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Disney Has Made More Than $18bn Since Buying The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Disney Has Made More Than $18bn Since Buying The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Not a bad investment, everything considered

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Disney has earned more than $18bn (£14.4bn) from Marvel since it bought the rights to the comic book giant in 2009 for $4bn (£3.2bn).

Seems like a decent bit of business, really.

It all began back in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, when filmgoers were introduced to the crazy world of eccentric billionaire and tech genius Tony Stark.

Back then, DC Comics - Marvel's biggest rival - was riding the crest of the success of the Dark Knight trilogy starring Christian Bale (as another billionaire tech magnate) as well as Tom Hardy, Liam Neeson and Heath Ledger.

Now, Marvel is without a doubt the biggest comic book movie franchise in history, with Avengers: Endgame recently becoming the highest grossing movie of all time along the way.

Yeah, Avengers: Endgame did OK.
Marvel

A year after the success of Iron Man, which took around $600m (£481m) worldwide, Disney decided it quite fancied a piece of the action.

The CEO over at the House of Mouse, Bob Iger, made a $4bn bid for the comic book company, who had already sold the rights of some properties to Paramount and Universal as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The rest - as they say - is history.

At the time, Iger said: "This is perfect from a strategic perspective.

"This treasure trove of over 5,000 characters offers Disney the ability to do what we do best."

Disney CEO Bob Iger.
PA

It's fair to say they delivered on that potential.

In total, Disney has produced and distributed 16 of the 23 total films in the MCU canon. Marvel Studios has taken a combined $22bn (£17.6bn) over the course of that run, of which Disney has made the lion's share.

It's worth remembering that these figures don't include cost of making and marketing these films, but they also don't include the billions you'd imagine Marvel and Disney have taken from merchandising over the past 10 years.

There's more to come, too.

At the recent San Diego Comic-Con International event, Disney and Marvel gave us all a glimpse of what is to come from phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Here's some of what we can expect from phase four.
Marvel

Whilst there isn't going to be a new Avengers flick this time out, we're getting the fourth Thor film, a remake of Blade and all sorts of other intriguing titles.

As Marvel's films and TV shows continue to go from strength to strength, you'd have to be a brave gambler to bet against Disney making a few billion more out of their purchase.

Featured Image Credit: Marvel

Topics: TV and Film, UK Entertainment, US Entertainment