The next day.

Inside the Director's Suite.

"What do you think about Disney's vice president suggesting that we make Pacific Rim in the form of comic book serialization?" Li Mu sat on the sofa and asked Liu Siying opposite, while Liu Yifei sat next to Li Mu.

Liu Siying replied: "Since Pacific Rim began to be serialized in Science Fiction World magazine, it has achieved very good results. Now that the serialization has ended, it is said that the "Science Fiction World" magazine still receives a large number of calls and letters every day asking for continued serialization, and the project itself is definitely valuable, and the biggest problem now is that you simply don't have that much time to make a manga work that requires a long period of time to be serialized. ”

Li Mu thought to himself: "Why don't I have time? I don't even have that to know? "Pacific Rim 2" has a very poor reputation, and the Douban score is only 5.4, Li Mu can't continue to copy it, right? And even if he is willing to continue copying, what about when "Pacific Rim 2" is finished? What's next? Isn't it about falling into a situation where there is no copy? ”

However, he believes in the judgment that the "Pacific Rim" series is of great value, after all, even the cumulative box office of the "Bear Infested" series of movies in later generations has exceeded 5 billion yuan.

Every year, there is a "Bear Infested", and the box office is not low, and the box office of "Bear Infested: Accompany Me Bear Core" in 23 years has easily exceeded 1.2 billion yuan.

Of course, Li Mu also wants an IP that is constantly being developed by this energy source, as for whether "Pacific Rim" can take on this important task, Li Mu doesn't know, but he is willing to give it a try, the big deal is to lose some money.

"After you return to China, you will set up a department in the company dedicated to the development of "Pacific Rim", and you can recruit a little more people and brainstorm ideas, as long as you can dig up enough talents, I believe that this series can continue to develop."

Liu Siying nodded.

Li Mu continued: "In addition, we will set up a comic company in the United States and China, and we will publish our own comic works in the future. ”

Liu Siying was a little worried, after all, the company had never done comics business.

Li Mu said: "The company will make comics sooner or later, not only for "Pacific Rim". ”

Liu Siying nodded.

In fact, the words of the vice president of Disney can be regarded as an indirect reminder to Li Mu that since he has seen so many classic movies of various themes and genres in his previous life, why should he only limit his attention to live-action movies? Disney's Picks Studio has so many classic animated movies, why can't he Li Mu get a piece of the pie?

That's right, the current Li Mu is not capable of developing those classic animated movies, but since he can occupy the pit sci-fi blockbuster through publishing, why can't he occupy the pit classic animated movies by publishing comics?

When it comes to classic animated films, it is obviously more appropriate to publish comics than to publish them.

Because publishing comics can even occupy the characters in animated films, and publishing can only occupy the plot part of the pit.

The global box office champion of 2013 was an animated film, Walt Disney's Frozen, which grossed $1.28 billion worldwide.

By 2019, the "Frozen" series had ranked 45th on the list of the world's top 50 most profitable IPs with a revenue of $11.3 billion, not only surpassing the total revenue of all other Disney princess themes, but also the only "post-10" work on the list.

At the same time, of the $10 billion revenue generated by Frozen, $9.575 billion came from its derivatives sales, accounting for 85%.

The retail revenue of Elsa dolls was 26 million US dollars, and the princess dresses of the two princesses sold 3 million pieces nationwide, earning 450 million US dollars......

With such a huge benefit, Li Mu felt that he should also intervene.

"Frozen" is adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, but Disney has adapted a lot of it, such as in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, Snow White is the core villain of the story, but in Disney's animation, she has become the protagonist of the story, an out-and-out heroine, and it can be regarded as catering to the ideology of the United States.

Another example is that Disney deleted a large number of characters in Snow White, and also added a large number of original characters.

As for copyright issues, Andersen is a character who has been dead for more than 100 years, since Disney in the United States can shoot Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales in Denmark, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, Grimm's fairy tales in Germany, and Chinese folk tales "Mulan", then Li Mu in China can naturally put it on the big screen.

RB, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand have all filmed Huaxia's "Journey to the West", and there is more than one version, for these works that have long passed the copyright protection period, others can use them, and Li Mu can certainly use them.

Count several animated films that Li Mu is interested in and intends to occupy the pit:

2013's "Frozen" grossed $1.28 billion worldwide.

2015's "Mind Squad" grossed $858 million worldwide.

2016's "Zootopia" grossed $1.023 billion worldwide.

2016's "Your Name" grossed $357 million worldwide.

In 2017, "Dream Travel" grossed $807 million worldwide.

2019's "Frozen 2" grossed $1.45 billion worldwide.

In addition to using comics to occupy some animated films, in fact, many live-action movies can also be published on their own comics, and the effect may be better than the published version.

For example, the 2011 movie "Source Code", the 2012 "Ring Messenger", and the 2013 movie "Shocking Demon Thieves" series, etc.

In short, after talking with several Hollywood bigwigs, especially with the vice president of Disney, Li Mu's heart to create his own comic brand became more and more eager, and he even had the urge to start painting "Frozen" soon.

"What do you think we should give this independent comic brand a name?"

Li Mu asked Liu Siying opposite.

Liu Siying thought for a while and said, "Manfei, or Manlong?" ”

Li Mu lowered his head again and asked Liu Yifei, who was leaning next to him: "What do you think?" ”

"I don't know." Liu Yifei refused with a smile.

"Think hard." Li Mu continued to ask.

Liu Yifei pursed his lips and thought for a while, and then said coquettishly: "Where will I name the company, I will name it well, such as my cat, it will be called Dongdong." ”

"Dongdong sounds good, but our comic company can't compete with your cat for a name, think about it again."

"Manga comics." Liu Yifei muttered for a long time, and then finally said, "I just thought of an idiom, called endless, or you two think for yourself, I don't have to worry about it." ”

"Okay." Li Mu said, "Then it's called "Manga". ”

"Huh?" Liu Yifei was stunned for a moment.

She just heard Li Mu say "okay", and thought that he was promising her that she didn't have to think about it, but she didn't expect him to use the name "Manwu" directly.

That's too sloppy, isn't it?

Liu Siying, who was on the other side, was sprinkled with dog food, and said in her heart, what is the purpose of your opinion just now?

"Mr. Li, if there is nothing else, I will go back first."

"Okay, the matter of running a comic company in the United States is the top priority, and we must hurry up." Li Mu finally advised, "I want to discover our own comics in the United States as soon as possible." ”

"Got it, Chairman."

After Liu Siying left, Li Mu carried him into the bedroom with Liu Yifei's exclamation.

……

Three days later, the vice presidents of Disney, Sony, Paramount, Warner and other four companies, as well as Cheng Long, Yang Zhicheng, Song Dai and others left one after another, and the crew also completed all the filming tasks in France and prepared to leave for the next filming location - the United Kingdom!

At the same time, Li Mu received a call from Harvey Weinstein again, and this time Li Mu clearly rejected the other party's proposal to release the film and be responsible for the operation of the Oscar awards.