Legendary Hollywood Producer

On April 16th of this year, Lionsgate produced the "Punisher" movie adapted from Marvel's comic of the same name. It tells the story of Frank Custer fighting against evil forces alone.

The production cost of the film was 33 million U.S. dollars, and the box office in North America was about 54.7 million. Even without deducting the publicity and distribution costs for this film, the profit was a loss. It took so much time and energy to shoot a movie that hit the street, which undoubtedly dealt a major blow to Lionsgate.

You have to know that when Lionsgate acquired Artisan Entertainment, in 2000, Artisan Pictures signed a contract with Marvel when it purchased the right to adapt the superhero under Marvel.

It stipulates that after the Artisan Entertainment Company is authorized by Marvel, at least 15 of the comic characters must be made into a movie or TV series, and there is also a time limit. If Artisan Entertainment is unable to do this, these The authorization of the role will be taken back by Marvel.

In 2003, Lionsgate seized the opportunity and acquired the Artisan Entertainment Company in one fell swoop. The authorization of these roles was naturally transferred to Lionsgate. However, the contract signed was still valid.

After Lionsgate had these superhero authorizations, because the company’s filming plan was unable to undertake the contract conditions for filming at least 15 superhero movies and TV series, and the time was urgent, it only retained its own favorite goals. , Such as Black Widow, Punisher, Iron Fist and Humanoid characters, the rest of the roles were returned to Marvel.

Then, Lionsgate Films, which obtained the copyright, immediately began the production of superhero movies, and the role of "The Punisher" was released. But this time, the superhero movie did not get the same box office gains as "Fantastic Four" and "Spiderman". On the contrary, the box office was not high, and the audience's reputation was also very poor. IMDB The score is only 6.4.

After this failure, coupled with the failure of the superhero movie "The Hulk" produced by Universal Pictures, Lionsgate also learned a lesson and dared not touch superhero movies again.

So, when Marvel came to talk about repurchasing the copyright, Lionsgate was also very agile to return it to Marvel with more than 20 million US dollars.

Of course, Marvel President Avi-Allard called, the point is not to tell Roman about these acquisitions, but to urge Roman to speed up the process of making Marvel's characters video.

The reason is that Marvel saw that the total box office of "Spider-Man" released by Sony Columbia this year was as high as 783.77 million US dollars. Such a huge profit, Marvel has no way to get involved, so I want to see Manhai Entertainment produce superheroes soon. the film.

Roman was on the phone. He neither promised Avi-Allard nor said no to him, so he hung up vaguely.

As of now, Manhai Entertainment already has a lot of superhero copyrights in its hands.

Except for the Hulk, the Avengers are all gathered, and the results are outstanding.

For Mr. Avi-Allard's urging, Roman also had some plans in his heart.

Since the risk of shooting a movie is still great, why not shoot a TV series.

After all, if you are shooting a TV series, not only will the initial investment be small, but in the future, once the ratings are not high or the audience’s reputation is poor, you can directly cut the project and stop the loss in time.

In the United States, this is usually done when TV shows are released. They are first to test the water for two or three episodes and see the situation. If it is not very good, the production company will immediately drop it.

The update frequency of one episode a week can also effectively collect the preferences of the audience, increase or reduce the number of roles in the play, and make timely adjustments, which is more conducive to avoiding minefields and reaping profits.

Thinking of this, Roman, who hung up the phone and sat in his seat thinking, began to think about the superheroes in his hand that were suitable for adaptation into a TV series.

In his previous life, Roman had seen all the movies and TV series produced by Marvel, and he knew them well.

TV series adapted from these superheroes, such as "Dareful", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", "Tekken" and the US team's girlfriend "Agent Carter", etc., have achieved fairly good results. But the problem is that when Marvel invested in filming these TV series, the superhero market was already a popular choice, and naturally there was no shortage of attention.

And if it's like this, if the filming of a superhero TV show comes out, but there is no heat, it is simply not worth the loss.

So if after the TV series is broadcast, the concept of Marvel’s superhero role can be heated up to lay a foundation for the subsequent filming in advance, it is undoubtedly more worthwhile, then the problem has arisen, and Roman does not have it at all. What is more suitable for adaptation, and has a well-known role copyright.

Like the brave man who is more suitable for shooting, the copyright of its role is still in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox. It is estimated that it will be more difficult to get it.

And Roman’s well-known characters, such as Captain America and Black Widow, are going to be made into movies. If they are filming TV series, it is undoubtedly a waste of resources; and the remaining stories of Iron Fist, Carter, and S.H.I.E.L.D. These can be adapted into TV series, but the popularity is too low. It will definitely cost a lot of money to promote the concept of these roles, and whether it can be done is still a rather mysterious thing. The risk is too big. , Can't take it.

Roman thinks about it, it seems that the role of the Punisher, adapted into a TV series, is a better choice.

One thing is that this character has already been screened in a movie, and the impression remains in the hearts of the audience. Although the reputation is not good, it also has a certain foundation;

Secondly, the general plot of the comic story of The Punisher is about a veteran who participated in the Vietnam War. After returning, he lost all his relatives. Therefore, this veteran named Frank, after wiping out all the gangsters who participated in this matter that day, even more erected the attitude of guilty and death. This kind of setting makes Frank’s character very cruel and cold. If he doesn’t agree, he will execute the offender. It is reminiscent of those rough cowboys in Western films who are happy and gracious. It is suitable for film and television adaptation. Lions Gate Pictures also took this point and gave priority to filming the role of the Punisher. Unfortunately, even if the storyline of the film is not smooth, the fighting scenes are not good. This is also As a result, the audience's reputation was not good, and the box office followed suit.