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…

“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.”

Wow. Just when it seemed that Paramount pretty much had the lock on a distribution deal for all the in-house superhero movies made by Marvel Entertainment, Disney swoops in and buys Marvel whole hog, to the tune of $4 billion.

In a company press release that you can find at MarketWatch, Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter said

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses. 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."

In other words, just in case you were wondering, this is all about money. Disney has the better action figure manufacturing companies, apparently.

I have no idea what this means for the approximately 800 Marvel movies currently in development-- I had just assumed they would all be Paramount films, but I'm not sure how many of them Paramount actually has signed deals for. There's also the question of what it means for the characters themselves, given how beloved Disney figures like Cinderella or Simba have been put through the wringer thanks to direct-to-DVD sequels and toys that should embarrass anyone.

No matter what happens, it likely means big changes for all fans of the Marvel movies, and even more comic book overload in an already crowded market. We'll be holding our breath to see how this turns out.

UPDATE: Over at CHUD, Devin Faraci is on a conference call with the Disney-Marvel folks getting some key updates, such as the fact that current Marvel distribution deals will stay in place (Spider-Man stays at Sony, Iron Man at Paramount) until they expire, AND John Lasseter has met with the Marvel folks. Expect some crazy Pixar/Marvel hybrids that might make this whole deal worth it alone.

Sources: Cinematical and CinemaBlend

It's official; Supernatural will come to a conclusion at the end of its fifth season, as creator Eric Kripke has often hinted... but that doesn't mean that the series itself will necessarily end. Confused? Kripke explains his plan.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Kripke said,

I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline... Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we're in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down... That having been said, I'm looking at this season as the last chapter in this particular story. That doesn't mean there can't be a new story. Buffy did it. The X-Files did it. You close a chapter on a big mythology storyline and then you begin a new one.

According to the creator, who says that he hasn't decided whether or not he'll return for a potential sixth season, he'd like to 'answer a bunch of questions this season and then pose some new ones next season.' Does no-one remember that the post-Mulder and Scully X-Files was no good?

Sources: Entertainment Weekly and io9