Some people have wondered why it is Paramount Pictures and not Walt Disney Pictures that is credited in the The Avengers promos. After all, last October they announced that they had “reached an agreement under which Paramount will transfer its worldwide marketing and distribution rights to Disney for Marvel Studios’ The Avengers and Iron Man 3… Under terms of the new deal, Disney will pay Paramount $115 million for the transfer of the distribution rights to Iron Man 3 and The Avengers to be paid on the theatrical release dates. These monies will serve as a minimum guarantee against the distribution fees. In completing this agreement, Disney will now assume worldwide marketing and distribution of ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Iron Man 3’.”
Yet, when you look at both the teaser poster and the new trailer, there is no mention of Disney at all. Variety has a report on this and mentions that some things were left out of the original announcement:
Knowing Disney wanted to turn “The Avengers” into a franchise and bank on the success of “Iron Man” after buying Marvel for $4 billion, Par’s brass negotiated a deal in which it continues to collect 8% of the B.O. as part of fees it would have earned for distribbing the pic, as it did with the two “Iron Man” pics, “Thor” and “Captain America.” It gets 9% for “Iron Man 3.”
At the minimum, it earns $115 million, should they not perform.
At the same time, the deal granted Par placement on the marketing materials for both titles, even though Marvel’s films are fully owned by Disney and will be solely distributed and marketed by the Mouse House, Variety learned.
While moviegoers will continue to think Paramount is releasing The Avengers and Iron Man 3 in theaters, it is Disney doing all the work and who we talk to behind the scenes. A strange situation for sure, but we’ll get our superhero movies no matter what.
