I’m sure people are reading the news all over the place about Marvel changing its name, but in case you missed it, CBR has the full press release here. So now, instead of Marvel Enterprises, we have Marvel Entertainment. The release is a lot of blah blah blah business and financing talk, but there are some interesting little tidbits. Like this little bit:

The ten Marvel characters in the arrangement are Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi. Each film is expected to have a budget of up to $165 million dollars and a rating no more restrictive than PG-13. Although the financing allows for the production of animated films, Marvel currently intends to use the financing to make only live-action films.

Hmmm… PG-13? Let’s see… Doctor Strange and Nick Fury had titles in the Marvel Edge line (for “edgier” comics… comics on the edge… toein’ the line) and were later joined by Black Panther in the Marvel Knights line. Then you also have Fury in the Marvel MAX imprint (for adult readers) along with Shang-Chi. I know the Hollywood system likes to keep the rating of a movie down to reach the largest audience possible, but it gives me a good chuckle to see how much effort was put into showing how edgy and adult these books are (“look, we’re for mature readers!”)… and then agree to make PG movies out of them.

And this bit was also interesting in the release:

Paramount, a unit of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB), will distribute the film slate, with the first theatrical release expected for summer 2008.

I’m wondering how this impacts the Woo-ping Yuen (fight choreographer/action director for movies like The Matrix, Kung Fu Hustle, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Iron Monkey and Kill Bill) directed The Hands of Shang-Chi. Ya know? That Shang-Chi movie supposedly being produced and distributed by Dreamworks.

And Cloak & Dagger will be interesting to see how it plays out. As long as people don’t confuse it for the 1984 Universal Pictures’ flick, Cloak & Dagger (interestingly enough, it was directed by a fella with the intriguing name of Richard Franklin).

Anyways, Marvel “Entertainment” now has creative control of their movies and the money to make them. It’ll be interesting to watch and see what they do with it.