Legendary Pictures

Legendary Pictures is a name familiar to many.

They're the creators behind the so-called "MonsterVerse", with movies like "Godzilla", "Kong: Skull Island", and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters".

Before that, however, it was just a newly established production company.

Its founder, Thomas Tull, had no clue about making movies.

Originally, he was a financier in the private equity sector. Prior to establishing a film company, he was the CEO of Convex Group, a venture capital company focused on media and entertainment.

It was at a casual dinner that an MGM executive complained about the difficulties of film financing. Sensing an opportunity, Thomas was inspired to use private equity funding to get into film investment.

After years of preparation, using his eloquence, Tull managed to persuade the vampires of Wall Street. Backed by private equity fund companies, he raised $500M and established Legendary Entertainment, the first film production company supported directly by private shareholders and hedge fund investors from Wall Street in its category.

In other words, he lacked money, but he had a surplus of liquid assets.

But what did he lack? Money-making projects.

As mentioned before, he didn't understand film production, and he never thought of independent filmmaking.

He played with capital. Whether he had production capabilities or not didn't really matter.

In his view, all he needed to do was collaborate with excellent production companies. He would provide investment, and the other side would produce films. Both parties would share the profits, enabling everyone to make money. A mutually beneficial win-win situation.

And he actually achieved it.

If Firefly Films hadn't appeared in this time and space, Thomas would've hitched a ride with Warner Bros. The two sides would sign a 7-year cooperation agreement, stipulating that within those 7 years, they would jointly finance and produce 40 film and television works.

Their first major collaboration was "Batman Begins".

Barry Meyer was quite a crafty fellow himself. He understood that the board always had reservations and wasn't inclined to greenlight projects. So, he found himself a scapegoat, someone to invest in the project and bear the greatest production risk, while they would just lie back and earn money. This way, the board had no reason to stop the development of the Batman project.

After the agreement was reached, Legendary Pictures shouldered the majority of the production funding. However, the distribution rights and film copyrights were entirely controlled by Warner Bros. Except for a portion of the box office and offline revenue going to Legendary Pictures, they didn't receive anything else.

According to incomplete statistics, the profit from "Batman Begins" was nearly $400M, of course with all the peripheral revenue added on top. Warner Bros. directly pocketed over $300M, earning buckets, while Legendary made close to $100M. But if you compared the investment and risks taken, it was actually the most invested, highest-risk undertaking that yielded the least profit.

However, Thomas didn't say anything and chose to continue the collaboration. After all, the contract was signed.

Following that, during the years of cooperation with Warner Bros., they churned out films like "300", "The Hangover", "Watchmen", and "Inception", all of which earned over $100M in North America. But they also faced losses, like with "Lady in the Water" and "The Ant Bully".

What irked Thomas the most was Warner Bros.' consistently demanding attitude towards Legendary Pictures. Not only did Warner Bros. screen the list of cooperating films, but the truly excellent and risk-free projects were tightly grasped in Warner Bros.' hands, not even given a chance to Legendary Pictures, like "Harry Potter". And Warner Bros. was unwilling to help Legendary Pictures establish their own production department.

Since then, Thomas knew that as one of the traditional Hollywood Big Six, Warner Bros. didn't want Legendary Pictures to become their competitor. They hoped Legendary Pictures would always remain silent, as long as they threw money into it.

Thus, the conflict between the two sides had been accumulating since the beginning and gradually deteriorated.

After the contract expired, Legendary Pictures immediately turned to Universal Pictures.

But as they say, the world is as black as a crow. Universal Pictures isn't exactly a well-intentioned bird either.

After Thomas gave up, the company was purchased by Wanda Group for $3.5B. He could only cash out and leave.

But...

"He wants to see me? Why?"

After receiving the call, Lyman frowned slightly. He certainly knew Legendary Pictures, but he didn't know who Thomas was.

Well, who would bother to pay attention to the CEO of some film company?

"I'm not quite sure. I'm just responsible for relaying the message. He's called you over three times already," John answered on the phone.

Lyman thought for a while, and he couldn't really figure out why he would have anything to talk about with the boss of Legendary Pictures. Still, he didn't decline.

In the afternoon, after both sides agreed, Lyman drove to a private club by Santa Monica Beach for the meeting.

This meeting seemed quite grand.

"Mr. Lattes, please come this way. Mr. Tull is waiting for you inside."

As soon as he entered the club, a stunning blonde lady in a hostess uniform welcomed him.

Following behind her, Lyman made a few turns and arrived at a brown door.

The lady knocked on the door, and they entered as it was opened.

"Mr. Tull, your guest is here."

The room had a small wooden table and sofas all around.

Thomas gave a slight smile and nodded to Lyman as he walked in.

"Mr. Lattes, please, have a seat."

Thomas stood up, extending his hand proactively.

Lyman shook it and responded with a greeting.

Both parties sat down facing each other.

"This is one of the most authentic French restaurants in Los Angeles, even the ingredients are flown in from France. You can try it later."

"Mr. Tull is considerate."

Lyman responded indifferently.

Thomas more or less understood that his goodwill might not be well received.

But he didn't mind. He had the waiter bring in a box of cigars.

Using a cutter, he opened the wrapper and offered one to Lyman. "Would you like one?"

This time Lyman didn't refuse. For him, while gourmet food was good, he wasn't particularly picky about food. As long as it filled his stomach and tasted decent, he was satisfied.

In fact, most directors were like this. After all, during shooting, what good food could you find on set? Even fast food would be appreciated.

Smoke slowly rose, and the rich aroma of the cigar was released.

To be honest, Lyman was now curious about why the other party had asked to meet him.

If he was just trying to make connections, there was no need for such a formal approach.

He was being overly humble if he claimed there was no reason for the meeting.