Chapter 329: Marvel Plan

For most people, past events are often too distant and irrelevant to their current plans, making them easy to forget. Only when someone or something triggers these memories do they resurface, just like Duke's situation now.

X-Men and Magneto—he had probably heard Ian McKellen mention them before, but he didn't pay much attention at the time. Only when he needed to find suitable investment opportunities and was reminded of "Gandalf" and "Magneto" did they finally catch his interest.

However, this also shows that he's just one of countless ordinary people in the world, and his mind isn't necessarily sharper than others.

What does X-Men represent?

Duke then had Tina Fey look into it. The X-Men was still a property of 20th Century Fox, while a certain little spider's copyright was firmly held by Sony Columbia Pictures. After the discontinuation of the Godzilla series, Sony Entertainment planned to push the little spider onto the big screen.

After understanding the current situation of these superheroes, Duke naturally turned his attention to their parent company, Marvel Comics, Warner Bros.' rival under DC Comics, which was currently referred to as "Marvel Comics" and would later be renamed "Marvel" (only the Chinese name was changed).

This company had applied for bankruptcy protection a few years ago and now survived solely by selling the copyrights to its superheroes.

Since Batman & Robin suffered both box office and audience reception failures, superhero films, which had never dominated the mainstream market, disappeared from Hollywood for a time. After Marvel-related memories resurfaced, Duke realized that X-Men would change all this. When Spider-Man was released, the flawed and relatable Marvel heroes would, with the advancement of special effects technology, fully shine and become the mainstream of the commercial film market.

Marvel Studios would even become one of the most dynamic and profitable production companies in Hollywood in over a decade.

Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America...

At this point, Duke suddenly realized that perhaps because Scarlett Johansson often appeared beside his mother, he had grown accustomed to it and forgot about Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow.

That's now Marvel's business.

After confirming his objective, Duke once again sent Tina Fey back to North America, instructing her and David to investigate and make contact with Marvel.

Of course, Duke did not plan to purchase Marvel outright. For one, he couldn't possibly invest all his cash flow, and secondly, Marvel's management wouldn't be foolish enough to sell themselves to a director or a small film studio.

Besides, the backing of this film studio was their rival's parent company.

Indeed, Marvel's management and shareholders might entertain the idea of selling themselves, but the buyer had to be the right one.

Duke simply wanted to approach Marvel to see if they were interested in financing or accepting outside investments to escape their predicament.

From the initial information Tina Fey gathered, Marvel had been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for years. Without the revenue from selling character rights, they might have already gone under.

Like countless large and small investment institutions in North America, Duke wanted to invest in Marvel and hold some shares, hoping for significant returns in the future.

How much did Walt Disney ultimately spend to acquire Marvel Comics? Duke couldn't remember, but it should have been in the billions.

Afterward, Duke shifted his focus back to the post-production of Critical Emergency. Having the opportunity to invest in Marvel was lucky; if there was no opportunity, he wouldn't force it.

After all, he wasn't the center of the universe.

By mid-February, David formally engaged with Marvel. Since the comic industry's winter in 1995, Marvel had experienced withdrawals from several major investment institutions. Although bankruptcy protection kept them from falling into the abyss, it eroded investors' confidence. Apart from selling character copyrights, they could only use their famous characters as collateral to obtain bank loans.

However, superhero movies had never succeeded on the big screen, and mere paper copyrights couldn't secure substantial loans from banks.

Marvel's predicament provided a basis for investment cooperation, but the amount and the resulting shareholding changes required negotiation and bargaining.

These matters were naturally handled by professionals, and Duke never relaxed the necessary oversight measures. When it came to commercial transactions involving substantial interests, he wouldn't trust anyone easily—not even Tina Fey.

As February approached, Duke and Mike Dawson collaborated closely on Critical Emergency's post-production. Progress was unexpectedly smooth. Both had honed their skills through past projects, and after overcoming the initial adjustment phase, the actual progress was well ahead of schedule.

On February 20, after adding the opening and closing credits, all production work on Critical Emergency was completed.

Warner Bros. specially sent a team to escort the film back to Los Angeles for subsequent test screenings and copy production. Duke wouldn't return to North America for the time being, as much of the preliminary work for The Lord of the Rings trilogy had reached its final stages, requiring his personal oversight.

After more than a year of extensive preparation and countless hours of effort from the crew, The Lord of the Rings trilogy's preliminary phase was nearing completion.

It was a colossal and complex undertaking. After the official establishment of the Middle-earth workshop in Wellington, Duke and Robin Grande began the final review of completed tasks.

Even the review process was a demanding task, as The Lord of the Rings trilogy involved countless details.

Take costumes, for example. Designing distinctly styled attire for every race in Middle-earth was no easy feat.

The film would feature hundreds, if not thousands, of characters played by real actors. Divided among nine unique races, each culture averaged 500 costumes. The sheer volume was staggering. Over the past year, the costume designers led a team of over 80 tailors, embroiderers, shoemakers, and jewelers to create functional yet visually appealing costumes for each character.

According to the filming plan, many characters required two sets of identical costumes: one for the actors and another for their differently built stunt doubles.

For just a few lead actors, the costumes alone could fill a truck: Frodo had 64 sets of clothing, Aragorn 50 sets, the Ringwraiths 30 sets, and the nine members of the Fellowship needed 150 traveling bags. Each stunt double also had an average of 20 sets of clothes.

If the director didn't participate in pre-production and left everything to others, costume issues alone could delay filming for a long time.

When shooting a film, wasting time equates to squandering a significant amount of money.

Those rumors about directors who never participate in pre-production, take over the work done by assistants, and successfully deliver blockbuster hits? Duke believed there were only two possibilities: either God intervened, or Satan appeared.

Even during the final review, when Duke walked into the costume warehouse, the costume designer continued explaining the design concepts and materials used, so Duke could have a clear picture during filming.

Approaching 20 plastic mannequins about half the height of an average person, costume designer Ngila Dickson pointed to the Hobbit costumes and began explaining to Duke.

"The Hobbits revere nature. These costumes incorporate a lot of natural materials, like linen, and the design draws from ancient European styles. The clothing primarily features green, yellow, and brown tones, symbolizing nature."

She touched the ornaments on the costumes and added, "Duke, you mentioned that the costumes should highlight the Hobbits' playful and whimsical personalities. So, I added some quirky details. For example, their pants and sleeves are short, the buttons are oversized, the collars are asymmetrical, and I deliberately sewed their pockets higher. This way, when they put their hands in their pockets, they'll look amusing."

As she spoke, Ngila demonstrated a similar gesture, making Duke and Charles Roven laugh.

The next set of costumes belonged to the Elves, showcasing a completely different style. The Elves' outfits needed to exude elegance, so Ngila used moss-like greens, tree-bark browns, and light crimson hues to create a neutral and ancient aesthetic.

After touring most of the warehouse, Duke was generally satisfied with the design and production of the costumes, as there had been sufficient communication in earlier stages. The costume team had done an excellent job.

However, when he reached the mannequin representing Gandalf, Duke frowned and took down the wizard hat. The hat adhered to the traditional European wizard design but seemed excessively large.

"This is just a prototype..." Ngila Dickson explained.

Duke put the hat back and said, "Ngila, I want Gandalf's wizard hat to be a striking accessory. It should look ancient and magical but not too exaggerated. Your current design makes the wizard look like he's wearing a large boat on his head."

After thinking briefly, Duke added, "Redo the design. I want a hat that combines functionality with a sense of mystery."

Ngila Dickson immediately noted it down in her work journal.

Lastly, Duke examined the costumes for the film's two most important female characters: Galadriel and Arwen Undómiel.

According to Duke's requirements, their costumes needed to exhibit a metallic sheen while being flowing and ethereal, making them appear angelic in Middle-earth.

For the queen's attire, Duke had already seen Cate Blanchett's makeup test photos, and the effect was overall quite satisfactory. However, as for Arwen Undómiel...

The actress playing Arwen had yet to be decided. Duke had no intention of using the former model, whose bloated figure didn't align with the slender, ethereal depiction of Elves.

.....

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