Disney Working To Bring The Avengers To Theme Parks

The Avengers has been a smashing success at the box office, pulling in nearly 1.5 billion dollars worldwide. With success comes a broad market and advertising campaign, and franchise owners The Walt Disney Company would like to capitalize on the popularity of the Marvel characters that made it to the big screen most recently. If all goes well, the company would like to introduce the franchise characters at its California park in the near future.

Tom Staggs, who heads Disney’s theme parks, says the company has always been interested in characters like Iron Man and Captain America, but now that their popularity as a group has intensified, efforts are being made to discern how to get the rights to the franchise. In recent years, attendance at the company’s theme parks has gone down, and while I can see all the little dolls in the “It’s a Small World” exhibit singing “It’s a Sad World,” Disney has been doing a lot to rally the troops and unveil new attractions to bring visitors in. Most recently, the California Adventure Park even opened a Cars exhibit. However, earning the rights to The Avengers may not be as easy as it would seem.

This is not the first time the theme parks have tried to incorporate the Marvel characters into rides and other marketing, and it may not be the last time the company has to make an effort to get the characters to the parks. For instance, according to Reuters, in Orlando, Disney is currently unable to use the names or faces of characters like Captain America because Universal Studios has already rented the properties in the Florida town. This obviously does not affect a deal that could be made in California, but I am saying it could be an uphill battle. Where there is money to be made, Disney often makes it, and I’m not sure I would bet against the Hulk on this one.