Category: News

Marvel’s 4Q report: Studios and money making

  • News
  • February 25, 2009

marvellogo-7722713Marvel Entertainment announced today operating results for its 4th-quarter ended December 31, 2008 and record net sales, net income and earnings per share for the full year 2008. For Q4 2008, Marvel reported net sales of $224.3 million and net income of $63.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $109.3 million and net income of $27.6 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, in Q4 2007. “The improvement reflects recognition of $135.5 million in film production segment revenues principally associated with the DVD performance of Marvel’s Iron Man feature film,” the company said. For the full year 2008, Marvel reported net sales of $676.2 million and net income of $205.5 million, or $2.61 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $485.8 million and net income of $139.8 million, or $1.70 per diluted share, in 2007. The revenue and net income growth principally reflects the contribution from Marvel Studios which released its first two feature films, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, in the summer of 2008.

Below is an updated look at the Marvel Studios’ product pipeline. The company also announced today that Kenneth Branagh is set to direct Thor (our spies tell us sets are already being built) which Paramount Pictures will distribute worldwide. It will be released domestically on July 16, 2010. Also, Iron Man 2 will begin principal photography in early April.

Marvel Studios Entertainment Pipeline
(According to its 4th quarter earnings report. Scheduled release dates are subject to change)

Self-Produced Feature Film Line-Up

  • Iron Man 2 (Marvel), scheduled for May 7, 2010 release, starts principal photography in April, directed by Jon Favreau, stars Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle
  • Thor (Marvel), scheduled for July 16, 2010 release, directed by Kenneth Branagh
  • The First Avenger: Captain America (Marvel), scheduled for May 6, 2011 release
  • The Avengers (Marvel), scheduled for July 15, 2011 release

Licensed Feature Film Line-Up

  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox), scheduled for May 1, 2009 release

Self-Produced Animated TV Series Line-Up

  • Super Hero Squad (Marvel Animation) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production with Film Roman, scheduled for Q3 2009 release on Cartoon Network
  • The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (Marvel Animation) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production with Film Roman; scheduled for Q3 2011 release

Licensed Animated TV Series Line-Up

  • Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes (Moonscoop SAS – France), 26 thirty-minute episodes airing internationally and on Marvel.com and Marvelkids.com
  • Spectacular Spider-Man (Culver Studios – U.S.) Will air on Disney XD in the U.S. beginning in March and currently airing on various networks internationally
  • Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Animation / First Serve Toonz – India), 52 thirty-minute episodes. Episodes 1-26 are currently airing on Nicktoons in the U.S. and are on air internationally, Episodes 27-52 are currently in pre-production
  • Black Panther (Marvel Animation / BET) 8 thirty-minute episodes in production, scheduled for Q2 2009 release on BET
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Marvel Animation / Method Films – France) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production, scheduled for Q2 2009 release in the U.S. on Nicktoons and various networks internationally

Licensed Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects

  • Thor: Son of Asgard (Lionsgate), scheduled for September 2009 release

Licensed Broadway Stage Project

  • Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark, the Musical, Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge (Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jeremiah Harris) Slated for a February 18, 2010 opening

Buck Rogers returns in May with 25 cent #0 issue

  • News
  • February 24, 2009

Dynamite Entertainment announces that its upcoming Buck Rogers comic book series will blast off in May with issue #0 with the low low cover price of 25¢.

"We’re planning Buck’s launch to be one of our biggest of 2009, one that will propel him into the comics future, "said Dynamite President Nick Barrucci. "We could think of no more appropriate way to welcome fans to this totally fresh take on one of comicdom’s first heroes than to offer his first new comics adventure in years at this incredible introductory price."

"Dynamite’s reinvention of Buck Rogers will follow the path Dynamite has blazed with its previous successful titles, and to ensure the comics audience can read the launch, we’re releasing the comic at a .25¢ cover price.  Dynamite is proud to be instrumental in re-inventing and continuing the legacies of  historical characters and their worlds with creators who can execute great stories.  We’re equally proud of the consistent critical and fan responses to our efforts, and are confident that Scott Beatty and Carlos Rafael will deliver.  We’re confident that Buck Rogers will extend Dynamite’s own tradition of creating and bringing together generations of fans in the most thrilling way possible, which is why we are launching it at an Introductory Priced.  This will allow retailers to stock it, and fans to try it, and see the quality, inexpensively."

According to series writer Scott Beatty "I can’t begin to describe my excitement in working with Dynamite and the Dille Estate to chronicle the all-new adventures of science fiction’s original spaceman, Buck Rogers."

"Buck is a sci-fi icon. We wouldn’t have STAR TREK or STAR WARS or many of the familiar trappings of the genre without the trails blazed by Buck with his trusty ray-gun and jet-pack. And with that in mind, I’m humbled by the fact that I get to work with such an important and indelible literary creation.

Featuring covers by John Cassaday on the series– and a special variant cover on issue #1 by Alex Ross– with story by Scott Beatty, and interior art by Carlos Rafael, Dynamite predicts Buck Rogers will be the smash hit sci-fi and adventure series of 2009 (and beyo-o-o-o-nd).

ComicMix Economics: Nielsen Three Screen Report

  • News
  • February 24, 2009

Here’s a piece that might not be caught by the excellent wrap-ups on the ongoing economics watch being done every day by Dirk Deppey, Tom Spurgeon, Heidi Macdonald, and the Robot 6 mechanics: Nielsen just came out with their quarterly Three Screen Report, which measures viewing of of television, internet and mobile devices, and found that the numbers have jumped significantly.

The major findings, as summed up by Cynopsis:

  • The average American watches more than 151 hours of TV per month, an all-time high. This is 5 hours and 13 minutes more per month compared to 145:49 from 4Q07.
  • Americans watch nearly three hours of video via the internet per month and internet usage overall is up by an hour versus a year ago to 27:04 per month.
  • Time-shifted television consumption is up by 33% compared to a year ago to 7:11 in 4Q08 versus 5:24 in 4Q07.
  • Video viewing on mobile devices and DVRs jumped by the largest margin during the quarter (each about 9% vs. Q3) as 11 million reported viewing video on phones or PDAs and 74 million watched DVR programming
  • And while audiences of all ages are watching online video, the trend for younger 18-24 year old viewers – broken out by Nielsen for the first time – suggest a dramatically increased reliance on the internet for video viewing. The demo spent nearly the same amount of time (about 5 hours a month) watching video online as they did watching DVR programming
  • Even younger viewers (aged 12-17) watched less video on TV, DVRs and the internet than last quarter but spent almost 6.5 hours a month watching mobile video.
  • When broken down by gender, females 2+ watched more TV and more online video than by almost 8% points but men consumed almost twice as much video on mobile phones.

Say hi to your new distribution channel for comics. You’re already soaking in it.

(Photo by Aaron Escobar™.)

The Point – February 23rd, 2009

  • News
  • February 23, 2009

This week we not only hit the comic store for our Five Cool Things, but we stick around to meet the staff. Issues the Series is the web feature about Life in A Comic Shop and we hang out with two of the stars, plus comics’ brief shining moment at The Oscars, why funny books aren’t funny and set aside a good three hours now for WATCHMEN. 

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BOOM! ‘Irredeemable’ trailer debuts

BOOM! Studios has debuted the trailer to Irredeemable, Mark Waid’s new ongoing superhero series that premieres this April. Take a look:

 

If you go to the BOOM! website, there’s also a coupon you can give to your comic store, but really, who wants an Irredeemable coupon?

Happy birthday, Valerie D’Orazio!

  • News
  • February 23, 2009

A happy birthday to the Occasional Superheroine and the President of Friends of Lulu herself, Valerie D’Orazio!

(No, we’re not telling you how old she is. She is timelessly and eternally young– in other words, younger than all the principals of ComicMix. And much cuter than Mike Gold.)

While we wait for Cloak and Dagger to come out, go read her current piece on the Doomsday scenario in comics distribution. And let her know we said hi.

Heath Ledger wins Best Supporting Actor Oscar for ‘The Dark Knight’

  • News
  • February 23, 2009

Yes, it’s official. Heath Ledger wins the Oscar for the Joker. Now I can turn off the show and catch the highlight reel later.

Although, I have to give Hugh Jackman credit for a fearless opening number. Damn, he can work a crowd. And who knew Anne Hathaway could sing?

Glad to see Shanti pegged the Oscar winner for costume design going to The Duchess.

The 2008 Razzies: ‘Love Guru’, Paris Hilton and Uwe Boll big… winners?

  • News
  • February 22, 2009

Yep, while everyone else is obsessing over the naked men tonight– Oscar, not Hugh Jackman– let us not forget the awards handed out last night, the 29th annual Golden Raspberry awards. Here’s the press release:

At least someone loved THE LOVE GURU. Voters for The 29th Annual RAZZIE Awards spread the dis-honors around this year, but gave several of their berry biggest trophies to one of 2008’s most notorious box office losers, Mike Myers’ misbegotten, far-from-mystical “comedy” THE LOVE GURU. In addition to being named the year’s Worst Picture, GURU also received spray-painted gold for its screenplay and Myers as Worst Actor, in intentionally tacky ceremonies held on “Oscar Eve” at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood.

But the former SNL star wasn’t the year’s biggest RAZZIE winner/loser. That dis-stink-tion belongs to “sex-tape-celeb-utant” Paris Hilton, who tied Eddie Murphy’s hat-trick from 2007, taking a record-tying 3 trophies in a single year. For her “starring” performance in Worst Picture nominee THE HOTTIE & THE NOTTIE (which Hilton herself executive-produced) the air-headed heiress was gonged for both Worst Actress and as part of the year’s Worst Screen Couple (along with co-stars Christine Lakin and Joel David Moore). And for her mostly-left-on-the-cutting-room floor cameo in the “slasher musical” REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, she was chosen Worst Supporting Actress.

Others roundly RAZZed in the 90-minute Oscar parody included Pierce Brosnan as Worst Supporting Actor for his tone-deaf turn in MAMMA MIA! The year’s third-biggest grossing (and most disappointing) movie INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL “won” as Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel and world-class worst movie-maker Uwe Boll took both the 2008 Worst Director RAZZIE® (for 3 titles) and a well-deserved special Worst Career Achievement dis-honor.

For a complete list of this year’s “winners” click here. And congrats, it was a tough field this year.

ComicMix Politics: Zimbabwe’s Mugabe holding missing Dr. Who episodes?

  • News
  • February 22, 2009

This is a weird one. As you may know, Doctor Who has been running since 1963. A number of the earlier episodes are missing, because some bozo at the BBC decided to save money by destroying some old episodes to make room in their library, including a number of episodes starring the first two Doctors, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Once they realized what had happened, massive searches got under way to find what was lost. But despite years of searching, the broadcaster is missing 108 of 752 episodes.

Well, according to the London Sun, it turns out there’s a place where a bunch of them could be– Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe bought the first season of the show when it was still the British colony known as Rhodesia. The BBC suspects the historic series, together with later episodes not held anywhere else in the world, may still be locked away in a vault.

So what’s the problem? The current leader of Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, hates hates hates the British. Mugabe still blames their former colonial ruler Britain for its economic chaos, and last year called the British Government “thieving neo-colonialists”. President Mugabe has banned the BBC from setting foot in the country. On the other hand, Mugabe and Zimbabwe needs money, and there would be a lot of money in DVD sales if copies do exist.

So we’ll have to wait and see. One day, he may really come back after all…

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