Taking Spider-Man

A few days later.

Kenta, the negotiator Zucker had hired, contacted Marvel right away. After several days of hard work, he finally managed to begin the first round of negotiations over the Spider-Man rights.

However, things took an unexpected turn.

"What? You're saying Marvel is asking for an outrageous price?!"

Zucker frowned.

Kenta shook his head. "That's not the only problem."

What other problems?

"That's right!"

The lawyer Zhang Wei spoke up beside him. "This involves the history of Spider-Man's rights. MGM and Columbia Pictures have also joined the bidding."

Gasp!

Zucker couldn't help sucking in a breath.

Sony Columbia, one of Big Six Hollywood Studios, and MGM, a battered old giant still larger than most, were no ordinary opponents. They were downright behemoths!

Compared to them, Wald Pictures wasn't even in the same weight class.

No, to be precise, they weren't even in the same dimension.

The history of Spider-Man's rights?

Back in 1985, the Spider-Man screenplay was sold to Cannon Films.

In 1989, Cannon Films ran into financial trouble and was acquired by the French company Pathé. Meanwhile, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan took the Spider-Man rights to 20th Century Fox.

While at Fox, Golan sold the Spider-Man screenplay to Columbia Pictures, which planned to have James Cameron direct it, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Doctor Octopus.

But...

By then, Columbia had already been acquired by Sony Pictures, and the filming plans fell through. Later, MGM acquired some of 20th Century Fox's assets, including the Spider-Man screenplay, but Columbia Pictures insisted the rights belonged to them.

As a result, the Spider-Man rights were now caught up in a three-way fight between Zucker, MGM, and Sony!

"Kenta, Mr. Zhang, even if Sony and MGM join the bidding, it's still just a matter of price. What do we have to worry about?" Zucker gritted his teeth.

That might be true, but by doing this, Zucker would undoubtedly offend two major companies.

MGM and Columbia Pictures wielded considerable influence in Hollywood and around the world. All they had to do was meddle a little with the media and theatrical distribution, and they could make life miserable for Wald Pictures.

"Hmph!"

"I refuse to believe they can push me around!"

So what if you're big companies?

I'm not afraid of offending you. It's Spider-Man, after all!

A little over ten days later.

The Spider-Man rights dispute was finally settled!

Zucker acquired the Spider-Man rights for nine million dollars.

That was two million dollars more than Sony had paid in real life.

Of course, Zucker hadn't acquired the rights to Spider-Man alone. He'd also secured the rights to the comic characters associated with Spider-Man, such as Venom, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, and Mysterio. He could freely adapt them for films, while Marvel would only have some creative oversight to prevent conflicts with the Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline.

But there was another crucial point in the contract.

"For any future changes Marvel makes to Spider-Man's characterization, including the comic storylines, Zucker's Wald Pictures has final veto power."

Marvel's shareholders—and even Wald Pictures CEO Victor—were a little puzzled by this clause.

"Heh, do you think I'm going to tell you I'm a time traveler who knows what problems will come up later?" Zucker thought.

Spider-Man's characterization really was crucial!

For example, after Fox's Fantastic Four succeeded, Marvel once asked Fox to increase its share of the box office. Fox refused.

And how did Marvel respond?

Fine, you won't pay me more? Then I'll turn them all evil in the Fantastic Four comics.

Heroes became villains!

They made them utterly irredeemable.

The kind of evil that made your skin crawl!

And that wasn't all. Marvel killed them all off, too!

As a result, Fantastic Four left American audiences deeply unimpressed. Fantastic Four 2 performed terribly at the box office, causing huge losses, and the planned third and fourth films were scrapped before they could even get off the ground.

"I have to admit, Marvel can be ruthless!"

Zucker knew this was what lay ahead, so he certainly wasn't going to give Marvel a chance to pull the same trick.

Zucker was naturally thrilled to have secured the Spider-Man rights.

Even though it had cost him nine million dollars, when he thought about how brightly Spider-Man would shine in the future, he didn't mind the extra two million.

But...

Now there was a problem!

Zucker had just over three million dollars in liquid assets, and he already owed the bank a fortune. Where was he going to get hundreds of millions to make Spider-Man?

"Looks like I can't afford to slack off anymore. I'll have to find a way to make some money!"

That evening.

After dinner at home, Zucker unexpectedly received a phone call.

"Is this Zucker Wald?"

The voice on the phone belonged to a man, and he didn't sound very friendly.

"Speaking. Who's this? And let me tell you, I don't have a wife, much less a son, so if you're calling to say you've kidnapped my son, go ahead and kill him. And if you're calling to tell me I've won a prize, I should warn you that in just three months this year, I've already won two refrigerators, three microwaves, three Mercedes-Benzes, five BMWs, and a cash jackpot worth 270 million dollars. Go on, what have I won this time?"

Zucker rattled on and on.

If you're going to use that tone with me, don't expect me to be polite.

Let's see if I can talk you to death!

"Mr. Wald, please stop joking!" the man on the phone said, suppressing his anger.

Zucker curled his lip disdainfully. "Then get on with it."

"Mr. Wald, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kenta Dwight. I'm the deputy manager of MGM's production department."

"Oh? And then?"

"I know you acquired the Spider-Man rights. You can sell them to us now. Of course, MGM won't leave you out of pocket. How about 9.1 million dollars? That's a hundred-thousand-dollar profit for you."

At his words, Zucker burst out laughing.

Buddy, we're talking about Spider-Man!

You think you can fob me off with that?

Forget adding a hundred thousand. Zucker wouldn't sell even if they offered another ten million!

Just think about it. Once Spider-Man hit theaters, it would bring Zucker profits measured in the billions!

"Friend, how many dishes did you have tonight to get this drunk?" Zucker scoffed.

The man on the other end of the line froze.

"What do you mean?" he asked, bewildered.

"Heh! I mean you can go to hell! You're getting old, so you should go to bed early. I don't have time to sit here and shoot the breeze with you."

After saying that, Zucker hung up.

So what if you work for MGM?

MGM still called itself a major studio, but it had little more than the shell of one. Just look at the films it had released since the 1990s. Aside from one or two movies, it had survived on the James Bond franchise.

"Keep acting high and mighty. When I have money, you'll be the first company I buy. Hmph!"

<> Say a few words of thanks.

This book has been online for eight days now, and I haven't done any promotion or advertising. I'm already grateful for the results so far. We're almost at 300 favorites. Minister would like to thank everyone for your support.