Corbis and Marvel Announce Content and Rights Representation Deal
Corbis (www.corbis.com), a leading provider of complete visual solutions, and Marvel Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE: MVL) a leading global entertainment and licensing company, today announced an agreement to make Marvel’s world-renowned Super Heroes available for use through Corbis. The deal grants Corbis with the rights to license Marvel’s digital content for editorial and commercial use on a global basis.
Under the new multi-year license agreement, Corbis represents the rights to thousands of images featuring Marvel’s expansive library of more than 5,000 characters — including such ever-popular figures as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Elektra, and Captain America – and makes them available for use in print and broadcast media. The arrangement provides creatives with simple access to Marvel character art and the rights clearance services necessary to use them in editorial and commercial advertising projects.
“Marvel’s character brands are recognized around the world. Their vast library of Super Heroes offers advertisers an inspiring new way to tell their stories with iconic characters and images,” said Gary Shenk, Corbis senior vice president, editorial image licensing and rights services. “Marvel’s characters are a great example of the innovative properties and services that Corbis brings to creatives around the world.”
“This agreement reflects our strategy to prudently ‘mine’ our character portfolio by teaming with industry leaders in each area of commercial opportunity. Print and broadcast licensing is one area which we have not previously had the bandwidth or expertise to properly exploit,” said Tim Rothwell, Marvel president, worldwide consumer products group. “Corbis’ global reach and rights expertise make them the ideal partner to lead this initiative. Through this relationship, we will be able to leverage the potential of the entire library of Marvel characters, maximizing the media exposure our characters receive and the financial contribution.”
Marvel content will be available for licensing at Corbis beginning January 19, 2005. Marvel content at Corbis is available for preview at www.corbis.com/marvel.
ABOUT CORBIS
Corbis provides complete visual solutions used every day by publishers, advertising and design agencies, filmmakers, and other creative professionals to tell their stories with impact that goes beyond words. The company’s image licensing, rights services and assignment photography services enable clients around the world to differentiate brands, sell products and services, support news stories and entertain audiences.
Corbis images can be found and licensed at www.corbis.com. Client advisory services are available around the clock-including subject matter and conceptual research, rights management and clearances, and production expertise.
Corbis is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, London, Paris, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Tokyo.
ABOUT MARVEL ENTERPRISES
With a library of over 5,000 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel’s operations are focused in four areas: entertainment (Marvel Studios), licensing, publishing and toys (Toy Biz). Marvel facilitates the creation of entertainment projects, including feature films, DVD/home video, video games and television based on its characters and also licenses its characters for use in a wide range of consumer products and services including apparel, toys, collectibles, snack foods and promotions. Marvel’s characters and plot lines are created by its publishing division which continues to expand its leadership position in the U.S. and worldwide while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property.
