Will the Fox/Marvel relationship improve?

[The Overlord]

Fox and Marvel have had a toxic relationship for a while, which you can argue hurt both companies. Fox is an interesting place, their Fantastic Four film flopped, but Deadpool succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Some people seem to think their relationship is improving, would you agree with that? Or do you think the relationship is still toxic?

 

[Eddie]

Their co-producing television stuff, X-Men merchandise is happening again, and there were some Marvel Studios shout outs in Deadpool. Things have almost certainly improved compared to last summer. It probably helps that Ike Perlmutter had a bit of his power stripped away.

 

[Flint Marko]

If money is to be made, then yes.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

Fox and Marvel have had a toxic relationship for a while, which you can argue hurt both companies.

Other than not having the rights to some characters, I fail to see how it hurt MS

 

[MakeMarvelMine]

I think Fox will watch closely how Spider Man does for Sony with Marvel Studios collaboration this time around. If MS hits out of the park with Spidey (tremendous box office returns), I think Fox will find the motivation to cultivate a working relationship with Marvel Studios.

 

[Erzengel]

I think there has to be some sort of agreement between the two if Legion is getting green lit. What exactly Marvel got out of the deal is pure speculation at this point.

 

[Mike Murdock]

It seems hype more than anything else right now. I haven't seen any recent indication of issues.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Their co-producing television stuff, X-Men merchandise is happening again, and there were some Marvel Studios shout outs in Deadpool. Things have almost certainly improved compared to last summer. It probably helps that Ike Perlmutter had a bit of his power stripped away.

Kevin Feige is not a Fox fan either. One of the biggest hurdles in the Spider-Man negotiations was the fact that Tom Rothman replaced Amy Pascal at Sony. On top of her history with the franchise, one of the main reasons why Pascal was hired as a producer in the Spider-Man reboot is essentially for her to keep Rothman out.

And I can't imagine Marvel Studios being happy with how things were done with Deadpool with Bob and the aircraft carrier.

 

[Eddie]

Kevin Feige is not a Fox fan either. One of the biggest hurdles in the Spider-Man negotiations was the fact that Tom Rothman replaced Amy Pascal at Sony. On top of her history with the franchise, one of the main reasons why Pascal was hired as a producer in the Spider-Man reboot is essentially for her to keep Rothman out.

And I can't imagine Marvel Studios being happy with how things were done with Deadpool with Bob and the aircraft carrier.

Oh, I'm not so sure about the bolded. Marvel is making major bank from Deadpool (a report came out stating that Marvel gets a larger cut from Deadpool solos than they do from the rest of X-Men due to the Deadpool deal initially being separate, they're allegedly getting 5%). They're heavily pushing Deadpool, which is the absolute opposite of their treatment of Fantastic Four. Tim Miller had to be released from a job he was doing to direct Deadpool. That job was on Captain America: Civil War. At least one of the Russo brothers attended one of the premiere screenings of Deadpool. Kevin Feige got an Easter Egg in Deadpool. Bob was probably not a sticking point either. Marvel totally already had a "wink wink, nudge nudge" reference to Hydra Bob on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. back in the first season (and, spoiler alert, their "version" lasted about a minute).

 

[Orba]

Also I'm sure I read that Tim Miller has said that because they changed Negasonic Teenage Warhead from the comic version that they needed permission from Marvel, and that to save time Miller contacted Kevin Feige directly about it.

 

[First Avenger]

Kevin Feige has a lot of friends at Fox. But Yeah he probably hates Rothman as we all do.

 

[Random490]

And I can't imagine Marvel Studios being happy with how things were done with Deadpool with Bob and the aircraft carrier.

I'd think they'd be pretty ecstatic with how Deadpool went. I'm certain they still get a pretty big cut from the profits, not to mention merchandising and comic book sales increasing. You always hear the producer talk about wanting rival studios to do well, that the superhero genre does better when more superhero films do well.

Marvel Studios know what they are doing with their brand and it's pretty smart. Their not going to jump on the "R rated" band wagon because they know that's not the secret to Deadpool's success. They recognize it won't work with the direction of their brand and wisely give properties that works best with more mature subject matter to netflix to explore that area of the MCU.

And they did give permission for the helicarrier to appear, they only said they had to change it's design so it didn't look like the one in the MCU.

 

[Eddie]

One minor correction: my understanding is that Marvel gets a cut of the Fox stuff full stop. Profits aren't part of the deal as far as I know. In other words, Marvel is getting a cut on ALL of the Deadpool box office, not just the portion that's hit profitability. This also means Marvel actually made money (probably several million bucks) from Fant4stic despite Fox losing over eighty million dollars.

 

[Angryfantasyfan]

I'm not so sure about not giving up rights; there is very little they can do with The Fantastic Four.

 

[BatsDC]

They approved stuff for Deadpool, and the TV shows, so their relationship can't be too bad right now

 

[ADollarADay]

Oh, I'm not so sure about the bolded. Marvel is making major bank from Deadpool (a report came out stating that Marvel gets a larger cut from Deadpool solos than they do from the rest of X-Men due to the Deadpool deal initially being separate, they're allegedly getting 5%). They're heavily pushing Deadpool, which is the absolute opposite of their treatment of Fantastic Four. Tim Miller had to be released from a job he was doing to direct Deadpool. That job was on Captain America: Civil War. At least one of the Russo brothers attended one of the premiere screenings of Deadpool. Kevin Feige got an Easter Egg in Deadpool. Bob was probably not a sticking point either. Marvel totally already had a "wink wink, nudge nudge" reference to Hydra Bob on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. back in the first season (and, spoiler alert, their "version" lasted about a minute).

If Marvel only gets 5% from Deadpool (and that's considered high) then they really were giving away their properties for peanuts back in the days.

 

[Zarex]

If Marvel only gets 5% from Deadpool (and that's considered high) then they really were giving away their properties for peanuts back in the days.

5% of the BO gross on an investment of $0 is a fantastic return, especially since Marvel isn't making R rated pictures. That could mean as much as $40M in profits, not including licensing fees from toys, video games, etc. I have to think this is the one licensing agreement Disney is ok with.

 

[Eddie]

If Marvel only gets 5% from Deadpool (and that's considered high) then they really were giving away their properties for peanuts back in the days.

5% is actually pretty good. Most films based on existing IP don't pay out that much to the original creator. Stephen King has rarely, if ever, had that sort of deal with film rights he sold, for example. X-Men was the bad deal. It's percentage is supposed to be lower.

 

[ADollarADay]

5% of the BO gross on an investment of $0 is a fantastic return, especially since Marvel isn't making R rated pictures. That could mean as much as $40M in profits, not including licensing fees from toys, video games, etc. I have to think this is the one licensing agreement Disney is ok with.

5% is actually pretty good. Most films based on existing IP don't pay out that much to the original creator. Stephen King has rarely, if ever, had that sort of deal with film rights he sold, for example. X-Men was the bad deal. It's percentage is supposed to be lower.

I think 5% is pretty crap. Do you guys have a source for that? I would have to think that JK Rowling gets more than 5% for Harry Potter and so does the Tolkien estate for Middle Earth.

 

[Eddie]

5% is good for a licensing deal when it's for the gross (deals that give a cut of the profits are bad because the studio just claims the film didn't profit, as seen by the infamous Forrest Gump deal). As for the Tolkien estate, I believe their deal was something like 7.5%... but they had to sue and ultimately settle to see any of it! If Marvel really sees 5% of Deadpool and isn't having to sue to get their check it's really not bad as licensing goes (many film rights are sold for a flat fee, btw).

 

[TheVileOne]

5% is good for a licensing deal when it's for the gross (deals that give a cut of the profits are bad because the studio just claims the film didn't profit, as seen by the infamous Forrest Gump deal). As for the Tolkien estate, I believe their deal was something like 7.5%... but they had to sue and ultimately settle to see any of it! If Marvel really sees 5% of Deadpool and isn't having to sue to get their check it's really not bad as licensing goes (many film rights are sold for a flat fee, btw).

I can't believe Marvel can be too upset about a helicarrier looking ship in Deadpool. That doesn't really reflect badly on them.

 

[Eddie]

I don't think Marvel is really upset about Deadpool at all. They had no problem putting out a ton of Deadpool stuff right when the film came out.

Somewhat relevant: Fox got a sorta kinda Helicarrier and now Marvel is getting a sorta kinda Mutant. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had an Eden Fasi Easter Egg that probably set him up for the show. He's an Inhuman in the MCU, but he's definitely a Mutant in the comics. Sneaky uses of loopholes in recent stuff or something a bit more friendly?

 

[psylockolussus]

Fox and Marvel have had a toxic relationship for a while, which you can argue hurt both companies. Fox is an interesting place, their Fantastic Four film flopped, but Deadpool succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Some people seem to think their relationship is improving, would you agree with that? Or do you think the relationship is still toxic?

Toxic is a strong word.

If that was the case, Deadpool wouldn't get any merchandises this year and there won't be upcoming TV shows for X-Men

 

[Eddie]

Well to be fair it was rather toxic. There was quite a bit of time between Fox claiming they could make television shows for the X-Men, acknowledging they had to work with Marvel, and actually making a deal. The studios definitely weren't seeing eye to eye for some time (Joss Whedon was not happy that Fox changed Juggernaut to Quicksilver after they caught wind of Age of Ultron, so that could have contributed).

 

[TheVileOne]

It was obviously toxic before, but maybe things have gotten better.