Valiant Announces Multi-Million Movie Deal with DMG
Just as Valiant rounds the corner on its 25th anniversary, they are announcing 9-figure funding deal with Beijing-based DMG Entertainment. It’s an interesting, exciting move, and capitalizes on a lot of trends currently affecting the way movies are made.
The first big trend is the Chinese backing. China has become a huge movie market, especially as their government has eased restrictions on foreign films. DMG has capitalized on this, and been an increasingly large player in Hollywood. Funding from DMG helped get Iron Man 3 and Looper made, in exchange for extra scenes shot specifically for a Chinese-release version. Another company, Beijing Pangu China Ltd., helped fund large parts of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This content has occasionally been criticized, both by American critics and by Chinese moviegoers, but often, the international-release versions of these films are untouched.
The second trend is that of the “cinematic universe.” With the success of Marvel’s Grand Experiment, lots of people have tried jumping on the bandwagon. Some properties, like DC Comics and Star Wars, were ready-made for such a thing. Others, like Universal Monsters, Robin Hood, and Sony’s attempts to expand Spider-Man into an entire cinematic universe, have run into structural difficulties or simply been dead on arrival.
Valiant is in a good position to jump into this. The publisher was originally created by a cadre of Marvel writers looking to break ties and start fresh with a universe that made internal sense and characters that matter. In that respect, the company’s origins are tied up in the kind of storytelling that makes Marvel’s movies work so well as individual films and as a collective. Not to mention that in less than three years the new Valiant has been a steamroller of critical acclaim and solid sales.
If anything is working against them, it’s most likely the underdog status of the company. The IP is relatively unknown outside of comic circles. That said, an 8-figure investment in the company itself and a 9-figure investment for film development could certainly help drum up awareness. DMG CEO Dan Mintz has a lot of confidence in his investment, saying, “Global markets, like China, offer the greatest opportunities for monetization from merchandising, licensing, as well as revenues from film and television properties. Comic superheroes are the most lucrative and sought after IP for movie franchises, so taking a stake in the last independent massive comic universe is a strategic investment for DMG that will produce movies and TV that are both appealing and relevant to a global audience. We are excited by the opportunity to bring these incredibly engaging characters and their stories to the big screen.”
He’s certainly right about the international markets. You know how sometimes a movie crashes, burns, and immediately gets a sequel? That’s because the “crashing and burning” part happens stateside, and then the movie goes and rakes in millions of dollars elsewhere. The international market for American films is becoming a bigger and bigger deal every year. The fact that a lot of the promotion is happening in those markets could be especially good news for Valiant fans stateside. It’ll mean bigger budgets, and more merchandising opportunities. (I may get the action figures I was hoping for the other day.)
The upcoming slate of films includes the already-announced Shadowman with Sony, the Sean Daniel Company, and J. Michael Stracynski, Bloodshot with Sony and Original Film, from Sony Pictures in partnership with Original Film, and an Archer & Armstrong movie with the Sean Daniel Company and a script by BenDavid Grabinski. There’s no word yet on how all of those films will tie in together, being developed by different companies, but again, the sheer volume of cash being thrown at this project will probably grease some wheels.