The relationship between Team America and Iron Man is more like a father and son in Jamie's eyes.

The first four stages of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be regarded as a father-son ethics drama.

From "Avengers 1" to establish the "father and son" bond, to "Avengers 2" and "American Team 3" turned against each other because of disagreements, and then to "Avengers 3 and 4" in the end, Iron Man gloriously took over the mantle of the American team and sacrificed himself to save the universe.

In the end, the "old father" American team happily chose to retire, representing a complete reconciliation between the father and son.

The rest of the Marvel movies are subplots that revolve around the main line of changes in the relationship between Iron Man and Team America.

If Marvel chooses to use Team America to open the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then the movie "Team America 1: The Avengers" will definitely take the lead.

It tells the story of the origins of the American team during World War II and the fight against the Red Skull.

The film was released in 2011 and grossed $370 million worldwide, which is a no-lose and no-profit situation after deducting the production and publicity costs.

Although in the previous life, when Marvel opened the cinematic universe in 08, it faced a similar situation.

Although "Iron Man" was a huge success, another Hulk single movie, "The Incredible Hulk", only managed to grossed less than $270 million.

The box office of the two movies is average, which is almost the box office of "American Team 1".

But the meaning of what can be represented is very different.

The success of "Iron Man" allowed Marvel to find the right way to open the cinematic universe, and "The Incredible Hulk" itself is Marvel's "spare tire" for shooting as a risk hedge, so hitting the street doesn't really matter much.

This also involves the complex copyright game behind the Hulk, so the failure of this movie actually has little impact on Marvel.

But if "Iron Man" is replaced by "Team America 1", with a mediocre plot and box office, it may be difficult to convince investors that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a bright future.

After a few seconds of silence, Ovitz suddenly burst into words:

"And what about the Hulk? If you make a single movie, how likely do you think this superhero is to succeed? ”

Jamie was stunned for a moment.

When Ovitz mentioned the American team just now, Jamie felt a little strange.

Now the mystery is revealed.

"Isn't the copyright of the Hulk in the hands of Universal? What, have you heard anything lately? ”

Ovitz folded his arms in his hands, shrugged and replied:

"If you can't say it, you may not believe it, as early as 10 years ago, Universal began to prepare for the copyright adaptation project of the "Hulk" IP."

At the time, Ovitz was still the head of CAA, and the writer Universal's hired to write the script for "The Incredible Hulk" happened to be a client of CAA.

"It's a pity that James is gone, otherwise he is most familiar with the screenwriter, Gail Hurd, co-writer of "Terminator 1 and 2", and also served as the producer of "The Abyss."

In the process of writing the script, Hurd brought her husband Jonathan Hansley in as well, and when Hansley's "Jumanji" was a box office hit, Universal changed his mind and asked Hansley to rewrite the script.

"Hansley was very interested in this project, and even persuaded the top management of the world to let him be the film director, and the relevant lobbying work was handled by the CAA, so I knew this matter so clearly."

"Originally, this project has passed the green light review of the global senior management, and it will soon enter the stage of preparing for the filming of the century, but at that time, a movie was released, needless to say, you should have guessed its name, right?"

Looking at Ovitz's helpless and regretful expression, Jamie tried to answer.

"Batman & Robin?"

Ovitz smiled wryly and nodded.

To say that Jonathan Hansley's luck is a bit bad.

It took a lot of effort on the CAA side to persuade the global executives to hand over the A-level project of "Hulk", which has an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, to Hansley, who has no directing experience.

As a result, a star-studded "Batman and Robin" with an investment of hundreds of millions not only made Warner almost lose all his underwear, but also made the entire Hollywood talk about superhero movies for a while.

No matter how big the heart of the global executives is, it is impossible to continue to promote the "Hulk" project.

Jonathan Hansley's dream of directing could only be stillborn.

After 911, major film manufacturers have seen that the superhero movie market is rising.

Sony, the fastest action, has already filmed the first "Spider-Man".

Warner reboots the Superman project.

Westar Pictures is working on "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four."

Even Marvel, which is half-dead and doesn't know who will come first tomorrow or bankruptcy, has ambitions to become its own film company.

Universal, who holds the copyright of "Hulk", got up early in the morning and rushed to a late episode, and then finally remembered the project that was hidden in the snow back then.

According to the information received by Ovitz, the Hulk project has been officially restarted.

Of course, time has changed, and it is certainly impossible for the script and director to find Jonathan Hansley to do it.

Because it is a reboot, Universal plans to confirm the director first this time, and then redo the script.

"Universal's most optimistic director at the moment is Li Yan, I know that you have a lot of research on Chinese culture, this one should not need me to introduce you more, right?"

Jamie glanced at Ovitz.

"If I'm not mistaken, Li Yan's agency is CAA."

Ovitz nodded.

In fact, if it weren't for the CAA, Li Yan would not have had a chance to turn over after the blood loss in "Riding with the Devil".

In 2000, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was released, and at a cost of $17 million, it won the global box office of $210 million, and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Once again, CAA has proven their eye for precision.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Chinese filmmakers also ushered in a wave of highlight moments in Hollywood.

In terms of actors, Cheng Long entered the ranks of Hollywood supergiants with two "Rush Hour".

In terms of directors, Wu Yusen's "Changing Face" and "Mission Impossible 2" have received high market returns.

"Mission Impossible 2" even topped the global box office in 2000.

In this context, the top management of the world was once again successfully lobbied by CAA to hand over the rebooted "Hulk" to Chinese director Li Yan.

This time, Ovitz did not sell off again, and directly told Jamie that Li Yan's agent at CAA was one of the senior partners who opposed it the most when Ovitz wanted to return to CAA.

Ovitz kept it in mind.

In order to teach the other party a hard lesson, Ovitz bought off the assistant next to the other party and directly got the script outline of Li Yan's version of "The Incredible Hulk".

"The screenwriter that Universal found this time is James Shamus, his adaptation is very bold, directly absorbing a very ordinary villain in the comics and changing it into a villain in the movie, and the most exaggerated thing is that the real identity of this villain is still the father of the actor Bruce Banner."

Ovitz thought that this news would surprise Jamie, but he didn't expect Jamie's reaction to be-

Is that what you're fuss about?

Without waiting for Ovitz to ask again, Jamie spoke first.

"If you have a serious understanding of Li Yan's previous movies, you will know that he is very good at making this kind of family theme, especially father-son relationship movies, and the screenwriter found by Universal is obviously very aware of this, so he tailor-made such a plot for Li Yan."

Ovitz frowned:

"So you also think this adaptation idea is highly feasible?"

Jamie shrugged.

"For director Li Yan, he should like this script very much, which will be convenient for him to dig into the depth of the superhero of the Hulk from the direction he is best at, but as a fan of comics, I personally don't buy this adaptation."

Ovitz's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked:

"What do you think is the problem?"

Jamie calmly recounted:

"Among all Marvel's superheroes, the Hulk is the closest to DC in terms of style, so director Li Yan wants to dig more depth into this character, and there is no problem with the idea, but the direction is wrong."

"It's like if I were to dig into the depth of the character of Batman, I would definitely not dig him in the absolutely right direction of Team America, Batman's background is dark."

"If you want to dig deep into the Hulk, in fact, the artists and screenwriters of the original comics have already made a lot of attempts in this direction, and have received good feedback."

"Because according to the setting in the comics, Banner turned into the Hulk, not because he lost his mind because of anger, but because of anger and the personality of the Hulk was born, which also caused an illusion to many people, everyone thinks that Banner will transform once he is provoked, but in fact, it is the Hulk personality in Banner's body that is provoked, and it will snatch control of the body and become the Hulk."

"This is also a reasonable explanation for why the Hulk will attack and destroy without distinction after transforming."

"I think it's far more interesting to dig into the contradictory relationship between Banner and Hulk, two personalities who are opposed to each other but have to coexist, than to make a so-called father-son relationship."

As he spoke, Ovitz suddenly stopped Jamie.

He raised his hand, intending to call the waiter to help find a pen and paper, and he wanted to take notes of what Jamie had just said.

As a result, Penny saw Ovitz raise her hand one step ahead of the waitress, and she wanted to make a good impression on Ovitz, the famous Hollywood agent, so she took the initiative to stand up and walk over.

"Mr. Ovitz, is there anything I need to do for you?"

"Forehead......" Ovitz subconsciously glanced at Jamie, and saw that Jamie did not object, so he asked Penny to help find a pen and paper.

Soon Penny borrowed paper and pens from the restaurant cash register.

Ovitz didn't even have time to thank him after taking it, so he lowered his head and quickly recorded it on it.

After writing, Ovitz did not rush to put down the pen, but looked up and motioned for Jamie to continue.

"I have a question, are you planning to sabotage this cooperation between Li Yan and Universal by recording this?"

"That's right."

"Then you can actually do nothing, because according to my prediction that you will provide this script outline, this movie is very likely to be messed up by Li Yan, and you are sabotaging this cooperation, but you are helping Li Yan and his agent."

Ovitz put down the pen in his hand and looked at Jamie with a serious expression.

"My plan is divided into two steps, the first is of course to sabotage the cooperation between Universal and Li Yan, and the most effective way to sabotage this kind of sabotage is not to tell the global management that there are such and such problems in Li Yan's script, but to provide a better choice for the global management."

"From the script to the director and actors, after the whole project is packaged, I will lobby the top management of the world."

Jamie was noncommittal.

Ovitz continued:

"In the second step, I will find a script project that is more suitable for Li Yan and persuade him to terminate the contract with CAA."

Hearing this, Jamie finally had a trace of emotion on his face.

Not only did they snatch each other's projects, but they also snatched away their customers.

It seems that Ovitz really has a deep grudge against Li's CAA agent.

As for the reason -

Ovitz himself later explained.

Li Yan's agent was single-handedly promoted and reused by Ovitz when he was at the helm of CAA, and when he left CAA, Ovitz also recommended him to become a senior partner of CAA.

After being swept away by Disney, Ovitz immediately contacted Li Yan's agent and indicated to the other party his intention to return to CAA.

As a result, Li Yan's agent put Ovitz together and verbally promised that he would unite with other senior partners to put pressure on the board of directors to oppose Ovitz's return.

For such a traitor, Ovitz will, of course, take revenge in the most violent way.

Of course, these are personal feuds between Ovitz and CAA, and Jamie has no interest in meddling.

So when Ovitz wanted Jamie to continue to analyze the shortcomings of Li Yan's version of "The Incredible Hulk", Jamie asked the other party directly.

"You don't want me to help you write a Hulk script, do you?"

"If you don't have time, you can just provide a script outline, just like "The Wandering Earth 1", I will find someone to fill in the plot, of course, after the script is completed, I will definitely let you confirm it first."

"Then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed, I really don't have any good ideas about the Hulk."

It's not that Jamie doesn't want to help, but in his previous life, not only Li Yan's version of "The Incredible Hulk" hit the streets, but even "The Incredible Hulk", which learned the lessons of Li Yan's version and was adapted by Marvel himself, also hit the streets.

Li Yan's version of "The Incredible Hulk" can also summarize various reasons such as lack of commerciality, fragmented style, and the magic change that angered fans of the original work.

But "The Incredible Hulk" is a very neat Hollywood commercial film, and all the problems that arise in Li Yan's version are avoided in this movie.

If you want to say that the only drawback, it may be that the movie is too neat, lacking creativity and surprises, which causes the audience not to buy it.

Of course, the copyright dispute hidden behind this movie has caused Marvel and Universal to be at odds, and it may also be the reason for the movie's poor box office.

At present, the copyright of the Hulk is still in the hands of Universal, and the movie does not plan to cooperate with Marvel, so this issue can be ignored directly.

Jamie knew very well in his heart that if he just copied the script of "The Incredible Hulk" and used it to compete with Li Yan's version of "The Incredible Hulk", the odds of winning were not great.

(End of chapter)