Comcast (CMCSA) – Get a free reportUniversal Studios and The Walt Disney Company (dis) – Get a free reportTheme parks are vying for guests to fill their parks in Florida and Southern California.
The rivalry between the two companies has a unique twist in that theme park operators claim some of the same intellectual property rights to Marvel Comics that Disney bought in 2009. More than 10 years before Disney acquired Marvel, Universal Studios acquired the rights to the Marvel IP to capitalize on the opening of Islands of Adventure theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort in 1999.
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Comcast purchased 51% of NBC Universal from General Electric in 2011, and then the remaining 49% in 2013. With the purchase, it also acquired the Marvel licensing rights.
Islands of Adventure is a theme park that features a Marvel Super Hero island land based on Marvel Comics superheroes, Including horseback riding Transformers: The Ride 3-D, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, The Amazing Adventurers of Spider-Man. She also has personal encounters with Transformers and Spider-Man greeting guests at the park.
Universal Studios Hollywood has a smaller Marvel presence in its theme park with just Transformers: The Ride 3-D and a few character encounters.
Image source: Walt Disney
Universal Orlando can always keep the Marvel license
What’s interesting about Comcast’s 1994 contract for the Marvel IP it inherited with its purchase of NBC Universal, the contract is in effect in perpetuity, as long as Universal Studios doesn’t shut down Marvel Super Hero Island. With so many successful Marvel movies released by Disney, it’s not likely that Comcast will give up on this decade.
Disney cannot use the Marvel characters Islands of Adventure uses in its parks east of the Mississippi River under the original agreement. On the other hand, the House of Mouse has been able to use Marvel IP that is not licensed to Comcast in their California parks. California Adventure at Disneyland Resort responded to the Marvel craze by opening The Avengers campusfeaturing Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, Avengers Headquarters and Doctor Strange’s Ancient Sanctum. These are all unused Marvel themes in Universal Hollywood.
At Epcot at Disney World, guests line upGuardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic RewindA roller coaster ride, and that’s about Marvel at Disney World right now. The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is one of the IPs not covered by the Islands of Adventure contract.
Comcast loses rights to Japan’s world wonder
However, Comcast is about to lose some of its Marvel IP, with Universal Studios Japan saying on May 16 that it will permanently shut down The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man on January 22, 2024, when its 20-year contract expires. Park inside mentioned. The ride opened in Osaka on January 23, 2004.
Once Universal Japan’s Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man shuts down, Disney will be free to bring Spider-Man, the Avengers, and any other Marvel superhero to the Tokyo Disney Resort. This will make Disney World in Orlando the company’s only theme park resort without unlimited access to its Marvel characters.
While Disney World can’t use characters portrayed in Islands of Adventure cruises, such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Doctor Doom, and Transformers, Marvel fans can expect Disney World to use characters Universal Studios hasn’t.