After regularly environment new all-time highs so distant in 2013, shares of Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) seem positively unstoppable. In fact, as of this writing, a party giant’s 27% year-to-date lapse stands second in a Dow Jones Industrial Average only to Hewlett-Packard‘s stellar 43% rise.

Owners of Disney batch can mostly appreciate a recover of Iron Man 3 for their many new gains. As associate dope Tim Beyers pointed out, a film already warranted $195.3 million abroad during a opening weekend, violence a already large general opening achieved by The Avengers final summer by about $10 million.

Iron Man 3 screenshot. Source: Marvel.com.

Coupled with a fact that Iron Man 3 was usually expelled yesterday in China and Germany, now in Russia, and opens tomorrow in Canada and a U.S., it’s protected to contend that a early success bodes good for both Disney and a stockholders.

Of course, a House of Mouse has already started building excitement with a recover of a initial trailer for Thor: The Dark World a small over a week ago. While this one positively isn’t approaching to hoard a same volume of courtesy as Iron Man, Thor‘s rudimentary film did conduct to hillside in scarcely $450 million worldwide during a box bureau final time around, including a important $66 million on opening weekend.

Marvel fans can also demeanour brazen to saying some-more of a good ol’ Cap with Disney’s designed recover of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in Apr 2014. And let’s not forget any destiny installments of The Avengers — the second film is reportedly already in growth — or The Incredible Hulk.

The initial 9,000
So how prolonged can Disney keep this up?

According to Marvel, there are no fewer than 9,000 graphic characters in a Marvel universe. That’s not to contend any one of those superheros would be ideal to star in his or her really possess movie, though we can gamble that Marvel Studios has some-more than adequate element to keep us entertained for … good … longer than a lifespan of us unchanging folk.

Image source: Marvel.com.

We can also keep in mind that Disney doesn’t now possess a rights to any impression in a Marvel universe. News Corp. subsidiary 21st Century Fox owns a rights to a X-Men and Fantastic Four, and Sony has proven skilful during milking any unit of a explain to Spiderman — though remember, according to a comic books, both Spiderman and Wolverine should technically be a partial of a Avengers team. As prolonged as those studios finish during slightest one film for any authorization any few years, however, those rights won’t tumble behind into a watchful hands of Disney and Marvel.

Incidentally, that’s accurately how 21st Century Fox mislaid a rights to Daredevil just a few days ago, giving Marvel one some-more apparatus in a belt to use down a road.

So what else do a folks during Disney and Marvel Studios have in store? As it turns out, during final year’s Comic-Con in San Diego, they showed some of a initial exam footage for Ant Man (trust me, it’s cooler than it sounds), and suggested judgment design for their upcoming Guardians of a Galaxy movie, tentatively designed for recover in Aug 2014.

Guardians of a Galaxy judgment artwork. Source: Marvel.com.

Now, before we go rolling your eyes, remember how few people really cared about Iron Man and Thor before decent CGI finally brought them to life on a large screen.

The other 17,000
So where did we come adult with a 26,000 in a headline? Look no serve than Disney’s $4 billion acquisition of Star Wars creator Lucasfilm late final year.

Source: Starwars.com.

As we noted during a time, in further to a 2015 recover of Star Wars Episode VII, Disney also told ecstatic Jedi fans they’re tough during work on dual other character-specific Star Wars cinema for recover after Episode VII. Even some-more considerable than Marvel, however, are a 17,000 particular characters belonging to a Star Wars universe.

The bigger question
Now that we’ve determined that Disney has during slightest 26,000 characters to work with from a Marvel and Lucasfilm acquisitions alone, a bigger doubt remains: How prolonged will audiences continue to eat adult all these properties have to offer?

My answer? Indefinitely.

After all, superheroes, as we know them, have existed during slightest given a 1930s. For instance, Superman — a Time Warner property, mind we — done his initial comic book coming in 1938. While he continues to evolve, a universe is positively still vehement about a man with a blue tights and red cape.

And when graphics record fundamentally creates today’s cinema demeanour ridiculously impractical (have we watched News Corp.’s initial X-Men film from approach behind in 2000 recently?), Disney will happily reboot their Marvel and Lucasfilm franchises to interest to new generations of adoring fans. In a end, when we supplement to a brew Disney’s tenure of Pixar, along with a thesis parks and radio networks, it’s tough to prognosticate a unfolding in that Disney batch fails to outperform a market.

Looking for some-more reasons to deposit in Disney?
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