Marvel

Disney’s Playdom Publishes Third-Party Social Game Title Triple Town

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 13 at 7:30 am PT

Seeking a larger audience to play its game, Spry Fox is partnering up with Disney to publish its social game Triple Town on Facebook.

After a Too-Long Wait, Playdom Readies a Dozen Games a Year After Disney Acquisition

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on October 10, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

After taking five months off from releasing any games, Playdom has a dozen new releases in the pipeline, some of which will finally leverage Disney’s big brand names.

Former Marvel Exec to Help Angry Birds Slingshot Onto Silver Screen

Ina Fried in Mobile on June 27, 2011 at 9:00 am PT

David Maisel, Marvel’s former Chairman, will be a special advisor to Rovio and help the company with its Angry Birds film efforts. The company also said it has hit the 250 million download mark for its various Angry Birds titles.

When You Wish Upon Two (Web) Stars: CEO Bob Iger Talks About the Next Digital Direction for Disney

Kara Swisher in News on October 9, 2010 at 8:04 pm PT

After Disney named two longtime Internet execs–Playdom’s John Pleasants and Jimmy Pitaro of Yahoo–as co-presidents of its Internet unit, BoomTown did a longer interview with CEO Bob Iger about the entertainment giant’s next Web moves to make it both relevant and profitable. [On weekends, we will be re-posting some pieces from the previous week that we wanted to call attention to again that some readers might have missed.]

When You Wish Upon Two (Web) Stars: CEO Bob Iger Talks About the Next Digital Direction for Disney

Kara Swisher in News on October 4, 2010 at 6:00 am PT

Yesterday, after Disney named two longtime Internet execs–Playdom’s John Pleasants and Jimmy Pitaro of Yahoo–as co-presidents of its Internet unit, BoomTown did a longer interview with CEO Robert Iger about the entertainment giant’s next Web moves to make it both relevant and profitable. Hope springs eternal. “I have tried to keep two obvious philosophies,” Iger told me. “First, that our current business not get in the way of adopting new technologies, and, second, that our business belongs on these new platforms.”

Good News for Netflix Web Users: Disney Re-Ups With Starz

Peter Kafka in Media on March 11, 2010 at 9:51 am PT

Premium TV network Starz Entertainment has re-upped with Disney on its distribution deal, assuring access to the studio’s movies through 2015. Why do you care? Because the deal means Starz keeps the digital rights to the studio’s films, which means that Netflix streaming video users will be able to watch the movies.

Google and Others Fish for Acquisitions: Here's What They Might Be Looking For

Kara Swisher in News on September 2, 2009 at 10:33 am PT

Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave what he just had to know would be a much quoted comment to the Nikkei today, explicitly saying that the company had “begun seriously looking into acquisitions again.” Music to the beleaguered mergers and acquisitions market, to be sure, especially after a recent uptick from other big companies pulling out their wallets again as the impact of the econalypse subsides. According to sources, Google is working on at least a half-dozen acquisition deals, most of which are small start-ups in the online advertising and cloud-computing arenas. That would be welcome news for many.

Pass Me the Giggle Water, Old Chap. These Motion Comics Are the Cat's Meow…

John Paczkowski in News on February 11, 2009 at 8:23 am PT

There’s “a new form of interactive storytelling” emerging on iTunes: motion comics. Treading water somewhere between comic strips and animated cartoons, they add spoken dialogue and Ken-Burns-effect-style animation to comic book panels, and comics icon Marvel Entertainment is about to get into them in a big way. Later this spring, the company will begin peddling Spider-Woman and Astonishing X-Men motion comics on iTunes.