Disney buys Marvel for 4 billion – My Thoughts
So this has been quite an interesting start to the week, wouldn’t you say so? In case folks are still coming out of weekend hibernation, Disney is finalizing their acquisition of Marvel Entertainment for a whopping 4 billion dollars. Two articles I found that go into more detail are here from IGN and here from iFanboy.
This is obviously now the biggest story to hit us comic nerds in quite some time, especially when you consider the attention DC’s been getting lately with the Blackest Night books and Batman 3 movie rumors. I’ve been following all sorts of Twitter accounts today and measuring their reactions to the news and for the most part, the future of Marvel’s work is uncertain and yet very promising. I can agree with that assessment because Disney has been smart in keeping their acquisitions in the state they were beforehand. Take Pixar for example – they were acquired in 2006 and it’s safe to say Pixar is still scoring hits each summer and with the same witty creativity too.
Here’s an excerpt from The Feed, G4′s news department, as to what I’m talking about (full article here):
“In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar animation. There was fear at the time that Pixar movies would henceforth feature pop-culture-wiseguy sidekicks in the vein of Disney animation movies, and that Pixar films would creep toward the Disney formula and eventually all be stories of self-empowered princesses. But if you look at what Pixar has produced since then (Wall-E, Up), that’s almost the opposite of what’s happened. If anything, Pixar has been allowed to be more creative, adult and less “Disney” over the years.
Disney has a long history of buying “edgier” companies that dates back to the early 90s, when it bought Miramax, leading to fears among fanboys and film-geeks that Miramax’s cutting-edge content would be censored and watered down. It didn’t happen, and I don’t think it’s going to happen here.”
Mike and I are hoping to find some time tonight to do an impromptu podcast on the news. Keep checking the site and the CBF Twitter feed as we hear more info throughout the week.