In a previous life, Marvel's first customer when it sold off its assets was Sony.
In 1999, Sony acquired the filming rights for Spider-Man at a very low price of only US$7 million. In 2002, Tony Maguire's Spider-Man movie was released, with a global box office of US$200 million.
The second part was worth 700 million, and the third was 100 million. The global box office of the trilogy was close to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, and it opened a new era of Marvel movies.
But the biggest threat to Marvel is 20th Century Fox. They hold the film and television rights to adapt two popular comics, Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four. And as long as new characters appear in Comics Men and Fantastic Four, Fox will
The company will automatically obtain the copyright, which is simply a showmanship and snooping.
This advantage made Marvel next door angry. It wasn’t until 2014 that Marvel’s Broken Arms took advantage of the reboot to cut off five sbnn comic books. If the Fantastic Four doesn’t let me eat chicken, I’ll shut down the chicken farm.
Got it!
There is also Universal Pictures, which bought the popular character Hulk and began to test the waters of filming superhero movies.
In 2003, Chinese-American director Ang Lee filmed Hulk, and Universal immediately put aside its plans to make superhero movies.
At this time, Marvel realized that it still had to make its own movies, so in 2004, Marvel mortgaged the ownership of ten of its comic characters and borrowed US$500 million from the bank. Marvel finally wanted to make its own movies.
Then Iron Man appeared. This movie was Marvel's last resort. If it failed, there would be no doubt that Marvel would be bankrupted and liquidated.
Fortunately, they made the right bet and have since embarked on the "high road". By 2017, the total box office of movies produced by Marvel Company exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, and the "Marvel" brand has become a veritable money magnet.
king.
However, Marvel was acquired by Disney for US$4.3 billion in 2000. Disney has also become the world's largest entertainment company through Marvel, with a maximum market value of more than US$150 billion.
Why did Liu Lang want to bring Marvel into the board of directors of Shengtang Company back then? It was just to control Marvel.
Liu Lang has not paid attention to Marvel in recent years, mainly because the Marvel image must rely on the popularization of the Internet to be popular. It can only rely on the spread of the Internet, and it also relies on mature film special effects production.
Now Marvel finally couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to sell the comic characters in its hands. This was something Liu Lang couldn't accept. These characters will be money in the future!
After Liu Lang learned the news, he flew directly to Los Angeles without saying a word. He wanted to have a chat with the other party.
On the outskirts of Los Angeles, here is the headquarters building of the Sentang Company. Two years ago, the headquarters of the Sentang Company moved to the United States. This is also the general trend. The United States accounts for 70% of the Sentang Company's business, and only half of the Asian part.
Shengtang Company purchased 500 acres of land outside Los Angeles and spent US$50 million to build a unique headquarters base.
In addition to a ten-story office building with a total construction area of 60,000 square meters, Industrial Light and Magic also moved in. There are also five huge themed studios. Their modernization level is undoubtedly the first in the world. Any outsider
When visiting here, you will be attracted by the outdoor scenery and indoor modern offices. Of course, these are all accumulated with US dollars. Outsiders can only marvel at Shengtang's wealth.
In a spacious conference room, all the shareholders of Shengtang Company were present, as well as Robert, the president of Marvel Company, and several major shareholders. Several people did not dare to look at Liu Lang, and they all looked like frost.
Beaten eggplant.
"Here, this is the tea I brought from China. Only five kilograms of this tea is produced every year. In ancient times, it was used by emperors. Ordinary people can't even taste it. Today you are in for a treat!"
Liu Lang poured tea with his own hands, and each person had an exquisite tea bowl. He sat there pouring tea, and everyone took a small bowl as they passed in front of Liu Lang.
"Robert, you guys, don't sit around stupidly, come on, have a try!"
Liu Lang shouted to several directors of Marvel Company.
Several people walked over bravely. Just as the leader Robert was about to speak, Liu Lang waved his hand and motioned for the other party to drink tea.
"Robert, how does it taste?"
Liu Lang asked with a smile.
"Jimmy, it tastes good, not bad!"
The other party can't taste the taste of the drink, it's full of "bitterness".
It stands to reason that what Marvel does is not a big deal. Spider-Man is the image of its company. Let alone buying one from Sony, it is okay to give it to Sony. But the key point is that there was a rule when the two parties cooperated, that is, if Marvel wants
You need to inform Shengtang Company when selling your image, because Shengtang also holds 10% of the equity.
Specifically speaking, this 10% equity is owned by Liu Lang. Ten% is already a lot. He is the fourth largest shareholder of Marvel. However, it was also mentioned in the contract that Shengtang would not participate in the management and management of the other party.
Business.
Shengtang will not participate in the management and operation of Marvel, but the premise is that the other party cannot breach the contract. Now that the other party has breached the contract, it is difficult to say.
Marvel's breach of contract is a big deal or a small deal. First of all, the other party has not reached an agreement with Sony, so there is no substantive breach of contract, but it will be troublesome if Shengtang catches it.
Marvel and Shengtang are in a lawsuit? Haha, even if Marvel is right first, Shengtang can settle it with money, because the two parties are not heavyweight players at all, not to mention that Marvel violated the contract in the first place
.
Once a lawsuit breaks out, Marvel will be in trouble. It already has no sense of existence. If the lawsuit continues, will it still have the energy to develop?
The key is to see what Liu Lang means. If Liu Lang doesn't pursue the case, everything will be easy to handle. If Liu Lang continues to pursue the case, Marvel will be in trouble.
Liu Lang rarely appears in normal times. He goes to Shengtang three or four times a year at most, and each time is not long. He will leave after setting a one-year mission. But Liu Lang is the chairman of Shengtang Company after all, and his power is huge.
Yes, and his hands have been extended to many fields, and he has huge energy in the fields of American politics, business, technology and other fields. After all, the rich in this country are the bosses, and Liu Lang is the boss among the bosses. This kind of person can smash you with money.
Death, the person who offended him may not even know how to die.
Robert and the others were trembling with fear, and no one dared to say a word.
Liu Lang really despised these people. No one came out to explain. No wonder Marvel has been so miserable in the past few years. Can people like this not be miserable?
Nowadays, the management of Marvel Company is really three or two big cats and little cats, and none of them can take the stage. Stanley, known as the father of Marvel, left Marvel last year and founded a company of his own.
It's strange for a founder to leave in anger.
But this is good, it just allows Liu Lang to implement his plan.21