Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread
*cracks knuckles
I'm aware of the different studio thing, but I never understood why they couldn't crossover certain characters if they really wanted to. Sure, Fox owns the movie rights for the X-Men, and Sony, Spidey, but The Mouse owns Marvel. If they were adamant about having a cameo/crossover, I can't see why it couldn't be done over a paycheck and a handshake.
It can be done but won't be. It all comes down to merchandising. That is where the studios split, honestly they could get Marvel Studios to pay Hugh Jackman and Fox with a simple contract but when it comes to what is on cups, happy meal toys, action figure aisles, t-shirts, etc. that is where they have an issue with one another. Marvel Studios can't even just not put him on any of that because Fox would want that bank as well and force it. Interstudio issues almost stopped Watchmen for getting made.
Hell, even put two studio logos before the titles. I find it very hard to believe, if Marvel wanted to use Wolverine or Spidey or whoever, and they fronted the cash, Fox or Sony would put their foot down. Especially, if they could use Iron Man or Hulk as a guest in one of their projects, and could afford it.
Again it comes down to red tape because Fox would want part of the box office, part of the merchandising even if their characters aren't included, DVD sales, etc. and most companies aren't willing to bend so far. If WB didn't have to pay up to get Watchmen done they wouldn't have and I guarantee you that they regret it now.
Fox may own the film rights to Wolverine, but they don't own Hugh Jackman. Marvel could get cute and hire Jackman to be some generic soldier who comes across Cap (or any other superhero in one of their other movies) as long as it isn't done in a way that screams Wolverine. They could have a brief exchange where Jackman raises an eyebrow and puffs a cigar as a quick nod to fans but that'd be about it.
They can't. Plain and simple. Fox has sued Marvel left and right over mutants. Remember Mutant X? Fox stated it had exclusive rights from Marvel to develop the X-Men property, and anything similar was an infringement. You don't think they'd be all over a Jackman cameo even if he was credited as "soldier"? They aren't stupid.
They actually kinda do own Hugh Jackman.
Something similar happened with Ryan Reynolds and Warner Brothers. They pretty much told him NOT to go with any other studio for comic movies....now, he doesnt have too...but they're trying to keep him away from Deadpool. Didnt quite work, but they could green light the GL sequel right after, and start filming so soon that Deadpool would have no chance.
The thing is, Fox isnt retarded...(well...they are, but not like this), they could easily pick up on that, that soldier is supposed to be Wolverine. They dont want that. Hence why you'll never see any crossovers until Fox drops the rights, and Marvel Studios picks them up.
They own anything Wolverine just like they own anything X-Men and Fantastic Four. Including the actor's likenesses. Which means if Jessica Alba showed up in an Iron Man film with blond hair and blue eyes and didn't say a word, Fox could sue under copyright infringement. Marvel Studios could fight them but why go under the headache if you don't have to?
But Marvel no longer owns the rights to make films about their characters....Fox and Sony do. And they CAN sue Marvel. Who created what is irrelevant. It's who ever has the rights.
Bingo. Fox and Sony have exclusive media rights to both Spider-Man and the X-Men universes. Which means that even horrible play "Spider-Man: Turn off the Lights" had to be cleared by legal teams before getting done. Marvel cannot do anything about it and rumor is that the deals are in perpetuity with Fox which means that Fox decided when to sell them back with no end and Sony's latest deal with Marvel is also infinite for Spider-Man.
You do know you can get away with copyright and licenses with a parody right? Hence Waynes World.
What is funny though when you deal with parody you have to follow a strict set of guidelines or you have to pay. That T-1000 scene was gotten away with because the studio claimed it was just Robert Patrick in a cop uniform which can't be copyrighted. Costumed heroes are different and believe it or not everything down to Wolverine's hairstyle is copyrighted by Fox. You could have a clean shaven, Austrailian accented, long haired Jackman playing a soldier and I guarantee you that Marvel would be sued just on the principal of it alone.
And yes, Studios CAN keep an actor contractly obligated to finish a film, and not do something else. They dont give a ____ about Chris Evans because Fantastic Four was crap. Didnt do well enough to continue it. Hence the reboot soon. X-Men fell down the crap-shoot, so they're trying to revamp it....the only thing Fox has is Wolverine. And there's no way they want to give that character up. Even for a second.
Studios can keep an actor to a contract but they can't stop them from paying other parts. Meaning that unless it was contractually bound for an actor never to play another comic book hero even if Fox was doing another FF with Evans he could play Captain America if he wanted. What typically studios can do it push production forward and once production has started actors cannot take another project that would threaten it by contract. Remember Reynolds to date has played three different comic book characters and at one point Wesley Snipes was in talks to play four different ones including James Rhodes back when Tom Cruise was attached.
As for ET in TPM.....Lucasfilm owns Star Wars. Spielberg owns Amblin Entertainment, who (kinda sorta) owns ET. Since Lucas and Spielberg are friends......see what i'm saying?
Spielberg gave permission for it, LFL still had to go through the process but they are buddies so nothing was there to stop it. That is why that happens, if they weren't and LFL still did that Amblin could have sued.
Marvel must have thought they might one day start up a movie studio to make their own movies, so why sell your big license like Spiderman and Xmen to other studios?
Simple. The idea for Marvel Studios was in its infancy in 1990, ten years before Spider-Man. By selling Spider-Man, The Hulk and X-Men early, the revenue funded the creation of the Marvel Studios entity. Not to mention that for every The Incredible Hulk that doesn't do as well as they'd like they have a steady stream of cash flowing from royalities in other companies.
They should have just leased it to them, say for 5 or 6 movies and it would revert back to Marvel afterwards and then negotiate after that. Talk about dumb business decision by Avi Arad, and that fool thinks he is the ____.
Avi isn't calling those shots. In fact Sony's original contract with Spider-Man ended right after Spider-Man 2 but we resigned because Sony wanted it. The new deal supposedly is infinite. Spider-Man is a proven money maker so it's a safe bet to let someone else do the grunt work and just pull a check. Even though Spider-Man 3 was a fanboy letdown it almost tripled its budget in terms of returns so Sony isn't letting anything go anytime soon.
As comic fans we'd love to see Wolverine fighting it out with the Hulk or Hulk versus Thing or Reed Richards at a table with Tony Stark figuring things out but realistically it doesn't make good business sense to do so. Look at this year. They have Captain America and Thor both fully funded by Marvel Studios. They also have X-Men First Class which will stream revenue and they didn't have to do a thing. In 2012 they'll have Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Fox), The Avengers (Marvel Studios), Spider-Man (Sony), The Wolverine (Fox) and maybe even Deadpool if it gets off the ground (Fox) and they only funded one.
) is that in the near future there is a good chance we will see a massive Marvel movie with all their characters on the same screen all at once in one awesome Superhero team up movie!
