Heads Up Hollywood

Inside Marvel Entertainment, the atmosphere is very serious.

If "Blade Warrior"'s first-week box office of 15 million US dollars was disappointing, then the next week's box office of 6.8 million was a cliff-like drop. With such a huge investment, the movie that was given high hopes by Marvel, was released for 10 days, and the box office was only 21.8 million US dollars, which is really unreasonable.

According to the current trend, the North American box office cannot exceed 40 million US dollars.

In fact, in terms of word-of-mouth, "Blade Warrior" is not bad, at least it can't be said to be a bad movie. But meeting the wrong opponent at such a wrong time is doomed to the failure of the movie.

The waters in Hollywood are very deep, and it is by no means that success can be achieved with passion.

Avi Arad and Ike Patham used to be shareholders of toy companies, not billionaires. In order to acquire Marvel, they almost gave up everything, hoping to lead Marvel on a new voyage.

However, a film they worked so hard on was defeated like Waterloo.

How much was the North American box office of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" released at the same time?

$86.4 million!

Looking at the investment amount of the two movies, it is even more envious to vomit blood.

There is no doubt that Marvel Entertainment's gamble has failed!

The next punishment is also justified.

Originally, Marvel only invested US$5 million in "Blade Warrior", and New Line Pictures invested the remaining US$40 million. However, due to various changes, Marvel borrowed an additional US$15 million, bringing the total investment to US$20 million.

This is taking the future of Marvel desperately!

But as a result, many of Marvel's older generations seem to have seen that Marvel couldn't pay off its debts a few years ago and was forced to go bankrupt and reorganize.

"We have to solve the debt problem!" On the board of directors, Avi Arad's face was livid.

Dan Buckley, who was in charge of publishing, sneered, "How to solve it? As I said at the beginning, we are a comic company, and movies won't work!"

"Now is not the time to pursue responsibility!" Avi Arad slapped the table angrily.

Dan Buckley is a veteran of Marvel, and he is not afraid of this foreign chairman at all, especially when he makes such a big mistake, "The end of the year is coming soon, and the company will lose at least 30 million US dollars this year. Big hole, I don't know how to fix it."

"Okay, Dan!" Veteran cartoonist Brian Bendis sighed, "If it doesn't work, let's continue to sell the copyright of the hero, that's how we came here back then."

"No!" Ike Patham vetoed it categorically. He bought Marvel to make the company grow stronger, instead of embarking on a dark old path. "The copyright of superheroes cannot be sold!"

"This is the only chance for Marvel to survive. Our comic sales are declining every year, and we have no source of profit." Another executive, Alan Fine, said helplessly.

Stan Lee frowned and pondered, "In any case, we must get through the current difficulties first. Marvel is not over yet. Columbia Pictures' "Men in Black" was a big success, so they have confidence in our comics, maybe . . . and they will charge a high price."

Dan Buckley said lightly: "The man in black? It's our comics, but in the final analysis, it's more like science fiction than a superhero."

"Enough!" Ike Patham's face was gloomy, "I said, I will never sell any superheroes! Avi, what about you?"

Avi Arad chose silence.

He suddenly remembered an incident last year, Dunn Walker wanted to buy Marvel Entertainment with the overwhelming popularity of "Titanic". As a result, Marvel decisively refused.

Now that "Blade Warrior" has been sniped by Tang En's movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", did he do it on purpose?

Avi Arad was unknown, but he had a feeling that with the enthusiasm of a young man like Dunn Walker, he would never give up lightly.

...

Finally, in September, Tang En Pictures and Warner Pictures started an important meeting.

The location is the conference room of Tang En Films. There are as many as 20 or 30 people on both sides.

For Tang En Pictures, Tang En, Reese Witherspoon, George Paxton, Glenn Fierro, Andrew O'Hare and others all participated.

In terms of Warner Pictures (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), many big names attended, even including Warner Bros. executive Alan Horn.

After the initial simple greetings, Tang En finally understood the reason why "Harry Potter" would enter Warner's sight.

It started with a British producer named David Heyman.

One day his assistant bought a book at the bookstore as a gift for the children at home. But after reading it, the assistant liked the story very much and recommended it to David Heyman.

David Heyman has collaborated with Warner for many times, and his childhood playmate Lionel Wigram works in Warner, so he recommended this book to the senior management of Warner Pictures and strongly persuaded him to Warner bought the rights.

After Alan Horn learned of this, he immediately made a decision and won the copyright!

At the same time, he also contacted DreamWorks, intending to invite DreamWorks to jointly develop the "Harry Potter" series of movies, because such a large-scale series of movies, looking at the entire Hollywood, only Steve Spielberg is reassuring .

His "Jurassic Park" series and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series are both gold-absorbing weapons.

However, DreamWorks refused.

At the same time, the assistant sent by Alan Horn to acquire the copyright used extreme methods in order to show his ability, which directly led to a gap between Tang En Pictures and Warner Bros.

Naturally, Dunn couldn't believe what he said, but no matter what, Warner Brothers led the negotiating team to the door this time, and it was led by a big man like Alan Horn, which can be said to be full of sincerity.

Moreover, Dunn keenly noticed several names.

The first one is Alan Horn, this guy is a big man, in the ten years that Warner Bros. has been in power, he has won the North American annual box office champion seven times!

In particular, his "Harry Potter" series, "The Dark Knight" trilogy, "Inception" and other works are well-known and memorable.

Because of his straightforward personality, he didn't like to curry favor with his boss, Time Warner's big boss Jeff Bewkes. He was forced to resign, but he was valued by Disney. In 2012, he became the chairman of Disney Studios, and then... is Disney swept Hollywood.

Needless to say, David Heyman, as a famous British producer, he naturally has the right of first refusal for the copyright of the British adaptation. "Harry Potter" is the same, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is also the same.

And his childhood playmate, Lionel Wigram, who was working in Warner Pictures at this time, was also a well-known figure.

In addition to helping the company complete the production work, this guy likes to draw comics and has a big brain, allowing Holmes to learn fighting skills.

Later, this set of comics was adapted by Warner, which is the well-known movie series, "Sherlock Holmes" starring Robert Downey Jr.

These three people are all in today's negotiating team.

There was a gleam in Tang En's eyes, and he had a "love of talent", of course, more of a love of money.

"In this way, let me tell a story at the beginning of the negotiation."

This is Tang En Pictures, and Tang En's home game. He will never hand over the initiative easily, so let's pour cold water on it first!

"Everyone at Marvel Entertainment knows that in the past ten years, their lives have been miserable. After all, they are not DC comics, and they are relying on a giant."

In Tang En's serious narration, he made a joke, which caused bursts of laughter from the other party.

"In 1980, in order to repay the debt, Marvel sold the film copyright of "Fantastic Four" to the German film company, Constantine Films. According to the agreement, Constantine Films must complete the film within 12 years Otherwise, Marvel has the right to take back the copyright of "Fantastic Four" unconditionally."

Tang En's words sounded rambling, but everyone here is either a negotiator or a well-known producer. When it comes to copyright issues, they must have something to do with "Harry Potter".

"In 1992, seeing that the copyright period was coming, Constantine Films was in a hurry. In order to keep the copyright of "Fantastic Four", they invited B-level film director Ollie Sassoon from Hollywood, and immediately started The project was completed. At that time, the crew had to work 20 hours a day, and in only 25 days, the first "Fantastic Four" movie in history officially appeared."

As a Brit, David Heyman despised the Germans, and said with a sneer, "25 days, it must be a super bad movie!"

Tang En nodded, "That's right, in fact, this movie has never been released, but so what? Constantine has fulfilled the agreement. To this day, the copyright of "Fantastic Four" is still in Constantine's hands." In the hands of the film industry."

After Tang En's story was finished, everyone present understood what he meant.

Now, the copyright of "Harry Potter" is in Tang En's hands. Although there is a time limit in the agreement, as long as he wants, he can always own the copyright of "Harry Potter"!