RUMOR: "Star Wars" License Shifts To Marvel In 2013

[tony ingram]

A couple of things to take into consideration is that while Disney owns Lucasfilms, Lucasfilms really made its money by licensing its properties to various other companies--such as Dark Horse--that pay them, invest in the production of product, and then submit that product to Lucasfilms Licensing for final approval. Depending on the nature of the licensing deal, these other companies may also have to pay Lucasfilms a percentage of any profit from the sales of the product too. In that regard, it may be less profitable for Disney to have that level of corporate synergy between Lucasilms and Marvel unless Star Wars comics sell about as well as Marvel's top books. If the license stays with Dark Horse, it still will be under authorization from Disney (through Lucasfilms). If the license goes to Marvel it may very well be with a mandate to merge the two universes together someway.

Why would it be? Marvel licensed Star Wars before for years, and it was always treated as a standalone property. Same with Star Trek and Tarzan when Marvel published them.

[C. Earl]

Why would it be? Marvel licensed Star Wars before for years, and it was always treated as a standalone property.

Back then, Marvel and Lucasfilms weren't owned by the same company. You could very well ask why would Disney want to move Star Wars from Lucasfilms to Marvel when they really control it either way through Lucasfilms.

[tony ingram]

Back then, Marvel and Lucasfilms weren't owned by the same company. Times have changed since Marvel last had the property too.

Still not seeing any reason why they'd integrate the two universes. They produced a licensed John Carter comic recently. Wolverine was noticeable by his absence.

[C. Earl]

Still not seeing any reason why they'd integrate the two universes.

Is there any reason why they wouldn't if they could? When corporations own things they can do whatever they want with them.

[The Adventurer]

Is there any reason why they wouldn't if they could? When corporations own things they can do whatever they want with them.

Because it makes no sense from their shared universe's perspective to do so. And Marvel has rarely taken the effort to merge their imprint lines with the core Marvel Universe previously.

They are not DC.

[C. Earl]

Because it makes no sense from their shared universe's perspective to do so. And Marvel has rarely taken the effort to merge their imprint lines with the core Marvel Universe previously.

They are not DC.

In that regard, it makes no sense for Lucasfilms to move Star Wars to Marvel. The Disney corporate synergy already exists with Lucasfilms controlling the license.

[The Adventurer]

In that regard, it makes no sense for Lucasfilms to move Star Wars to Marvel. The Disney corporate synergy already exists with Lucasfilms controlling the license.

It makes perfect sense. Because the whole reason Disney bought Marvel was to bring a publishing arm in-house. The whole point is so Disney doesn't have to license stuff out to others. The more controlling interest they have in-house the better, from their perspective anyway.

[C. Earl]

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It makes perfect sense. Because the whole reason Disney bought Marvel was to bring a publishing arm in-house. The whole point is so Disney doesn't have to license stuff out to others. The more controlling interest they have in-house the better, from their perspective anyway.

Actually it's more profitable to license stuff out to others--you've got people paying you to produce products rather than you investing in the production of products. The more stuff you license, the more money you make without having to invest anything. Lucasfilms has made more several times money through licensing than anything else. And Disney already has controlling interest through Lucasfilms.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

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Actually it's more profitable to license stuff out to others--you've got people paying you to produce products rather than you investing in the production of products. The more stuff you license, the more money you make without having to invest anything. Lucasfilms has made more several times money through licensing than anything else. And Disney already has controlling interest through Lucasfilms.

Of course Disney wants total profits from Star Wars. They get paid for the license...but not the big sales piece. This move gives them complete ownership and the whole sales pie in a way. Its why they moved some books from Boom over time . They could get paid for using the characters sure. But the complete sales pie was them handing it to Marvel and making $$$$. Plus Marvel is a way bigger enterprise than Dark Horse. They realize with the right push Star Wars could sell a shitload of books there and make way more money and exposure before the next sequels.

[Blastermaster]

I think that Dark Horse is more capable than Marvel when it comes to Star Wars comics, Dark Horse can produce more Star Wars comics than Marvel can and Dark Horse already has plans for lots of series in the future, Brian Wood's Star Wars can run for many years, same with Star Wars Legacy, Dawn of the Jedi has only begun, same with Agent of the Empire, Dark Times, Knights Errant and Dark Horse can do a tie-in to the new movies just as well as Marvel, if not better. Disney makes more money if Dark Horse is doing 4 series at one time than if Marvel does 1 tie-in to the movies. And if there is a surge in popularity after the new movies Disney makes even more money if Dark Horse has 4 series plus a tie-in running.

Also I had an idea what Disney and Dark Horse could do if Disney wants to make money of Star wars the best way possible right now. All they would have to do is make a commercial for the Star Wars the clone wars comics that Dark Horse has already made and put it at the end of every Star Wars the clone wars episodes. The show is moving to Disney XD or whatever it's called so it wouldn't be a problem for Disney, it wouldn't cost them anything. Dark Horse would benefit from it and at the same time Disney would benefit from it. And maybe if a kid goes to a comic book shop because he saw a commercial for Star Wars comics on TV and sees a cool spiderman or batman comic and buys that one too, Comic book shops benefit from it too. Getting kids to comic book shops is what this industry needs the most.

[C. Earl]

Of course Disney wants total profits from Star Wars. They get paid for the license...but not the big sales piece. This move gives them complete ownership and the whole sales pie in a way. Its why they moved some books from Boom over time . They could get paid for using the characters sure. But the complete sales pie was them handing it to Marvel and making $$$$. Plus Marvel is a way bigger enterprise than Dark Horse. They realize with the right push Star Wars could sell a shitload of books there and make way more money and exposure before the next sequels.

But there's no quarantee that will happen. In fact, Disney was making more money with the properties they had at Boom than they are now with Marvel. And I'm also doubtful that Marvel will sell more books since I doubt there are that many people reading Star Wars comics in general. If Marvel can get some big names behind it like Bendis or make Star Wars something that can appeal to readers who would otherwise buy Avengers or X-Men, that would help.

[MadMikeyD]

Apparently this is more than a rumor. This article says it's been confirmed with both Dark Horse and Marvel. Too bad.

http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...comic-license/

[Blastermaster]

Apparently this is more than a rumor. This article says it's been confirmed with both Dark Horse and Marvel. Too bad.

http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...comic-license/

Dark horse said that they won't say anything until January the 1st regarding the rumors, so we'll just have to wait and see.

[C. Earl]

Dark horse said that they won't say anything until January the 1st regarding the rumors, so we'll just have to wait and see.

That's the best approach.

[AJBopp]

But there's no quarantee that will happen. In fact, Disney was making more money with the properties they had at Boom than they are now with Marvel.

I don't know about Boom, but as tight-lipped as Mavel is about sales it's hard to believe this could be said with any degree of confidence that it is based in something other than personal preference of how one wishes the world was. If there's some data to support this, I'd be interested to see a link that pointed to it.