In the MGM Building, Eric sat across from two men.
One was the familiar bearded man, and the other was also familiar, but his face still looked youthful.
"Eric, this is Kevin Feige, the young man I told you about last time. He has unique insights into both comics and film and television; he's an expert in this area."
After Avi Arad's introduction, the young Kevin Feige smiled and extended his hand proactively: "Hello, Mr. Cooper, I'm Kevin Feige."
With a future key player about to join, Eric happily shook his hand.
"Hello, Avi has mentioned you many times, saying that you will be the one to help Marvel rise again. He thinks very highly of you."
At this time, Kevin Feige was only 30 years old, not yet in a high position, nor had he wielded much power, serving only as a middle-level manager at Toy Biz.
Facing Eric's praise, although the other party was much younger than him, he didn't have the composure he would later possess; instead, he seemed a bit reserved.
"I just liked reading comics since I was a child. Avi said he hoped I would come to Marvel to help him. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There's nothing luckier than doing work you love."
"That's right, pursuing a career you love is the happiest thing in the world."
"Haha, I agree too."
They chatted for a while during their first meeting. Although Kevin Feige was a bit reserved, he was very articulate.
Being articulate means understanding communication, being able to connect with both superiors and subordinates. This is very good and can effectively speed up work progress and solve difficulties.
Avi Arad had a big problem in this regard. Perlmutter used to be in charge, but after the equity swap was completed, Perlmutter directly resigned from Marvel, no longer bothering with what he saw as a mess.
With Kevin Feige's assistance, Avi Arad's shortcomings could be compensated for.
"Kevin, my principle has always been to trust the people I use and not use the people I don't trust. You have a deep understanding of comics and have been involved in film production, so you understand the ropes."
"So now I officially invite you to join Marvel. From now on, you will be Marvel's Vice President. Let's create a beautiful tomorrow together!"
Kevin Feige nodded repeatedly, a little flustered, as the position of Vice President was quite unexpected.
When Avi Arad approached him, he was promised positions like Head of Production or Creative Director, which were mid-to-high level within the company but still a step below Vice President.
He didn't expect Eric Cooper to be even more generous than Avi Arad.
He couldn't help but roar in his heart: "Damn it, this is going to take off!"
"Of course, Boss, I will definitely work hard and do my best for Marvel."
"Hmm, I trust you. Avi must have told you about my plan, right? Marvel wants to build a Marvel Cinematic Universe, linking all the superheroes together, short for MCEU."
"Yes, when I heard this idea, I was completely stunned. To be honest, I had thought of something similar many years ago."
"That's even better. We are currently preparing for captain america. Based on Marvel's current resources, quickly create a relationship chart. I need the structure for MCEU Phase One."
Kevin Feige understood that this was the new boss's first test for him.
But he was full of confidence because he believed no one understood better how Marvel should be filmed than him.
"Wait, Eric, besides bringing Feige to meet you this time, there's actually another very important matter," Avi Arad suddenly interrupted.
"What is it?"
"Copyright. The copyright matter you entrusted me with before has made progress."
"You got the copyrights back?" Eric was a little surprised.
Although superhero movies haven't exploded yet, spider-man and X-Men series have already proven that if done well, they can definitely make a fortune. Someone is actually willing to return the copyrights!
Avi Arad nodded: "20th Century Fox and New Line Cinema are willing to sell the characters they hold back to us: daredevil and iron man."
"It's just that the asking price is a bit high. Fox wants 15 million dollars for daredevil, and New Line Cinema wants 10 million dollars for iron man. When they were sold originally, it was less than half of that."
"Buy them, buy them back!" Eric made the decision without even thinking.
Are you kidding? 25 million dollars to buy back two very valuable superheroes? That's too good a deal.
Eric couldn't help but ask, "Are Fox and New Line Cinema out of their minds?"
"Eric, have you forgotten? Early last year, Fox released daredevil, starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Colin Farrell. It cost 80 million dollars, but they made a piece of garbage."
"Whether it was fans, audiences, or critics, almost everyone uniformly slammed the movie as trash. Ben Affleck even postponed his wedding because of it."
"80 million dollars is not a small sum, especially for a superhero like daredevil who doesn't require a lot of special effects."
"Even with that, they couldn't make it good. Judging by the current box office and word-of-mouth, a sequel is out of the question. daredevil is destined to be shelved."
"So when I went to negotiate, Fox pretended to hold internal meetings for a few days, and then readily agreed to sell daredevil and related spin-off characters back to us."
"Besides daredevil, there's also elektra, Bullseye, jessica jones, luke cage, iron fist. In short, we can make our own Defenders."
"What about Kingpin?" Eric asked.
"Kingpin is a common villain, appearing in many superhero works, so the copyright is also shared by several companies."
"Excellent work, Avi!" Eric gave a thumbs up.
Although these superheroes have different popularity, for example, daredevil is a second-tier hero, not as popular as the big names, he has gained a loyal fanbase through his unique solo comics.
elektra was created alongside daredevil, and her popularity is much lower than the blind lawyer's, but she also has fan recognition, otherwise Fox wouldn't have given her a solo movie later.
However, given the current situation, elektra's solo movie has definitely been canceled. Even if Jennifer Garner is beautiful, it won't help.
Moreover, Eric remembered that that movie was also terrible, failing both critically and commercially, a money-loser.
As for jessica jones, luke cage, and iron fist, these three don't even reach third-tier; their popularity is relatively low among superheroes.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have debuted as a Defenders team. Those with real talent are solo trainees; who would go the team route?
Among these, only daredevil is worthy of the big screen, but Fox just messed it up, so Marvel definitely can't touch it for a few years.
Eric could only think of one way: to make a TV series, like Netflix, and then stream it on Lionheart Network, which could at least add some appeal to Lionheart Network.
"Since we've got the copyrights back, don't let them sit idle. First, make a daredevil TV series. If the response is good, then develop the other superheroes."
Avi Arad nodded in agreement: "Hmm, I thought so too. TV series require less investment, and with Fox's mess before us, as long as our quality is passable, audiences will be very satisfied."
"Then what's the deal with New Line Cinema? Didn't they announce last year that they were going to invite Tom Cruise to play Tony Stark?"
"They gave up on their own. New Line Cinema's president, Gillante, believes that a person flying in the sky wearing hundreds of pounds of armor is insulting the audience's intelligence and completely unscientific."
Eric had a confused look on his face. Superheroes being scientific? What the heck!
"Just for that reason? Then why did they make blade?"
Avi Arad shrugged: "I don't understand it at all either. Maybe it's because blade's ride is a motorcycle, at least he's grounded."
"And iron man himself is a scientist; in the comics, a wisdom gem even grew in his brain, which ironically made some old-fashioned people think it was unscientific."
"I think it's probably because the special effects are too expensive, and New Line Cinema doesn't want to gamble. blade can be made for 30-40 million dollars, but for iron man, 30-40 million would only get you the 'Iron,' not the 'Man,'" Kevin Feige quipped.
And his quip was probably the main reason New Line Cinema gave up.
"Eric, what do you plan to do with iron man?" Avi Arad asked.
"Shoot it! If daredevil can make it to the big screen, why can't iron man?"
"But aren't we going to film captain america?"
"I mean, let's do them simultaneously. Three projects starting at the same time."
"Will it be..."
Seeing Kevin Feige hesitate, Eric knew what he was worried about.
"You don't have to worry about the money. MGM will put up most of it, and Marvel will contribute a suitable portion. It'll be a collaborative project between the two companies."
Kevin Feige couldn't help but sigh, indeed, they were wealthy. The budget for three projects was at least 500 million dollars, and they were putting it up without batting an eye. He had truly followed a golden leg.
"Anything else?" Eric asked.
"There's also something about hulk. Universal's hulk, directed by Lee Ang, failed just like daredevil, so they're also interested in selling the copyright to us."
"Hmm? Why didn't you say that together?"
"Because Universal has reservations. They only want to sell the filming rights and retain the distribution rights for the hulk movie. I figured you definitely wouldn't agree."
Eric sneered: "That's a good idea, trying to replicate titanic? Would I need them for distribution?"
"Avi, tell Universal that either they sell it all to us, or forget it. hulk is a first-tier hero; the price can be a bit higher if needed."
"Also, after you go back, scour the hero library and find a few heroes with potential. I plan to turn them into TV series."
2003 ended, and time entered 2004.
The Christmas box office battle continued, with new films joining the fray every week, though most became cannon fodder.
Because even in the world's largest film market, Hollywood cannot accommodate dozens of films opening simultaneously, even during the hottest season of the year.
There are only so many cinemas, and the screening schedules are fixed. If you get more, others get less; a third party might only get 1% of the screenings.
Currently, the lord of the rings: the return of the king still topped the charts, far ahead in first place.
Second place was the incredibly lively sharknado 2. Christmas audiences loved to have fun with friends or laugh with family.
2500 cinemas directly raked in 53 million dollars at the box office, averaging over 20,000 dollars per cinema, surpassing the equally silly scary movie 3.
When the Wayans brothers were interviewed and asked why sharknado 2 surpassed the Scary Movie series, which they also created, what was the reason?
Their answer was that the former was more mindless, and the only thing that could beat sharknado 2 was probably next year's sharknado 3.
Little Mercenary Ryan Reynolds now held two major commercial IPs, transformers and sharknado, becoming the most sought-after A-list male star overnight.
Various film offers poured in; previously, roles picked people, now people picked roles.
Ranking third on the box office chart was blue is the warmest color, which had every advantage. This week, it added over 400 cinemas, earning 27 million dollars at the box office in one week.
In three weeks, its North American box office had reached 83 million dollars. Its excellent word-of-mouth led to its release in open countries in Europe, Asia, and South America, where it also took in 24 million dollars in one week, pushing its global box office past 100 million dollars.
The Olsen Sisters were overjoyed. This was their best achievement to date, and now they could say they were 100-million-dollar leading ladies.
In contrast, monster fared quite poorly, earning only 7.33 million dollars at the box office in one week from over 800 cinemas.
Patty Jenkins and Theron could only smile bitterly when they saw these figures.
The plot was so dark that everyone knew it would do poorly, but they didn't expect it to be this bad, becoming the worst-performing film since Eric took over MGM.
"I'm sorry, dear," Theron said, lying on Eric's back, her tone a bit dejected.
Eric patted her butt reassuringly and said, "No need to be sorry, baby. I never expected to make money with this film. It was always meant for you to win awards."
"You're so good to me, Eric."
"Haha, monster's cost wasn't high. Even with marketing and distribution, it's around 30 million dollars."
"Even if the box office loses money, it can slowly make it back through copyright sales later."
"To put it another way, even if it loses tens of millions, what does it matter! As long as you're happy."
They say that in a woman's eyes, a man is most dashing when he spends money, and there's a lot of truth to that, as Eric experienced it firsthand from Theron.
That night, he unlocked several positions he had always wanted, enjoying himself immensely.
transformers took in 23 million dollars globally, officially entering the 900-million-dollar club with a total of 1.3 billion dollars.
However, its North American box office was only 7.3 million dollars, ranking 11th on the list.
Ahead of it were Tim Burton's classic Big Fish, Mona Lisa Smile starring the three beauties Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, and Julia Stiles, and cold mountain starring Jude Law and Meg Ryan.
In the original timeline, cold mountain should have starred Jude Law and Nicole, but now Nicole was filming la vie en rose, so the butterfly effect had already taken hold.
Further down the list was Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Scarlett Johansson. It seemed Hollywood this year had a fondness for using world-famous paintings as titles.
At this point, transformers was running out of steam, with only one more week before it would be pulled from cinemas.
But the departure of the Autobots symbolized the re-emergence of the Lionheart.
Nasdaq, the bell ringing was imminent!