Is the Marvel movies "Franchise" the most profitable ever?

[techs]

I was thinking that Star Wars and maybe James Bond (due to the large number of films) would be the only competition. Or maybe the Matrix?
Adjusted for inflation, of course.

 

[darkxshade]

Calling Marvel the "franchise" is a little unfair. Anyway, if we can call Pixar a franchise then there's your answer.



edit: I just realized Disney owns Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm

 

[KeithTalent]

Well which movies are you including exactly? Also, domestic or global? I have to think the foreign take is larger for the Marvel films, especially because these days the foreign box office is much stronger in general these days.

KT

 

[xSauronx]

if only one could goo--oh wait.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchises/sort/World

 

[BoomerD]

if only one could goo--oh wait.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchises/sort/World

Good source, but it doesn't add in all the various Marvel Comic movies.

Spiderman
Avengers
Fantastic 4
Thor
Iron Man
Captain America
Howard the Duck :whiste:
Etc.

Calling Marvel the "franchise" is a little unfair. Anyway, if we can call Pixar a franchise then there's your answer.



edit: I just realized Disney owns Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm

I agree that linking them all together and calling it a franchise is pushing the envelope...they're too varied to be a franchise...even if they are from the same comic studio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_Marvel_Comics

 

[bearxor]

Not to be "that guy" and all, but remember that no movies these days are profitable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

 

[techs]

if only one could goo--oh wait.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchises/sort/World

Nice find. I didn't think about the Harry Potters.
Iron Man 3 should move the Avengers past Star Wars and come up just short of No. 2 James Bond. If the next two or three movies are big hits it will beat out Harry Potter.

I guess it will be no. 1 in a year or so.

Not bad for a company that went bankrupt in the late 1990's and was only bought because the company that had the rights to make the toys from the Marvel comic books was worried that they would lose those rights. I think it cost the buyer, Toy Biz, like 12 million dollars.

 

[Dominato3r]

Seeing that list, a Justice League movie has to happen.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Good source, but it doesn't add in all the various Marvel Comic movies.

Spiderman
Avengers
Fantastic 4
Thor
Iron Man
Captain America
Howard the Duck :whiste:
Etc.

Under The Avengers, it's got 9 movies listed (a few which haven't been released yet).

 

[techs]

Good source, but it doesn't add in all the various Marvel Comic movies.

Spiderman
Avengers
Fantastic 4
Thor
Iron Man
Captain America
Howard the Duck :whiste:
Etc.

Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Howard the Duck and X-Men, etc were not made by Marvel. For Spiderman, for instance, Marvel didn't charge anything or make anything from the movies. They merely retained the rights to market the toys based on the characters.

In fact it was the success of Spiderman that prompted Marvel to make its own movies. If the Spiderman reboot hadn't been made when it was the character would have reverted back to Marvel.

 

[Aikouka]

Spiderman
Avengers
Fantastic 4
Thor
Iron Man
Captain America
Howard the Duck :whiste:
Etc.

The film license for Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and The Punisher are all owned by companies other than Marvel. However, one interesting thing is that the licenses were actually made for specific characters, which is why there's been rumors about Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (Magneto's children who are also mutants) being in upcoming Marvel films. They were not part of the deal with FOX, and as long as Marvel doesn't mention that they're mutants or who their father is, Marvel's fine with using them.

As a note, licensing for Daredevil and Ghost Rider reverted back to Marvel during the past few weeks.

 

[mjrpes3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films

See last section

1 Harry Potter $7,706,147,978
2 James Bond $6,159,601,036
3 Marvel Cinematic Universe $4,482,327,995
4 Star Wars $4,382,359,868
5 Tolkien's Middle-Earth $3,964,981,944
6 Pirates of the Caribbean $3,727,735,967
7 Batman $3,720,043,339
8 Shrek $3,510,516,231
9 The Twilight Saga $3,345,177,904
10 Spider-Man $3,248,563,075

 

[Jeff7]

Not to be "that guy" and all, but remember that no movies these days are profitable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

...wow.

I love some of the stuff that is legal under our current system.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

There's just too many movies in the pipeline for the Avengers franchise not to take #1 when its all said and done.

And with the new Star Wars trilogy in the works, that franchise is also certainly bound to catch up to and blow by James Bond.

What's also crazy is that, just by itself, Avatar 1 would be #12 on that list, and considering we're supposed to be getting a trilogy...yeah, an Avatar trilogy could easily be #2 or 3 on this current list, although with new Avengers and Star Wars movies coming out its unlikely it will get that high.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Comic book movies nowadays are a joke. Super thin plot, weak villains, cardboard acting. Seems like they just phone it in for the $$$.

 

[Muadib]

Comic book movies nowadays are a joke. Super thin plot, weak villains, cardboard acting. Seems like they just phone it in for the $$$.

Um, have you read a comic book?

 

[Peter Nixeus]

In college for one of my finals for Securities Analyst class I had to research and write about a company - and I chose Marvel.

How Marvel financed/produced their first Movies (not licensed ones like Spiderman) was using a financial instrument call Collateralized debt obligations aka CDO that drew their value and payments from current and future cash flows of Marvel movies. They basically mortgaged their Marvel franchise which they eventually had to sell to Disney to pay back the CDO.

 

[techs]

In college for one of my finals for Securities Analyst class I had to research and write about a company - and I chose Marvel.

How Marvel financed/produced their first Movies (not licensed ones like Spiderman) was using a financial instrument call Collateralized debt obligations aka CDO that drew their value and payments from current and future cash flows of Marvel movies. They basically mortgaged their Marvel franchise which they eventually had to sell to Disney to pay back the CDO.

I'm not an economist but I had stock in Marvel and the way I understood it is they basically used the character of each early movie as collateral. I don't recall who financed them (Merril Lynch?). When the movies did well instead of paying back the loans which were at a high rate, they made a deal to finance future movies thru the same source and actually got the original loan rates reduced.

Ike is shrewd businessman.

As to Disney, Marvel sold out for less than they could have gotten. Ike and Avi wanted to retain control of the movies so the deal they made lets the former Marvel execs call the shots while Disney gets the profits.

 

[Peter Nixeus]

I'm not an economist but I had stock in Marvel and the way I understood it is they basically used the character of each early movie as collateral. I don't recall who financed them (Merril Lynch?). When the movies did well instead of paying back the loans which were at a high rate, they made a deal to finance future movies thru the same source and actually got the original loan rates reduced.

Ike is shrewd businessman.

As to Disney, Marvel sold out for less than they could have gotten. Ike and Avi wanted to retain control of the movies so the deal they made lets the former Marvel execs call the shots while Disney gets the profits.

Yep... everything you said is correct... Marvel execs did what they did to cash out...

Iron Man was one of the characters they used as collateral - he was considered as a "second tier" Marvel character and not one of the bigger ones so they thought they weren't risking too much in case the movie flops, but the success of the movies blew up the Iron Man character. My Financial/Securities Analyst Professor was a former Merril Lynch Analyst.

P.S... its good to see someone in this forum that understands financial instruments and structured investment vehicles.