Chapter 595 "Little Golden Pig"
Chapter 595 "Little Golden Pig"
the first two years.
Marvel Entertainment took a gamble and ambitiously used comic characters as collateral to borrow $5.25 million from Merrill Lynch Securities, intending to enter the field of film production. It can be said that it was betting its entire fortune.
Due to the lack of relevant experience and obstruction from other Hollywood film companies, the preparation process of "Iron Man" was not smooth.
When Fan Wumian first became famous, he heard that Marvel Entertainment had taken back the copyrights of several superheroes and was preparing to develop a series of Marvel superhero movies on its own, hoping that it would be as successful as the "Spider-Man" series.
After such a long time, he has gone from a poor boy to a billionaire with a net worth of more than one billion dollars, while Marvel Studios is still standing still and "Iron Man" has not started filming yet.
In contrast, Fan Wumian's film series such as "A Quiet Place" and "Lost on Journey" are already preparing for the third installment. The efficiency of the two sides is simply worlds apart.
Of course.
As a work that carries all the hopes of Marvel management and is also a big-budget special effects movie, the preparation stage should indeed be carried out with extreme caution.
The fact that "Iron Man" became a global hit and successfully created the beginning of the "Marvel Universe" had a lot to do with the fact that the company could not afford any losses and had to polish the script over and over again and form a filming team.
The old saying that slow work produces fine work is obviously true, but Fan Wumian's existence is rather special. He knew from the very beginning which was the right path to take, and that is why he released various types of film and television works one after another, like making dumplings.
It would be difficult for someone else to successfully replicate his super high efficiency. It is very common in Hollywood to spend two or three years polishing a movie.
For example, the filming of "Avatar" currently underway, the entire project can be traced back to 1994, when James Cameron wrote a full 80-page script discussion, but due to technical limitations, the project was postponed indefinitely.
It was not until 2005 that director Cameron invited experts to help build the language system and the plant and animal system of the Avatar world, and the project was finally officially restarted.
The project was launched in 2005, but filming has only begun now. Including post-production, it will be delayed for another two to three years. So when seeing other film and television drama investors making money, Fan Wumian really has no need to be jealous.
Others earn their money through hard work, and may lose all their money at any time. In contrast, his Bandit King Media and Myth Film Studio are real money printing machines.
On average, the preparation time for each project is only about half a year, and from shooting to release it is less than 9 months. If Fan Wumian hadn't deliberately kept some works on hand, the post-production process would have been even faster.
The advantage of maintaining a high turnover is that it does not put too much pressure on money. Many colleagues want to learn from him, but unfortunately they cannot do it. Short preparation time means that the quality is likely to be problematic. Even if a work of good quality is produced, it may not be welcomed by the market.
Fan Wumian has entered a virtuous circle. Not only can he produce good works, but he can also promote and attract traffic through various channels, and then convert his fame into actual profits. He is simply winning.
Only people in the industry can see how difficult it is for him to maintain this miraculous mass production model. Therefore, even some of his colleagues who don’t like him very much have to admit how “genius” Fan Wumian is.
According to public information, Marvel Entertainment borrowed $5.25 million from Merrill Lynch, which means that Marvel will have to pay approximately $2500 million more in interest for every year its project is delayed.
The difficulty in producing the "Iron Man" project will most likely cause a lot of anxiety to Marvel's shareholders and executives, but for Fan Wumian, it is undoubtedly a happy event worth celebrating.
It's like the race between the tortoise and the hare. The hare is stuck in a trap and can't get out, while Fan Wumian is like a tortoise with nitrous acceleration on, speeding all the way to catch up.
When he first saw Marvel Entertainment, he lamented that the company was worth more than a billion dollars, and he had no chance of getting a piece of the pie. The gap in strength was too great, probably like the difference between a professional boxer and a kindergarten student.
Looking back now.
Fan Wumian's net worth is as high as more than one billion US dollars, but Marvel Entertainment's stock price has continued to fall in the bull market, and its total market value is only over 10 billion US dollars.
If it weren't for the "Iron Man" project as a fig leaf, which kept promising investors a lot and barely propped up the stock price on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, the stock price would have fallen even more. After all, the comic industry is in a downturn, most young people are playing computers, and Marvel Entertainment has been dragging down its performance due to its large debt, so it would be strange if the stock price could rise.
While dining with several executives from Myth Film Studio, Fan Wumian was obsessed with Marvel Entertainment's shares and asked:
"Have you heard the news that some Hollywood giant has set its sights on Marvel's comic adaptation rights?"
"To be honest, I have some doubts that some people are setting a trap for Marvel to fall into. If its film projects are unsuccessful, many of its comic book characters will be taken over by Merrill Lynch. With the profitability of Marvel's other businesses, it will be difficult to repay such a large loan, and it can only rely on the copyrights of the comic book characters to repay the debt."
"Don't think too much about it. I'm just asking casually. I'm also very interested in Marvel's superheroes. I've thought about working with Marvel before, but unfortunately they looked down on me at the time."
The reason why he tried to find out the situation indirectly was that Fan Wumian wanted to buy up a batch of Marvel Entertainment shares before the official filming of "Iron Man" started.
He was worried that other big Hollywood companies would intervene, so he made some preparations in advance and prepared to find out the situation first to avoid being caught off guard.
A white executive told him:
"Young people particularly like superhero movies. As far as I know, since the Spider-Man series became a big hit at the box office, many companies have tried to develop in this direction. However, Hollywood has always been very exclusive, and major film companies will not allow other competitors to disrupt the market. I feel that Marvel may encounter a lot of resistance."
The person in charge who was sitting opposite Fan Wumian also shook his head and replied:
"Fantastic Four, Elektra, High School, The Hulk, Catwoman. I can name a lot of superhero movies that didn't do well at the box office."
"Perhaps Iron Man will be one of them, because Marvel Studios has no experience in producing and distributing movies on its own. Works of this theme are too expensive, and computer special effects technology will inevitably be used, which requires a high box office to recover the cost."
"Compared with them, our company's current development model is quite advantageous, as it controls costs to the extreme."
Fan Wumian just wanted to understand the situation and had no intention of seeking advice from others.
Because he knew what the future would be like, many seemingly professional comments seemed to him no different from those of some people who confidently said, "I'm very smart, 1+1 equals 3." He couldn't help laughing after hearing them.
This morning, Apple's stock price opened high and ended low. Before Fan Wumian came to eat, the increase was only about 1.3%.
Calculated at this price, the paper profit is more than 10 million US dollars. Although it has not been completely pocketed, Fan Wumian has made preparations in advance to invest money in Marvel Entertainment once he makes money.
The subprime mortgage crisis came suddenly, and since we are not clear about the specific stock price trend, there will be extremely high risks if we act hastily.
Investing in Marvel Entertainment is different. "Iron Man" is about to start filming. If nothing goes wrong, after it is released, the stock price of Marvel Entertainment will soar, and there is a high probability that it will be acquired by a Hollywood giant.
After waiting for a year or two, maybe he could make back his principal and interest, and earn 400 to 500 percent profit. This number seemed quite good to him, and it was very suitable to use it as a "little golden pig" to hedge the risk of losses in other entertainment businesses.
After briefly understanding the situation, Fan Wumian changed the subject and asked about the post-production of "Wushuang" and "The Tuner".
It took him nearly an hour to finish the lunch. After paying the bill, he got in the car and asked the driver to drive to San Francisco in the north along California Highway 1, which is said to have beautiful scenery.
Since he had nothing to do during the trip, Fan Wumian contacted a British company that specializes in selling private jets.
I unexpectedly learned that the new Falcon 7X launched by France's Dassault is quite good. Not only is it faster than the Gulfstream G550, it also uses a digital flight control system derived from fighter jets, which further improves safety and supports short-distance takeoff and landing at small airports.
There are also disadvantages. The price of Falcon 7X is expected to exceed 5000 million US dollars, which is 550 to million US dollars more expensive than Gulfstream G.
(End of this chapter)