Zhang Chen's acquisition of Marvel was not impulsive, nor was it an inspiration from Carl Icahn. The name Marvel has long been on Zhang Chen's target list.

He's not really a Marvel fan, but as a reborn, how could he not know about the Marvel Universe whirlwind that has been set off around the world since '08?

Since the acquisition of Bloomsbury Press for Harry Potter, Zhang Chen has set his sights on these big IPs. At present, not many people in these IPs have really recognized their value, and they are truly profitable.

When it comes to big IPs, Marvel can't be missed. In fact, Zhang Chen's initial eyes were on Warner's DC.

DC's current share in North America far exceeds that of Marvel, and the popularity of its superheroes is more than a notch higher than that of Marvel.

When Zhang Chen participated in Steve Case's yacht club in Florida, he asked Case to help find out if Warner was willing to sell DC. But Warners had a lot of money and turned back Case.

Zhang Chen had no choice but to turn around and continue to keep an eye on Marvel, if it weren't for Carl Icahn, Zhang Chen might have to make a move in another two or three months. And now that Carl Icahn has begun to snipe Apple, Zhang Chen has stopped waiting and taken advantage of the situation to control Marvel.

After flipping through hundreds of American comics, Zhang Chen found that Marvel is indeed a gold mine, and it is not entirely due to luck that he can win a big victory in the future with DC's superhero movies.

Indeed, in terms of the depth of the comics alone, Marvel is indeed inferior to DC. But DC's characters are too difficult to adapt into a movie, and the atmosphere is too dark. If you want to be successful, you must "de-originalize". This is a double-edged sword, the original work is well dissolved, the director chose the right one, and there can be a god film like Batman and the Dark Knight. And if you don't go well and the director chooses the wrong one, there is a high chance of a bad movie.

The de-originalization will inevitably damage the feelings of some fans. Superhero movies are originally fan-oriented works, which hurt the feelings of fans, and will also have a certain impact on the box office and word-of-mouth.

But Marvel's works are different, Marvel's works are generally more concise and bright, and the tone of the comics is not as dark as DC. Marvel's works are adapted into movies, with a wider audience, and the damage to the adaptation of the original work can also be minimized, enhancing the box office appeal of fans.

In addition, in addition to Spider-Man, Marvel does not have DC's super popular characters such as Batman and Superman, although they are at a disadvantage at this stage. But in the era of superhero group brushing in the future, it has become an advantage.

It is precisely because DC has too many traditional popular characters that it is difficult to balance the roles of super popular characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash, and the superhero combination Justice League cannot compete with Marvel's Avengers at the box office.

Of course, there are other factors, such as DC's inability to take the initiative in film creation like Marvel due to the existence of its parent company Warner, and the fact that the parent company Warner has too many constraints, which are all reasons.

It's hard to create good work under strict restrictions.

In short, the more he digs deeper, the more convinced Zhang Chen is that the acquisition of Marvel will not be a money-losing business, but it is not so simple to turn Marvel into a powerful gold-absorbing machine like in his previous life.

The core is how to retain talent after the acquisition.

In fact, Marvel's original management and creative team are still capable, although there has been a serious split crisis in the creative team due to copyright issues, with star cartoonists such as Todd McFarlane and Robert Leffield leaving, Marvel has quickly recovered, and the new artists and screenwriters have also created popular works.

As long as the internal friction between Perelman and Carl Icahn is solved, Zhang Chen does not want to purge the other management of Marvel.

In this case, stabilizing Avirad and letting him take over as CEO is the best choice.

"That's my whole plan, Avi, I'm sure you're the best CEO of Marvel Entertainment right now. Zhang Chen looked into Aviade's eyes and said sincerely.

Avi Arad is not pretentious at all: "Marvel is my dream company, of course I do." Zack, as long as you can live up to your promises, I can guarantee that within three years, you will see a brand new Marvel. ”

Zhang Chen smiled happily: "I believe in your ability, and I believe that everyone here can bring greater contributions to Marvel in the future." In this case, from now on, Mr. Arad will be in charge of Marvel Studios' reboot plan as the CEO of Marvel Entertainment. Avi, I hope to see Marvel-produced superhero movies appear in theaters within a year, do you think there is a problem?"

Although Avi Arad is a little old, his thinking is very clear, and he didn't question whether Zhang Chen's request was reasonable at all, but just thought about it for a while: "If we start preparing our own movie now, the possibility of it being released within a year is very small." However, the year before last, we granted the rights of Blade to New Line Pictures for ten years, and New Line Pictures is currently preparing to shoot Blade with a budget of $40 million. It was originally expected to start up last month, but due to poor financing, it has now been postponed to February next year. I think it wouldn't be a problem if we could give them some support in terms of financing and ask for participation in the production, distribution and box office sharing of Blade. ”

"This has two advantages, first, we have never made a film before, so we can use this film as a training force, be familiar with the entire production and distribution process of the film, and accumulate experience for our self-made films in the future. Second, the new line is a subsidiary of Warner, and it will receive a lot of support from Warner in the future. The distributor is no less important than the producer, and Warner is the most important distribution company in Hollywood, and through this partnership, we can build a direct relationship with Warner's distributor, which will be very beneficial for our future self-produced films." ”

Zhang Chen nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, no problem, how much money do you need?" I can inject the money into the equity first, is 20 million dollars enough?"

Avi Arad shook his head with a smile: "Ten million is not needed, eight million dollars is fine." The current funding gap for their film is about 10 million, and if we come up with 8 million US dollars, it will be the largest investment for New Line Pictures outside of its own funds. As the original author, it is a matter of course to obtain a certain amount of creative rights. ”

Zhang Chen made a decision on the spot: "Okay, then eight million." Avi, next year, make sure that this film is on the big screen. ”

Avi Arad grinned: "No problem, this kind of small-budget film, the production cycle is only three months, plus a three-month release period, at most in August next year, it will definitely be released." ”