Chapter 169 Sending Gadot Away, Aiming at Marvel

Chapter 165 165. Send Gadot away and aim at Marvel

At night, Gadot's apartment.

I haven't slept at her place for several days. If I don't come, the girl will start to complain.

Eric and Gadot, Judy and Bar Refaeli, three women and one man, sat on a sofa to make out. Snacks, fruits and beer were placed on the table.

Hmm!

"Hahaha, it's a little itchy, don't scratch it."

Gadot slapped Eric's hand away: "Okay, the last episode is about to start, don't make trouble!"

Eric then moved his head away from her neck and looked at the TV. HBO was doing the final warm-up. The finale of the first season of "The Walking Dead" will be opened in a few minutes.

After three months, this groundbreaking zombie TV series is about to usher in the final episode.

The reason why it has been broadcast for so long is that the first season led by Eric is actually a fusion of the original first and second seasons, but the boring and long-winded emotional dramas have been carefully edited.

The original 19 episodes were compressed into 13 episodes, coupled with Darabont's superb directing skills.

The plot has a strong ability to pull the audience's emotions, and the climax can be described as one wave after another.

From the beginning of the broadcast to now, 8 million users watched the first episode, and by the 12th episode last week, the number of users watching had exceeded 13 million.

HBO is also very excited. For this last episode, the publicity resources are in full swing, with the goal of breaking the 14 million mark tonight.

You should know that the peak of "Band of Brothers" is only 10 million, and the peak number of users of HBO's old pillar "The Sopranos" has not yet exceeded 9 million.

This shows that the ratings of "The Walking Dead" are very high, especially among young groups, which far exceeds other dramas.

According to the data obtained by MGM, HBO has increased the number of new users by nearly 4 million thanks to "The Walking Dead".

When this episode ends tonight, according to the contract, the TV station will pay MGM an additional fee of 10 million US dollars.

"Judy, give me a beer."

The two women parted their lips, and Judy rolled her eyes at him: "Can't you see what I'm doing? You have hands and feet, so get it yourself."

"Be careful, I'll fire you tomorrow because you stepped into the company with your left foot first."

"Hehe, dear, I'll get it for you."

Gadot sat in Eric's arms with a plate, her hair full of vanilla scent made people feel refreshed, and she pinched pieces of fruit with her fingers and put them into his mouth.

"Tsk tsk. Look at the two of you, you're just like a foolish king and his doting little lover." Judy complained.

The two ignored her, and Gadot bit off half of the apple and snuggled up to Eric.

"Honey, Happy Death Day has been filmed. Are you planning to arrange a new job for me recently?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. If there is no new job, I plan to go home. I have been deceived by you for almost a year. I can only contact my family by phone. I miss them."

Bar Refaeli looked over and said, "Gadot, I will be as long as you haven't been home. My mother also wants me to go back and see you."

Looking at the two women who were homesick, Eric also felt that it was time to give each other a vacation. Take a break for a while to adjust. The spring can't be tightened all the time.

He nodded gently: "Then go back. I will give you a month's vacation. Happy Death Day will be released at the end of August. You can come back early. You also need to cooperate with the promotion."

"What about me?" Refaeli asked hurriedly.

"You can't. House of Cards will start shooting on Monday. Your role is very important. You must participate in the whole process. You can't let Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright wait for you."

Bar Refaeli choked. Let the best actor and actress wait for her unless she has a brain injury.

Even though The Walking Dead made her stand out and some media labeled her a rising star and dark horse, she still had to be compared with whom.

Hollywood also emphasizes seniority, which is a universal rule.

Judy patted her on the back and comforted her, saying, "Lefali, Eric shoots very quickly, much faster than Delabon, and a TV series will never take more than two months."

"And House of Cards is a key project of MGM. With the support of Oscar winners, your popularity will definitely be raised to a higher level."

"You think, when the second season of The Walking Dead starts filming, Maggie will surpass Daryl and Rick to become the number one in popularity ranking. Isn't that very motivated?"

Bar Lefali thought about it and smiled.

On the TV screen, the BGM of The Walking Dead sounded, and the last episode began.

The opening scene was a big scene, with countless zombies moving quickly towards the farm in the dark.

Rick, who had just killed his good brother Sean, ran away with his son Carl and was almost knocked down by zombies several times.

These zombies are as fast as humans trotting, and their attack power is fierce. This is also the zombie rule set by Eric and Delabond. Don't be slow.

Then the farm attack and defense battle took place, and the team began to lose their lives to the zombies. The scene was cruel and exciting.

Gadot widened her eyes nervously: "Why did so many people die! If they die again, there will be no one left in the protagonist group."

Eric stroked her little head: "It's the last episode, of course, we have to screen out the insignificant minor characters. After the screening, the protagonist group will be officially established, and then the new copy of the second season will start."

A zombie war lasted for more than ten minutes, and finally the farm was engulfed in fire.

Hundreds of flaming zombies rushed towards the car. At the critical moment, the protagonists finally escaped separately, leaving only the unlucky Andrea.

"OMG! Andrea hasn't gotten in the car yet, Rick didn't notice her, she's going to die!"

"Don't worry, Andrea has her own destiny, someone will save her."

On TV, only Green played by Daniel Wu and Maggie played by Rafaeli were acting against each other.

Eric couldn't help but ask, "Rafaeli, how did Daniel Wu perform on the set?"

"Very good, he's an experienced actor, he taught me some experience when we were acting together, and he was also very gentlemanly."

"Later I found out that he was already a big star in Hong Kong and was very popular there."

"Did you know? He hurried back to China after his scenes were finished. Darabont didn't want to let him go, but Daniel said he joined Jack Chen's crew and was about to shoot a new Jack Chen movie, so Darabont let him go."

"Jackie Chan's movie, New Police Story?"

"I don't know the details, it seems to be It was related to the police. That day we found out that Daniel was a big star in Hong Kong. He only made movies and not TV series. "

Judy laughed and said, "So you still don't understand? Movie stars from other countries must start from small roles when they come to Hollywood. Only in Hollywood can you become a world star."

Eric added, "Daniel Wu is actually an American, but he is limited by his yellow skin and went to China to develop. When the market on the other side rises, he will get more opportunities."

Finally, after escaping from the farm, the protagonists gathered again. At this time, only Rick, Daryl, Kama, Green, Maggie, Carl and other members were left.

Rick finally became the leader of the team through his mouth and ability.

After 13 episodes of foreshadowing, the core of the finale team was established, and they needed to find a new shelter.

The camera pulled away, and a prison stood there, symbolizing the main stage of the second season.

At the same time, Andrea escaped from the farm, but she could not get rid of the zombies' pursuit.

She finally fell to the ground exhausted, and was about to be eaten by the zombies, and only heard the sound of breaking wind.

A cold light flashed, and the zombie's head had been chopped off.

Andrea looked at the savior in front of her in surprise. It was a man shrouded in a black robe, and the samurai sword in his hand flashed with cold light.

Behind the black-robed man, two zombies were chained, and everything looked very weird.

So far, the first season of "The Walking Dead" has officially ended.

"Huh? Is that the end?" Gadot stared at the cast list with wide eyes.

"It's over, didn't you see that this episode is already 60 minutes long, it's an extended version."

"But the matter hasn't been explained clearly yet, who is the black-robed man? Why doesn't he show his face?"

"Okay, baby, that's the suspense left for the second season, and they still have to attract the audience."

"No, no, tell me what will happen next, and what is the identity of the black-robed man?" Gadot pestered relentlessly.

Judy said happily: "Don't ask Gadot, Eric certainly doesn't know. He must not even be sure whether the black robed man is a man or a woman, so he covered his whole body."

Eric nodded: "Yes, I only wrote the script for the first season. The second season is in the hands of Darabont. I don't care."

"If you want to know the plot, you have to ask that bald man, but I guess he is still thinking about it."

In desperation, Gadot could only hold back her curiosity.

And Eric did not lie to her. In the second season, he only gave Darabont a few suggestions.

For example, it is necessary to add an external boss to put pressure on the protagonist group, and it is necessary to let some characters gradually grow to enhance the strength of the protagonist group. In addition, some characters that the audience hates can also be appropriately offline.

He did not make specific requirements, and did not even give a story framework.

Eric believes that with Darabont's ability, the level of "The Walking Dead" will not drop drastically within at least five seasons.

As for after five seasons, it is normal for the screenwriter and director to run out of inspiration, and they can just change blood and change people.

Eric is now looking forward to the Emmy Awards in September. He wonders how many awards The Walking Dead can win, and whether he can win the Best Drama Screenwriter Award.

With each passing day, Eric and Judy can hear each other's voices through a wall. They start to compete.

From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookstore, and then from Sanwei Bookstore back to Baicao Garden.

See who has better endurance and who can make the sound louder.

Finally, after hearing two high-pitched chirps from the other side, Eric also delivered to Gadot, who was already exhausted.

The next day, after sending Gadot to the airport, Eric came to the office as usual.

Chen Xing was waiting outside the door, and followed in with a document: "Boss, I have investigated and sorted out the things you arranged, and the general context is sorted out. It's all here."

Eric nodded: "Okay, go out, I'll take a look first."

The content of this document is the history of Marvel's development, and it is also the next key target of MGM.

Now it is 2003, and time is already quite urgent. Wait for another two years.

Once Marvel successfully raises funds and launches the Iron Man project, they will have missed the best opportunity.

Remember that Mickey Mouse spent more than $4 billion to buy Marvel in 2009. If it was before the Iron Man project was launched, this number could be reduced several times.

Eric flipped through the information. Many people knew the previous history, so he just glanced at it and skipped it.

Captain America took advantage of the World War II to beat the mustache comics and sales soared, and Marvel began to emerge in the industry.

After the end of World War II, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, the juvenile crime rate in the United States soared. Due to the lack of supervision, comics involved a lot of pornographic and violent content, and naturally became the target of social criticism.

Then came the trial of the law and society. For a while, comics became the source of evil, and were even directly listed as contraband by cities such as Detroit and Salt Lake City.

It was quite like everything was the fault of games at the beginning of the century. Games were the culprits who destroyed children, and games smelled like electronic powder.

What's even funnier is that in order to restore their reputation, publishers joined forces to formulate new industry rules, requiring that justice must defeat evil, and at the same time, creatures such as werewolves, vampires, and Frankenstein were prohibited from appearing in comics.

And then they confronted the other side that no spirits are allowed and no ghosts are allowed.

When this trend faded, comic sales once again ushered in a period of growth, and Marvel began to gradually surpass DC to become the new industry leader.

And in 1989, Marvel finally ushered in the destined person, and was about to start its tragic decade of wandering.

This person was certainly not Stan Lee, but Ronald Perelman, a capital tycoon, who set his sights on the hot comic market.

As we all know, once you are targeted by capital, most of the time you will not end well.

Perelman spent $82.5 million to bring Marvel under his control, and then used his personal connections to go public and raise funds.

Marvel's stock price soared to more than $30, and its market value exceeded $4 billion, and then it began a crazy money-spending mode, expanding and merging continuously.

Among the stocks purchased was a very important toy company, Beech Toys, and two shareholders of Beech Toys also joined the Marvel board of directors, Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

But this prosperous scene only lasted for two years, and the comics market once again ushered in a major collapse, because the leeks were cut too hard.

The general market pays attention to sustainability and exhausts the fish in the pond, but the comics market at that time did not care at all and went straight to the root.

Major companies constantly launched collector's editions, limited editions, and special editions, hyping comic books as works of art and collectibles.

The price of a limited edition comic book can soar to thousands of dollars, which is more expensive than gold.

The question is, do you have that value? Does the public recognize your artistic value?

You don't have that ability, you know!

It's just a small circle of true fans.

And this kind of chaos, even the most fanatical fans can't afford it, just like a garbage game that forces krypton, and the final result is that players quit the pit one after another, and the market completely collapses.

Whether it's Marvel or DC, the sales can't be described as halved, and they are close to violent death.

When Marvel was at its lowest, it laid off only 6 screenwriters, and a large number of comics were discontinued. From then on, it embarked on the road of selling copyrights to survive.

If the big companies are in such a bad situation, the small companies are even worse off. According to statistics, at least 300 of them have closed down.

However, even at this critical moment of life and death, Perelman still thinks that Marvel still has money to be made.

This old Deng wants to continue to expand and merge, to put it bluntly, he is just creating a false bubble to facilitate him to continue to cut leeks in the stock market.

However, this time he did not succeed. He encountered opposition and sniping from Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

After a series of events in the middle, the lawsuit was finally brought to court and Perelman was driven away.

Marvel and Beech Toys merged into one, or more accurately, they were acquired by the latter.

You know, when it was prosperous in the past two years, Marvel bought 46% of Beech Toys' shares, but it didn't expect to pull it down in a few years and was acquired by someone else.

After a few years of tossing, Marvel has improved to this day, but it has been impacted by the Internet and video games.

People's enthusiasm for comics has long been greatly reduced, making it difficult to regain its past glory.

Now it survives by selling peripherals, and the only well-known film and television copyrights in its hands are Thor, Captain America and a few others.

In the stock market, Marvel's stock price is now $3.21 per share. It cannot be said to be a junk stock, but it is still a certain distance from the average line, and it is a typical dying and dying.

The market value is also very low, and it also relies on selling toy peripherals as the main profit point.

Hasbro's stock price has now rushed to $39.2 per share, especially after the release of the trailer of "Transformers", it has directly increased by 11%, and the company's market value is nearly $7 billion.

Marvel's market value is only less than $1.2 billion, and the difference between the two is 6 times, so although now is not the best time to buy Marvel at the bottom, it is also the last chance.

If you want to acquire Marvel or take the first step to become Marvel's controlling shareholder, you must negotiate with Beech Toys.

Because Marvel's CEO is Avi Arad, and Avi Arad actually has to obey the real boss Isaac Perlmutter.

As for Stan Lee, who many fans consider to be the father of Marvel, he can only get a fixed salary and movie dividends.

This movie dividend is of course only for the movies made by Marvel itself, and the copyrights sold are not counted, so it is equivalent to nothing.

Stan Lee is just a senior employee, he has no say in the company's decision-making, but he has a high status in the hearts of fans.

"Isaac Perlmutter and Avi Arad, it seems I need to visit them."

"But what reason should I find? Help you sell toys? It seems that they don't need this."

"At least Marvel also has the channels that Double Star Entertainment has. Before controlling Hasbro, the strategy of toy peripherals was not attractive enough."

"Investing to help you make movies? Turn Marvel into your own employee, and then wait for MGM to go public to complete the acquisition. This is a feasible way."

Ring.

While Eric was thinking, his phone suddenly rang. It was Fitz Heisenberg.

"Fitz, what's wrong?"

"Boss, myspace is online!"