In the screening room of Capet Pictures in New York, little miss sunshine was already a finished film, and Charles had just finished watching it.
Donna Williams came to Charles's side and whispered, "Arianna Huffington and her two partners have agreed, but they hope to get the startup capital to build the website as soon as possible."
"Very good, give them the funds!" Charles said as he got up and left the screening room to return to his office.
"Is there anything else?"
"Tom Ford brand, Dawn Investment can acquire a 35% stake!"
Charles nodded, this was also fine; it was just a fashion brand, so there was no need to worry too much.
Donna Williams said somewhat seriously, "Avi Arad of Marvel Company has resigned from his positions as president of Marvel Studios and Marvel creative officer."
"Avi Arad has left Marvel!" Charles's eyes lit up, and he immediately instructed, "Go and buy his Marvel shares; since he's leaving Marvel, he must have lost confidence in Marvel Company, so he won't keep these shares."
"Okay, I'll find someone to inquire immediately," Donna said and left Charles's office, knowing that she couldn't drag her feet.
After Donna left, Phyllis Jones entered the office again, "Boss, little miss sunshine will have a promotional screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, and then it will be promoted at various city film festivals across the United States."
"North America wide release begins in August!"
Charles nodded. little miss sunshine had no major promotional points and low distribution costs, so using film festivals to build word-of-mouth was a good approach.
"By the way, how is the authorization for transformers from Hasbro?" Charles was still very concerned about this toy IP, because it was indeed profitable.
Phyllis Jones shook her head, indicating that Hasbro was still considering it. "The good news is that Spielberg also failed to convince Hasbro. DreamWorks has almost no plans; it's just that Spielberg likes this toy series!"
"Also, the devil wears prada will start filming next month, with the main setting being Building Four near Times Square."
"Condé Nast Building?" Charles smiled, they certainly knew how to pick a location; that was the headquarters of Vogue!
The main character in the devil wears prada, editor-in-chief Miranda, was depicted as a reflection of Vogue's current editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour.
"What about prison break? Which TV station are you planning to sign a premiere agreement with?"
"The company is currently inclined to cooperate with USA Network!"
Charles nodded. USA Network is a cable television station jointly operated by Universal and Paramount, with very wide coverage.
"Also, Walt Disney Pictures chairman Dick Cook has announced that the new head of Miramax will be Daniel Battsek, the head of Disney's distribution company Buena Vista International, who will take over after the Weinstein Brothers depart in three months," Phyllis Jones continued to report.
"The negotiation results between Disney and the Weinstein Brothers are out?" Charles hadn't really been paying attention.
"The Weinstein Brothers are leaving with Dimension Films, a subsidiary of Miramax, and Disney is compensating them with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, gaining the Miramax brand and over 700 film copyrights within it!"
"Currently, the Weinstein Brothers are already looking for investors on Wall Street to establish The Weinstein Company, and Merrill Lynch has expressed interest."
Charles leaned back in his chair and said disdainfully, "They're returning to independent art films again, even though it's already the 21st century!"
After Phyllis Jones left, Charles called his mother in Los Angeles.
"Avi Arad has left Marvel Company. I've already sent people to acquire his shares. Now you can take action. I want as many Marvel shares as you can acquire!"
Evelyn on the phone laughed, "I know you just got a credit loan of hundreds of millions of dollars. I have three companies here absorbing Marvel shares from the market separately, but I've kept the scale small for fear of affecting Marvel."
"Since you're confident, I'll have them increase the acquisition scale. However, Ike Perlmutter owns 46% of Marvel's shares. What are you planning to do?"
Charles directly stated, "I will soon become Marvel's second-largest shareholder. At that time, I will directly propose a full acquisition of Marvel at the shareholders' meeting."
"If Ike Perlmutter doesn't sell his shares, I'll just drag it out and let Marvel continue to lose money."
Evelyn on the phone laughed, "Okay, the shares absorbed by my three companies here will be directly transferred to you when you need them!"
After hanging up his mother's call, Charles's gaze deepened. Marvel would either be his, or there would be no marvel universe!
Independent production and distribution companies, currently only DreamWorks Pictures, Lionsgate, and Summit Entertainment have some scale and maintain their independence. Companies like IFC Films, New Market Films, and Magnolia Pictures are not up to par right now.
DreamWorks is looking for a major backer. The Harvey brothers have indeed re-established The Weinstein Company, but will they be an opponent for Capet Pictures?
As for The Big Six's own independent labels, such as Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Sony Pictures Classics, Mubao Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Star Light, or Focus Features, and Warner Bros. Independent Films, Charles was not afraid of any of them.
Of course, New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of Time Warner, still has a considerable reputation. the lord of the rings trilogy allowed New Line Cinema to make a comeback, and playing with commercial blockbusters is easy to get addicted to.
New Line Cinema has now acquired the film adaptation rights to British author Philip Pullman's best-selling Dark Materials trilogy from Scholar Films producer Deborah Forte, and New Line Cinema plans to develop this fantasy adventure series.
The script adaptation for the golden compass, the first book in Dark Materials, has also been completed.
Excluding New Line Cinema's the lord of the rings series, Warner Bros. also has the harry potter series; Disney has the pirates of the caribbean series; 20th Century Fox has the star wars series distribution rights and the x-men series; Sony Columbia also has the Spider-Man series; Universal also has the fast & furious series; and Paramount also has the Star Trek series and the mission: impossible series.
If Charles's Capet Pictures had the marvel universe series and the transformers Universe series, wouldn't that be perfect?
Although Capet Pictures has the saw series, it certainly can't compare to other blockbuster IPs; to succeed, one must not only develop oneself but also hinder others.
Charles would certainly strive to get all valuable IPs in the future into his own hands, or else he would be suppressed by these guys.