Impact of disney fox deal on disney owned marvel studios

Author: Akash Poddar akashpoddar56@gmail.com 1 | P a g e
A PROJECT REPORT
ON
IMPACT OF DISNEY-FOX DEAL ON DISNEY OWNED MARVEL STUDIOS
BY
Akash Poddar
BBA-IB (2017-2018)
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA-IB)
SAVITRIBAI PHULE PUNE UNIVERSITY
MITSOM College
PUNE: 411038

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr Akash Poddar of MAEER’s MITSOM College has successfully completed the
project work in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Business Administration
- IB prescribed by Savitribai Phule Pune University.
This project is the record of authentic work carried out during the academic year 2017 – 2018
Mr. Rajeev Bhalerao Prof. Dr. R.M. Chitnis
Project Guide Principal

DECLARATION
I, Mr AKASH PODDAR hereby declare that this project is the record of authentic work carried out by
me during the academic year 2017-2018 and has not been submitted to any other University or Institute
towards the award of any degree.
AKASH PODDAR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to everyone especially my Project guide Dr
Rajeev Bhalerao as well as our principal Dr R.M. Chitnis, who gave me the golden opportunity to do
this wonderful project on the topic “IMPACT OF DISNEY-FOX DEAL ON DISNEY OWNED
MARVEL STUDIOS”. They supported me throughout the project. I am thankful for their aspiring
guidance, valuable constructive criticism and friendly advice during the project work, which also helped
me in doing a lot of research, and I come to know about so many new things. I am thankful to them.
I would also like to dedicate the study to my family and friends for their support and motivation.
Regards,
Akash Poddar

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 04
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 07
SCOPE OF STUDY 08
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 09
SOURCES OF PRIMARY DATA
SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA
INTRODUCTION 10-14
ABOUT THE DEAL
ASSETS TO BE ACQUIRED
ASSETS TO BE SPUN-OFF
IMPORTANCE OF THE DEAL
IMPACT OF THE DEAL ON DISNEY OWNED MARVEL STUDIOS 15-20
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF MARVEL STUDIOS
BENEFIT OF THE DEAL TO MARVEL STUDIOS
PROS OF THE DEAL ON MCU
CONS OF THE DEAL ON MCU
VISUAL GUIDE TO MARVEL CHARACTERS 21-27
INFOGRAPHIC VERSION: 1, 2014
INFOGRAPHIC VERSION: 4, 2017 (BEFORE THE DEAL)
INFOGRAPHIC VERSION: 5, 2017 (AFTER THE DEAL)

QUESTIONNAIRE 28-37
QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES, ITS INTERPRETATION AND FINDINGS 38-52
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 53-54
LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT 55-56
CONCLUSION 57
REFERENCE/ BIBLIOGRAPHY 59-62

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
The study conducted for the following reason:
 To Understand the Impact of Disney-Fox Deal on the Disney owned Marvel Studios.
 To Understand what this deal means for the consumer (Marvel Fans).
 To Increase awareness about the comic books and its adaptation into movies among the
audience.
 To find the positive and negative aspects of this deal.
 To Understand the future of Fox-controlled Marvel Characters Under the Disney Umbrella.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:
In Today’s day, Entertainment Industry plays a major role in everyone’s life. Entertainment that consists
of many different segments under its folds such as television, print, and films also includes smaller
segments like radio, music, animation, gaming and visual effects (VFX) and Internet advertising has
affected many things in today's generation, including lifestyle, decision making, businesses,
employment rates, incomes, revenues, social behaviour, political belief etc.
In India itself, Entertainment industry has registered an explosive growth in the last two decades making
it one of the fastest growing industries in India. However, this trend is not only limited to India but also
seen all over the world.
Due to rising incomes, evolving lifestyles and revolution of Entertainment Industry, the Audience is
demanding a wide variety of content. To fulfil this demand Entertainment Industries are putting all their
efforts so that they can meet the Consumer expectation.
Due to this all changes, Audience expectations from Comic books and Movies have also increased in the
recent time. We are in the golden age of comic book movies. There was a time when audiences would
be lucky to get one major comic book movie every couple of years. Now with Increase in Consumer
demand, Consumers are getting 3-4 comic movies a year. The influx of comic book movies and
characters hitting the big screen has been a dream come true for many fans. One of the most enjoyable
things about this new revolution of comic book movies is that studios are no longer interested in doing
"one & done" stand-alone movies for their characters. Now every studio is building towards their own
"Cinematic Universe" where characters from one movie can appear in other movies as well. This brings
movies a little closer to what happens in comic books. It is not unusual to be reading a Spider-Man
comic and Daredevil pops up in a panel. Teams like the Avengers have constantly changing rosters
including characters like Wolverine, Spider-Man and others. In addition, we cannot forget about huge
crossovers like The Infinity Gauntlet in Comics, where we had a huge collection of characters from
Thor & Hulk to Dr Strange to Galactus and Silver Surfer.
Therefore, this trend of putting different characters in a shared movie universe is definitely one with a
lot of potential in the Entertainment Industry and would also open new doors of possibilities for its
stakeholders.
Consumers are also looking forward to seeing more changes in this trend, however, it is also important
to know what exactly consumers are demanding from Shared Movie Universe so that Movie Studios can
provide them with better content.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SOURCES OF PRIMARY DATA
For the purpose of collection of primary data, I made a questionnaire with the help of google form. For
the questionnaire, the major audience I focused on is Marvel Fans. The questionnaire consists of 20
questions. It includes questions related to understanding the likes, dislikes and expectation of fans from
the Movies based on Marvel Comics. Later on, I shared the link to the questionnaire on various fans
forum, YouTube videos, Facebook pages, Google+ community pages and in the WhatsApp group for
Marvel and Dc fans.
In total, I got 62 responses from the questionnaire, which is more than the expectation not only that
respondents liked the questionnaire very much and gave a positive feedback.
However, the collected data from the responses were not easily understandable. Therefore, I converted it
into various charts like Pie chart, bar graph, table and columns. So that it can be analysed in a
systematic manner and henceforth can be interpreted with a simple method.
SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA
The sources of secondary data in this project are data from Marvel Official Website, some websites
which publish Online Articles, some YouTube Channels like ‘SuperSuper’, who made videos for fan-
boys/fan-girls, Question and answer website: Quora and web-based free-content encyclopaedias like
Wikipedia; Fandom, powered by Wikia.

The logos of The Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox
INTRODUCTION
About the Deal
On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced that The Walt Disney Company is
acquiring majority of 21st century fox for $52.4 dollar (Subject to adjustment), which converts for INR
335,682 Crore, due to lots of legal formalities and other formalities to finalize this deal it is going to
take almost around 1.5 year. This is a massive business deal that will affect every corner of film and
television. Disney, no. 1 Studio at the box office has just become much more powerful in the
entertainment world by acquiring fox, no. 3 Studio at the box office. Building on Disney’s commitment
to deliver the highest quality branded entertainment, the acquisition of these complementary assets
would allow Disney to create more appealing content, build more direct relationships with consumers
around the world and deliver a more compelling entertainment experience to consumers wherever and
however they choose.
The deal will dramatically reshape the entertainment landscape, bringing together for the first time two
of Hollywood’s “Big Six” studios under common ownership, all to give Disney the bigger arsenal of
programming it needs to do battle with Netflix and other new entrants in the content business. The Big
Studios are Warner Bros., Universal, Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Sony/Columbia and
Paramount.

The ‘Big Six’ collectively command approximately 80 – 85 per cent of US & Canadian box office
revenue. These film studios dominate both American cinema & the global film industry. Most films
that reach the international audience, in multiple continents & in multiple languages, are usually
produced and/or distributed by one of these, thus making them the Big Six.
Big Six Studios

As Per the Deal,
Assets to be acquired by Disney
Included in the deal are the majority of 21st Century Fox's entertainment, international and regional
sports assets. These include:
• Fox Entertainment Group
• 20th Century Fox
• Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Blue Sky Studios
• Fox Star Studios
• Fox Networks Group
• Fox Sports Networks
• FX Networks
• National Geographic Partners (73%)
• Star TV
• Hulu (United States) (30%)
• Sky plc (39.14%)
• Endemol Shine Group (50%)
Assets to be spun off to New Fox
Fox's broadcast, news and sports businesses will not be included in the deal and will be a spin off into a
new independent company to be owned by current 21st Century Fox shareholders (tentatively known as
"New Fox"). They include:
• Fox Broadcasting Company
• Fox Television Stations Group
• Fox Sports:
• Big Ten Network (51% owned in joint venture with Big Ten Conference)
• Fox Deportes
• Fox Sports 1
• Fox Sports 2
• Fox Soccer Plus

• Fox College Sports
• Fox Sports International
• The 20th Century Fox studio lot (although it will be leased by Disney)
Importance of this deal
• The Acquisition complements and enhances The Walt Disney Company’s ability to provide
consumers around the world with more appealing content and entertainment options.
• Transaction to include 21st Century Fox’s film and television studios, cable entertainment
networks and international TV businesses.
• Popular entertainment properties including X-Men, Avatar, The Simpsons, FX Networks and
National Geographic to join Disney’s portfolio.
• Expands Disney’s direct-to-consumer offerings with the addition of 21st Century Fox’s
entertainment content, capabilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia; Hulu stake becomes a
controlling interest.
• Addition of extensive international properties, including Star in India and Fox’s 39% ownership
of Sky across Europe, enhances Disney’s position as a truly global entertainment company with
world-class offerings in key regions.
• Robert A. Iger to remain Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company through 2021 to
oversee the transition.

IMPACT OF THIS DEAL ON DISNEY OWNED MARVEL STUDIOS
Introduction
When it comes to the printed page, Publishing Company Marvel Comics owns all their stuff. Once it
comes to Cinematic Industry, though, things get confusing quickly. Rights to Marvel’s characters as
they appear on the big screen are mixed between Disney, Universal, and Sony and, until last year, Fox.
However, Disney is in the process of acquiring a huge chunk of Fox assets, so the landscape is
changing.
To understand Complicated Character rights, first we need to understand that when it comes to getting a
movie made and into theatres there are two distinct sets of rights needed:
In addition, the studios who own the character rights are required to produce films using those
characters within a certain period or the rights will revert back to Marvel. This character rights can also
be reverted back to Marvel if Marvel buys them back.
Logo since July 2016

History of Marvel Studios
In the past, Marvel was simply in the business of helping other movie studios to produce movies based
on its various comic’s characters. Marvel would license the rights of its most valuable characters for a
fee, to various studios, and those studios would pay for, distribute, and reap the box office of those
films.
Considering the entertainment juggernaut Marvel has become since the turn of the millennium, the
financial struggles the company had in the 1990s feels like fiction. Back in the 1990s, Marvel or rather
Marvel Entertainment was near the verge of bankruptcy, so in order to survive, they sold the films
rights of their most popular characters namely, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk,
Daredevil, etc. to different studios. Sony-owned Columbia Pictures took copyright of Spider-Man and
Ghost Rider, while Fox landed the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Daredevil characters. Hulk went to
Universal Studios. Blade went to New Line Cinema and Punisher went to Lionsgate.
Marvel selling the X-Men to Fox resulted in the 2000 hit movie X-Men, and its box office success —
more than $290 million worldwide — showed Sony and Marvel that superhero movies could haul in
mountains of cash and also realized they were only getting a fraction of the millions and billions these
other studios were making off of their characters. Therefore, in the mid-2000s, Marvel created Marvel
Studios and decided to produce its own superhero movies. The problem here was that they had already
sold the licenses to its most famous characters and as long as those studios continued to pay a licensing
fee and continued producing these movies, Marvel Studios could not have them back. So Marvel
Studios need have operated with a “B-level” line-up of heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and
Thor, In addition, Disney bought out Marvel on August 2009, and now Disney were financing Marvel
Entertainment and letting it run its movies with autonomy. The Avengers was the first film released by
Disney, under the stewardship of President Kevin Feige— forged an unprecedented path that created an
interconnected universe of films, resulting in one of the most successful franchises in history.
In the meantime, Daredevil and Punisher’s rights expired, reverting them back to Marvel, same with
Ghost Rider. Man-Thing from Lionsgate also reverted back to Marvel. Whereas for Hulk, Marvel got
back the production right, yet Universal Studios holds the distribution right.
Now, the Hulk’s rights are still owned by Universal so they cannot make a solo Hulk film but he can
appear in other Marvel properties such The Avengers and the Thor: Ragnarok film. Spider-Man was
brokered in a deal where they made a film with him in the MCU or use him (ex: Captain America: Civil
War, Spider-man homecoming). Nevertheless, Sony still “has” him, with "creative control, marketing
and distribution".

However, in selling its characters’ film rights away, Marvel ensured its comic book characters would
live in separate worlds onscreen. However, the success of X-Men and Spider-Man ensured that this
separation of cinema and page would continue for years: By hauling in so much money, Fox and Sony,
until recently, had no motivation give up their Marvel film rights or work with Marvel.
Also, because of shattered film rights, Marvel’s crossover comic stories like the Avengers vs. X-Men
and House of M could never be told. Crossover comic book events that did make it on screen, like
Captain America: Civil War and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity are only half-told with Avengers
characters whereas, in the comic books, the X-Men and Fantastic Four are present for those stories.
Benefits of the deal Marvel Studios:
The agreement allows Disney with the opportunity to reunite the X-Men with the Marvel family under
one roof and create richer, more complex worlds of inter-related characters and stories that audiences
have shown they love.
To be very honest, fan boys and fan girls (audience) do not seem to care much about monopolistic
niceties or the end of the era for the Murdoch family in one of the Big Six Studio. They are more
interested in seeing Wolverine hanging out at Avengers HQ. Those dreams could soon come true. After
all, the Fox purchase does give Disney, and in particular Marvel, its comic book division, rights to
several superheroes that it had licensed to Fox. Not only does the company now have the ability to
make X-Men movies, but it can also reboot the Fantastic Four. There is a completely new world of
mutants and costumed heroes just waiting to join the MCU. That leaves only Sony’s Spider-Man films
existing outside of Disney and Marvel’s direct control.
Following are the major points to elaborate the scope of possibilities in Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU) with the help of this deal:
Pros of the deal on Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
Villain:
For fans, there is never a complaint that why fantastic four and x-men are not in Marvel Cinematic
Universe but fans were disappointed that Marvels do not have their best Villain like Magneto, Galactus,
Doctor Doom, etc.

Therefore, with this deal, we will be able to see this iconic villain in Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU).
Fantastic Four:
Fantastic Four was the first superhero family of Marvel Comics. It is the part of the heart of many
Marvel Fans. However, 21st Century Fox never came up with a single Fantastic Four movie which
stands up to the expectation of fans. Even in 2015, the reboot of Fantastic four was not much
successful.
So with this deal, it is possible that we will able to see a new fantastic four team, which may stand up to
the expectation of the Marvel fans.
X-men:
Maybe, Marvels is the masters of Superhero Movies. However, it has all started from 21st Century
Fox’s first X-men movie, which for sure has made Marvels, thought that they have made a big mistake
by selling their Character rights to them.
For sure, not all X-men’ movies are blockbuster, but X-men movies have set a benchmark for a
superhero movie in the Entertainment Industry.
X-men movies were doing great. Nevertheless, this deal is going to Change most of the things.
Storyline:
There is been a lot of differences between the Comic stories and their adaptation into movie stories,
this is due to the issue of Character’s copyright. Therefore, with this deal fans can expect that they will
able to see those story adaptations in movies that they have read in comics
Not only that, with this deal we can also expect some awesome crossover movies (ex- Avengers Vs X-
men, Civil war 2)
Combos:
In Marvel Comics few there are few extraordinary duos which are known among the fans for their
chemistry with one another (ex- Deadpool and Spider-Man; Wolverine and Hulk; etc.) Now with this
deal, Marvel fans can expect to see in movies.

The Illuminati:
In the comics, The Illuminati is a secret society of Marvel’s most brilliant minds and influential leaders.
Decisions they have made, like sending the Hulk to space, have led to major change in the Marvel
Universe.
It’s a team comprised of Marvel and Fox controlled characters, now with the deal, there is been a hope
of bringing them all together. The film versions of Iron Man, Dr Strange, Professor Xavier, Black Bolt,
Namor and Mr Fantastic can finally sit at the same table.
Few Cons of the Deal on Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
Deadpool:
If there is any Marvel Character from which 21st-century fox experienced so much success with over
past few years, then surely it is Deadpool and Logan. Deadpool is famously known for having R-rated
content. However, Disney doesn’t make R-rated movies. So maybe there would be major changes to
Deadpool movie also. Even so, Bob Iger, C.E.O. of the Walt Disney Company has said that:
“(Deadpool) clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity
for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool. As long as we let the audiences know what's
coming, we think we can manage that fine."
End of Existing X-men:
Merging the existing X-Men universe with the MCU would seem a challenging prospect, and given
how many of the existing X-Men actors seem likely to be on their way out following ‘X-Men: Dark
Phoenix,’ this may mean a full reboot is more likely.
While the ‘X-Men’ series has produced a few undeniable duds (‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ ‘X-Men
Origins: Wolverine,’ ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’), it’s fair to say the bulk of the franchise stands up well, and
as such not all fans might be happy to see Marvel rip it all up and start again.

Marvel Studios already has a lot on its plate:
This April’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is set to be the biggest MCU entry to date, encompassing every
key character. It’s been estimated that around 62 Marvel characters will appear in the film, and
reportedly one scene will see 32 of them appear side-by-side.
Given just how expansive the MCU already is, might it be in danger of biting off more than it can chew
by adding the Fox-owned characters – in particular, the already sizeable X-Men universe.
May end to different sensibilities in films:
One advantage of having different studios making superhero films is that they bring different
sensibilities. Most of X-men movies are established in their own distinctive approaches and
personalities (X-Men: First Class is a stylish, charming superhero period piece set in the Cold War era.
X-Men: Days of Future Past plays with time travel and the idea of changing history. Deadpool is
raunchy). Each of Fox movie shares different storyline whereas, in Marvel Studios, almost all movie
shares a common storyline, that even at some point it is easy to predict the storyline of the movie.

In Visual Infographic:
1. As a side note, unless otherwise indicated, all character movie rights are based on the
ownership of the main character. So, for example, 20th Century Fox owns the rights to any
comic book characters that are mutants (ex. X-Men) while Marvel owns the rights to any
comic book characters that are vampires (ex. Blade).
2. All characters associated with the main character are the property of the studio. Any
characters not listed are the property of Marvel Studios. Note: the studio is in possession of
more than 8,000 characters, it is not possible to make a definitive list of every Marvel
character, so this is just a small selection.
Major Marvel Superheroes Characters of 21st Century that is acquired by Disney
 Doctor Doom
 Human Torch
 Invisible Woman
 Mr Fantastic
 The Thing
 Alicia Masters
 Willie Lumpkin
 Puppet Master
 Silver Surfer
 Nova (Frankie Raye)
 Galactus
 Cable
 Scarlet Witch
 Quicksilver
 Deadpool
 Agent Zero
 Angel
 Angel Salvadore
 Arclight
 Azazel
 Banshee
 Beast
 Bishop
 Callisto
 Colossus
 Cyclops
 Darwin
 Deadpool
 Deathstrike
 Emma Frost
 Erik Lehnsherr
 Gambit
 Harada
 Havok
 Iceman
 Jason Stryker
 Jean Grey
 John Wraith
 Jubilee
 Juggernaut
 Katherine Pryde
 Kenuichio Harada
 Kid Omega
 Lady Deathstrike
 Landry Jones Cassidy
 Leech
 Lord Shingen
 Lucas Bishop
 Magneto
 Mariko Yashida
 Moira MacTaggert
 Multiple Man
 Mystique
 Nightcrawler
 Norubo Mori
 Phoenix
 Professor X
 Psylocke
 Pyro
 Quill

 Riptide
 Rogue
 Sabretooth
 Sebastian Shaw
 Shingen Yashida
 Silverfox
 Storm
 The Blob
 Toad
 Viper
 Wolverine
 Yashida
 Yukio
Major Marvel Characters of Sony Pictures
 Spider-Man
 Doctor Octopus
 Green Goblin
 Harry Osborn
 The Lizard
 Sandman
 Venom
 Betty Brant
 Dennis Carradine
 J. Jonah Jameson
 Ben Parker
 May Parker
 John Jameson
 Joseph Robertson
 Mary Jane Watson
 Gwen Stacy
 Mendel Stromm
 Flash Thompson
 Black Cat
 Rhino
 Elektro
Universal Pictures
 Hulk

FQuestionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES, ITS INTERPRETATION AND FINDINGS
From the above pie chart, it can be easily deducted that Superhero Comic books like DC,
Marvel and their adaptation in movies and films are much more interested among the young
age. However, very few people from middle age are also interested in this. Whereas no one
among the childhood and senior age group has filled the form.
When it comes to gender, Superhero Comic books and their adaptation in movies and films
are very much anticipated among the male audience, female are less but seems to be
interested in this. (Out of 62 responses 55 are male, 6 are female)

Out of 62 respondents,39 have read Marvel comic once or more than once in their life. Other
than those 39 respondents 23 have never read a Marvel Comic which means they have
knowledge about Marvel through Movies and other media like TV series, Toys and
Merchandise, Animated series etc.
Among the respondents who read comics, there are 25 respondents whose favour is Marvel
over DC Comics. There are only 3 respondents who prefer DC comics to Marvel Comics,
while other 12 respondents favour both the comics equally. 5 of the respondents thinks it is
very confusing for them to select the favoured comic for them and the rest 17 respondents
don’t read comic at all. So from this, it can be concluded that overall Marvel is favoured over
DC Comics.

Till date, there are total 51 live-action movies based on Marvel Comics which has been
released by Various Companies. Of all these 62 respondents, 29 people have claimed they
have watched around 15 -30 live action marvel based movie, this people can be considered
as a fan. There are 4 people who only watched less than 5 movies. 12 people have watched
marvel based movies less than 15 but more than 5. 11 people have watched more than 30 but
less than 50. There are also 6 in respondents who Claim that they have watched all live-
action films based on Marvel.
It means that Marvel has a major consumer base where people have seen movies in between
15 to 30

]
If we try to convert the above data in terms of numeric weightage of happiness and sadness.
Then it can be seen that out of total 310 scores, there is 242 weightage to happiness and the
remaining 68 weightage is to sadness for being most of the Marvel movie characters coming
back under the roof of Marvel Studios. It can be seen from the graph that it is increasing
steadily from the rating one to the rating five. The more the rating the more people feel that
the 21st Century will be in right hand after the acquisition deal.
From above pie-chart, it can be concluded that, for sure, people want to see a crossover
between X-Men characters, Fantastic Four characters and Avengers characters. Most of the
respondent wants to watch all the major Marvel characters on the big screen.

If there is any possibility for a crossover between x-men characters, Fantastic Four
characters and Avengers characters in future. Then around 65 % of respondents feel that the
crossover should be in such a way that first the characters of X-men, Fantastic Four and
Avengers fight with each other, later on, they team up to share a common vision. However, 8
respondents feel that they just want to see the fight them against each other and equally 8
respondents feel that they want to see a team-up among the characters.

When it comes to Various Studios, which make movies, based on Marvel comics. Audiences
feel that Marvel Studio makes the best movies among all, then respondents voted 21st-
century fox as 2nd best production Studio. Whereas Sony pictures having the character right
for Spiderman is ranked 3rd and Universal pictures having hulk character rights is ranked
last among all.
Among 62 respondents, at least 51 respondents are sure are that they want to see combos of
two superheroes over the big screen, while other 6 respondents are not sure whether they
wanted to see a duo movie or not. While the rest 5 people are sure that, they do not want to
see a combo movie.

As in the recent year, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures did a fantastic job by giving the
audience a complete new Spider-men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) along with
the Avengers which nobody has thought that either it is possible. This became all possible
because of an agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony that Sony maintains the rights to
Spider-man and Marvel Studios using the most famous superhero in their movie.
Almost around 70 % of the respondents feel that they would like to see more this type of
collaboration with other studios in the future. Whereas around 16% do not want to see
collaborations like this and around 15 % are not sure about this.

For the reason of maintaining the uniqueness in the responses from respondents, Ra.One is
not excluded from the response, as Ra.One is a fictional character and main antagonist in the
1994 science-fiction film Stargate. It does not belong to the Marvel Comics. So it is not
possible to see Ra.one in the Marvel-based movie.
17 people have voted for Carnage, as first to whom they wanted to see in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe (MCU) as a Villain. However, the character rights to carnage still reside
with the Sony Pictures and still no collaboration between Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU) and Sony Pictures has done regarding Carnage. So to make this happen it is
important to into an agreement as they did with Spider-man.
Out of 61 responses, 13 respondents voted Magneto, 11 respondents voted Galactus, and 11
respondents voted Dr Doom to whom they want to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU). This could be very much possible in the near future as Magneto, Dr Doom and
Galactus Copyright as a mutant was held by the 21st Century Fox which now is going to be
acquired by Disney group.
While for the other Villains like Deathstroke, Venom etc., Votes are less.

Which under-rated Marvel superhero would you like to see on the big? Please specify.
Superhero Name Types Counts Respondent Comments
She-Hulk 1 Where has she been.
Daredevil 1 but much better than the previous
attempts
Fantastic Four 1
Ant-Man 1
Falcon 1
Spider-man and
Related
Normal Spider-man 2
Spider-Man 2099 1
The Ultimate
Spider-Man.
1 Miles Morales. While it's too early for
it to ever happen, it'd be nice to see
more of Spider-Man. Done right, of
course.
Spider women
(Spider-
Gwen)
2
Venom 1
Hulk 1
Timepas 1
Hawkeye 2
Moon Knight 2
The Sentry 1
Thor 1
squirrel girl!!!! 1
Vision 1
No 1
Captain Marvel 1
Caption America 1
Daredevil 1
One above all 1

Deadpool 1
Scarlett Witch 1
Dr.strange 1
Aquaman 1
Sentry 1
Black widow 2
In an Open-ended answer to the question “Which under-rated Marvel superhero would you
like to see on the big screen?” fans respondent with the highest liking to the Spider-Man
Characters where they want to see different types of Spider-man in the Marvel Studios like
Normal Spider-man, The ultimate spider-men, Spider-men 2099 etc. After Spiderman
Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Black Widow are ranked 2nd with having 2 respondents each.
And other superheroes rank 3rd like Scarlett Witch, Daredevil etc.
However, the limitation of this response is that audiences have responded for those
superheroes who are not underrated and already have their movie like Dr Strange, Deadpool
etc. Not only that one respondent also wants to see Aquaman in Movie, who actually is not
actually a Marvel Character but a DC character.
When it comes to wide Universe, Marvel is still ahead of its Major Competitor DC. Out of
60 responses. Forty Respondents like Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over DC extended
Universe; Only 4 Respondents like DC extended Universe over Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU). While the rest 20 like both the universe equally.

C
In total 59 responses, more than 71 % of respondents would like to see a crossover between
two major and competitor companies in upcoming years as it happened in Comics. However,
this will be very difficult to happen. Other 10 respondents do not want to see a crossover
story between these superheroes at all. In addition, other remaining seven respondents are
not sure about the crossover.
It is obvious from the above pie chart that the entire Marvel fans want Hugh Jackman to
return to play the character of Wolverine even if he is grown old, everyone believes that he
can still do a pretty good job in playing the role.

v
According to the survey, out of the total 60 responses, 31 people very eagerly want to see a
Female Solo movie. Thirteen people are eager to see a female solo movie. Eleven people are
fine to watch a female solo movie. While three people do not want to see a female solo
movie and two of them do not want to see a female solo movie at all. If we try to convert the
above graph in Numerical Yes and No answer, out of total 300, people respondent with 248
yes to see a female solo movie and 52 no. for the female solo movie.
When it comes to R-rated movies under the Umbrella of the Disney group. People still prefer
to watch R-rated type of movie in the upcoming years. Out of 60 responses, 41 respondents
feel that Deadpool should be R-rated in future, seven respondents do not want to see
Deadpool as an R-rated movie and other 12 respondents do not know what type of movie
Deadpool should be.

Stanlee who has been showing in almost all the Marvel-based movie as a Cameo appearance
has a confusing role. It is not known, whether Stanlee is appearing in the movies casually as
humour or add-on or he has some bigger role to play in upcoming movies like the role of one
above all. Nevertheless, according to the Survey Fans definitely wants to see Stanlee as the
One Above all.
Out of total 58 responses, 40 respondents do want to see Stanlee as One above all, other 5
don’t want to see him as one above all and the rest 13 respondents are not sure about this.

Producing more and more movies with the same resources can influence Studios creativity
level as well as their revenue. Marvel Studios has already increased its output to three
movies per annum wherein in the year from 2001 to 2010 we have to see only one Marvel
movie a year.
Out of 58 responses, major of the audience, 19 respondents feel that marvel studios should
not change their annual output from three. Then 11 respondents feel that marvel studios
should launch six movies a year and other 11 respondents feel that marvel studies should
decrease its output to two movies. While 10 respondents feel Marvel should give an output
of four movies per annum and remaining seven respondents feel Marvel should release five
movies a year. There is a very little or no variance among the responses who think marvel
studios should release three, six and two movies a year.

If we talk about flaws then fans have few complaints from the Marvel Studios for their
Movie. Out of 56 responses, 13 respondents feel that Marvel Studio lack in its Villain
Characteristics. Nine respondents feel that Marvel Studios lacks good sense of Humor, while
12 respondents feel that Marvel Studio lack Superhero’s Death in their movie, Other 10
respondents feel there are a lot of plot holes into the story and 3 feel that Marvel Studios do
not have great stories in their movie. While three people think, there is nothing wrong with
Marvel Studios. While the rest of the respondents suggested their opinion in an open-ended
answer like a timeline, Over Powered Superhero’s etc.

Suggestion and Recommendations:
With the Disney-Fox deal, many doors of possibilities have been opened for Marvel Studios.
However, if proper decisions are taken in this regard, then in upcoming years then those
decisions will open more potential possibilities in the future.
According to the Findings, I would respectfully like to suggest the studio that:
After this deal, the very first thing they should do is to crack more deals or come to an
agreement with Sony Studios who owns the copyrights to some of Marvel most famous
characters. So that they can share some of the characters’ production rights under a certain
agreement as they did with Spiderman. Which would definitely open new possibilities that
consumers are demanding like:
 Carnage as a Powerful Super Villain in MCU
 Spiderwoman Solo movie in MCU
 Duo among two Superheroes like Spiderman and Deadpool
Most of the population who are interested in Comic books and movies are mostly from
young age and are Male. However, female audiences are also there. To attract more and
more female audience and to fulfil the consumer’s expectation Companies are required to
make more female Oriented Movie or Solo Female Movie. For which best characters could
be either Black Widow or Spider-Women.
Most of the Fans think that Marvel Studios make best Marvel movie and so they are happy
to see the Fox Character under the roof of Marvel Studios. With this, consumers are also
more inclined to see a Crossover movie between Avenger Characters, X-men Characters and
Fantastic Four Characters. So Company should not let down the expectation of consumer
and in the near future, Marvel should release a crossover movie between these characters.
Where firstly, these superheroes should fight against each other and later on, they team up
with each other to fight against a common Super Villain, which could be Magneto or would
rather be better if they could show Carnage as a Super Villain. Also in this crossover, they
should prefer Hugh Jackman, Australian Actor to play the role of Wolverine (Logan).

I would highly recommend the studios to make a Movie where audiences can see the
extraordinary Chemistry of two Superheroes together. Like they have seen in Comics for
Spider-man and Deadpool. After the Disney Fox deal Completion Company should really
consider making such a movie. And also Disney should let the Deadpool to be an R-rated
movie rather than changing its content for Family-friendly movie otherwise it will lose its
uniqueness.
This may seem impossible but both Competitors DC by Warner Bros. and Marvel by Disney
Should come together to make movies where they could show the Inter-company crossover
between their characters and show fans which never had happened in the history before. If it
happens it will make the dreams of many fans come true.
Also, Marvel Studios need to consider giving a bigger role to Stanlee (comic-book writer,
editor, film executive producer, and publisher of Marvel) in the near future who is the Heart
and Soul of both Marvel Comics and also Marvel Studios. This would definitely give Marvel
fans a unique experience that they had never experienced in the other past movie.
However, it is also respectfully suggested to the company that they do not make changes to
their production Capacity per annum. It should be specific to the output of 3 movies per year
only.

Limitation of Project
Limited Population: The questionnaire in this project is limited to a specific population. The
respondents needed to be the one who already has some knowledge about Marvels.
Measures used to collect data: Somehow after the completion of collection of data and its
interpretation, I found that the questionnaire that I made is a little bit biased as already the
questionnaire Heading is “Questionnaire for Marvel Fan” which made questionnaire specific
for Marvel fans. However, there was a question in the questionnaire “Which Comic
Company makes Better Comic books”. So it may be Obvious that Respondents would
definitely be filling Marvel as their Favourite Comic instead of DC comics.
Sample Size: The population for the survey was 62 respondents only. However, if responses
could have been more than that it could have increased the power of the study and reduces
the margin of error and would also ensure the much meaningful result.
Irrelevant Responses: There have been few cases in the open-ended question that
respondent responds with the answer, which is not actually relevant to the question [like
seeing Ra.one and Deathstroke as the Villain in MCU, (both of them are not part of Marvel
Comics.) also responding with ‘No’, ‘Timepas’ etc.
Mostly based on Secondary Data: For the purpose of conducting this research, I had to too
much reliance on various online articles, YouTube Channels etc. Which are mostly the
source of secondary data and thus have their own limitation.
Lack of Limited Time to Conduct Research: Due to the new-born of the topic (or say
Disney-Fox deal) which was announced on 14th
December 2017, there has been very limited
area and time to know much more about the deal and to do research on it.

Lack of available and/or reliable data: Marvels has around 8000 comic characters, lots of
Marvel films have released till now and also due to an immense field of Marvel, it is very
hard for anyone to keep track of each and every detail. Due to which many things in this
regard remained undiscovered (Like nowhere over the internet it is found that how many
comic characters does marvel exactly owns).
Lack of previous studies in the research area: Again due to the new-born of the topic (or
say Disney-Fox deal) which was announced on 14th
December 2017. There has been a major
lack of any previous study in the Topic.
Most of the project report is based on Speculation: Most of this Project report is made on
the basis that Fox would be acquired by Disney. However, as of now, the acquisition of 21st
Century Fox by Disney is in Initial stage only and it does not guarantee the 100% success to
the proposed acquisition as the deal is currently under review by the United States
Department of Justice Antitrust Division. Which even can cause trouble to Disney for
acquiring Fox.

Conclusion
If the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney goes all right, then the deal will
have both limitation and Advantage in the Industry. However, when it comes to Disney
owned Marvel Studios, it is looks though, the deal will be proved blessing to the Marvel
Studios and its stakeholders, having lots of advantages and a very few limitations. Also in
that regard, if actions are taken properly then this deal will help the Marvel Studios as well as
the Walt Disney Company to reach the new height of success. This will definitely create a
new era in the entertainment industry.

Reference/ Bibliography
While preparing this report, I had put in best efforts to enlist all the references that are cited
thereto because of my prior lack of knowledge I was not able to provide all the sources of
citation. Please contact me for citing the sources if something is missed. You can also
contact me for any other thing regarding this report.
Email Id: akashpoddar56@gmail.com
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/akashpoddar56
Official Walt Disney website https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/walt-disney-company-
acquire-twenty-first-century-foxinc-spinoff-certain-businesses-52-4-billion-stock/
 Wikipedia:
 Proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_acquisition_of_21st_Century_Fox_by
_Disney
 The Walt Disney Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company
 21st Century Fox
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Fox
 Marvel Cinematic Universe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Cinematic_Universe
 Marvel Studios
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Studios

 List of films based on Marvel Comics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_Marvel_Comics
 Entertainment industry in India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_industry_in_India
 YouTube Channel:
• SuperSuper
By: Amit Sinha
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv6JhmcvEtUN8EYKJSrbo7w
• John Campea
By: John Campea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5eyvt_Ol4g&t=24s
 Online Articles:
• What Disney’s acquisition of Fox means for Marvel’s superhero movies
By: Alex Abad-Santos
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/14/16738852/disney-fox-marvel-
acquisition-x-mensuperhero
• Disney-Fox Deal: 10 Burning Questions as Takeover Deal Looms
By: Brent Lang and Cynthia Littleton
https://variety.com/2017/film/news/disney-fox-studio-deal-10-burning-questions-
1202637762/

• Big Six
Published on December 22, 2014, by in Animation, Graphics, VFX.
https://www.maacindia.com/blog/index.php/big-six/
• Marvel’s Movies Rights: Who owns whom?
By: Eric Frederiksen
https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/12/15/marvels-movie-rights-breakdown/
• Disney and 21st Century Fox are officially merging
By: Sean P. Aune
https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/12/14/disney-acquires-fox/
• Marvel and Sony ‘Spider-Man’ Rights Explained: What’s MCU and What’s Not?
By: Adam Chitwood
http://collider.com/spider-man-marvel-sony-deal-explained/
• Disney and Fox officially announce $52.4 billion deal of the 21st Century
By: Sean Gerber
https://marvelstudiosnews.com/2017/12/14/disney-fox-officially-announce-52-4-
billion-deal21st-century/
• The pros and cons of 20th Century Fox's Marvel properties joining the MCU
By Ben Bussey
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/pros-cons-20th-century-foxs-marvel-properties-
joining-mcu164144722.html
• Marvel: 15 Huge Problems No One Wants To Admit About The MCU
By: Jack O'regan

(Placeholder1)https://screenrant.com/marvel-cinematic-universe-biggest-problems-
with-movies-mcu/
• Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four crossovers we want following Disney’s
acquisition of Fox
By: Kshitij Rawat
https://indianexpress-
com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/hollywood/a
vengers-x-men-and-fantastic-four-crossovers-we-want-following-disneys-
acquisition-of-fox-
4984610/lite/?usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D&amp_js_v=0.1#referrer=htt
ps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=htt
ps%3A%2F%2Findianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Fentertainment%2Fhollywood%
2Favengers-x-men-and-fantastic-four-crossovers-we-want-following-disneys-
acquisition-of-fox-4984610%2F
• The Disney, Fox deal: Dream projects that need to become reality
By: Justin L. Mack, justin.mack@Indystar.com
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/12/12/dream-projects-need-happen-if-
disney-fox-deal-becomes-reality/943714001/
 Question and answer website Quora:
Question: Why don't Marvel own all the characters they created?
Answered by: Jake Lenburg
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-Marvel-own-all-the-characters-
they-created

 Logos:
 By 21st Century Fox - Extracted from the homepage of 21st Century Fox (company),
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29630779
 By Walt Disney Company (First file vector graphics logo by TutterMouse) -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11152349
 By Marvel Studios -
http://www.wdsmediafile.com/media/DoctorStrange/writenmaterial/DoctorStrange58
127fbf63d6c.pdf, page 23, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52578699
 Images from Links
• http://www.jemome.com/p-logo-fox-sony-pictures-warner-bros-dreamworks-
universal-1185412/
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-to-acquire-key-parts-of-21st-century-fox-for-
52-4-billion-1513253593
 Visual guide to Marvel character movie rights infographic by the geek twins
http://www.thegeektwins.com/2014/02/visual-guide-to-marvel-character-movie.html
 Marvel character movie rights and upcoming movies
https://www.mtrnetwork.net/marvel-character-movie-rights-upcoming-movies/
 http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Marvel_Database

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