Marvel Copyrights
"If this is the case, then I also have a suggestion." Alexander said, "Actually, if we really want the copyright of superheroes, we don't have to buy it from Marvel, but we can also find someone else to buy it. It may be more economical money-wise, and the purchased copyright may be better."
Now that he agreed with Levi, Alexander began to put forward his suggestions. And his advice only made Levi frown, "It's even more impossible to sell the copyright of DC, right? Both DC and Marvel are cash cows, and they have to pay DC for their images in commercials. These characters, How can Warner sell it?"
There are many comic companies in the United States, but DC and Marvel together monopolize 70% of the market. If you want to shoot well-known heroes, it is naturally these two companies. DC is a subsidiary company of Warner, and it is impossible to sell copyrights. In Levi's view, you can only find Marvel if you want to buy copyrights.
"I'm not talking about DC. I'm saying that we can consider acquiring Marvel's superhero copyrights from other film companies."
Copyrights outside? Levi still didn't understand, but Alexander immediately began to explain.
Marvel does not have its own film department, so in the early years, if it wanted to make movies, it had to sell the rights to the production company.
In the early days, Marvel sold a lot of copyrights. It's just that they signed the contract with a stipulation that if they don't make a movie for ten years, the copyright will be automatically withdrawn. It isn't easy to make this kind of movie repeatedly within ten years. For example, The Punisher was filmed in 1988, but when the copyright of The Punisher expired, Marvel took back the copyright—and then sold it to Lionsgate again without integrity. Make a fortune again...
There are not a few copyrights like this floating around now. If Levi really wants to, he can try to buy them.
"As for the copyright of other companies, I'm not sure whether it will be sold, but I think it should not be difficult for us to try to buy the copyright of Fox's X-Men."
Levi was a little unclear about the news that Alexander said. He asked in detail before he understood the cause and effect: As early as the 1980s, Marvel Corporation was thinking about making movies. In the late 1980s, Cannon Films started developing a Spider-Man movie, and Tom Cruise was being looked at to play Peter Parker. In 1985, they sold the film rights of Spider-Man to Carlock Corporation, and in 90, they sold X-Men to Carolco Pictures again. Since the early 1990s, Carolco Pictures has also been preparing to shoot Spider-Man. They found James Cameron as the screenwriter and director and asked him to plan the filming.
It's just that, in the early 1990s, the Terminator was filmed well. At that time, Cameron was preparing to shoot Terminator 2. He didn't write the Spider-Man script until he finished filming Terminator 2. It's a pity that Cameron himself is a technology fanatic. In the original comics, Spider-Man himself created a spider silk injector overnight with a huge investment by the US military. It took Cameron's team five years to develop a spider silk injector. In his opinion, such details are completely unacceptable, so he made significant changes to the script. It was his idea that Spider-man sprayed spider silk from his wrist instead of the comic version of the self-made device. By the time he finished writing the script for Spider-Man, Carolco Pictures was out of business.
The copyright of these two works flowed into MGM Company. Via a quitclaim from Carolco, MGM acquired 21st Century's film library and assets and received all rights in and to all drafts and versions of the screenplay(s) for Spider-Man written by James Cameron and others. MGM also sued 21st Century, Viacom, and Marvel Comics, alleging fraud in the original deal between Cannon and Marvel. The courts determined that the original contract of Marvel's rights had expired, returning the rights to Marvel, but the matter was still not completely resolved.
But as it stands, MGM would trade its stake in the rights to Spider-Man in a negotiation with Sony for James Bond villain Spectre that would lead to Spider-Man and James Bond both landing in their current, comfortable homes in March 1999. In the same year, Marvel licensed all Spider-Man rights to Columbia, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
MGM wanted to sell X-Men to Sony as well, but after Sony refused to buy them, they sold the copyright to 21st Century.
[T/N: Cameron's script inspired all of Sony's Spider-Man movies. His script was popularly known as Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. It would have featured Sandman and Electro as the main villains and, similarly to what was done in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, had Peter shooting organic webbing.]
MGM wanted to sell X-Men to Sony as well, but after Sony refused to buy them, they sold the copyright to 21st Century. Fox had to give away the Spider-Man copyright for nothing and didn't shoot anything, so the loss was not small, and naturally, the company was even more angry. For this matter, Cameron has been brooding until Fox agreed to him to shoot the big ship. And what makes Fox even more depressed is that the copyright of the X-Men is still in their hands. After the incident in 1995, Batman failed at the box office in 1997, which made people suddenly discouraged from superhero movies, and the copyright of The X-Men is still three years due. Whether to invest in filming or not, this question is enough to make Fox feel sick at home. How can you guarantee you will not lose money if you invest? Batman's loss just now is shocking, but this is the Batman whose influence ranks firmly among the top three in the United States! Although the X-Men can be regarded as the second most influential comic in Marvel, second only to Spider-Man's comics, they are still far behind. In addition, they are a group of heroes. Who is to blame? But if you don't invest, will you wait for the copyright to expire, like Spider-Man, and go back to Marvel automatically? Wouldn't that be a safe bet?
For Fox, it's a dilemma. It's not easy to deal with after being cheated once - in Levi's memory, they only made the movie in 2000. Maybe it wasn't because they couldn't make up their minds.
"If we buy it at a higher price, they will definitely be willing to sell it. There are only three years left, and the market is not optimistic, so they probably won't object. But, you have to think about it; what we buy is a dilemma." Alexander's idea is closer to Fox's: it is difficult to decide whether this movie should be shot or not.
"Moreover, not only the X-Men but also the Fantastic Four. If you are not afraid of disputes, you can discuss it with Marvel and buy it." Alexander introduced the situation of another copyright: the Fantastic Four series. Constantin Film acquired the film rights of The Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics in 1986. Because there was an agreement to take back the copyright, Constantin Film played a shameless game in order to maintain the copyright: they hired Roger Corman in 1992 to produce a low-budget film. The 1994 adaptation of The Fantastic Four had its trailer released to theaters, while the cast and director went on a promotional tour; however, the film was never officially released. Some accused the film of being an ashcan copy, made only to retain the license. While released neither to theaters nor home video, bootleg copies did surface.
But no matter how clumsy the means are, the copyright of the film is indeed in the hands of Constantine Company now. If Levi really thinks he can shoot, he can also buy the copyright.
Listening to the situation Alexander introduced, Levi smiled wryly: he didn't pay much attention to superhero movies before. He also said that Marvel's technology was immature before the 21st century, so he took it seriously if he didn't shoot. But seeing how happy they are selling copyrights, they have been selling out continuously since the 1980s, and they have been preparing to make movies since the 1980s. To say that they don't want to make movies is really overestimating their integrity. It's not that they don't want to shoot at all; it's just that they don't have the conditions to shoot.
And think about it again, if they are really full of integrity and are determined not to sell their works' adaptation rights because of their quality, why would they argue so much because they can't take back the copyright in the future? In fact, it is not necessarily rare for Marvel to lose its integrity.
This news was somewhat different from what Levi knew, but being able to hear this also allowed Levi to find a possible way. Marvel's economic crisis began in 1996, and now they are willing to sell almost all the copyrights. Captain America, Iron Man, etc. They are unwilling to sell, and there is no need to buy heroes that are too bad. It would be great if they could buy more popular heroes from others.
"Contact Fox to see if we can buy the copyright of the X-Men." For this series, Levi doesn't want to miss it, "If Fox thinks it's too bad to sell, we can discuss with them: we buy the movie Production rights, they retain the distribution rights, and we can promise that a movie will be released within three years; otherwise we will compensate them." As soon as he said this, Alexander was slightly surprised: It's like gambling alone. Is it appropriate to make such a gamble with the current superhero movie market?
Of course, it is not difficult to buy the film copyright: if they just bought the production rights, presumably, Fox would be very happy to sell it. For such a movie, even if Fox shoots it by itself, they still have to contact other film production companies. They just keep the distribution rights and share the money. They are not in a hurry for the shooting.
"Also, contact Constantine and buy the copyright of their Fantastic Four. Say hello to Marvel; they should be willing to help us."
Needless to say: Constantine's company played too viciously. They even called Stan Lee to shoot for the low-budget film, but it was not released after filming. This is completely playing people. Although Enigma has never made a superhero movie, it still has a better impression than Constantine. Although Constantine Film retained the copyright, it had already lost its reputation and could only sell it for money if it retained the copyright. It was not difficult for Enigma Company to buy the copyright.
"After buying the copyright, are you really going to shoot the movie right away?"
"Let's just put it away for now. Anyway, the X-Men copyright will expire in 2000, and the Fantastic Four will expire in 2002. Don't worry. The most urgent thing now is that I will shoot my new movie after buying a special effects company. The New Year is coming, and I don't want to spend another year preparing a movie. This time, let's move faster. I hope this movie can be released in the summer."
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Cherif Doghri
Adam LV
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haze2343
Scott DePaepe
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MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
The Main Man.
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