America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 207 Some people just don’t open their eyes, that man is back

At the MGM Tower, two men sat in front of Eric.

One has a familiar big beard, and the other is also very familiar, but his face is still childish.

"Eric, he is Kevin Feige, the young man I told you about last time. He has his own unique insights into comics and movies, and is an expert in this field."

After Avi Arad's introduction, young Kevin Feige smiled and reached out his hand: "Hello Mr. Cooper, I am Kevin Feige."

The future general was about to arrive, and Eric shook his hand happily.

"Hello, Avi has mentioned you many times and said that you will be the person who will help Marvel to rise again. He thinks very highly of you."

At this time, Kevin Feige was only 30 years old. He did not hold a high position or wield a lot of power. He only served as a middle-level cadre at Beech Toys.

When faced with Eric's compliments, although the other person was much younger than him, he did not have the calmness of later generations, but was a little reserved.

"I just loved reading comics since I was a kid. Avi said he wanted me to come to Marvel to help him. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can't get more lucky than doing a job I love."

"You're right, engaging in a career you love is the happiest thing in the world."

"Haha, I agree too."

We chatted for a while when we first met. Although Kevin Feige was a little reluctant to let go, he was very eloquent.

Being able to speak means knowing how to communicate and being able to communicate with superiors and subordinates. This is very good and can effectively speed up work progress and solve difficulties.

Avi Arad has a big problem with this. He used to be the director of Perlmutter, but after completing the share swap, Perlmutter left Marvel directly and no longer bothered to deal with what he saw as a mess.

With Kevin Feige assisting, Avi Arad's shortcomings can be made up for.

"Kevin, my character has always been about trusting people and rejecting them. You have a deep understanding of comics and have been involved in the production of movies, so you understand the ropes."

"So now I officially invite you to join Marvel. From now on, you will be the vice president of Marvel. Let us create a better tomorrow together!"

Kevin Feige nodded repeatedly with a hint of trepidation. The position of vice president was really unexpected.

When Avi Arad approached him, he was promised a position such as production director or creative director, which was a mid-level and senior level position in the company, but lower than the vice president.

Unexpectedly, Eric Cooper was more generous than Avi Arad.

He couldn't help but roar in his heart: "Damn it, this wave is about to take off!"

"Of course, boss, I will definitely work hard and promise to do my best to do Marvel well."

"Well, I believe you. Avi has told you my plan, right? Marvel is going to create a movie universe that will link all superheroes together, called MCEU for short."

"Yes, I was completely shocked when I heard this idea. To be honest, I had this idea many years ago."

"That's even better. Now we are preparing for "Captain America." According to Marvel's current resources, you should quickly make a relationship diagram. I need the structure of the first phase of the MCEU."

Kevin Feige understands that this is the first test the new boss has given him.

But he is confident because he believes that no one knows how to make Marvel movies better than him.

"Wait a minute Eric, in addition to bringing Fitch to meet you this time, there is actually another very important thing to do." Avi Arad suddenly interrupted.

"What's up?"

"Copyright, the copyright matter you told me about before has made progress."

"Did you get the copyright back?" Eric was a little surprised.

Although superhero movies are not yet popular, the Spider-Man and X-Men series have proven that if you make a good film, you can definitely make a lot of money, and there are actually people who are willing to return the copyright!

Avi Arad nodded: "Twentieth Century Fox and New Line are willing to sell their characters back to us, Daredevil and Iron Man."

"It's just that the asking price is a bit high. Daredevil Fox costs US$15 million, and Iron Man's new line costs US$10 million. When it was originally sold, it was less than half of that."

"Buy it, buy it back!" Eric made the decision without even thinking.

Just kidding, $25 million can buy back two very valuable superheroes. This is a very worthwhile deal.

Eric couldn't help but ask: "Have Fox and New Line lost their minds?"

"Eric, have you forgotten? At the beginning of last year, Fox released "Daredevil," starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Colin Farrell. It cost $80 million and turned out to be a piece of shit. shit."

"Whether it's fans, viewers or critics, almost all of them criticized the movie as rubbish. Ben Affleck's wedding was postponed because of this."

"$80 million is not a small number, especially for a superhero like Daredevil who does not require a lot of special effects."

"They can't make it right. Judging from the current box office and reputation, there's no need for a sequel. Daredevil is destined to be put in the cold storage."

"So when I went to communicate, Fox pretended to have an internal meeting for a few days, and then readily agreed to sell Daredevil and related extended characters back to us."

"In addition to Daredevil, there are also Elektra, Bullseye, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. In short, we can make our own Defenders."

"Where's the golden soldier?" Eric asked.

"Jin Bing is a public villain and appears in many superhero works, so the copyright is shared by several companies."

"Well done, Avi!" Eric gave a thumbs up.

Although the popularity of these superheroes is different. For example, Daredevil is second-tier and not as good as those big brothers. However, they have also gained a group of loyal fans by relying on their own unique personal magazines.

Elektra was created by Daredevil, and her popularity is much lower than that of the Blind Lawyer, but some fans approve of her, otherwise Fox would not give her a solo movie in the future.

But judging from the current situation, Erica's solo movie must have been cancelled, and Jennifer Garner is not good no matter how beautiful she is.

What's more, Eric remembers that the movie was also very rubbish. It failed both in terms of reputation and box office, and it only cost money.

As for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, none of them can reach the third level, and their popularity is relatively low.

Otherwise, there would not be a Defenders debut. Those who are capable are individual trainees, and no one will take the team route.

Of these, only Daredevil is worthy of the big screen, but Fox just failed to make it, and Marvel will definitely not be able to get it in a few years.

Eric can only think of one way in his mind, which is to make a TV series like Netflix, and then broadcast it on Lionheart.com, which can at least add some visibility to Lionheart.

"Now that we have got the copyright back, don't let them idle. Let's make the Daredevil TV series first. If the response is good, we can then develop other superheroes."

Avi Arad nodded in agreement: "Well, I think so too. The investment in TV series is small, and with Fox in front of us, as long as the quality of our filming is up to standard, the audience will be very satisfied."

"What's going on with New Line? Didn't you say last year that Tom Cruise would be hired to play Tony Stark?"

"I gave up. New Line President Gillante believes that a man wearing hundreds of pounds of armor flying in the sky is insulting the audience's IQ and is completely unscientific."

Eric has a black question mark on his face. Superheroes talk about science? What the hell!

"For that reason? Then why did they make Blade?"

Avi Arad shrugged: "I can't understand it at all. Maybe it's because the Blade Runner rides a motorcycle. At least it's down to earth."

"And Iron Man himself is a science person. In the comics, he even had a gem of wisdom growing out of his brain, so some old-fashioned people thought it was unscientific."

"I think the special effects are too expensive, and New Line doesn't want to bet on it. Blade can be made for 30 to 40 million US dollars, while Iron Man can only be made for 30 to 40 million US dollars, without Man." Kevin Feige complained.

And his complaints were probably the main reason why New Line gave up.

"Eric, what are you going to do about Iron Man?" Avi Arad asked.

"Shoot! Daredevil can be on the big screen, what can't Iron Man do?"

"But aren't we going to make Captain America?"

"What I mean is synchronized, three projects starting at the same time."

"Will it be"

Seeing Kevin Feige hesitate to speak, Eric knew what he was worried about.

"You don't have to worry about money. MGM will provide the majority, and Marvel will provide an appropriate part. It can be regarded as a joint project between the two companies."

Kevin Feige couldn't help but sigh, he really has a lot of money, the budget of the three projects is at least 500 million US dollars, and they were released without blinking an eye. He really followed a golden thigh.

"Is there anything else?" Eric asked.

"There is another thing about the Hulk. The Hulk that Universal asked Ang Lee to shoot failed like Daredevil, so it also intends to sell the copyright to us."

"Huh? Why don't we talk about it together?"

"Because Universal has reservations, they want to only sell the filming rights and retain the distribution rights for the Hulk movie. I think you will not agree."

Eric sneered: "That's a good idea. Do you want to copy Titanic? Will I need it for distribution?"

"Avi, please reply to Universal, either sell it to us together, or forget it. The Hulk is a front-line hero, so the price can be appropriately higher."

"In addition, when I go back, I will go shopping in the hero library and find a few heroes with potential. I plan to make them into a TV series."

2003 is over and time has entered 2004.

The Christmas War continues, with new films joining the battlefield every week, although most become cannon fodder.

Because even if it is the largest movie market in the world, Hollywood cannot tolerate dozens of movies starting at the same time, even in the hottest time of the year.

There are only so many movie theaters, and the films are there. If you have more, others will have less. The third party may only be able to take 1% of the films.

Currently, "Lord of the Rings 3" still tops the list, with Yiqi Juechen Fault ranking first.

The second place is the extremely hilarious "Sharknado 2". Christmas audiences like to cheer up their friends or bring their families to laugh together.

2,500 theaters directly took in a box office of US$53 million, with a single box office exceeding US$20,000, surpassing the similarly ridiculous "Scary 3".

The media interviewed the Wayans brothers and asked them why "Sharknado 2" surpassed the "Scary" series, which was also created by them.

Their answer is that the former is more brainless, and the only one that can beat "Sharknado 2" is next year's "Sharknado 3."

The little bitch Ryan Reynolds now holds two major commercial IPs, "Transformers" and "Sharknado", and has become the hottest A-list actor.

All kinds of film appointments come one after another. In the past, it was the actors who picked the roles, but now it is the actors who pick the roles.

Ranking third on the box office list is "Adele's Life", which has the right time and place. It was released in more than 400 theaters this week and took in a box office of US$27 million in a week.

In three weeks, the North American box office has reached 83 million U.S. dollars. The excellent reputation has prompted the film to be launched in some open countries such as Europe, Asia, and South America. It also received 24 million U.S. dollars in box office in one week, and the global box office exceeded 100 million.

The Olsen sisters are extremely happy. This is the best result they have ever achieved. From now on, they can also say that they are billionaire heroines.

On the other hand, "The Devil Wears Prada" was even more miserable. It was shown in more than 800 theaters and only took in a box office of US$7.33 million in one week.

When Patty Jenkins and Theron saw this data, they could only smile bitterly.

The plot was so dark, and everyone knew it would be bad, but they didn't expect it to be so bad. It became Eric's worst-performing movie since he took over at MGM.

"I'm sorry, dear." Theron lay on Eric's back, his tone a little distressed.

Eric patted her butt to comfort her and said, "Don't be sorry, honey, I don't expect to make money from this film. It was originally meant for you to win prizes."

"You're so good to me, Eric."

"Haha, the cost of "The Devil" is not high, even if you include the promotion, it will cost almost 30 million US dollars."

"Even if you lose money at the box office, you can slowly make it back through copyright in the future."

"Taking a step back, so what if you lose tens of millions! As long as you are happy."

It is said that in the eyes of women, men are the most stylish when they spend money. This sentence makes sense, because Eric has experienced it personally from Theron.

This night he unlocked several more positions that he had always wanted, and he was very happy.

"Transformers" took in 23 million US dollars at the global box office, officially entering the 900 million club with a score of 1.3 billion.

However, the North American box office only had 7.3 million US dollars left, ranking 11th on the list.

The previous ones include Tim Burton's classic "Big Fish", "Mona Lisa Smile" co-starring the three beauties Julia Roberts, Kristen Dunst and Julia Stiles, Jude Law and May "Cold Mountain" starring Glenn.

According to the original time and space, "Cold Mountain" should have starred Jude Law and Nicole, but now that Nicole is filming "La Vie en Rose", the butterfly effect has already been stirred up.

Next up is "Girl with a Pearl Earring" starring the widowed sister Scarlett Janssen. This year, Hollywood seems to like to use world-famous paintings as its names.

At this time, "Transformers" has reached its end, and it will be released in the last week.

But the departure of the Autobots symbolizes the re-emergence of the prairie lion.

Nasdaq, the bell is ringing!