Disney likely to keep hands off Star Wars brand

— Naysayers would have you believe the purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. by The Walt Disney Co. can only mean one thing: Bambi and Mickey Mouse are sure to appear in future Star Wars movies taking up light sabers against the dark side of the Force.

Not so, say experts who’ve watched Disney’s recent acquisition strategy closely. If anything, Disney has earned credibility with diehard fans by keeping its fingerprints off important film franchises like those produced by its Marvel Entertainment and Pixar divisions.

“They’ve been pretty clearly hands-off in terms of letting the creative minds of those companies do what they do best,” says Todd Juenger, an analyst with Bernstein Research. “Universally, people think they pulled it off.”

Though Disney built its reputation on squeaky-clean family entertainment, its brand today is multifaceted. Disney, of course, started as an animation studio in 1923 with characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse. Over the years, the company ventured into live-action movies, opened theme parks, launched a fleet of cruise ships and debuted shows on TV.

By way of acquisitions over the last few decades, it has ballooned into a company with $40.9 billion in annual revenue and a market value of $88 billion. Disney bought Capital Cities/ABC in 1995 for $19 billion, Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006, Marvel for $4.2 billion in 2009 and last week, it said it will purchase Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise for $4.05 billion.

Disney’s acquisition ofMarvel Entertainment in 2009 offers the best example of how it might treat Lucasfilm and the Star Wars universe.

MARVEL SUCCESS

Marvel was in the midst of a storyline that would span several films following the smash hit success of its first self-produced movie, Iron Man, in 2008. When Disney bought it a year later, it continued reading from the comic book giant’s playbook, releasing in subsequent years Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and then this year, The Avengers, which brought heroes from those movies together in one giant film that grossed $1.5 billion at the box office.

Now, Avengers director Joss Whedon is working on the sequel and developing a Marvel-based TV series for Disney-owned ABC.

Rick Marshall, a journalist and blogger who writes about the comic book and movie industries, was skeptical when Disney bought Marvel. But his doubts quickly melted when it was clear Disney wouldn’t taint the Marvel universe by getting too involved.

“I was the first one to say there’s going to be a Goofy-Wolverine crossover,” Marshall says. “We haven’t seen that .... Disney was able to step away.”

Recent history ought to assuage Star Wars fans who fear the Disney empire. But that hasn’t stopped many of them from posting an array of video and pictorial mashups and jokes online as they poke fun at their darkest fears: Luke Skywalker staring into the distance at a mouseeared sun and Darth Vader telling Donald Duck that he’s his father.

What Disney did with Marvel was merely amplifyits presence in theme parks, stores and theaters, observers say.

Disney’s formula for success with Marvel was not to tamper with storylines, but to bring the existing franchise under its corporate umbrella.

Before it was acquired, Marvel paid Paramount Pictures a percentage of movie ticket sales to advertise its movies, make film prints and get them into theaters. Disney has those capabilities, so now that money doesn’t go out the door. Disney also has a worldwide network of staff that help put Marvel toys on store shelves, expanding their reach and saving the money that Marvel used to pay third-party merchandise middlemen.

Owning Marvel also givesDisney a steady flow of superhero cartoons for its pay TV channel, Disney XD. These kind of logistical savings allow Disney to profit from ownership while not interfering in the creative process.

“Marvel does seem like it’s running pretty independently and staying pretty close to its roots,” says Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible.

DIVERSIFYING DISNEY

Disney’s recent acquisitions have also filled gaps in its creative portfolio. CEO Bob Iger has said the company’s $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar in 2006 was partly an investment in talent and a way to “grow and improve Disney animation.” The deal brought John Lasseter, a former Disneyland employee, back into the fold as its chiefcreative officer of Disney and Pixar’s animation studios.

The purchase of Marvel helped Disney add characters that would resonate with boys at a time when the company was becoming known more for princesses, fairies and its fictional teenage rock star Hannah Montana.

The Star Wars franchise fills a hole in Disney’s liveaction portfolio, which suffered an embarrassing $200 million loss on the sci-fi flick John Carter earlier this year. The box-office bomb caused an executive shuffle at the studio that brought in former Warner Bros. president Alan Horn, who oversaw the hugely successful runs of Harry Potter and The Dark Knight movies.

It’s in Disney’s best interest to maintain the integrityof film franchises that come with a built-in fan base. Disney chief Iger has said the plan is for Star Wars live-action movies to replace others that may be in development, and to keep its production slate at a modest seven to 10 movies per year.

“I think Disney’s intention is that it just doesn’t want to get in the way of a great asset,” says Morningstar analyst Michael Corty.

Iger told analysts that “Disney respects and understands, probably better than just about anyone else, the importance of iconic characters and what it takes to protect and leverage them effectively.”

When Star Wars Episode 7 hits theaters in 2015, millions of fans will surely hold Iger to his word.

Style, Pages 31 on 11/08/2012

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