**Chapter 82: Five Documents (Please become Patron!)**

Including the millions he paid himself for *The Bourne Identity*, Wayne currently has only $33 million in available funds.

If he were just purchasing the rights to the 30+ superheroes, he could easily greenlight *The Avengers* now and use system funds to buy them.

However, if he wanted to buy Marvel outright, he would have to use his own money.

Undoubtedly, the sooner he buys Marvel, the better. This way, he could quickly reclaim other superhero rights through Marvel.

Before *Spider-Man* hits theaters, the price will surely be much cheaper.

He could even negotiate shared rights with Sony-Columbia before the *Spider-Man* release.

A combination of financial incentives and the threat of turning Spider-Man into a darker character or killing him off could very well convince Sony-Columbia to agree at this point.

"But where am I going to raise the remaining $7 million? Should I pull from the company's working capital? Or… should I change the release plan for *Gifted* and sell the rights in one go?"

Wayne couldn't make up his mind for the moment, so he set the issue aside and turned to the third document in his hands.

Among the world's top-grossing film franchises, *Transformers* undoubtedly holds a spot.

The first film grossed $709 million globally, the second $836 million, the third $1.123 billion, and the fourth $1.104 billion.

Even though the fifth film and the standalone *Bumblebee* earned only $605 million and $467 million, the total box office for the six films is still an astounding $4.8 billion.

Since Wayne arrived too late to act on the *Fast & Furious* and *Harry Potter* series, he missed his chance. *Pirates of the Caribbean* has already been greenlit, and it wouldn't be profitable to invest, so he had to let it go.

However, *Transformers* was still in the hands of the toy company Hasbro, with only the animation rights sold to Japan.

The reason wasn't a lack of interest in *Transformers*, but Hasbro's reluctance to let go of its most important revenue stream—merchandise. After all, Hasbro is a toy company.

But as long as Wayne raised his offer and promised that Hasbro could continue producing and selling the movie-related merchandise, taking a cut of the profits, acquiring the film rights to *Transformers* wouldn't be too difficult.

Sierra had consulted with Hasbro based on Wayne's terms. The company quoted $8 million, along with 10% of merchandise sales profits.

Note that the 10% sales share would go to Hermura Pictures.

In other words, Hasbro would take 90%!

It sounded steep, but this was for the entire *Transformers* film rights! Just $8 million? Wayne nearly agreed the moment he saw that number.

However, Sierra confidently pointed out in the document that if Wayne was serious about acquiring the *Transformers* rights, she could get the price below $5 million and increase the merchandise share to over 15%, within two weeks.

Obviously, Wayne had no reason to refuse, especially since he was really strapped for cash right now!

And this expense could also be covered by the system's investment funds, which was great.

Wayne then turned to the remaining two documents.

As he grew more accustomed to this world and the changes the system had brought him, his ambitions began to expand. To grow Hermura Pictures to the level he envisioned, he needed to secure as many successful film franchise rights as possible.

After all, successful franchises are the most stable sources of revenue.

It's like how, despite Universal's many years of producing excellent films, their most valuable and influential works are still the *Fast & Furious* and *Jurassic Park* series.

The same goes for Warner Bros. with its DC Comics, *Harry Potter*, and *The Lord of the Rings* franchises, and for Fox with *X-Men*, *Star Wars*, and *Alien*.

If he could acquire Marvel and buy the rights to *Transformers*, he would hold four major IPs: Marvel, *Transformers*, *Resident Evil*, and *The Bourne Identity*.

But that still wasn't enough, so he also set his sights on the *Godzilla* franchise, which hadn't been rebooted yet, and *A Song of Ice and Fire*, which already had three volumes out.

Although *Godzilla* wasn't the top franchise, it was certainly no worse than *Resident Evil*.

*Godzilla* 1 had a global box office of $524 million, *Kong: Skull Island* grossed $567 million, *Godzilla: King of the Monsters* made $380 million, and *Godzilla vs. Kong* earned $470 million.

These numbers aren't bad at all.

The key point is that the "Monsterverse" it creates can expand into more films. If the price is right, buying it would be a good deal.

"Only $3 million?"

Wayne glanced at the price offered by Toho Co., which held the *Godzilla* rights, and immediately made up his mind.

On the other hand, the full adaptation rights for *A Song of Ice and Fire*—George R. R. Martin was asking for $13 million to sell them.

To put that in perspective, the film rights to the *Bourne Identity*, a bestselling classic novel, had only cost $5 million!

*A Song of Ice and Fire* was more than twice as expensive! This…

"Doesn't seem too unreasonable?"

Wayne stroked his chin thoughtfully.

With memories of his past life, Wayne felt the price was acceptable, but Sierra thought it was excessive.

In the document, she noted that George R. R. Martin was firm on the price, and at best, she could negotiate it down to $10 million. She didn't recommend buying it.

But Wayne was determined to take a bold step this time.

"When we sign the contract, we have to include a clause that George R. R. Martin finishes the series within three to five years—no delays allowed!"

Wayne muttered to himself. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he grabbed his phone and left the bedroom to call Susan.

"Hey, Susan!"

"Hey, Wayne! Calling me at this hour? Isn't it late over there? What's going on?"

Susan, curious, immediately paused her work when she got Wayne's call.

"Pretty late, yeah. How's the filming of *Gifted* going? Any problems?"

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**End of Chapter**