Disney Layoffs strikes Marvel! Disney lays off Perlmutter!

[Reviresco]

From Heidi McDonald at the Beat, who has lays out what she knows about Ike and what she's heard about it might mean for Marvel comics. The list has links on the site.

https://www.comicsbeat.com/ike-is-go...marvel-comics/

A cranky cheapskate who didnÂ’t think women or Black people could headline movies, Ike was an irascible boss who prevented talented people from doing their jobs.

MarvelÂ’s business plans grew up around IkeÂ’s weird obsessions and penny pinching ways, and many times I heard that some employees were just hoping to last until the day he wasnÂ’t there.

IkeÂ’s Greatest Hits

And now some personal thoughts. IÂ’ve always been fascinated by Ike Perlmutter. While the public knew him as a notoriously reclusive figure (who at one point hadnÂ’t been photographed in 20 years), he was very real to me. I lived near MarvelÂ’s old offices on Park Avenue and was always running into MarvelÂ’s employees on the street or at my local and hearing stories about IkeÂ’s penny pinching. I came to believe that Marvel would be better off without many of his policies, and that one day he would be removed. And that would be a good day.

So hereÂ’s a by no means exhaustive list of IkeÂ’s greatest hits.

He told Marvel employees they should buy their own toilet paper.

He told Marvel employees they could only make one pot of coffee a day.

He literally went through wastebaskets and fished out paper clips and post it notes.

When Terrence Howard wanted a raise for the role of Rhodey in the Iron Man franchise, Ike Perlmutter fired him and hired Don Cheadle, allegedly telling a Disney exec that no one would notice because Black people “look the same.”

He allegedly told a female executive at Disney that he clashed with that he had a “bullet with her name on it.”

He also clashed with three Black female executives at Disney Consumer Products (including current DC head Pam Lifford) who quit and then got a settlement.

He told Sony head Michael Lynton that female led superhero movies would all fail.

He blocked Marvel Studios from making Black Panther and Captain Marvel movies, leading Iger to ask him to “stop putting up roadblocks” – both films would go on to gross $1 billion.

With the Fantastic Four film rights at another studio – Fox – Ike insisted that the FF comics be cancelled and had artwork taken down from the walls.

Because the X-men were also at Fox, the X-men comics were greatly diminished, and no new mutant characters could be created.

Believing that another team would be just as popular as the X-men, Ike Perlmutter went on a long term campaign to replace them with the Inhumans, leading to many many Inhuman comics, Terrigen mists, and the horrible Inhumans tv show.

The Inhumans show was produced by Marvel Television, which Perlmutter ran under his usual cheapskate methods, resulting in some very cheap looking shows. When Feige took over in 2019 we started to get things like Wandavision.

Employees at Marvel Studios in California had surveillance cameras trained at their desks to make sure they werenÂ’t goofing off; Disney later removed them.

When Marvel Comics moved offices, the new facilities were so cramped they only had one bathroom for each gender in a company of more than 100 people.

These offices were also so cramped that major executives had to shares offices, with even the highest vp level employees doubling up.

He planted stories at comics websites painting Kevin Feige as an unreasonable studio head who was ruining the MCU.

He was notoriously cheap about film junkets, once suggesting that they be catered with potato chips.

He supported his best friend Donald Trump as president and was actually allowed to run the Veteran’s Administration as part of a “shadow cabinet.”

He engaged in a bizarre dispute with a neighbor about tennis and libelous letters.

Â….and so on and on. Really just scratching the surface here. Truly a legend.


Now on the plus side of the ledger, Perlmutter and his wife Laura founded the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, which has given out more than $78 million in grants, leading NYU Langone hospital to name their cancer facility the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. ThatÂ’s what rich people do.

And IÂ’ll throw this in: Ike Perlmutter was a successful businessman who did save Marvel from bankruptcy, successfully ran Toy Biz, and along with former partner Avi Arad, put the whole MCU into motion. His methods were crude but effective.

[Force de Phenix]

Lord, what a morass of manure. Opting out of these fallacious arguments and insults. Carry on with your Ike idolatry.

I get it. I'm calling out your (any other people's) hypocrisy and it hits some nerves. You're manipulating my arguments and claiming I'm a fan of some guy in a sea of dozens who do the same thing at Disney-Marvel is just trying to shift the blame of supporting him for the past 15 years with buying Marvel products and watching their media. It's not idolatry. Please.

[Force de Phenix]

From Heidi McDonald at the Beat, who has lays out what she knows about Ike and what she's heard about it might mean for Marvel comics. The list has links on the site.

https://www.comicsbeat.com/ike-is-go...marvel-comics/

If these people had any morals they would've quit (the writers, producers, etc.) and talked it about it instead of letting him get away with it and contributing to it.

[Hypestyle]

I just hope lots more comics are produced as ongoing series. I'm tired of stuff getting canceled after a the first 4 issue arc and what not. that's annoying, then next year "maybe" it's another number #1 issue. Bizarre.

Diversify the comics. Go beyond superheroes. more science fiction, more horror titles. separate canon from the "regular" marvel universe.

[Thor-Ul]

I just hope lots more comics are produced as ongoing series. I'm tired of stuff getting canceled after a the first 4 issue arc and what not. that's annoying, then next year "maybe" it's another number #1 issue. Bizarre.

Diversify the comics. Go beyond superheroes. more science fiction, more horror titles. separate canon from the "regular" marvel universe.

Change the formula? You ask too much to Disney.

[Anthony W]

From Heidi McDonald at the Beat....

Pass. She can pretend to be a serious news source if she wants but I am not going to humor her.

[mace11]

I find that figure hard to believe, but that would actually support my argument that the MCU shows should count. I would also say that those budgets were when Disney + was introduced and they wanted to get subscribers. I'm not sure what they are now.

That said, the Ike shows, weren't as expensive. They allegedly had a 40 million budget at Netflix.

I heard/read before that wandavision was 200 million or more and some other mcu shows.Ms.marvel was like around 140 million or more i think.

How Much Loki, WandaVision & Falcon & The Winter Soldier Cost To Make

The MCU shows so far on Disney+ - Loki, WandaVision, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier - resemble movies, and that's because they cost a lot to make.

The MCU shows so far on Disney+ - Loki, WandaVision, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier - resemble movies, and that's because they cost a lot to make. The MCU has never been a low-budget franchise, with even the first Iron Man movie costing $140 million to produce. To be fair though, Tony Stark's debut made $585 million worldwide, setting the tone early on for Marvel Studios, that big spending on their blockbusters would ultimately equal even bigger profits.

Each and every movie in the MCU has had a budget of $100 million or more, in several recent cases even crossing the $200 million mark. When each MCU movie lately tends to cross - or at least come close to - the billion-dollar level worldwide though, it's hard to argue that the truckloads of cash Marvel Studios and parent company Disney are putting out isn't worth it in the long run. The MCU has earned a reputation for both consistent quality and consistently good visuals, and this has proven no different on Disney+.

Visually, they're also on par with the MCU heroes' big-screen adventures, especially WandaVision and Loki, which got to indulge in much wilder special effects shots than did the more grounded Falcon and the Winter Soldier. As one might imagine, things like that are far from cheap, and all three shows cost big bucks. Adding TV shows to the MCU fold made some question if Marvel was finally risking over-saturating the franchise, but just as many have been waiting for over a decade now for Marvel Studios to release its first truly bad movie, the MCU shows so far are hits with both critics and fans.

Unsurprisingly, Marvel Studios hasn't released exact budget figures for Loki, WandaVision, or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Neither Marvel nor Disney is known for being forthcoming with such financial details. However, reports from back around the time Disney+ launched in 2019 shed some light on the topic. It was reported that each Marvel Studios show on Disney+ would likely cost around $25 million per episode. That sounds like a lot, and it is, outpacing even shows like Game of Thrones by a big margin.

That means that if the $25 million figure held, WandaVision's nine-episode run could've cost Marvel and Disney a gargantuan $225 million. That still pales in comparison to the cost of a movie like Avengers: Endgame, but it's astronomically high for a TV show. Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki each only ran six episodes, meaning their runs likely topped out right around $150 million in production costs. That's a lot, but at least a savings from WandaVision. It's important to keep in mind though that these numbers likely don't include marketing costs. Thankfully, all three MCU shows so far have been huge hits, and have likely drawn in thousands, if not millions, of new Disney+ subscribers.

https://screenrant.com/loki-wandavis...r-budget-cost/

and

Here's Why Disney Is Spending Up To $200 Million For WandaVision
https://www.thethings.com/heres-why-...r-wandavision/

[Anthony W]

So...is Marvel Comics moving to California? What is the point of staying in New York?

[mace11]

Some other budget info for the mcu and star wars disney plus shows.

Mandalorian and the book of boba fett budget for each season(8 episodes for the first and 6 episode for boba) is $100 million.

Obi wan is 90 million for 6 episodes.

Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel were given $165+ million and $150+ million respectively.

Disney Goes All In, Gives Unknown ‘Star Wars’ Series A Massive Budget
Fans might remember hearing that Jude Law will be making his debut in the Star Wars universe soon in a brand new series called Skeleton Crew. It will focus on a group of kids trying to get home, but fans don’t know much more than that.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the series is definitely a priority for Lucasfilm since the series has a reported budget of $136 million.


The budgets for obi wan show and mandalorian are the same but obi wan had less episodes,so i don't think it was a budget issue. The recent marvel and star wars shows have had high budgets but i think you talking about only star wars shows since the marvel canon mcu shows have higher budgets anyway.

‘WANDAVISION’ reported budget: $225M; ‘THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER’ budget is reported to be $150M
https://www.reddit.com/r/MarvelStudi...he_falcon_and/

[Thor-Ul]

So...is Marvel Comics moving to California? What is the point of staying in New York?

Can you imagine Spider-Man changing New York for Hollywood?

[Galerion]

Can you imagine Spider-Man changing New York for Hollywood?

Dude isn't even allowed to grow up and have a wife. Hell will freeze over before he is allowed some development.

[Reviresco]

I get it. I'm calling out your (any other people's) hypocrisy and it hits some nerves. You're manipulating my arguments and claiming I'm a fan of some guy in a sea of dozens who do the same thing at Disney-Marvel is just trying to shift the blame of supporting him for the past 15 years with buying Marvel products and watching their media. It's not idolatry. Please.

If these people had any morals they would've quit (the writers, producers, etc.) and talked it about it instead of letting him get away with it and contributing to it.

[Reviresco]

Pass. She can pretend to be a serious news source if she wants but I am not going to humor her.

Okaaaay.

I await all your serious news sources reporting about the inner working of Marvel and on the Ike's behavior there.

[Reviresco]

I heard/read before that wandavision was 200 million or more and some other mcu shows.Ms.marvel was like around 140 million or more i think.

How Much Loki, WandaVision & Falcon & The Winter Soldier Cost To Make

The MCU shows so far on Disney+ - Loki, WandaVision, and Falcon and the Winter Soldier - resemble movies, and that's because they cost a lot to make.



https://screenrant.com/loki-wandavis...r-budget-cost/

and

Here's Why Disney Is Spending Up To $200 Million For WandaVision
https://www.thethings.com/heres-why-...r-wandavision/

That's an insane price. Variety at one point was reporting 100 to 150 million for WandaVision and Loki, but of course, the studio doesn't release the information, and the article I saw was before the show came out. Either way, it's still a ton of money and closer to movie feature budget, as someone else pointed out.

[Agent Z]

I guess the user you responded to is aware of that. One can still look at Marvel Studios' female-led output since 2015 and think that it's severely lacking, therefore I second the notion that Perlmutter is used as a convenient scapegoat to hide behind. His influence on the movies has been gone for eight years now and all Feige accomplished in that time frame were two female-led movies. TV shows don't count, those don't have the prestige of feature films, and even under Perlmutter there were Agent Carter and Jessica Jones, so it's nothing groundbreaking to have shows with female leads.

It's 2023. This belief is long dead.