Comic and licensing company Marvel Enterprises is mulling over entering the world of film production on their own, confirms a company representative. Since the overwhelming success of its characters like Spider-Man and Daredevil on the big screen, the company is contemplating middle budget theatrical or direct-to-video productions based on some of their lower-profile characters. The films would have a budget range of between $8 and $50 million. No deals have been struck at this time.

The next Marvel superhero feature to reach the screen will be THE PUNISHER on April 16, 2003, followed by SPIDER-MAN 2 a few months later on July 2. Marvel has several other properties in various forms of production and pre-production including FANTASTIC FOUR, NAMOR: SUB-MARINER, IRON MAN, GHOST RIDER, MAN-THING and ELEKTRA. For more information about Marvel visit www.marvel.com.