Disney, Don't F*ck Up Marvel...
There was a time in Disney’s past when they were about the magic of mouse and man. Walt Disney created a mystical place of both myth and legend in California, their movies, both live action and cartoon, pushed the boundaries of what anyone had ever seen before, and they provided dreams and imagination to both kids and adults.
Today? That magic is still at Disney, but that magic isn’t the primary engine driving the Disney machine. They’re a strategic brand monster that positions, plans, and corals it’s interested market base into a world carefully designed in hopes to maintain a presence of Magic, while squeezing dollars in trade for dreams.
The greatest example I can think of for this is the insertion of Downtown Disney and California Adventure into the Anaheim theme park, Disneyland. Both of these additions are neither improvement, nor magical. In fact, they’re simply “maximizing of real estate” and of course, profit. Anyone that’s ever been to California Adventure knows it feels more like a “newish” Knott’s than an actual Disney park. As for Downtown Disney, the only thing Disney about it is the control of their branded janitors, and the soundtrack they pipe through the overhead speakers. It’s a friggin’ strip-mall, people.
So, in comes Marvel. A $4,000,000,000.00 deal. This could be good or bad. Disney’s long been using Miramax films to run their “non-Disney” ventures through, and some are good and some are not-so good. That’s fine. They also have ABC, which does a fine job at entertaining with it’s shows. What scares me the most about this, is seeing Mickey one day holding hands in front of the castle in front of Fantasyland with Iron Man. I love Iron Man, even the movie was pretty damn awesome, and I can’t wait for that whole franchise to open up on the big-screen... But yea, that would suck.
I just hope for the sake of Marvel and Disney alike that they keep these interests separate. Hell, a Marvel theme park wouldn’t be all that bad, and perhaps that’s the intent, something to compete with the suffering Six Flags franchise, perhaps. With more intense rides than “Space Mountain”, for example. I don’t know. I liked Marvel as it was, and the direction they were going as it were. I just hope Disney doesn’t rape Marvel the same way they’re raping Walt.
