Chapter 165165. Send Gadot away and aim at Marvel

At night, Gadot's apartment.

I haven't slept at her place for several days. If I don't come over, the girl will start complaining.

Eric and Gadot, Judy and Bar Refaeli, three women and one man, each sat on a sofa and were intimate, with snacks, fruits and beer on the table.

uh-huh!

"Hahaha ok it's a little itchy, stop scratching."

Gadot slapped Eric's hand away and said, "That's enough. The last episode is about to start. Stop it!"

Eric then moved his head away from her neck and looked at the TV. HBO was doing the final warm-up and the finale of the first season of "The Walking Dead" would be aired in a few minutes.

After three months, this groundbreaking zombie TV series is about to come to its finale.

The reason why it was broadcast for so long is that the first season directed by Eric was actually a fusion of the content of the original first and second seasons, but the boring and long-winded emotional drama was carefully edited out.

The original 19 episodes were compressed into 13 episodes, coupled with Darabont's superb directing skills.

The plot has a strong ability to pull the audience's emotions, and the climaxes are one after another.

From the start of the show to now, the first episode was watched by 8 million users, and by the 12th episode last week, the number of viewers had exceeded 13 million.

HBO is also very excited and has mobilized a lot of publicity resources for this final episode, with the goal of breaking the 14 million mark tonight.

You have to know that the peak viewership of "Band of Brothers" was only 10 million, while the peak viewership of HBO's old mainstay "The Sopranos" has not yet exceeded 9 million.

This shows that the ratings of "The Walking Dead" are very high, especially among young groups, its influence far exceeds that of other dramas.

According to the data currently obtained by MGM, HBO has increased the number of new users by nearly 4 million thanks to "The Walking Dead".

When tonight's episode is finished, according to the contract, the TV station will pay MGM an additional $10 million.

"Judy, give me a beer."

The two women's lips parted and Judy rolled her eyes at him, "Can't you see what I'm doing? You have hands and feet to get it yourself."

"Be careful, I'll fire you tomorrow because you stepped into the company with your left foot first."

"Hehe, dear, let me get it for you."

Gadot sat in Eric's arms with a plate in her hand. Her hair, which was full of vanilla scent, was refreshing. She pinched pieces of fruit with her fingers and put them into his mouth.

"Tsk tsk. Look at the two of you. You're just like a foolish king and his doted little lover." Judy complained.

The two ignored her, Gadot bit off half of the apple and snuggled up to Eric.

"Honey, the filming of Happy Death Day has been completed. Are you planning to arrange a new job for me recently?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. If I don't have a new job, I plan to go home. I've been tricked by you for almost a year. I can only contact my family by phone. I miss them."

Barrefaeli looked over and said, "Gadot, I'll be there as long as you've been away from home. My mother also wants me to go back and see her."

Looking at the two women who were homesick, Eric also felt that it was time to give them a break and let them adjust themselves. The spring cannot be kept tightly wound all the time.

He nodded gently: "Then go back. I'll give you a month's vacation. Happy Death Day will be released at the end of August, so you can come back early. You also need to cooperate with the promotion."

"What about me?" Rafaeli asked hastily.

"You can't. House of Cards starts filming on Monday. You have a very important role to play and you must be present throughout the whole process. You can't let Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright wait for you."

Barlefali choked and asked the best actor and actress to wait for her, unless she had a brain tumor.

Even though "The Walking Dead" made her stand out and was labeled a rising star and dark horse by some media, she still has to distinguish who she is compared with.

Hollywood also emphasizes seniority, which is a universal rule throughout the world.

Judy patted her back and consoled her, "Rafaeli, Eric shoots very quickly, much faster than Delabon. A TV series will never take more than two months."

"Besides, House of Cards is a major project of MGM. With the support of Oscar-winning actors and actresses, it will definitely raise your popularity to a higher level."

"You think, when the second season of The Walking Dead starts filming, Maggie will surpass Daryl and Rick in popularity ranking and become number one. Isn't that very motivating?"

Barlefali thought about it and a smile appeared on his face.

On the TV screen, the BGM of "The Walking Dead" sounded and the last episode began.

The opening is a grand scene, with countless zombies moving quickly towards the farm in the darkness.

Rick, who had just killed his good brother Sean, fled with his son Carl and was almost knocked down by zombies several times.

These zombies are as fast as humans jogging and their attacks are fierce. This is also the zombie rule that Eric and Delabon set: they must not be slow.

Then the farm attack and defense battle took place, and people in the team began to die at the hands of zombies. The scene was cruel and exciting.

Gadot widened her eyes nervously: "Why did so many people die! If more people die, there will be no one left in the main cast."

Eric stroked her little head and said, "It's the last episode now. Of course, we have to screen out the insignificant minor characters. Once we're done, the main cast will be officially formed, and then we'll start a new chapter for the second season."

A zombie battle lasted for more than ten minutes, and finally the farm was engulfed in fire.

Hundreds of fire zombies pounced towards the car. At the critical moment, the protagonists finally escaped separately, leaving only the unlucky Andrea behind.

"OMG! Andrea hasn't gotten in the car yet, and Rick didn't notice her. She's going to die too!"

"Don't worry, Andrea has her own destiny, and someone will save her."

On TV, Green, played by Daniel Wu, and Maggie, played by Rafaeli, were seen acting opposite each other.

Eric couldn't help but ask, "Lefali, how is Daniel Wu doing on the set?"

"Very good, he is an experienced actor, he taught me some experience when we were acting together, and he is also very gentlemanly."

"Later I found out that he was already a big star in Hong Kong and was very popular there."

"You know what? He rushed back to his country after finishing his scenes. Darabont didn't want to let him go, but Daniel said he had joined Jack Chen's crew and was about to shoot a new Jack Chen movie, so Darabont let him go."

"Jackie Chan's movie, New Police Story?"

"I don't know the details, but it seems to be related to the police. That day we found out that Daniel is a big star in Hong Kong. He only shoots movies and not TV series."

Judy laughed and said, "So you still don't understand? Movie stars from other countries also have to start with small roles when they come to Hollywood. Only in Hollywood can you become a world superstar."

Eric added: "Daniel Wu is actually an American, but because of his yellow skin, he went to China to develop. When the market on the other side of the strait develops, he will get more opportunities."

In the end, after escaping from the farm, the protagonists gathered again, and only Rick, Daryl, Cam, Green, Maggie, Carl and other members were left.

Rick finally became the leader of the team through his talk and abilities.

After 13 episodes of preparation, the core of the finale team is established, and they need to find a new shelter.

The camera pulls away and a prison stands there, symbolizing the main stage of the second season.

At the same time, Andrea escaped from the farm, but could not escape the zombies' pursuit.

She finally fell to the ground exhausted and was about to be eaten by the zombies when she heard the sound of breaking wind.

A cold light flashed, and the zombie's head had been chopped off.

Andrea looked at the savior in front of her in surprise. It was a man shrouded in a black robe, with a samurai sword in his hand flashing with a cold light.

Behind the man in black robe, two zombies were chained with iron chains. Everything looked very strange.

At this point, the first season of "The Walking Dead" has officially ended.

"Huh? Is that it?" Gadot stared at the cast list with wide eyes.

"That's it. Didn't you see that this episode is already 60 minutes long? It's an extended version."

"But the matter has not been explained clearly yet. Who is that man in black robe? Why doesn't he show his face?"

"Okay, baby, that's the suspense for the second season. We still have to rely on them to attract the audience."

"No, no, please tell me what will happen next and who is the identity of the man in black robe?" Gadot kept pestering her.

Judy said happily: "Don't ask Gadot, Eric definitely doesn't know either. He definitely hasn't even determined whether the person in the black robe is a man or a woman, so he covered his whole body."

Eric nodded and said, "Yes, I only wrote the script for the first season. Darabont will be in charge of the second season. I don't care."

"If you want to know the plot, you have to ask that bald guy, but I guess he's still figuring it out."

In desperation, Gadot could only suppress her curiosity in her heart.

And Eric really didn't lie to her. In the second season, he only gave Darabont a few suggestions.

For example, an external boss needs to be added to put pressure on the protagonists, some characters need to grow gradually to enhance the strength of the protagonists, and some characters that the audience hates can also be taken offline appropriately.

He didn't make any specific requirements, and didn't even provide a story framework.

Eric believes that with Darabont's ability, the quality of "The Walking Dead" will not drop drastically within at least five seasons.

As for after five seasons, it is normal for the screenwriters and directors to run out of inspiration, and all they need to do is replace them.

Eric is now looking forward to the Emmy Awards in September. He wonders how many awards "The Walking Dead" can win and whether he can get the Best Writing for a Drama Series.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

As time went by, both sides could hear each other through the wall, and Eric and Judy started the competition mode.

Kill from Baicao Garden to Sanwei Book House, and then kill back from Sanwei Book House to Baicao Garden.

See who has better endurance and who can make the louder sound.

Finally, after hearing two loud calls from the other side, Eric also delivered his goods to the exhausted Gadot.

The next day, after sending Gadot to the airport, Eric came to the office as usual.

Chen Xing was waiting outside the door and followed in with a document: "Boss, I have investigated and sorted out the things you arranged. I have roughly sorted out the threads. It's all here."

Eric nodded: "Okay, go out, I'll take a look first."

The content of this document is the history of Marvel's development, which is also MGM's next key target.

It is now 2003 and time is already quite urgent. Let's wait another two years.

Once Marvel successfully raises funds and launches the Iron Man project, they will have missed the best opportunity.

I remember that Mickey Mouse spent more than $4 billion to buy Marvel in 2009. If it was before the Iron Man project was launched, this number could have been reduced several times.

Eric flipped through the information. Many people knew the history at the beginning, so he just glanced over it and skipped it.

Captain America took advantage of the surge in sales of comics about beating up the mustache during World War II, and Marvel began to make a name for itself in the industry.

After the end of World War II, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, the juvenile crime rate in the United States soared. Due to the lack of supervision, comics contained a large amount of pornographic and violent content, and naturally became the target of social criticism.

What followed was the judgment of the law and society. For a time, comics became the source of evil and were even directly listed as contraband in cities such as Detroit and Salt Lake City.

It’s like at the beginning of the century that everything was the fault of games. Games were the culprit that ruined children. Games smelled like electronic powder.

What's even funnier is that in order to restore their reputation, publishers have joined forces to formulate new industry rules, requiring that justice must triumph over evil, and prohibiting the appearance of creatures such as werewolves, vampires, and Frankenstein in comics.

And they were confronted with the other side where no spirits were allowed and no ghosts were allowed.

When this trend faded, comic book sales entered a period of growth again, and Marvel began to gradually surpass DC to become the new industry leader.

And in 1989, Marvel finally welcomed the destined person, and was about to start its tragic decade of wandering.

This person is certainly not Stan Lee, but the capital tycoon Ronald Perelman, who has set his sights on the hot comics market.

As we all know, once targeted by capital, most of the time there is no good ending.

Perelman spent $82.5 million to acquire Marvel, and then used his connections to take a big step forward in raising funds through an IPO.

Marvel's stock price soared to more than $30, and its market value exceeded $4 billion. Then it began a crazy money-spending mode, constantly expanding and merging.

Among the stocks purchased was a very important toy company, Beech Toys, and two shareholders of Beech Toys also joined the Marvel board of directors, namely Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

But this prosperous scene lasted only two years, and the comics market collapsed again because the leeks were cut too harshly.

The general market emphasizes sustainability and exhaustion of resources, but the comics market at that time did not care about this at all and went straight for the root of the problem.

Major companies are constantly launching collector's editions, limited editions, and special editions, hyping up comic books as works of art and collectibles.

A limited edition comic book can cost thousands of dollars, more expensive than gold.

The question is, do you have that value? Does the public recognize your artistic value?

You don’t have that ability, right?

It's just a small circle of true fans.

Even the most fanatical fans can't afford to play this kind of chaos, just like a crappy game that forces players to spend money. What ends up happening is that players quit the game one after another and the market completely collapses.

Be it Marvel or DC, the sales cannot be described as halved, they are close to sudden death.

At the lowest point in Marvel's history, it laid off so many employees that only six screenwriters were left. A large number of comics were discontinued, and from then on, the company began selling copyrights to survive.

If the big companies are in such a miserable state, the small companies are even worse off. According to statistics, at least 300 of them have gone bankrupt.

But even at this critical juncture of life and death, Perelman still feels that Marvel can still make money.

This old Deng wants to continue to expand and merge. To put it bluntly, he just wants to create false illusions and blow bubbles to make it easier for him to continue to reap profits in the stock market.

However, this time he was unsuccessful, and he encountered opposition and sniping from Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

After a series of events, the case eventually went to court and Perelman was kicked out.

Marvel and Bicchi Toys merged into one, or more accurately, was acquired by the latter.

You should know that when Marvel was at its peak two years ago, it bought 46% of the shares of Beech Toys. Unexpectedly, it fell apart after a few years and was acquired by someone else.

After several years of turmoil, Marvel has seen some improvement, but it is still impacted by the Internet and video games.

People's enthusiasm for comics has long since declined, making it difficult for it to regain its past glory.

Now it survives by selling peripheral products, and the only well-known film and television copyrights it has are Thor, Captain America and a few others.

In the stock market, Marvel's current share price is $3.21 per share. It cannot be said to be a junk stock, but it is still quite far from the average line. It is a typical case of hanging on for dear life.

The market value is also very low, and the main profit point is also relying on selling toy peripherals.

Hasbro's stock price has now reached US$39.2 per share, especially after the release of the "Transformers" trailer, it has risen by 11%, and the company's market value is nearly US$7 billion.

Marvel's market value is less than 1.2 billion US dollars, a difference of 6 times. So although now is not the best time to buy Marvel at a low price, it is also the last chance.

If you want to acquire Marvel or take the first step and become Marvel's controlling shareholder, you must negotiate with Beech Toys.

Because the current CEO of Marvel is Avi Arad, and Avi Arad actually has to take orders from the real boss, Isaac Perlmutter.

As for Stan Lee, who many fans consider to be the father of Marvel, he can only get a fixed salary and movie dividends.

Of course, this movie dividend only comes from the movies made by Marvel itself. The copyrights sold are not counted, so it is equivalent to nothing.

Stan Lee is just a senior employee who has no say in company decisions, but he has a high status in the hearts of fans.

"Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad, it looks like I need to go visit them."

"But what excuse should I give? Help you sell toys? It seems that they don't need that."

"At least Marvel also has the channels that Doublestar Entertainment has. Before it took control of Hasbro, the toy-related strategy was not attractive enough."

"Investing in your movies? Turning Marvel into your employee, and then completing the acquisition after MGM goes public, this is a feasible way."

While Eric was thinking, his cell phone suddenly rang. It was Fitz Heisenberg.

"Fitz, what's wrong?"

"Boss, myspace is online!"

(End of this chapter)