Chapter 1926 1928 [Marvel]

  Jennifer Aniston also has a crush on Xiang Nan.

   On the one hand, although Xiang Nan is eleven years older than her, older people know how to love others better. Jennifer is so old, she has naturally been in love.

  But those boys are mostly naive, and they rarely think about the future. In comparison, Xiang Nan is stable and down-to-earth, like a big mountain, solid and reliable.

   On the one hand, she also appreciates Xiang Nan's talent. "Friends", "Prison in the Air", "Sleepless in Seattle", "Four Hundred Years", "Pretty Woman"... those movies are all her favorite movies.

   Not to mention that Xiang Nan is also the boss of Universal Pictures, a super rich man with a net worth of billions of dollars. No girl can stand up to such a man who pays attention to every detail and actively pursues him.

   So Jennifer Aniston also quickly fell.

  …

  In April, Universal Pictures released the movie "Black Steed" starring Alan Cumming and Sean Bean. It tells the story of a horse that was born in a wealthy family, but was forced to change hands many times due to the bankruptcy of the rich man, and experienced various setbacks, hardships, good times and bad times.

   This is adapted from the book of the same name by Anne Sylvia. This novel is her posthumous work. After it was published, it achieved great success and sold more than 50 million copies. It is one of the best-selling and most read works in history.

  In history, this novel has also been adapted into film and television dramas and stage plays many times, with great influence.

   And this "Black Steed" is faithfully adapted according to the original work, coupled with the wonderful performances of the actors, this movie has an excellent reputation and is known as the most outstanding adaptation in recent years.

   But unfortunately, the box office of this highly acclaimed movie was bleak after its release, only 4.6 million US dollars, probably not enough for this horse's salary.

   After all, in order to make this film well, the production company rented 20 horses so that they could be replaced at any time. The salary for a single horse is not high, but twenty is an astronomical figure.

  The failure of this movie has also made Hollywood more and more convinced that movies with animals as the main characters cannot be made, and they will definitely lose money if they are made.

  …

  In May, "Prison in the Sky" officially started filming.

  In the same month, Universal Pictures released the sci-fi film "Fantastic Four" produced by Horizon Pictures.

   Entering the 1990s, Marvel's life became more and more difficult.

  On the one hand, it is because the sales of comics have further declined. With the birth of video games and the Internet, young people have more fun pastimes, so the comics market has been hit. To put it simply, it was hit by dimensionality reduction.

   On the one hand, Marvel was acquired by the capital tycoon Ron Perelman in **, and then began to seek listing. In order to obtain a higher valuation, Marvel had to expand aggressively and acquired a large number of toy dealers and small comic book dealers. For example, Marbury Comics, where "Men in Black" is located, was acquired by Marvel.

  But such an acquisition also burdened Marvel with heavy debts, making it difficult to walk and falling into business difficulties.

  This "Fantastic Four" sold the copyright to Horizon Pictures because Marvel had to pay off its debts. And Horizon Pictures made this movie because of the big sales of Warner Pictures' "Batman" series.

  It thought it could also replicate this miracle, so it invested a huge sum of 30 million U.S. dollars to film this "Fantastic Four".

  But I didn't expect that after the movie was released, it would be unanimously condemned by comic fans.

  One is that the story of the "Fantastic Four" has been changed badly, and the other is that the visual effects of "Fantastic Four" are so bad that they don't meet their expectations at all.

   No wonder. Warner Bros.' "Batman" series has an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, so the special effects produced are naturally guaranteed. Horizon Pictures only paid $30 million, which is equivalent to a mid-range production, and it's no surprise that the special effects are poor.

   Therefore, this also made "Fantastic Four" a disastrous box office failure. The North American box office was only less than three million US dollars, and the overseas box office was almost negligible.

  Horizon Pictures suffered a huge loss of more than 30 million U.S. dollars and directly declared bankruptcy. The outside world also shied away from the film and television adaptation of Marvel Superhero.

   It also makes life harder for Marvel. After all, authorizing film and television dramas is a large part of its source of funds. Now this road is blocked, and it has lost a lot of money.

   Moreover, the failure of Marvel’s film and television transformation also caused its stock price to plummet.

  After all, Marvel’s most valuable assets are its IPs, and film and television is the best opportunity for these IPs to play a role. Now that this road is broken, the value of the IP in Marvel's hands will naturally shrink. It's no surprise that stock prices have plummeted.

  …

   Just when Marvel was facing internal and external troubles, Xiang Nan saw the advantage.

  He knows how valuable those IPs under Marvel are. It is no exaggeration to say that the Marvel Universe in those years alone has swept tens of billions of dollars in box office around the world, making it the most profitable project in the new century film industry.

   It would be a pity if a company like this made others cheaper.

  So he then asked a third-party company to help him acquire Marvel, asking a price of 200 million US dollars.

  At that time, Marvel's market value was only 300 million U.S. dollars, and it was also burdened with huge debts. It was almost unable to make ends meet and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The asking price is 200 million US dollars, which is considered very good.

  Marvel’s boss, Ron Perelman, also intended to throw the pot away. After all, he is playing with capital operations, and he is not really interested in comics.

   Now that the capital is operating, seeing that the game can no longer continue, he certainly hopes to sell Marvel and leave with the money. Only 200 million US dollars is not his ideal price, so he wants more.

  Xiang Nan didn't agree to his price rashly, because he knew that a capital tycoon like Ron had an endless appetite. Promising too quickly can only make him see that he is bound to win, which naturally gives him the confidence to raise the price again.

  So he just ordered the third party to continue negotiating with Ron, slowly wearing down his confidence and confidence.

  …

  In May, the Cannes Film Festival.

  Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Monica Bellucci, the movie "The Beautiful Legend of Sicily" immediately caused a strong sensation once it was screened.

   On the one hand, this movie deeply reveals the inferiority of human beings. Just because of her beauty, Malena was envied by all the women on the island and coveted by all the men on the island, forcing her to change from a chaste woman to a good-for-nothing concubine.

   And a few years later, when she returned to the island again and her face was gone, those people greeted her hypocritically. The despicableness of human nature is really sad.

   On the one hand, this film has also achieved a perfect unity in terms of commerciality and artistry. Its photography, composition, editing, music, scenery, performance, etc., have reached a very high level at all levels. It can be said that it is a masterpiece of Giuseppe Tonadore's exhaustion.

   Therefore, "The Beautiful Legend of Sicily" finally won the Palme d'Or, and Monica Bellucci also successfully won the crown of Cannes Best Actress with this film, and became a hit.

  (end of this chapter)