Chapter 188 187. Taking down Marvel, a fierce box office battle and a brilliant premiere

New York, Fifth Avenue, Marvel Headquarters.

Isaac Perlmutter got out of the car and hurried toward the office building, more of a trot than a walk.

When the Marvel employees saw him, they were so frightened that they quickly made way for him. Perlmutter had a bad temper to begin with, and no one dared to provoke him.

Inside the elevator, one person stood in the middle, while everyone else huddled into the corner as much as possible.

Ding! As the elevator door opened and the boss left, the others breathed a sigh of relief.

Isaac Perlmutter's temper has become even more explosive recently.

Many employees heard that it was because of a conflict with another senior executive of the company, Avi Arad. The two had a good relationship, but for some reason it suddenly became tense.

Knock, knock, knock! Pushing the door open, Isaac Perlmutter looked at his companion standing in front of the window. Ever since his last conversation with Eric Cooper, the relationship between them had become tense.

The reason was simple: Isaac Perlmutter wanted to exchange equity, but Aviarad disagreed.

The two had talked so many times, so many times that Isaac Perlmutter had lost count, that they were almost living in each other's house.

In order to persuade Aviarad to exchange shares, he has already contacted the other party's family, and everyone has joined in to persuade him.

After more than a month of exhausting bombardment, the old fellow's attitude finally softened.

"Avi, I know you regard Marvel as your own child, but the problem now is that this child is almost starving to death."

"Without the investment, Marvel will have to continue to survive, and we may miss out on the current booming market."

"You don't want to mortgage the copyright anymore, do you? The bank won't talk about feelings with us. If the movie fails, Marvel will be doomed."

"If it is handed over to MGM, at least the prospects are good. Eric Cooper's ability is obvious to all in the industry."

Isaac Perlmutter has said these words many times.

Avi Arad folded his arms across his chest, standing on a high place and looking down. All he saw were Transformers advertisements.

Even when he went downstairs to buy a cup of coffee, the Starbucks logo had been replaced with an Autobot.

Although no one knows the final quality of the film, judging from the released trailer, it is indeed very exciting.

Coupled with the fact that Eric Cooper recently won the title of the youngest best screenwriter in history, everything has been proven.

He is not a second-generation rich man who is just playing around, nor is he a movie idiot, but a true genius.

Having money, power and ability, and knowing how to operate and play with psychology, Marvel's superheroes may not necessarily shine in his hands.

But when it comes to the other party's hands, at least the probability of it glowing and heating up is much greater.

And apart from MGM, Marvel now has very limited options to choose from.

Sony, Fox, Universal, Warner, New Line, Lionsgate and others were ruled out in advance because these companies hold the copyrights that Marvel had previously sold.

Warner even owns the entire DC.

I can’t even take all the photos of the superheroes I own, so why would I give you money to play with them?

What's more, Universal, which messed up the Hulk IP, will not touch superhero themes again for a few years.

Small companies cannot afford investments of hundreds of millions of dollars, so Marvel only has a few options left.

Holding Avi Arad's hand and returning to his desk, Isaac Perlmutter said excitedly, "And I just got another good news."

"Eric Cooper promised that the investment in the first film would not be less than $140 million, and he would hire the best director and special effects team."

"In addition, after my mediation, he knows that you have deep feelings for Marvel, so he agreed that you can retain 2% of the shares."

"And you will continue to serve as one of Marvel's management members. The company's future development strategy will also allow you to participate. You have not given up on your child."

Hearing this, Aviarad's thick beard trembled: "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's true, these clauses can be added to the contract, you just send your child to a better school."

Feeling somewhat moved, Aviarad rubbed his temples hard.

As a long-time partner, Isaac Perlmutter knew that this was a sign of the other party's inner struggle.

He hastily added fuel to the fire: "Avi, this is really our last chance. It's too late."

"Look at the overwhelming publicity out there. It's only a few days away from the release of Transformers."

“And once the movie comes out, you know what that means?”

"What?" Aviarad's eyes widened.

“It means that MGM will officially start the process of relisting, and the stock price of this lion will soar.”

"More than a month ago, Eric Cooper promised that our equity stake would likely be cut in half."

"Avi, you have to understand one fact: Marvel will become less and less valuable, while MGM will become more and more valuable."

"If we don't seize the last few days to sign the contract, we might only get $100 million out of the $200 million we originally received."

"You have feelings for Marvel, but don't go against money, okay?"

These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back. There was really no better choice anyway, and the conditions offered by MGM were the most generous among the major companies.

If you continue to insist, what is on your shoulders will not be a head, but a donkey's head.

"Isaac, let's do this, but you must not tamper with the contract. I must review it personally."

Isaac Perlmutter excitedly gave Aviarad a bear hug and then hurried out of the office.

"I have revised the contract many times. It is in the safe. I will show it to you now. You can go and hire a lawyer."

"It would be best if we could fly to Los Angeles this afternoon or tomorrow morning."

In the autumn in the United States, the weather has become cold and passers-by are wearing woolen coats and leather jackets.

However, compared with the cold weather, movie theaters are experiencing a busy period, with major film companies bringing out their best works.

"Don't Breathe" only held the box office championship for one week, earning $36 million, before the throne was taken away by Disney's new film.

Following last year's "Treasure Planet", Mickey Mouse once again came up with an animated movie "Bear Tales".

2,511 cinemas opened at the same time, and it seems that Disney has clearly recognized its own positioning. 3D is really not Disney’s strong point.

So this time they returned to 2D and told a touching story of an ancient legend.

The G rating made the movie popular among all age groups, and film critics and audiences also gave it positive reviews, allowing "Bears" to top the box office in its first week, earning $41 million in box office revenue.

But "Bears" failed to keep the championship throne warm. In the second week, it faced challenges from MGM's "Legally Blonde 2" and New Line's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

The former opened in 2,240 theaters, bringing the first-week box office of "Legally Blonde 2" to nearly 39 million US dollars.

The latter was weaker, but the killer still had some influence and a fixed fan base, earning $29 million at the box office.

Compared to the cost of less than 10 million US dollars, it once again proves that horror movies are definitely the best choice for small wins and big returns.

The box office of both films also exceeded the $25 million in its second week of "Bear Story" and the $13 million in its third week of "Don't Breathe".

At the same time, four films accounted for 75% of the total market share, and the remaining 51 films shared 25%, which fully demonstrated the cruelty of the film market.

But "Legally Blonde 2" is not sitting firmly on the throne, and the pink lawyer can only win one championship at most.

Entering the fourth week of October, Dimension Films brought its golden signature "Scary Movies 3", which it has built in recent years, into the cinemas.

Not only did the series' leading lady Anna Faris continue to join, but Charlie Sheen was also invited to play the leading male role.

Charlie Sheen is a well-known bad boy in Hollywood. You can say that he has a bad character, but you can't say that he is a bad boy.

This guy's acting skills are always on point, and he's an actor who can adapt to both serious dramas and comedies.

As usual, the movie spoofed a lot of IPs, including "The Grudge", "Omen", "The Matrix", "The Sixth Sense", "8 Mile", "Independence Day", "The Hulk", etc.

Eric and Theron also contributed two movie tickets and were amused to hear the scene.

However, the director of "Scary Movies 3" was changed to David Zucker, and the original Wayans brothers were poached by AK Films to shoot "Sharknado 2".

Thanks to the influence of its predecessor and its excellent ability to make people laugh, "Scary Movies 3" took in $49.7 million at the box office and won the box office championship.

In just one October, the box office war has already made many companies and film critics exclaim that it is exciting and unbearable.

The fierce competition caused the box office results predicted by major institutions to become invalid, and they were all hundreds of millions of dollars lower than predicted.

But where do we go from here?

As we enter November, even more fierce competition is about to take place.

The first to enter the market was Disney again. Rob Minkoff, director of "The Lion King", brought his latest blockbuster "Haunted Mansion" to the three major cinema chains.

The film, which cost $90 million to make, was made to promote the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, just like Pirates of the Caribbean.

Rob Minkoff not only directed "The Lion King", but also "Stuart Little".

A few years later, they filmed "The Forbidden Kingdom", which was the only film in which Jet Li and Jackie Chan collaborated.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" was a huge success, so Disney naturally had high hopes for "Haunted Mansion".

Unfortunately, reality dealt a heavy blow to the Big Rat, with the film grossing only 24 million U.S. dollars in its first week.

If it was a low-budget movie, it would be worth celebrating, but for "Haunted Mansion", it is completely unworthy of the film's investment and cast.

What defeated it was Warner Bros.' trump card "The Matrix Revolutions".

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The release date chosen for "The Matrix 3" is November 5, not a Friday, but a Wednesday.

I have said before that those who do such tricks are either bad or very skilled and daring.

In just three days, "The Matrix 3" grossed 48 million at the box office, crushing the weekly box office of "Haunted Mansion".

The latter was released twice as long as the former, while the former's box office was twice that of the latter.

New Line Studios then re-entered the battlefield, bringing the fantasy comedy "Elf" directed by Jon Favreau and starring Will Ferrell on November 7.

After a week of fierce competition, "Elf" took away $32 million at the box office.

"The Matrix 3" continued to dominate and became the only movie to win the box office championship for two consecutive weeks in more than a month.

As of now, November 14th, "Don't Breathe" has been taken off the shelves in North America, and only a few countries overseas are still showing it.

After all this fierce competition, the global box office finally earned only 136 million US dollars.

Although it still made a lot of money, it was the worst performance among the projects led by Eric.

"Legally Blonde 2" has been released for a month and its current global box office is 117 million US dollars, and it is expected to reach 150 million US dollars.

Today is Friday, the traditional movie premiere day, and Miramax's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" will be released in 2,900 theaters.

The film had an investment of up to 150 million US dollars and was directed by Peter Weir, who has directed classic films such as "Dead Poets Society" and "The Truman Show".

The lead actor is Russell Crowe, who won the Oscar for Best Actor for "Gladiator" two years ago.

With a big production and a big cast, everything showed the potential for a box office hit, and Miramax did enough publicity.

The Weinstein brothers held a premiere and invited many celebrities in the circle to attend.

As for this movie, although Eric doesn't think it can challenge "Transformers", he still takes it seriously to show respect.

He also disguised himself at night and sneaked into the theater with the Olsen sisters to watch it.

However, after buying the ticket and entering the screening room, Eric felt that he was worrying too much.

Because the attendance rate was very low, there were only a dozen people sitting in the 300 seats.

And after watching the movie, his remaining worries were thrown out of the window.

Even the Olsen sisters said that the plot was extremely boring. If they hadn't been with Eric, the two sisters would have left early.

In fact, the movie was less than 40 minutes in when some of the original dozen or so viewers left.

He walked while shaking his head and cursing, with words like boring, rubbish, and waste of ticket money coming out of his mouth.

With no worries at all, Eric was in a very good mood and fought with the two sisters until dawn.

The situation was just as he expected. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" only earned more than 12 million US dollars on its first day box office.

The next day was even worse, with less than $9 million.

On the third day, the profit was cut in half, leaving only 4 million US dollars.

In the end, the film only took in $25 million in its most box office-boosting three days.

Compared to the investment of 150 million US dollars, this number is enough to scare Miramax.

Eric could already imagine Harvey Weinstein's death.

November 16, Los Angeles, ArcLight Cinemas.

MGM once again chose this place as the venue for the premiere of "Transformers".

A long red carpet extends from the inside of the cinema, a hundred meters long, directly to the edge of the asphalt road.

On both sides of the cinema's entrance, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Barricade, Vertigo, Ironhide and other Transformers stand on both sides, adding infinite momentum.

Even if many people have already seen one of them, the scene of so many Transformers gathered together is still very attractive.

From day to dusk, tens of thousands of people checked in, took photos and shared them.

It’s a pity that the tickets for the premiere were sold out long ago, so most people could only wait around and join in the fun.

It was 8 o'clock in the evening, and a cool breeze blew, and the temperature dropped a lot, but there were still thousands of people watching on both sides of the red carpet.

As a stretched Lincoln slowly stopped, Eric led the crew to arrive first.

She was accompanied by Gadot, Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, the British trio, Chloë Sevigny and others.

Everyone was holding a small Transformer in their hands, which was the Decepticon Soo-jin's body.

At the beginning, they were able to maintain the group, but after walking a few steps, everyone dispersed and went to take photos and get autographs with fans.

The red carpet was not even halfway walked when the joint arrival of Johnny Depp and Hugo Mortensen caused another frenzy among fans.

"Captain Jack, Captain Jack! I love you!"

"Aragorn, Aragorn, give me an autograph, ah. Don't push!"

Depp was blowing kisses to female fans. Brad Pitt and his wife Jennifer Aniston also arrived. Eric gave Rachel a leading lady, and the couple certainly knew how to return the favor.

"Rachel! Pete!"

"Rachel, I love you, marry me."

Anniston covered her mouth and laughed: "Sorry, my husband is right next to me."

"Man, this is not a good idea." Pete also responded jokingly at the right time.

Then came Pierce Brosnan, Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Edward Norton, Jessica Alba, Keira Knightley, and Hugh Jackman. Over the past year, Eric has gradually built up his own network of contacts.

Last year’s premiere of “Red Dragon” still required my dad’s help.

This year all it takes is a phone call and half of Hollywood will give him some face.

Even Theron, Nicole and the Olsen sisters were in attendance.

They came here on their own accord, not because Eric asked them to.

Eric couldn't tell you not to come, since your love rival was there, so he could only hope that something exciting would happen.

The last to arrive were Sergei Hassenfeld and Kate Winslet. They did not enter together, but one after the other.

But when Eric saw the two of them appear, he probably understood.

After the lively red carpet segment was over, everyone entered the venue and began the stage segment.

It includes various questions, narrations, behind-the-scenes footage, and introductions to each Transformer.

When the clock struck midnight, the lights in the cinema went out.

On the big screen, after the lion roared, the Autobots officially appeared.

(End of this chapter)