Super Hero Take-aways

Wisdom for Marvel and the Mouse per the L.A. Times:

Seven Lessons From Thor Deux

1) ... “Thor: The Dark World” shows Marvel can do it without Downey. ...

2) The Mickey Machine: ... “Thor: The Dark World” further validates Disney -- if the film hits $900 million, it would mean the top three all-time Marvel movies have all been released by Disney.

3) Bridge [from "Avengers I" to "Avengers II"]: Thanks to "Iron Man 3" earlier in the year and "Thor" now (both characters are of course key figures in “The Avengers” series), [Disney] has one. ...

4) Could new franchises be ... spun out after “The Avengers”? This weekend, the performance of the “Thor” sequel suggested that they could.

5) According to figures released by Disney, 61% of the audience this past weekend was above the age of 25. And 32% of the audience was actually over 35. If that doesn’t seem like a large percentage, consider this: Without that constituency, the movie would have opened to less than $60 million. ...

6) ... Could [Marvel] go out on a limb and pick someone such as Alan Taylor, a man who had in fact never directed a feature before? "Thor: The Dark World's" numbers validated the strategy. ...

7) “Thor” proved November could work. With this past summer proving a tough time for many tent poles, the release strategy indicates an alternative -- if the right weapon-wielding heroes are involved. ...

The Lesson I take from the above is that when it comes to live-action features, Disney has been adept at maximizing profits from its Marvel acquisition.

Whether this holds true for Marvel's animated versions of its comic book library remains to be seen. Marvel's television product has done okay, but nothing close to the blockbuster success of the live-action stuff. The cross-pollination I'm interested in seeing is Walt Disney Animation Studio's Big Hero Six. If that movie takes off, it's a safe bet there will be move Marvel-Walt Disney Animation Studios collaborations.