In an office at Universal Pictures' headquarters, Michael Eisner put down the "Variety" magazine in his hand that published Firefly's financial report for the first half of the year, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Although the net profit of all businesses of Firefly Group is only more than 600 million, less than half of the combined profits of Firefly and ABC last year, this has exceeded everyone's expectations. But the Firefly Group has weathered this turbulent period so smoothly that Michael Eisner has to admit that if he were in that position, it would have been difficult for him to do better.

After surviving the quadruple heart bypass surgery, Michael Eisner's body is not much different from before, except for the need to stay on a vegetarian diet. Moreover, with the excellent box office results of "The Mummy", Michael Eisner easily returned to his position as CEO of Universal after his physical recovery, but at the moment, another thorny problem he has to face is Michael Ovitz, who was personally brought in as president of Universal in order to appease the board of directors before his surgery.

Thinking about how to squeeze Michael Owitz, who has been trying to share his power, out of the world, the office door rang a few times, Michael Eisner came back to his senses, thinking that the next person needed more thought to deal with, Michael Eisner quickly cheered up.

A bald fat man with a smile on his face walked into the office under the guidance of his secretary, and Michael Eisner showed an enthusiastic look and took the initiative to get up and stretch out his hand to the other party: "Mr. Perelman, it's a pleasure to meet you." ”

"Nice to meet you. Mr. Eisner. ”

Wait for the secretary to bring two coffees. Michael Eisner and Ron Perelman chatted casually. Only then did he knowingly ask: "I don't know what Mr. Perelman asked me about today?"

Ron Perelman pulled out a couple of copyright assignments from his briefcase, handed them to Michael Eisner, and said, "Before I talk about this, I think Mr. Eisner can take a look at this." ”

Michael Eisner briefly skimmed through the copies of several contracts, put them aside, and said, "So, Marvel wants to get help from Universal to avoid bankruptcy protection." Right?"

"Yes, I think we can work together," Ron Perelman said: "It can be seen from these copyright transfer documents that the Fireflies are not simply trying to retaliate against Marvel this time, they must have coveted Marvel for a long time, with Eric Williams' vision of developing movies, which also indirectly shows that Marvel's superhero copyright is definitely worth a lot more than imagined." As long as Universal can help Marvel out of this crisis, then we can be the most solid partners that we can work together to develop these superhero projects under Marvel in the future. ”

Michael Eisner quietly hooked the corners of his mouth. "So, Mr. Perelman," he asked. What does Universal need to do?"

Ron Perelman was stunned, but said quickly: "I just need Universal to make a gesture of buying Marvel at a high price, it's just a gesture, Universal doesn't have to pay any price at all, as long as this good news prevents Marvel from being forced into bankruptcy protection, then I have enough time to deal with Marvel's internal affairs." ”

Michael Eisner's sneer almost overflowed: "Then, Marvel will have a deep cooperation with Universal, right?"

Ron Perelman replied very firmly, "Of course." ”

Michael Eisner finally didn't hide his sneer anymore, and said unceremoniously: "Mr. Perelman, I know all about the predicament that Marvel is experiencing, and at the same time, I am also clear about your character, so we don't have to play with these small tricks that have no substantive content, if you want help from Universal, you can, but I need to see tangible benefits." ”

Ron Perelman's face became a little scornful, but he still said: "Mr. Eisner, in that case, how can Universal help Marvel?"

"As long as Marvel transfers the rights to the popular hero film and television that it still holds in its hands to Universal, I can promise to publicly support Marvel. ”

"This can't be ......" Ron Perelman blurted out subconsciously, but then realized his gaffe, quickly retracted his expression, and said, "Mr. Eisner, this condition is too much. ”

Marvel has lost the rights to Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Hulk, and with the attitude shown by Firefly, Ron Perelman speculates that it will be very difficult for Marvel to reclaim the rights to these three superheroes. If the rights to the remaining popular superheroes were to be transferred to Universal, Ron Perelman couldn't imagine any value for Marvel.

Although Marvel always openly claims that it has thousands of superheroes, in fact, this calculation method counts all the characters that appear in the Marvel Comics system, which is ridiculously large. In Marvel Comics, there are actually only dozens of superhero characters that are really well-known to the public, and there will be no more than 10 superheroes with the same popularity as DC Batman and Superman.

Although Ron Perelman is aware of Firefly's covetousness for Marvel, he still feels in his heart that what Firefly really wants is Marvel's superheroes with the same potential for film and television adaptation as Batman and Superman, not the whole Marvel.

Once Michael Eisner's request is met, he accidentally transfers the superhero rights that Marvel's Firefly values to Universal, then he will completely lose this bargaining chip.

Michael Eisner's mind is actually the same as Ron Perelman's, and he also doesn't think that the whole of Marvel is a treasure with great potential for adaptation.

So, from the very beginning, Michael Eisner didn't have too much desire to participate in this troubled waters. Although he also very much wants to take advantage of this opportunity to acquire the rights of several popular heroes of Marvel, Firefly has shown such an aggressive attitude, and Ron Perelman is shrewd as a fox, so it is almost impossible for Universal to make a profit.

What's more, at the moment, Universal is negotiating with Nicole Kidman about the sequel to "The Mummy", and if he angers Fireflies because of his involvement, Michael Eisner is worried about whether Eric will let Nicole Kidman quit the "Mummy" series. If you mess up a lucrative project because of a goal that doesn't have a future at all, it's a thing that doesn't pay off. (To be continued.) )