Beware The Ikes Of March
March 29, 2023 11:01 AM Subscribe
After an unsuccessful board fight and amidst cost-cutting at the House of Mouse, long time Marvel head Ike Perlmutter is out at Disney (ungated).
Good riddance.
posted by Foosnark at 11:33 AM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Foosnark at 11:33 AM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thank goodness. That took longer than needed!
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:34 AM on March 29, 2023
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:34 AM on March 29, 2023
"has been laid off"
Laid off? Laid off? Motherfucker was an 80 year-old billionaire who tried and failed to take over Disney's board of directors. I try to sneak my friend a free french fries, I get FIRED.
posted by nushustu at 11:42 AM on March 29, 2023 [34 favorites]
Laid off? Laid off? Motherfucker was an 80 year-old billionaire who tried and failed to take over Disney's board of directors. I try to sneak my friend a free french fries, I get FIRED.
posted by nushustu at 11:42 AM on March 29, 2023 [34 favorites]
Normally, execs like this get to say how happy and grateful they were for their job, but now it's time to resign to spend more time with their family or pursue new and exciting opportunities.
This is Perlmutter getting a very public axe. Even if they soft-pedal it just a bit, he doesn't get the normal executive luxury of a face-saving "resignation."
posted by tclark at 11:45 AM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
This is Perlmutter getting a very public axe. Even if they soft-pedal it just a bit, he doesn't get the normal executive luxury of a face-saving "resignation."
posted by tclark at 11:45 AM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm glad he's gone but the guy bought Marvel when it was bankrupt and it became a billion dollar company under his watch so while he may be a terrible person he isn't half-bad at running a comic company. Also interesting how this happens so soon after Victoria Alonso was fired.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:48 AM on March 29, 2023
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:48 AM on March 29, 2023
Please be petty and make him a Marvel villain or something. The Terrible Tinkerer is still available I think.
And I'm sure Marvel was in a desperate shape when he did it, but selling off key bits of the Marvel universe to random studios doesn't sound like a brilliant idea in hindsight. I mean you can see the seams from that decision everywhere in the movies.
Though arguably it wasn't so bad that in unintended consequence some second-rate characters got their moment in the limelight.
posted by Ashenmote at 12:07 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
And I'm sure Marvel was in a desperate shape when he did it, but selling off key bits of the Marvel universe to random studios doesn't sound like a brilliant idea in hindsight. I mean you can see the seams from that decision everywhere in the movies.
Though arguably it wasn't so bad that in unintended consequence some second-rate characters got their moment in the limelight.
posted by Ashenmote at 12:07 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm glad he's gone but the guy bought Marvel when it was bankrupt and it became a billion dollar company under his watch so while he may be a terrible person he isn't half-bad at running a comic company.
He accomplished that mainly through the Jack Warner strategy of selling off your assets, which is why Disney has only recently had most of the media rights to Marvel properties back under their control with the Fox library purchase and their custody deal with Sony (and I expect that renegotiations over Universal Studios Florida will get the one remaining piece - Hulk - back under control.)
So I'm going to call "citation needed" on Perlmutter's chops.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:10 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
He accomplished that mainly through the Jack Warner strategy of selling off your assets, which is why Disney has only recently had most of the media rights to Marvel properties back under their control with the Fox library purchase and their custody deal with Sony (and I expect that renegotiations over Universal Studios Florida will get the one remaining piece - Hulk - back under control.)
So I'm going to call "citation needed" on Perlmutter's chops.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:10 PM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:15 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:15 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
These are all terrible people, though. Honestly I'll celebrate when any fucker like this is given their walking papers.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:25 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:25 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
The only superhero movies I can think of that actually did well in the 90s were the Batman ones. Looking back in 2023 when everything is superhero movies it looks like a foolish plan to farm out some of Marvel's IP to different studios but both the X-Men and Spider-Man series had films that did well at the box office and I don't think Marvel would have taken the step to make their own film studio if they didn't see what Fox and Sony were able to do.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:28 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:28 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
What exactly did this guy do to deserve his axing being celebrated?
posted by Beholder at 12:47 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Beholder at 12:47 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Weird sexist dude who quashed the Black Widow solo movie until after the character died because supposedly toys of female characters didn't sell well. Championed the disastrous Inhumans movie/TV show thing as a substitute for the X-Men. Tried to profit off of Veterans Affairs info during you-know-who's administration and dodge oversight because he wasn't officially a government official.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:19 PM on March 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:19 PM on March 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
looks like a foolish plan to farm out some of Marvel's IP to different studios
He didn't just farm out Marvel IP, though. He basically gave it away under terms that made it nearly impossible for them to get the rights back (and after the success of the Daredevil series, the studios locked down on returning the rights.) As was pointed out, this resulted in a lot of questionable decisions like killing off Quicksilver (which they very likely would not have done if the character wasn't tied up in the Fox deal.)
Now, to be fair, Marvel at the time was in a position where they had little leverage - but these deals were not good for them as a whole.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:29 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
He didn't just farm out Marvel IP, though. He basically gave it away under terms that made it nearly impossible for them to get the rights back (and after the success of the Daredevil series, the studios locked down on returning the rights.) As was pointed out, this resulted in a lot of questionable decisions like killing off Quicksilver (which they very likely would not have done if the character wasn't tied up in the Fox deal.)
Now, to be fair, Marvel at the time was in a position where they had little leverage - but these deals were not good for them as a whole.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:29 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
If I recall, Perlmutter was the one who axed Fantastic Four Volume 1, saying "Why should we publish something we can't make a movie out of?", ending a publication line that had stretched unbroken since 1961.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:00 PM on March 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:00 PM on March 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm glad he's gone but the guy bought Marvel when it was bankrupt
No, he took advantage of a bankruptcy he himself was largely responsible for.
Perlmutter was a protoypical 80's corporate shark, and by 1990 had taken control of Charan Industries Inc., Canadian parent of, among other things, the toymaker Toy Biz, along with another businessman named Avi Arad. In 1993 Toy Biz made a deal with Marvel for exclusive Marvel toy licenses in exchange for 46% of Toy Biz's stock, and Arad and Perlmutter ended up on the Board of (what was then called) Marvel Entertainment Group, with Perlmutter as its Chairman.
It's true that Marvel had already made some mistakes and begun the over-expansion that would lead to its 1996 bankruptcy, but Perlmutter's leadership greatly accelerated the collapse. In the next few years after taking the Marvel helm he led the company to purchase the Panini Group, an Italian sticker-maker, Malibu Comics, and trading card company SkyBox International. Most damaging of all, he also had Marvel buy Heroes World Distribution, a regional comic-book distributor, in a scheme to have Marvel distribute its own books directly to comic stores, which ended in complete disaster when the comic book market bubble burst in the mid-90s. The sticker and card acquisitions also saw huge losses.
Perlmutter also arranged for several holding companies to be formed between Marvel and the Andrews Group, Marvel's parent entity prior to going public in 1991 that was now a major shareholder and which was owned by another corporate ghoul named Ronald Perelman. He then had these holding companies issue over half a billion dollars in bonds and passed the dividends to Perlmutter's own group of companies. It should be noted that, like all 80s corporate raider types, he had been sued in the 80s over bond-related shenanigans at a previous venture, the toy and video game manufacturer Coleco.
Marvel then reported its first-ever annual loss in 1995.
This is all to say that Perlmutter is largely personally to blame for the collapse of Marvel in the mid-90s. After a few years of bankruptcy legal and corporate battles between Perlmutter, Arad, Perelman, and Carl Icahn (who had swooped in and bought a large number of the Marvel bonds in a takeover attempt), Perlmutter and Arad emerged from the wreckage in control of both Marvel and Toy Biz, richer than ever despite the catastrophe they themselves caused.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:56 PM on March 29, 2023 [42 favorites]
No, he took advantage of a bankruptcy he himself was largely responsible for.
Perlmutter was a protoypical 80's corporate shark, and by 1990 had taken control of Charan Industries Inc., Canadian parent of, among other things, the toymaker Toy Biz, along with another businessman named Avi Arad. In 1993 Toy Biz made a deal with Marvel for exclusive Marvel toy licenses in exchange for 46% of Toy Biz's stock, and Arad and Perlmutter ended up on the Board of (what was then called) Marvel Entertainment Group, with Perlmutter as its Chairman.
It's true that Marvel had already made some mistakes and begun the over-expansion that would lead to its 1996 bankruptcy, but Perlmutter's leadership greatly accelerated the collapse. In the next few years after taking the Marvel helm he led the company to purchase the Panini Group, an Italian sticker-maker, Malibu Comics, and trading card company SkyBox International. Most damaging of all, he also had Marvel buy Heroes World Distribution, a regional comic-book distributor, in a scheme to have Marvel distribute its own books directly to comic stores, which ended in complete disaster when the comic book market bubble burst in the mid-90s. The sticker and card acquisitions also saw huge losses.
Perlmutter also arranged for several holding companies to be formed between Marvel and the Andrews Group, Marvel's parent entity prior to going public in 1991 that was now a major shareholder and which was owned by another corporate ghoul named Ronald Perelman. He then had these holding companies issue over half a billion dollars in bonds and passed the dividends to Perlmutter's own group of companies. It should be noted that, like all 80s corporate raider types, he had been sued in the 80s over bond-related shenanigans at a previous venture, the toy and video game manufacturer Coleco.
Marvel then reported its first-ever annual loss in 1995.
This is all to say that Perlmutter is largely personally to blame for the collapse of Marvel in the mid-90s. After a few years of bankruptcy legal and corporate battles between Perlmutter, Arad, Perelman, and Carl Icahn (who had swooped in and bought a large number of the Marvel bonds in a takeover attempt), Perlmutter and Arad emerged from the wreckage in control of both Marvel and Toy Biz, richer than ever despite the catastrophe they themselves caused.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:56 PM on March 29, 2023 [42 favorites]
Couldn't have happened to a nicer.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:08 PM on March 29, 2023
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:08 PM on March 29, 2023
I don't think Marvel would have taken the step to make their own film studio if they didn't see what Fox and Sony were able to do.
The story here is that Kevin Feige was working on the X-Men film, saw how badly they were botching the characters, and thought, "surely I can do better than this, I understand why these characters are good", and approached Marvel to try and make their own movies with the remaining IP.
So, in a sense, wouldn't have happened without Fox.
posted by Merus at 4:15 PM on March 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
The story here is that Kevin Feige was working on the X-Men film, saw how badly they were botching the characters, and thought, "surely I can do better than this, I understand why these characters are good", and approached Marvel to try and make their own movies with the remaining IP.
So, in a sense, wouldn't have happened without Fox.
posted by Merus at 4:15 PM on March 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Weird sexist dude who quashed the Black Widow solo movie until after the character died because supposedly toys of female characters didn't sell well.
Oh, so it's this guy's fault that I say, "Fuck Antman" whenever Antman's (fuck Antman) name is mentioned because Black Widow hadn't had her own movie.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 4:43 PM on March 29, 2023
Oh, so it's this guy's fault that I say, "Fuck Antman" whenever Antman's (fuck Antman) name is mentioned because Black Widow hadn't had her own movie.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 4:43 PM on March 29, 2023
He's a pig but I think the bigger story is that Marvel entire is being folded into the Disney structure.
posted by kingdead at 4:58 PM on March 29, 2023
posted by kingdead at 4:58 PM on March 29, 2023
Though arguably it wasn't so bad that in unintended consequence some second-rate characters got their moment in the limelight.
Twenty years ago X-Men and Spider-Man were puttering along in their own franchises, and the Fantastic Four was warming up in the dugout. I’m trying to think of anyone — comic nerd or civilian — who could have foreseen that twenty years on, comic book movies would be massive, but all three of those existing or imminent franchises would have faltered, been rebooted, and fizzled a second time, while the core team of Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow* would be carrying the banner. And oh, yeah — a movie with all six would be the biggest box office hit EVAR a decade later.
*In approximate descending order of recognizability by the average moviegoer. Somewhere around Iron Man your average casual fan would begin squinting and wrinkling their nose trying to recall which one is he?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:14 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Twenty years ago X-Men and Spider-Man were puttering along in their own franchises, and the Fantastic Four was warming up in the dugout. I’m trying to think of anyone — comic nerd or civilian — who could have foreseen that twenty years on, comic book movies would be massive, but all three of those existing or imminent franchises would have faltered, been rebooted, and fizzled a second time, while the core team of Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow* would be carrying the banner. And oh, yeah — a movie with all six would be the biggest box office hit EVAR a decade later.
*In approximate descending order of recognizability by the average moviegoer. Somewhere around Iron Man your average casual fan would begin squinting and wrinkling their nose trying to recall which one is he?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:14 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
What exactly did this guy do to deserve his axing being celebrated?
I seem to recall that he declared that recasting Rhodey and having Cheadle replace Howard was no biggie for... exactly the worst reasons you could imagine someone might declare this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on March 29, 2023
I seem to recall that he declared that recasting Rhodey and having Cheadle replace Howard was no biggie for... exactly the worst reasons you could imagine someone might declare this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on March 29, 2023
And yet, Sony's "into the spider verse" was approximately the only good super hero movie of the last twenty years.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:13 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 9:13 PM on March 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I seem to recall that he declared that recasting Rhodey and having Cheadle replace Howard was no biggie for... exactly the worst reasons you could imagine someone might declare this.
He also had the opinion that no one would be interested in a Black Panther movie, for similar terrible reasons.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:27 AM on March 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
He also had the opinion that no one would be interested in a Black Panther movie, for similar terrible reasons.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:27 AM on March 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
And yet, Sony's "into the spider verse" was approximately the only good super hero movie of the last twenty years.
No, Spider-Man 2 was 2004, just edging in.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:35 AM on March 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
No, Spider-Man 2 was 2004, just edging in.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:35 AM on March 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
There should be a new FPP about how Disney just screwed over DeSantis, but I'm at work now.
posted by Melismata at 9:08 AM on March 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 9:08 AM on March 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
exactly the worst reasons you could imagine someone might declare this.
Hope you "reasons" are Howard wanted top billing and significantly more money then the guy playing the character the actual movie is named after, because anything else is just something inside your own mind.
A racism didn't cause the dude to think the movie franchise couldn't possible survive without his unique genius.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 1:12 PM on March 30, 2023
Hope you "reasons" are Howard wanted top billing and significantly more money then the guy playing the character the actual movie is named after, because anything else is just something inside your own mind.
A racism didn't cause the dude to think the movie franchise couldn't possible survive without his unique genius.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 1:12 PM on March 30, 2023
Actually, it sounds like racism absolutely played a part in Perlmutter's decision-making, to the point that people left the company over it:
Why It Matters That Marvel Studios Just Escaped Its Eccentric Billionaire C.E.O.
Why It Matters That Marvel Studios Just Escaped Its Eccentric Billionaire C.E.O.
According to The Financial Times, when Don Cheadle was hired at a much cheaper rate to replace Terrence Howard in the Iron Man franchise, Perlmutter allegedly told former chairman of Disney consumer products Andy Mooney that no one would notice because black people “look the same.” Mooney has since left, reportedly over conflicts with Perlmutter, and he was quickly followed out the door by three African-American female executives who have since sought settlements. None of these moves look good on a company that is frequently called out by fans for coming up short on matters of diversity.posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 1:19 PM on March 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
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