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Marvel
Marvel
film and television studio known for the production of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films,
based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. Since 2008, Marvel Studios
has released 23 films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008) to
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019), and three television series since 2021, from Wanda
Vision (2021) to Loki (2021). These films and television series all share continuity with each
other. In addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios was also involved with
the production of other Marvel-character film franchises that have exceeded $1 billion in
North American box office revenue, including the X-Men and Spider-Man multi-film
franchises. Marvel Studios is also producing television series airing on Disney+, and is
overseeing production for remaining Marvel Television series following its folding into
Marvel Studios.
On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment for a
whooping $4 billion. Robert Iger, the former CEO of Disney was the mastermind behind this
acquisition. Both Marvel and Disney stated that the merger would not affect any pre-existing
deals with other film studios for the time being, although Disney said they would distribute
future Marvel projects with their own studio once the deals expired.
When Walt Disney bought Marvel, they already owned Pixar and its own animation
department. But it had not shown a brilliant track record up until 2009.
By purchasing Marvel, Disney added an instant hit factory to its arsenal – a hit factory that is
since proven capable of delivering multiple blockbusters each year, and that is not something
anyone could have predicted when the deal was first made in 2009. The movies have been a
critical and commercial success. “Avengers: Endgame,” the 22nd movie in the “MCU,”
grossed a record sum of nearly $2.8 billion at the global box office.
DISNEY+HOTSTAR:
The way we consume content in India has evolved a great deal in recent times as digitization
has paved way for a number of online video streaming platforms. One such platform is
Hotstar, which has been making and breaking records since the time it was launched.
An online video-on-demand service platform, Hotstar is a one-stop destination for Over-The-
Top (OTT) video consumers. Owned by Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Star India Private Limited, the app offers more than 50,000 hours
of TV and movie content across Hindi, English, and six regional languages.
When it was launched in February 2015, Hotstar became an instant hit.
Within just a week of its launch, Hotstar achieved 1.5 million downloads and topped
the list of free apps on Google Play Store.
In the first 40 days of its launch, Hotstar app downloads reached 10 million.
In just one and a half years, the number of downloads crossed 72 million; while it
took nine years for Netflix to reach 75 million.
Acquisition strategy: Disney India acquired Star India’s video streaming app Hotstar
through Disney’s acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. In India, this meant the
merger of the entertainment network under Star India, including the sports network Star
Sports, and the OTT service Hotstar. Until now, Disney has had no significant presence in the
digital streaming space in India and having Hotstar in the network gives it a distinct edge as it
enters the market.