Chapter 1982 1984 [Internet bubble]

   Entering September, the movie released by Universal Pictures is the DreamWorks animation "Shrek".

   This cartoon completely subverts Disney's fairy tale animation of princes and princesses. The protagonist Shrek is a big monster, and he is not followed by a white horse, but a cheap donkey. And the princess is no longer as beautiful as a fairy, on the contrary she is as ugly as Shrek...

  But it is such an anti-traditional cartoon, but it was very popular after it was released. Not only the word of mouth is overwhelming, but the box office is also rising. Because the audience has long been tired of Disney's set of false fairy tales and longs for change.

  Unfortunately, during the release of "Shrek", the terrorist attack happened again. Although the time and place were slightly different, the American people were still shocked.

  For a while, not only the stock market crashed, the three major US stock indexes plummeted by 12 to 15%, and even the entertainment market was severely impacted.

   In the next few weeks, the movie theater business was very sluggish, which seriously affected the box office of "Shrek". As a result, the movie only grossed US$80 million in North America. Fortunately, the overseas box office exceeded US$200 million, so DreamWorks still made money.

  …

  After the terrorist attack, with more and more leaks in the news, people gradually discovered that the process of this terrorist attack was actually exactly the same as the movie "True Lies 2" released by Universal Pictures in June.

   It is also a criminal hijacking a plane, and it is also trying to hit a New York landmark. But in the movie, it hit the Statue of Liberty, but in real life, it hit the Twin Towers.

  So similar, it is hard not to associate. In this regard, Xiang Nan, as a screenwriter, even accepted the investigation of the FBI. Of course it was impossible to investigate anything.

  On the contrary, because of this incident, "True Lies 2" was once regarded as a miracle film, the sales and rental volume of DVDs increased significantly, and the overseas copyright fees were much higher than similar films.

  Universal Pictures is also a blessing in disguise.

  …

  Affected by the terrorist attacks, the U.S. stock market crashed, and the three major stock indexes collectively fell.

   Such a black swan event also led to the collapse of the Internet bubble.

  It turns out that since 1993, when the U.S. government announced an investment of 400 billion U.S. dollars to build an Internet highway, the concept of the Internet has been favored by capital.

   Therefore, all companies related to the Internet are favored by capital, and it is easier to attract investment, easier to go public, and easier to raise the stock price.

   For this reason, even many companies that do not involve the Internet at all have added [.COM] or [IE] logos to their company names in order to deceive investors who do not know the truth.

  According to statistics, from 1999 to 2000 alone, in less than a year, more than 90 billion U.S. dollars poured into the Internet industry in the United States, which not only promoted the development of the Internet industry, but also created a huge bubble.

  By this year, the bubble is already showing signs of bursting. After all, all bubble economies are playing the game of drumming and spreading flowers. As the bubble grows bigger and the stock price gets higher and higher, sooner or later there will be a day when it will not be able to take over.

  At the same time, the terrorist attack broke out, which led to the stock market crash, and the Internet bubble was also squeezed, and the stock prices of major Internet companies plummeted.

  The stock prices of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all fallen by more than 50%. As for the mainland’s NetEase, Xinlang, and Souar, they have fallen to the price of cabbage.

  However, misfortune and good fortune depend on it. If someone is unlucky, someone will take advantage of it. Xiang Nan had been selling his stocks one after another years ago. Now it's just time to buy at a low price, and he has absorbed a large amount of stocks in several Internet companies for a while. The number is large enough to interfere with the company's operations.

   In this way, a solid foundation has been laid for the future.

  …

  The terrorist attack caused the entertainment market to be depressed for a period of time, and it did not gradually recover until November.

  The occurrence of terrorist attacks has increased people's sense of insecurity, so superhero movies are becoming more and more popular.

  Americans long for real superheroes to fight crime and protect their homes. Therefore, "The Defenders", which was released in November, won unanimous approval from the audience.

   Before adding "The Defenders", Universal Pictures spent two years laying the groundwork. Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Erica... These superhero characters are familiar to those who have never read comics.

   Now that so many heroes come together, it is naturally very attractive to movie fans.

   Therefore, from the beginning of its release, the box office has risen rapidly, and the box office on the first day exceeded 60 million US dollars. In the end, the box office in North America was 600 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was close to 900 million U.S. dollars. It was the best movie at the box office this year.

  The explosion of "The Defenders" once again ignited the superhero comic film market, making other Hollywood companies drool with envy and prepare their own superhero movies.

  Warner Pictures announced that it will restart the fifth "Superman" movie "Superman Returns". In the 1970s, the "Superman" series starring Christopher Reeve was extremely popular.

  It's a pity that Warner Pictures and the director of "Superman" Richard Donner fell out later, and Richard Lester took over. Before Richard Lester took over, he had never read the "Superman" comics, so he didn't understand this character at all, and failed to grasp the essence of Superman, a superhero.

   Therefore, the box office reputation of the second and third films he took over was not as good as before. In 1987, it was the last shot of "Superman 4" filmed by Sydney Jeffrey.

  The cost of 15 million U.S. dollars was only exchanged for 18 million U.S. dollars at the box office. The loss was a mess, so Warner hid this superhero.

  But now because of the popularity of superhero comics, it hastily dug up this IP again and is ready to return to the furnace.

  …

  But unfortunately, there are only two influential comic companies in the United States. One Marvel Comics, one Marvel Comics. One is in the hands of Warner, and the other is in the hands of Universal.

  Other comic companies are very small in scale and have a low market share, and their comic heroes are rarely well-known.

  So those companies can only watch Warner and Universal make money. They want to prepare superhero movies, but it is extremely difficult.

  But there are always exceptions. For example, Columbia Pictures won the film and television adaptation rights of the superhero "Hellboy" under Dark Horse Comics.

  New Line Films has restarted the comic adaptation of "Spawn". In fact, in 1997, New Line Film Company made "Spawn", but unfortunately not only the reputation was extremely poor, but the box office also lost money.

  An investment of 40 million U.S. dollars was exchanged for only 80 million U.S. dollars at the box office, which cost New Line Cinema more than 10 million. If it weren't for the resurgence of superhero movies, it wouldn't make this money-losing product again.

   In addition, some giants tried to negotiate with Universal and Warner, hoping to buy the adaptation rights of a few lesser-known superheroes, but they were all politely declined.

   Traveling together is like an enemy country. How can a project that has the potential to make a lot of money be given to others casually.

  (end of this chapter)