Marvel Productions



Marvel Productions Ltd. (later called New World Animation) was a television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment and eventually of News Corporation (Fox Entertainment Group).

Originally an animation studio, Marvel Productions produced notable television shows, motion pictures, and television specials such as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Transformers: The Movie, The Incredible Hulk, and G.I. Joe: The Movie.

Most of the productions of Marvel Productions are now owned by The Walt Disney Company.

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (1963–1981)
The company began in 1963 as DFE Films and was sold to Cadence Industries, Marvel Comics Group's owner, in 1981 after DFE founder and company executive Friz Freleng departed the company to return to his former job at Warner Bros. Animation. Freleng's business partner and DFE co-founder David H. DePatie continued to work for the company under the Marvel banner for several years until his retirement.

Marvel Productions (1981–1994)
Marvel Productions opened its Los Angeles studio in 1981. In 1984, Margaret Loesch joined Marvel Productions as President and Chief Executive Officer. MCG was owned from 1968 by Cadence Industries Corporation and was incorporate as Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) and sold in 1986 to New World Pictures. With New World having cash flow problems, MEG was sold in January 1989 to Andrews Group, a MacAndrews and Forbes subsidiary, owned by Ronald Perelman. However, Marvel Productions was kept by New World and placed in its television business. MP moved their offices from Van Nuys to West Los Angeles in May 1989. New World's problems continued which lead them to also be acquired by the Andrews Group within the year. Loesch left for Fox Kids in 1990. In December 1992, New World formed two new divisions, New World Family Filmworks and New World Action Animation, to increase production to the growing family market by $20 million and would operated under Marvel Productions President Rick Ungar.

New World Animation (1994–1996)
Marvel Productions was renamed New World Animation in November 1993. In 1994, Marvel and New World started up Marvel Films including Marvel Films Animation. New World Animation (The Incredible Hulk), Saban (X-Men), and Marvel Films Animation (Spider-Man) each produced a Marvel series for television. Tom Tataranowicz was in charge of production and development, studio chief and executive producer during its New World Animation period.

New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation was sold along with the rest of New World by Andrews Group to News Corporation/Fox as announced in August 1996. At the same time, Saban secured rights from Marvel Entertainment Group for Captain America, Daredevil and Silver Surfer and additional characters to be developed into four series and 52 episodes over seven years.

Film catalog ownership
In 1996, Fox Children's Productions merged with Saban Entertainment to form Fox Kids Worldwide bring the Marvel Productions, Marvel Films Animation, and New World Animation library.

With The Walt Disney Company's purchase of Fox Family in 2001, the Saban/Fox Kids library including the Marvel Productions, Marvel Films Animation, and New World Animation library. As a result, Disney now holds the home video and broadcast rights to virtually all Marvel and New World animated programs produced during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as all Marvel series produced by predecessor company DePatie-Freleng (the 1978 Fantastic Four revival and Spider-Woman) and Grantray-Lawrence Animation (The Marvel Super Heroes and the 1967 Spider-Man series). Disney, via their ownership of the Muppets franchise, also owns the Muppet-related programs which were co-produced with Jim Henson Productions. On December 31, 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, reunifying the two film libraries under the same corporate banner.

The only exceptions are:
 * Fraggle Rock is owned by The Jim Henson Company.
 * Programming involving characters and trademarks owned by other companies (such as programming based on properties held by Hasbro and others).

Marvel Properties

 * Spider-Man (1981) (TV series)
 * Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) (TV series)
 * The Incredible Hulk (1982) (TV series)
 * X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men (1989, aired on the Marvel Action Universe block) (TV series)
 * as New World Animation
 * Fantastic Four (1994, aired on the Marvel Action Hour/Marvel Action Universe block) (TV series)
 * Iron Man (1994, aired on the Marvel Action Hour/Marvel Action Universe block) (TV series)
 * The Incredible Hulk (1996) (TV series)

Henson Properties

 * Note: All programs are co-productions with Henson Associates. Except where noted, the rights to these series are now held by The Muppets Studio, LLC, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.


 * Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (1984) (TV series)
 * Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters (Animated segments, 1985) (TV series)
 * Fraggle Rock (1987, Fraggle Rock was not included in the February 2004 Henson sale of the rights and ownership of the Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House characters to Disney. ) (TV series)

Hasbro Properties

 * Note: All programs based on Hasbro properties were co-productions with Sunbow Productions. These programs are currently owned by Hasbro.


 * The Charmkins (1983) (TV film)
 * The Transformers (1984) (TV series) (Takara owns the Japanese rights (except for English license) )
 * G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1985) (TV series)
 * Super Sunday (aka Super Saturday) (1985, featuring Jem, Inhumanoids, Robotix, and Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines) (TV series)
 * Jem (1986) (TV series)
 * Inhumanoids (1986) (TV series)
 * My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle (1984) (TV special)
 * My Little Pony: Escape from Catrina (1985) (TV specials)
 * My Little Pony 'n Friends (1986) (Including The Glo Friends, MoonDreamers and Potato Head Kids as well as My Little Pony) (TV series)
 * My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) (theaters feature film)
 * The Transformers: The Movie (1986) (theaters feature film) (Takara owns the Japanese rights (except for English license) )
 * G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) (theaters feature film)
 * Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars (1991, co-production with IDDH, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, and Continuity Comics) (TV series)

Other properties

 * The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight (1981, co-production with Mirisch-Geoffrey/DePatie-Freleng and United Artists) (TV special)
 * The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (TV special) (1982, co-production with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (in name only) and Dr. Seuss)
 * Meatballs & Spaghetti (1982, co-production with InterMedia Entertainment) (TV series)
 * Pandamonium (1982, co-production with InterMedia Entertainment) (TV series)
 * Dungeons & Dragons (1983, co-production with TSR Entertainment/Dungeons and Dragons Entertainment Corp.) (TV series)
 * Gallavants (1984) (Direct-to-video)
 * Defenders of the Earth (1986, co-production with King Features Syndicate) (TV series)
 * The Little Wizards (1987) (TV series)
 * Dino-Riders (1988, aired as part of Marvel Action Universe) (TV series)
 * RoboCop (1988, co-production with Orion Pictures; aired as part of Marvel Action Universe) (TV series)
 * Little People Video (1988) (Direct-to-video series)
 * Rude Dog and the Dweebs (1989) (TV series)
 * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1990, co-production with Fox Children's Productions) (TV series)
 * Kid 'n Play (1990–1991, co-production with Saban Entertainment) (TV series)
 * Space Cats (1991, co-production with Paul Fusco Productions and Saban Entertainment) (TV series)
 * Biker Mice from Mars (1993 (New World Family Filmworks would assume production), co-production with Brentwood Television Funnies) (TV series)
 * The Magic Paintbrush, CBS prime time special sponsored by McDonald’s
 * Gahan Wilson’s Diner, a ”Foxtune” theatrical short (January 1993)
 * Young Astronauts, licensed from the Young Astronaut Council & also adapted into a comic book by Marvel Comics

Executives

 * David H. DePatie - President and Chief Executive Officer (1980–1984)
 * Margaret Loesch - President and Chief Executive Officer (1984 -1990 )
 * Rick Ungar - President and Chief Executive Officer (1991-August 1995)
 * Lee Gunther - senior vice-president, production (1986)
 * Stan Lee - vice-president, creative affairs (1986)
 * Michael Wahl - vice-president, business affairs (1986)
 * Peter Knepper - vice-president & chief financial officer (1986)
 * Hank Sarovan - vice-president (1986)