The Rebooted "Keep Hope Alive" (that the rights can revert back to Marvel) Thread - - - - - - - Part 16

[Detective Conan]

AT&T-Time Warner Antitrust Trial: Opening Arguments Moved to Thursday

WASHINGTON — The judge in the AT&T-Time Warner antitrust trial moved opening arguments to Thursday because of the uncertainty over whether there will be a court shutdown because of an incoming snowstorm. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes were expected to attend the opening arguments, but it is unclear if they will make it with the change in the schedule.
The trial, which started on Monday and Tuesday, has so far focused on evidentiary objections, although both sides have given extensive glimpses of their strategies ahead and of what they will say in their opening arguments.
It’s also been revealed which AT&T rivals will be offering testimony about the potential harmful effects of the merger. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ran down a list of competitors who have provided documents and indicated that the DOJ would call their executives to testify. They include representatives from Comcast-NBCUniversal, Charter, RCN, CenturyLink, Google YouTube, CableOne, and Sony Playstation. The Justice Department’s legal team said that one of the first executives they plan to call to testify would come from Cox Communications.
More in this link.

http://variety.com/2018/politics/news/att-time-warner-antitrust-moved-snowstorm-1202731784/

Comcast?

 

[DyfeddRex]

Now we have others saying it might be the whole FF rights group are home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpMZc1fCAU

So...

yeah, still ain't buying any stock in Diz yet. Mostly because I am broke this week, but still not enough evidence for me to waste money on a gamble over the FF being home.

 

[DyfeddRex]

wow. just read the list of companies filing on that. A whole lot of Time-Warner Cable and Dish competitors.

 

[ADollarADay]

Rumor has it Sony's "Venom" movie is a piece of ****. I put the title of the movie in quotes because apparently Venom has 5 or maybe 10 minutes of screen time total.

Yes, Papa Disney still has a lot to do to fix up lil Marvel's mistakes even after the Fox acquisition is complete.

 

[DyfeddRex]

If only Fiege had all of Marvel at the right point, under his control. Say, like 1985,

 

[Marvel united]

Rumor has it Sony's "Venom" movie is a piece of ****. I put the tile of the movie in quotes because apparently Venom has 5 or maybe 10 minutes of screen time total.

Yes, Papa Disney still has a lot to do to mess up lil Marvel's mistakes even after the Fox acquisition is complete.

Good riddance to Venom. Would have loved to see him in the MCU.

 

[parkerpete]

If only Fiege had all of Marvel at the right point, under his control. Say, like 1985,

That woulda been some pretty sweet stop-motion Thanos!

 

[DyfeddRex]

Good riddance to Venom. Would have loved to see him in the MCU.

agreed. Venom is one of those villian/anti-heroes you have to earn, not just drop. I am more excited for a Kraven movie than Venom, but will they listen to us? No.

 

[Dasher10]

The ironic part for me is that all of the best Disney games were always made by other people.

Whether it was the classic Disney Afternoon titles of the 80's-90's with Capcom, to Square-Enix with the Kingdom Hearts series (personal favorite of mine). I mean hell, I enjoyed the heck out of the Lego Marvel Super Hero game with my kids, and that was by Warner Bros. Interactive.

With many great examples on how to (and not to) run a game studio, you'd think they would pick up on that. With their billions, they could super charge a studio to make their games in house too.

That said. I'm dying for Kingdom Hearts III.

Hopefully the Square-Enix deal works out for them since they have a better track record for licensed games than EA (or Activision after they bungled X-Men: Destiny). The new Fear Effect is a letdown but otherwise, SE are a good publisher.

Same goes for not shutting Foxnext who are currently working on a new shooter based on Alien. While Colonial Marines was a flop, Isolation was actually pretty good, plus the first two AvP PC games and the arcade game were good so I have high hopes. It's an MMO shooter like Planetside 2 so it's likely to be Colonial Marines vs Predators with Xenomorphs as a PvE element.

If Disney are smart, they'll keep partnerships with outside companies while also keeping Foxnext. Something like Die Hard works as shooter. Something like Star Wars works as a hack and slash game. Something like X-Men works as an RPG. Closing down a game studio is throwing away free money.

What happened to Disney Interactive was that Disney put all their eggs in one basket and when their overly-expensive Disney Infinity gamble flopped, they shut the whole studio down.

 

[Orba]

FoxNext are also making Marvel Strike Force for Disney believed to come out before the end of the month.

They are also doing virtual reality and augmented reality title as well as working on stuff for theme and amusement parks apparently. Those are all stuff I could see Disney being interested in.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Rumor has it Sony's "Venom" movie is a piece of ****. I put the title of the movie in quotes because apparently Venom has 5 or maybe 10 minutes of screen time total.

While idiotic, that would certainly match what we've seen so far.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Now we have others saying it might be the whole FF rights group are home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpMZc1fCAU

So...

yeah, still ain't buying any stock in Diz yet. Mostly because I am broke this week, but still not enough evidence for me to waste money on a gamble over the FF being home.

Nothing really new in the video, but I am very interested in how Marvel will respond.

If it's complete BS, I'd expect Feige or the Russo's or Curt Clendenin at some point to say: "Guys, guys, guys. There's absolutely nothing to this. Don't get your hopes up."

The last thing Feige wants is for fans to walk out of the film disappointed because they didn't get Silver Surfer. So if it's complete BS as seems likely, I'd expect someone to nip it in the bud before people get their hopes up.

No comment or a carefully worded denial could be telling.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Looks like Metacritic just cuts and pastes from IMDB:

https://marvelstudiosnews.com/2018/...g-fox-marvel-character-avengers-infinity-war/

 

[Big Bang]

AT&T-Time Warner Antitrust Trial: Opening Arguments Moved to Thursday
http://variety.com/2018/politics/news/att-time-warner-antitrust-moved-snowstorm-1202731784/

Comcast?

The really surprising one for me on the list was Sony PlayStation. I hadn't even considered them.

Now we have others saying it might be the whole FF rights group are home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpMZc1fCAU

While I would absolutely LOVE it if the FF showed up, I'm still deeply skeptical of that.

wow. just read the list of companies filing on that. A whole lot of Time-Warner Cable and Dish competitors.

Yep. A lot of companies are not very keen on a combined Uverse+DirectTV+Time Warner.

Rumor has it Sony's "Venom" movie is a piece of ****. I put the title of the movie in quotes because apparently Venom has 5 or maybe 10 minutes of screen time total.

Well, I'm just shocked I tell you! Shocked!

 

[ADollarADay]

The really surprising one for me on the list was Sony PlayStation. I hadn't even considered them.

That's because of Playstation Vue. I'm surprised Hulu is not there, but then again, it's 10% owned by TWX and 60% owned by a combined DIS and FOX. Those 3 want to keep things quiet and not ruffle and feathers.

 

[DyfeddRex]

Well, I'm just shocked I tell you! Shocked!

"Your Winnings. sir."

sorry, you cannot lay that out there for us old fogeys and expect us not to channel that cinematic moment.

 

[DyfeddRex]

Any minute now I expect one of the Marvel Hierarchy to show us the troll doll in the orb clip.... but it still ain't happening.


Either this is a really deep troll move or...

I am right about which movie comes out in 2021... and now I'm praying for that March date, and some move of it, ala IW to February that year.

 

[Marvel united]

I've been thinking, with the rumors of Sony being open to a sale, what if Comcast tries to make a play for Sony Pictures? And what would that mean for the film rights to Spider-Man? Maybe Disney would swoop in and buy back the rights

 

[DyfeddRex]

I've been thinking, with the rumors of Sony being open to a sale, what if Comcast tries to make a play for Sony Pictures? And what would that mean for the film rights to Spider-Man? Maybe Disney would swoop in and buy back the rights

Pricey. Sony knows what they have, just not how to use it, knows that Marvel/the Mouse does know how to use it, figure 5-7 times the BO from SM:H to get it back.

 

[Big Bang]

I've been thinking, with the rumors of Sony being open to a sale, what if Comcast tries to make a play for Sony Pictures? And what would that mean for the film rights to Spider-Man? Maybe Disney would swoop in and buy back the rights

I'd say the chances may be more than a rumor. Kenichiro Yoshida is slated to take over, and he is much more of tech and numbers guy than Kaz Hirai is. So I expect him to make some moves once he takes over. He can quickly stem the losses from Sony Entertainment by offloading it. Whoever goes after Sony are going to have to do quite a bit of mopping up.

Pricey. Sony knows what they have, just not how to use it, knows that Marvel/the Mouse does know how to use it, figure 5-7 times the BO from SM:H to get it back.

Indeed. The only other franchise that might have worth is Ghostbusters, despite the damage Sony did to it with the last film. Still, without the Spider rights, Sony would be worth substantially less. I don't doubt they wouldn't buy back the rights if given the chance. Marvel Studios has more than made back the acquisition costs for Disney and is paying dividends. So dipping again to gain back the remaining film rights of one of its most popular characters would be a worthwhile investment that should be capped fairly quickly.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

While Spider-man, X-Men etc. are all big properties with big box-office potential, they come with a lot of strings attached. Marvel controls merchandising. they get a cut of the BO, they have a say in the content of the films etc., and I think that will limit their value to third parties.

If think properties that can be owned outright (so that home video, T-Shirts, toys etc. etc. etc. are part of one big, whole pie) are much more attractive to most potential bidders than properties that have to be shared (even if they are historically lucrative).

If Sony gets sold and if the Fox/Disney deal falls apart, I think Marvel will end up obtaining those properties from one entity or another.

 

[Marvel united]

While Spider-man, X-Men etc. are all big properties with big box-office potential, they come with a lot of strings attached. Marvel controls merchandising. they get a cut of the BO, they have a say in the content of the films etc., and I think that will limit their value to third parties.

If think properties that can be owned outright (so that home video, T-Shirts, toys etc. etc. etc. are part of one big, whole pie) are much more attractive to most potential bidders than properties that have to be shared (even if they are historically lucrative).

If Sony gets sold and if the Fox/Disney deal falls apart, I think Marvel will end up obtaining those properties from one entity or another.

I'd hope so. Disney could make a deal with Comcast to get the Marvel and Star Wars rights back from them. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. I want this deal to sail as smoothly as possible. Marvel Studios could be casting their version of Wolverine as soon as this time next year if things go well.

 

[Marvel united]

I'd say the chances may be more than a rumor. Kenichiro Yoshida is slated to take over, and he is much more of tech and numbers guy than Kaz Hirai is. So I expect him to make some moves once he takes over. He can quickly stem the losses from Sony Entertainment by offloading it. Whoever goes after Sony are going to have to do quite a bit of mopping up.

Indeed. The only other franchise that might have worth is Ghostbusters, despite the damage Sony did to it with the last film. Still, without the Spider rights, Sony would be worth substantially less. I don't doubt they wouldn't buy back the rights if given the chance. Marvel Studios has more than made back the acquisition costs for Disney and is paying dividends. So dipping again to gain back the remaining film rights of one of its most popular characters would be a worthwhile investment that should be capped fairly quickly.

Makes sense as Sony has been in a dire financial situation for awhile now. Spider-Man movies can't save them forever. From what I understand Hirai was the one who had a death grip on Sony and he was the main one standing in the way of sell.

There's also rumors of MGM going on the chopping block soon too.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

I'd hope so. Disney could make a deal with Comcast to get the Marvel and Star Wars rights back from them.

I can't believe that anybody is as irrational regarding these things as Fox. I don't think any other companies would stubbornly try to go it alone the way Fox is.

Sure, Sony is screwing around with Venom at the moment, but I have a feeling this will be a big learning experience for them and future movies will likely be done with Marvel's help.

So I'm convinced whatever happens will be better than Fox maintaining their strangle-hold.

 

[ADollarADay]

Pricey. Sony knows what they have, just not how to use it, knows that Marvel/the Mouse does know how to use it, figure 5-7 times the BO from SM:H to get it back.

I don't know about that. If we round down, 5-7 times SM:H BO gross would be 4-5.6B.

Everyone and their mom know that taking SM out of the MCU will be a tough, tough sale.

Spiderman into the Spiderverse looks decent, but tough competition and the ceiling is limited due to it being an animated movie. Venom looks like ass and sounds like it will be ass too. Black Cat/Silver Sable movie is delayed indefinitely. Kraven and Mysterio sound as good as Fan4stic. Nighthawk directed by Spike Lee is a cheap attempt to get that Black Panther money.

And they have no merchandise or TV rights.

Sony can ask whatever they want. Disney will pay nowhere close to that. They would be better off using that money to get 20-30% ownership of Disneyland Japan from The Oriental Company or get a Disneyland Beijing/New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Texas off the ground.

Makes sense as Sony has been in a dire financial situation for awhile now. Spider-Man movies can't save them forever. From what I understand Hirai was the one who had a death grip on Sony and he was the main one standing in the way of sell.

There's also rumors of MGM going on the chopping block soon too.

Sony hasn't been in a dire financial situation for awhile now. That's like people who still say the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar even though that hasn't been true in a long time.

MGM, LionsGate, CBS, Paramount, SPE are all looking likely to be on the sales and merger talks. A lot of it depends on how the ATT/TWX - and to a lesser extent the DIS/FOX - ruling will be. FAANG, CMCSA, Verizon, among others are possible buyers.

Hirai was indeed the man who kept SPE there even though it should have been divested a long time ago as called out by investors. He's gone as of April 1st. The chances of there being some movement there in the next 12-18 months is high. Whether or not anything happens is a different story.

While Spider-man, X-Men etc. are all big properties with big box-office potential, they come with a lot of strings attached. Marvel controls merchandising. they get a cut of the BO, they have a say in the content of the films etc., and I think that will limit their value to third parties.

If think properties that can be owned outright (so that home video, T-Shirts, toys etc. etc. etc. are part of one big, whole pie) are much more attractive to most potential bidders than properties that have to be shared (even if they are historically lucrative).

If Sony gets sold and if the Fox/Disney deal falls apart, I think Marvel will end up obtaining those properties from one entity or another.

Marvel gets a measly 2% of the BO for X-Men and actually pays Sony for the BO for Spiderman (used to be 3.5% but that was lowered in 2015). I don't disagree with your post though.