26/07/2020
Marvel Studios-The Turnaround Story
Marvel Studios is a common name,but little is known -the company once faced bankruptcy and then bounced back to what it is today
Presenting the story of Marvel
Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman and saw instant success with its creation of the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and Captain America.
Sales amounted to almost $1 million in the first two years of business and continued to rise for decades until the 1980s.
In 1986 Marvel made its first attempt at a film with the theatrical release of Howard the Duck, which was an astronomical flop (even though it was produced by George Lucas).
The film cost $30 million to make and only grossed $15 million, earning a spot on the list for costliest box-office flops of all time.
Shortly after, Marvel began to lose ground to its rival,DC Comics, when DC began producing series like Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Superman.
Marvel’s financial success began to peak in the early 90s until it suffered a huge blow in 1992 when some its greatest writers left to form their own company.
A year later, the comic book market crashed and Marvel was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996.
With the new millennium, Marvel was able to bounce back from bankruptcy by a merger with Toy Biz and began producing successful film franchises like Spider-Man and X-Men.
Finally, in 2009 Marvel was bought by Disney for $4 billion and has since seen overwhelming success with movies like Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Incredible Hulk and Black Panther.
Impressively, the Marvel Cinematic Universe now encompasses 18 films, 10 TV series and a slate of movies planned until 2020.
