Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 631 The Surprising Final Section

With the announcement of the largest merger in history—AOL merging with Time Warner to form the AOL-Time Warner Group—the two companies have joined forces.

Although Gerald Levine, the former CEO of Time Warner, continues to serve as the CEO of the merged company, many of the company's key executives are former members of AOL, such as Chairman Steve Case, co-COO Bob Pittman, CFO Michael Kelly, and several very important vice presidents;

As for Time Warner, apart from retaining the position of CEO, the only other noteworthy position is co-COO Richard Parsons, while Ted Turner only retained the title of vice chairman and senior advisor.
It's quite obvious from the name AOL-Time Warner that it represents which party is in control.

However, such large-scale mergers are not so easy. For example, Disney's acquisition of ABC and Dawn's acquisition of CBS took more than half a year.

Given the size of AOL and Time Warner, the merger will inevitably take longer.

"A 10-episode miniseries would cost over $1 million to produce?"

Burbank, Dawn headquarters, and Everett Fleck, head of Dawn Television, looked at Aaron with surprise.

Even with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as producers, this level of investment is still quite unexpected!

Aaron smiled and said, "Don't worry, with DreamWorks involved, and Starz TV broadcasting it, 'Band of Brothers' may be expensive, but it will bring unexpected rewards."

Tom Hanks, DreamWorks, and Starz collaborated on the development of Band of Brothers!
In the afternoon, Aaron went to the conference room of Marvel Studios to learn about Spider-Man, which will be released this summer, and X-Men, which is currently being filmed.

Marvel Entertainment is currently managed by David Messer, while Marvel Studios is headed by Lauren Donald.

Stan Lee, the original creative director of Marvel, left Marvel in 1998. Although Stan Lee created many popular superhero characters such as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, the comic book copyrights and authorship belong to Marvel.

The 1998 film Blade, a collaboration between Marvel Studios and New Line Cinema, grossed $1.3 million worldwide. With subsequent success in the video, toy, and comic book markets, it was undoubtedly a success.

Stan Lee was merely an employee at Marvel. He believed that Marvel had huge business opportunities and expressed dissatisfaction with his current income, wanting to acquire more revenue from comic book character derivatives. Of course, Marvel would not agree to this.

Stan Lee then left Marvel and went on to fight a copyright fee lawsuit with Marvel. In the end, Marvel agreed to pay him $125 million a year and allow him to appear in every Marvel movie!

"I heard that Stan Lee founded Stan Lee Media (SLM), right?"

Aaron smiled and asked David Messer, who was standing next to him.

David Messer nodded. "Stan Lee Media, founded early last year, went public in August and is currently developing several film projects."

"But apart from 'The Seventh Portal,' there's practically no other news."

Previously, the new agreement between Marvel and Stan Lee also included a liability waiver, allowing him to pursue any project he liked without being bound by publishers or institutions;

The main reason was that Dawn acknowledged his position and contributions at Marvel, as a sign of respect for the "father of Marvel"!

Aaron sighed. "Ha, those people on Wall Street only saw the commercial value that Stan Lee represented; they were just using Stan Lee's fame and reputation to profit from the capital markets!"

Stan Lee is almost eighty years old. Wouldn't it be better for him to enjoy his retirement?
Aaron asked, "Where is the X-Men crew now?"

"Oh, we're currently filming in Atlanta, Georgia, and then we'll be going to Toronto, Canada."

"Filming is expected to wrap up in May, and special effects production has already begun!"

David Messer responded.

Compared to Spider-Man's $1.2 million production budget, X-Men only had $8000 million, so they had to choose more affordable locations to film in. Although it was more troublesome, it saved money.

Besides, how could X-Men be as well-known as Spider-Man?

"The X-Men franchise has a large cast of characters, and the story needs to be adapted logically while also laying the groundwork for future sequels."

"Not only that, but different characters from the movie can also appear in the same film!"

Aaron tapped the table as he spoke, "The release of 'Blade' was a good start, and this year our 'Spider-Man' will definitely make a name for itself."

"The release of X-Men next year will further increase the influence and popularity of the Marvel series, and in the future, other characters can be developed."

"Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and many more—Amazing is our treasure trove of resources!"

David Messer was quite surprised by Aaron's expectations; these second- and third-tier characters were also worth adapting.

However, once Spider-Man and X-Men become wildly popular, they might also boost the popularity of other characters.

Aaron suddenly remembered something. "By the way, shouldn't we be able to get back the filming rights to 'Fantastic Four' that Constantine has?"

Now, the only copyright they have left is "Fantastic Four". This is mainly because Constantine made a poorly made movie a few years ago, which was never released, but they retained the filming rights.
These days, surprises aren't allowed anymore. If Constantine can't develop it, then the copyright has to be returned!
David Messer thought for a moment, "Based on my guess, Constantine is willing to return the copyright, but they probably hope to be involved in the development of 'Fantastic Four' at that time."

"Our Spider-Man movie is going to be released this year, and many people are watching closely, including Constantine."

Aaron smiled. "Sure, that's not a big problem. We can just sign an agreement with them and involve them later."

"Fantastic Four is a very important part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's well-known enough. It also involves a very important world view, so it should come back."

David Messer nodded. "Okay, I'll contact Constantine again as soon as possible!"

According to the agreement, Constantine's rights to the Fantastic Four will automatically return to Marvel if no new film is released next year.
But who can be sure that Constantine won't see the success of Spider-Man this year and then seek collaborations with other Hollywood film companies to develop Fantastic Four?
(End of this chapter)