Chapter 259 Big Red Man

"Spider-Man" made 130 million in its first weekend of 3 days and exceeded 250 million in 10 days. Its box office performance has broken a series of box office records and has always been firmly at the center of attention in Hollywood.

However, after that, the box office growth of "Spider-Man" slowed down significantly, which is also a characteristic of fan movies. Fortunately, the quality of "Spider-Man" is relatively guaranteed, and it has not been overrated, and it has also attracted many passers-by into the cinema.

The popularity of "Spider-Man" has also driven the sales of Marvel peripheral products. Comics, Spider-Man toys, and Spider-Man suits are all hot-selling. Regarding the copyright of Spider-Man peripheral products, there are clear regulations. Marvel can only enjoy 30% of the revenue from the products derived from the movie, while the copyright of the products derived from the comics belongs entirely to Marvel.

Although Marvel only accounts for 30% this time, this revenue has definitely made Marvel a lot of money, and it means that Marvel Studios has a lot to do, giving Marvel the confidence and strength to develop more superhero movies!

The popularity of "Spider-Man" has also made two topics hotly discussed in major Hollywood production companies.

The first topic is superhero movies. In the past, Hollywood did not actually pay attention to so-called superhero movies.

Conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that superhero movies only work if they involve big-name stars. The box-office success of movies is not due to superheroes, but to big-name stars. Otherwise, even movies like "Batman" and "Superman" will fail.

But in the past two years, with the success of "X-Men", especially the astonishing box office performance of "Spider-Man" this time, it shocked everyone and forced major Hollywood studios to put superheroes on the map. Desk discussion.

One person was the first to speak: "The era of superheroes is coming. This is a market that we have ignored in the past."

Another person shook his head: "It can't be ignored. It's true that smart people have developed these superheroes before, but the previous movie technology was not enough to support the production of all kinds of cool superpower pictures of superheroes in people's imagination. , and in the end basically ended in failure.

But things are different now. Times have changed. The development of computer special effects has provided the soil for these superheroes to perform. "Spider-Man" is enough to satisfy most people's superhero dreams! "

"Computer special effects are only the foundation. I think the key lies in the people who make the movies. We all know that movies are not that simple. What is the core and concept? How to set the tone? How to customize a most suitable story around high concepts? These All need to be considered.

Even though these superheroes have a large fan base, superhero movies produced by different people may not necessarily meet the taste of the market.

At this point, we must admit that the success of "Spider-Man" is inseparable from the project's initiator, Wu Yuchen! "

"Yes, from last year's "Pirate King," which turned a box-office poisonous theme into a hit, to this year's "Spider-Man," Wu has proven his superb and keen market sense and control. If it were another People come, I think the results may be very different!”

"Yes, and whether it's "Pirate King" or "Spider-Man", he has formulated a trilogy plan for it. Although the sequels of these two series have not been produced yet, with Wu's ability, I Optimistic about the quality of its films.”

"I agree with this. Not every superhero is as popular as Spider-Man. Compared to superhero movies that are not very clear yet, Wu's ability to produce series is more impressive. People clapped their hands and applauded.”

For major studios, a successful series of movies is far more profitable than ordinary movies, and is more worthy of their attention. Some studios can even live on a series of movies for a lifetime.

Speaking of this, it also brought up the second topic they wanted to discuss-Wu Yuchen.

Tobey Maguire, who is now sought after by outside movie fans, is actually not as important as imagined in the eyes of major studios. Because everyone knows that Tobey Maguire is not Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise. He is now popular because of Spider-Man. But after leaving Spider-Man, in other movies, his appeal may not even be half Nothing left.

What truly shaped the brilliance of "Spider-Man" was director Sam Raimi, the initiator of the project, the creator of the script, and Wu Yuchen who set the concept and tone for it!

"Have you heard about Wu Yuchen's next plan? We have already missed a series like "Pirate King". We can't miss Wu's next series. Such a delicious cake cannot be given to DreamWorks cheaply!"

"I heard that Wu wants to continue to compete for Oscars this year and has no plans for another commercial film."

"What a waste of his talent! Talent like his should be spent on commercial films!"

"Regardless of whether he has any plans in the near future, we must strengthen contact with him. If he has news about his next commercial movie, we must fight for it as soon as possible, even if he gives up part of the benefits!"

In the past, these big studios could unite and were unwilling to work for Wu Yuchen in vain, but now with Wu Yuchen's creation of "Pirate King" and the explosion of "Spider-Man", the situation has changed. reversal.

Facing Wu Yuchen who can bring such huge profits, no studio can resist being tempted. United? What a waste of a union! Maybe others have already rushed to find Wu Yuchen privately to discuss cooperation!

At this time, Wu Yuchen has finished filming "Every Moment" and is in the process of editing and other post-production. He plans to return to China after completing the film.

However, during this period of time, he was really not very leisurely. Even though he turned down almost all the invitations on the pretext of making a late-stage movie, he could not stop the people who came to visit him warmly, and some of them were not easy to see. After all, Each is a high-level representative of a major Hollywood studio.

"Wu, if you are interested, our door at MGM is open to you at any time. We all believe that you can bring "007" back to life!"

After Wu Yuchen sent away the MGM people, he smiled and shook his head.

In addition to MGM, studios such as Paramount, Universal, and Fox have all taken the initiative to contact him during this period. Basically, there are two purposes, either to inquire about his next commercial production in a roundabout way, or to promote his own studio's classic series of movies and ask Wu Yuchen if he is willing to take over the filming.

For example, Paramount's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released. After the release of "Pirate King", Paramount obviously believed that Wu Yuchen was the most suitable director to restart "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the originator of adventure and treasure-themed movies. But Wu Yuchen has no intention of accepting "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It is enough to have "Pirate King" in the same genre. What is the purpose of making "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?

To be honest, instead of taking over "Raiders of the Lost Ark", it would be better to take over "007". After all, "007" has gained a new lease of life after the reboot, and its reputation and box office have gradually increased.

But he didn't want to have any contact with MGM. He owed so much debt and might go bankrupt one day.

If he remembered correctly, Wu Baige's "Windtalker" will be released next month. This movie is said to be the last straw for MGM, which directly caused the stock price of MGM to plummet and the president resigned. , and sold herself three years later.

If he goes to cooperate with MGM, he is really afraid that he will be prostituted for free and he will not get his salary back!

…

Disney, Miles walked into the president's office dejectedly. Seeing Eisner's gaze, Miles smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Mr. Eisner, I'm sorry."

"What did he say? Did he put forward any conditions?" Eisner asked.

Myers paused for a moment, then avoided Eisner's eyes and replied: "Wu said that as long as you are at Disney, it is impossible for him to cooperate with Disney..."

"Damn! Who does he think he is!" Eisner pounded the table angrily.

The current situation of Disney is not very good. It has not achieved any outstanding results recently, its stock price has not improved, and many shareholders have already expressed dissatisfaction. Now that the popularity of "Spider-Man" has caused major studios to treat Wu Yuchen as a guest, Disney has naturally raised the possibility of cooperating with Wu Yuchen again.

To be fair, Eisner is not a fool. Of course he is aware of his grievances with Wu Yuchen. If possible, he does not want to cooperate with Wu Yuchen again. It's just that in Disney's current situation, it's hard for him to refute, and what if Wu Yuchen agrees? At that time, even if you give him some benefits to compensate him, it won't matter. You can always raise the stock price first.

But now, it is obvious that there is no possibility of cooperation between him and the other party.

Eisner cursed angrily and vented his anger. When could a director target Eisner like this? But now he has nothing to do with Wu Yuchen. He is no longer a small director, but a target that all major studios want to win over.

After a fit of incompetence and rage, Eisner calmed down and went to the conference room. Disney's shareholder meeting will be held next month. This year's shareholders' meeting was originally supposed to be held in April, but he deliberately postponed it to June, just to delay it as much as possible and gain more time to produce results. But now the results are not ideal...

He now wants to convene an internal meeting in advance to unify his thoughts first, so that everyone within Disney can be united under the leadership with him as the core, so that he can cope with all kinds of difficulties that may occur at the shareholders' meeting next month. .

"These are the main contents of this meeting. Now we at Disney have encountered a little bit of hardship, but I hope you all understand that we, Disney, are a company with heritage, history, and culture. A short trough cannot bring us down. We break down and it only makes us more resilient, and as long as I’m around, Disney will be back to greatness soon!”

After Eisner finished his speech, he glanced at everyone present, and no one dared to raise objections. He was very satisfied with his authority in Disney. He was still the Disney Emperor of Disney, and no one dared to question it.

What happened to the poor performance? The entire Disney is under his rule. Can Disney leave him who has ruled for 18 years? Even those major shareholders who have had objections to his management in the past two years do not dare to replace him easily, because the cost of company turmoil and management change is too high, and they dare not take a gamble at all!

Eisner believes that as long as he makes some promises at this year's shareholders' meeting, he can fool him and no one will really dare to do anything to him.

However, at this moment, a voice sounded in the conference room: "Little misery? Eisner, do you call Disney's current situation a little misery?"

You don't have to turn your head, just listen to the voice and you will know who it is, Roy Disney, that stubborn old man of the Disney family. As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone's eyes were drawn to him. Just listen to him continue:

"Eisner, the popularity of Disneyland is not as good as it used to be. ABC TV station is in dismal business and losing money every year. In just the past six months, you have laid off 4,000 employees of the entire Disney Group!

Look what you've been doing these past few years?

The animation industry that Disney relies on for survival has been completely reduced to a foil in recent years. We can only rely on praying for a contract renewal with Pixar to support our Disney animation business. When did our Disney animation fall to this point? ! "

Roy Disney became more and more excited as he talked:

"There are also live-action movies. In the past few years, has Disney had a decent live-action movie? The huge failure of "Pearl Harbor" has made the outside world speak ill of our Disney movie business!

Among other companies, Paramount has "Mission: Impossible" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark"; Universal has monster series such as "Jurassic Park" and "The Mummy"; Fox has "Star Wars", "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard" "; Warner not only has "Batman" and "Superman", but now also has "Harry Potter"; MGM has "007"; now even Sony Columbia has "Spider-Man"!

The other six major studios all have live-action series that can be used as heirlooms, but what do we at Disney have during your tenure? No! Nothing at all!

The past ten years at Disney have been a lost decade! You are the one who brought Disney to this stage step by step. Do you just want to get there with a little suffering? ! "

At this moment, the entire circle of executives sitting in the conference room were stunned. Although they knew that Roy Disney had always opposed Eisner and had often made trouble for Eisner before, this time on this occasion and at this moment, Eisner was sprayed with blood, and every word They all hit Eisner's sore feet and will undoubtedly piss him off!

Eisner's face had completely darkened, and his fists clenched involuntarily. He stared at Roy Disney with a death gaze. In the past, he had always been worried that this old man was from the Disney family, so he tolerated him and let him be the mascot of the company.

But at this time, the old guy still dares to find trouble for him. Does he really think that he is a sick cat if he doesn't show off his power?