The Official "Get Marvel's Rights Back!" Thread

[kaijunexus]

I didn't see any threads in here specifically pertaining to discussion on when, how, and if Marvel can get the rights to Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider back from Fox and Sony. So, I figured we should probably have one as the topic does seem to pop up relatively often in other threads.

 

[babykhris]

Don't worry the rights are coming how. After Ghost Rider drops there's no way SONY will make a 3rd film. There's been no movement from FOX on Daredevil & Fantastic Four, so there's a good chance Disney gets them back.

I'm ok with Fox keeping X-Men right now and Sony keeping Spidey because if we had those franchises alot of the characters Marvel are pushing wouldn't get a shot.

 

[bubbadoom]

Design work has been done on the digital Thing, and I am sure WETA has done a test, so once APES is done I suspect Fox will be making a decision on the FF. They still have a good 5 or 6 months to pull the trigger to make the 2012 dead line, so I would not write off an FF sequel or what ever just yet.

 

[some_dude728]

from what I've seen jumping around from site to site...it sounds like Daredevil is almost a lock to come back to Marvel/Disney.

 

[Silvermoth]

I think Fox and Sony might be too big to let something get away. Maybe when comic book movies have lost their sheen they might consider selling them off.

I just hope Marvel hasn't spent years trying to make films their own way only to have Disney tell them what to do.

 

[venom892]

I'm pretty sure Disney is going to be hands off just like they are with Pixar.

 

[kaijunexus]

So if Elektra was made in 2005, and Marvel still hasn't gotten the Daredevil rights back, then the contract agreement with Fox has to stipulate a movie must be made at least every 6 years (possibly more), since the right haven't reverted yet and it's 2011.

We could also assume that the Fantastic Four contract would probably be the same, then. So, since FF:RotSS was released in 2007, that would give Fox until 2013 (or later) to make another picture, right?

 

[Tacit Ronin]

They will never get those rights back.

 

[kaijunexus]

They will never get those rights back.

Um...really?

Select quotes from wikipedia's Marvel Studios and MCU pages...

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.

In July 2010, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, company head Kevin Feige revealed that another Punisher reboot is in the works. Feige said that the rights to the character have reverted back to Marvel Studios, and they want to take their own shot at it. He also said that he's aiming for a "Frank Castle" movie rather than a Punisher film.

Marvel has already gotten MANY of their character's film rights back. You, sir, are nothing more than a troll.

 

[Nimibro]

They will never get those rights back.

Marvel has already gotten MANY of their character's film rights back. You, sir, are nothing more than a troll.

i think what's Nuffsaid's trying to say is that Marvel won't get these particular rights back. Fox theatened to produce ashcan copies of the franchises just to keep the rights for a longer time, a thing they already did with Fantastic Four back in '94. Fox are probably getting more aggresive now that Marvel Studios gets more and more acclaim and gets more rights to it's original characters like in the cases you referenced, but Fox has a hold on some household names (remember Iron Man was lesser known out of fanbase and people who were new o comic-book movies at the time, not saying he was a complete nobody, of course not, but he had less popularity at the time) and Hulk was kind of a dissapointment for Universal, so it was kind of easy to get the rights back.

 

[kaijunexus]

I'd heard that the current Marvel contracts contained clauses to prevent anyone from retaining the rights to characters if they attempt to produce poor-quality, low-budget garbage just for the sake of retaining the rights. I think only theatrically released films count towards renewing the contracts, also. They can't just keep churning out direct-to-video stuff.

As for the 94 FF film, I don't think Fox was necessarily involved in that. Could be wrong, though. It was, however, definitely produced to retain the rights for the company making it at the time.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Constantin held the original rights to the FF and they hired Corman to make the throwaway film so that they could hold onto them and they then made the deal with Fox.

 

[SuperFerret]

Yeah, they should get them back. I'm tired of seeing more than two superhero films each year.

 

[kaijunexus]

Yeah, they should get them back. I'm tired of seeing more than two superhero films each year.

If you're trying to be sarcastic, the fact is that Feige said Marvel was eventually going to be releasing 4 films a year. Couple that with anything coming out of DC and any independent comic-movies and I don't think you have to worry about a shortage of superhero movies.

 

[SuperFerret]

Oh, sorry. Hang on, let me get my surprised and excited face on.

O.O FOUR!? REALLY!? AWESOMESAUCE ON AN AWESOME PIZZA!

That way, instead of having characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and even lesser known characters in movies, we'll have to push them aside for Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in most years! This is the best thing ever!

 

[kaijunexus]

 

[SuperFerret]

I think you mean trawling. Also, I am offering some real insight, you just seem to be unable to process differing opinions.

 

[Blader5489]

Oh, sorry. Hang on, let me get my surprised and excited face on.

O.O FOUR!? REALLY!? AWESOMESAUCE ON AN AWESOME PIZZA!

That way, instead of having characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and even lesser known characters in movies, we'll have to push them aside for Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in most years! This is the best thing ever!

What a hard life you live, being forced to watch every single one of these movies.

 

[SuperFerret]

Jeez, some people can't take sarcastic arguments.

 

[Sam Fisher]

Yes, more than two superhero movies a year must be bad, even if those movies are good

 

[Silvermoth]

I'd heard that the current Marvel contracts contained clauses to prevent anyone from retaining the rights to characters if they attempt to produce poor-quality, low-budget garbage just for the sake of retaining the rights. I think only theatrically released films count towards renewing the contracts, also. They can't just keep churning out direct-to-video stuff.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

..... ? not all contracts are the same... lol. marvels contracts do say that they have enough say in the films that the studios can not create the film without some approvals from marvel.

if films utterly flop and are not what marvel wanted in there character treatment they can fight the contract.



Fox and Sony though probably will not give up there spidey and X franchises.... they're giant cash cows... and Disney will probably have to pay a really large fee to buy them back.

 

[bubbadoom]

Sure Dragonball: Evolution was bad - but it did play in theaters...

 

[BatsDC]

I would like to see Marvel get the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider etc rights back.

However, I like the X-Men franchise and think the upcoming Spiderman reboot looks good...
Can't Marvel just pay a certain amount to tie in those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and have them appear in some of those films? So if any characters tied to those licenses are needed, they could appear?

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I would like to see Marvel get the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghost Rider etc rights back.

However, I like the X-Men franchise and think the upcoming Spiderman reboot looks good...
Can't Marvel just pay a certain amount to tie in those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and have them appear in some of those films? So if any characters tied to those licenses are needed, they could appear?

I'd expect that the contracts, as written, give exclusive rights to the studio currently using the character. Marvel could always, for example, offer $10 million to Sony for the rights to have Spidey make an appearance in an Avenger's film, but I highly doubt that would happen.

From Sony's point of view, they don't want to 'water down the character' and Spider-man appearing in other films would reduce the value of their stand-alone films. Marvel, on the other hand, probably doesn't want to promote a character that they only have limited rights to. Instead of using Spider-man, they could bring in a character like Nova and then spin him off into his own film if they so choose.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it's likely to happen.

I think Fox may hang onto X-Men and Sony certainly seems interested in Spider-man, but I have a feeling the other characters will trickle back to Marvel until those are the only ones Marvel doesn't control.