If you own stock in Marvel, I’d consider selling it right now. Marvel and Paramount have struck a deal to bring all of its remaining comic characters to the big screen. An amazing part of the deal is that Paramount does not absorb the risk for these projects. Marvel has secured a credit line of $525 million for 7 years with Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. to produce at least 10 movies. Paramount will receive only a fee for marketing or distributing. Variety’s report also states that each film could possibly have budgets as high as $180 million.
I’m sure some comic geeks will argue with me but man this sounds like the worst idea in the history of bad ideas at Marvel. The first two films scheduled to be made are Captain America and Nick Fury. Who in the HELL is Nick Fury? Yeah, go ahead and write to me fan boys. I love Spider-Man but Captain America is a C rate hero and Nick Fury doesn’t even register with me. The deal also will allow Marvel to bring any of its 5000 characters to the screen.
The film rights to the Marvel characters are mortgaged to secure the credit line I mentioned earlier. If I am to understand the legalese correctly, If these movies bomb and Marvel is unable to repay the loan, I believe Merrill Lynch would then own the film rights to all the remaining Marvel characters. If someone reading this can confirm or deny this, email me.
Maybe I seem overly negative, but this deal would scare me. Yes, George Lucas did a similar thing and it worked. However, I doubt anybody out there can tell me that Marvel has a movie in this deal that could be as groundbreaking as Star Wars. Besides the financial risk, I fear Marvel will be its own worst enemy as it floods the market with too many comic book movies. Marvel hopes to have the first movie out in 2 years. While fanboys rejoice, I’ll be on the phone with my stockbroker.
