"captain america, iron man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man!" On the upper floor of the Beverly Hills Mercedes showroom building, which housed the Marvel Company headquarters, Charles and Marvel Chairman Ike Perlmutter happily signed the adaptation agreement.
"Mr. Perlmutter, it's been a pleasure working with you!" Charles said with a smile, shaking hands with him.
"Charles, even with the authorization, Marvel needs to be more involved in the early stages of film production, such as selecting scripts and creative teams, to ensure the main storyline and conceptual settings are not too far from the original comic settings!" Ike Perlmutter still reminded him.
Charles looked at the helpless expressions of Avi Arad, President and Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Studios, and David Mesel, chief operating officer of Marvel Entertainment, who were standing beside him.
"Don't worry, Capet Pictures will develop these characters according to the contract!" Charles was also laughing internally.
After Charles, Henry, and Donna left Marvel headquarters, Charles looked back at the second floor of the lobby.
Now, the path to Marvel Entertainment's rise in the previous life has been blocked by him, hasn't it? With a five-year contract, would Charles develop it himself?
Certainly not, unless he fully acquired Marvel before embarking on its rise. Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad together held nearly 60% of Marvel's shares.
At this moment, in Marvel headquarters, only Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad remained in the office.
"Ike, why are you still selling the adaptation rights of characters to film companies? Didn't we say we were going to develop films ourselves?" Avi Arad asked with an incredulous expression.
Ike Perlmutter lit a cigar, sat down in his chair, exhaled a puff of smoke, and calmly said, "Avi, I've told you, developing films is too risky. The company doesn't have the funds. We should continue to authorize other film companies to develop films. What we need to do is to sell toys and comic books well through the expansion of the films!"
"Haven't you read David's proposal? We Marvel have so many characters; we can completely link them up and develop films ourselves. If successful, the profits are limitless," Avi Arad had always hoped to develop films himself. Although Marvel was involved internally with the current authorizations, neither Sony nor 20th Century Fox treated him as anything more than a consultant.
They simply didn't want to engage in in-depth discussions and exchanges with Marvel's creative committee.
"Look, 'Daredevil,' 'hulk,' 'the punisher'—aside from the popular Spider-Man and x-men Mutants series, and that early low-budget 'fantastic four,' which one was successful?" Ike Perlmutter frowned, saying,
"Even Lionsgate Films doesn't dare to release 'Human Torch,' which has finished filming!"
Avi Arad excitedly said, "But isn't 20th Century Fox restarting the 'fantastic four' movie this year?"
"And David said he was confident he could get investment funds for film development from Wall Street. Now you've sold captain america, iron man, and Thor, these characters from the avengers!"
Avi Arad felt exhausted. As one of the producers for Sony's 'Spider-Man' and 20th Century Fox's 'x-men' series, seeing their success made him wish Marvel would develop films itself!
However, Ike Perlmutter owned approximately 46% of Marvel Company's shares, while he only owned % of Marvel Entertainment's shares.
As the major shareholder and chairman, Ike Perlmutter didn't care about Marvel Entertainment's heroes. All he wanted was for Marvel to sell more licensed toys and more exquisite limited edition art books.
Avi Arad walked out of Ike Perlmutter's office dejectedly; David Mesel's plan had fallen through.
The plan to persuade Wall Street to invest in and develop 'iron man' ended before it even began. After the contract with New Line Cinema expired next year, iron man would directly transfer into Capet Pictures' hands.
David Mesel came to Avi Arad's office, smiling wryly, "Now, what should we do?"
Avi Arad looked at David Mesel and said in a low voice, "'Spider-Man 2' is set to be released nationwide at the end of the month. We will coordinate toy and comic promotions with the film's release;"
"20th Century Fox is developing 'fantastic four' and 'Elektra' this year, and as a film producer, I have many things to take care of;"
"As for the rest, I don't know either!"
Avi Arad now had thoughts of leaving Marvel Entertainment. Ike Perlmutter's operating style simply wasn't suitable for him.
Los Angeles, Universal Studios production area, 'wedding crashers' set.
In the quiet lounge, Charles was intimately embracing the beautiful Scarlett Johansson on the sofa.
After a series of suppressed sounds, Scarlett Johansson, straddling Charles, leaned entirely on him and laughed, "You did something very crazy on this trip to France."
"Phew, how crazy? By next month, someone might go crazy. Until the last moment, no one knows what the outcome will be?" Charles was still a little worried about whether there would be any accidents. Several hundred million euro in prize money, would the team be bought off?
Scarlett Johansson's chin rested on Charles's shoulder, and she said weakly, "I've taken on another commercial blockbuster, 'the island' from DreamWorks, directed by Michael Bay!"
"A science fiction blockbuster with a budget of 100 million US dollars. This year can be my year of transformation."
What is the competition in Hollywood? It's nothing more than a competition for resources, especially these big commercial productions that have the magic to make people famous overnight.
Charles patted the Lady, signaling her to get up, but said, "The male lead is Ewan McGregor, the female lead is you. Two art-house actors starring in a commercial blockbuster. Spielberg has an idea!"
Scarlett Johansson, while tidying her clothes, said, "Many art-house actors are now appearing in commercial films. Although it's not as simple as commercial film actors appearing in art-house films, if there's an opportunity, you definitely have to seize it."
Charles also tidied his pants and shirt, then looked at Scarlett Johansson, who was starting to reapply her makeup, wondering if he should tell her to give up participating.
After all, how disastrous 'the island' was, was still fresh in people's minds. It could be said that the commercial failure of 'the island' was the catalyst for DreamWorks selling itself to Paramount.
Now, the youthful Scarlett Johansson was joyfully throwing herself into a commercial blockbuster, only to be met with a harsh reality?
Charles walked over, kissed the Lady, and said with a smile, "It's probably time to start work. I'm also getting ready to go back to Capet Pictures!"
It's better not to be superfluous. At least 'wedding crashers' can give her a lot of confidence.