Stan Lee sues Marvel

[Marcus Telcontar]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/834279.asp

This is bizarre.

[ReaperFett]

I dont know enough to have a strong opinion, but isnt it strange this happened AFTER SPiderman made so much.

[Nupraptor]

I hope he wins. It sounds like Marvel is trying to screw him over on a technicality.
Marvel has reported millions of dollars in earnings from the film but has told Lee the company has seen no “profits” as defined by their contract.That is so lame.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I hope he wins, that sucks. And I hope he reads this and sends me some money too for supporting him. :D

[JMK]

Uhhh...Mr Lee, we don't know how to tell you this, but we don't have profits from the movie. Yes it made over 400 mill in the U.S. alone but it cost us $139 million to make Stan. Then we had to pay out like maybe 50 mill for marketing and stuff of that nature. That brings us to just under 200 million for everything. Did I say 200 million? I meant 6 billion. See? My friend Bud Selig says that if you just tell people that you don't have profits, you don't have to pay them.

Sincerely,
Marvel Entertainment Group

[ReaperFett]

One thing JMK. It didnt cost Marvel anything to make, nor did they make 400 in the US. That is SONY. Do we know if Marvel got a cut?

[Nupraptor]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
Do we know if Marvel got a cut?
Marvel has reported millions of dollars in earnings from the film

[ReaperFett]

millions? So, 10% might be thousands.

[Nupraptor]

Millions could be anything from 2 Million to the full 400 million (obviously not that much, but it's possible... they're purposefully being vague). Let's say that Marvel got 10% of that - they made 40 million off of it. Then, if Stan Lee got 10% of that, they owe him 4 million dollars. Even if it's only a few thousand, he's hasn't seen a dime... that's just not right.

[ReaperFett]

Thats why I dont believe the reports. They all seem biased on the "Poor old Stan Lee being shafted by evil Marvel" line, but dont ever go into anything specific.

[Nupraptor]

Probably because Marvel doesn't want to reveal exactly how much they've made. =P

[ReaperFett]

Its vague from all ends though, thats the problem :)


And besides, the man gets a million a year :)

[Nupraptor]

Before or after taxes? If it's before, at least half of that he'll never see.

[ReaperFett]

I dont know. I just knows he makes shedloads, and his salary is a million :)

[JMK]

It's a matter of principle. :p

[ReaperFett]

Of principle not after case #1, but #2, when it made 400m ;)

[Nupraptor]

"Oh no, he's already made lots of money. What does he need more for?"

He earned it. It's his character that's being plastered across every movie poster, cereal box, movie spin-off and action figure.

[JMK]

Well you can't squeeze water from a stone.

[Nupraptor]

... unless you're Moses! :p

[ReaperFett]

Not just his characters though.

[Jedieb]

This all goes back to studio accounting methods. I have no doubt that Stan Lee is due some serious money here. Those are his characters, and much of that story on the screen was HIS origin story. But that's besides the point. This has happened before. Remember Batman? The first Batman made a colossal amount of money. If you adjusted it for inflation it would come out to close to over $350M I think. Jack Nicholson had a sweet contract that gave him more than $50M. Yet two of the producers sued Warner Brothers because the studio claimed they had lost money on the movie and there was nothing to give them.

Studios do this all the time. They rake in millions, then say they've lost money. By the time this is all over Lee will probably settle out of court and get a big fat paycheck.

[Saul Mordeth]

Well reap being the comic fan geek that I am. I know for a fact that they have been rippin stan raw. the billion dollar company is based almost solely on stan lee, Jack Kirby, and steve Ditko's work. Like Nup said he created them they where his idea. Also I've read about one injustice after another perputrated against Stan Lee through out the years. Almost all of those complaints came from other's not the man himself. I for one am glad he is standing up for himself. This company has been given him the shaft for years. I can't count the times I read where they cheated him and he grinned and beared it. I have only one last thing to say for him. I hope he kicks there butt for trying to cheat him again.

Since then there have been many other talented people that have produced excellent work. This is not a slam against them just the management who has been trying to keep Stan from receiveing his due.

[ReaperFett]

Saul, I colelct Marvel now, dont act like Im no comic geek ;)

oh, and thanks for giving me the other name. Knew Dikto, forgot Kirby :)


Its the timing that bugs me though. After X-Men, he should have noticed this. But he waits until it means that this case could seriously hurt THREE of the Marvel movies. I refuse to believe he didnt notice this as a problem until after Spiderman.

[Jax Ivanrue Tondry]

Perhaps there wasn't a problem with the FIRST X'Men, and now he's worried that they'll try to shaft him with the next movies due out based on his characters, now that they've done so with Spider-Man?

[Wei Wu Wei]

Poor Stan. I hope he gets his money. He deserves it.

[Saul Mordeth]

33 yr old comic geek, beat that.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Why would I want to?

[JMK]

:lol

[Jedi Master Carr]

Still the question it depends on how the deal Marvel has with the studios, I doubt they get most of the profits, I would think 10 % so that would mean Lee would only be entitled to 10 % of what ever Marvel got, which I guess wouldn't be a lot. Unless he wants money from the merchandise which I am sure Marvel is getting most of that money, that is a different situation.

[Darth Viscera]

He's definitely entitled to a fair share, whatever that may be. Imagine if J.R.R. Tolkien were still alive, 110 years old (Tolkien died at about the same age as Lee is now remember), and asked for a percentage of the FOTR film profits. The scene from Oliver Twist where the serving man shouts out, "More?! You want more?!" comes to mind. Would Tolkien be refused in such a way? A thousand times, no!

Lord knows Lee has spent decades conjuring up these highly successful comics, and actually creating Marvel. The stories of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Uncanny X-Men, etc. are all his creations. I hope he gets his due.

[ReaperFett]

33 yr old comic geek, beat that.
*rolls up Newspaper*

*THWAP!*
*THWAP!*
*THWAP!*
*THWAP!*

;)

[Darth23]

Marvel issued a statement saying Lee “continues to be well-compensated” for his contributions to the industry. It said the company is “in full compliance with, and current on all payments due under, terms of Mr. Lee’s employment agreement.”

TRANSLATION: We gave him the standard Screw em Over Contract and now we're screwing him over.

[Darth23]

Record companies and Movie studios are NOTORIOUS for ripping off people by cooking the books to makew it look like there aren't
any profits.

I'm not sure who Marvel is owned by now, but it doesn't surprise me that they'd be doing the same thing.

[jjwr]

It may not have been a issue with X-Men, that was testing the waters with the new Comic Movies and seeing if one that was done seriously(not like the last few Batmans) could be successfull and it was. The amount was much smaller so it probably wasn't as big of a deal to set aside a chunk for Lee.

But then comes along spiderman, everyone knew it would be big but nowhere near that big. Maybe they just don't wanna fork over that large of a chunk. I'm curious if he's entitled to a portion of DVD/Video sales too. Heck the Special Boxed set features a special DVD with a interview of the guy!

[JMK]

From the sounds of it Lee isn't asking for tens of millions of dollars. He's maybe asking for a few, so why cook the books just to screw Stan Lee?

[Vampyre Dalamar]

Well a million dollars thats why. A million is still a million o_O