Marvel film & TV rights shell game - who owns what? 5 5

[markseifert]

UNCONFIRMED:

[*] Cable

 

This will probably be clarified soon as real info starts emerging about the X-Force film, but it's probably Fox.

[stanley1883]

So I don't recall seeing it on the list but where does Deadpool fall? Disney? I mean he was in the Wolverine movie, but that did him no justice, I'd love to see a Deadpool movie, I like Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, he played a pretty good smartass.

[Psithyrus]

What about characters that haven't been shown in movies, but have ties to specific books?

 

Examples: Uatu The Watcher. The Skrulls. Morbius.

 

Where do characters like those fit into the structure?

[Bosco685]

So I don't recall seeing it on the list but where does Deadpool fall? Disney? I mean he was in the Wolverine movie, but that did him no justice, I'd love to see a Deadpool movie, I like Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, he played a pretty good smartass.

 

Fox

 

Could Fox Lose DEADPOOL Movie Rights To Marvel in a Few Years?

 

Which is why he could make a minor appearance to meet the obligation with Marvel.

[Bosco685]

What about characters that haven't been shown in movies, but have ties to specific books?

 

Examples: Uatu The Watcher. The Skrulls. Morbius.

 

Where do characters like those fit into the structure?

 

Kevin Feige discusses Skrulls movie rights

[Cyclops]

What about characters that haven't been shown in movies, but have ties to specific books?

 

Examples: Uatu The Watcher. The Skrulls. Morbius.

 

Where do characters like those fit into the structure?

 

Good question I think Watcher and the Skrulls would be Fox properties. Not sure about Morbius, but probably Sony or Marvel.

 

Would be cool to see Deadpool again. Still holding out hope for the R-Rated Reynolds-Deadpool movie.

 

Reynolds did recently talk about the possibility of Deadpool being in the X-Force movie. If he was in that, it'd keep the character at Fox I think?

[Bosco685]

UPDATE - Deadpool, Skrulls, Watcher movie rights

 

CONFIRMED:

 

20th Century Fox

• Deadpool
   
  
• Elektra: Christine Cord/Tatoo, Typhoid Mary/Marry Alice Walker, Kirigi, Stick, Stone
   
  
• Fantastic Four: Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Dr. Reed Richards, The Thing/Ben Grimm, Nova/Frankie Raye, Alicia Masters, Willie Lumpkin
  
• Galactus, Silver Surfer
   
  
• X-Men Mutants: [Agent Zero/Maverick/David North], Angel/Warren Worthington III, Arclight/Phillippa Sontag, Beast/Dr. Henry Phillip “Hank” McCoy, [blob/Frederick J. Dukes], [bolt/Christopher Bradley], Callisto, Colossus/Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, Cyclops/Scott Summers, [Deadpool/Wade Wilson], Emma (Grace) Frost, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Juggernaut/Cain Marko, Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Glob Herman/Herman Gardner, Iceman/Bobby Drake, Jubilee/Jubilation Lee, Katherine “Kitty” Anne Pryde, [Kestrel/John Wraith], Lady Deathstrike/Yuriko Oyama, Leech, Magneto/Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, Mastermind/Jason (Wyngarde), Multiple Man/James Arthur Madrox, Mystique/Raven Darkholme, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phat/William Robert “Billy-Bob” Reilly, Professor Charles Xavier, Psylocke/Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock, Pyro/St. John Allerdyce, Quill/Max Jordan, Rogue/(Anna) Marie, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Sebastian Hiram Shaw, [silver Fox], Siryn/Theresa Rourke Cassidy, (The) Spike, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/Logan
   
  
• X-Men Non-Mutants: Drake Family (Steven, Madeline, Ronny), Grey Family (Dr. John, Elaine), Henry Peter Gyrich, Robert Edward Kelly, Dr. Moira Kinross MacTaggert, Dr. Kavita Rao, William Stryker, Bolivar Trask, Warren Worthington II
  

 

Sony Pictures

• Spider-Man: Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius, Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, (New) Green Goblin/Harry Osborn, [The Lizard]/Dr. Curt Connors, Sandman/Flint Marko, Venom/Eddie Brock Jr., Betty Brant, Dennis Carradine (Buglar), J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Parker, May Parker, John Jameson, Joseph “Robbie” Robertson, Gwen Stacy, Mendel Stromm, Flash Thompson
  

 

Marvel Studios - properties reverted back to Marvel control

• Daredevil: Daredevil/Matt Murdock, The Kingpin/Wilson Fisk, Bullseye, Jack Murdock, Karen Page, Ben Urich
   
  
• Ghost Rider: Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze, Blackheart/Legion, Phantom Rider/Carter Slade, Abigor, Gressil, Mephistopheles, Wallow, Barton Blaze, Roxanne Simpson
   
  
• Powerman
   
  
• Punisher: The Punisher/Frank Castle, Jigsaw/Billy Russoti, Microchip/Linus Liberman, Joan the Mouse, Maginty, Mr. Bumpo, Spacker Dave, The Russian, Maria Elizabeth Castle, Detective Martin Soap
   
  
• Vampires: Blade, Deacon Frost, Dracula/Vlad Tepes
   
  
• Non-Vampires: Hannibal King, Abraham Whistler
  

 

UNCONFIRMED:

• Cable
   
  
• Namor
   
  
• Skrulls (could be connected with Fantastic Four movie rights)
   
  
• Watcher (could be connected with Fantastic Four movie rights)
  

[Bosco685]

What about characters that haven't been shown in movies, but have ties to specific books?

 

Examples: Uatu The Watcher. The Skrulls. Morbius.

 

Where do characters like those fit into the structure?

 

Morbius is another tricky character

 

Turns out Raimi considered him for Spider-Man 4. But it may have required legal discussions to determine if he was tied to the Spider-Man franchise or not.

[Cyclops]

Would love to see Morbius in a Spidey film. Michael Morbius is a great character with a good back story.

 

I also want to see a six-arm Spidey get b-slapped on the big screen.

 

Mr. Webb?

[Bosco685]

Conan is one that is interesting, as are the movies based on the comic books only, or the Robert E. Howard books?

 

Arnold's Conan movie may be the first in a trilogy

 

Paradox Entertainment currently owns the movie rights to our favorite sword wielder. But does that mean they own the movie rights to all the associated and non-associated characters from Robert E. Howard's stories (e.g. Red Sonja, Belit, Thulsa Doom, King Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn)?

[brianchew]

I'd like to ask a basic question. All of these characters are Marvel created. So what happened? How did Fox and others grab the rights away from Marvel? Did Marvel just have a firesale and piece meal characters for cash?

[Bosco685]

I'd like to ask a basic question. All of these characters are Marvel created. So what happened? How did Fox and others grab the rights away from Marvel? Did Marvel just have a firesale and piece meal characters for cash?

 

Coming Fight Over Marvel Movie Rights

 

Our story begins in the dark days of the mid-90s. The comic book market had collapsed, largely driven by DC’s Death of Superman and Batman: Knightfall extravaganzas. Marvel Productions was on the verge of bankruptcy, and in an effort to raise capital auctioned off the movie rights to their most valuable properties: Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. Other characters like Blade, Daredevil, the Punisher, and Ghost Rider went along for the ride as well, all ending up at more than half a dozen different studios throughout Hollywood.

 

Financial desperation led to the decision to offer up these now hot movie properties.

[markseifert]

I'd like to ask a basic question. All of these characters are Marvel created. So what happened? How did Fox and others grab the rights away from Marvel? Did Marvel just have a firesale and piece meal characters for cash?

 

Marvel Studios as the film production entity that we now know didn't really get started until 2004. They borrowed like half a billion dollars (seriously) from Merrill Lynch to start putting the first several films into motion that they could do completely on their own. Iron Man I was the first true Marvel Studios / "Marvel Cinematic Universe" film.

 

Before then, it was SOP to sell film options to other movie studios or otherwise take on production partners (which is how everybody else in comics besides WB still does it), and many of the previous deals are still in place.

 

And yeah, the Marvel bankruptcy messed things up for awhile. The Sony Spider-Man franchise was delayed by that for quite some time.

[ComicConnoisseur]

I'd like to ask a basic question. All of these characters are Marvel created. So what happened? How did Fox and others grab the rights away from Marvel? Did Marvel just have a firesale and piece meal characters for cash?

 

Marvel Studios as the film production entity that we now know didn't really get started until 2004. They borrowed like half a billion dollars (seriously) from Merrill Lynch to start putting the first several films into motion that they could do completely on their own. Iron Man I was the first true Marvel Studios / "Marvel Cinematic Universe" film.

 

Before then, it was SOP to sell film options to other movie studios or otherwise take on production partners (which is how everybody else in comics besides WB still does it), and many of the previous deals are still in place.

 

And yeah, the Marvel bankruptcy messed things up for awhile. The Sony Spider-Man franchise was delayed by that for quite some time.

So the 1990s greed of the comic book speculator and Ronald Perelman really is still costing Marvel long-term.

[Bosco685]

I'd like to ask a basic question. All of these characters are Marvel created. So what happened? How did Fox and others grab the rights away from Marvel? Did Marvel just have a firesale and piece meal characters for cash?

 

Marvel Studios as the film production entity that we now know didn't really get started until 2004. They borrowed like half a billion dollars (seriously) from Merrill Lynch to start putting the first several films into motion that they could do completely on their own. Iron Man I was the first true Marvel Studios / "Marvel Cinematic Universe" film.

 

Before then, it was SOP to sell film options to other movie studios or otherwise take on production partners (which is how everybody else in comics besides WB still does it), and many of the previous deals are still in place.

 

And yeah, the Marvel bankruptcy messed things up for awhile. The Sony Spider-Man franchise was delayed by that for quite some time.

So the 1990s greed of the comic book speculator and Ronald Perelman really is still costing Marvel long-term.

 

Yes.

[revat]

You would think DC would have had a leg up since they are owned by Warner Brothers (although I guess the Dark Knight Triliogy did really really well) but they in the last few years they bombed on Superman Returns, Jonah Hex, Watchmen, Green Lantern (maybe not bombed but not nearly well enough for sequels).

 

Marvel Studios has obviously been killing it. I'm not sure they've missed yet (Iron Man 2 maybe).

 

But I guess they get the luxury of specializing and focusing all of their energies on making comic movies, where WB doesn't get to do that, and they have to deal with the politics of resource management, scheduling, etc of a larger studio.

 

And Marvel gets to focus on just one 'set' of characters, the Avengers, at least they did before GOTG. That will be the next TRUE test to see if they can move into lesser known characters. Then maybe Dr. Strange. If that works, maybe they'll get into cooler more esoteric stuff.

 

I'd love to see a Heroes for Hire done as a detective agency buddy comedy like Starsky and Hutch tv show Just don't make them too overpowered. It could be a procedural. New case every week, team up like Psych or Elementary or whatevs. Luke Cage is street smart from the block, and Iron Fist literally just moved to the Earth from Kun Lun, and has a lot to learn (but can obviously provide some insight and skills)

 

 

[Bosco685]

Before then, it was SOP to sell film options to other movie studios or otherwise take on production partners (which is how everybody else in comics besides WB still does it), and many of the previous deals are still in place.

 

I'm not sure we can say it was just SOP to hand off the film rights to their top titles, though you are right in that Marvel Studios was not around at the time to drive the film and TV direction. Marvel found itself in a very tough situation at a time in its business lifecycle that could have made or broken the business.

 

But I do understand what you mean about options to drive interest from active studios at the time. This just seemed a larger giveaway, and Marvel didn't sound like it was in the driver's seat on terms.

 

 

[markseifert]

So the 1990s greed of the comic book speculator and Ronald Perelman really is still costing Marvel long-term.

 

I'd put the blame on Marvel's bankruptcy rather squarely on Perelman's shoulders. The comic sales woes of the time make for interesting mainstream news article fodder, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to Perelman's attempted business maneuvers.

[Bosco685]

And Marvel gets to focus on just one 'set' of characters, the Avengers, at least they did before GOTG. That will be the next TRUE test to see if they can move into lesser known characters. Then maybe Dr. Strange. If that works, maybe they'll get into cooler more esoteric stuff.

This is a really good point, as the other films have focused on core A-list characters for the most part. GOTG is really going to feel out the waters how much bang for the buck does the entire character portfolio bring. Especially with 1000's in the Marvel inventory.

 

 

DC is the same way in the way of characters they can pull from. But they need to nail a steady stream of hits first before going off-point from A-listers.

 

[Bosco685]

So the 1990s greed of the comic book speculator and Ronald Perelman really is still costing Marvel long-term.

 

I'd put the blame on Marvel's bankruptcy rather squarely on Perelman's shoulders. The comic sales woes of the time make for interesting mainstream news article fodder, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to Perelman's attempted business maneuvers.

 

That's a bingo!