Chapter 219: 23 line hero

On the second day after arriving in New York, Ronan went to Marvel Comics headquarters as agreed to meet with Marvel's CEO Avi Allard.
The car in the car enters the famous Fifth Avenue, and the dense traffic makes the speed almost to the lowest.
Ronan looked at the information about Marvel in his hand, combined with the situation in his previous life, thinking about the negotiation with Marvel.
I vaguely remember that Walt Disney’s acquisition of Marvel spent more than four billion US dollars, but that was not only after the success of "Iron Man", Marvel also recovered the copyrights or part of the copyrights of many well-known heroes.
Now there is a huge gap between this Marvel, which almost sold all the well-known sons, and the Marvel acquired by Disney.
And after Avi-Allard came to power, he also advocated cooperation with Hollywood studios through authorization in exchange for more funds.
Ronan considered acquiring Marvel, and after thinking twice, temporarily suppressed his thoughts in this regard.
In early 1989, Ron Perelman personally raised $82.5 million to buy the ownership of Marvel Comics from New World Pictures.
At this time, Marvel has not yet been listed. Ron Perelman bought Marvel, playing more of a capital game. Two years later, he launched anime to be listed and sold 40% of them. Cash out of shares.
It's hard to say how much destructive the Marvel crisis is.
In the words of a minority shareholder of Marvel, Perelman is like a plumber who helps you fix your water pipes. He not only completely ruins your house, but also wants to take your house away without paying a penny.
With the exposure of a series of suspicious transactions and the bursting of the stock market bubble, Marvel's stock price has already collapsed, from $35.75 per share in 1993 to $2.37 in 1997.
But now Marvel Comics is no longer a pure comic production company before. After Avi-Allard took over, Marvel integrated ToyBiz toy company, comic sales channel company Hero World, etc., and the overall market value has risen to nearly 700 million dollars.
This is also the reason why Ronan temporarily suppressed the idea of ​​acquiring Marvel. He has to walk step by step. He has to eat a bite. If he walks fast, he will get eggs. If he eats too much, he will break his stomach.
The outcome of Snake Tunxiang is very tragic, and Marvel also has a huge debt.
Marvel integrated a number of companies, allowing Avi-Allard to win the final victory in the high-level power struggle, but Marvel itself was burdened with huge debts.
Marvel at the beginning of 2000 and Marvel ten years later are two worlds.
Robert came to New York for such a long time, had a long negotiation with Marvel, and collected a large amount of first-hand information from Marvel, and the work results were quite good.
After so long negotiations, Marvel didn't mind selling the copyrights of some characters to Relativity Entertainment, after all, they planned to make a deal with Artisan Pictures.
The car parked in front of No. 417 Fifth Avenue. This is an old-style office building. The headquarters of Marvel Comics is located in this building.
Now the sad Marvel is just one of the many tenants in this building.
"Avi, this is Mr. Ronan Anderson, president of Relativity Entertainment."
In a meeting room of Marvel Comics, Robert Lee introduced the two parties: "Ronan, this is Mr. Avi Allard, the CEO of Marvel."
Ronan shook hands with Avi-Allard. This was a bald and big beard. He should be quite old, his beard and hair were almost white.
"Welcome to Marvel." Avi Allard said with a smile.
Ronan was very polite: "It is a great honor to come to the holy place where many heroes are born."
Avi-Allard gave up his seat to Ronan and then asked them to bring coffee. After the simple politeness of both parties, they gradually entered the subject.
"Mr. Anderson is very interested in Marvel's superheroes?" Avi-Allard asked: "Want to get so many character authorizations at once?"
Ronan’s reason came casually:
I’m a fan of Marvel comics. I’ve read all of Spider-Man’s comics. When I was chatting with Sony Entertainment’s Chris some time ago, I heard him mention that Marvel is in poor condition and needs urgently. Funding solves the problem. As a Marvel fan, I am willing to help Marvel overcome the difficulties."
These words can be described as high-sounding.
Marvel’s debt dilemma is not a secret. When Avi-Allard borrowed money to acquire Marvel, he anticipated the current situation. In the past few years, it has not been without efforts, such as selling the copyright of "Blade Warrior" to New Line Shadow. Industry, sold the copyright of "Evil Rider" to Crystal Sky Pictures and so on.
But this can only solve a temporary emergency.
Avi-Allard said with a smile: "You can reach out in a critical moment, and Marvel is very grateful." As an old fox, he is not a vegetarian: "Mr. Anderson, why not do this? Interest provides a loan to Marvel. As long as Marvel can tide over the difficulties, it will return in the future."
Robert looked at Avi-Allard, then at Ronan. Both of them are not easy.
Ronan didn’t have a trace of embarrassment on his face, and naturally said,
It’s okay to provide loans. But Relativity Entertainment is a commercial company. I am responsible to hundreds of employees. We are doing business, and business problems are solved by business. Relativity Entertainment provided Marvel with a $40 million commercial loan. Marvel pledged the copyrights of its 2,000 characters, and Relativity Entertainment has 30 years of usage rights, how about it?"
Avi-Allard's expression remained unchanged: "Mr. Anderson is joking, how can Marvel take advantage of friends for no reason?"
The copyright of two thousand characters, can this person speak up?
Ronan gave Robert Lee a wink, and Robert Lee said in due course: "Avi, we will follow the previous negotiations and only request the copyrights of 35 superheroes and their associated characters."
Avi-Allard smiled and said: "I have said more than once, agreeing to this transaction, 35 superheroes and their associated characters totaling $50 million in licensing fees."
Ronan didn't answer the conversation. The price will be the cabbage price after ten years, but now it is definitely the lion's opening.
Robert Lee said: "The US$25 million license fee is the highest price we can accept."
Avi-Allard knew who was the real master. He glanced at Ronan and said: "In 1997, Sony Columbia Pictures obtained the rights to Spider-Man at a cost of 7 million US dollars."
"As far as I know, Sony Columbia did not buy the copyright from Marvel, and it is the copyright of the entire Spider-Man universe. When Cannon Pictures bought Spider-Man from Marvel, it only spent $350,000. You sold it last year. The basic license fee is only 1.5 million US dollars for the ghost rider!" Ronan said calmly: "Spiderman is the most famous superhero in Marvel comics, and his influence far exceeds other characters."
He looked at Avi Allard: "Our ideal target is the first-line superheroes such as Spiderman, Hulk and Fantastic Four, but after Robert contacted you, he discovered that you have all sold the copyrights of the first-line superheroes. Up."
Avi Allard sighed, the first-tier heroes were sold out, so it was the second-tier turn...
This is not a long-term solution, he knows it very well, but he cannot change it in a short time.
Ronan continued: "What is the value of the heroic role in this negotiation? You know better than us. Captain America is out of date. How many young people know about Captain America? The Panthers are not American superheroes at all. Widow and Hawkeye are third-tier at best. Guardians of the Galaxy comics have not sold much. Doctor Strange is not well-known among comic fans. The reputation of magical heroes like Thor has always been poor. Falcon, War Machine, Ant-Man, Marvel Captain, wait, let alone compare with Spider-Man, even Iron Man is not as well-known."
Robert then said: "We can’t pay such a high cost for these second- and third-tier superhero characters. If you can take back the copyrights of the Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man characters, add 50 million to the deal. We can consider the dollar."
Avi-Allard smiled and said, "Two, with so many characters, how many movies can you make?"
Ronan has a thick face and said directly: "Many of the characters in it are not well-known at all. They are just leafy characters in the comics. The adaptation of the movie can only exist as a supporting role at best, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Widow, Ant-Man, Hunter Is it possible for characters such as Eagle and Gears of War to make independent movies? I am afraid we will lose as much as we invest."
Avi Allard knows these roles in his own family and knows Ronan's words are true.
Even the most famous Captain America on the list is very risky to make a movie. Will anyone like to watch Captain America movies in this era? He was embarrassed to mention the miserable Captain America filmed in 1994.
Robert said at this time: "Before you contacted Artisan Pictures, there were a dozen superhero characters, and the other party only offered 15 million US dollars."
Avi-Allard said with a smile: "So, we didn't reach any agreement with Artisan Pictures."
Ronan added: "50 million dollars is fine. But you have to sell all the copyrights, just like Marvel sold the Fantastic Four to 20th Century Fox."
Because based on the agreement between the two parties, any new character created by Marvel comics in the Fantastic Four comics will directly become the property of 20th Century Fox, and in the benefits of the Fantastic Four adaptations, Marvel basically has no right to share.
To be precise, Marvel was robbed by Twentieth Century Fox at that time because of a terrible situation ~EbookFREE.me~ in the previous life. Marvel directly suspended the publication of the Fantastic Four.
Such an agreement is not wise, it is only a condition used by Ronan to lower prices. These characters leave the support of Marvel comics as if they are rootless.
"It's impossible." Avi Allard said directly: "Marvel must participate in the post-production division of the adapted film."
No one is a fool, and of course the benefits that can be gained by the adaptation power will not be easily given up.
Ronan took advantage of the situation and said:
So, look farther, not just stare at the front. The copyright fee is too high, which will cause us to compress other aspects of the budget when making the film, which will affect the quality of the film, which may lead to The lower income in the later period is not in the interest of Marvel."
The first meeting between the two parties, it lasted a full morning. Robert did a lot of work before. The senior officials of Avi-Allard and Marvel tend to complete the transaction, but the most important licensing fees and later The share ratio has never been negotiated.
In the following days, Ronan continued to negotiate with Marvel. Best entertainment age