Originally Posted By dagobert Since there is no imagineering section, I'm going to put the news here. WDWMagic is reporting that Joe Rohde and Bob Weis are expanding their roles inside WDI. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/walt-disney-company/news/09jul2015-high-ranking-imagineers-joe-rohde-and-bob-weis-expand-their-roles-with-walt-disney-imagineering.htm">http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/...ring.htm</a> Joe Rohde is taking over global creative leadership of MARVEL and Bob Weis will be responsible for SDL and HKDL.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Interesting. I associate Joe Rhode's style with a lot of organic styles and intentional clutter, neither of which seem like good fits for Marvel, IMO. It even seemed a little beyond his comfort zone when they assigned him to Avatar, so this is even more of a stretch. It's also interesting, since it means that apparently they are making a real focus on adding Marvel to the parks; given that WDW can't use Marvel IP because of Universal, it will be interesting to see what we get and where it goes I imagine Bob Weiss is getting added to HKDL because construction is finally starting to wrap up in Shanghai. I would guess that means that there won't be anything major at HKDL for a few years, while the dust settles at SDL, but I suppose he could manage both
Originally Posted By dagobert I read on WDWMagic that Guardians of the Galaxy can be brought to WDW. I find it also a bit strange that Joe Rohde got assigned to Marvel, because of his past projects. He is very interested in different cultures and in history, but maybe he likes comics too. Currently he is also working for DLP. There he is responsible for Villages Natures and ithe concept art looks really cool.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I associate Joe Rhode's style with a lot of organic styles and intentional clutter, neither of which seem like good fits for Marvel, IMO.>> It's not about fit - none of the portfolio leads fit per se. It is about senior imagineers having job security - thats the only reason that the portfolio lead roles were first created. Joe's creative projects have now finished - Avatar Land is under construction and his work on DLP is pretty much done. He needed something else to justify his pay packet.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I imagine Bob Weiss is getting added to HKDL because construction is finally starting to wrap up in Shanghai. I would guess that means that there won't be anything major at HKDL for a few years, while the dust settles at SDL, but I suppose he could manage both>> This happened a while back and my heart goes out to Joe Lanzisero who has been entirely marginalised by this decision. Joe gave up the TDR portfolio to keep HKDL and now that has been taken away from him. He keeps DCL but that isn't enough for a SVP. Joe is probably the strongest portfolio lead of them all. He is a strong creative and a great manager/teacher. He is also a great guy with no political ax to grind. He just gets on with it. He's been responsible for driving through so many great projects in the last decade or so at TDR and HKDL. His passion for the product is so infectious. Weis is and will be a disaster. The man has no creativity whatsoever but can kiss ass with the best of them. Despite SDL being way over budget and delayed he gets an expanded portfolio. You just can't make this stuff up. I'd prayed that he would take retirement but instead I'll be butting heads with him for years. Sadly he will now get to work on the expansion plans for HKDL. It is gut wrenching.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I read on WDWMagic that Guardians of the Galaxy can be brought to WDW.>> There are a host of MCU characters that can be used at WDW - now Kevin Feige is firmly in Phase III that will greatly expanded the universe it will mean more MARVEL inside the parks on both coasts.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>There are a host of MCU characters that can be used at WDW - now Kevin Feige is firmly in Phase III that will greatly expanded the universe it will mean more MARVEL inside the parks on both coasts.<<< That's interesting. I always thought that Mavel can't be used at all in Florida, no matter what character.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Despite SDL being way over budget and delayed he gets an expanded portfolio.<<< Is SDL facing the same future like DLP? In Paris they increased the budget just to stay in budget. On another Disney forum I read that Disney is having huge problems in China.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>That's interesting. I always thought that Mavel can't be used at all in Florida, no matter what character.<< I don't know the exact wording of the contract, but Universal only has the rights to the characters of their attractions (Spiderman, Hulk, X-Men, etc) and the various characters associated with those stories. So, since the Avengers are all associated with Hulk Universal gets them, but it seems like Disney could theoretically do something with Guardians of the Galaxy, as long as they're careful about how it's done
Originally Posted By dagobert Thanks Ferret for clarification. I'm really looking forward to some Marvel attractions. Can't Disney use the word MARVEL? There was/is a shop at DTD calles Superheros Store or something like that, but no sign of Marvel.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Can't Disney use the word MARVEL? There was/is a shop at DTD calles Superheros Store or something like that, but no sign of Marvel.<< I'm not sure I would assume that anything at DTD is exempt from the contract, since it's not inside the parks. When they did the Avengers monorail, they were able to use the characters and stuff, but it had to run on the MK line, since the Epcot line goes through the park and might be considered to be an attraction, even though it doesn't stop there. I'm also pretty sure I've seen Marvel merchandise in the parks, but that may be something else Was the DTD shop operated by Disney, or was it an independent shop? That could explain the generic name, even if all the merchandise was Marvel
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Was the DTD shop operated by Disney, or was it an independent shop?<<< I don't know, but I think it is Disney. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/06/super-hero-headquarters-assembles-at-downtown-disney-west-side-in-walt-disney-world-resort/">http://disneyparks.disney.go.c...-resort/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/03/marvelous-new-merchandise-debuts-at-disney-parks/">http://disneyparks.disney.go.c...y-parks/</a> It's interesting to see that Marvel isn't used as a brandname in the articles.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I wonder how much Disney makes from licencing Marvel properties to Universal.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I can't imagine it's very much. The price would have been set by the original contract, which was written when Marvel was all but a dead company. I bet Disney views it more as free advertising for their product, rather than a direct revenue generator I would also imagine that they like having it because they can go enforce quality standards on their competition (much like they do to OLC, though they're typically impeccable), while simultaneously slacking at their own parks. It seems like they would hold it over them, since they're the competition
