Although it's a bit "inside baseball" and will presumably have no impact whatsoever on the content of the films, Marvel fans may be interested to know that parent company Walt Disney has arranged to market and distribute "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3" movies itself, transferring control from Paramount Pictures for the price of $115 million, approximately what the Viacom company would have made via its previous deal with Marvel Studios.

Deadline reports that while Paramount will lose the prestige of counting the highly successful Marvel films among its yearly take, the fact that Marvel Studios/Disney kept over 90% of that revenue always made Paramount's achievement a little bittersweet. With the "Star Trek," "G.I. Joe," "Jackass," and "Transformers" franchises all going strong, Paramount is in a good position to let the Marvel properties go home to Disney. Sweetening the deal, Paramount will make 8% on "The Avengers" and 9% on "Iron Man 3," just for being solid bros.

Paramount CEO Brad Grey:
Five years ago, when Paramount and Marvel made our initial deal, both our businesses were in very different places. We are grateful for the partnership we have had with the terrific Marvel team over these years and proud of the work we have done together. Today, this new agreement is the right deal for Paramount, for Marvel and for Disney.
Paramount will still manage the distribution and marketing of "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" in 2011. No word on whether Disney will pursue its wayward Marvel film properties like X-Men and Spider-Man, which are locked down at 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, respectively, and not under Marvel Studios control or financing. With "X-Men: First Class" in production, a "Wolverine 2" announcement coming soon and the rebooting of the Spider-Man franchise underway, such a move would seem very unlikely.

[Via Deadline]