Inside Marvel Entertainment, the atmosphere is very serious.

If "Blade" was a disappointment at $15 million in the first week, then the $6.8 million in the second week was a cliff drop. With such a huge investment, a movie that was given high hopes by Marvel was only $21.8 million at the box office in 10 days of release, which is really unreasonable.

At the moment, the North American box office is unlikely to exceed $40 million.

In fact, if you talk about word of mouth, "Blade" is not bad, at least it can't be said to be a bad movie. But meeting the wrong opponent at such a wrong time doomed the movie to failure.

The water in Hollywood is very deep, and it is not possible to achieve success with enthusiasm.

Avi Arad and Ike Patham were both shareholders of toy companies before, not billionaires, and they did almost everything to buy Marvel, hoping to lead Marvel on a new voyage.

However, a movie they worked so was defeated like Waterloo.

How much did "My Grand Greek Wedding" release at the same time grossee office in North America?

$86.4 million!

Watching the investment amount of the two movies again, it is even more jealous and vomiting blood.

There is no doubt that this big gamble of Marvel Entertainment failed!

The next punishment is also deserved.

Originally, Marvel only invested $5 million in "Blade", and New Line Pictures invested the remaining $40 million, but due to various changes, Marvel borrowed an additional $15 million, and the total investment reached $20 million.

This is desperate for the future of Marvel!

But as a result, many of Marvel's older generation seem to have seen Marvel's inability to repay its debts a few years ago and was forced to go bankrupt and reorganize.

"We've got to settle the debt!" said Avi Arad grimacing at the boardroom.

Dan Buckley, who was in charge of distribution, smiled coldly, "How to solve it? I said at the beginning, we are a comic book company, and movies can't be played!"

"Now is not the time to be held accountable!" Avi Arad slammed the table angrily.

Dan Barkley is a veteran of Marvel, and he is not afraid of this foreign chairman at all, especially when he makes such a big mistake, "It's going to end soon, and the company will lose at least $30 million this year, such a big hole, I don't know how to solve it." ”

"Alright, Dan!" Veteran cartoonist Brian Bendis sighed, "I really can't do it, just continue to sell the hero rights, that's how it came back then." ”

"No!" Ike Patham categorically vetoed, he bought Marvel to let the company grow, not to go down a dark old road, "Superhero copyright, not a single one can be sold!"

"This is Marvel's only chance to survive, our comic book sales are declining every year, and we have no source of profit. Another executive, Alan Vane, said helplessly.

Stan Lee frowned and groaned, "In any case, we must get through the current difficulties first, Marvel is not finished yet." Columbia Pictures' Men in Black was a huge success, so they were confident in our comics, maybe ...... They will make a high price. ”

Dan Buckley said lightly: "Men in Black? That's our comics, but at the end of the day, it's more like science fiction than a superhero." ”

"That's enough!" Ike Pattum's face was gloomy, "I said, I'm definitely not going to sell any superheroes!"

Avi Arad chose to remain silent.

He suddenly remembered an incident last year, Done Walker brought the monstrous trend of "Titanic" and wanted to buy Marvel Entertainment. As a result, Marvel decisively refused.

Now that "Blade" is being sniped by Donn's film "My Grand Greek Wedding", did he do it on purpose?

Avi Arad didn't know, but he had a feeling that with the enthusiasm of a young man like Donn Walker, he would never give up easily.

……

Finally, in September, Towne Pictures and Warner Pictures had an important meeting.

The venue was the conference room of Dunn Pictures, and there were as many as twenty or thirty people on both sides.

For Down Films, Donn, Reese Witherspoon, George Paxton, Glenn Fyero, Andrew O'Hare and others all participated.

On the part of Warner Pictures (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.), there are also many big names in the seats, including Warner Bros. executive Alan Horn.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries at the beginning, Don finally understood why "Harry Potter" would enter Warner's sights.

It started with a British producer named David.

One day his assistant bought a book at the bookstore as a gift for the children in the family. But after reading it, the assistant liked the story so much that he recommended it to David.

David Heyman had worked with Warner many times, and his childhood friend Leonel Wigram worked at Warner, so they recommended the book to Warner Pictures executives and tried to persuade Warner to buy the rights.

When Alan Horn learned of this, he immediately made a decision to take the copyright!

At the same time, he also contacted DreamWorks, intending to invite DreamWorks to jointly develop the "Harry Potter" series of movies, because such a big-budget series of movies, throughout Hollywood, only Steve Spielberg is reassuring.

His "Jurassic Park" series and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series are both gold-absorbing weapons.

However, DreamWorks refused.

At the same time, Alan Horn's assistant who was sent to buy the rights was too radical in order to show his ability, which directly led to the gap between Donn Pictures and Warner Bros.

Naturally, Don couldn't believe this, but in any case, Warner Bros. led the negotiation team to the door in person this time, and it was led by a big guy like Alan Horn, which can be described as full of sincerity.

Moreover, Donn keenly noticed a few names.

The first one is Alan Horn, this guy is a big guy, and in the ten years that Warner Bros. was in power, he won the North American box office of the year seven times!

In particular, the "Harry Potter" series, the "Dark Knight" trilogy, "Inception" and other works developed by him are popular and have endless aftertastes.

Because of his straightforward personality and dislike to please his immediate boss, Time Warner's big boss Jeff Bix, he was forced to resign, but he was valued by Disney, and in 2012, he became the chairman of Disney Studios, and then ...... It's Disney sweeping Hollywood.

Needless to say, David Heyman, as a famous British producer, naturally has the right of first refusal to buy the rights to the British adaptation. This is true for Harry Potter, and it is also true for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

And his childhood friend, Lionel Wigram, who was working at Warner Pictures at this time, was also the number one figure.

In addition to helping the company with production work, this guy likes to draw comics, and his brain is open, which allows Holmes to learn martial arts skills.

Later, this set of comics was adapted by Warners as the well-known film series "Sherlock Holmes" starring Robert Downey Jr.

All three of them are in today's negotiation team.

Tang En's eyes lit up a little, and he had a "love for talent", of course, more of a love for money.

"So, at the beginning of the negotiations, I will also tell a story. ”

This is Tang En Pictures, it is Don Ann's home field, he will never easily hand over the initiative, pour a basin of cold water first!

"Everyone knows Marvel Entertainment, in the past ten years, their lives have been miserable. After all, they are not DC Comics, and they are backed by a Big Mac. ”

In Donn's serious narration, he made a gag, which caused bursts of laughter from the other party.

In 1980, in order to pay off its debts, Marvel sold the film rights of "Fantastic Four" to the German film company, Constantine Pictures. According to the agreement, Constantine Film must complete the filming of the film within 12 years, otherwise Marvel has the right to unconditionally withdraw the copyright of "Fantastic Four". ”

Donn's words sound rambling, but those present are either negotiators or well-known producers, and when it comes to copyright issues, they must be inseparable from "Harry Potter".

In 1992, seeing that the copyright period was about to expire, Constantine Pictures was in a hurry, and in order to keep the copyright of "Fantastic Four", they invited B-grade film director Ollie Sassoon from Hollywood and immediately started the project. At that time, the crew had to work 20 hours a day, and it took only 25 days, and the first "Fantastic Four" movie in history officially appeared. ”

David, as an Englishman, despised the Germans, and sneered: "25 days, it must be a super bad movie!"

Don nodded, "That's right, in fact, this movie was never released at all, but so what? Constantine fulfilled the agreement, and to this day, the copyright of "Fantastic Four" is still in the hands of Constantine Pictures. ”

Done's story was over, and everyone in the room understood what he meant.

Now, the copyright of "Harry Potter" is in the hands of Donn, although there is a time limit on the agreement, but as long as he wants, he can own the copyright of "Harry Potter" forever!