娱乐英语新闻:Three U.S. film studios reach agreement on distribution rights

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios reached an agreement on Monday on distribution rights for two highly-anticipated movies.

Under the agreement, Paramount will transfer its worldwide distribution rights to Disney for Marvel's "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3," according to an announcement by the three studios.

"In completing this agreement, Disney will now assume worldwide marketing and distribution of 'The Avengers' and 'Iron Man 3' and leverage these two highly-anticipated films across the multiple global platforms of the Walt Disney Co.," said Rich Ross, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios.

Disney, which purchased Marvel last year, will pay Paramount 115 million dollars for the transfer of the distribution rights to those two films -- to be paid on the theatrical release dates -- as a minimum guarantee against the distribution fees.

Paramount will remain the worldwide distributor of the upcoming films "Thor" and "Captain America," which are based on Marvel characters, as well as the previously released "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2."

When Paramount and Marvel made their initial deal five years ago, "both our businesses were in very different places," said Brad Grey, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures. "Today, this new agreement is the right deal for Paramount, for Marvel and for Disney."

"Thor" is scheduled to be released on May 6 and "Captain America" on July 22.