May 26, 2004
Lions Gate nabs Marvel DVDs
By Brett Sporich
Marvel Enterprises Inc. has chosen Lions Gate Entertainment to develop, produce and distribute at least eight direct-to-DVD animated features, focusing first on such comic book characters as Captain America, the Hulk, Thor and Iron Man, Marvel chairman and CEO Avi Arad said.
"We have a unique opportunity to develop these characters and others through DVD in a way that will further solidify the Marvel name as one of the pre-eminent brands in entertainment," Arad said.
Marvel controls a library of more than 4,700 comic book characters, some of which have been developed by major Hollywood studios into live-action films like "Spider-Man."
"Spider-Man" sold more than 6 million DVD units during its first week in release and remains one of the top-selling titles in the history of DVD.
"I think what is unique about this endeavor is that animation and live action don't live in the same space," said Glenn Ross, president of LGHE Family Entertainment. "Therefore, we have a fantastic opportunity to develop an animated brand beginning from Marvel's core comic book fan base and expand that out to a much broader appeal."
Some Wall Street analysts have said that this new line of animated home videos could possibly sell as many as 1 million DVD units each, an ambitious goal when compared to similar genres released on DVD.
Marvel and Lions Gate, teaming with the studio's production partner CineGroupe, are expected develop eight 66-minute animated features for release on DVD beginning next year.
Under terms of the agreement, Lions Gate will provide Marvel with licensing fees for character rights and fund all of the development, production, distribution and marketing for each title.
Marvel will spearhead creative development and production. "It will depend on the characters whether we will use CGI, classic Disney-like animation or high-end anime," Arad said. "For example, Iron Man would work best with CGI, while Blade works best with high-end anime, and the Hulk would work best using classic animation, making the character larger than life."
As is typical, after each animated project's home video window expires, the companies may exploit the movies in other entertainment media domestically and internationally, including television and video-on-demand, Roos and Arad confirmed.
Especially with vol.2 coming out right after...Maybe that 4th character/movie is Moon Knight...Maybe even Heroes for Hire...or Shang Chi...Man, my mind is still reeling from this.
