"Bob, long time no see."

"It's been a long time, Jennifer—it's been a long time since we've sat down to talk."

"Really, are Willow and the kids all right?"

"They are all very nice, the kids love the French countryside, thank you for your concern, what do you want to order, Jennifer? Let me recommend this cod to you, it tastes really good. ”

"Thank you, Bob, for giving me a chef's salad and a cod."

"Yes, ma'am, do you need a table wine?"

"Let the gentleman on the other side decide."

"I want Caesar salad, cream soup and steak, all three, and let Andy do his free time as for the wine - hey, lad, tell Andy to come out and say hello to old friends when he's free in the kitchen."

Robert. Iger happily opened the napkin and introduced Jenny, "This is one of my favorite restaurants, Andy's cod is a real must, and Willow and I often come here with our kids." ”

Although he and Jenny have busy schedules, they will arrange dinner together, which can actually show that the relationship between the two is very close, and it is no longer limited to business relations. In fact, in recent years, Cesare and Jeanne have paid great attention to maintaining the relationship with the Iger family, coupled with the old friendship between Virgilia and the Iger family, now she and Cesare can be regarded as family friends of the Iger family, if it weren't for the fact that the Iger family is being renovated, Willow took the children to France for a vacation, and Jenny is still living in the hotel and has not moved into a new home, this dinner should have been eaten at one of the people's house, and it would be more appropriate to have friends and family to accompany them, but, on the other hand, Jenny and the two of them dine together, which is also more suitable for them to talk about some business with a higher level of secrecy.

Andy's restaurant is elegantly furnished, and they are well-positioned for long-time customers and celebrities, and their seats are arranged in a corner away from the crowd, which allows Jenny to stay away from the curious eyes of the crowd, and also makes their conversations more private and not overheard by strangers - the casual words of these two big men are likely to make headlines the next day, and of course their privacy must be protected.

"I heard that you donated a million dollars to China?" While waiting for the meal, Bob casually chatted with Jenny about some recent trivial matters, "This number is impressive, I think it should be among the highest in our country's personal donation amount." ”

"Yes, it's heart-wrenching, and I've heard that Disney China has also made some donations, right?"

"Of course - this is also one of the responsibilities of large companies, but Jennifer, of course, it is good to have a heart for charity, I know that maybe you also have the purpose of tax refund, but it is still inappropriate to donate such a large amount abroad, because in this way, for domestic and even some countries close to us, your donation figure will not come down, otherwise, the wind of public opinion may not be in your favor."

Jenny knew that this was Bob's kind advice, and she nodded, "Of course I understand, Bob, of course I'm ready to give back to the society - however, donations in China can't be said to be without purpose, I'm very optimistic about the development of the Chinese market, plus there are also certain channels, taking advantage of the network is effective, and it's not bad to accumulate more goodwill with Beijing, if you have similar needs, I can connect you." ”

Robert was a little unimpressed, "Of course it's important to break into the Chinese market, but believe me, my dear, the reason why we're talking about this so passionately isn't because of the box office that China can provide - on the contrary, we're trying to get movies into China, sometimes even without making a profit, because we're giving back to the community and showing our films in China, which is itself a form of charity." Of course, this will also make the White House happy, and for some, it is quite important. ”

For his obviously biased words, Jenny just smiled politely, and did not mean to refute - in Hollywood, everything is about money, in 2007, the total box office of movies in mainland China was only 3 billion US dollars, according to the current exchange rate, converted into □□ is about 400 million US dollars, which is about the same as the North American box office that "Iron Man" can get. In this case, of course, there is only the'unity. In the future, when China becomes the second largest market outside the United States and fully demonstrates its crazy box office potential, Hollywood will naturally put a new face on China, and for management like Robert, he may not be able to wait until the day when China's box office rises, for him, grasping the present is the most important thing. It is in Washington's interest to break into China, and Disney can get some help both openly and covertly, which is why he attaches great importance to China at this stage.

"Anyway, let me know if you need my help, Bob." She raised her glass and saluted Robert, who put on a smile and clinked glasses with her.

"How's the company doing lately?" He chatted with Jenny about Big Dreams, "My finance officer told me that they are very optimistic about the prospects of Big Dreams, and the market expectations for several projects this year are quite good, and even the headquarters are greedy for the long-term gains you hold. ”

Although Disney has a large number of shares, under Robert's hands, Disney has no intention of interfering in the decision-making of Big Dream, only a slightly stronger sense of existence in a period of time after the annual audit, which is also because Big Dream can be said to be thriving under the management of the two, and Disney has no need to talk too much. However, this does not mean that Robert will completely let go of big dreams, like today's dinner, which is somewhat of a work report, and Jeanne and Cesare will often come to him for dinner and talk about some problems that need Disney's help.

"You're too much of a prize, Bob." Jenny smiled and wiped her mouth, "Of course, the Iron Man explosion is good news for us, and the company will soon have a lot of cash flowing back - but, as you know, we all love to spend money, and in fact, we're already working on new projects." ”

"Oh, Jennifer who never stops," said Bob, who couldn't help but laugh, and said with great interest, "but I like to hear the news and give me a closer look at your thoughts?" ”

"It's going to be a taboo area," Jenny said with a smile, "-- female superhero movies, we plan to cooperate with Warners, Sanqi Investment, We Seven, Warner Three, of course, the filming schedule of this movie has not yet been decided, but the general framework should not change." ”

Female superheroes? Warner?

Robert frowned a little, but didn't raise any objections, just said euphemistically, "But, wouldn't this conflict with the sequel to Iron Man?" According to industry practice, I'm afraid that during your role as Pepper, it is not appropriate for you to take over the role of DC's hero, right? ”

It's coming, the play meat is coming soon-

Cesare's advice, the many conversations between the two, and Kevin's negotiation process...... All kinds of memories rushed through Jenny's mind, and she took a deep breath, knowing that her opportunity to perform was coming - talking about the 20% copyright of the "Iron Man" series was just the beginning, and how much benefit this copyright could bring her depends on her performance tonight.

"Actually......" she said, pretending to be gossiping in order to diminish the shock of what she was about to say, "Actually, that's the second thing I'm going to tell you, Bob, Marvel wants to buy back the rights to Iron Man, and Cesare and I have agreed to them." ”

Even though Robert had always been mild-mannered, patient, and usually moody, at this moment, his eyebrows could not help but raise high, forming an expression of extreme consternation, and he did not speak, but looked at Jenny silently—it was clear that if she could not come up with a good reason, their decision was destined to be unsupported by Disney.

"I know, it's hard to understand," Jenny tried to make herself look more confident, adjusting the pace of the conversation through her thoughtful expression, "I'm afraid that anyone else would keep the right to invest, but Cesare and I think this matter should be seen on both sides: if Pepper is the soul of the series, or even if the series is entirely original, then whoever gives up the copyright is a fool, as in the case of the Mission: Impossible series and Tom. Cruise, even if the series is put on hold, Tom will definitely not let go, and Paramount will not try to let him go. But the problem is that Iron Man is just a small piece of cake in the Marvel Universe, and Pepper is not an important character in this series at all, in this case, if we underestimate Marvel's determination to get the copyright back, it is very likely that Marvel will take advantage of the contract loophole to directly bypass us to develop a new series, as long as there is Robert Jr. Downey is here, and they don't have to worry about the box office......"

Seeing that Egger's expression slowly relaxed, and gradually turned into deep thought, Jenny also breathed a sigh of relief: at least so far, she has done a good job.

"And because Paramount has had enough of the loss of not having exclusive rights, and Marvel is also scarred at this point, and they are talking about the acquisition again, so Cesare and I have no idea of delaying the time to raise the price," she said half-truthfully, "Since they have to cash in, and they have to cash in now, there is no need to stand in the way, is there?" This may force Marvel to choose a lose-lose strategy. After all, they, like Paramount, are very eager to include the Iron Man franchise with full copyright in the asset list, Marvel wants to inflate its valuation, and Paramount wants a flawless treasure, and we think that as long as it can be resolved as soon as possible, they will be willing to pay a lot of money for it. ”

This is indeed true, and it is one of the reasons why Jenny must talk about copyright. Although she didn't know in her previous life that Paramount almost bought Marvel, she heard about it very early in this timeline, and she also knew that Paramount and Tom. Cruise's disputes about some rights and interests in the "Mission Impossible" series, then, based on the prophetic message that "Iron Man" will explode and Marvel will become a sweetheart, she very reasonably guesses that Paramount must be extremely sensitive to copyright, and would rather signal Marvel to spend a lot of money before the acquisition to eliminate the disaster, rather than wait for the acquisition to be completed and then entangle the sharing problem. In addition, Marvel itself is also allergic to the word copyright, so she believes that Marvel is indeed very likely to want to redeem the copyright back - and the clause in the contract that 'can only be transferred to Marvel' is also her intentional arrangement, at the time of negotiation, this clause will make Kevin and others feel that she intends to transfer the copyright, and this clause ensures that she will not resell it at will, reducing the difficulty of signing the contract, and after the explosion of "Iron Man", this clause also makes Marvel naturally want to buy the copyright back, avoided them from directly sucking away Downey and giving up the name "Iron Man", which made her dumbfounded.

Of course, if Marvel doesn't have the need to collect the copyright, then Jenny will not suffer, her sequel funding rights can make Big Dream continue to make money for many years, the worst result is nothing more than that Marvel is reluctant to pay money at all, and directly cashed out the sequel funding rights and the name "Iron Man", even so, Jenny has no loss, and she thinks that the possibility of Marvel doing so is really minimal.

"So, that's why you insisted on adding the sequel funding rights at the time, and even insisting on using the word copyright?" It can be seen that Robert's thinking of Big Dream surprised him, but after digesting it for a while, a smile gradually appeared on his face, "You thought that "Iron Man" would become the biggest highlight of Marvel at that time, and you planned to use this chip to redeem a large amount of cash?" ”

"Yes, that's why we had to add the rights," Jenny said with a sense of urgency, "and my gut tells me that Iron Man is going to be a big hit, and Cesare has always trusted my instincts." ”

She didn't tell a lie, at that time Jeanne did ask Cesare to discuss with her how to use the sequel funding rights as a bargaining chip to maximize the benefits - she forced Cesare to base all his thinking on the premise that 'Iron Man will definitely explode into the sky', and the other party, after staring at her for a long time, silently obeyed her request, so that they could go to the last step in the difficult negotiations - without Cesare's support, Jeanne could not guarantee that he would not do his best, Maybe in the middle of the third round of negotiations, he was beaten by the difficult Kevin . Feiji got it.

Suffice it to say, they haven't taken a big risk so far, even if she didn't have a golden finger - if she had been just a shrewd actor with insane confidence in her chosen film project, things could have turned out this way, but ......

Jenny took a breath by the gesture of drinking, she held her breath without a trace, adjusted for a moment, and then continued to smile freely.

"Cash? Do you think that's what we want, Bob? ”

Egger's mental path to 'intuitionism' was probably similar to Cesare's - at first, he was a little annoyed by this statement, because he thought it was ridiculous, but as Jeanne succeeded again and again, his attitude of course changed again and again, and Jenny could see that he was now a little skeptical, and her words also made Egger, who was savoring 'intuitionism', a little skeptical.

"What do you mean?" Robert's tone was a little hesitant.

Jenny chuckled as she put her glass back on the table and moved closer to Robert, dramatically lowering her voice.

"Why not stocks, Bob? Tell me, why not stocks? ”

Robert's eyes lit up, and his expression revealed the joy and joy that was unique to his sudden realization, of course, he didn't laugh out loud, but stretched out his hand to Jenny and clicked a few times in the air to express his emotions.

"You-" he said, his tone utterly expressing his surprise and appreciation, "you're just—incredible, you know, Jennifer, it's, it's, it's total, it's incredible." ”

He took the glass and swallowed heavily, "Yes, of course it's stocks, of course it's stocks, if you don't want stocks, it's a crime, isn't it?" ”

Looks like she's doing well...... Jenny pressed her heartbeat, she deliberately broke Robert's current train of thought, "Yes, why not stocks, since we all know that Marvel has been waiting for the price to sell, waiting for big buyers to come to buy, and after Paramount buys this golden hen, whether it is Paramount or Marvel's stock, there will be an up-"

If she was laying out a small suspense drama just now, then, this stalk had been captured by Robert just now, and the reason why he was so excited was because he guessed this dumb riddle, and there was a tacit sense of understanding between the two sides, and now Jenny had to explain everything thoroughly, and the atmosphere didn't seem to be so interesting, Robert was also a little confused, and didn't understand why she did more, he nodded, but was puzzled, "Yes - isn't that what you think?" ”

A new suspense was established, and Robert's expression became impatient again, so to speak, his emotions had been completely mastered by Jenny, and this burden had been blown up to the fullest, and Jenny was just left to break it down - Jenny took a deep breath without a trace, and asked herself not to think about the distractions: could this be the only chance for Big Dream to maximize his profits? Was Cesare's confidence in her misplaced? Is she really in control of the situation? Could it be that she didn't impress Robert at all, and that the good atmosphere was just her delusion? Can she do well? Will she succeed?

Wrapping these unnecessary worries in one breath and exhaling them, Jenny showed her most calm, mysterious, and confident smile, and once again lowered her voice, using the most provocative . Teasing, the most mellow tone, asked seductively.

"Tell me, Bob, didn't you ever think about buying Marvel?"

With the exit of these words, the air around the dining table seemed to be instantly thick and solidified, and Jenny did not let Robert go. A slight change in Igger's face, as if it was slow frame by frame, she witnessed the change in the expression of the president of Disney, listening, surprised, puzzled, deep in thought

When she saw the greed and excitement on the face of this elegant middle-aged man, Jenny let out a long breath again, her pounding heart gradually stabilized, Jenny leaned back, showing a restrained and smug smile, she leaned back, rubbing her hands, while looking at her Robert thoughtfully. Iger raised his glass and took a shallow sip of the mellow red wine.

- She didn't drink much, because tonight had just begun, and she needed to be absolutely sober for the conversation that followed. From the moment they got the copyright to now, in a year and a half, they have killed countless brain cells to get to this point, however, this step is only the beginning of everything.

And that's just the beginning!