
Now I explain all of this so you understand what comes next. Falling under “Entertainment” is DC Studios, and falling under “Global Experiences” is DC Comics. Less than 24 hours after the deal was announced, it was revealed that execs for DC have begun exploring the possibility of expanding the licensing of their characters to theme parks other than Six Flags, with Universal Destinations & Experiences being the only company named specifically.
So now the question is, if Universal (who we know already have a great working relationship with Netflix) is to come to an arrangement with DC, how would you like to see the IP represented in the parks? And what, if any, affect will this have on their continuing licensing of Marvel’s biggest characters?
It opens up an interesting possibility where Universal could sell back rights to the Marvel characters east of the Mississippi to Disney for a pretty penny, and then would have the ability to covert to DC IP in IOA.
I’ve been posting that in every comments section I come across, but it’s always either ignored or outright derided
Marvel’s legal team has been hampering UDX’s creative team since the beginning (we’ll always miss you, villains takeover at HHN), and Disney’s lawyers have been even worse since the acquisition. All four rides are still fun, but the land as a whole is just so stagnant. Imagine what we’ve missed out on because IOA was forbidden from ever expanding?
Universal is one of the rare companies to ever be in a position of advantage over Disney. They want total control over Marvel? They’re gonna have to pay for it!
And just one more minor point: there’s nothing that says Universal has to replace Marvel. Most likely, the only condition would be the two brands can’t interact. They could decide to make DC the fifth portal at Epic. I’m sure that would have a lot more staying power than Wicked.
And let’s not forget, we’ve got a new park in England to consider. And Beijing has wanted to build a second gate since they opened; they just haven’t been able to come up with enough IPs to make something unique
I think everyone can agree on whatever it takes to get Marvel to the Orlando Disney parks would be best for consumers.
Can’t say I can see DC in a Universal park, but maybe that’s because all I’ve ever seen for DC in a park is Six Flags, and those are just any ride with a cardboard cutout of a DC character slapped onto the ride for theming.
Not true, they must approve all reasonable requests.
i. Marvel will reasonably cooperate in making information, artwork, archive material, key personnel, etc. available to MCA in order that MCA can creatively develop THE MARVEL UNIVERSE and exploit its rights hereunder. MCA will reimburse Marvel for its reasonable costs in this regard, including time of non-executive personnel and their reasonable travel expense.
ii. Whenever Marvel has “reasonable” rights for rejection of approval hereunder, the basic criteria to be used by Marvel may include inconsistency with (i) basic story line, (ii) the powers, (iii) basic personality traits, (iv) physical appearance (including clothing or costume), and/or (v) living habitat or environment relating to such character as portrayed in Marvel’s exploitation of such character in comic books or other products for the particular time period being depicted by MCA.
iii. MCA shall take appropriate action, as directed by Marvel to protect all copyrights and trademarks in connection with the uses granted hereunder, including in-park uses, merchandise and packaging.
Counterpoint: the best thing for consumers would be Marvel being cut loose from Disney. How’s that for trust busting!
That’s why we need DC freed from Six Flags. They’re fun rides, but it’s just such low effort to give it a costume coordinated paint job and call it “XX: The Ride”
Well Cosmic Rewind is great. It just doesn’t belong at EPCOT. However, devil’s advocate, I don’t think anyone cares about the story. They just want a drifting coaster with great 70s rock
Unfortunately, every other MCU ride is just a Six Flags quality mockup. Mission Breakout is just Tower of Terror; Ant-Man & The Wasp is just Buzz Lightyear; Iron Man is just Rock n Roller Coaster; Spider-Man is just Toy Story Mania
Creatively bankrupt… just like the MCU
I actually hadn’t considered that. But I think Singapore could be a good “testing ground” for a new ride. Hong Kong got Marvel first, so they never got anything with superheroes.
USUK (I still can’t believe how little thought they put into that name) seems to already be finalized. However, the concept art does show two very large Phase 2 expansion pads, so they could be keeping it on the back burner. Also, just a fun bit of trivia, but Tim Burton’s Batman was shot on the WB studio lot in England. Might be wishful thinking, but studios never throw anything away. Maybe they could transfer some authentic props and set decorations from the archives to help recreate an authentic Gotham Cith experience
FWIW, I grew up with a Six Flags as my home park, and it would be kind of a bummer to see the D.C. and/or Looney Tunes characters at Universal. I won’t lie. It’d be great to see the Universal team put together some top flight rides using those properties. But at the same time, I so associate them with my local Six Flags that it would feel wrong to see them elsewhere somehow.
Honestly, some of my favorite Six Flags rides have been ones NOT themed to DC at all. I haven’t found the DC theming at Six Flags to be all that compelling, honestly. It isn’t like I look at a coaster and go, “Well, I’d ride it…but it is just named Blah rather than Superman’s Revenge.”
Really? You think so? Or are you talking about the movies being made aspect?
I think Disney having the opportunity to make rides and attractions based on Marvel is very exciting to think about.
On the other hand…I feel like the MCU movies made more recently have become just OKAY. Some of my favorite Marvel movies were made BEFORE Disney acquired the rights. But mostly I’m finding myself experience superhero fatigue (and Star Wars fatigue), despite originally enjoying those franchises.
Not how that works. Universal can sue if they think Disney is not acting in good faith. And why wouldn’t Disney want more money and attention to their IP?
We’ve been doing this song and dance for 16 years. During this time Disney approved a full redo of Hulk and upgrades to Spider-Man. I’m just so tired of this all.
I don’t know if any of it will play out, but I definitely could see a scenario where Universal effectively “selling back” the rights to Marvel east of the Mississippi could be mutually beneficial. I can’t help but think, considering how much Marvel IP has been placed into the other Disney parks, that they wouldn’t love a chance to do more at WDW.
It really would come down to Universal. I think everyone agrees that the Superhero Island at IOA is kind of tired, and it wouldn’t take much to retheme everything EXCEPT Spider-Man. That one would take more investment…but…they rethemed Transformers several years ago, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Really the question becomes one of motivation. What does UOR get out of it by switching to DC (if that were to ever happen)? Not much, really…so the amount Disney would likely have to pay would probably be so high that it possibly becomes a blocker to the whole idea!!!
I really hope they don’t retheme Spiderman. Even though Transformers and Spiderman are essentially the same ride. We really like Spiderman and are indifferent to Transformers. Don’t know why. The Spiderman theme just works. I’m not even really into the whole superhero thing. I’ve seen plenty of the movies, but because someone else wanted to see them. I don’t trust them to make it better.
I agree with you on this. I don’t even bother riding Transformers. I call it a “frenetic mess” of a ride. But Spider-Man is a must-do. If they WERE to retheme it, I would hope they could make the experience as good or better, and not turn it into a Transformers-esque experience.
But Spider-Man is a must-do. If they WERE to retheme it, I would hope they could make the experience as good or better, and not turn it into a Transformers-esque experience.