Marvel extends Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark license for the last time.

I first heard about the $52 million budget for Spider-Man, oddly enough, after seeing a commercial for the Christian Children's Fund. After hearing that a single dollar contribution could save the life of a starving Third World infant, I followed with mounting anger the appalling saga of how nearly 50 million dollars was squandered to indulge the whims and caprices of a minimally-talented, monumentally-egocentric, outrageously-spoiled juvenile posing as an adult and a director. The whole thing struck me as immoral - if not downright criminal. It was to cry!

With the way things are going, it won't be long, knock wood, before this turkey is finally canceled out-of-town and we can get rid of crazy investors who dared throw $50 million at an unstageable property, with the hope that more discerning money men will give us a better Broadway. It would've been better if we could have gotten rid of them without them losing their shirts in an unstable economy, but sometimes that's the price one pays.

Unless some miracle comes along and starts a spurt of actual progress, consider this one dead.

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Gvendo, you realize movies spend much more than that on their budgets? Are you mad about that too? Sex & The City 2 cost like 80 million to make. I'd rather money be spent on theatre than films anyday.

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I've seen them too and all I can say Mardi Gras ick!

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Updated On: 7/5/10 at 12:53 PM

KILL THIS SHOW!...and bring back Young Frankenstein!

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$50M and, yet, it has one of the ugliest posters I've ever seen.

Also, couldn't at least some of the budget bought a better title?
Spider-Man:Hemorrhaging Money While Pissing-Off Fan Boys
Spider-Man: The Return of The Heterosexual Male Theatre-Goer

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I don't think Marvel will be in a position to extend that license anymore anyway, given that Disney now owns the rights to the Marvel characters.

Disney is now Marvel's parent company, but Marvel still has it's own set of business executives, and its own decision making crew, although all of their budget still likely needs to be OK'd by the folks at Disney, and the folks at Marvel will need to answer to them.
In any case, this is already a train wreck and is way out of control. I think it may be best just to can this whole thing so that all those involved can move on to things that can actually be staged.

Universals theme park and Marvel have a contract and it universal will remain the same until the contract runs out.

@ Proper Villian... I agree the target market is clear but "disposable income"? $100 bucks for a ticket to a Musical? This whole thing seems very ill conceived to me. After the bomb that was ENRON, I can't imagine anyone is thinking this has a shot at actually turning a profit.

I think the feeling is with $50 + million there could be three maybe even four shows of quality employing more people then this bloated Cirque Du Soliel wanna be, ego mastabutory production.

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What does Enron have in common with Spider-Man?

"The understanding is that Disney will have control of everything Marvel licensed by 2017. The theme park contracts will have expired by then and likely jumped parks."

No.

Universal has perpetual rights to the characters, as long as they are CURRENTLY in the park. If Universal closes Spiderman without a new ride based on the character already open, they lose the rights to him, and so on. The license does not expire, though the terms (i.e., licensing fees) may have a clause that requires re-negotiation every few years. It also prevents Disney from introducing attractions based on Marvel characters at its parks east of the Mississippi.

"There is some gossip about how this broadway show will help Disney own future reboots of the movie franchise. It's really an interesting acquisition. "

Disney doesn't own the film rights to Spiderman, so the musical will do nothing for Disney in that area. The re-boot is occuring because of the merger...which is why it's being rushed and re-cast. Sony would have lost the rights if they waited too long.

in fact, Disney can't really cash-in on Marvel the way people think they can. Marvel's most marketable properties (Spiderman, The Hulk, etc.) have already been licensed out to rival studios, so Disney is only going to get minimal benefits from the merger.