How much is Marvel making or benefiting from the Men in Black franchise?

[[]D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite]

First off, it looks like Marvel were f***ed over from the first two movies:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3444075.stm
http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70743
http://www.mania.com/surprise-settlement-allows-sony-marvel-to-look-ahead_article_94806.html

Now, there's recently been rumors of a Men in Black III.

What are your thoughts on Marvel and this franchise?

Are the benefiting from it as much as they should? How could Marvel get more involved in the franchise itself?

[howyadoin]

D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite;7806375']

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3444075.stmA spokeswoman for Sony said: "We haven't seen the complaint. This is the first we've heard of it." So that's what StoneGold's up to lately.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Wasn't "Men in Black" an indie comic that was popular enough and got turned into a movie ?

[Sean Walsh]

Wasn't "Men in Black" an indie comic that was popular enough and got turned into a movie ?

It was originally published by Malibu Comics. I *believe*, when the first MiB movie was made, Marvel owned Malibu.

But MiB was creator-owned, I thought....

[[]D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite]

Wasn't "Men in Black" an indie comic that was popular enough and got turned into a movie ?

MiB became a Malibu property when Malibu bought that comic's publisher (Aircel). MiB then became a Marvel property when Marvel bought Malibu. The movies came after.

It wasn't part of the Ultraverse line and it became under Malibu ownership when Malibu acquired another company, so I'm not sure if it was creator-owned like the Ultraverse/other Malibu titles.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

It was originally published by Malibu Comics. I *believe*, when the first MiB movie was made, Marvel owned Malibu.

But MiB was creator-owned, I thought....

Ok in 1990 it was published by Aircel Comics before Malibu bought them out...and later books would happen. I could see where Lowell Cunningham (creator/writer) would keep the ownership in a way...

[SUPERECWFAN1]

D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite;7806565']MiB became a Malibu property when Malibu bought that comic's publisher (Aircel). MiB then became a Marvel property when Marvel bought Malibu. The movies came after.

It wasn't part of the Ultraverse line, so I'm not sure if it was creator-owned like the Ultraverse titles.

It seems to be a creator owned property according to the Wiki article . And it may have been before Malibu started its own Universe.

[[]D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite]

It seems to be a creator owned property according to the Wiki article . And it may have been before Malibu started its own Universe.

I don't know. It's pretty murky. Apparently, it's one of the few Malibu properties Marvel can do something with because it looks like they own it outright. And it looks like they had a hand in the film series production:

Malibu was bought by Marvel in 1994 and Men in Black was one of the properties they developed. So when the first film appeared Marvel published a number of one-shots in 1997, including two prequels, a sequel and a movie adaptation.

[[]D[]/\/\[]D @ Nite/So-tite]

Yesterday, I made a thread concerning the Men in Black movie franchise and how Marvel didn't benefit much from it as they thought they would, especially given that MiB is a Marvel property.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=243513

I was wondering, should Marvel Studios try to seize more control over the MiB franchise, especially granted how they've done the same with the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises?

What are your thoughts?

[Libaax]

I hope the creator made alot of money from the movies and not marvel.

Its a great idea atleast(not having the comic).

Marvel shouldnt get money from buying Malibu years after the comics was made and was creator owned.

[howyadoin]

I hope the creator made alot of money from the movies and not marvel.Lowell Cunningham might've. I'm pretty sure Sandy Carruthers didn't.

[StoneGold]

It seems to be a creator owned property according to the Wiki article . And it may have been before Malibu started its own Universe.

It definitely was. Although I remember, the poster for the first movie said based on the Malibu comic, the movie credited Marvel, but the second movie just credited Malibu.


And I work for Sony Electronics, different division from Entertainment, and just on products, wouldn't comment on legal. Although ironically, I used to work for Malibu and Marvel.