In an office at the headquarters of Universal Pictures, Michael Eisner put down the "Variety Show" magazine that published Firefly's financial report for the first half of the year, and couldn't help feeling a little emotional.
Although the net profit of all businesses of the Firefly Group is only more than 600 million, which is less than half of the combined profits of Firefly and ABC last year, this has exceeded everyone's expectations. Generally speaking, in the process of merging two large companies, because Due to the turmoil caused by integration and reorganization, it is very common for new companies to experience a short-term decline in performance. But the Firefly Group passed through this turbulent period very smoothly. Michael Eisner had to admit that if he sat in that seat, it would be difficult for him to do better.
After surviving the quadruple bypass surgery without any risk, Michael Eisner's body has not changed much from before except that he needs to maintain a vegetarian diet. Moreover, with the excellent box office performance of "The Mummy", Michael Eisner easily returned to his position as Universal CEO after his body recovered. Previously, in order to appease the board of directors, Michael Ovitz personally brought in Universal as the president.
Thinking about how to squeeze Michael Ovitz, who has been trying to share his power, out of the world, the office door rang a few times before Michael Eisner came back to his senses. Thinking that the next person needs to deal with it even more, Michael Eisner hastened to pull himself together.
A fat man with a bald head and a smile walked into the office under the guidance of the secretary. Michael Eisner showed enthusiasm and stood up and extended his hand to the other party: "Mr. Perelman, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Eisner."
After the secretary delivered two coffees, Michael Eisner and Ron Perelman chatted casually for a few words before asking knowingly, "I don't know why Mr. Perelman is asking me out today?"
Ron Perelman took out several copyright transfer contracts from his briefcase, handed them to Michael Eisner, and said, "Before talking about this, I think Mr. Eisner can take a look at this first."
Michael Eisner briefly browsed through the copies of several contracts, and then put them aside. Dao: "So, Marvel wants to get Universal's help to avoid bankruptcy protection, right?"
"Yes. I think we can cooperate," said Ron Perelman. "From these copyright transfer documents, it can be seen that Firefly's aim at Marvel this time is not purely for revenge. It has been coveted for a long time. From the perspective of Eric Williams' film development, this also indirectly shows that Marvel's superhero copyright is definitely much more valuable than imagined. As long as Universal can help Marvel get rid of this crisis, then we We can become the most solid partner, and in the future we can jointly develop these superhero projects under Marvel."
Michael Eisner curled his lips calmly and asked, "So, Mr. Perelman, what should Universal do?"
Ron Perelman was stunned for a moment, but he quickly said: "I just need Universal to make a gesture of buying Marvel at a high price. It's just a gesture. Universal doesn't have to pay any price at all. As long as this kind of good news stops Marvel was forced to enter bankruptcy protection, so I have enough time to deal with the internal affairs of Marvel."
Michael Eisner's sneer almost overflowed: "Then, Marvel will have an in-depth cooperation with Universal, right?"
Ron Perelman replied very firmly whether he wanted it or not: "Of course."
Michael Eisner finally didn't hide his sneer any more, and said unceremoniously: "Mr. Perelman, I am fully aware of the difficulties Marvel encountered, and at the same time, I am also fully aware of your character. , So, we don’t have to play with these little tricks without substance. If you want to get Universal’s help, you can, but I need to see real benefits.”
Ron Perelman's face became a little embarrassing, but he still said: "Mr. Eisner. In this case, how can Universal help Marvel?"
"As long as Marvel transfers the film and television rights of the popular heroes it still holds to Universal, I can agree to publicly support Marvel."
"This is impossible..." Ron Perelman blurted out subconsciously, but immediately after realizing his gaffe, he quickly restrained his expression and said, "Mr. Eisner, this condition is too much."
Marvel has lost the copyrights of "Spider-Man", "Fantastic Four" and "Hulk". With the attitude shown by Firefly, Ron Perelman speculates that Marvel wants to take back the copyrights of these three superheroes will be very difficult. If the copyrights of the remaining popular superheroes are transferred to Universal, Ron Perelman can't imagine what value Marvel will have.
Although Marvel always publicly claims that it has thousands of superheroes under its banner, in fact, this calculation method counts all the characters that appear in the Marvel comic system, which is ridiculously large. In Marvel comics, there are only a few dozen superhero characters that are really well-known to the public, and there are no more than 10 superheroes with the same popularity as DC Batman and Superman.
Although Ron Perelman is aware of Firefly's coveting of Marvel, he still feels that what Firefly really wants is a superhero under Marvel who has the same film and television adaptation potential as Batman and Superman, not the entire comic book. prestige.
Once Michael Eisner's request is met and he inadvertently transfers the copyright of the superhero valued by Marvel's Firefly to Universal, he will completely lose this bargaining chip.
Michael Eisner's thoughts are actually the same as Ron Perelman's. He also doesn't think the entire Marvel is a treasure with great potential for adaptation.
Therefore, from the beginning, Michael Eisner was not too eager to participate in this muddy water. Although he really wanted to take this opportunity to win the copyrights of several popular Marvel heroes, but Firefly has shown such an aggressive attitude, and Ron Perelman is as shrewd as a fox, so Universal wants It is almost impossible to make money from fisherman.
What's more, right now Universal is negotiating with Nicole Kidman on the sequel of "The Mummy". If Firefly is offended by this matter, Michael Eisner is very worried whether Eric will let Nicole Kidman Deman exits The Mummy series. If you screw up a lucrative project because of a goal that has no prospect at all, it is a matter that outweighs the gain. (To be continued.)