Marvel Studios, originally Marvel Films (1993-1996), is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.

Since 2008, the studio has released six produced films — Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and Marvel's The Avengers (2012) — with shared timeline, cast and characters, making up the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Background

Timely era

During what is known as Marvel's Timely era, Captain America was licensed out to Republic Pictures for a serial just for the free advertising. Timely failed to provide any drawing of Captain America with his shield or any further background, and Republic created a whole new background for the character, and portrayed the character using a gun.^[1]

Marvel Entertainment Group's initiative

In the late 1970s up to the early 1990s, Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) sold options to studios to produce films based on Marvel Comics characters. Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s superheroes, was optioned in the late 1970s, and rights reverted back to Marvel in April 1996 without a film having been produced. From 1986 to 1996, most of Marvel’s major characters had been optioned, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Iron Man.^[2] A Howard the Duck film made to the screen in 1986, but was a box-office flop. With MEG purchased by New World Entertainment, New World moved to produced films based on the Marvel characters, but one movie, The Punisher (1989), came out of New World before MEG was sold to Andrews Group. Two other films were produced: Captain America (1990) released in the United Kingdom on screens and direct to video in the United States, and The Fantastic Four (1993), not intended for release. Marvel's rival DC Comics, on the other hand, had success licensing its properties Superman and Batman into blockbuster films.^[3]

History

Marvel Films

Following Marvel Entertainment Group's (MEG) ToyBiz deal in 1993, Avi Arad of ToyBiz was named President and CEO of Marvel Films division and of New World Family Filmworks, Inc., a New World Entertainment subsidiary. New World was MEG's former parent corporation and later a fellow subsidiary of the Andrews Group.^[4] Marvel Productions became New World Animation by 1993 as Marvel would start up Marvel Films including Marvel Films Animation.^[4][5][6][7] New World Animation (The Incredible Hulk), Saban (X-Men), and Marvel Films Animation (Spider-Man) each produced a Marvel series for television.^[8] It was Marvel Films Animation's only production.^[6][7]

New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation were sold along with the rest of New World by Andrews Group to News Corporation/Fox as announced in August 1996. As part of the deal, Marvel licensed the rights to Captain America, Daredevil and Silver Surfer to be on Fox Kids Network and produced by Saban. New World Animation continued producing a second season of The Incredible Hulk for UPN.^[8][9]

Marvel Studios

1990s

In August 1996, Marvel decided to create Marvel Studios, an incorporation of Marvel Films, due to the sale of New World Communications Group, Inc., Marvel's fellow Andrews Group subsidiary in film and television stations, to News Corporation/Fox. Filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise money to finance the new corporation, Marvel, Isaac Perlmutter's Zib, Inc. and Avi Arad sold Toy Biz stocks, which Marvel had started and took public in February 1995.^[2][10] Toy Biz filed an offering of 7.5 million shares with a closing price of $20.125 at the time, making the offering worth approximately $150 million. Toy Biz sought to sell 1 million shares, and Marvel sought to sell 2.5 million shares.^[11]

Jerry Calabrese, the president of Marvel Entertainment Group, and Avi Arad, head of Marvel Films and a director of Toy Biz, were assigned tandem control of Marvel Studios. Under Calabrese and Arad, Marvel sought to control pre-production by commissioning scripts, hiring directors, and casting characters, providing the package to a major studio partner for filming and distribution. Arad said of the goal for control, "When you get into business with a big studio, they are developing a hundred or 500 projects; you get totally lost. That isn't working for us. We're just not going to do it anymore. Period."^[2] Marvel Studios arranged a seven-year development deal with 20th Century Fox to cover markets in the United States and internationally.^[12] In the following December, Marvel Entertainment Group went through a reorganization plan, including Marvel Studios as part of its strategic investment.^[13] By 1997, Marvel Studios was actively pursuing various film productions based on Marvel characters, including the eventual films X-Men (2000), Daredevil (2003) and Fantastic Four (2005). Unproduced projects included Prince Namor, based on the character Namor and to be directed by Philip Kaufman, and Mort the Dead Teenager, based on the comic book of the same name and written by John Payson and Mort creator Larry Hama.^[14] Marvel was developing a Captain America animated series with Saban Entertainment for Fox Kids Network to premier in fall 1998. However, due to the bankruptcy the series was canceled before the premiere.^[8][15][16]

The first film licensed by Marvel Studios was Blade, based on the vampire hunter Blade. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and starred Wesley Snipes as Blade. It was released on 21 August 1998, grossing $70,087,718 in the United States and Canada and $131,183,530 worldwide.^[17] In 1999, Marvel licensed Spider-Man to Sony.^[18]

2000s

Blade was followed by X-Men, which was directed by Bryan Singer and was released on 14 July 2000. X-Men grossed $157,299,717 in the United States and Canada and $296,250,053 worldwide.^[19] The Marvel films Blade and X-Men demonstrated that blockbuster films could be made out of comic book characters not familiar to the general public.^[20]

Leading up to X-Men's release, Marvel Studios negotiated a deal with then-functional Artisan Entertainment, successful with the low-budget The Blair Witch Project, to give the studio rights to 15 Marvel characters including Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Iron Fist, and Deadpool. With the deal at the time, 24 Marvel properties were then in various stages of development. Brian Cunningham, editor of Wizard comic book magazine, believed that Avi Arad was successful in organizing strategic alliances and exercising fiscal responsibility in multimedia expansion. Cunningham said of Arad’s leadership of the studio following its parent company’s near-bankruptcy, "The fact the X-Men is primed to be the biggest movie of the summer speaks volumes about the turnaround for Marvel. From my observation, he's focused on a lot more in diversifying Marvel, doing things that proliferate Marvel characters in the mainstream." Arad sought to protect Marvel’s image by serving as executive producer in all Marvel film productions and being responsible for crossover marketing between Marvel properties. Arad had properties set up at different studios to create momentum so one studio would not cannibalize efforts with one property for the sake of another.^[21] By 2001, the success of Marvel Entertainment’s Ultimate Marvel comics created leverage in Hollywood for Marvel Studios, pushing more properties into development.^[22]

The next blockbuster film licensed from Marvel Studios was Spider-Man by Columbia Pictures, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. The film was released on 3 May 2002, grossing $403,706,375 in the United States and Canada and $821,708,551 worldwide.^[23] The early success of Spider-Man led the film's studio to issue a seven-figure advance for a sequel. Arad spoke of the deal, "Movies make sequels. Therefore, it's a big economic luxury to know that a movie's going to get a second and third. This is a business of precedence."^[24] According to a Lehman Brothers analysis, the Studios' made only $62 million for the first 2 Spider-man movies.^[18]

In producing Marvel films in the 2000s, Avi Arad sought to capture the superheroes’ internal conflicts. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Arad's great accomplishment – and it is one, given the difficulties in transferring any kind of printed material to the big screen – is conveying what makes those heroes tick as characters... He works with the filmmakers to ensure that the heroes are conflicted, the villains motivated, the outcome shaded." In contrast to the original storylines of DC Comics’ Superman and Batman films, Marvel films were more directly inspired by their comics, copying from them set pieces, scenes, plots, and dialogue.^[20]

Partnering with Lionsgate Entertainment in 2004, Marvel Studios plan to enter the direct-to-DVD market with eight animated films with Lionsgate handling distribution.^[25][26] Eric Rollman was hired by Marvel as Executive Vice President, Home Entertainment & TV Production for Marvel Studios to oversee the deal with Lionsgate.^[27]

In 2004, David Maisel was hired as chief operating officer of Marvel Studio as he had a plan for the Studios to self-finance movies.^[28] Marvel entered into a non-recourse financing structure with Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. that is collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters from Marvel's vast vault. Marvel gets $525 million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, according to the parameters of the original deal with Paramount Pictures in September 2004. Those characters were: Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack, Shang-Chi.^[29][30] Ambac insurance company insured the movies would succeed or they would pay the interest payment on the debt and get the movie rights collateral.^[18] In October 2005, Michael Helfant joined the Studio as President and Chief Operating Officer.^[31] 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.^[32] Masiel and Arad fought over the rate of movie releases and strength of characters in the movie line up. Perlmutter supported Masiel thus in May 2006 Arad quit as Studio chair and CEO.^[28] In March 2007, David Maisel was named Chairman^[28] and Kevin Feige was named President of Production as Iron Man began filming.^[33]

In 2008, Marvel Studios signed a lease with Raleigh Studios to host its headquarters and production offices and film the next four movies on the studios’ slate, including Iron Man 2 and Thor, at their Manhattan Beach facilities.^[34] In January 2008, Marvel Animation was incorporated in January 2008 to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets including then animation efforts with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon. Marvel Entertainment named Eric Rollman as President of the company in April 2008.^[27]

In 2009, Marvel attempted to hire a team of writers to help come up with creative ways to launch its lesser-known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Iron Fist, Nighthawk, and Vision.^[35]

On 31 December 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Both Marvel and Disney have stated that the merger would not affect any preexisting deals with other film studios for the time being,^[36] although Disney said they will consider distributing future Marvel projects with their own studios once the current deals expire.^[37]

2010s

In June 2010, Marvel Entertainment set up a television division within Marvel Studios, headed up by Jeph Loeb as Executive Vice President,^[38] under which Marvel Animation will be operated.^[39] On October 18, Disney bought the distribution rights for The Avengers and Iron Man 3 from Paramount Pictures.^[40] However, as part of the deal, Paramount's logo will still be used in the promotion marketing and trailers for both films.^[41]

In April 2012, The Walt Disney Company China, Marvel Studios and [www-us.dmg-entertainment.com DMG Entertainment] announced an agreement to co-produce Iron Man 3 in China. DMG will partly finance, produce in China with Marvel, and handle co-production matters. DMG will also distribute the film in China in tandem with Disney.^[42] On August 22, 2011 at Disney's behest, the Studio laid off most of its marketing department: Dana Precious, EVP of Worldwide Marketing; Jeffrey Stewart, VP of Worldwide Marketing and Jodi Miller, Manager of Worldwide Marketing. Disney will now market Marvel's films.^[43] The 2010s also saw Marvel reclaim the rights to characters that had been licensed out to other studios since the late 1990s, including gaining Blade from New Line Cinema.^[44] In August 2012, it was reported that 20th Century Fox was willing to allow the film rights to the superhero Daredevil and his related characters revert to Marvel and Disney, a contracted stipulation that required Fox to begin production on a new Daredevil film by late 2012. Fox had approached Marvel about extending the deadline and becoming a co-financier for the film, but was rebuffed.^[45][46]

Marvel Knights

Named after corporate sibling Marvel Comics' imprint of the same name, Marvel Knights is also the name given to a production arm of Marvel Studios intended to be used to produce some of Marvel's darker and lesser known titles. The first film produced under the Marvel Knights banner was Punisher: War Zone, the 2008 release that rebooted the Punisher franchise. In 2012, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was the second title to be released under that banner.^[47]

Executives

• Avi Arad
  • Marvel Films President and CEO, 1993-August 1996
  • Marvel Studios Chairman and CEO August 1998-May 2006
• Jerry Calabrese
• David Maisel
  • chief operating officer, 2004- September 2005^[31]
  • Chairman and CEO, March 2007-2010
• Michael Helfant, President and Chief Operating Officer, October 2005^[31]
• Kevin Feige, President of Production, March 2007-^[33]

Units

• Marvel Films Animation – animation subdivision (1994–1997)
• Marvel Television (2010-)^[39]
  • Marvel Animation (2008-): Subsidiary charged with oversight of Marvel's animation productions.^[48][49]
    • Marvel Animation Studios (2012-)^[50][51]
• MVL Productions LLC: film slate subsidiary^[52][53]
• Marvel Music (2005-)^[54]

Production library

TV series

Animated

Marvel Films

^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Marvel Studios

Live action

Film

Co-productions

MVL Productions LLC

Notes

See also

• Marvel Productions
• List of films based on Marvel Comics

References

External links

• Template:IMDb company