The Walt Disney empire brought the superheroes stable Marvel Entertainment.

The companies involved are Walt Disney Empire and Marvel Entertainment. Marvel entertainment was its own company and was not owned by anyone before Disney invested in them. It has now become a subsidiary

What companies were involved? What is the ownership information for the companies involved - Use key words like,

parent company, subsidiary, conglomerate etc.

What are the companies involved famous for? i.e what are their biggest grossing films or why would people know who they are?

Disney is famous for being the biggest film company in the world. Disney owns and operates ABC broadcast television network and the cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks. They also own 14 theme parks over the world and has a successful music division.

Marvel entertainment is famous for its well known superheroes. The

company is known for its comic books and, as of the 2000s, films via its Marvel Studios.

When and why did the deal take place?

Disney brought the comic book and movie company Marvel Entertainment in December 2009 for $4.2 billion in cash and stock. Marvel was a strong successful company however in the future could go down hill, by them being owned by Disney puts them in a strong position as Disney is very successful and can make them lots of money for example adding the marvel characters to their theme parks and merchandise ect. It also puts Disney in a strong position so is a win win situation.

How has the deal increased the power or influence of the company within the film industry – is there any evidence of a

monopoly or oligopoly – if so please explain?

The deal between Disney and Marvel have made a big impact as it has increased Disney's monopolization and has made Disney more dominant as now they have a strong industry built up of successful companies. In the future Disney will be able to expand Marvel, and increase the target audience to a new generation of comic lovers. Marvel is now a subsidiary company A monopoly organization is an economic market condition where one seller dominates the entire market.

This visual show the companies Walt Disney own.

What do you think the impact will be on the other major film companies?

I think that by Walt Disney taking over Marvel they would be able to dominate the film industry as they will be able to appeal to their teen boy target audience, by gaining their male target audience they would be able to create films and shows that would be watch by their new found target audience. Another reason I think that this deal would have a big impact on other film companies is that they have

What are the key issues with this ownership deal find at least 3 issues- this will require

you to research.

1. A key issue with Walt Disney taking over Marvel is that Walt Disney had to make some redundancies, due to the amount of people they had employed after buying Marvel plus their 150 staff that were originally working at Marvel as well as a production company called Lucasfilm.

2. Another issue that this ownership has caused is that Walt Disney is dominating the film industry and building a Monopoly organisation. Because of this, it causes other film production companies to have a limited chance to produce their own films.

3. A third issue with this ownership deal is that by Walt ~Disney being now able to appeal to their boy target audience, they may take away other companies audiences because of this.

Summarise what you have learnt about how ownership practices work within the film industry.

I have learnt that monopolisation is important in the film industry as it makes that company dominate.

FUNDING AND THE FILM INDUSTRY

What are the different ways in which the FILM industry makes money from audiences – create a mind map – include the

words below – for a distinction try to find some of your own.

•Production companies•Sponsorship•Distribution companies•Product placement•Corporate investment•Development funds•Exhibition companies•Private investment

What is meant by product placement – what famous examples are there of films that have used product placement.

Product placement is where big manufacture companies pay film companies or TV programs to show their products to gain more exposure.

I robotUses advertisement of converse

SupermanCrashes into a ‘Marlboro’ cigarette van

James bondDriving a ford car

SpidermanDrinking a doctor pepper

How does product placement help films to make money (explore a big blockbuster film)?

Product placement helps films to make money because big manufacture companies pay film companies to place their products in their film. If lots of big manufacture companies ask one film company to place their products in their films, the film company will make a lot of money.

For example Men In Black uses a number of product placements such as ray ban sunglasses, Mercedes Benz, Sprint and Burger King.

Where do Independent film companies get their funding – explore development funds, film funding schemes etc. Explain how development funds and film funding schemes work. (Look

at examples like Film four, BBC films, Revolver)

The independent film companies go to studios and pitch their ideas for their films they would like to create. Some independent film companies get their funding through development funds, theses development funding companies give independent film companies a certain amount of money depending on what their films about. There are many different types of funding development companies, this visual shows you some examples.

There are different companies that fund independent films for example British Council Film and

Explain how sponsorship deals work within the film industry – provide an example of a sponsorship deal for a recent film.

(think of a big blockbuster film, you can try Man of Steel, The Avengers Assemble, The Hobbit – and see what you can find).

http://www.newsarama.com/3752-10-questions-the-marvel-disney-acquisition-raises.html

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/16253/marvel-and-disney-one-year-on