Could Spiderman save Disney Studios

So Disney spent 4 Billion on buying the Marvel brand, money that some feel would have been better spent elsewhere notably on the ailing and seemingly under funded Walt Disney Studios park.

There chattering classes of the blogosphere have been lamenting the lack of spending on the studios genre of parks, where with the exception of Disneyland resort Paris there seems to be a spending cap in place. Whole sections of the Floridian park are laying fallow, poor quality (by Disney standards) attractions that barely merit the title. But maybe Spidey could swing in to save the day.

Having seen the Spider Man show such as it was at Universal and comparing it against the Indiana Jones show at Disney it is easy to imagine what the mouse could do with the franchise. The pop culture of Spiderman and Captain America and the more current x-men and Iron Man franchises are a guaranteed pull for the young male audience - plus the whole Hugh Jackman effect on many of the ladies and gay men (one friend even named his bicycle after the Wolverine actor) of my slightly generation is going to add another, wider draw to the public.

So take that added draw and build it into a "Marvel-land" in that quiet corner that all the studios parks have and perhaps we have a winner on our hands. Imagine if you will a custom backlot street where Disney can imagineer buildings that are just the right height and distance apart to make a death defying Spiderman swing safe, spectacular and breathtaking. Break away walls for the Hulk and throw in a wind machine and fake sleet and snow to make Storm live in the set and that could be a real, in theme addition to the Studios, perhaps a replacement for the ageing Indy show?

Though I can see one small fly in the ointment in the name Herbie which is used by both Disney and Marvel