It’s been a wild few years at the top of the entertainment industry. First, Disney bought Fox, and Discovery then bought Warner Bros. Also, this year, Skydance completed its purchase of Paramount. Now, it looks like WB is back on the market, with Paramount reportedly offering to purchase the company. The first big offer was seemingly rejected but, now, there may be a new player in the game.
A report from Reuters claims that Comcast, the parent company of Universal Pictures, is beginning to explore the possibility of bidding for WB. Although there are all sorts of very valid reasons why another major merger in the entertainment space is bad news for consumers, there is one particular corner of the industry that could become very interesting if Universal buys Warner Bros. — theme parks. There’s a superhero-related wrinkle to this notion as well.
Could Universal Orlando Resort Replace Marvel With DC If A Merger Happens?
One of the strange things that has happened as a result of all these media mergers is that the world of theme park licensing rights is all over the map. Disney owns Marvel, but the rights to use Marvel characters in Florida theme parks belong to Universal. Likewise, Disney owns Fox, which possesses The Simpsons, but Universal has those theme park rights as well.
There are many questions regarding whether the House of Mouse might make a play for the Marvel rights at some point. As it stands, the company is severely limited as to what characters it can use at Walt Disney World due to the previous agreement but, if Universal were to buy Warner Bros., it’s possible the company could give up the Marvel rights quite willingly.
If Universal buys WB, it will get DC Comics as part of the deal, which means it will have its own superhero cast of characters that the company will almost certainly want to promote. The theme park license for DC is currently held by Six Flags, so there would be another layer of issue there — yet I’d imagine the new Universal would be very interested in doing so.
Even if Universal didn’t turn around and replace Marvel Super Hero Island at Island of Adventure with DC Super Hero Island, there’s an argument that some have made. It’s theorized that Universal wouldn’t want to continue to promote Marvel, the direct competitor of DC and as a result, might want to relinquish the Marvel rights even if getting the DC rights took more time.
A Warner Bros. Purchase Would Make Things A Lot Easier For Universal Destinations & Experiences Biggest franchise
Of course, there’s another theme park-related reason that Universal may really want to explore the possibility of a Warner Bros. purchase, and it’s all about the theme park rights that it already has, but would stop needing to pay for.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is far and away the biggest franchise found in Universal’s theme parks (in my eyes), and it’s a franchise the company licenses from Warner Bros. Simply buying the studio would bring the franchise “in-house” and likely make future expansions, like in the upcoming Universal United Kingdom park, far easier.
Of course, all of this is speculation. At this point, it’s unclear if Warner Bros. will be sold and, even if it is, it’s far from clear that Universal will have a shot. The company tried to buy Fox during the Disney deal, but that didn’t work out. Still, if it does happen, it will certainly mean big changes at Universal Destinations and Experiences.