The end of the nineties was a really magical time.

Whether it is aesthetics, technology, consumption concepts, or even the type of house, it is in a critical period of alternating between the old and the new.

The germ of change in almost every industry in the new millennium was born at this stage.

Movies are no exception.

Titanic is undoubtedly a phenomenal film, and its box office record of $2.1 billion was not surpassed by James Cameron's own other phenomenal film Avatar until twelve years later, with $2.7 billion.

If calculated according to purchasing power parity, after deducting the impact of inflation, Titanic's box office revenue will pull other movies farther, which is the biggest box office miracle in film history.

And the film industry in this era, not only in the United States, but also in the world, including China, is declining.

Although the data has begun to stabilize in the past two years due to the emergence of a large number of good movies, most people still think that watching movies has become an outdated pastime.

"Who is the producer? Which producer are you going to license the IP to? Warner or Fox? How much can Marvel get from it?"

Zhang Chen smiled slightly: "No, we won't hand it over to anyone to make." After I take over Marvel, I will restart Marvel Studios and fully set foot in the field of film and television production. ”

Marvel makes its own movies? These small shareholders are fine, but the board of directors are all sensible people, and the board members such as Avi Arad and Polmut look at each other, who doesn't know that making their own movies is the most profitable, but also the most risky.

What's more, there are still the main problems that have not been solved.

Where does the money come from?

If Marvel had money, it wouldn't have been on the verge of bankruptcy.

Could it be that Zhang Chen wants to subsidize Marvel with his own money?

"Zack, even in previous years, Marvel's cash flow was not enough to support the filming of superhero movies. Moreover, many of our comic book character movie rights are not in the hands of Marvel. Avirad couldn't help but speak.

Zhang Chen nodded, "Yes, these are indeed two problems that we need to solve urgently. Let's start with funding, I have two options. ”

"First, Marvel still has the rights to more than a dozen sets of superheroes, and we mortgage these superheroes to banks to get three to five billion dollars in installment loans to buy back some of the character rights and shoot three to five superhero movies. Of course, for this project, we had to go through a careful analysis to select the superheroes who were most suitable to be transformed into a movie. These superheroes have saved the world countless times, and I believe that saving us from financial crisis is even less of a problem. ”

Zhang Chen's tone was very relaxed, but the people who listened were not so relaxed.

Not to mention whether the bank will agree to this plan, even if the money is raised, the movie is also a high-investment and high-risk industry, and the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in a movie, if the cost cannot be recovered, Marvel will be finished in a blink of an eye, and the stakes are too big.

"What about the second option?" said Polmut, former chairman of Marvel and chairman of Toybiz, and this was the first time he had spoken.

Zhang Chen took a deep breath, "The second plan is that the promise I just made is still valid, and the Cowyce Foundation will acquire the shares in the hands of shareholders with 110% of the stock value before the suspension, and completely resolve all the equity disputes of Marvel." After more than 75% of the voting rights, Marvel will be delisted from the open market and become a completely private company. After the delisting, the Cowyce Fund will invest a certain amount of working capital to shoot the film, depending on the situation, and the risk will be shared by all shareholders after privatization. ”

Privatization!

Carl Icahn almost bit his tongue out, what the hell is this Zack doing?

Is he not fighting with himself, but is really optimistic about the future development of Marvel, so he wants to buy Marvel completely?

If this is the case, then I really think highly of this Huaxia boy, and his vision is nothing more than that.

The impact of the Internet on traditional entertainment media has begun to emerge, and a considerable part of Marvel's current predicament is due to the market's unoptimistic expectations for traditional entertainment media. Zhang Chen is engaged in the Internet, and it is impossible for him not to see this.

Whether it's movies or comics, the market looks like it's shrinking. Many people are predicting that the rise of the Internet will have a devastating impact on the traditional entertainment industry, with the most impactful being the publishing and film and television industries.

Maybe ordinary people don't feel anything, but the crisis consciousness of many media predators makes them full of fear about it.

It is precisely because they see farther than the average person that they are more afraid.

The merger of the century between Time Warner and AOL two years later is a manifestation of this fear amplified to the extreme. As a company with a history of nearly 100 years, Time Warner's business chain covers the entire media system and assets of more than 100 billion yuan, but it will accept the acquisition of AOL, which is almost inconceivable in the eyes of later generations.

The negative impact of the Internet on traditional industries in the short term was seriously amplified before the bubble burst.

But after the bubble burst, it was seriously underestimated.

Karl Icahn couldn't help but laugh a little, after all, the other party was just a young man under the age of twenty, and he was not even of legal drinking age. This kind of young genius often has to stumble a few times before he knows that the world does not revolve around him.

Even Steve Jobs and Gates made no less mistakes in their twenties.

As a prominent figure on Wall Street, Carl Icahn is equally confident in his vision.

Needless to say, Marvel, even if DC has a longer history and is larger than Marvel, if it weren't for the big tree of Warner, it would have been finished a long time ago.

As for making movies, it's even funnier.

Not counting Titanic, which has not yet shown its clues, this year's box office champion "Men in Black" only won $250 million at the box office, and the runner-up "Jurassic Park 2" box office performance is only 60% of "Jurassic Park 1" released in 93.

The decline of movies is more pronounced than that of comics.

Since you want to lose money, then I'll let you lose more.

Carl Icahn sneered a few times in his heart, and raised his voice: "Zack, your plan is very good, I agree to transfer all the Marvel shares in my hand to you, just according to the price you said, we can close the deal now." ”

Carl Icahn is the god of stocks in the minds of many minority shareholders, and with him taking the lead, many small shareholders are scrambling to raise their hands.

"I agree to the transfer!"

"I agree!"

Avi Arad hid his face with his hands, his heart filled with despair.

Zhang Chen didn't seem to be aware of it, and he kept a smile on his face.

"OK, OK, no problem, as long as you are willing to sell your shares, you can sign a contract today. Mr. Chen will send the contract to you immediately, and after you sign it, you can complete the delivery. ”

Since the Chinese New Year this year, the update is really poor, I don't defend it.

Work is just one of the reasons why work has become busy, and there are many other problems, just to name a few.

A few days ago, I had my birthday, and I really realized that I was about to be forty, middle-aged, with gray hair on my temples, and I didn't worry much about my parents' health, but now I suddenly found that they had also begun to grow old and sick.

Middle age, it's really a terrible word, it seems that my whole world has become different all of a sudden, and the pressure from all sides is like a tide pouring in, forcing people out of breath.

When I watched Zhiming and Chunjiao in 2010, I was exactly 30 years old, and Zhang Zhiming in the film was also 30 years old.

Zhang Zhiming said that he had not grown up since he was 15 years old, and when I saw him, it was like seeing myself.

Playing games, watching movies, playing board games, singing, clubbing。。。。。。 Since the age of seventeen or eighteen, life never seems to have changed.

suddenly looked back, but found that he was really old.

Growing up is really a cruel thing, and you will find that there are a lot of last resorts in your life, a lot of involuntarily, and a lot of compromises.

When this book was first published, there were many very young readers, and the youngest in the book group was about the same age as my classmate's son, almost a generation's gap.

I hope you can stay young.

(End of chapter)