Marvel Productions Ltd., later known as New World Animation Ltd., was the 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. Marvel Productions produced animated television series, motion pictures, and television specials such as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk, ', ', and ' as well as The Transformers and ' television series. Most of Marvel Productions/New World Animation' non-Hasbro related back catalog is currently owned by The Walt Disney Company.
History
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 (1981–1993)
Marvel Productions opened its Los Angeles studio in 1981. In 1984, Margaret Loesch joined Marvel Productions as President and Chief Executive Officer. Marvel Comics Group, owned by Cadence Industries Corporation since 1968, was sold to New World Pictures in 1986 along with Marvel Productions and incorporated as Marvel Entertainment Group. 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, New World kept Marvel Productions and merged it with its own television business. MP moved their offices from Van Nuys to West Los Angeles in May 1989. New World's problems continued, which led 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 New World Family Filmworks and New World Action Animation, headed by Marvel Productions president Rick Ungar, to produce $20 million worth of family entertainment programming.
New World Animation (1993–1996)
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, Saban Entertainment, and Marvel Films Animation, each produced a Marvel series for television. Tom Tataranowicz was in charge of both Marvel Films Animation and New World Animation during this period.
News Corporation subsidiary (1996)
News Corporation/Fox Entertainment Group acquired New World Entertainment, along with New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation, in August 1996. At the same time, Saban Entertainment secured the 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 the next seven years. Fox Children's Productions and Saban Entertainment both merged to form Fox Kids Worldwide, a holding company and joint venture, in November 1996, while Fox retained ownership of New World Animation.
Postscript
Fox Family Worldwide and its assets, including the Marvel Productions library and Saban Entertainment, were purchased by The Walt Disney Company for $5.2 billion in July 2001, with Saban Entertainment renamed to BVS Entertainment in October 2001. After getting its 2002 profit participation statements for the Marvel Productions library, Marvel Enterprises sued The Walt Disney Company over royalties in August 2004 after Disney would not open their books. This was followed by a November 2004 suit which claimed that the purchase of Fox Family did not transfer the shows' copyrights to Disney as the purchase was done without Marvel's approval. As part of both suits, Marvel claimed library income concealment and failure to exploit the characters. On August 31, 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, reunifying the Marvel Productions library and Marvel Entertainment under the same corporate banner.
