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Disney buys Marvel http:// www.theguardian.com/ business/2009/aug/31/ disney-marvel-buy-out

Disney Buys Marvel

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Page 1: Disney Buys Marvel

Disney buys Marvel

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/aug/31/disney-

marvel-buy-out

Page 2: Disney Buys Marvel

Companies InvolvedWalt Disney became the parent company of Marvel Entertainment after purchasing it for $4

billion, which became their subsidiary company. There has been talk of Mickey Mouse appearing with famous characters from Marvel such as Spider-man, Hulk and X-Men. Walt Disney is a parent company to many different small companies in the same area such as Pixar, this shows how Disney has become a conglomerate company by purchasing in parts of smaller companies from around the world and including the companies within its own organization that Disney provides. In addition to this, the marvel comics also have its own parent company, Marvel Entertainment. Eventually, this changed as Walt Disney wants the ownership over the company Marvel entertainment.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/aug/31/disney-marvel-buy-out

Page 3: Disney Buys Marvel

Famous ForDisney are well known for their long term and ongoing shows with their

popular characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Disney is well known across the world for the variety of animations and characters they keep consistent and humorous. There was a period of time where Disney Princesses were the main thing about Disney, they were well known for Cinderella and Snow White. This eventually led to a younger female audience as well as the unsex section (Mickey Mouse).

Marvel are popular for their consistent range of products such as comics, cartoons, movies etc including characters like Hulk and Captain America. Marvel are advantageous as they are known from a wider audience due to their high grossing box office movies such as Iron Man. The Avengers are a massive part of Marvel as it’s the presumed best characters from the group fighting together. The best and most popular heroes fighting together increased popularity for Marvel. The way this movie also became highly grossed for Marvel is due to the use of A list stars, Marvel included these in the movie. This encourages the audience to watch the movie even more as people will have the opportunity to see their favourite and childhood heroes that they follow with passion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Comics

Page 4: Disney Buys Marvel

When and Why the deal took place

The buyout of the deal between Marvel and Disney was assumed to be completed later on that year in 2009.

As for Marvel, the link between the two companies has been a turnaround for Marvel, the reason being is that Marvel was field for bankruptcy in 1996 as they where under massive debts as comic books alternated in a recession which caused problems for the Marvel. As this whole incident occurred, it leaded Marvel into selling there company to another parent company; Walt Disney.

Page 5: Disney Buys Marvel

How the deal increased the power or influence of the company within the film industry

The monopoly between the two companies would be that Disney is a parent company to many smaller companies, one of which is Marvel. The deal has increased the power of Disney massively, the reason for this is that the film industry has strongly developed which has caused Disney to become very controlling. Disney didn’t have a wide range of audience which looked negative on their image. For example, Disney created a huge range of Disney princess films and shows as well as the TV program Hannah Montana, both of these examples were aimed at young females. In addition to this, Marvel aims at a male audience with its masculine and superheroes that they can look up to with increasing interest. By combining both companies together, it can increase the power of how they influence us in a variety of ways. For example, gaining more power in the film industry would allow the audience range to become broader. Therefore, this means it would appeal to a wider range of people rather than keeping it very limited.

Page 6: Disney Buys Marvel

The impact will be on other major companies

The most significant impact on other major film companies would be the competition becoming more intense. Two big mainstream companies are combining into one, therefore, there is a larger target audience now it’s aimed at Disney's audience and Marvel’s audience collaboratively. For example, they would have a wider range through age group as well as gender. This can have a negative affect for other major film companies as it could prevent them from appealing to the same target audience due to Marvel and Disney being more popular, it would therefore grab the majorities attention. This would lead to having the audience be more interested in a film made by this merged company rather than another major film company.

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Key issues with the ownership dealOne of the issues that needs to be resolved with the buying of

Disney and Marvel is the movie dilemma. Disney has full ownership over Iron Man, this has become and issue because before Marvel was brought by Disney, they planned to make many films that would occur in the future, which would consist of various more Marvel characters such as Spiderman and Wolverine. By Disney not buying the rights to ownership over all Marvel characters, the movies that would have been created in the future might not appear into a movie as the company would not have the rights, they wont be able to make movies, this could lead to a decrease in the audience as they will be disappointed to hear how they wont be able to watch the Marvel film they were looking forward too as it is non-existent. In addition to this, Disney are not as experienced with creating comics in the manor Marvel do, it would be harder for them to keep a consistent and sustainable suitable script for a Marvel film and future comics that would suit the audience for Marvel. Marvel fans enjoyed the reliability of opening a comic book and reading the same style of the comic they previously read.

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What I’ve learned overallI have learnt a lot about how companies

merge and become one, it has some pros and cons but overall can be successful which will eventually bring in a highly increased income and popularity. I have also learnt that the specific companies a parent company; this means that they make more money in comparison with smaller, inferior companies. Also, companies can benefit from gaining more income if a popular character is featured in a film they create, this is beneficial as the audience would want to see more films with the characters they enjoy watching.

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Funding the film industryProduct PlacementThe latest trend in advertising is to make

it less advertorial. The tendency is to move away from in-your-face ads, where the product is the main attraction, to mini-movies that feature "real-life scenarios" with the product(s) hovering in the background. This can sometimes be subliminal and have subtext which the audience can acknowledge without realising it. Some would argue it's "art imitating art imitating life" scenario, where ads are imitating the practice of product placement.

SponsorshipSponsorships are accessible to a broad range of individuals, from artists to athletes. While it may seem simple enough, you allow yourself to be associated with the company in exchange for free clothes, equipment or other goods or services, it’s a highly competitive market. Along with the validation that comes from being sponsored, a host of opportunities are available. Depending on the sponsor and the agreement, you can get straight cash; products such as clothes, shoes, sporting equipment, nutritional supplements, computers or software; they can cover travel and hotel costs or pay for a health club membership, health insurance, auto insurance or even a cell phone and monthly call.

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Funding the film industryPrivate Investment

Due to the nature of these investment companies, their member investors generally have significant personal wealth and are considered sophisticated enough to not require the same level of regulatory protection accorded to small investors by law. This designation provides added flexibility for private investment funds. There's a growing trend for angel investors to come together and invest as a fund. Typically, these funds make investments ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 at one time and occasionally are supplemented with private investments from individual angels. These funds tend to be small in size, which makes it difficult to afford full-time investment professionals to manage the fund. Nevertheless, a significant amount of time is spent on meeting organization, decision coordination and due diligence required to manage these bands of angels and fulfil the promise of the angel fund model.

Development fundsDuring times of austerity, funding international development programmes has become a difficult business. Donor institutions, foundations and funding organisations alike receive countless applications each year, and have to be selective about which ones to fund and how they are funded. There are many boxes development groups need to tick to make it to the shortlists and successfully secure funding. Meanwhile, funding organisations themselves have to be clear on how they monitor and evaluate (M&E) programmes they fund, which can be difficult when they happen in hard to reach locations.Increased focus on M&E is changing the way both institutions and foundations fund development programmes and charities. This shift has come in response partly to allegations that institutional funding bodies had, under political pressure to meet aid targets, been providing money to ineffective groups and projects, with little attention paid to the end result.

Page 11: Disney Buys Marvel

Product placementAn advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote

their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media. Product placements are often initiated through an agreement between a product manufacturer and the media company in which the media company receives economic benefit. A company will often pay a fee to have their product used, displayed, or significantly featured in a movie or show. For example, Coca-Cola could pay a given fee to have the title character drinking a Coke, instead of a Pepsi beverage. Another example is Toyota might pay to have one of the characters drive their newest automobile. Through product placement, companies hope that film-fanatics will take note of the products used by the characters, and therefore think more strongly about using the products themselves. In the sequel, brand names were especially prominent, particularly in updated versions created for the world of 2015. Hill Valley was awash with products from such brands as Pepsi, Nike, Mattel, Pizza Hut, Black and Decker, The Weather Channel, Texaco, 7-Eleven, AT&T, and others.

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Checklist • 1) what companies were involved? What is the ownership information for the companies involved - Use key words like, parent company, subsidiary,

conglomerate etc.• 2) what are the companies involved famous for? i.e what are their biggest grossing films or why would people know who they are?• 3) when and why did the deal take place.• 4) 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?• 5) What do you think the impact will be on the other major film companies?• 6) What are the key issues with this ownership deal find at least 3 issues- this will require you to research.• 7) summarise what you have learnt about how ownership practices work within the film industry.• Please choose a deal that you would like to explore – this will help you answer the questions above.:• Disney acquires Lucas films. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20146942• DISNEY BUYS MARVEL http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/aug/31/disney-marvel-buy-out• Warner brothers buys rotten tomatoes and flixter http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/04/warner-bros-rotten-tomatoes-flixster• Warner brothers buys Turbine – makers of Lord of the rings http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/04/warner-bros-acquires-turbine.html• FUNDING AND THE FILM INDUSTRY.• 8) 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.• product placement• sponsorship• private investment• development funds• corporate investment• 9) What is meant by product placement – what famous examples are there of films that have used product placement.• 10) How does product placement help films to make money (explore a big blockbuster film)?• 11) 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)• 12)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).