Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.

Analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. said the acquisition will help Disney appeal to young men who have flocked to theaters to see Marvel's superhero fare in recent years. That contrasts with Disney's recent successes among young women with such fare as "Hannah Montana" and the Jonas Brothers.

"It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with," Joyce said, noting the $4 billion offer was at "full price."

Disney said Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. That values each Marvel share at $50 based on Friday's closing stock prices.

Marvel shares jumped $10.17, or 26 percent, to $48.82 shortly after the market opened. Disney shares fell 47 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $26.37.

Disney said the boards of both companies have approved the transaction, but it will require an antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

Silicon Alley - Disney spent $4 billion on Marvel Entertainment to solve a "boy problem," Comics Reporter editor Tom Spurgeon tells Deal Journal. Read:

Disney says its primary reason for acquiring Marvel — and for paying a hefty premium for the creator of Spiderman, Daredevil and other popular comic characters — is that it simply liked the company and wanted its assets.

“This was a company that we admired that we saw growing right before our eyes, that we were impressed with,’’’ Disney chief Bob Iger told investors during a conference call Monday.

“So it was not driven by anything other than continued interest in what Marvel is and what they have done and a continued desire at this company to look for great creativity, great creative people, great intellectual property…

Iger added: “We don’t have any…problematic strategic holes. We did not have any situation that in any way suggested that this was a must do deal.”

Under most circumstances, there would be nothing unusual about Iger’s comments. But this is no normal year. Up until Disney announced its bid for Marvel on Monday morning, August had been the slowest month of M&A deal volume since Dealogic, a research firm, began keeping records in 1995.

Many of the deals that have occurred this year have been driven by the interest of near term survival, not primarily by a strategy for long term growth. Pharmaceutical giants have acquired bio-tech companies to replenish badly depleted drug pipelines. Mergers in the energy, agriculture and home building sectors have largely been driven by a belief that bigger companies are better able to weather a global recession and falling commodity prices.

One such deal was Baker Hughes’s $5.3 billion acquisition of BJ Services, which was also announced on Monday. Baker Hughes said it needed BJ’s pumping operations to build its oilfield business internationally, while natural gas consumption wanes in the U.S. Meantime, BJ Services determined it could compete more effectively when combined with a larger company. Baker Hughes paid a 16% premium for BJ, based on Friday’s closing price. Investors worried that Baker Hughes had overpaid and sent shared tumbling 8.5% in afternoon trading.

Meantime, Disney didn’t do much to sugar coat the sizable 29% premium it’s paying for Marvel. “We are acquiring a premium company at a premium set of assets, and for that I think you have to pay a full and fair price,’’ Disney’s chief financial officer Tom Staggs told investors on the morning call. Disney shares fell 3%, but mostly on concerns that the cash-stock deal would be dilutive in the near term.

For Disney, the deal means it can use Marvel’s Spidey and Hulk franchises to tap into an older, male audience. (More girls tend to like Disney than boys) Of course, Disney may have overpaid for Marvel. After all, how many more blockbusters can be created from Marvel’s library of 5,000 lesser known comic book characters?

The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it will acquire the entertainment company, which owns comic book characters such as Iron Man and Spider-Man, for $4 billion in cash and stock.

Wells Fargo analyst Tim Conder said in a note to investors that Hasbro recently extended its contract with Marvel until 2017.

"We do not view this transaction as having any material negative implications from this perspective," he wrote. Still, the decision might affect Hasbro and Discovery's TV network joint venture, since it makes it less likely the network will offer shows centered around Marvel characters.

Now, "it is highly likely that Disney will want to retain Marvel-related programming content for its own channels of distribution," Conder noted.

The "Wizards" movie that debuted last night drew 11.4 million viewers. That makes it cable's No. 1 telecast this year, Disney Channel proudly proclaimed this afternoon. Let's face it: The folks at Disney are overjoyed.

"Wizards" is the 77th Disney Channel movie, but it's No. 2 in terms of premiere audience. Only "High School Musical 2" did better, and of course, it was a phenomenon before it arrived. It had 17.2 million viewers when it premiered two years ago.

Following an out-of-town tryout at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, Mermaid began previews on Broadway Nov. 3, 2007, with an official opening Jan. 7, 2008. (The show's original opening night was scheduled for Dec. 6, but that date was rescheduled due to the stagehands strike, which stalled the family-friendly musical for nearly three weeks.)

A national tour is expected to launch in fall 2010.

The stage version of the hit animated film borrowed Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's movie songs and added new songs by Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. Opera director Francesca Zambello directed. Tony Award winner Faith Prince had recently stepped into the show as sea witch Ursula, one of the few character who didn't "swim" across the stage on roller-skate-like sneakers.

Thomas Schumacher, producer and president of Disney Theatrical Productions, said in a June 30 statement, "Director Francesca Zambello, our creators, designers and cast conjured a world unlike any Broadway has seen before, and audiences have been captivated by it at every explosive performance. We are tremendously proud of the show and are confident we'll have an excellent summer but it would be fiscally irresponsible to our shareholders to risk operating losses with such a big show in the historically challenging fall months. We are closing the Broadway production to concentrate on the long future life of this title — beginning with next year's national tour and upcoming international productions."

The cast of The Little Mermaid currently features Chelsea Morgan Stock (Ariel), Faith Prince (Ursula), Drew Seeley (Prince Eric), Norm Lewis (King Triton), Rogelio Douglas Jr. (Sebastian), Eddie Korbich (Scuttle), Jonathan Freeman (Grimsby), Tyler Maynard (Flotsam), Eric LaJuan Summers (Jetsam), Robert Creighton (Chef Louis) and Trevor Braun, Major Curda and Brian D'Addario (alternating as Flounder).

"In a magical kingdom beneath the sea," according to Mermaid production notes, "a beautiful young mermaid named Ariel longs to leave her ocean home to live in the world above. But first, she'll have to defy her father — the king of the sea — escape the clutches of an evil sea witch and convince a prince that she's the girl with the perfect voice." The musical is based on both the Disney animated film (written and directed by John Musker & Ron Clements) and the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

Pulizter Prize winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife, Grey Gardens) wrote the book.

Song titles include "Fathoms Below," "Daughters of Triton," "The World Above," "Human Stuff," "I Want the Good Times Back," "Part of Your World," "Storms at Sea," "She's in Love," "Her Voice," "Under the Sea," "Sweet Child," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," "Positoovity," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," "Les Poissons," "One Step Closer," "Kiss the Girl," "If Only," "The Contest" and "Finale Ultimo."

The creative team also includes Stephen Mear (choreography), George Tsypin (scenic design), Tatiana Noginova (costume design), Natasha Katz (lighting design), John Shivers (sound design), Angelina Avallone (makeup design), Sven Ortel (projection and video design) and David Brian Brown (hair design). Associate producer is Todd Lacey. Fight director is Rick Sordelet. Technical director is David Benken. Production supervisor is Clifford Schwartz.

Dance arrangements are by David Chase, music coordinator is Michael Keller, orchestrations are by Danny Troob. Music direction, incidental music and vocal arrangements are by Michael Kosarin.

Disney Theatrical Productions is under the direction of Thomas Schumacher.

The Lunt-Fontanne box office is located at 205 West 46th Street.

In the U.K., the Mouse House has replaced its old Jetix channel with Disney Xtreme Digital, which aims to woo youngsters back to TV with an enticing array of online components, including Flash games, extensive animation and vidgame-style programming.

Flagship skein "Aaron Stone," about a tween superhero whose prowess on a videogame called "Hero Rising" allows him to become the real-life version of his vidgame self, typifies Disney’s cross-marketing synergy.

The Mouse launched an actual "Hero Rising" game online months before the show’s debut, gradually building a fanbase. The game’s top scores were attributed to a player named Aaron Stone, which provided an immediate "in" with Disney’s target aud — young boys — when the show bowed.