During the negotiation contact, Ronan could clearly feel that Marvel Comics really wanted to continue selling his son, and the negotiations with Robert Lee dragged on for so long, on the one hand, because of the competition at the beginning of Artisan Pictures, and on the other hand, because he wanted to sell it for a good price.

Over the years, Marvel can only rely on selling its son to tide over the difficulties, and this time is no exception.

It's not that there are no other sources of funding, but those who are willing to borrow or invest are asking for too harsh conditions, especially for Avi Arad, which may affect his authority and control at Marvel.

But Marvel isn't just one path to choose from, either.

"Merrill Lynch is willing to relax the loan repayment time. ”

In the conference room, Avi Arad's most relied on deputy, Isaac Palmmatt, who is also his staunchest supporter of Marvel, said: "But we need to use the rights of more than 100 of our characters as collateral, and they have the right to sell these characters during the mortgage period." ”

One executive said, "It's too costly for us." ”

Thinking about it, it is impossible for Merrill Lynch to ask for the copyright of ordinary characters, and the copyright of these more than 100 well-known comic book characters fell into the hands of Merrill Lynch, and Marvel has almost no possibility of recovering it.

Avi Arad didn't speak, just frowning and thinking.

Another executive then looked at Avi Arad and Isaac Palmat and said, "Can you consider Karl Icahn's capital injection?"

Avi-Arad's two eyes as sharp as knives immediately fell on this man.

Isaac Palmat said slowly: "Marvel has just stabilized internally, are we going to let another careerist enter Marvel and continue to be turbulent?"

The man tried to tell, but Avi Arad raised his hand to stop him and said, "Karl Icahn's funds don't need to be considered. ”

Carl Icahn once competed with Avi Arad for Marvel a few years ago and is Avi Aradd's opponent, isn't it a joke to bring in his own power?

Isaac Palmat then said, "There's another way you can discuss. He said directly: "Do you remember last year? Michael Jackson wanted to buy Marvel, and at one point came to the door himself. ”

Someone reminded: "That's Michael Jackson who wants to play Spider-Man, but he doesn't know that the Spider-Man copyright is no longer in our hands." ”

"Michael Jackson's financial resources are not an issue. Many people are full of doubts: "But he is in trouble, there are too many scandals, we accept his injection, will he bring these troubles into Marvel?"

Many people are shaking their heads at this statement, Marvel's internal friction in the past few years once led to the filing for bankruptcy, and it is natural to reject troublesome characters.

Avi Arad said: "Michael Jackson is too casual, he said he was going to buy Marvel for Spider-Man. Now that the Spider-Man copyright is not in Marvel, he is not interested at all. Even if we're interested, what if we bring in his funds and he makes some non-cent demands?"

Under the decades-long "hard work" of the North American media, Michael Jackson has been demonized.

Thinking of Michael Jackson's various rumors, everyone spoke out against them.

Seeing this, Isaac Palmat said, "Ronan Anderson's relativistic entertainment is the best option. ”

The meeting room fell silent.

Someone asked, "Isn't it the right price?"

"The price can be negotiated slowly. Someone said.

Another person reminded: "Authorization is okay, but there must be no more "Fantastic Four" situation." ”

This series of Marvel sold too badly, not only did it not directly participate in the rights of the later sharing, but even if new related characters appeared in the Fantastic Four comics, the copyright was still Twentieth Century Fox.

Avi Allad said: "We've had several rounds of talks with Ronan Anderson himself, and Relativity Entertainment isn't against Marvel enjoying a late split. ”

Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.

Another person said: "The bid of Relativity Entertainment is too low, it is better to mortgage the copyright directly to Merrill Lynch." ”

"Relativity Entertainment only has 35 superheroes and associated characters. Someone directly retorted: "Merrill Lynch's evidence of the list of more than 100 superhero characters!"

Avi Arad raised his hand to stop his subordinates from arguing, and said: "Partnering with Relativity Entertainment will not only solve Marvel's immediate crisis, but also ensure that we will have income for a long time to come." ”

Those who oppose it no longer speak, after all, if they can participate in the post-production of the film, the income is far from the current licensing fee.

Avi-Arad added: "It's already December, and our debt at Merrill Lynch is about to expire, and it is not a way to delay it any longer." ”

In this meeting, Avi Arad unified the opinions within Marvel.

Two days later, attorney Dinah Ampton also traveled from Los Angeles to New York to join Ronan's negotiation team to participate in the final negotiations between Relativity Entertainment and Marvel Comics, specifically dealing with some legal issues.

When the base grant fee came to $30 million, the two sides agreed.

This basic licensing fee is enough to ensure that Marvel survives the current crisis, and in addition to the licensing fee, Marvel also attaches great importance to the later revenue sharing.

"Five percent is not a lot at the box office!" said Isaac Palmmatt, "and the Ghost Rider we license, the movie also has a five percent box office share."

Robert immediately retorted: "Ghost Rider has always been a legendary magic masterpiece, and there is a series of stories in Marvel's main magazine, which has become a best-selling comic book in North America several times since it was created. Looking at this list of Relativity Entertainment, apart from Captain America, which of the other characters can compare to Ghost Rider?"

"If it's Spider-Man, Hulk and Fantastic Four, five percent of the box office share is not too much, but these ......" He shook his head: "Hollywood adaptations of movies are based on the influence of the original book to formulate the corresponding share, and second- and third-tier works require a total box office share of five percent, which has no precedent in Hollywood! A box office profit share of three percent is the most reasonable proportion!"

When it comes to now, Ronan rarely speaks directly, just waiting for the final decision.

The later division was ripped off for several days, Ronan was not in a hurry, and in the absence of competitors, time was not in Marvel's favor.

Marvel has basically sold its own sons, even if it wants to find someone to sell the remaining godsons, it can't do it for a while.

This is not a few years from now, after all.

The current Marvel and the Marvel after "Iron Man" are completely different concepts.

In mid-December, Relativity Entertainment and Marvel Comics finally reached a licensing agreement for 35 superheroes and associated characters.

The base license fee is $30 million, purchased by Shahai Entertainment Pictures, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment, and needs to be paid in a lump sum before Christmas.

Nowadays, Hollywood film adaptations, except for new writers or companies that do not have strength, post-sharing is basically a necessary condition for adapting copyright.

Marvel was pitted once by Twentieth Century Fox, and of course will not give up the later division.

In terms of box office, the two sides have reached a 5% net profit share at the box office, with Marvel enjoying a 20% share of the copyright authorization of offline home entertainment and TV stations and other venues, and 20% of the print licensing......

In terms of movie copyrights, dolls, toys, handicrafts, etc., Marvel enjoys a 30% profit share.

The later period is divided into one settlement per year.

This is also a more common proportion of comic movies in the industry, Marvel has been cheated in the first two years, and there are various supervision and restrictive clauses in the later sharing agreement.

"Blade" adapted by New Line Pictures has received a good response, and it is also one of the Cut films with very good commercial revenue.

But Marvel, as the copyright owner of the original book, only got a pitiful $25,000 post-production share from "Blade".

The contract is very strict, and after Marvel has been cheated by Twentieth Century Fox and New Line Pictures one after another, it will naturally focus on Relativity and Shahai Entertainment.

Ronan made concessions in this regard, he didn't intend to pit Marvel, this was originally a win-win cooperation, the agreement signed by the two parties stipulates that all relevant authorized characters of Marvel Comics create new comic book stories, Shahai Entertainment has the right of priority adaptation, and like X-Men and Spider-Man and other licenses, Shahai Entertainment has the right to expand the movie according to the characters.

To put it bluntly, Relativity Entertainment bought not only the rights to these characters, but also the movie rights of their comic universe.

This is the same as the authorization of Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, etc.

Give Marvel a proper post-production share, Marvel will continue to create comics about these characters and open up new stories, and Shahai Entertainment can also adapt based on these.

Like "Fantastic Four" in the previous life, Twentieth Century Fox did not pull out a dime, and even made a bad movie casually in order to keep the copyright, which led to Marvel directly killing the Fantastic Four in the comics, and then announcing the suspension of publication.

It's simply hurting each other.

In addition, Ronan also signed a supplemental agreement with Marvel regarding "Iron Man".

At present, the copyright of Iron Man is in the hands of New Line Pictures, and New Line Pictures, like the previous two film companies with copyrights, is not interested in the adaptation of Iron Man and wants to sell the copyright back to Marvel.

The supplementary terms require Marvel to assist Shahai Entertainment in obtaining the copyright of "Iron Man", and all expenses incurred in the process will be borne by Shahai Entertainment.

With the signing of the agreement, Ronan got the copyright of the crucial project in the future, even if Marvel Comics has a situation that he does not know in the future, at least it can allow Shahai Entertainment to shoot from "Iron Man" to "Avengers 4".

Marvel Comics' internal chaos in recent years, the financial crisis, the overall depression of the comic industry, the recession of the economic environment, the explosion of Marvel adaptations have not yet appeared, etc., many factors have combined to have such a good opportunity.