Case Reading: Marvel Enterprises, Inc.

1. In your view, what strategic direction should Marvel Enterprises’ Vice Chairman Peter Cuneo and his colleagues pursue? Why? How?
• I believe the company should focus on developing their lesser-known characters and making them known to their audiences. Granted they now have the resources to expand beyond the current business model to take on more capital-intensive activities, their efforts may be in vein if they don’t have well-developed characters to feature in future ventures.

2. Why was Marvel’s turnaround so successful? Would you characterize that success as a fluke? Or do you view it as sustainable? Why? How?
• As opposed to taking on additional debt to acquire new capital, …show more content…

To what extent is Marvel’s success due to only one character, Spider-Man? How can Marvel develop its lesser-know characters?
• A large portion of Marvel’s success can be attributed to Spider-Man (with total box office revenues of $822 million in the world vs. X-Men II which earned $406 million worldwide); many of Marvel’s other feature films earned much less in total revenue
• As opposed to investing large sums in feature length movies with lesser-known characters, one option Marvel can take is to slowly introduce them to audiences via short films. Doing so will give the public a taste of who a character is, and will potentially leave them wanting to learn more about them.

5. Why was Disney willing to spend $4.3 B for Marvel Enterprises? Was this acquisition consistent with Disney’s overall marketing strategy? Did they, in your opinion, overpay for Marvel considering that they don’t have rights to make Spider-Man movies?
• I believe Disney was willing to spend $4.3 B on the acquisition of Marvel because they realized the potential of what they can do with their lesser-known characters. As a family friendly company, Disney currently has a huge division catering to young girls/teens (i.e. the princesses and fairies). Currently they have very little that appeals to young boys. Being a company with vast amounts of experience in the areas of movie