hollywood melon man

Chapter 439 DC, Marvel, Pixar

It's still a little early to bring up this matter now. Gilbert Jr. just wrote the script of "Wushuang" with the screenwriters of Cantaloupe Studios and submitted it to Disney and Warner.

Now his project must be the most important project for both companies.

For original films, other film directors need to go around and beg for investment, but Gilbert doesn't need to. But he still has to go through the process and get the script approved by the censorship committee.

Generally speaking, as long as the script is not outrageous, the censorship committee will give it the green light, and the script will soon be submitted to senior management for discussion.

Disney and Warner had different reactions. Disney was of course supportive. Disney had originally heard that Warner Pictures was interested in restarting the "Batman" series, and Gilbert Jr. had agreed to direct.

If a Batman movie is really made this year, Disney will have nothing to do with it, after all, DC is a subsidiary of Warner Pictures.

Today, superhero movies are about to become a blue ocean, but Disney does not have the copyrights of any well-known superheroes and can only watch helplessly.

However, Vice President Solomon reminded the senior management: "Ladies and gentlemen, it's not that we don't have it, we just haven't fought for it yet."

Robert Iger was curious: "Oh? Why do you say that? Are there any other well-known superhero copyrights that we can get?"

Facing the curious eyes of many executives, Solomon said: "Marvel..."

All of a sudden, the executives realized that, yes, Marvel Studios is located in Burbank, and it is said that they are planning to shoot their first superhero movie.

Solomon continued: "Don't forget, everyone, Hollywood is an unfamiliar territory for Marvel. Even if it makes movies in the future, it will need large distribution companies to help it distribute the movies.

This is our opportunity to get the distribution rights for Marvel movies and find an opportunity to swallow up Marvel."

"But," one executive expressed his doubts: "Although Marvel has no experience, Gilbert Jr. does, and he is the boss of Marvel!"

"It is precisely because of this that Gilbert Jr. knows very well that Marvel wants to survive in Hollywood.

If Marvel doesn’t want to become another DreamWorks, it will definitely accept the conditions of the distribution company,” Solomon said.

DreamWorks has had a hard time in recent years, and every time DreamWorks has had a hard time, Spielberg has stepped in to save it.

But no matter how great a director is, he cannot support a huge film company. Spielberg can't do it, and James Cameron can't do it.

Even if little Gilbert traveled through time and space and was reborn, it would be difficult for him to do it.

What Solomon said did make sense, and all the executives agreed.

However, if Disney wants to acquire Marvel again, it will definitely need to obtain Gilbert Jr.'s consent, and it will be through the method of share exchange.

Gilbert Jr. will definitely wait until the Marvel movies are successful and the market value increases before considering the acquisition proposal.

In the future, Gilbert Jr. might surpass the Disney family and become Marvel's largest shareholder, which is something many board members, especially those from the Disney family, do not want to see.

But if everything is as Solomon said, Disney can't let Marvel go for nothing. It can't just watch Marvel fall into the hands of other companies, right?

The worries of each side are different. Warner's worry is, when will Gilbert Jr. restart the "Batman" series?
Although Gilbert Jr. has long said that the new Batman movie is a spin-off and has nothing to do with the original, DC movies have been rotten for so many years, so we are counting on Gilbert Jr. to save DC movies.

As long as the "Batman" movie is successful, DC's subsequent movie plans can also be carried out.

For this reason, Warner Bros. Pictures canceled the projects of "Superman" and "Catwoman" and waited for Gilbert Jr. to take action.

As a result, Gilbert Jr. turned around and made a crime film, which made the Warner executives a little overwhelmed.

So Warner Bros. CEO Doug Walter made a special trip to visit Gilbert Jr. to ask for his thoughts.

"Little Gilbert, what on earth are you thinking? Warner and DC have been waiting for this movie for too long. Everyone expects Batman to reappear on the big screen and save Gotham City."

"Doug, don't be anxious!" Little Gilbert poured tea for Doug Walter without looking panicked at all.

"How can we not be anxious? Spider-Man and X-Men 2 have been big hits in a row. The era of superhero movies has really arrived. That's what you said.

Now, seeing other companies' movies selling well, DC and Warner executives feel very unbalanced."

Doug Walter even wanted to tie up little Gilbert and make a Batman movie.

Little Gilbert laughed and persuaded Doug Walter to calm down: "Doug, you need to calm down. Do you know what is the most important thing about hunting and fishing?"

"what?"

"It's patience..." Little Gilbert continued, "It's the same with filming. Any quick success is not advisable. You must be patient.

In this regard, you need to learn more from Bob. He is much more patient than you.

You at least have a DC in your hand, but he has nothing."

"He's not in a hurry because he doesn't have it, right? If he had the copyright to a superhero movie, he would have already found a production team to start filming," said Doug Walter.

The two film companies collaborated with more than just Gilbert Jr. as a director. Each company had some directors they frequently collaborated with, and even if Gilbert Jr. was not around, they could find others.

But DC’s previous tragic failure is still fresh in people’s minds, so Warner would rather wait until Gilbert Jr. is free to shoot, otherwise they would have found other directors long ago.

"That's true," Gilbert agreed, but he added, "He's now anxious to find the copyright for a superhero movie."

"Where can he get the superhero movie copyrights now? DC is in Warner's hands, and Marvel..." Doug Walter reacted: "Will Disney ask you for Marvel?" "Very likely," Gilbert Jr. stood up, patted Doug Walter on the shoulder and said: "Marvel Studios has already made a plan, and will launch its first movie project the year after next."

"Can you tell me which superhero it is?"

"Iron Man, Tony Stark." Little Gilbert did not hide anything, and there was nothing to hide.

"Will you direct it yourself?" Doug Walter was very concerned about this question.

"No," Gilbert Jr. said he was not interested: "I will be the producer and find a good director to direct the film."

Doug Walter understood, but he didn't mention the release.

After all, they already have DC, and if they try to snatch the distribution rights from Marvel, not only other film companies will not agree, but Gilbert himself will also be unlikely to agree.

Little Gilbert added: "As for Bruce Wayne, we'll start preparing next year after we finish this project!"

After talking for so long, Doug Walter finally heard a piece of news that made him happy: "That's great, little Gilbert, I will feel relieved only if Bruce Wayne is handed over to you!"

It is indeed a relief. If Gilbert Jr. cannot save DC and Batman, Doug Walter doesn't know who can do it.

After seeing Doug Walter off, Gilbert Jr. made a special trip to San Francisco to visit Jobs, mainly to discuss Apple and Pixar.

"Little Gilbert, you don't have to persuade me anymore. I will not accept the treatment of a quack." Jobs was stubborn and remained unmoved by Little Gilbert's persuasion.

Jobs has been recovering from illness recently, but has refused to receive Western medical treatment.

Gilbert Jr. tried to persuade Jobs based on Apple's development and his personal relationship with Jobs, but it didn't have much effect, so he gave up.

Perhaps it was Jobs' stubbornness that allowed him to achieve what he has today, but this stubbornness was also killing him.

The topic of the two turned to Apple's latest products, and Jobs said, "The R&D lab has already made several concept phones based on the smartphone solution you proposed."

As he spoke, Jobs asked his assistant to deliver several mobile phones that were very novel for that era and looked very sci-fi.

Gilbert looked at these phones, turned them on and tried them out, then said to Jobs, "The touch screen solution is not mature yet, so the keyboard cannot be completely eliminated from mobile phones."

Jobs said he was not in a hurry: "This is only the first generation. In the second, third, and even fourth generations, we will completely abandon the keyboard."

"You know more about technology than I do, so I won't say much." Little Gilbert expressed his relief.

But Jobs disagreed: "If there is anyone in Hollywood who understands technology best, it is undoubtedly you, little Gilbert."

Jobs was a very arrogant person, and there were few people he could look at with respect, and Gilbert Jr. was one of them.

After talking about Apple, the two talked about Pixar Studios.

Gilbert Jr. asked, "Steve, who do you tend to work with?"

"Who do you think I can work with better?" Jobs asked Gilbert Jr. without revealing the secret.

"I think, from a demand perspective, Warner, Disney, and Sony Columbia Pictures are all suitable," said Gilbert Jr.

Both Warner and Columbia Pictures lacked animation studios, and the mention of Disney was entirely due to Robert Iger's request.

Besides, the cooperation between Pixar and Disney was pretty good before, so why not cooperate again!
Jobs was the first to reject Sony Columbia Pictures: "Mr. Akio Morita is worthy of being the god of business, but the senior executives of Sony are complete idiots. I disdain to cooperate with them."

Gilbert Jr. analyzed the prospects for Jobs: "20th Century Fox has Blue Sky Studios, and Pixar was completely redundant.

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have a great collaboration, which is an animation company with great potential.

The giants are considering dividing up DreamWorks. Once DreamWorks is divided up, Paramount, which had previously cooperated with DreamWorks, is likely to take over DreamWorks' animation department.

Actually, Steve, you don’t have many choices, only Warner and Disney.”

Jobs nodded. Indeed, both parties were very happy to cooperate with Disney. The reason why Jobs did not renew the contract with Disney this time was because he was dissatisfied with Disney's overbearing terms.

According to Jobs' plan, he was originally leaning towards Disney, and contacting other companies was just to put pressure on Disney and make it relax its unfair terms.

Gilbert Jr. knew what Jobs wanted, so he said bluntly: "Don't think Bob is easy to talk to, but Disney's overbearing clauses are an old tradition and the insistence of the entire board of directors. Bob and I can't change it.

If you want to work with Disney or be acquired by Disney, you have to accept these conditions.

The conditions at Warner may be better, but it is still a question whether they have the scale to take over Pixar."

Jobs said he understood: "Thank you, Gilbert Jr., I will seriously consider your suggestion."

"I'm just giving you some ideas to think about." Gilbert looked at the haggard Jobs and advised, "Even if you don't want to cooperate with the treatment, at least make sure you get enough rest!"

"No," Jobs was very stubborn when it came to his health: "I know my body well. It's fine."

Young Gilbert was speechless and there was nothing he could do. After chatting with Jobs about other things for a while, he left.

(End of this chapter)