Since 1996, Marvel's stock had risen somewhat, but the company still couldn't escape bankruptcy and restructuring. Its troubles only grew more severe.
One day in 2003, a young man approached Marvel executive Isaac Perlmutter with a brilliant idea.
That young man was David Maisel!
David: "I have a crazy idea. Why don't you use your own brand to produce a series of films? Why can't the superheroes in those films cross over with one another, just like they do in the comics?"
Marvel: "I can do that?!"
It was a million-dollar proposal—and the prototype for the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
After the company's animation department was established, Zucker called all its employees together to discuss SpongeBob SquarePants. After the meeting, he appointed Stephen head of the animation department on the spot. David Maisel became his second-in-command and the department's chief screenwriter.
Zucker had grand visions for the company's animation department!
In the days that followed, Zucker's workload grew even heavier.
He spent his days either on set or visiting the company's animation department to check on SpongeBob SquarePants's progress. Sometimes he went to Silicon Valley to see how ICQ's development was coming along. On top of that, he now had Lima, his young girlfriend, which meant shopping trips and long phone calls. He also squeezed in management studies whenever he could.
He was swamped!
But he was also fulfilled.
"Being a time-traveler isn't easy!"
"Tell me, I've already traveled through time, and I still have to study. Where's the justice in that?!"
"It's not easy being a billionaire!"
As he grumbled, Zucker kept turning the pages and studying. Sure, he had a large team of managers working for him, but as the boss, he couldn't afford to be clueless about how the various departments were run. At the very least, he had to make sure no one pulled the wool over his eyes.
People were bad by nature!
That was the principle Zucker lived by.
Of course, there was a reason he was so cynical. You should never think too highly of people. Wasn't there no shortage of managers who took their bosses for a ride?
The bigger the company, the fiercer the internal power struggles!
And clashes between company executives, the boss, and shareholders were common too.
Zucker felt confident about the future. One day, his wealth would surely exceed ten billion dollars. If he didn't have the skills to manage it himself, then once the benefits of time-traveling ran out, he'd never be able to hold on to such a vast fortune.
"Not a soul is going to take advantage of me—not even the managers who work for me."
July 1.
Los Angeles, the main SpongeBob House location.
"All right, let's hear how each location did last month." Zucker took a sip of coffee.
At his words, the managers of several locations seated around him—including his longtime neighbor James—began giving their reports.
"Boss, our flagship location netted $120,000 in June, up a whopping 58 percent from May. Business was fantastic."
"Our second location did well too. We hit a new high in net profit: $118,000."
"Your second location did great, but our third hit a new high too, with $105,000 in net profit."
Everyone was smiling as they spoke, and the mood was excellent.
Business was booming, so they were earning more too. How could they not be happy?
June had been an extraordinarily successful month for SpongeBob House. All seven locations had set new sales records, earning Zucker $650,000 in profit over the month. That was up 42 percent from the previous month and an impressive 91 percent from April.
"You've all worked hard. Come on, give yourselves a round of applause!" Zucker said with a smile.
Clap, clap, clap!
The applause rang out, and James and the others blushed.
This month's bonuses would definitely be generous.
"Boss, our locations are doing so well thanks to everyone's hard work. But the most important reason is that you had the foresight to secure the merchandising rights to several hit movies ahead of time." Everyone nodded in agreement with James.
"Keep it low-key. How many times have I told you not to make a big deal out of me?" Zucker shot James an exasperated look.
Truthfully, though, the praise made him beam inside.
This was such a classic underdog mentality!
Strictly speaking, James wasn't wrong. The reason SpongeBob House's seven locations had kept setting new records over the past two months really was Zucker's brilliant foresight.
Twister opened on May 1 and took in $41.05 million on its opening day. Its North American box office had now reached $230 million.
Mission: Impossible opened on May 22 to a massive $45.4 million. By yesterday, its cumulative box office had exceeded $150 million.
The Rock opened on June 7 with $25 million and had so far grossed a full $100 million in North America.
All of these films were among the top ten highest-grossing movies in North America in 1996. Zucker had also secured the merchandising rights for the Los Angeles area. Even if their merchandise wasn't the kind that usually sold best at animation-themed stores, there was strength in numbers!
Zucker had made a fortune!
"Everyone, today's July 1, and Independence Day opens the day after tomorrow. I'm sure you know what that means." Zucker's voice turned serious.
James and the others nodded firmly.
Come on, it was Independence Day!
The highest-grossing film in North America in 1996!
It had made $306 million in North America and $817 million worldwide.
On top of that, Zucker had secured the film's merchandising rights for the Los Angeles area. After paying 20th Century Fox a million dollars, he'd also obtained the rights to sell merchandise online throughout North America, though only for two years.
That's right: online sales of merchandise!
After Wald Pictures signed a strategic agreement with Amazon Store, Zucker had been working toward selling movie merchandise online. The Independence Day merchandise was the first step.
"Big companies really are shameless!"
"20th Century Fox is the worst. They charged me a million dollars for just two years of online merchandising rights!"
Zucker cursed the big companies under his breath.
And sure enough, the big companies were shameless. They'd never sold movie merchandise online before, but when Zucker approached them, they were willing to give it a try. The two-year limit on the online rights showed just how shrewd they were.
If you make money, fine—we'll raise the price of online merchandising rights for our next films!
If you make a killing, even better—we won't sell the online rights at all next time. We don't need to open stores, so we'll make even more profit ourselves.
There was no denying it: the internet's rapid growth had dealt a huge blow to brick-and-mortar stores. That was true in Great China, and even more so in America.
By 2020, the North American movie-merchandise market would be worth $20 billion, with as much as $15 billion coming from online sales. That was why Zucker hadn't opened any more physical stores after making money from his merchandise locations.
It was rough out there, man!
"Ding-dong!"
[Congratulations, host. You have received a set of materials and a proposal related to Got Talent.]
Holy crap!
The system, which usually pretended to be dead, had finally come back to life?!
Here's the second update.
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