Disney-Marvel deal to shake up theme parks

Don’t expect the Incredible Hulk to smash Cinderella’s Castle, but Walt Disney Co.’s purchase of Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its comic villains and troubled heroes will shake up the theme-park world as much as it will the movie business.

Last week’s $4 billion deal opens the Magic Kingdom to Iron Man and Dr. Doom - which hold more appeal to teenage boys than Mickey and Minnie - and puts in doubt NBC Universal’s licensing agreement for Spider-Man, one of many enduring characters created for Marvel by comic-book legend Stan Lee.

Other changes are afoot in fantasy land - the revitalization of Six Flags as it exits bankruptcy, the expected sale of Busch Gardens and Sea World, and next year’s opening of a Harry Potter-themed island at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure.

Since the opening of Disneyland near Los Angeles in 1955, Walt Disney’s saccharine spawn has achieved world domination - it draws more visitors than nearly all other amusement-park chains combined, armed with little more than fairy-tale princesses and happy endings.

But now the Mouse that swallowed Pixar three years ago will have a virtual monopoly on every cartoon character from Buzz Lightyear to the X-Men, from Donald Duck to the Fantastic Four, many of which are powerful theme-park draws.

“If you look at Marvel’s catalog of 5,000 characters, there’s no stone left unturned in terms of what superpowers and what genre. They have Squirrel Girl. Anything that you can think of, they’ve got covered,” said analyst Jamie Rizzo of Fitch Ratings in New York.

“I don’t think Disney bought the catalog not to exploit it and all those characters,” he said.

Fellow Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton agreed.

“Nobody in the media industry is as sophisticated at developing and leveraging intellectual property as Disney,” he said. “They’ll certainly be able to do a lot with Marvel.”

General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, a Disney rival in both films and theme parks, will have fewer options for future character-themed rides. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a log-flume ride that showcases hologram technology, is Universal Orlando’s top attraction and is considered one of the greatest rides ever conceived. Universal also has an Incredible Hulk Coaster at its Orlando, Fla., park.

Universal’s licensing agreement with Marvel will stay in effect indefinitely, Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner said last week. Universal has the rights to Marvel characters east of the Mississippi River.

But Mr. Rizzo and Nikki Finke, founder and editor of Web site Deadline Hollywood, don’t expect the Mouse to play nice. The agreement is written narrowly, giving Marvel a “big ol’ out,” Ms. Finke said.

“Trust me, there will be blood as pit-bull lawyers on all sides tear apart the language of each and every contract clause,” she wrote on her site.

Disney and Universal will have to make strategic decisions about “brand confusion”- having the same Marvel characters at rival parks, said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc., a Cincinnati consulting firm that specializes in theme park purchases.

He called Disney’s move “a grand slam.”

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