The Paltry Amount That 20th Century Fox Paid For The X-men Film Rights

The Paltry Amount That 20th Century Fox Paid For The X-men Film Rights

In discussing the runaway success of "Deadpool", The Motley Fool talks about the initial deal granting Fox the Film Rights to the X-men and drop a shockingly low number...

There has been no secret made about the bad blood between Marvel/Disney and 20th Century Fox over the rights to the X-men characters (as well as the Fantastic Four franchise).  With the kind of money made by Deadpool ($322.2m in pure profit for Fox, according to Deadline) at stake, it's not hard to see why there would be, especially in light of the ridiculously small amount that Fox initially paid for the rights to the mutant characters, Wade Wilson included.

According to a transcript from the Industry Focus podcast last year on The Motley Fool , a reading of the court legal filing for the 1993 deal revealed that Fox acquired the X-men live action and animated rights from Marvel for a mere $2.6 million... an amount the two men find laughably less than the cost of buying a house in D.C.

Now, they also note that Marvel still got a percentage of the box office from that initial deal, but as best they could calculate it amounted to only around 2% of worldwide ticket sales on the first X-men film, amounting to roughly $6m in backend compensation.

They don't know if that backend compensation has improved at all over the years, but if it hasn't then Marvel/Disney only earned around $15m off of Fox's Deadpool and the $783m it grossed worldwide, while Fox profited around 124 times their initial investment in the mutant rights for that film alone.

X-MEN: Kevin Feige Says AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Leads Us Into A New Age Of Mutants In The MCU
Related:

X-MEN: Kevin Feige Says AVENGERS: SECRET WARS "Leads Us Into A New Age Of Mutants" In The MCU

X-MEN Rumor May Reveal MCU Reboot Team And Surprising Plans For Hugh Jackman's Wolverine - SPOILERS
Recommended For You:

X-MEN Rumor May Reveal MCU Reboot Team And Surprising Plans For Hugh Jackman's Wolverine - SPOILERS

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
Forthas
Forthas - 4/3/2017, 8:26 PM
Clearly Marvel had no idea how far the CBM would go at the time.

Here is the deal. Disney trades Pirates of the Caribbean and their Tron properties for the X-Men/Deadpool and Fantastic Four franchises.
Beetleborg
Beetleborg - 4/3/2017, 8:27 PM
THIS ISN'T NEWS
Jaspion
Jaspion - 4/3/2017, 8:45 PM
That's the team I wanted to see in a movie. Maybe change Jubilee with Nightcrawler.

Jaspion
Jaspion - 4/3/2017, 8:47 PM
Chewtoy
Chewtoy - 4/3/2017, 8:50 PM
@Jaspion - It does amaze me that Fox doesn't take more inspiration from the cartoon, considering the value of nostalgia these days.
Mecha
Mecha - 4/3/2017, 10:18 PM
Deadpool is NOT included with in the X-Men film rights. So this article is wrong.
Darkknight23
Darkknight23 - 4/3/2017, 10:32 PM
I didn't think Marvel got a cut of the box office. $2.6 mill is better than nothing
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 4/3/2017, 11:13 PM
Back then, Marvel was bankrupt, so...no surprise there...
1 2
View Recorder