Disney Acquires Distribution Rights for Marvel

Disney owns Marvel. This has been true since 2009 and not one person would know the difference, despite public outcry at first. However, Disney did not get to distribute a Marvel Studios film until The Avengers in 2012, followed by Iron Man 3 this year. That is due to the prior agreement Paramount had with Marvel to distribute the Phase 1 films for Marvel, until Disney bought the rights away from them for Avengers and Iron Man 3 (despite Paramount’s logo on the films). However, Disney has announced today that they have acquired distribution right of 4 of the Phase 1 films, including Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America. The deal is described in a single sentence, that Paramount “was paid for the transfer of the distribution rights.” Disney paid up, and they’re going to cash that in sooner than later I suspect. This will more than likely lead to Disney selling the DVD/BD’s in their stores and rereleasing them to the public under their Disney banner, for double dipping purposes.

You may notice The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton is missing from this list, but that film was distributed through Universal so they probably have more insight than we do. Lets hope Disney gets all their rights under the house of mouse and we can see some great collections, like the Phase 1 collector set (minus the 3D, that’s just BS).