Ever since the project was first announced, BIG HERO 6 has been discussed as Marvel’s first animated film since Disney purchased the company. But, once the trailer and marketing material were released, there has been not a single mention of the story originating as a Marvel comic. Some speculated that it may be to downplay any consideration that the animated family film is connected to the live action Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the reasoning behind the marketing of the film seems to be purely financial in nature.
In his Tumblr, Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort shared the following hypothetical question.
“If you had two things, and on one you earned 100% of the revenues from the efforts that you put into making it, and the other you earned a much smaller percentage for the same amount of time and effort, you’d be more likely to concentrate more heavily on the first, wouldn’t you?”
Case in point, The Hollywood Reporter discovered that while Disney has their usual range of product tie-ins in the form of games, toys, books, and more with partners such as Random House, Marvel is planning no reprints of BIG HERO 6 comics or character appearances in current titles to promote the Disney Animation film.
In the end, Marvel is likely going to promote the hell out of their popular titles as they did with major announcements for Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man on shows like The View and The Colbert Report in recent months, characters who are integral to the MCU. Will this affect BIG HERO 6 in any way? That remains to be seen. The trailers look fun and it could build an audience purely on the push that it comes from the creators of FROZEN and WRECK-IT RALPH, but stay tuned if Marvel changes their tune after the movie debuts on November 7th.