Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios

Type	Subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment
Industry	Entertainment
Genre	Motion Pictures, Live-Action and Animation
Founded	1993
Founder(s)	Avi Arad ToyBiz Marvel Entertainment Group
Key people	Kevin Feige, President of Production
Products	Films
Services	Licensing Production
Owner(s)	The Walt Disney Company
Parent	Marvel Entertainment
Divisions	Marvel TV
Subsidiaries	Marvel Animation
Website	Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.

Since 2008, the studio has released five independently produced films with shared timeline, cast and characters, making up the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Background

Timely era

During what is known as Marvel's Timely era, Captain America was licensed out to Republic Pictures for a serial just for the free advertising. Except they failed to give any drawing of Captain America with his shield or any further background, thus Republic created a whole new background including him having a gun.^[1]

Marvel Entertainment Group's initiative

In the late 1970s up to the early 1990s, Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) sold options to studios to produce films based on Marvel Comics characters. Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s superheroes, was optioned in the late 1970s, and rights reverted back to Marvel in April 1996 without a film having been produced. From 1986 to 1996, most of Marvel’s major characters had been optioned, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Iron Man.^[2] Howard the Duck made to the screen in 1986 but was a flop. With MEG purchased by New World Entertainment, New World move to produced films based on the Marvel characters, but one movie, The Punisher (1989), came out of New World before MEG was sold to Andrews Group. Two other films were produced Captain America (1990 film) released in the United Kingdom on screens and direct to video in the United States and The Fantastic Four in 1993 unreleased. In opposition, Marvel's rival DC Comics had success licensing its properties Superman and Batman into blockbuster films.^[3]

History

Marvel Films

Following Marvel Entertainment Group's (MEG) ToyBiz deal in 1993, Avi Arad of ToyBiz, was named President and CEO of Marvel Films division and of New World Family Filmworks, Inc., a New World Entertainment subsidiary. New World was MEG's former parent corporation and later a fellow subsidiary of the Andrews Group.^[4] Marvel Productions became New World Animation by 1993 as Marvel and New World would start up Marvel Films including Marvel Films Animation.^[4][5][6][7] New World Animation (The Incredible Hulk), Saban (X-Men), and Marvel Films Animation (Spider-Man) each produced a Marvel series for television.^[8] It was Marvel Films Animation's only production.^[6][7]

New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation were sold along with the rest of New World by Andrews Group to News Corporation/Fox as announced in August 1996. As part of the deal, Marvel licensed the rights to Captain America, Daredevil and Silver Surfer to be on Fox Kids Network and produced by Saban. New World Animation continue producing a second season of The Incredible Hulk for UPN.^[8][9]

Marvel Studios

1990s

In August 1996, Marvel decided to create Marvel Studios, an incorporation of Marvel Films, due to the sale of New World Communications Group, Inc., Marvel's fellow Andrews Group subsidiary in film and television stations, to News Corporation/Fox. Filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise money to finance the new corporation, Marvel, Isaac Perlmutter's Zib, Inc. and Avi Arad sold Toy Biz stocks, which Marvel had started and took public in February 1995.^[2][10] Toy Biz filed an offering of 7.5 million shares with a closing price of $20.125 at the time, making the offering worth approximately $150 million. Toy Biz sought to sell 1 million shares, and Marvel sought to sell 2.5 million shares.^[11]

Jerry Calabrese, the president of Marvel Entertainment Group, and Avi Arad, head of Marvel Films and a director of Toy Biz, were assigned tandem control of Marvel Studios. Under Calabrese and Arad, Marvel sought to control pre-production by commissioning scripts, hiring directors, and casting characters, providing the package to a major studio partner for filming and distribution. Arad said of the goal for control, "When you get into business with a big studio, they are developing a hundred or 500 projects; you get totally lost. That isn't working for us. We're just not going to do it anymore. Period."^[2] Marvel Studios arranged a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox to cover markets in the United States and internationally.^[12] In the following December, Marvel Entertainment was threatened with bankruptcy and went through a reorganization plan, including Marvel Studios as part of its strategic investment.^[13] By 1997, Marvel Studios was actively pursuing various film productions based on Marvel characters, including the eventual films X-Men (2000), Daredevil (2003) and Fantastic Four (2005). Unproduced projects included Prince Namor, based on the character Namor and to be directed by Philip Kaufman, and Mort the Dead Teenager, based on the comic book of the same name and written by John Payson and Mort creator Larry Hama.^[14] Marvel was developing a Captain America animated series with Saban Entertainment for Fox Kids Network to premier in fall 1998. However, due to the bankruptcy the series was canceled before the premier.^[8][15][16]

The first film licensed by Marvel Studios was Blade, based on the vampire hunter Blade. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and starred Wesley Snipes as Blade. It was released on 21 August 1998, grossing $70,087,718 in the United States and Canada and $131,183,530 worldwide.^[17]

2000s

Blade was followed by X-Men, which was directed by Bryan Singer and was released on 14 July 2000. X-Men grossed $157,299,717 in the United States and Canada and $296,250,053 worldwide.^[18] The Marvel films Blade and X-Men demonstrated that blockbuster films could be made out of comic book characters not familiar to the general public.^[19]

Leading up to X-Men's release, Marvel Studios negotiated a deal with then-functional Artisan Entertainment, successful with the low-budget The Blair Witch Project, to give the studio rights to 15 Marvel characters including Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Iron Fist, and Deadpool. With the deal at the time, 24 Marvel properties were then in various stages of development. Brian Cunningham, editor of Wizard comic book magazine, believed that Avi Arad was successful in organizing strategic alliances and exercising fiscal responsibility in multimedia expansion. Cunningham said of Arad’s leadership of the studio following its parent company’s near-bankruptcy, "The fact the X-Men is primed to be the biggest movie of the summer speaks volumes about the turnaround for Marvel. From my observation, he's focused on a lot more in diversifying Marvel, doing things that proliferate Marvel characters in the mainstream." Arad sought to protect Marvel’s image by serving as executive producer in all Marvel film productions and being responsible for crossover marketing between Marvel properties. Arad had properties set up at different studios to create momentum so one studio would not cannibalize efforts with one property for the sake of another.^[20] By 2001, the success of Marvel Entertainment’s Ultimate Marvel comics created leverage in Hollywood for Marvel Studios, pushing more properties into development.^[21]

The next blockbuster film licensed from Marvel Studios was Spider-Man by Columbia Pictures, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. The film was released on 3 May 2002, grossing $403,706,375 in the United States and Canada and $821,708,551 worldwide.^[22] The early success of Spider-Man led the film's studio to issue a seven-figure advance for a sequel. Arad spoke of the deal, "Movies make sequels. Therefore, it's a big economic luxury to know that a movie's going to get a second and third. This is a business of precedence."^[23]

In producing Marvel films in the 2000s, Avi Arad sought to capture the superheroes’ internal conflicts. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Arad's great accomplishment – and it is one, given the difficulties in transferring any kind of printed material to the big screen – is conveying what makes those heroes tick as characters... He works with the filmmakers to ensure that the heroes are conflicted, the villains motivated, the outcome shaded." In contrast to the original storylines of DC Comics’ Superman and Batman films, Marvel films were more directly inspired by their comics, copying from them set pieces, scenes, plots, and dialogue.^[19]

Partnering with Lionsgate Entertainment in 2004, Marvel Studios plan to enter the direct-to-DVD market with eight animated films with Lionsgate handling distribution.^[24][25] Eric Rollman was hired by Marvel as Executive Vice President, Home Entertainment & TV Production for Marvel Studios to oversee the deal with Lionsgate.^[26]

Marvel entered into a non-recourse financing structure with Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. that is collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters from Marvel's vast vault. Marvel gets $525 million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, according to the parameters of the deal with Paramount in September 2004. Those characters were: Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack, Shang-Chi.^[27][28]

In 2005, Michael Helfant joined the studio as President and Chief Operating Officer.^[29] In November 2005, Marvel gained the film rights to Iron Man from New Line Cinema. Marvel revealed that it has regained the film rights to The Incredible Hulk in 2006. April 2006 Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to Thor from Sony. That year the film was announced to be a Marvel Studios production. Lions Gate Entertainment subsequently dropped the Black Widow motion picture project it had since 2004 giving the rights back to Marvel.^[30]

In March 2007, David Maisel was named Chairman and Kevin Feige was named President of Production as Iron Man began filming.^[31]

In 2008, Marvel Studios signed a lease with Raleigh Studios to host its headquarters and production offices and film the next four movies on the studios’ slate, including Iron Man 2 and Thor, at their Manhattan Beach facilities.^[32] In January 2008, Marvel Animation was incorporated in January 2008 to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets including then animation efforts with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon. Marvel Entertainment named Eric Rollman as President of the company in April 2008.^[26]

In 2009, Marvel attempted to hire a team of writers to help come up with creative ways to launch its lesser-known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Iron Fist, Nighthawk, and Vision.^[33]

On 31 December 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Both Marvel and Disney have stated that the merger would not affect any preexisting deals with other film studios for the time being,^[34] although Disney said they will consider distributing future Marvel projects with their own studios once the current deals expire.^[35]

2010s

On 18 October 2010, Disney bought the distribution rights for The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures.^[36]

In June 2010, Marvel Studios set up a television division, headed up by Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President,^[37] which Marvel Animation will operated under.^[38]

On August 22, 2011 at Disney's behest, the Studio fired most of its marketing department: Dana Precious, EVP of Worldwide Marketing; Jeffrey Stewart, VP of Worldwide Marketing and Jodi Miller, Manager of Worldwide Marketing. Disney will now market the Marvel movies.^[39]

Marvel Knights

Marvel Knights is the name given to a production arm of Marvel Studios intended to be used to produce some of Marvel's darker and lesser known titles. The first film produced under the Marvel Knights banner was Punisher: War Zone, the 2008 release that rebooted the Punisher franchise. In 2012, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance will be the second title to be released by Marvel Knights.

Production library

TV series

Animated

Marvel Films

Year(s)	Series	Production	Distributor	Original Network
1994–1998	Spider-Man: The Animated Series	Marvel Films Animation	New World Communications	FOX Kids
1992–1997	X-Men	Saban Productions	Saban Productions	Fox Kids
1996–1997	The Incredible Hulk	New World Animation	Saban Productions	UPN
Marvel Action Hour/Marvel Action Universe
1994–1996	Fantastic Four	New World Animation & Wang Films	New World Communications	First-run syndication
	Iron Man	New World Animation & Rainbow Animation Group & Koko

^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Marvel Studios

Year(s)	Series	Production	Distributor	Original Network
1998	Silver Surfer	Saban Entertainment	Saban	FOX Kids
1999–2001	Spider-Man Unlimited	Saban International	Saban	Fox Kids
1999–2000	The Avengers: United They Stand	Saban International	Saban	Kids

Live action

Series	Aired	Production	Distributor	Original Network
Mutant X	6 October 2001 – 17 May 2004	Fireworks Entertainment Tribune Entertainment Marvel Studios	Marvel Enterprise CanWest Global Communications	First-run syndication
In Development
AKA Jessica Jones		Marvel Television		ABC Family
Mockingbird		Marvel Television		ABC Family
Hulk		Marvel Television		ABC
Cloak & Dagger		Marvel Television		ABC [40]

Film

Co-productions

Independent productions

See also: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Year	FilmT	Director	Distributor
1998	Blade	Stephen Norrington	New Line Cinema
2000	X-Men	Bryan Singer	20th Century Fox
2002	Blade II	Guillermo del Toro	New Line Cinema
	Spider-Man	Sam Raimi	Columbia Pictures
2003	Daredevil	Mark Steven Johnson	20th Century Fox
	X2: X-Men United	Bryan Singer
	Hulk	Ang Lee	Universal Pictures
2004	The Punisher	Jonathan Hensleigh	Lionsgate
	Spider-Man 2	Sam Raimi	Columbia Pictures
	Blade: Trinity	David S. Goyer	New Line Cinema
2005	Elektra	Rob Bowman	20th Century Fox
	Man-Thing	Brett Leonard	Lionsgate
	Fantastic Four	Tim Story	20th Century Fox
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Brett Ratner
2007	Ghost Rider	Mark Steven Johnson	Columbia Pictures
	Spider-Man 3	Sam Raimi
	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Tim Story	20th Century Fox
2008	Punisher: War Zone	Lexi Alexander	Lionsgate
2009	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Gavin Hood	20th Century Fox
2011	X-Men: First Class	Matthew Vaughn
In Production
2012	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (post-production)	Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor	Columbia Pictures
	The Amazing Spider-Man (post-production)	Marc Webb
In Development
2013	The Wolverine	James Mangold	20th Century Fox
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Marc Webb	Columbia Pictures
Year	Film	Director	Distributor
2008	Iron Man	Jon Favreau	Paramount Pictures
	The Incredible Hulk	Louis Leterrier	Universal Pictures
2010	Iron Man 2	Jon Favreau	Paramount Pictures
2011	Thor	Kenneth Branagh
	Captain America: The First Avenger	Joe Johnston
In Production
2012	The Avengers (post-production)	Joss Whedon	Walt Disney Pictures
In Development
2013	Iron Man 3[41]	Shane Black[42]	Walt Disney Pictures
	Thor 2[43]	Patty Jenkins

Units

• Marvel Films Animation – animation subdivision (1994–1997)
• Marvel Music (2005)
• Marvel Television (2010-)
  • Marvel Animation (2008-)
    • MLG Productions, Marvel & Liongate's subsidiary group for Marvel Animated Features (2004-)^[44][45]
    • Marvel Anime Partners, partnership with Madhouse to produce the Marvel Anime project^[46]

See also

• Marvel Productions
• List of films based on Marvel Comics

References

1. ^ Mangel, Andy (December December 1990). "Reel Marvel". In Jim Salicrup. Marvel Age. Marvel Comics. http://www.andymangels.com/marvelage.html. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Hass, Nancy (11 August 1996). "Marvel sets up division to put its own characters into movies". The New York Times. 
3. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (28 April 2002). "Cool comic-book films: Golden age on silver screen for Marvel heroes". San Francisco Chronicle. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT AND AVI ARAD TO DEVELOP MEDIA PROJECTS". The Free Library.com. Farlex, Inc.. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/MARVEL+ENTERTAINMENT+AND+AVI+ARAD+TO+DEVELOP+MEDIA+PROJECTS-a013140213. Retrieved 13 April 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Hicks, Jonathan P. (8 November 1988). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Marvel Comic Book Unit Being Sold for $82.5 million". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0710FC3B5C0C7B8CDDA80994D0484D81. Retrieved 22 October 2010. 
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7. ^ ^{a b c} Cawley, John. "Marvel Films Animation 1993–1997". Home of John Cawley. John Cawley. http://www.cataroo.com/020104.html. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Goldman, Michael. "Stan Lee: Comic Guru". Animation World Magazine. Animation World Network. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.4/awm2.4pages/2.4goldmanlee.html. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
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11. ^ "Marvel plans TV, movies for characters". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 3 July 1996. 
12. ^ Benezra, Karen (8 July 1996). "Marvel wants to be a movie mogul". MediaWeek (VNU eMedia, Inc) 6 (28). 
13. ^ Kramer, Farrell (28 December 1996). "Marvel, maker of sports cards, comics, files for bankruptcy". Fort Worth Star-Telegram (The McClatchy Company). 
14. ^ Evenson, Laura (18 May 1997). "Comics' Superpower To Turn Season's Movies Into Box-Office Gold". San Francisco Chronicle. 
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18. ^ "X-Men (2000)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=xmen.htm. Retrieved 18 June 2008. 
19. ^ ^{a b} Levine, Robert (27 June 2004). "Does Whatever a Spider (and a C.E.O.) Can". The New York Times. 
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21. ^ Massari, Paul (2 December 2001). "Marvel’s superheroes fight their way back from comic disaster". The Boston Globe. 
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24. ^ "Marvel Enters Burgeoning Made-for-DVD Market Segment Through Landmark Deal with Lions Gate Entertainment.". Business Wire. 25 MAY 2004. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-383884/Marvel-Enters-Burgeoning-Made-for.html. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
25. ^ Harvey, James. "Direct-To-Video "Marvel Animated Features" Line Plans For Future Releases". Marvel Animation Age. toonzone.net. http://marvel.toonzone.net/news.php?action=fullnews&id=65. Retrieved 1 April 2011. 
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29. ^ "Michael Helfant Joins Marvel Studios as President & COO; Entertainment Industry Veteran to Oversee Operations of Marvel's Growing Entertainment Development and Production Activities". Business Wire. FindArticles.com. 5 November 2005. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Nov_2/ai_n15769952?tag=rbxcra.2.a.1. Retrieved 1 July 2008. 
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31. ^ "Marvel Entertainment Names David Maisel as Chairman, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige as President...". Business Wire. AllBusiness.com, Inc.. 13 March 2007. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services/4303364-1.html. Retrieved 1 July 2008. 
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33. ^ Marc Graser (26 March 2009). "Marvel's hiring writers". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001734.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 27 March 2009. 
34. ^ The Disney/Marvel Deal: What It Means for Movies
35. ^ Disney’s Marvel Buy Traps Hollywood in Spider-Man Web (Update2)
36. ^ Kim Masters (18 October 2010). "Disney to Distribute Marvel's 'The Avengers,' 'Iron Man 3'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-distribute-marvels-avengers-iron-31061. Retrieved 18 October 2010. 
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44. ^ DeMott, Rick (December 3, 2007). "Ratatouille Cooks Up Most Annie Nominations". AWN News. http://www.awn.com/news/awards/ratatouille-cooks-most-annie-nominations. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
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46. ^ "Marvel Anime to Run on G4 in the United States". Anime News Network. July 23, 2010. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-07-23/marvel-anime-to-run-on-g4-in-the-united-states. Retrieved July 24, 2010. 

External links

• Marvel Studios at the Internet Movie Database