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Marvel film & TV rights shell game - who owns what?
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Started by Bosco685,

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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Turns out there is a little hiccup with the Fantastic Four film rights: Fox doesn't own them. It licenses those rights.

Disney Closes In On Fox's Assets As Comcast Bows Out - But Will The FANTASTIC FOUR Be Part Of The Deal?

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Variety reports that Disney has taken one step closer to finalising that deal with 21st Century Fox none of us have been able to stop talking about, as Comcast has seemingly decided that it's foolish to attempt to compete with that almighty Mouse money and bowed out of the chase.

So, pending an official announcement, it looks like a done deal. However, one set of Marvel characters that fall under the Fox umbrella may not be joining the party.

It turns out that Constantin Films still retains the production rights to The Fantastic Four, and even though they partnered-up with Fox for the past three movies, the fact that we have no idea how ownership of the property is currently divided means there is a chance that The Thing, Human Torch and co. won't be joining The X-Men in The MCU if the deal does go through.

It's interesting how over the years how many companies had the rights which then would be handed off to other companies - but not Marvel. Screenrant went into a little more details.

Disney’s Fox Acquisition Could Leave the Fantastic Four Behind

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Constantin Films and 20th Century Fox spent years developing their big-budget Fantastic Four movie (thanks to an extension by Marvel in 1999) before finally releasing the product, co-produced by Arad and Marvel Enterprises, in 2005, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon. While we don’t know the exact details of Constantin’s deal with Fox, the Hollywood studio does possess distribution rights for the characters (similar to Paramount Pictures once controlling distribution for Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers), via Marvel’s 1999 agreement with the studio.

 

Constantin Films’ partnership with 20th Century Fox, though confounding to the uninitiated, actually isn’t unprecedented. For instance, Warner Bros. Pictures-owned New Line Cinema is responsible for producing each and every installment in Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth series, and they are currently working in-tandem with Amazon Studios to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth to life on the small screen, but New Line doesn’t actually hold the rights to Tolkien’s narratives; The Saul Zaentz Company (which operates as Middle-Earth Enterprises) does, and they license out the books’ film rights to New Line Cinema.

 

Unlike the aforementioned licensing contract between Middle-Earth Enterprises and New Line Cinema, Constantin Films is an actual production company that produces their films alongside their studio partners. Although Constantin Films’ agreement with 20th Century Fox remains unclear at this stage, as the fine print of their arrangement has never been made public, there’s always a chance they may be unwilling relinquish creative control of the franchise to Marvel Studios, should the Mouse House move forward with their acquisition of 20th Century Fox (and obtain the distribution rights to the Fantastic Four).

 

Contractually, Disney buying 20th Century Fox doesn’t grant them the film rights to the Fantastic Four, but they could conniving enough to inhibit Constantin Films from making another movie without their say-so. If Disney controls distribution, Constantin would have no choice but to work with the Mouse House (and, by extension, Marvel Studios) on another Fantastic Four movie.

 

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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Just goes to show how NOT straightforward some of these Marvel film rights are. No matter how high up on the Marvel Entertainment ladder someone is. And why Feige holds back on confirming something until he is crystal clear (e.g. Namor).

But it is some interesting history how these things came together.

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In 1983, German producer Bernd Eichinger met Lee and eventually agreed to option (not purchase) the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer’s film rights (read: production rights) for $250,000 in 1986, and he would keep the rights so long as a movie for either property entered production by end of 1992.

 

Finding a studio willing to front $40-45 million (approximately $79 million in 2017 dollars), though, proved difficult for the producer, since comic book movies were tough sells at the time. As the story goes, Eichinger then tasked B-movie producer Roger Corman with making a low-budget Fantastic Four film, an ashcan copy, just so he and his company, Constantin Films, could retain the superhero team’s rights – and it worked, to an extent. The doomed 1994 Fantastic Four movie is the stuff of legend; a film that never released and only exists through illegal copies available online.

 

In 1993, shortly before Oley Sassone’s The Fantastic Four was scheduled to premiere in January 1994, Marvel Studios co-founder Avi Arad made an eleventh-hour purchase of the movie from Eichinger and subsequently had all copies destroyed, without even seeing the movie for himself, because he felt its release would damage the Fantastic Four and Marvel brand.

 

Eichinger then began courting blockbuster directors to direct a big-budget Fantastic Four movie before the rights expired at the turn of the century, and that’s what led to the German producer forming a long-standing partnership with 20th Century Fox, due to the studio’s strong relationship with Marvel Studios on Bryan Singer’s X-Men film.

 

Constantin Films and 20th Century Fox spent years developing their big-budget Fantastic Four movie (thanks to an extension by Marvel in 1999) before finally releasing the product, co-produced by Arad and Marvel Enterprises, in 2005, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon. While we don’t know the exact details of Constantin’s deal with Fox, the Hollywood studio does possess distribution rights for the characters (similar to Paramount Pictures once controlling distribution for Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers), via Marvel’s 1999 agreement with the studio. Because Fox has co-produced and distributed the only Fantastic Four movies ever to make it onto the big screen, they’ve been associated with the franchise in the eyes of the general public – but the Fantastic Four’s production rights aren’t theirs to sell (remember, there are two sets of rights we’re talking about here: production and distribution).

 

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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19 minutes ago, media_junkie said:

So if this is true, this means that Marvel/Disney could not produce a FF movie, it also means that if someone else produced a FF movie Marvel/Disney could keep it out of theaters?

I believe so if one owns the production rights, and the other owns the distribution rights.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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30 minutes ago, Key Largo Comics said:

If Iger really wants a FF movie he will just buy Constantin Films. He can probably get it done with the change from between his couch cushions.

lol

And most probably true.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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:news:UPDATE: Refresh. :news:

CONFIRMED:

20th Century Fox

Marvel Studios

Sony Pictures

Universal Pictures

CO-OWNED

UNCONFIRMED/UNCLEAR

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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:news:UPDATE: Refreshed the Man-Thing film rights portion after the Ragnarok image appearance and other mentions. :news:

CONFIRMED:

20th Century Fox

Marvel Studios

Sony Pictures

Universal Pictures

CO-OWNED

UNCONFIRMED/UNCLEAR

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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:news:UPDATE: For anyone still confused over Hulk or Namor's film rights, Kevin Feige touched on these again in a recent interview. :news:

Kevin Feige Reveals There Are a Couple of Marvel Characters That Haven't "Come Home"

CONFIRMED:

20th Century Fox

Marvel Studios

Sony Pictures

Universal Pictures

CO-OWNED

UNCONFIRMED/UNCLEAR

 

 

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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Another Namor article where Feige shares how complicated the rights may be.

Kevin Feige Admits Namor Movies Rights Are Complicated

Namor-the-Sub-Mariner.jpg?q=50&w=486&h=3

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Years ago, the rights to a Namor movie were sold to Universal, along with several other characters. The rights to most of these characters have since reverted back to Marvel, but the Sub-Mariner remains in limbo. Marvel Studios has addressed the Namor situation a number of times, and Joe Quesada once stated that he believed that Namor was finally back at Marvel Studios. However, despite various rumors, there have been no announcements of any plans to bring The Avenging Son into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

In an interview with IGN, Feige was asked about the current status of Namor and if the situation was “complicated“:

 

"It is. I think there’s a way to probably figure it out but it does have — it’s not as a clean or clear as the majority of the other characters."

 

These comments suggest that unlike Nova and Moon Knight, Namor may not be part of Marvel’s plans for the immediate future. We’ve been told at different points in the past that the rights to Namor currently belong to Marvel Studios, but there seems to be much more to it than that. It’s hard to say what the specifics are or how much longer it will take for the rights issues with Universal to be resolved.

 

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Gatsby77

Gatsby77

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How does Marvel not own Man-Thing?

The 2005 movie was produced by Avi Arad, Kevin Feige & Stan Lee and was distributed by Lionsgate in the same Artisan Entertainment deal that gave Lionsgate the rights to the two Punisher movies.

if Punisher's now owned by Marvel, Man-Thing (and thus - Foolkilller!) should be as well.

Edited by Gatsby77
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Bosco685

Bosco685

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On 3/9/2018 at 4:23 PM, Bosco685 said:

 

:news:UPDATE: For anyone still confused over Hulk or Namor's film rights, Kevin Feige touched on these again in a recent interview. :news:

Kevin Feige Reveals There Are a Couple of Marvel Characters That Haven't "Come Home"

CONFIRMED:

20th Century Fox

Marvel Studios

Sony Pictures

Universal Pictures

CO-OWNED

UNCONFIRMED/UNCLEAR

Well this list is going to get much simpler come March 2019. :insane:

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