Andy Heyward, CEO of Genius Brands International, joins Cheddar News to discuss his company signing a 20-year deal with Disney and Marvel Studios to license 'Stan Lee' for use in future feature films, television productions, and theme parks. 

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Genius Brands CEO on Keeping Stan Lee's Legacy Alive

let me help. Did it work as you saw right there, one common thread in most marvel movies is the iconic stan lee cameo However, after his passing fans and the studio thought that was the end of those historic moments until genius brands International signed a 20 year deal with Disney and marvel studios to license Stanley for future use in films, television products, Disney theme parks and merchandise. Joining us now to discuss is the ceo of genius brands Andy Heyward Andy, welcome to the show. We were discussing this in our morning meeting. I love this because it is such an important factor for marvel films, explain how this deal will work. Will fans be able to see Stanley once again in those iconic cameos and marvel films? Yeah, well they will be able to see stand in the, in the marvel film cameos of course, but it will also include Disneyland and also theme park experiences where stan will be present and all of the various merchandise will be controlled by the walt Disney company now going forward. So we're very excited about this because it provides a continuity for the next 20 years, at least 20 years and having worked with stan for many years as I did, having been a close friend of stands for many years. I know this is exactly what he wanted to continue to live on through his films and be with the characters that he created. I'm watching what you have on the screen now and of course marvel did it with such a class and taste and it was always exactly what stan wanted to do. You know, I've seen so many marvel movies in the theater and there is that collective joy or giggle from the audience. Whenever we saw Stanley, we're always look for Stanley in these movies. I do want to talk about Carrie Fisher, Fisher and the Star Wars movies after she passed that really looks phenomenal, seamless, even what challenges go into creating something like that. Well this is going to be done by marvel and we're going to leave it to them and their genius and all of the things that they do so well. Obviously in today's world you have tremendous digital possibilities and stan was digitized prior to his passing because he anticipated this and he wanted to live on through the films and through the various experiences. We have a number of things coming forth with stand. Very important though. I have to stress is that they're going to be done with integrity with character respecting the brand. You know, when we took over as stewards of Stanley's, I. P, his name, his likeness, all of the various aspects of his character and persona. We created a business model and we made sure that there was no more licensing going on, anything that we felt was inappropriate or diminished the brand. There would be any more uh Stanley bobbleheads and car fresheners and things that we thought were tacky, Everything is being done in a first class way. There's going to be a homage to stand at the upcoming Comic Con this year and it will be very special and everything that we continue to do with stan will be special. So when can fans start to see stan pop up in movies, films again, I'm going to leave that to marvel and the walt Disney company to announce, but I would expect it to be in the very near future was lee's family involved in this deal Andy no, everything that stan left was left uh, into our venture. Now Pow and Genius brands which genius controls called Stanley Universe. So let's talk about genius brand, that's global Kids media company was created by the joint venture with Powell, a media company co founded by Mr Lee, how are you hoping the deal continues with Lee's legacy? Well, let me let me correct that Genius brands was not founded by power. Genius brands is a separate company. Stanley universe was correct. Was built with power together. Um so how do we, so the question is how does genius deal with Stanley's legacy? Yes. How do we continue Lee's legacy and thank you so much for that distinction. That's a very important factor. Okay, um well, as I said, the Stanley's legacy is created by Stanley. It already exists. All we can do is is bringing forth and amplify it. Um everything that we are doing with stand going forward is going to be based on his existing creations and products that he did since he passed away had yet have not been brought forth into the world. So there is a lot of post marvel stuff, over 100 different properties that we will be bringing them into the marketplace in across all different forms of media and consumer products. How does this deal fuel Disney's film and park business as well as geniuses own business moving forward? Well, geniuses business is uh our business is a very simple business. We create and grow evergreen assets that generate reliable income for years to come. We're in the business of making cartoons. That's our core business. We distribute the cartoons on proprietary channels that we have built and are building out across the world. And then we license the characters onto consumer products, whether it's toys, publishing, apparel, n. F. T. S. That will be coming forth a variety of different things. The assets are extraordinarily valuable. They are largely impervious to market forces. Uh were not affected by Covid, were not affected by interest rates. Uh they're not affected by supply chain issues, uh the price of oil, the war in the Ukraine, any of these things. Children continue to watch cartoons. They will continue to watch cartoons and our system that we have built out of distributing the cartoons via our network cartoon channel, which is a advertiser on demand channel and our recently launched subscription channel cartoon channel Kid Averse uh will distribute these cartoons worldwide. We're already in over 60 countries around the world that we're growing quite dramatically. The numbers have been up for us this last quarter and then the last year also very dramatically are unique. Users are video plays, our application installs are hours watched, our average CPM s. Our advertising revenue. All of this has gone up quite dramatically and Stanley will be a part of this because this is going to be the home. I should add our deal with Disney was a a non exclusive deal so we can do it on all of the things that we're going to do with stand will be made available elsewhere as well. Well, we can't wait to see him again. And of course look forward to your future products with genius ceo of genius brands Andy Heyward. Thank you so much Andy.