The news Monday that Howard the Duck and three other Marvel comic properties are being made into Hulu TV series was a head-scratcher, says Peter Rubin. Although Disney is about to double its ownership stake in Hulu thanks to the 21st Century Fox merger, it lost more than $500 million on the streaming service last year. "To be fair," says Rubin, "Howard the Duck has a long way to go before becoming a 'destination asset,' no matter how many Guardians of the Galaxy end-credit scenes he pops up in. But the idea holds true. Disney owns a handful of titanically successful IP universes—Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, not to mention Mickey and the gang—and soon a distribution channel to pump them into people's homes. Why would it continue to develop shows for networks and platforms it doesn't own outright?"
TOPICS: Disney+, Hulu, Howard the Duck, Disney, Marvel