According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is purchasing Marvel comics for a tidy sum of $4 billion. This will be the second large acquisition in the Iger administration of Disney, the first being the purchase of Pixar for $7 billion in 2006. The sale will be made mostly in stocks, giving Disney access to 5,000 Marvel characters and stories while Marvel gets the distribution and unparalleled marketing power of the Disney conglomerate.
“Disney already knows how to monetize characters across multiple platforms, and now it has 5,000 (Marvel) characters to apply its success to,” Joyce said. “It helps give Disney a new, rational area to expand its exposure to younger audiences, especially boys, in which Disney had lost some balance in recent years.” Iger said more Marvel content will, for example, be seen on the boys-centric Disney XD channel.
The companies are still in talks about what effect the merger will have on Marvel movies already in the works, such as CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, and IRON MAN 2.
