In the reception room of Relativity Entertainment, Robert Lee solemnly introduced a bald man to Ronan: "Ronan, this is Arthur Malcombe, the new president of Marvel Comics' copyright department, who came to Los Angeles to deal with Marvel's copyright affairs this time, and made a special trip to visit the company today. ”

Arthur Malcolm stepped forward and shook Ronan's hand vigorously: "Mr. Anderson, it's a great honor to know you. ”

Ronan responded with a polite smile: "It's a pleasure to meet you." ”

This is the professional that Marvel Comics sent to Los Angeles to deal with the copyright dispute with Twentieth Century Fox.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Arthur Malcolm said, "I came here today mainly to bring greetings from Mr. Avi Arad and a little more. ”

Ronan was very angry: "Please say, where Relativity Entertainment can help, it will definitely help." ”

Arthur Malcolm is certainly not stupid, and he can hear another meaning behind this, and he will definitely not help if he doesn't want to help.

"Shahai Entertainment Productions, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment, currently holds the rights to film adaptations of more than 30 Marvel superhero characters and their related characters and stories. Arthur Malcolm said directly: "At the beginning, Shahai Entertainment bought out the copyright of these superhero characters, Marvel Comics has been publishing related comics in recent years, and the influence of many characters has continued to expand through comics, I think it is necessary to modify the contract between the two parties and appropriately increase the copyright income of Marvel as a creator, after all, the cooperation should be a win-win situation." ”

Ronan asked Robert Lee to go to New York to lobby Marvel Comics, and he was mentally prepared for this, saying: "At present, Shahai Entertainment has no relevant film adaptation plan, and I suggest that we will talk about it after the film project is confirmed." ”

Arthur Malcolm thought about it, the movie is not adapted, and it is useless to talk about it for the time being, and the main focus is still on the Marvel movies that have been blockbusters, and immediately said: "Yes." ”

Ronan remained silent, and Robert Lee sat on the side, always with a faint smile on his face.

Yesterday he had a half-day meeting with Robert Iger and Ronan, and a team had already rushed to New York to start making preliminary preparations.

If everything goes well, the agreement between Shahai Entertainment and Marvel Comics will not be a problem at all in the future.

As for not going well, it is less likely, and now Marvel is a company that has almost nowhere to borrow money.

Ronan added: "In this regard, I will communicate directly with Avi Aradd. ”

Arthur Malcolm also knew that he and Ronan were not talking on an equal footing, and said with a smile: "Okay, Mr. Arad welcomes Mr. Anderson to Marvel again at any time." ”

Ronan said two more polite sentences.

After less than half an hour, Arthur Malcolm said goodbye and left, and Relativity Entertainment was only a minor issue, after all, the related rights were not profitable for the time being, and the target was still those companies that were or were about to generate revenue.

Ronan told Robert Lee: "Let the team over there in New York keep an eye on Marvel." ”

In April, the North American film market was still relatively cold, and after "Resident Evil 2: Revelations" won the North American box office in its opening weekend, the energy of the explosion quickly dissipated.

Most of the movies of this genre belong to the genre of "if you are addicted to death", there is basically not much staying power to speak of.

Rotten Tomatoes has a freshness score of 23%, an IMDB score of 6.3, an ema score of "B-", and an average MetaCritic score of 42.

The reputation of "Resident Evil 2: Revelations" can only be said to be quite average.

Therefore, the box office of the film took a big plunge the next weekend, and no one was surprised.

In its second weekend, "Apocalypse" fell nearly 70 percent at the weekend box office, earning $10.8 million in three days.

Ten days after screening, the North American box office grossed $51.2 million.

"Tales of the Night 2" spent the fifth weekend in North America, and the box office fell to a very low level, earning $2.2 million in three days over the weekend, and the previous single-day income on non-weekends was even lower to about $200,000.

The film is about to be released, with a total of $82.21 million at the North American box office, and there will not be much increase.

Another film, "The Passion of the Christ," was not affected by the lawsuit between Aiken Films and Embassy Pictures, and the North American box office has never fallen by more than 40 percent, and in recent weekends, it has still maintained more than $3 million per weekend, with a total of $375.62 million at the North American box office.

Overseas, the box office easily exceeded $200 million, and the global box office exceeded the $600 million mark.

As of now, "The Passion of the Christ" firmly occupies the first place in the North American and global box office charts in 2004.

After three consecutive box office successes for three consecutive months, Relativity Entertainment is still growing at its own pace.

Just after the weekend, Jim Prologis of Twentieth Century Fox welcomed a special visitor, Arthur Malcomb, president of Marvel Comics' Rights Department.

"I heard that Twentieth Century Fox's "Fantastic Four" is about to start filming?" asked Arthur Malcolm directly.

Jim Prologis knew the other party's intentions, but he didn't particularly care, after all, Marvel Comics is a company that could end at any time, and its valuable copyrights have basically been sold. He said: "Filming starts next month, it will be released next year, and Marvel will be welcome to the premiere then." ”

Arthur Malcolm asked again, "What about X-Men Part 3?"

"You mean 'Last Stand,' right?" replied Jim Pross calmly, "until 2006." ”

Arthur Malcolm was building momentum for himself from the start: "I want to ask when the X-Men 2 offline share last year will arrive. ”

Jim Prologis glanced at him and said lightly: "There are still 3 months before the payment deadline stipulated in the contract, and Marvel Comics is too anxious, right?"

The company behind Arthur Malcolm lacked confidence, but it still mustered momentum: "Mr. Pross, I came to Fox this time to revise part of the content of the agreement between us by the board of directors of Marvel Comics and all shareholders. ”

Jim Pross looked serious: "Please speak." ”

"There are two main aspects. Arthur Malcolm said loudly: "First, some of the contract terms of the X-Men series are seriously unfair to Marvel Comics, and Marvel Comics requires that the payment period for all revenue shares of the film series be changed from annual to quarterly, and must be paid within a month and a half after the current quarter. ”

Hearing this, Jim Prologe's already serious expression became even more serious, and he said directly: "Movies are different from comics, it takes time to collect income from all channels, your request is unrealistic, and Twentieth Century Fox can't do it." ”

Arthur Malcolm recalled the materials and information provided by Robert Lee, and said with a hint of coldness: "As far as I know, the longest account period given by Twentieth Century Fox to channel providers is only ten days, and the vast majority of account periods are only one week. ”

This is directly related to the cash flow of Twentieth Century Fox, and Jim Prologis certainly not going to let go easily.

Arthur Malcolm did not continue to dwell on "X-Men", but continued what he just said: "Second, the copyright licensing agreement of "Fantastic Four" has been completely revised, and the specific content refers to "X-Men". ”

The words just now just made Jim Prologs' expression serious, and now Jim Prologs' face was completely cold.

Twentieth Century Fox bought out the rights to "Fantastic Four" from Marvel Comics at one time, and the film adaptation project, whether successful or unsuccessful, has nothing to do with Marvel Comics, nor does it involve any post-sharing clauses.

The "X-Men" series of movies, Marvel Comics has the right to get a later share of it, although the proportion is not high, but the trilogy series involves tens of millions of dollars.

"Fantastic Four" is also going to be serialized......

Jim Prologis said coldly: "This is an unreasonable and illegal demand, and Marvel Comics doesn't even want the most basic spirit of contract and business reputation." ”

Arthur Malcolm replied: "Marvel Comics needs to survive. His voice was also a little cold: "Is the way Twentieth Century Fox got the copyright of "Fantastic Four" really legal? You made a private deal with the previous Marvel management and reached this kind of copyright agreement that is impossible for a normal person to sign, and many people back then can prove this. ”

Twentieth Century Fox's way of buying "Fantastic Four" was not glamorous, but it did not violate the terms of the law, and Jim Prologis was one of those who witnessed it, and he was confident enough: "You can't talk nonsense. ”

Arthur Malcolm knew how difficult it was, so he could only try to be as strong as possible: "This matter can be resolved through negotiation, if Twentieth Century Fox does not give any chance, Marvel Comics can only seek legal ways to solve it." ”

How could Jim Prologis compromise in front of a company that was about to die: "Twentieth Century Fox's contract with Marvel Comics is protected by law. ”

"Is this kind of unfair agreement normal?" Arthur Malcolm unconsciously raised his voice: "If nothing else, your film adaptation can attract the attention of many people, and its success in the future has nothing to do with the decades of promotion of Marvel Comics?" Without the success of Marvel Comics, Fantastic Four would have the current influence and become superheroes second only to Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Hulk?"

Jim Pross said coldly: "In the hands of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four is outdated, how many related comics have you sold in the past five years?

This is the biggest pain of Marvel, from the mid-nineties to the present, Marvel has always been hovering on the edge of the cliff, it is not easy to survive, where is there still the scenery of the year.

Arthur Malcolm took a deep breath: "So, isn't Twentieth Century Fox going to talk to Marvel?"

Jim Prologs said in a colder tone: "Twentieth Century Fox has the right to refuse any non-cent demands. ”

To be able to come to Los Angeles, Arthur Malcolm was well prepared, especially Robert Lee of Relativity Entertainment, and also came up with a good idea to push Twentieth Century Fox into a corner.

"Marvel Comics will republish the Fantastic Four comics starting in the second half of the year. Arthur Malcolm said: "In the main universe of the comics, the Fantastic Four will gradually turn black and become villains who do all kinds of evil......"