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By Michael - August 31st, 2009 What?!?!
OK, it’s rare that Disney does anything that totally blindsides me, but this is one of those moments. Who saw this coming?? And if you said you did, you’re totally lying.
Disney is buying comics giant Marvel for $4 billion. This is huge. Really, really huge. I think it will have as big an impact on the company’s product as their 2006 purchase of Pixar. Aside from whether it’s good or bad, the only real judgment to make at the moment is… it’s big.
Disney now owns Spider-Man. It owns the X-Men. It owns the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four. It owns Captain America. It owns one of the twin pillars, along with D.C., of the comic world, and locks up those thousands of characters and properties just as Warner Brothers controls Batman and Superman.
The deal was just announced, and is yet to be approved, so we don’t yet know the ramifications. The Marvel superheroes already hold court in Orlando at Universal’s Islands of Adventure; I’m sure we’ll soon learn the details and fine print of that contract. That park’s Spider-Man attraction is one of the world’s greatest dark rides; what will become of it? What will become of the endless Marvel movie deals already underway in Hollywood? Will Disney retake the X-Men film rights from the villainous clutches of Tom Rothman at 20th Century Fox?
For a company that was previously worried about how to engage young boys the way that the princess and fairy franchises, not to mention Hannah Montana, enraptured females, this will pretty much solve that issue. I can’t say I don’t wish that Disney had managed to look inside their own creativity to solve these challenges aside from putting pirates everywhere, but purchasing Marvel is definitely a bold and unexpected maneuver.
This’ll certainly make things more interesting at D23. The mind reels at the possibilities, as well as the potential problems, that this deal affords. I can’t say I don’t get excited about the idea of a Disney-branded Avengers film, but at the same time I don’t want Galactus stomping around World Showcase at the end of Illuminations. All things in moderation, guys.
I’m loathe to use the term “breaking,” but I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more about this in short order…
UPDATE: A press release appears:
August 31, 2009
DISNEY TO ACQUIRE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT
Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters
Acquisition highlights Disney’s strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value
Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.
Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.
Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”
“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.
“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.
Who writes these things?
UPDATE THE SECOND: Disney and Marvel had a conference call this morning, which I was unable to listen to because to my endless chagrin I have to work for a living. The call was apparently brief, but had a few interesting tidbits.
First, Iger assured everyone that Marvel would retain some level of independence akin to the Pixar deal. The intent, he says, is not to brand Marvel as a Disney product but to better shine a spotlight on Marvel itself. While this is good news, it remains to be seen how well that plan will be enacted. The less embarrassing, clunky attempts at “synergy” the better. Incredibles vs. X-Men on the Xbox, yes. Wolverine on The Suite Life, no.
For now, all current licensing deals will remain in place. This means that Sony will retain the Spider-Man film rights and Fox, unfortunately, will keep the X-Men and Fantastic Four. Paramount’s five-picture deal for the Avengers arc remains in place as well. Disney expects that these existing agreements will lead to an initial loss on the Marvel purchase, but thinks that the deal will pay off handsomely down the road. There seems to have been no mention about Marvel’s theme park licensing deal with Universal.
According to the call, John Lasseter has already been in contact with Marvel over the last few weeks about possible projects; he is allegedly very excited about the possibilities, and I’m not surprised. Combining the Marvel catalogue with the no-doubt comic friendly creatives at Disney and Pixar is bound to stir up some ideas. A Pixar-influenced Runaways or 1602? Yes, please.
Again, I can’t help but admit some level of sadness that Disney seems to reluctant or unable to create its own new intellectual properties these days. But while it would be nice to see some new ideas from Haus Maus, it’s hard to fault them for being drawn to Marvel. The purchase of thousands of possible film or television ideas in one fell swoop is nothing to scoff at. This is going to be big.
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By Michael - August 31st, 2009 
While character meals are now a huge cash cow for Disney, and getting reservations for lunch with Pooh and Princesses has become something of a bloodsport for harried parents, character breakfasts from days of yore were much fewer and far between. You could have a quiet breakfast with Mickey and company on the Empress Lilly, overlooking the misty and then-still waters of the Village Lake. Or, you could head to the Polynesian for Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast at the Papeete Bay Veranda (now known as ‘Ohana). While these were just simple breakfasts with character meet-n-greets, for a brief time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, visitors to Fort Wilderness could get a little more bang for their buck – breakfast with a show!
 The Melvin the Moose Breakfast Show, with Dale, Cindy Lou, Alabam and Chip. In 1986, the Melvin the Moose Breakfast Show debuted at Fort Wilderness’s Pioneer Hall. Originally sponsored by Fleetwood, the kid-friendly, early morning companion to the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue combined elements of other character meet-n-greets with a live stage show. In an esoteric bit of casting that seems bizarre in today’s franchise-friendly business environment, the show was hosted by Melvin the Moose – the stuffed, wall-mounted animal head from the Magic Kingdom’s Country Bear Jamboree. The seeming randomness of this idea, combined with the show’s out of the way location and its relatively brief run make the Melvin the Moose show seem like something one can hardly believe even existed.
But exist it did. Joining Melvin on the stage were those troublesome rodents Chip and Dale, and their human counterparts Cindy Lou and Alabam. Musical accompaniment was provided by “The Professor,” a ragtime pianist banging away on the ivories. Much like the Hoop Dee Doo, the show had a definite country & western feel; Chip and Dale dressed in “cowboy chef” garb while Cindy Lou and Alabam wore, respectively, a gingham dress and overalls.
 The cast starts the show with a musical number The breakfast had two shows a day – at 8:30 and 10 a.m. After being seated, guests started their breakfast with waiting baskets of chocolate chip muffins – the true breakout stars of the show. Melvin the Moose was the first place that I was ever exposed to the chocolate chip muffin concept, and in 1986 it seemed such an insanely hedonistic concept the likes of which only Disney could conceive. Also waiting were glasses of orange juice and decanters of coffee, bowls of citrus fruit compote and baskets of granola bars with honey-peanut butter dip.
 After Cindy Lou, Alabam and their chipmunk friends arrived, they performed an opening song and dance number before letting guests tuck into their breakfasts. Much like the Hoop Dee Doo show, guests were served at their tables with pewter bowls and plates full of food. The menu usually consisted of scrambled eggs and bacon, hash browns, biscuits and sausage gravy. While guests ate, they enjoyed a few classic Chip and Dale cartoons which were projected on the stage. After some more shenanigans with Melvin and pals, Cindy Lou and Alabam led the guests in the show’s grand finale.
 A Fort Wilderness kazoo from the Melvin the Moose Breakfast Show Much like the Hoop Dee Doo’s raucous washboard finale, the breakfast show ended musically. Kazoos were delivered to the tables so that all guests could be led in the “Kuntry Ka-zoo Simfony” (no, seriously); the added bonus was that guests were allowed to keep their kazoos. They were nice kazoos, too! Sturdy, good sound, and mine’s still holding up nicely more than twenty years on.
 
 Perhaps feeling that the breakfast show was lacking a marquee name, Disney changed the show’s title in 1987 to “Chip & Dale’s Country Morning Jamboree featuring Melvin the Moose.” The concept was essentially the same, but one assumes that Chip & Dale were considered a better draw for families. I can’t find any reference online to whether the show’s content changed considerably between versions, or whether the Country Bear meet-n-greet characters from the original show remained for the later revision. Note the price of the show – $10 for adults and $8 for children under 12. Later, in 1989, the price jumped to a shocking $12 for adults and $9 for kids. Appalling. The seating time for the second show was changed as well, from 10 a.m. to 9:45. Somewhere along the line Fleetwood dropped their sponsorship; compare the flier above with this one. Also note the earlier flier just mentions a “pastry basket”; they had yet to realize what an asset they had in those chocolate chip muffins.
The show ran at Pioneer Hall until 1991; one assumes that families intent on laying siege to the parks the second their gates opened didn’t have time for a long, pleasant breakfast in the relaxed atmosphere of Fort Wilderness. While the Trail’s End Buffeteria still serves a fairly nifty breakfast next door to Pioneer Hall, it’s just not the same without Melvin, Cindy Lou and Alabam. Maybe it’s time for a revival?
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By Michael - August 28th, 2009 Much to my excitement, I’ve just discovered that Martin Smith has set up his own site to present his now-famous park tribute videos. His latest magnum opus is an 85-minute tribute to Walt Disney World’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and their unrealized sister project Thunder Mesa. Check it out!
UPDATE: Foxx is getting into the video business too! Enjoy some EPCOT atmosphere…
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By Michael - August 27th, 2009 It’s just come to my attention that a lot of the images I’ve posted lately look absolutely awful on CRT monitors. I have no idea why this is, but I’m going to investigate. I assure you they look nice and shiny on LCD screens, but I hadn’t thought to check on an old-school monitor. So for those of you with CRTs, I just wanted you to know I haven’t gone insane or developed some sort of visual issue…
UPDATE: Well, it seems like they look fine on other CRT monitors. Since I don’t really know what the deal is, I’ll just leave them as-is. If your own particular monitor is searing out your retinas, let me know and I’ll keep working on it…
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By Michael - August 26th, 2009  Last weekend, Bob Allen and Carl Bongirno hosted Her Imperial Majesty Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi and her official party for a briefing and update on World Showcase. The Empress of Iran and her party visited the Magic Kingdom early Saturday evening before departing for a formal dinner on the Empress Lilly where she was joined by Governor and Mrs. Askew. (Disney) It’s January of 1978 and Disney is desperately trying to sign up governments to sponsor pavilions for World Showcase, which was still in the conceptual phase. EPCOT’s groundbreaking was still almost two years away, its development slowed by uncertain management and the inability to line up sponsorship deals. Later, Disney would give up on recruiting governmental participants entirely and go directly to individual corporations in desired nations for funding. But in 1978 Disney executives continued to wine and dine diplomats and envoys from around the world.
And so here’s the Empress of Iran in the Magic Kingdom, the mere fact of which is almost as entertaining as Minnie’s little hat. Why’d she lose the hat? I think it works. Anyway, what the happy Empress doesn’t know is that in about a year she and her husband would be fleeing their country in the wake of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Implied by this picture is the fact, seemingly bizarre today, that Iran was a prime target for participation in World Showcase. Imagineers spent quite a lot of time designing a pavilion for Iran while shuttling back and forth to Tehran to seek the support of the Shah. At EPCOT’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2007, Imagineer Marty Sklar told the amusing story of how he and another designer had traveled to Iran to try and secure an official agreement for participation in World Showcase. They spent several days (maybe longer, I don’t recall) in an opulent palace waiting for an audience with the Shah. They kept getting delayed, and delayed, and delayed by various royal underlings. Eventually they did get to do their presentation, and it went very well. Iran seemed a lock for EPCOT’s lineup.
The Imagineers came back to Glendale, happy with their success. But then came the aforementioned Islamic Revolution, the regime in Tehran crumbled, and for some reason the Ayatollahs were less willing to sponsor a theme park attraction.
The renderings that Sklar showed at his EPCOT presentation were impressive; the pavilion had a very modern look with classical touches. It appeared to have a sleek glass exterior with an interior courtyard and temple, its entrance flanked by Assyrian winged bulls.
So it goes…
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