47. Copyright

Having a popularity base means that you are inherently invincible, which is much better than original movies.

If I ruin a superhero, will there be any backlash? I don't want to try it at all.

We are about to start filming "Taxi", and the Internet is developing very well, so we have to start considering some long-term issues.

Rowan opened his eyes and said to the female assistant, "Remember one thing, pay attention to those popular best-selling comics, hot-selling games, and best-selling novels."

The female assistant took out a pen and paper and wrote "Boss wants to buy the copyright?"

Rowan nodded "I plan to buy some copyrights when I have more money... Do you have any suggestions?"

The female assistant said excitedly, "Carlock Pictures has gone bankrupt and is now selling off its assets. I recommend you buy their Spider-Man copyright!"

Rowan smacked his lips and said, "Spider-Man?... The copyright is not easy to buy."

He is a die-hard comic book fan and is well aware of the copyright battle over Spider-Man.

The copyright wars first began in the early 1980s.

Marvel Comics was in talks with film producers to bring their flagship character Spider-Man to the big screen due to funding issues.

Producer Roger Corman was the first to hold the option for the Spider-Man property and began developing the film at Orion Pictures.

Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee was brought in to write a script with Cold War themes and Doctor Octopus as the main anta gonist.

Due to a budget dispute between Roger Corman and Lee, the project was not realized. The film rights were subsequently acquired by two producers from the Cannon Group for US$225,000. Marvel required that Spider -Man-related film and television works must be filmed within five years, and Marvel also had a share of the Spider-Man films shot during this period.

A funny thing happened, the two were not familiar with the background of the characters, and mistakenly thought that Spider -Man was similar to the werewolf character, so they asked Stevens to write a script based on this concept.

Stevens' script goes like this 'Peter Parker is a photographer who becomes the subject of a mad scientist's experiment, which eventually turns him into a human tarant ula... a very horror movie setting.'

In fact, the two producers did refer to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and planned to make Spider-Man into a horror movie.

Things like 'Good Neighbors' and 'Dark Spider-Man' are child's play.

If you want a really dark movie, you have to watch "The Wolf Spider in New York"!

In the end, it was Stan Lee who stepped in and strongly vetoed the creation of "The Wolf Spider in New York".

By 1985, a new version was created.

This version of Peter Parker gained spider-like powers from cyclotron experiments, with Doctor Octopus serving as the villain.

Because it looked normal, they moved forward with the plan to invite Tom Cruise to play Spider-Man. The project was tentatively named "Spider-Man: The Movie" and the budget was between 15 and 20 million US dollars.

But then because the new Superman movie flopped so badly, the studio understood that the superhero adaptations were no longer popular, the budget of "Spider-Man: The Movie" was immediately cut to 7 million US dollars.

The director was unwilling to compromise and decided to resign as he felt the film could not be made.

Later, the project was cancelled because Cannon was acquired by EMI.

A few years later, Golan, CEO of 21st Century Pictures, set his sights on this project.

When the company was first acquired, the senior executive of Cannon named Golan left with the copyright of "Spider-Man" and joined 21st Century Pictures.

Golan himself was very optimistic about the Spider-Man project, so when he was at 21st Century Studios, he went to Marvel to renew the contract for two years and then convinced CEO of that time.

In 1989, 21st Century Pictures attempted to revive the project using Cannon's original script, budget plans, and storyboards.

But what if you don't have that much money?

Golan, who calls himself the Sleeping Dragon of North America, suddenly had an idea and thought of the classic Wall Street strategy of getting something for nothing.

To finance the production, Golan sold television rights to Viacom, home video rights to Columbia Pictures, and theatrical rights to Carlock Pictures.

The copyright war was foreshadowed here.

Later, die-hard fan James Cameron noticed this project, persuaded his frequent collaborator Carlock Pictures to buy the project, and then reached an agreement with Marvel to extend the copyright period to 1996, becoming the screenwriter and director.

Cameron had previously met with Stan Lee to discuss a possible X-Men movie.

It was ultimately Stan Lee who convinced Cameron that he was a good choice to direct a Spider-Man movie.

In 1993, James Cameron submitted a proposal to Carlock Films for a darker, more mature version of Spider-Man.

In addition to telling Spider-Man's origin story, it also includes reimagined versions of villains Electro and Sandman.

The former is portrayed as a cocky businessman named Carlton Strand.

The latter is portrayed as Strand's personal bodyguard named Boyd.

It's said that it also includes an X-rated scene between Spider-Man and Mary Jane on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Because of the great success of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", Carlock Pictures invested 50 million US dollars in the production budget of "Spider-Man".

But at this time, 21st Century Pictures CEO Golan sued Carlock Pictures, trying to make the film without the participation of 21st Century Pictures.

Because of Golan, the troublemaker, the progress of Spider-Man has stagnated.

Until Cameron finished True Lies for 20th Century Fox

As part of the production deal, 20th Century Fox attempted to acquire the film rights to Spider-Man for Cameron, but was unsuccessful.

Due to endless wrangling and his passion shifting to Titanic, James Cameron abandoned the project.

By 1995, 21st Century Pictures' CEO, Menahem Golan of North America, suffered the consequences of his arguments.

After failing to extort money and facing a precarious financial situation, 21st Century Pictures was acquired by MGM.

This presents a problem.

MGM claimed that I had acquired the resource library of 21st Century Pictures and the copyright of Spider-Man should belong to me.

Carlock on the other side said that the project I bought with my own money has nothing to do with you.

Yoren Globus, a former senior executive, was also very dissatisfied and joined the tug-of-war, saying that you, Carlock, bought it but didn't bid for it, so what do you want to do?

Because the original "Spider-Man" project also involved Viacom Home Entertainment screenings, etc.

In addition, part of Cameron's contract with 20th Century Fox for "True Lies" also involves things related to Spider-Man's copy right.

Plus, the home video rights involved Columbia Pictures.

Giants such as MGM, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures were all dragged into Spider-Man.

Sony Pictures felt that just watching the show was not exciting enough, so it joined in without giving in.

The conflict intensified at MGM.

MGM felt angry that its hard-earned money was being mishandled, so it chose to directly sue Viacom, Sony Pictures, Marvel and other companies, accusing these companies of fraud in their original deal with Cannon.

The brothers got bruised and battered in the fight, but none of them had any serious injuries.

But the younger brothers were in big trouble.

The year after the war, 21st Century Pictures and Carlock Pictures filed for bankruptcy.

Marvel was also in trouble.

Originally, he sold his own son because he wanted to make a Spider-Man movie, and let them get a share of the profits to turn over there cash flow.

Now they're busy with all this nonsense all the time. I haven't made a single film in 10 years, and they can hardly pay the salaries.

Coupled with the fact that it encountered a notorious boss, Marvel also filed for bankruptcy in the same year, 1996.

The bosses saw that this was too tragic.

Coupled with the successive failures of superhero movies and the ice age of comic book adaptations, the "Spider-Man" project doesn't look that attractive.

The big brothers all unanimously decided not to fight, and the copyright war over "Spider-Man" ended.

Only the fans who have been waiting for 10 years are left disheveled in the wind.

Rowan only knew about this because when waiting for the new Spider-Man movies he read this in Wikipedia and felt bad for the fans of that time and now Rowan has become one of those fans.

When the female assistant mentioned it, Rowan also thought Spider-Man was pretty good.

But Rowan is no longer the business rookie of yesteryear.

Everyone went bankrupt and the copyright became a bad debt.

The craze for superhero adaptations has passed, and the copyright of "Spider-Man" doesn't seem so attractive anymore. Both big and small studios are not interested in "Spider-Man".

But as long as he buys it through normal channels from Carlock Pictures or 21st Century Pictures, he will be sued by a large number of people.

Even if the contract is clear, someone can still sue you.

Only some people in the third world think that Americans are gentlemen and have a strong sense of contracts.

Rowan has heard of a real case in which an American was tripped by a watermelon shelf while buying watermelons at a Walmart supermarket and injured his hip, so he took Walmart to court.

There was another case in Los Angeles where a 19-year-old youth sued his neighbor for running over his hand with his car. Why did this happen? Because the neighbor was driving and did not notice that the youth was stealing the tire cover on his car.