With Iron Man, the comic book publisher has made an incredible transformation into a movie studioMaybe Iron Man really can fly. The blockbuster superhero movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. as an industrialist who fights terrorists and arms dealers in a red-and-yellow metal suit, pulled off a $100 million-plus opening weekend. On top of that, the thriller could be a game-changer both for comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment and the way Hollywood finances films.
Iron Man's success—its spiffy script aside—owes much to Marvel's financial alchemy. The publisher controls the licensing rights to such iconic comic book characters as Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Thor. Now, its Marvel Studios unit aims to make a supersize mark in action-hero movies.
With 2007 revenues of only $486 million from character licensing, toy sales, and comic book publishing, Marvel needed financial heft to run with such big Hollywood studios as Sony (SNE) and Warner Bros. So the company in 2005 borrowed $525 million to set up an innovative film fund that bankrolled Iron Man and will fund other film projects through 2011.
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