Friday, July 16, 2004

Marvel sues Sony Fox Disney: Via The Beat comes word from Variety (pesky subscription required, and I don't have one) that Marvel has filed a $16 million lawsuit against Disney over profits from the Spider-Man, X-Men and Incredible Hulk animated series that aired on the Fox Family Network -- which Disney purchased in 2001 and transformed into ABC Family.
 
According to the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Marvel claims Disney failed to account for profits from the cartoons, and failed to promote the series properly:
 
"Marvel further alleges that Disney so overpaid when it acquired Fox Family for an eye-popping $5.2 billion that it had no money left to develop the Marvel properties; that it improperly continued the sweetheart deals put in place by Fox; and that it has let Marvel properties languish while favoring its own programming."

Update: Newsarama has a little background on Marvel's history with Disney, dating back to a 2002 dispute with Buena Vista over artwork used to promote the repackaged Spider-Man animated series DVDs.