Meizong Wealth Life

Chapter 148 Iron Man’s Strategic Partner

The comic background of Iron Man takes place during the Vietnam War, but in reality the United States is launching a war on terrorism against Afghanistan.

Hollywood responds quickly to hot topics, and film companies of all sizes are planning to launch films and TV series related to anti-terrorism themes.

Messer went one step further and directly changed the background of the movie version of Iron Man to Afghanistan.

On the one hand, I want to take advantage of the popularity of current events, and on the other hand, I also want to take the opportunity to catch up with a special "financier dad".

Pentagon!

Although the war is being fought on Afghan soil, the "propaganda war" in the United States will also be launched at the same time.

Although after the 911/ incident, Americans' support for the war on terrorism was very high.

But even the most optimistic Americans do not think that this war will end in a short time.

Ten years ago, the Gulf War, which established the United States' global military hegemony through World War I, lasted only half a year before it ended.

In this war in Afghanistan, although the strength comparison between the two sides is even greater than that of the Gulf War, the United States can be said to have an overwhelming advantage.

Mao Xiong felt the same way back then, thinking that winning Afghanistan would be a matter of minutes with sheer strength.

In the end, Afghanistan became known as the "Graveyard of the Empire".

Although the United States' so-called war on terrorism against Afghanistan is famous, most Americans believe that the war will last at least one to two years or even longer.

I guess the president who launched this war felt the same way. After all, the senior Elephant Party leader who launched the Gulf War had already proved one thing with his own experience.

Winning a war successfully does not guarantee re-election, but prolonging the war into the next campaign greatly increases the chance of re-election.

In the previous life, the United States had not yet finished Afghanistan, so it couldn’t wait.

Both civilians and high-level officials know that this war will not end quickly.

The U.S. military can certainly see this, too.

The prolongation of the war will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of military casualties and an expansion in military expenditures, all of which will trigger anti-war sentiment among the domestic public.

This is when the role of Hollywood becomes apparent.

Making more movies that reflect the positive image of the US military can dilute the domestic people's resistance to the war.

Of course, the U.S. Department of Defense will not directly invest in the filming of a movie, but it can indirectly control the filming of a movie by facilitating the filming of the relevant crew.

If a film crew wants to obtain this kind of convenient support, the price is that the script must be submitted to the relevant departments of the Pentagon for review, and the U.S. military will send representatives to the crew throughout the process to supervise the filming.

To put it bluntly, if you want to get the support of the US military for filming, then there cannot be plots in the movie that discredit the US military.

However, there are still many Hollywood movies that depict the U.S. military as villains.

This has caused a misunderstanding to many people, as if Hollywood can film whatever subjects it wants, and there is no restriction on creative freedom.

Actually not.

In fact, in all Hollywood movies that depict the U.S. military as villains and even those with the U.S. military as the villain, the U.S. troops appearing are actually “knockoffs.”

As long as you carefully observe the military uniforms and badges worn by the villains "U.S. Army" in these movies, you will find that the details are always different from the U.S. military in reality.

The difference is probably equivalent to Master Kong and Shuaifu Kang.

Hollywood producers are forced to do this because the Pentagon owns the copyright to all appearances of the U.S. military. If real U.S. troops appear in a movie, they must first obtain authorization from the Pentagon, otherwise they will be sued for infringement.

The Pentagon's authorization method is very simple and does not require you to pay, but the plot of the movie must be reviewed by the Pentagon.

The filming of "Iron Man" in the previous life received strong support from the Pentagon. The U.S. troops appearing in the movie are all genuine and definitely not the kind of knock-offs that are trying to sell off the meat of others.

This movie seems to be under the banner of anti-war. In the plot, Iron Man even shuts down the Stark Group's arms business. However, if you look closely, you will find that all the military characters in it are good people and none of them are villains.

This is the genius of the Pentagon.

The Pentagon and Hollywood are really several versions ahead of the world when it comes to making main theme movies.

It is better to block than to open up!

The best way to counteract the anti-war sentiments of the people in reality is not to vigorously promote the rationality of war in movies, exaggerate how brave the US military is, and how cruel and tyrannical the enemy terrorists are.

Social communication theory has long pointed out that public opinion is the best outlet for social emotions!

The film promotes anti-war, which allows the audience to subtly vent their real-life anti-war sentiments during the movie viewing process.

The film producers get a good reputation and the Pentagon gets benefits. There really shouldn't be too much tacit understanding in the cooperation.

It was precisely because of this that Messer set his sights on the Pentagon.

According to Messer's thinking, the superheroes currently in Marvel's hands are indeed not as good as Iron Man.

After all, Iron Man itself is a cultural product of the Vietnam War era, and it is easiest to get caught up in the current heat of the war in Afghanistan.

And compared to other superheroes who rely on various abstract superpowers to become powerful, Iron Man's growth experience of relying on real technology to become powerful is easier to be recognized and accepted by the audience.

In the previous life, "Iron Man 1 and 2" actually still followed the path of science fiction films. It was not until the beginning of "Iron Man 3" that the style slowly moved towards an abstract fantasy film.

So everything comes back to the key words that Messer brought up at the beginning.

rationality!

If current superhero movies want to gain recognition from the market and audiences, the most important thing is to be as close to reality as possible.

The success of the previous "Iron Man 1" was largely related to this, and a more successful example was the Nolan-like Batman trilogy from DC next door.

In order to be closer to reality, Nolan even gave up some of the surreal superhero movie settings.

As a result, "Iron Man 1" was released and took in a global box office of US$5.8 million.

"The Dark Knight", released in the same year, grossed over $10 billion at the global box office.

The first head-to-head confrontation between Marvel and DC, DC won completely.

At that time, no one, including Marvel itself, probably could believe that in a few years DC would be completely pinned to the ground by Marvel.

It is precisely because the Batman trilogy is too close to reality that DC won one game first and then lost the following ten years.

Now, for Messer, who is ambitious and wants to build the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man, the most realistic and reasonable among Marvel's many superheroes, is the one who can start the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Best choice.

In front of Messer at the dinner table, Jamie asked bluntly:

"Mr. Messer, after you have said so many reasons why Iron Man will definitely succeed, aren't you worried that I, the lion, will open my mouth and make it more difficult for Marvel to take back Iron Man?"

Messer shrugged and replied:

"Compared with being unable to recover the copyright to Iron Man, I am more worried that Mr. Dutton will dismiss my statement, because now the entire Hollywood knows that Mr. Dutton is the most loyal and ardent Iron Man fan. If even you are I don’t think I can succeed, so how can I convince the bank to give me a loan to make this movie?”

Jamie looked at Messer with a smile.

"So I can interpret what you just said to mean that you want me to endorse you and persuade banks to lend money to Marvel to make superhero movies. For this reason, you and Marvel are even willing to accept some of my excessive demands, right?"

Messer nodded.

But at the same time, he also emphasized that Marvel's acceptance of Jamie's request depends on how helpful Jamie can be in helping Marvel make superhero movies. The implication is that it is not enough to return the copyright of Iron Man to Marvel. It is best for Jamie to be deeply involved.

For example, share part of the film investment.

Messer only mentioned this briefly, but Jamie rejected it without hesitation.

Even if you know that investing in "Iron Man" is 100% profitable.

But now that Messer and Marvel have made it clear that they want to prostitute Jamie for free, this is definitely not possible.

"There is only one possibility for Iron Man to return to Marvel, and that is to rent!"

"Marvel used Iron Man to launch the movie universe plan, and for every movie Iron Man makes, you need to pay me a certain percentage of the revenue as royalties."

"If it is a movie in which multiple superheroes form a team to fight monsters, the share ratio will be determined based on Iron Man's plot role in the movie."

Jamie stated his request in one breath.

The translation of his words is, you can’t even think about having me for free, but I will definitely have to do it for you!

If it were anyone else, they would have left on the spot upon hearing such excessive demands.

Messer is still calm.

He knew that if Jamie really didn't want to cooperate, he could just refuse. There was no need to make such excessive demands that looked like driving people away.

This just shows that Jamie has great confidence in "Iron Man".

What Messer lacks most now is the confidence to convince others that "Iron Man" can succeed.

"Mr. Dutton, you know that under normal circumstances it is impossible for the Marvel board of directors to agree to this request unless you can come up with something more that can convince them."

Jamie looked at Messer with interest.

"For example?"

Messer replied with a firm look:

"A script!"

Messer's words actually contained some gambling elements.

It's not even a secret in Hollywood that Jamie wants to make a live-action "Iron Man" movie.

Jamie even proposed the idea of ​​a movie universe earlier, which made Messer more and more convinced that Jamie's acquisition of the copyright to "Iron Man" must not be as simple as love.

Messer is now betting that Jamie has a mature script ready for "Iron Man."

If the bet was successful, Messer could go to the bank with a ready-made script to raise funds.

"Betty!"

Jamie raised his hand and called his assistant over.

Penny also came with her. She wanted to get into action faster, not just be a beautiful vase in the eyes of outsiders.

"Make a note of Mr. Maisel's email address and send him the script for "Iron Man" later."

Betty immediately nodded and did so.

After taking note of Messer's mailbox, Betty and Penny returned to their original positions.

Penny immediately asked Betty about the "Iron Man" script, and Betty's answer was unexpected.

She shrugged and told Penny that she had never seen the "Iron Man" script.

Anyway, if Jamie said there is, then there will definitely be.

As an assistant, she only needs to conscientiously carry out the tasks assigned by Jamie.

On the other side, Ovitz also asked about the script, of course after Messer left happily.

"I lied to him."

Jamie explained to Ovitz without any guilt:

"Before today, I had not thought about how to structure the story of "Iron Man". What Messer just said inspired me a lot, and now the story is here."

He said and pointed to his head.

Ovitz had already seen Jamie's ability to make up new stories when he and Cameron discussed the follow-up story of "The Wandering Earth".

So he didn't doubt Jamie's statement at all.

What really worries Ovitz is whether Marvel's board of directors will accept Jamie's harsh conditions.

"I can tell that everything Messer just said is the truth, but from what I know about him, he must be hiding something."

"For example?" Jamie asked, pretending to be curious.

"To some extent, I think Messer is overstating Iron Man's importance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

Ovitz glanced at Jamie and immediately added:

"I'm not questioning your script and vision, and I also know that my understanding of Marvel is definitely not as good as yours."

"But even a person like me who doesn't know much about Marvel knows that Marvel has at least one superhero who can serve as Iron Man's replacement."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jamie gave him the answer first.

"You want to say Captain America, right?"

Ovitz nodded.

In his opinion, Captain America has one more advantage than Iron Man. He is a World War II hero.

The abilities of super soldiers are not too exaggerated compared to those of other superheroes.

From the perspective of rationality and closeness to reality, the American team can compete with Iron Man.

"You are right to say all this, but World War II is different from the current war in Afghanistan. In World War II, the United States was not only the biggest winner, but also had absolute justice. This is recognized by all countries in the world."

"But the current war in Afghanistan is different. Although I am not a conspiracy theorist, it is obvious that the United States cannot stand on the commanding heights of absolute morality and justice in this war."

"Although the United States was a victim of the 911 incident, many countries in the world, including those allies in the same camp, will definitely feel that all this is a backlash against the hegemony that the United States has implemented in the Middle East over the past decade."

"Even many Americans think so."

"Team America represents the glory of the past. The traditional concepts he represents may be what the current officials want to advocate, but they are not what people today are willing to accept."

"I admit that Captain America plays a greater role in deepening the core ideas of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than Iron Man, but without Iron Man, Captain America's traditional concepts will not be so easily accepted by the current audience."

(End of this chapter)