Goodness Prevails: Iron Man Screening Is ON.
Michael Arrington
60 comments »
Drama over. The CrunchGear/TechCrunch Iron Man screening, which Marvel tried to shut down yesterday for no good reason whatsoever (more on that below), is back on.
We are adding another 30 spots on the wait list. At least most of the people on the wait list will get in, so if you’re willing to risk being turned away at the last minute, sign up there. Showing is at 7:15 tonight at the AMC Metreon in San Francisco.
We’re still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but Marvel is now saying that Oracle, which is promoting the movie, complained about the event. From our attorney: “He said this all arose from a misunderstanding. Paramount had not informed Marvel about your deal. Oracle had booked the theatre for a different screening at the same time. People at Oracle were upset thinking that their event was turning into a TechCrunch event and that there would be too many people, conflicts over who would get in, etc.”
I was already slightly annoyed at Oracle for spamming comments on our original post (see comment 50 here). But to try to derail the event is just…villainous.
Marvel also apologized, and we accept. I’m not annoyed at all that we incurred an extra $2,000 in legal expense on top of the ticket price.
See you tonight!
Update: Just got a call from Ira Rubenstein apologizing. He also confirms that he left this comment. All is forgiven at Marvel, even the legal fees. It’s Oracle I’m aiming at now.
Oracle has been an interesting company! (in positive sense)…
The Iron Man of Tech Blogging Prevails over Oracle.
Can someone please turn Mike into a Superhero comic?
That is pretty lame of Oracle.
Those poor, insanely rich bastards.
so….
for all of the posters who were screaming like little bia*chs yesterday at marvel going to apologize as it appears to have been a misunderstanding on a number of parts…
the fact that you guys had the rant you had appears to be pretty much the norm, instead of the anomally. i’m amazed that people claim that the techcrunch crowd is the stellar site/group for new startups…
people need to slow down, and do a little more analysis before posting in some regards…
peace
Yey !
this post screams for a video from YOU michael. talk to us!
Well said sam. I am glad to see everyone was flipping out for nothing, as usual.
Good to see that the event is still on though.
sam and charlie key - i totally disagree. Marvel came down HARD on us and threatened all kinds of nasty legal stuff. If we hadn’t hired an attorney and posted, the screening would have been off.
Seems to be pretty good publicity to send Mike a cease and deist notice!
So when you say “most of the people on the wait list will get in”, how big is the wait list? Is it a first come, first served sort of thing?
Oracle are official sponsors of IronMan: http://www.oracle.com/marvel/index.html
which is almost as weird as that microsoft video ad online of the robot that is supposedly a windows server.
Perhaps we can organize a flashmob confrontation between oraclers and techcrunchers later tonight - battle of the nerds pretending they are superheros.
As for Marvel *sigh* what idiots, alienating a core market influencer group…
I wonder what size is Iron Man’s carbon footprint?
wait so oracle will be there as well? i’m confused.
Cory - There are 591 seats. we sold 500 tickets. 60 are on the wait list. We have another 50 on the private list, including techcrunch folks. My guess is everyone gets in, but there is definitely a chance some people won’t who are on the waiting list.
What happened to all the comments on the previous post? Did you take them down as a nice gesture to Marvel?
Oh nevermind, I didn’t see you had a second blog post about Marvel… Ignore.
Pistols are re-holstered
Marvel acted like a bunch of bozos. They could have at least called first.
@sam, Mr. peace and love, dude, where do you work? I want to sue you because you’ll be like “hey, man, it’s cool, love is all”.
As someone who lives in San Francisco, I’m frequently annoyed by Oracle when they come into town and act like they own the place. Congrats, Oracle, you just took my public image of your company and made it worse.
Sorry guys, I was just feeling crabby yesterday.
Mike - Thanks! Just trying to figure out how early I want to get there.
OK, weird, I posted a new video (not the one above), and it saved a version I posted on the other Marvel blog comment stream. Oh well, learning how to properly use the Seesmic video comments! All is well in the Marvel/Techcrunch shootout, so the world is back on its axis.
But Marvel should still send free Schwag and Robert Downey Jr., with popcorn, to tonight’s event.
Nobody questions this?
TC has never done a movie screening.
This movie screening for $1 came out of nowhere.
A legal problem mysteriously pops up concerning this event which was unprecedented.
Said legal problem drives 200 comments and untold traffic to TC.
M. Arrington is an ex-lawyer who knows how to draw attention to himself. He may have known about the Oracle booking ahead of time.
Let that simmer.
@Chris What are you talking about? Are you on crack?
@24 — guess that’s what BI (business intelligence) is originally meant for?..
@24, don’t waste your energy.
Chris - that’s so creepy how you figured this whole thing out.
@Chris
LOL you are a classic conspiracy theorist. Sure some of what you said sounds legit but come on…. that would just be underhanded.
Additionally, I really highly doubt it was all faked. Look at the comments from the different people at Marvel… I doubt they would be in on it as well.
That’s the one thing that doesn’t work with conspiracy theories… if it really did happen how would you keep all the people involved quiet.
-Joseph
@28, I don’t think Oracle or Marvel was in on it.
@27, I think it’s peculiar how you frequently seem to be caught in situations where you are threatened with non-form letter, personal legal action, always by email, which you promptly post on this site in piratebay.org style.
I can’t prove anything though. You got me there. Carry on.
Chris - do you think Marvel or Oracle, in this case, might perhaps raise an objection if I had made the whole thing up?
oracle can seriously fuck itself. that asswipe Larry Ellison just got a huge tax cut for his lame palace he built in Woodside. now his minions are fucking with my iron man screening?
Fuck them all.
I’m not implying that you made it up. Just that I suspect that you create conditions that bring you into the line of fire of legal threats by design with your attorney knowledge in order to create blog traffic. In this case you may have had some piece of information such as knowing about the lack of communication between the parties which would lead to this happening. In other cases, linking to other’s personal pictures on this blog without crediting them.
In the case a few months ago, when TC offered a raffle prize to those that paid to donate to online projects, where if you donated you got a ticket in the raffle hat, when TC quickly canceled the blog post when I mentioned that pay for raffles constitute illegal lotteries in California, I believe that was an honest mistake. I know I just made a massive run on sentence, but I’m pressed for time right now.
Chris - right. your accusation has changed dramatically over your comments.
Given that we worked with paramount group sales on the event, i don’t think it’s reasonable to assume we orchestrated a legal dispute.
maybe try to see the good in the world. there is some.
Stop feeding the troll, Michael.
@33, My original comment was misunderstood then. After which I made clarifying statements. I’m baffled as to why somebody who took a bar exam and went through law school would do so many things that would draw legal complaints.
Movie openings are closely guarded now adays with the leaks on newsgroups ect.. I would have thought that somebody with a legal background would have researched the implications more or at least made sure that they were announcing it correctly, like most others in the same situation do.
And in the event that there is a problem, why promote it like this?
I know you won’t answer these questions, but it’s just something to think about. I am not accusing you of any wrong doing, just bringing up some points, and airing suspicions.
@34, well said.
Man, I wish I was fast enough to get reserve my seat! What is Oracle showing tonight? Pre-screening of Larry Ellison and his Planes on IMAX?
Ironman opens in Australia today, first screening at my local cinema is in 3 hours… I don’t think there will be any startling ‘leaks’ from the TC screening
@#4 It makes a lot more sense to bitch and scream in blog comments - misunderstandings or not - than go to the trouble of initiating legal action without first checking the facts.
Have fun at your outing tonight guys, and make sure you throw some popcorn at those Oracle douches.
Ironman is good, but don’t get too excited. Just a fun little flick with a good performance by Robert Downey Jr. Otherwise, the 3rd act is by the book.
Marvel’s not off the hook in my book. They’ve lost the magic and become a bunch of douches. That they get pushed around by Oracle and let pimple faced lawyers from no name law schools loose to threaten the imnnocent provides no excuse. That they hired some suit from Sony who can sprinkle around some magic dust changes nothing. I’m looking to see if BoycottMarvell.com can still be registered.
As for Oracle - well, that’s nothing new. They are supposed to be like that.
As for Chris’s conspiracy theory - you wish you were that smart. I wish I were that smart.
I should have guessed the Oracle connection. Here’s the ad across the street from the New York Comic Con a couple of weeks back:
http://flickr.com/photos/augiedb/2448087906/
FatBastard - Please be aware that there’s a vast difference in the business units, internally, between legal, licensing, and publishing. Boycotting the comics will do no favors to anyone. The comics are the least profitable part of Marvel’s business. And boycotting the movie won’t go very far — this puppy is going to rake in $100 million in the first week, or first weekend. Your little boycott won’t amount to a hill of beans.
Sounds like this whole thing is the result of miscommunications behind the scenes and, honestly, Tech Crunch. This is Marvel’s first big movie on their own. Paramount is not in control here. It’s Marvel’s movie division. TC went the wrong direction for permission. Paramount should have redirected.
Yeah, one more post — didn’t see that Mike called the group sales number on the website. So nevermind that point. Sorry for the confusion.
mike…
my point in the earlier comment (#4) was that although marvel was going to sue, the entire thing appears to have been a mistake. in that what oracle was doing, and what you are doing are indeed complementary, and that someone thought that they weren’t.
the fact that you obtained a lawyer was a good move and in all likelyhood was a push to get the appropriate resource within marvel/paramount to act. the fact that you had a number of screaming bitchy minions yelling like little biatch*s probably didn’t sway anyone with authority within either marvel, or paramount.
but i could be wrong!!
my whole point was that people should chill, and relax, and perhaps get to the root of an issue before acting like a bunch of tweaked out catholic school girls!
peace!
OK, I’m both too cheap and too busy to register BoycottMarvell.com.
All the same, any doubt I had that the magic at Marvell was long gone is dispelled. They are just cranking what cash they can out of a bunch of franchises where the creativity checked out 30 years ago. No kidding the comics are the least part of their business. Creativity in general is the least part of their business.
The saddest part - as they hand what once was marvelously creative place over to bean counters and lawyers, they don’t even seem to have hired good lawyers, just (or so it appears) unimaginative drones from no name law schools that get their jollies playing pseudo tough guy.
What a travesty. My perception of Marvell is changed.
Thanks techcrunch for the early screening!! Loved it!
Do it again for Speed Racer??
laughing out loud at your sarcasm
@ Sam —
Like that other commenter before said - the Old Media Thugs are used to bullying smaller sites all the time. One simple call to Paramout Group Sales would have avoided this whole debacle… But hey, that’s a whole 10 minutes out of someone’s day at both Marvel and Paramount.
OMG, that’s 2 oh-so-important-people being inconvenienced…
It’s much easier to just threaten the website.
And Oracle?
Well, what else do you expect from them?
They’re happy to make Marvel their bitch, and let them take the heat and hate for it.
So, after reading Mikes comment at #8, I wonder how long it will take YOU to apologize here for jumping to your conclusions?
Ah, irony…
Heh… walk away from the comp to eat breakfast, then come back and finish, and click “post”… and there’s Sam missing the boat a few posts above me upon the refresh. No luck yet.
@ Chris —
“My original comment was misunderstood then. After which I made clarifying statements. I’m baffled as to why somebody who took a bar exam and went through law school would do so many things that would draw legal complaints.”
Uh, dude. He went through the proper channels…. Way to not pay attention to the situation…
Mike did everything right. But they thug-posse pulled a Monty Burns on him and released the dogs anyway.
Great Event! Movie was awesome.
select ‘ironman’ from marvel where lawsuits=0;
Did Mr. Assoff ever call back?