CMU School of Drama


Thursday, December 01, 2016

The Great Orlando IP War

www.themeparkinsider.com: With the impending addition of at least one Nintendo land at the Universal Orlando Resort, Universal will offer its guests three of the most beloved and appealing entertainment intellectual properties in the world: Nintendo, Harry Potter, and Marvel. Universal won't actually own any of these IPs — all will be included in the Universal parks under license from their owners — but no one but theme park geeks like us cares about those legalities. To visitors, Universal soon will be the theme park home of Mario, Hogwarts, and Spider-Man. The Battle for Orlando is on, and it might just end up reshaping the entire entertainment industry.

1 comment:

Zara Bucci said...

So this article is only half right in its portrayal of the IP ownership of elements of the Marvel franchise. Universal does not own the theme park rights to Marvel as a franchise, but only the Marvel comic books of these characters. You will only ever find the comic book versions of these superheroes in their attractions The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Hulk, etc. Universal cannot put any new content or add any recently enhanced characters or even touch on storylines from the live action films of any Marvel movie. Universal is not going to update Spiderman of Hulk or Wolverine to have any new graphics or put money into over-hauling their attractions because there are much more valuable things to be putting their money into. The deal right now is that until Universal Studios Orlando and Islands of Adventure shut down their marvel attractions for good, Disney can begin building on their IP because Disney now owns Marvel as a complete franchise. Regardless of these technicalities, I am extremely excited to see the direction in which both of these companies are moving in the future. I know for a fact that the Nintendo Land in Universal Studios- Osaka, Japan, is going to be great! Another thing about these companies is that the competition is entirely unneeded. They very clearly are targeting two completely different audiences.