Sales of Marvel's Spider-Man Products Top Retail Charts Across a Wide Range of Categories.Entertainment Editors NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 10, 2002 Sales of Marvel's Toy Division's Intricately Detailed Line of Action Figures and Accessories Spurred on by Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios Record Shattering Movie Premiere Following a record $114.8 million box office opening weekend, Spider-Man, Marvel Enterprises, Inc.'s (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :MVL MVL Multiple-Valued Logic MVL Multiple Virtual Line MVL Montavista Linux MVL Moshannon Valley League (Pennsylvania high school baseball) MVL Mercury Vapor Light MVL Minimum Vector Length MVL Musikverein Lustenau ) amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. web-slinger, has quickly become one of the most successful movie licensing brands in years. The balanced and extensive line of Spider-Man products licensed by the Marvel/Sony joint venture - Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. - has been flying off shelves faster than the webhead can leap from building to building in pursuit of the Green Goblin The Green Goblin is a Marvel Comics supervillain and an archenemy of Spider-Man. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appears in Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964). Wizard Magazine rated him the 19th greatest villain of all time. . Leading the merchandising parade is an exciting lineup of toys, intricately detailed action figures and accessories created by Marvel's Toy Biz division. "Spider-Man products are topping retail sales charts in every product category from comics and games to t-shirts and toys," said Bill Jemas Bill Jemas (born 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American media entrepreneur and writer. He is a founding partner at 360ep, a media management firm. Biography Early life and career , COO Marvel Enterprises, Inc. "Both Al Ovadia, from Sony and Russ Brown from Marvel, two of the top licensing professionals in the industry, have done a spectacular job identifying industry-leading business partners who shared our joint vision and helping them develop first-class product lines. "It's all about confidence," Mr. Jemas continued, "Manufacturers are going the extra mile and investing the extra money that it takes to produce the best possible products. They made this commitment based on the wide demographic appeal and brand recognition of the classic character (this is Spider-Man's 40th Anniversary) and the understanding that Sony/Columbia Tri Star would support the movie with a great worldwide marketing program." Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst Kirsten[1] Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American actress, known for her roles in (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination), The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, and Bring It On and Willem Dafoe, and Directed by Sam Raimi, the Spider-Man movie shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. all box office records for a three-day opening weekend by earning $114.8 million dollars. The previous best three-day gross was for Warner Brother's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which brought in $90 million dollars in 2001. Fans now caught up in Spider-Man fever are buying a wide range of products including toys, apparel, interactive entertainment, and collectibles at an astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, pace. "We started shipping Spider-Man movie toys approximately 4 months ago and have been very pleased by the positive consumer feedback we have received and delighted by the brisk rate of sale of our products at retail. All of Spider-Man fans around the world have been anticipating the Spider-Man movie for a long time and their appreciation for our toy lines based on the movie are reflected in the early success of sales of our toys. We expect that the extraordinary, record breaking performance of the movie will further enhance the popularity and demand for the entire product line," said Alan Fine, President & CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Toy Biz. "As a part of Marvel Enterprises, we feel very fortunate to be in the unique and enviable position to benefit both directly and through our license agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide from the pipeline of high quality action adventure themed brands of the Marvel Library." With a library of over 4,700 proprietary characters, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused in four areas: entertainment (Marvel Studios Marvel Studios is an American television and motion picture studio based in Beverly Hills, California. It was formed in the late 1990s following Revlon CEO Ronald Perelman's acquisition of parent company Marvel Entertainment. ), licensing, toys (Toy Biz) and comic book comic book Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. publishing. Marvel facilitates the creation of entertainment projects, including feature films, television and DVD/home video, based on its characters and also licenses its characters for use in a wide range of consumer products and services including video and computer games, apparel, collectibles, snack foods A list of snack foods is shown below. For more information, see snack foods. List of snack foods Chips (Crisps)
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this news release regarding the Company's plans are forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. that are dependent upon certain risks and uncertainties, including the Company's need for additional financing, the Company's potential inability to successfully implement its business strategy, a decrease in the level of media exposure or popularity of the Company's characters resulting in declining revenues from products based on those characters, the timing of releases and the decisions to proceed with feature films and TV series based on the Company's characters, the lack of commercial success of entertainment projects based on the Company's characters, the lack of commercial success of properties owned by major entertainment companies that have granted the Company toy licenses, the lack of consumer acceptance of new product introductions, the imposition of quotas or tariffs on toys manufactured in China as a result of a deterioration in trade relations between the U.S. and China, changing consumer preferences, production delays or shortfalls, continued pressure by certain of the Company's major retail customers to significantly reduce their toy inventory levels, the impact of competition and changes to the competitive environment on the Company's products and services, the ability of the Company's licensees to successfully market and sell the licensed products, changes in technology and changes in governmental regulation and the continued financial stability of major licensees of the Company. Those and other risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. , Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. and Current Reports on Form 8-K Form 8-K The form required by the SEC when a publicly held company incurs any event that might affect its financial situation or the share value of its stock. Form 8-K See 8-K. . Marvel assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. --30--tav/ny* sdg
CONTACT: BENDER/HELPER IMPACT
Jeffrey Klein / Adam Fenton
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jeff_klein@bhimpact.com / adam_fenton@bhimpact.com
KEYWORD: NEW YORK
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENTERTAINMENT MOTION PICTURES PUBLISHING RETAIL
ADVERTISING/MARKETING
SOURCE: Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
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