Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 474 Cooperation reached
Disney valued Marvel primarily because its more than 5000 comic book characters could greatly expand Disney's audience beyond just women and children.

After Iron Man became a huge hit, another one emerged.

They discovered that amazing comics could not only be used to make animations, but also to make good movie adaptations.

To date, Marvel Entertainment has produced quite a few successful examples of superhero movie adaptations.

For example, Spider-Man, X-Men, the 05 version of Fantastic Four, and Iron Man, which was just released last year.

Of course, there are also many examples of failure.

For example, the 94 version of Fantastic Four, the 89 and 94 versions of The Punisher, Blade, Elektra, and the 03 version of Hulk.

In addition, last year Marvel Entertainment produced not only the box office hit "Iron Man," but also the box office flop "The Incredible Hulk."

That is, the 08 version of "The Hulk" starring Edward Norton.

This version of "The Incredible Hulk" is even worse than the one starring Andrew Lee, at least in terms of box office performance.

Lee's version of "The Incredible Hulk" had a production cost of $1.37 million and a global box office of $2.45 million.

The 08 version of "The Incredible Hulk" had a production cost of $1.5 million and a global box office of $2.6 million. The production cost was high, and although it was a remake, it was still considered a "sequel" movie, but the global box office was not much higher.

What frustrates Marvel Entertainment's owner, Isaac Perlmutter, is that, with the exception of Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment has been involved in the investment and production of most of the failed comic book adaptations.

The few successful ones, however, were all produced by other companies after the copyrights were sold.

The rights to Spider-Man are held by Sony Pictures, while the rights to all the heroes in X-Men and Fantastic Four are held by 20th Century Fox.

As for "The Hulk," it's a bit special.

Back in the 90s, Universal Pictures acquired the exclusive distribution rights to "The Hulk" from Marvel Studios. Most importantly, this agreement had no time limit, meaning that Universal could theoretically hold the distribution rights to the Hulk movies indefinitely.

That's right, Universal doesn't have the adaptation rights to "The Hulk," but it does have the distribution rights.

This is different from Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, which all have film adaptation rights, including production and distribution rights, and all have time restrictions.

In other words, Marvel still retains the rights to create the Hulk movie story and characters; the copyright still belongs to Marvel.

However, if Hulk were to be made into a standalone film, regardless of which studio produced it, even if it were one of the other five major Hollywood studios, the distribution would still have to be handled by Universal.

This restriction does not apply if "The Hulk" is not made as a standalone film but appears in other movies.

In addition, although the copyrights for Marvel's already-developed "Iron Man 2," "Captain America," and "Thor" are still held by Marvel, they are in collaboration with Paramount and it is impossible for Marvel to break away from Paramount.

Therefore, in Disney's view, the copyright of Marvel's "heroes" is complicated, especially for a few top-tier "heroes".

At this point, at least so far, Disney has not realized how valuable these amazing "heroes" combined are.

After all, at this point, let alone a unified worldview formed by the "heroes" united, even if a single "hero" were to stand alone, the success or failure would be uncertain.

Unless Cao Yang intervenes, the chances of the amazing second-tier heroes succeeding are slim.

This was almost a consensus among the top executives at both Disney and Marvel at that time.

Therefore, Disney CEO Robert Iger talked with Cao Yang for a long time. In the end, in order to get Cao Yang to cooperate with Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and even more so to "bind" Cao Yang and get him to adapt Marvel's "heroes", Disney paid a "small" price.

Before Cao Yang returned to China, Robert Iger and Cao Yang held a joint press conference.

The content mainly concerns the sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean," and Cao Yang will collaborate with Disney to produce two sequel films to "Pirates of the Caribbean" within three years.

The impact of this press conference was quite significant.

This is first reflected in Disney's stock.

Disney's stock price rose immediately after the press conference.

Since the economic crisis began last year, Disney's stock has been on a downward trend. Although the decline is not large, it is still falling every few days.

This is also the current situation of all publicly listed film companies in Hollywood.

Compared to other financial and technology stocks, the decline in the entertainment industry was actually relatively small, especially for financial stocks, which were simply unbearable to watch.

Of course, Warner Bros. is an exception; it is one of the very few green companies in a sea of ​​red among publicly traded Hollywood companies.

The reason for this is that "The Dark Knight" and "Joker" were such huge hits that Warner Bros.' stock market was booming, and they didn't feel the "sense of crisis" of the economic crisis.

However, after the press conference announcing the collaboration between Disney and Cao Yang, Warner Bros.' stock was also affected, becoming unstable and fluctuating for quite some time.

Because Cao Yang worked with Disney on two sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean" over three years, it means that he will most likely only be busy producing two "Pirates of the Caribbean" films during these three years and may not have time to collaborate with other companies.

After all, under normal circumstances, a mega-production of the scale of "New Pirates of the Caribbean" may not take a year from project initiation to release; half a year or even more is considered normal.

Therefore, it will be difficult for Warner Bros. to cooperate with Cao Yang within three years.

This is also the reason for the fluctuations in Warner Bros.' stock.

Another thing affected is surprise.

It's not the amazing stock, but the amazing boss, Isaac Perlmutter.

It's important to know that Cao Yang purchased the film adaptation rights to those "heroes" from the movie, and he's required to get at least one film project approved within two years.

Isaac Perlmutter's idea was good. He never placed the responsibility for the Marvel's "revival" on Cao Yang alone, but rather made Cao Yang the most important part of the Marvel's "rise".

In his opinion, the ideal situation would be if Cao Yang could get a project approved for an amazing comic book adaptation movie in advance.

If Cao Yang were to initiate the project within two years, that would be acceptable, provided that Cao Yang takes the Marvel comic book adaptation movie seriously.

Isaac Perlmutter had already planned it out: he would have Cao Yang acquire some more shares of Amazing, but not more than the 10% threshold, just enough to qualify him as an observer on the board.

The reason he kept calling Bellman, saying he wanted to see Cao Yang, was this.

As soon as Cao Yang has 10% of the stock, Isaac Perlmutter will immediately invite Cao Yang to attend the board meeting as an observer.

The observer position is quite interesting.

From an external perspective, having observers attend board meetings gives the impression that they are board members, creating the illusion that they are "one of our own."

Isaac Perlmutter could even imagine that if Cao Yang became an observer on the board of directors of Amazing, Amazing's stock price would definitely soar.

Then Marvel will have money, and whether it's making Iron Man 2, Captain America, or Thor, they will be able to take the initiative and no longer be constrained by Paramount.

Furthermore, if they could take advantage of the surge in Marvel's stock price and persuade Cao Yang to expedite the approval of a Marvel comic book adaptation film, it wouldn't matter which "hero" it was.

At that time, with the addition of "Iron Man 2", "Captain America" ​​and "Thor", that would be four movies. If Cao Yang were to be listed as a producer or participate in the screenwriting of the last three movies, Amazing Entertainment would be on fire!

Of course, this is the most ideal situation.

Even if Cao Yang doesn't approve the comic book movie project soon, even if Cao Yang doesn't participate in the production of "Iron Man 2", "Captain America" ​​and "Thor", it doesn't matter.

With the huge success of "Iron Man," the probability of its sequel, "Iron Man 2," failing is extremely small. As long as it doesn't receive overwhelmingly negative reviews, even if it doesn't have the same reputation as the first film, its box office performance won't be low.

By the time "Iron Man 2" is released, it will be roughly the two-year deadline agreed upon with Cao Yang. With Cao Yang then launching his Marvel comic book adaptation project, it will be a relay race. Add to that the news that Cao Yang holds a significant number of Marvel film rights, and it will be difficult for Marvel not to rise to prominence.

Ever since he learned that Cao Yang had acquired a stake in Marvel in order to buy the copyrights, Isaac Perlmutter had planned all of this, which is why he sold the copyrights of those second-tier "heroes" to Cao Yang without hesitation.

He wanted to make the most of Cao Yang.

As for the rise of the Amazing Ones, that would be even easier. Isaac Perlmutter has countless ways to dilute Cao Yang's shares.

However, Isaac Perlmutter panicked when Cao Yang and Disney announced a three-year, two-film sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean".

What is the "New Pirates of the Caribbean" project?
That was a mega-project with a global box office exceeding $10 billion. Disney is also very wealthy, so you can imagine that the investment in the sequel would be absolutely staggering. With such a large investment, Cao Yang would definitely be very interested in such a project.

In comparison, the amazing second-tier "heroes" are not worth mentioning.

Most importantly, with two mega-productions in three years, where does Cao Yang find the energy to create amazing projects?

At that point, they'll either do a half-hearted job, or after the project is approved, Cao Yang will become the producer and just find some random director from outside...

It's even possible that Cao Yang might give up the copyright in order to focus on the production of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel.

In particular, if the first sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a big hit, Cao Yang is more likely to give up the Marvel Cinematic Universe rights in order to focus on the second sequel.

Isaac Perlmutter immediately called Behrman, who told him that Disney had provided a budget of $5 million for the two sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean," and that more could be added if that wasn't enough.

After hearing what Bellman said, Isaac Perlmutter fell silent.

He understood what Behrman meant.

A film that is already incredibly successful, coupled with a massive budget and a top-tier director, has an almost maximum chance of success.

Damn Disney!

That damn Cao Yang!
Isaac Perlmutter was furious. He had planned an amazing "comeback" with a very high chance of success, but... the most crucial piece on his path to success had slipped away!

"Berman, Director Cao Yang has an agreement with Marvel that they must develop a Marvel comic book adaptation film within two years."

Isaac Perlmutter, unwilling to accept defeat, suppressed his anger and offered a reminder.

“I know, I know Isaac. Listen to me, buddy. I’m sorry, this is not the outcome I wanted to see. But if you were in Director Cao Yang’s position, what would you choose?”

On one hand, there's a well-funded sequel film that's almost a success; on the other hand, there's a comic book adaptation with uncertain prospects, especially since the comic book 'hero' is still a relatively unknown second-tier actor.

After saying this, Bellman smiled and said, "But Isaac, you don't need to worry. There are still two years, aren't there? Two years is a long time. Nobody knows what might happen by then."

Besides, haven't you already received the first buyout fee? If Director Cao Yang doesn't approve the project within two years, according to the agreement, you can reclaim the copyright, and you don't need to refund the first buyout fee.

So, with this guarantee, what else do you have to worry about?

shit!

asshole!

Bitch!

I'm fucking worried that the amazing won't rise!
I'm fucking worried that surprises won't make money!
I'm fucking worried that my assets won't grow any more!

At this moment, Isaac Perlmutter was somewhat disheartened.

In particular, the box office revenue from *Iron Man* has already been used to redeem those mortgaged copyrights, and the production costs for *Iron Man 2*, as well as *Captain America* and *Thor*...

Don't think that far ahead; the production costs for "Iron Man 2" are still unresolved.

Damn Cao Yang, why are you unwilling to be a pawn in the resurgence of Amazing?

Why are you unwilling to become a "stepping stone" for me to accumulate wealth?

The astonishing events of this life, due to Isaac Perlmutter's plans, are somewhat worse than those of his previous life.

After hanging up on Isaac Perlmutter, Bellman turned his attention back to the preliminary agreement he had drafted with Disney.

It's not really an agreement; it's more like a memorandum of understanding.

If Cao Yang cooperates with Disney to acquire Marvel, in addition to the Marvel "heroes" copyrights that Cao Yang already owns, he can also choose the film copyrights of eight more "heroes" and use non-"hero" villains free of charge.

However, the villains can only use it for free; they cannot create a separate project.

Furthermore, if Cao Yang chooses to cooperate with other film companies, he can only own the copyrights for ten years, after which Disney can take them back without compensation.

If you choose to co-produce with Disney, the copyright term is twenty years. After twenty years, Disney will buy back the "hero" for no less than 50% of the assessed value.

If Disney does not choose to reclaim the copyright for a fee, the copyright term will be automatically extended for another ten years.

From Disney's perspective, what's the point of Cao Yang owning so many "hero" copyrights if he chooses to cooperate with Disney?

In the end, it's the same as collaborating with Disney without the copyright.

Just like with "Pirates of the Caribbean," Cao Yang certainly doesn't have the copyright, but since he's collaborating with Disney, does Disney expect to collect copyright fees from Cao Yang, the director and producer?
The film rights are ultimately owned by Disney, aren't they?

It's just that Cao Yang nominally owns the film adaptation rights.

Robert Iger is confident that even if Cao Yang owns the copyright, he can't choose to cooperate with other companies, right? The reason Cao Yang insisted on adding this clause is probably because he's afraid Disney will lower his share of the profits.

This is a joke.

If the movie is successful, would Disney still care about that "small" share? Would they still care about that small share? Aren't they making much more money elsewhere than that share?

Robert Iger never intended to use this to reduce Cao Yang's share of the profits.

Of course, Disney has not yet acquired Marvel, so this "agreement" is invalid.

Since it's invalid, there needs to be a guarantee to ensure the "agreement" is valid; otherwise, if Disney denies it later, who can you complain to?

So, after negotiations, Disney used the distribution rights to the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" as collateral, which put everyone at ease.

For Disney, the sequel to "New Pirates of the Caribbean" has only been officially announced and the project hasn't even started yet. If Cao Yang wants to ensure the project's success, he needs to get the sequel approved as soon as possible.

The previous press conferences were mainly about Marvel and Isaac Perlmutter, not about actually setting up a sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Using the distribution rights of the sequels as a guarantee means that both sequels must be started and approved as soon as possible, which Disney feels is a win-win situation.

For Cao Yang, the distribution rights to the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" are a guarantee that Disney will fulfill the agreement after acquiring Marvel, and Disney is unlikely to give up the distribution rights to the sequel.

In this way, there is both a guarantee and everyone is happy.

Disney may not understand the value of Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is essentially just a collection of "heroes" plus a few Avengers movies, but Cao Yang does.

As of 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grossed over $320 billion, making it the highest-grossing franchise in film history.

(End of this chapter)