Future Universal Projects and Parks

[Mad Dog]

Now that most of the known "insightful" posters have emphasized this is all rumor, innuendo and conjecture I'm convinced this is happening. It's a good way to keep all of the sources out of trouble. LOL.........Bring on the New Marvel Island. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth at future pixie dust Marvel worship meetings.

 

[shiekra38]

On a side note I hope somehow Universal overhauls / expands Marvel just to see the pixie dusters have a complete ****ing meltdown.

But, But, But....th...they can't do that....waaaah

 

[Thor]

But, But, But....th...they can't do that....waaaah

But but but, we have FROZEN in Norway!!!!!

 

[JungleSkip]

Now that most of the known "insightful" posters have emphasized this is all rumor, innuendo and conjecture I'm convinced this is happening. It's a good way to keep all of the sources out of trouble. LOL.........Bring on the New Marvel Island. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth at future pixie dust Marvel worship meetings.

This is a good way to get really, really disappointed.

 

[Brian G.]

This is a good way to get really, really disappointed.

i.e. Van Helsing, HHN Dual Park Civil War, Jurassic Park Expansion (this year).....

 

[quinnmac000]

And now my vibe has been killed...just like all those other projects

 

[Mad Dog]

This is a good way to get really, really disappointed.

LOL...I have such a great time staying at Universal, I never get disappointed, even if there were no expansions in the near future. Conjecture about "possible" expansions, however, is a bit of good fun. If it happens, great. But if it doesn't, I don't get down.....But I have enough faith in the new Comcast led Universal, that I absolutely know that great things will be happening for at least the rest of this decade....Special thanks to of all of our "Insightful" posters (I don't want to use the overused legal trap "Insider" term). Your little pieces of rumor & innuendo, sometimes resulting from good old fashioned contact info, bring a lot of positive vibes to this fantastic OU web site........................Edit: Why will a Marvel Island makeover happen? Because it makes perfect economic sense. And that. bottom line, drives decion making.

 

[Teebin]

This is a good way to get really, really disappointed.

Goodness knows, I may have committed another "crappy" dragon for all I know... *rolls eyes*

 

[HalfGlass]

Spider-man isn't going anywhere.

My issue with keeping Spider-Man is the tie in with the universe. If they are going MCU, they will need to update the Spider-Man ride at least to fit with the new films. Otherwise, it'll be a comic book ride in a real-life island.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Edit: Why will a Marvel Island makeover happen? Because it makes perfect economic sense. And that. bottom line, drives decion making.

Does it though? I'm not disagreeing with you, just asking for the sake of discussion.
The way I understand it, Universal gets its Marvel merchandise from a warehouse that sells the stuff to all kinds of outlets from Universal to CVS. But the only money Universal keeps are the margins of what they mark the stuff up at (since they're dipping into their own wallets to buy it from a vendor). So while Universal gets the benefit of selling a lot of merchandise, they're feeding Disney's bottom line in doing so (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Meanwhile, a different property with closer ties to Universal might be a different story. If they were to negotiate for the rights of a new property, Universal has the opportunity to develop their own merchandise and keep 100% of that money away from Disney's pockets. Granted, it costs more money to get a new IP than to use one they already own, but theme parks know that merchandise is the key to a successful expansion. It's possible that despite the humongous amounts of people a new Marvel attraction would bring in, another property has the potential to be more lucrative just because merchandise is a more sought-after revenue stream than ticket sales.

Me personally, I want a Marvel ride and if Disney can't make one then I want Universal to. I think that it's the easiest of the latest big blockbuster franchise to turn into a great theme park ride. It has way more potential than most of the stuff people talk about on here. If Universal went balls to the wall in creating some new technology to give us an Avengers ride I might never go to any theme park ever again. But I would think they care less about that and more about their bottom line.

 

[JungleSkip]

Universal's deal, according to insiders who know the details, is basically a steal. They pay Marvel/Disney pennies on what they make. They definitely do not mind paying Disney. They're NEVER going to get the prime deal they got from Marvel. When the deal was signed Marvel was more or less drowning with no hope in sight. They were desperate, and the theme park deal reflects that

 

[UniversalCityFL]

Wait, hold up... my head is exploding. Someone please help me understand how a makeover of MSHI into the MCU is even possible. I'm familiar with the Marvel/MCA contract as it appears online. There's no way that Disney would allow Universal to makeover an area of their theme park with thematic elements (locations, buildings, characters, ACTORS) from the recent MCU movies. No way. Universal got what they got in the mid-nineties, which is now a godsend since they can reap the tangental hype from the current MARVEL craze. But I feel like the area is somewhat frozen in time due to that contract. You can't make MAJOR creative changes without approval from both sides. The agreement allows for a little flexibility with the families of characters, but there's no way that Uni can do stuff the reaps the benefits from the recent movies.

Without another contact in place, at least... and I don't buy the argument that it would function just as "advertising" for Marvel. I don't see what the "can't resist" benefit for Dis would be to have a Marvel presence in a Uni park.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yes, as a long Marvel follower (from the 60's and apx. 3,500 issue Marvel collection), Marvel came within a whisker of going under then. I was in NYC for business during that time & stopped in the HQ office as some of us did during those days, and the office was stripped of all the memorabilia that they normally had displayed and the few employees left seemed really stressed. Before that it was common to have a good conversation with any of the free lancers who would happen to be there. They were cancelling titles like crazy. Titles that had previously sold 400,000 issues a month were down to 10-15,000. The bottom had really fallen out of the comic market and the future looked really grim. The distribution network had changed with the bad gamble of switching to comic book stores primarily plus mass collectors quit buying since the price of post 1980 stuff collapsed. Plus Marvel was stretched with way too much outstanding debt.

 

[DufflesMcGee]

I could see Uni and Marvel coming to a deal which would increase stockholder value (big for iger) for both parties. Draft a new deal, same (in perpetuity), Universal gets to use the MCU stuff, removes any fox properties and gets a larger margin than before. Disney can use character on the resort for photos but not create rides or shows. Uni gets a boost, disney will gets a boost since it will attract more people to orlando, the MCU gets its place in Orlando, Marvel gets another up on Fox, Kids can see their favorite characters to take photos with at disney and they maybe can sell merchandise there as well With more sales obviously happening in UNI. You get hopefully 2 new rides (Storm ride + DDFF area and maybe the theatre) and universal makes IOA awesome again (by this time Kong, JP and MSHI additions) and Disney gets a larger cut of the attendance (obviously not TOO much bigger)

See its so simple!

 

[Andy]

Yes, as a long Marvel follower (from the 60's and apx. 3,500 issue Marvel collection), Marvel came within a whisker of going under then. I was in NYC for business during that time & stopped in the HQ office as some of us did during those days, and the office was stripped of all the memorabilia that they normally had displayed and the few employees left seemed really stressed. Before that it was common to have a good conversation with any of the free lancers who would happen to be there. They were cancelling titles like crazy. Titles that had previously sold 400,000 issues a month were down to 10-15,000. The bottom had really fallen out of the comic market and the future looked really grim. The distribution network had changed with the bad gamble of switching to comic book stores primarily plus mass collectors quit buying since the price of post 1980 stuff collapsed. Plus Marvel was stretched with way too much outstanding debt.

Gotta ask what's your most treasured issue and it's estimated value?

 

[Teebin]

Yes, as a long Marvel follower (from the 60's and apx. 3,500 issue Marvel collection), Marvel came within a whisker of going under then. I was in NYC for business during that time & stopped in the HQ office as some of us did during those days, and the office was stripped of all the memorabilia that they normally had displayed and the few employees left seemed really stressed. Before that it was common to have a good conversation with any of the free lancers who would happen to be there. They were cancelling titles like crazy. Titles that had previously sold 400,000 issues a month were down to 10-15,000. The bottom had really fallen out of the comic market and the future looked really grim. The distribution network had changed with the bad gamble of switching to comic book stores primarily plus mass collectors quit buying since the price of post 1980 stuff collapsed. Plus Marvel was stretched with way too much outstanding debt.

Wow, I didn't expect this passionate history experience from you or anyone else on here! Fascinating. Wild even.

 

[martymcflyy85]

IF......(I know).....if...a new Avengers attraction replaced Dr. Doom.....would it be a coaster or a dark ride? I'm confused by the word "choker"

 

[Teebin]

IF......(I know).....if...a new Avengers attraction replaced Dr. Doom.....would it be a coaster or a dark ride? I'm confused by the word "choker"

The word itself is not a hint. It is a creative choice used in place of the more common "shocker".

 

[JungleSkip]

You can't make MAJOR creative changes without approval from both sides.

And Marvel is only allowed to refuse if it's an unreasonable request. There is nothing in the contract that prevents Universal from updating the theme of the land as long as it adheres to a Marvel approved guide.

 

[Mad Dog]

Gotta ask what's your most treasured issue and it's estimated value?

Treasured is probably the first appearance of the Wolverine, first Iron Man after Tales of Suspense & 1st Capt. America after Tales to Astonish,Avengers #16 which was the first big new line up change, and some of the very first X-Men (I think apx. 4-15 but I'd have to check my old records) and the entire Conan collection (except for #2 which had a release problem). I haven't checked prices since the late 90's so I don't really know the latest. When I finally retire, I'll probably go through all of them and may sell some......Edit: One thing about characters that Universal can use. The Avengers alone have had so many drastic lineup changes since their inception that their characters & the ones they interacted with would include just about every "comic book" character in the Marvel Universe. Heck, even Spidey was in the original first issues. Before the bottom of the market fell out in the 90's, comic books weren't really a niche like now. They had mass readerships for most every title.