The next morning, Ronan went to Marvel Entertainment to meet with Avi Arad to discuss the "Fantastic Four" comics, and reached an agreement.

According to the schedule set by Twentieth Century Fox, promote the new "Fantastic Four" comics.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced the release date of the Fantastic Four movie, which will be released in the summer of 2005.

Marvel Entertainment has also made a record in response to the early or delayed release of "Fantastic Four" by Twentieth Century Fox.

Just like Ronan said, the new Marvel Entertainment Company must show its attitude to the outside world, and Marvel is no longer the comic book company that was handled by others before.

"The Fantastic Four must die!" there was an inexplicable sadness and indignation in Avi Arad's words: "For Marvel, their sacrifice is worth it." ”

Ronan didn't have too many complicated emotions, and said: "If one day, we can take back the copyright and resurrect the Fantastic Four." ”

Avi-Arad nodded first: "It can only be like this." Then he shook his head again: "It stinks, and it is more difficult to pull it back." ”

Ronan smiled and said with relief, "It's better than just watching them fall into the hands of other companies." ”

"That's right. Avi-Arad understood what he meant.

Ronan is actually very clear that this is a lose-lose strategy, and Marvel Entertainment used the end of the "Fantastic Four" comic book to drag down the commercial prospects of the Twentieth Century Fox "Fantastic Four" movie.

Ronan didn't pay too much attention to whether he could save "Fantastic Four" in case of recovering the copyright in the future, on the one hand, Marvel Entertainment must use "Fantastic Four" to make an example, on the other hand, if the Avengers plan goes well, there will be Marvel Dafa to use in the future.

Once the Marvel superhero movie has formed a brand effect, its power is quite amazing, and many movies of average quality can create good commercial results with the help of the Marvel brand and Marvel Dafa.

The topic of Ronan and Avi Arad quickly shifted to the "Iron Man" project, which had already begun pre-operation.

Avi Arad said the latest development: "Kevin just reported to me the day before yesterday that he had already done Samuel L. Jackson, I admire Kevin very much, I don't know how he did it, and let Samuel L. Jackson sign a ten-film contract with Marvel Entertainment for the role of Nick Fury." ”

Ronan nodded lightly: "Kevin Feige has worked hard in Hollywood for many years, and there is no shortage of experience and ability, there is always a way." ”

Originally, he still thought that if Samuel L. Jackson disagreed, he would change the actor, after all, although the boiled egg is black, it doesn't have to be a black actor.

Kevin Feige took out the future director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as quickly as possible.

This is also a qualified answer sheet handed over by Kevin Feige after he became the producer of "Iron Man".

Avi Arad said: "At the previous meeting, Kevin Feige estimated that the entire project production budget would need $160 million, isn't it a bit high? ”

Marvel Entertainment has just received funding from Relativity Entertainment, and the situation is gradually stabilizing, and then it is necessary to make such a large investment, and Avi Arad is worried, which is also a normal reaction.

"The film needed too many special effects, even with a $160 million budget, it had to be used sparingly," Ronan said. ”

"It's risky. Avi Arad sighed lightly: "If this film fails, Marvel will be in danger again." ”

Ronan glanced at Avi Arad and said, "With the theory of relativity, Marvel Entertainment will not fall." ”

If more, Ronan didn't say it again, in recent years, Avi Arad is the most suitable helmsman for Marvel Entertainment.

The film project "Iron Man" will not actually occupy any liquidity of Marvel Entertainment, and all the budgets will be solved by the Pacific Investment Foundation.

With the development of time, and the return on past investments, Scott-Swift continues to pull in investments from all over the world, and there is still a certain market for fixed-income investment products like this.

After all, the vast majority of investment institutions and investors are well aware that there are bound to be various problems and huge risks in high-yield investment projects, and of course, all funds cannot be pressed on it, and stable income investments often account for a considerable proportion of their investment amount.

The Pacific Investment Foundation has stable income, excellent reputation, and timely return to investment and income, and has opened up its reputation in the past two years.

Even some Wall Street investment institutions began to find Scott Swift and wanted to cooperate deeply with the Pacific Foundation, such as the famous Lehman Brothers.

The big investment banks on Wall Street certainly don't have a good time coping, and Ronan asked Scott Swift to talk slowly with Lehman Brothers, dragging it out first.

The first $40 million start-up funding for the "Iron Man" project has been secured, and preparations will begin soon, with the aim of starting shooting in March or April next year, and having all post-production by March 2006, before releasing it at the beginning of the summer.

Then everything went according to plan, and by around 2010, the Avengers could assemble for the first time.

The actual copyright situation of Marvel superheroes is here, and it is impossible for Spider-Man and Fantastic Four to return to Marvel Entertainment in a short period of time, and the original Avengers will still be the Big Six.

The biggest change is that the copyright of the Hulk is completely returned, and it has nothing to do with Universal Pictures, and if Marvel Entertainment shoots the "Hulk" movie, it no longer has to worry as much as it once did, worrying that Universal Pictures will take most of the revenue.

The participation of Relativity Entertainment and Ronan also made the Avengers plan very clear from the very beginning, with Marvel Entertainment responsible for the production and Embassy Pictures for distribution, and there will be no more Marvel changes of ownership during the period.

Once, "Iron Man" was a gamble for Marvel Comics, and it was even difficult to find a distributor, and finally had to sign a high-percentage distribution share contract with Paramount Pictures for many films, resulting in an absolutely passive position.

At that time, after Walt Disney acquired Marvel, in order to make the Marvel series really complete, it had to spend $115 million to recover the distribution rights in the hands of Paramount Pictures.

Now Marvel Entertainment, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment, is in much better shape than it used to be, with a clear plan, a mature production team, a sufficient capital budget, and perfect publicity and distribution channels, and the copyright of superheroes is more concentrated in their own hands.

In the past, with the soaring commercial value of Marvel IP, under the framework of Hollywood's "copyright split" system, major entertainment groups have been engaged in fierce trading games around copyright transfer, licensing, production and distribution.

After leaving Marvel, Ronan took the car back to the hotel, looked at the bustling streets of Manhattan, New York, and suddenly thought of one thing, "they" always come to New York again and again, wanting to destroy New York.

I once remember a colleague watching a Marvel movie and saying: This is the first time New York has been bombed by aliens! I really want to live in this place that could be blown up at any time!

Having said that, it's not just New York, the Earth in the Marvel Universe is too dangerous, and all kinds of big events emerge one after another, living in such a world, you can hang up because of inexplicable events anytime and anywhere.

Ronan spent the weekend in New York with Anne Hathaway and waited until the box office of "Spider-Man 2" came out before returning to Los Angeles.

The first "Spider-Man" caused a sensation all over the world, and the sequel did not let it go, winning $115.81 million at the box office in North America in the first week of the film, completely ending the chaotic situation in the market since the first weekend of June, and winning the North American box office championship with an absolute advantage!

But in addition to the happy news, there were also negative reactions.

Whether it is the media or the audience, after being hung up by "Spider-Man", the expectations for "Spider-Man 2" have become higher, but the film has not made any breakthroughs, resulting in a serious decline in word-of-mouth compared with the first part.

Ronan can see very clearly that Sony Columbia Pictures is walking on the old path of "no more than three".

This is a good thing for Relativity Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment.

Back in Los Angeles, Ronan immediately came to the "Iron Man" project department, which was preparing for the production at the Hughes Aircraft Factory, and exchanged the latest work situation with Kevin Feige, who got Samuel L. Jackson, but hit the nail in the nail with his favorite "War Machine" actor Tyrese Howard.

The black actor not only asked for a high salary of $8 million when he opened his mouth, but also only signed a film cooperation with Marvel Entertainment.

Without waiting for Ronan to come over, Kevin Feige directly rejected the candidate and is currently auditioning for a new black actor.

In addition, Kevin Feige has already had in-depth contact with Jon Finn, who has three careers as an actor, screenwriter and director, and Jon Favreau is very interested in working with "Iron Man", especially with Ronan and Relativity Entertainment.

"It's been a privilege to work with Relativity Entertainment, and I'm looking forward to it. ”

When facing Ronan, Jon Favreau said: "I think this collaboration will change my career!"

It is clear that Ronan and Relativity Entertainment's past fame played a huge role in attracting Jon Favreau as a director.

Jon Favreau also specially chatted with Ronan about the filming and production of the "Iron Man" project: "Adaptation is a must, but at the same time of adaptation, the basic setting of the original book must be considered, because even if it is a subject like "Iron Man" that everyone is not very familiar with, the basic setting must be as faithful as possible to the reader's memory, so as to make full use of the existing audience base." ”

He looks chubby, even a little funny, but his words are very insightful: "Superhero movies have their own inherent commercial model, because people are always interested in watching heroes fighting and explosions and destruction. Filming this kind of subject matter will be more guaranteed, because in today's environment, even if the hero you shoot is not perfect, it will not affect the popularity of the movie too much. ”