Rebirth of the Great Entertainment Empire

…

last life.

Under the operation of Wall Street veteran Ron Perelman, Marvel Comics went public in 1991.

Relying on the listing of Marvel Comics, Ron Perelman naturally made a lot of money.

But Ron Perelman’s food is really ugly—it’s fine to say that the copyright of all the characters created by the contracted cartoonists is collected as a company in the form of a contract, but you Ron Perelman At any rate, Lehman let these cartoonists also drink some soup, and at worst made them feel hopeful. But Ron Perelman only slightly increased the buyout price for these cartoonists.

Later, because they were dissatisfied that Ron Perelman received all the copyrights of all the contracted cartoonists under the company in the form of a contract, some Marvel contracted cartoonists put pressure on Ron Perelman to change the contract. Among them, the editor and cartoonist Nathan Burcher proposed that Marvel abandon the one-time copyright buyout that has been implemented for half a century and follow the example of DC and also provide some cartoonists with guaranteed sharing contracts.

In Ron Perelman's view, this very unreasonable request obviously seriously damaged the company's interests, so it was flatly rejected by Ron Perelman.

Afterwards, many contracted cartoonists under Marvel chose to protest the company's domineering collectively, but under the constraints of the contract, the matter could only be let go in the end.

but--

The contract has a time limit. Later, after the contract expired, some Marvel contracted cartoonists would rather give up the follow-up creation rights of their previous works, and refused to continue to sign with Marvel. Jim Lee, McFarlane, etc. A group of star painters left Marvel to start their own business and established ImageComics, the third largest comic company in the industry.

The wave of exodus of cartoonists under Marvel reached another peak in the first half of 1993, because the contracts of a large number of cartoonists under Marvel expired this year, except for Jim Lee, McFarlane and others who actively relied on personal relationships In addition to attracting expired cartoonists to join Impression Comics, including Marvel's old rival DC, and even newly established publishing companies such as Dark Horse Comics, they are all eyeing the big fat of Marvel. The Marvel executives headed by Lehman have repeatedly raised the copyright buyout price, but it is still difficult to stop the loss of a large number of contracted cartoonists.

Learning from this lesson, Xu Cun took Weng Hong, Huo Wenxi, his own bodyguards, and Stan Lee, who had been incorporated by him, as soon as the DreamWorks Group and the Goodman family signed the acquisition agreement of Marvel Comics. , screenwriter Joe Simon, painter Jack Kirby, and painter Steve Ditko came to Marvel's headquarters to have a meeting with the original Marvel cartoonists and screenwriters.

The one who wants to meet with me is the only boss of Marvel in the future, and the matter they are talking about is related to my future destiny. All the cartoonists and screenwriters from the original Marvel came to the meeting room early to wait for Xu Cun.

And Xu Cun led the people to arrive on time on time.

As soon as he took the main seat in the conference hall, Xu Cun said with a smile on his face: "Before I saw you, I thought I came to the wrong place. How can such a poor environment be a place where a group of geniuses work?"

pity--

Xu Cun thought about the opening remarks all the way, but he didn't get any response from the cartoonists and screenwriters of the original Marvel.

On the contrary, Stan Lee, who has been edited by Xu Cun, said with some embarrassment: "In recent years, the company's profitability has been very unstable, and it owes a large amount of foreign debt to the bank, so Goodman has no money to set up the environment for everyone. Nice office."

Xu Cuncai didn't believe what Martin Goodman's brother-in-law Stan Lee said—it's not like Marvel has been in trouble all the time. If Martin Goodman had the heart, how could he not exchange money for a few offices?

Xu Cun smiled and said: "For Mr. Martin, the poor days are over. I think, after repaying the money owed to the bank, Mr. Martin and his children will have at least 200 to 300 million US dollars in pensions." Then, Xu Cun looked at the group of cartoonists and screenwriters sitting there, and said again: "Everyone, I'm afraid you have to continue to struggle, otherwise you may not even have money for retirement!"

As soon as Xu Cun's words came out of his mouth, several people were immediately angry!

As if he didn't see the faces of these people, Xu Cun continued: "Okay, let's get down to business... I think, even if I don't introduce myself, someone should know me? But, after all, there should still be people who don't know me. So, let me introduce myself first. My name is Xu Cun, and I am the owner of DreamWorks Group. DreamWorks Films and DreamWorks Television Network are both my industries. Now, Marvel Comics is also my industry, and I am alone industry."

Seeing everyone's reactions, Xu Cun continued, "I think one of the impressions some of you have about me is that I'm rich. Well, I admit it. So, if you work for me, it should be A kind of luck, because you will receive the highest benefits and treatment in the industry."

As soon as Xu Cun uttered these words, many cartoonists and screenwriters immediately showed joy on their faces, but none of them said a word—obviously, they hoped to hear Xu Cun say something more tangible, but Not just empty talk now.

Seeing this, Xu Cun said: "Then let me talk about what you are most concerned about first." After scanning around, Xu Cun continued: "From now on, Marvel can provide guaranteed share agreements for cartoonists in need, The price is equivalent to the highest in the industry, and since some cartoonists are used to buying out contracts, Marvel will respect the choice of these cartoonists and continue to provide them with buyout contracts."

The promise made by Xu Cun made all the cartoonists and screenwriters here beam with joy—they finally got the hope of getting a high salary!

After the emotions of the cartoonists and screenwriters stabilized, Xu Cuncai said again: "I am a businessman, a greedy businessman, so the copyright of the characters you create must be completely owned by me!"

After hearing Xu Cun's domineering words, the joy on the faces of some cartoonists and screenwriters immediately began to fade!

Xu Cun didn't look at these people, and continued: "However, although the copyrights of the characters you created belong to me personally, as long as you work for Marvel and the characters you create make money, I will give you a part of it." , I promise, this part will earn much more than you get the copyright of these characters."

Afterwards, Xu Cun took a look at Stan Lee, screenwriter Joe Simon, painter Jack Kirby, and painter Steve Ditko, and said, "For example, DreamWorks Films will be filming "Captain America" ​​this year. " and "Spider-Man", I will give each of the two creative teams "Captain America" ​​and "Spider-Man" 3% of the global box office share."

As soon as Xu Cun's words fell, there was an uproar at the scene, and some cartoonists and screenwriters even stood up excitedly-the high guarantee, plus the high share, plus the share of film and television, although they can't own the content they created. However, they can live comfortably with the characters they create, and if they can create characters that people like, they can also make a lot of money with the characters they create! How could this make them not excited?

Seeing that the emotions of all the cartoonists and screenwriters were mobilized, Xu Cun said what he wanted to say most today: "In a few days, someone will organize you to travel to Xiangjiang, and take a look at the DreamWorks film and television that I am proud of." I like the people there, someone will arrange a comfortable place for him, and arrange a suitable high-paying job for his family. If I don’t like the people there, I can create independently at home in the future, and communicate with the headquarters through E-mail, ah, yes, What I mean is that the headquarters of Marvel Comics will be moved to Xiangjiang."

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