Marvel: the multi-billion-dollar empire Stan Lee brought to life

NEW YORK CITY - In a little more than 20 years, Marvel has gone from a company that declared bankruptcy (1996) as the comic book industry waned to a global empire generating billions of dollars a year.

The following is a look at the wide-ranging activities of the group, which for decades was led by Stan Lee, who died on Monday at age 95. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney, which bought it for $4 billion in 2009.

FILMS

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a lucrative one: over the past decade, from "Iron Man" in 2008 through this year's "Ant-Man and the Wasp," 20 Marvel films have hit the big screen.

In total, the Marvel Studios productions have raked in a whopping $6.8 billion in North America alone, according to industry tracker Box Office Mojo.

According to AFP calculations based on figures from Box Office Mojo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Forbes, the films have earned $17.5 billion, against $3.59 billion in production costs (excluding marketing).

Three new titles are in the works so far for 2019: "Captain Marvel," starring Oscar winner Brie Larson, in March; the latest chapter in the "Avengers" saga in May; and "Spider-Man: Far from Home" in July.

These totals do not include other films based on Marvel heroes that were produced under licensing deals ("Spider-Man" at Sony or the "X-Men" series and "Deadpool" at 20th Century Fox).

TELEVISION

For decades, Marvel has produced animated television series featuring its cast of characters, but changed tack in 2012 after a deal with streaming giant Netflix, shifting to live-action dramas.

"Daredevil," "Jessica Jones," "Luke Cage," and "Iron Fist" have all aired on the platform.

Marvel's current deal with Netflix reportedly stipulates that the streaming giant pays Disney $300 million a year for the right to propose exclusive TV series, as well as films.

The deal will come to an end in 2019 when Disney launches its own dedicated Marvel platform.

Another TV highlight is "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD," which has aired for 5 seasons on broadcast network ABC and will return next year.

VIDEO GAMES

Marvel has produced its own licensed video games for more than 35 years but in 2017, it reached a partnership deal with Japanese gamemaker Square Enix.

"Spider-Man" -- a game produced by Insomniac Games in concert with Sony Entertainment (that licensing deal again) -- ranks second in sales for the Sony PlayStation 4 console in 2018, according to specialized website VGChartz, with 4.6 million copies sold. The going US price is $60.

COMIC BOOKS

Though they are no longer the core of Marvel's business as they were in the early 1960s, the actual comic books remain an essential part of the group's DNA.

Each month, a plethora of new titles are published, exploring new adventures for iconic characters or creating universes with new heroes.

TOYS, OTHER LICENSED PRODUCTS

Marvel's heroes are featured on everything from action figures and board games to T-shirts, Halloween costumes, shoes, and watches. Suitcases, backpacks, and cell phone cases are also part of the empire.

LIVE SHOWS

Since July 2014, Feld Entertainment has been licensed to produce "Marvel Universe Live!" -- a live-action show featuring superheroes and villains played by actors, performing stunts in a scripted extravaganza.

More than 40 dates are set for the show's 2019 tour.

AMUSEMENT PARKS

In May 2017, Disney opened the stomach-churning "Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!" ride at its campus of amusement parks in Anaheim, California.

In March 2018, Marvel announced that other dedicated theme areas would be created at Disney World in Florida, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland in the coming years.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

What to look forward to in Asia Pop

MANILA -- It is T-minus 1 by the time you read this. And this means that there’s one day to go ’til the much-awaited Asia Pop Comic Con, the biggest comic book and pop culture convention to hit these shores. And when that happens, some folks will be in Geek Heaven.

There are going to be a lot of activities but personally, here is what I am looking forward to this Asia Pop, which happens on September 17-20 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Thursday, September 17

Checking out all the comics, toys, and merchandise on sale!

Friday, September 18

The special screening of the new Lance Henriksen (who famously played Bishop in the Aliens films and ex-FBI agent Frank Black in the television series “Millennium”) film, "Harbinger Down," a film with alien-like beings that takes the actor back to his roots.

Meeting writer and artist David Mack whose Kabuki and Daredevil stories I read and collected.

Meeting artist David Yardin whose work on Image Comics’ “Aria” following our very own Jay Anacleto and Lan Medina on the wonderful series of magical stories.

Meeting American Cosplayer Monika Lee who did a great interpretation of Final Fantasy X’s Yuna and anime character, Sailor Mars.

Saturday, September 19

The cosplay event our very own goddess Alodia Gosiengfiao and Vampy Bit Me

The Comics Artists Panel with DC Comics’ Hank Kanalz who famously helped start Image Comics with Jim Lee, as well as Filipino superstar artists Mico Suayan, Stephen Segovia, and Carlo Pagulayan.

Check out the Marvel Special Panel on "Captain America: Civil War." I figure they will feature a new cut for the trailer.

In conversation with actor Paul Bettany, who played the android Vision in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

The Cosplay Authority Global Challenge where the winner can take home up to US$10,000!

Sunday, September 20

The Comics Panel with Marvel Comics’ C.B. Cebulski and Filipino superstar artists Whilce Portacio and Leinil Yu, David Mack and David Yardin.

Checkpoint Movie Preview and Panel featuring former pro-wrestler Bill Goldberg

The Toy Panel featuring J’Ryu, Chris Ryniak, Amanda Spayd, and Simone Legno

The Cosplay Authority Global Challenge Awards Ceremony

Some toys worth checking out:

The Hot Toys Booth, powered by Filbar’s or Booth K#19, will delight action figures hobbyists with six Hot Toys 2015 Toy Fair Exclusives—the Iron Man Mark XXIV Tank, Iron Man Mark III (Stealth Mode Version), Maria Hill, Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise Version), Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 1/6th scale First Order Stormtrooper Squad Leader, and Metal Gear’s Raiden (Inferno Armor Version).

There will be Lego and Star Wars booths as well!

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Fantastic Four' bombs with $26.2 million weekend

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Scathing reviews and an indiscreet tweet left "Fantastic Four" on the slab after the franchise reboot flopped at the weekend box office.

Fox's hopes of rejuvenating the comicbook characters and turning the super-team into a cinematic juggernaut to rival "X-Men" have flamed out given that the film debuted to a dreadful $26.2 million across 3,995 theaters. With a production budget of $120 million, plus millions more in marketing costs, the film will need to get a boost from foreign crowds if it wants to avoid being a write-off.

The studio was banking on a cast of up-and-coming actors like Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller and a wunderkind director in the form of "Chronicle's" Josh Trank to push the Human Torch, the Thing, Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic into the modern era, but production difficulties may have doomed the project. Trank reportedly exhibited bizarre behavior on set that was so extreme it cost him his gig directing a "Star Wars" spinoff. He seemed to acknowledge those tensions, blaming studio-mandated reshoots for the poor critical notices in a tweet Thursday that he subsequently deleted.

"This turned into a nightmare for Fox," said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. "Everything that could go wrong went wrong and the whole thing fell apart."

"Fantastic Four's" opening is well below the $40 million-plus debut that most analysts had projected and trails the $56 million launch of 2005's "Fantastic Four" and the $58 million bow of 2007's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." It's the worst opening for a movie featuring Marvel Comics' characters since "Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance" debuted to $22.1 million in 2012. A C- CinemaScore means that word-of-mouth is going to be toxic.

"The confluence of clearly the decidedly negative reviews with the combination of social media did not help the cause," said Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson.

He was not willing to write off the "Fantastic Four" series yet, but stressed that the studio would be engaged in a rigorous postmortem about the film's failure. The foursome's future might be as supporting players in other comicbook characters' movies.

"We have a lot to look forward to in our comicbook character universe," said Aronson. "We may find different ways to feature these characters in the future, but it's early and we'll have to see what form that takes."

The film's opening weekend crowd was 60% male and 51% under the age of 25.

"Fantastic Four's" anemic opening was good news for "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," which edged out the comicbook movie to capture first place on the box office charts. The Paramount sequel earned a strong $29.4 million in its second week in theaters, pushing its domestic total to $108.7 million.

It was a crowded weekend at the multiplexes with four new wide releases piling into theaters. Among the new entrants, STX Entertainment's "The Gift" fared best, with the thriller picking up $12 million across 2,503 theaters and nabbing a third place finish. That's a solid debut considering the film, which Blumhouse Productions co-financed and co-produced, cost a mere $5 million to make. It marks STX's first theatrical release -- the studio was launched in 2014 by producer Robert Simonds with the goal of making the kind of mid-budget films that studios have largely abandoned in favor of superhero adventures.

"This is an exceptional start for our company," said Kevin Grayson, STX's domestic distribution group president. "We got to battle test our marketing and distribution groups."

Grayson said the film has been playing more like a psychological thriller than a horror movie, so he believes it should hold up well in coming weeks instead of fading quickly. The audience skewed older and female, with women making up 53% of the opening crowd and 73% of ticket buyers clocking in at over 25 years old.

"We knew people were chomping at the bit to get more adult-skewing product," Grayson said.

Sony's "Ricki and the Flash" got off to a slower start, picking up $7 million from 1,603 theaters. The film stars Meryl Streep as an aging rocker re-connecting with her estranged family and the hope is that the picture, which appeals to older crowds, will gradually build its audience in the coming weeks. It cost an economical $18 million to produce and is the first release from the rebooted Tri-Star, the label Tom Rothman was overseeing before he took the reins as head of Sony Pictures.

"It's an audience that is probably going to come out over a period of time," said Rory Bruer, distribution chief for Sony. "Films like this have a tendency to play for many, many weeks to come."

The final new release, Lionsgate's "Shaun the Sheep," didn't make much of a stir, opening Wednesday and earning $4 million this weekend and $5.6 million in its first five days in theaters. The studio paid roughly $2 million for the rights along with promotion and advertising costs. The break-even point is at approximately $15 million, making it a low-risk investment.

Among art house players, Sony Pictures Classics' coming-of-age drama "Diary of a Teenage Girl" earned $54,525 on four screens, with a per-screen average of $13,631. IFC expanded World War II thriller "Phoenix" from four to 27 screens, where it generated $135,810, bringing its domestic total to $259,492. Focus World bowed thriller "Cop Car" in three locations and on-demand. It took in $27,000 for a per-theater average of $9,000 and is of particular interest to Hollywood as it was directed by Jon Watts, the man who just took over the Spider-Man franchise.

The top five was rounded out by Warner Bros.' "Vacation" with $9.1 million and Disney and Marvel's "Ant-Man" with $7.8 million, pushing their totals to $37.3 million and $147.4 million, respectively.

Final numbers are still being tallied, but the overall box office will be down steeply compared to the same weekend a year ago, as none of the new films could match the $65.6 million debut of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" or the $42.1 million second weekend of "Guardians of the Galaxy." It's the second straight week of declines, a sign that ticket sales are slowing down entering the dog days of summer.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tintin comic book cover fetches record price at auction

PARIS -- A rare 1932 cover illustration of "Tintin in America" by Herge, the artist who dreamed up the boy reporter, on Saturday fetched a record 1.3 million euros ($1.6 million) at an auction in.

"The work has been sold at 1,338,509.20 euros, costs included, by a person who wishes to remain anonymous," a spokesman for the auctioneers, Artcurial, told AFP.

The previous owner, another Tintin collector, had bought it for 764,218 euros in 2008, which had until today stood as the record price in this domain.

While Artcurial had not announced an estimate of what they thought it would fetch this time, a spokesman said they had expected it to break the one-million-euro mark.

Belgian comic book artist Herve painted the Indian ink and gouache colour cover for the first edition of the book, which first appeared in 1934.

One of only five such works of cover art remaining by Herve, it shows the young adventurer dressed as a cowboy sitting on a rock, his dog Snowy at his side, as three Indians, two wielding axes, creep up behind him.

The sale Saturday was part of a larger sale of Tintin-related memorabilia.

In February a Belgian court refused to ban the sale of "Tintin in the Congo", rejecting a complaint from a Congolese man, Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, that it was filled with racist stereotypes about Africans.

Herge himself, real name Georges Remi (1907-1983), who revised some of the scenes for later editions had himself justified the book by saying it was merely a reflection of the naive views of the time.

Last year, film director Steven Spielberg released a 3D film, "Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn" and is already planning a sequel.

source: interaksyon.com

American comic book wins Japan international manga award

TOKYO — American comic book “I Kill Giants” has won the top prize in the Japanese government-sponsored annual international award for manga, the foreign ministry said.

The 2008 book, created by American writer Joe Kelly and Spanish cartoonist J.M. Ken Niimura, was awarded the gold prize out of 145 entries from 30 countries and areas, the ministry announced on Tuesday.

It portrays a socially isolated girl battling monsters both real and imagined as she comes of age.

The three silver prizes went to Asian artists, Pan Liping of China, Cory of Taiwan and Tanis Werasakwong of Thailand. Ten other works were honorably mentioned.

An award ceremony for the Fifth International Manga Award was to be held in Tokyo on Friday.

The award, which excludes Japanese works, was created in 2007 under the lead of manga fan and then Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who later served as prime minister for a year, to promote manga as a Japanese cultural export.

source: japantoday.com

Exciting new year for comic book cartoons

MANILA, Philippines — While 2011 had been a huge year for comics, the year 2012 looks to be an even bigger year.

Cartoons may seem childish to teenagers and young adults, but animated films and TV series are an effective gateway for people to get into comics. The secret to good animation is finding the balance between adapting its original source and translating the essence of a comic into the screen, taking the viewers’ mindset into consideration.

Looking back

Last October, DC came out with its animated adaptation of “Batman: Year One.’’ The film was a very faithful take on Frank Miller’s original work. The producers said it was easy to turn the comic into a cartoon because of Miller’s cinematic style of writing.

What made “Batman: Year One’’ so unique and fascinating is how it delves into the life of James Gordon. The film acts as an origin story for Batman, but it spends just as much time detailing the pressures that Gordon fights through, as he finds himself stuck in a corrupt police system. The film takes us into his personal life as well, exploring his relationship with his wife and child.

What also makes Year One thrilling is its depiction of Catwoman, especially in the bonus short film, starring our favorite cat burglar with a heart. It turns out that more than a simple desire for money and jewelry, Selina Kyle is really Ijust trying to protect the women of Gotham City.

“Thor: Tales of Asgard’’ was Marvel’s 2011 animated release that tells the story of a young Thor who learns the consequences of great power, and the responsibility that goes with it. The plot is very traditional, and Thor as a character is pretty dull. But what I really appreciated was how Loki is made into such a likable, innocent, and caring brother. The end of the film foreshadows his dark future, but most of the movie has Loki aiding Thor and performing heroic tasks.

Party like it’s 2012

DC has so many animated projects in the coming year, it gets me giddy every time I think about it.

“Justice League: Doom’’ will come out early 2012. The animated film is a loose adaptation of Tower of Babel, the famous JLA storyline that had the World’s Greatest Heroes systematically beat down and humiliated by their enemies who are using Batman’s files to devise their strategies. Finding out that Batman is keeping dangerous, intrusive files on his teammates creates a rift in the team, making Batman an untrustworthy figure.

The movie has sentimental value as well. The project was Dwayne McDuffie’s last, as he wrote it right before his death in February 2011. McDuffie was the creator of Static Shock, and he also wrote and produced Justice League Unlimited.

Also in the works is an animated film adaptation of Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns.’’ This is sure to either make fanboys rejoice or shake with fear. Along with Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns is considered by many as a classic to top all classics. So while the potential for such a project is mind-blowing, fans around the world will surely be critical.

I guess the best advice is for viewers to accept any animated adaptation as a separate piece of work from its original source. It’s hard to enjoy a movie when you’re constantly comparing it to the comic books. We have to look at animated films as a whole different entity. Of course, that is easier said than done.

On TV, “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’’ will start its second season early 2012. The show boasts of an all-star line-up featuring the likes of Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. Lesser known heroes like Hawkeye, Black Panther, Wasp and Hank Pym also play major roles in the TV series. Obviously targeted at kids, adults will nevertheless enjoy the cartoon because of its fast pace, sleek animation, and big action.

There are a lot more animated comic book adaptations scheduled for 2012, so do try to keep yourselves posted on the newest releases. Always buy original. Either buy the original copies of the cartoon, or catch it on TV. Let’s give the animators more incentive and more reason to keep on coming back with new, progressive projects.

Happy new year to all of you, and may the force be with you!

source: mb.com.ph