Will Pixar fans embrace Marvel tie-ins?

[techskip]

For the better part of the past decade we've seen more and more Pixar integrated into the parks. In just about every thread there is the knee-jerk defense of "Pixar is Disney". At the substantial risk of pouring gasoline on an open flame I pose a couple questions. If Disney were to be as heavy handed with Marvel as they have been with Pixar would such decisions be criticized or defended by Pixar fans? If the majority of new attractions and shows wer suddenly announced as being Marvel based, would those announcements be embraced by Pixar fans? Would the defense of "Marvel is Disney" hold any less weight to them then the previous defense of Pixar being Disney held with Disney fans?

Someone will likely dig it up but Mr Wiggins once had an amazing post on the conflicting storytelling styles of Pixar and Disney. I highly doubt Disney would chose to integrate Marvel into DCA, but considering other "interesting" decisions you never know. At the very least it draws upon the very root of the Pixar vs Disney debates that dominated the forum in years past.

[thedeanmachine]

I am a big pixar fan and see no problems with it in the parks. I do think it can be a bit too much as they seem to try and tie everything into one of the pixar movies in some form now.

I do not see a problem with a small amount of Marvel in DCA. Maybe a ride or two but no more than say the amount they have the Muppets in the park (which i enjoy as well).

[sdjeff4sc]

Great substantial risk, but I'll watch the flames anyway.......

Yes, Pixar HAS been overdone, namely FNSV and BLAB.......... I don't mind it so much at DCA (ITtBAB and Monsters) and Toontown would seem to a good place for PIXAR related stuff..... But again, I don't need an "extreme" adventure park either.

But I'm not really comfortable (or familiar) w/ Marvel either - which Marvel character/franchise would a Marvel fan want to see in TL? How does it fit in with Star Tours & Space Mountain? Over at DCA, which character/franchise could fit into HPB? Those are the two current areas of the DLR where I could see the addition of Marvel - how much they do is another question.

A ride or two in either park is acceptable, but don't over-PIXAR or over-Marvel the Magic Kingdom!

[AcmePunched]

Well, Pixar fans might embrace Marvel tie-ins if they happen to like Marvel in addition to Pixar...

..... Yeah.

I do see what you mean. However, unlike Marvel, Pixar has always been connected to Disney via distribution since Toy Story. And even though their storytelling styles are different, they do have a lot in common. I think it's safe to say that Disney and Pixar's fanbases overlap almost entirely. Not sure if the same can be said for Marvel and Disney.

But really, the approval of the masses regarding Marvel tie-ins in the Disneyland resort will simply be a matter of how many Disneyland-goers are Marvel fans. It's no use trying to analyze it further, methinks. ^_^'

[techskip]

How does it fit in with Star Tours & Space Mountain?

Several characters would be a better match then BLAB or Nemo... but that really isn't the point. WDI has shown an incredibly creative talent for sidestepping theme in the name of product placement. Whether or not a character fits the theme of the land has recently taken a backseat to the marketing question of how popular the character is. Toy Story has nothing to do with Victorian Times, Nemo has nothing to do with the future, yet there they are. If the same were done with Marvel, would the "Marvel is Disney" defense have less meaning? What if they based an entire land on the X-Men? Would the thought of a land based on one franchise property suddenly be a bad idea?

I can see Marvel integration in the Florida parks... but I doubt Disney would add them to Anaheim. But again... WDI has made some real winning decisions in the past and Marvel is popular right now! Disney's acquisition of Marvel presents the perfect opportunity to present these hypotheticals. Previously all we had were Muppets and Pixar which IMHO were too similar to present the contrast necessary for this discussion.

[sunrider]

i think marvel would be a good edition to the parks..the problem people have with the theme park aspect of super heroes is the whole dc heroes/six flags deal where its a superhero tagged with a coaster..,same at Island of adventure,its pretty much the same deal..inside the box thinking off the shelf rides with a cardboard super hero overlay,with one exeption spiderman the ride,.....i like pixar and the muppets, indy , star tours, and the other non disney properties in the park,,,i think disney can do marvel right and show the other theme parks how to handle a hero franchise,at the core of all marvel stories there is an epic struggle of good vs evil, just as with pixar and disney and indy and star wars,..the problem i think is not with the story as much as the style

[Mr Wiggins]

Someone will likely dig it up but Mr Wiggins once had an amazing post on the conflicting storytelling styles of Pixar and Disney.

Thanks for the kind words, Techskip. I dunno how amazing it is, but I think this is the post:

The clash between Pixar and Disneyland is stylistic and aesthetic, but it's deeper than that.

In comparison to classic-era Disney feature animation characters, the personalities of Pixar characters are comedically edgier, culturally more hip, and infinitely more self-aware. Which makes them a perfect fit for the modern Pixar stories they're cast in, but dissonant with the story sensibility of classic Disneyland.

Disneyland was created by an animation studio with a long established storytelling style. They applied the same cultural sensibility, story style and film sense to Disneyland's creation in 1955 and to the classic WED attractions that followed in the next two decades, as they had to their previous two decades of animated feature films.

What modern Pixar and classic Disney have in common is their enormous sense of heart and character appeal. Pixar characters and classic Disney characters tug on our same heartstrings -- but in ways that play different tunes. Which is as it should and must be: they are the creations of different filmmakers born into different times, who express themselves with different sensibilities.

Some Disneyland customers can feel the difference; I think most do not. The older Disneyland fans and the respective studios' filmmakers definitely feel it.

The ones who don't are the Disney businessmen who jam the characters together willy-nilly -- hey, toons are toons, eh? No matter that Woody the Modern Toy Puppet doesn't fit in Frontierland any more than Kermit the Frog fits in Fantasyland -- if Disney's purchase of Hinson had gone through ten years ago that's exactly what you'd see today.

Along with a new generation of Disneyland customers who don't feel the difference.

I highly doubt Disney would chose to integrate Marvel into DCA, but considering other "interesting" decisions you never know.

Really, I wouldn't be surprised if Iger did exactly that. He exhibits, like virtually all Disney executives since the advent of Eisner, no ability to discern the difference in sensibility between classic Disney characters and any other animated characters. For these guys, "toons are toons."

And then, of course... there's this:

Iger on Marvel Characters in the Parks

I put that question to Bob Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Co., on Thursday at the blue-carpet event at the premiere of "Disney's World of Color" at Disney's California Adventure, the Anaheim theme park that has struggled to find a strong identity since opening in 2001. Iger, whose company took over Marvel in a $4 billion deal January, seemed to chew on the question a bit, but in the end, he stayed safely vague in his response.

"We're just now considering all of our different options, so it would be premature to say when or where in the parks you would see Marvel characters -- but I think it's safe to say that you're going to see some of those great Marvel characters walking around in the future."

To me, it isn't a question of if we'll see Marvel characters in DCA and Disneyland, but when.

[techskip]

Which goes back to my current assessment of "Universal Studios... Disneyland". Since the only comment coming out of the hallowed halls of WDI besides "where's the coffee?" is "how many more characters can we stuff into this land?"

[Mr Wiggins]

Which goes back to my current assessment of "Universal Studios... Disneyland". Since the only comment coming out of the hallowed halls of WDI besides "where's the coffee?" is "how many more characters can we stuff into this land?"

Bingo. More's the pity.

[JerrodDRagon]

I don't see whats wrong with Captain America walking around on the 4th of july, or Spiderman and Venom at Halloween and Ironman at Christmas.

[bellerose75]

It's funny because my husband is a huge Marvel/Disney fan and I cringe at the thought of having Spider-Man or IronMan or The Fantastic 4 walking around DCA, much less Disneyland.

[bellerose75]

I think it would only be appropriate if Disney created a 3rd gate option geared directly with Marvel Characters but with the integrity of Disney in it. Kinda like IOA but with Disney touches (cleanliness, imagineering, etc.) but then I don't know if there is so much of a Comic/Marvel following to keep a stand alone park like that in operation 365 days a year.

[Trevor]

My answer is always the same. They are going to do it, but it is a matter of how they do it that will make or break it. Relying on some haphazard relation like the Woody-Frontierland fiasco to create some synergy is a recipe for disaster. However if you work to create some sort of stylistic transition that links the Wild West background of both elements, it could work.

As always, my example is the same too. Indy does not fit 100% with Adventureland's theme. The eras are similar and adventure is a key ingredient in both, but Indy's story is so specific and detailed that a long themed queue with a fantastic back story was the perfect solution to take you out of Adventureland proper and into the South American jungle, toe to toe with Mara and Indy. All this while ten feet away another attraction is taking guests through every jungle of the world with no conflicting themes.

I think that the open-ended (yet well detailed) theme of the land should give way to many different, specific and well executed stories which interact with each other and the land of the park in a way that makes complete thematic sense. And of course I think that queues play this vital role of transporting guests from the land to the story at hand.

[kburford]

^exactly.

[clippers6]

My friend and I were talking about this at Disneyland the other day. He's a classic Disney fan who hates the idea of Marvel in Disney parks. I'm more open to it if it is done right. We were in Tomorrowland and he was ranting about the Iron Man stuff in the stores. I would personally hate to see Marvel in Tomorrowland (or any place in Disneyland really), but I kind of played devil's advocate, partly just to see his reaction. I argued that if they re-themed Innoventions to Marvel, it would be a better fit than what is currently in there now. They could call it the Stark Expo, replace Tom Morrow with JARVIS, and use the Richard Sherman song from the movie. Iron Man would replace Asimo. The health care area would be replaced by an exhibit on mutation. The driving simulators would be replaced by Fantasicar simulators.

I know I was being ridiculous to irk my friend, but surprisingly he kind of agreed with me. Everything in Innoventions now pretty much already exists in the real world. Everything except Asimo you could get at Best Buy. In contrast, even though Marvel comics are set in the present, the things they deal with are more for science fiction and futuristic than what is currently in Innoventions or BLAB.

Just to reiterate: I do not want to see Marvel in Tomorrowland. I was just playing devil's advocate. However, I do think a shop themed to the golden age of comics would fit on Buena Vista Street or Hollywoodland. Comics were a major source of entertainment during that era.