Come Monday, Marvel’s Got The Stage

We’re pretty sure we can’t jinx anything by writing something on our little blog, so here it goes: let’s assume that everyone is right about Iron Man raking in the millions, launching the summer movie scene and firmly establishing Marvel as a movie studio as well as one of the big two comic producers.

What does this mean for Marvel?

Marvel’s deal with Paramount caps off at 10 films, but only two of those films must be released through Paramount. Iron Man counts as film one and The Incredible Hulk is not involved in the deal, so Marvel must make one more movie for Paramount to distribute. After that, Paramount can distribute 8 more Marvel flicks, but only if Marvel chooses to bring them to Paramount.

Think about it like this: one more Marvel movie and Marvel becomes a free agent.

Sort of. The deal with Paramount outlines that if a “Captain America” or “Nick Fury” movie is made, Paramount gets those offered to them first as the second picture in the two-picture locked deal. Also, any sequels to Paramount-released films must also find their way through the studio.

The only problem is that Marvel isn’t producing movies fast enough. No one knew that they would be able to open something as wide as Iron Man with such good tracking numbers, and Marvel must be scrambling right now to name its next property.

Because of the impending SAG strike (negotiations ended today between SAG and the AMPTP), Marvel has hesitated to announce a production date for a 2009 release, meaning that there may be absolutely NO MARVEL MOVIES IN 2009 (obviously, Marvel is not heading production on the Wolverine prequel).

If Marvel can’t get production off the ground for their next project because of an actor’s strike, you can kiss “Captain America,” “Ant Man,” “Thor,” “The Avengers,” “Nick Fury” goodbye until 2010.

Marvel only has the means to make about 2 movies per year while still keeping their TLC attitude towards their properties, so if Iron Man does well, expect an announcement on Monday from Mravel that will include the following points:

- Their stock will go up.

- They will announce their official weekend earnings.

- They will greenlight Iron Man 2 for 2010

- They will announce their next property to hit development.

Don’t expect Captain America to be the announced property, even though it would be badass. Iron Man is going t do well internationally, and Captain America isn’t exactly international fare.

We suggest jumping off the cliff headfirst and introducing Captain America as the origin story for an Avengers movie, but that’s a lot of cash to risk, especially after Justice League crashed and burned so early on.