In fact, Zhu Ke himself was quite surprised to be able to win a series of copyrights for "300" so quickly.

Because the author of "300" is the famous comics master Frank Miller!

He has created famous comics such as "Batman: The Dark Knight", "Superman and Batman" for DC;

During his time at Marvel, he participated in the creation of many comics such as "The Amazing Spider-Man", "Daughter Man" series, "Erika" series, "Fantastic Four" series, and so on;

The "City of Sin" series of comics created for Hei Horse Comics pushed him to the altar in one fell swoop.

He is a well-known figure in the comic field in America.

"The Frank Miller in my mind is a comic master, that's right, but he is also famously difficult to deal with!"

“It has a bad reputation in the major Hollywood companies!”

Zhuke couldn't help but recall it.

Not to mention the others, just the "Sin City" series of movies starring Bruce Willis. The film production company repeatedly negotiated with Frank many times in order to obtain copyright, and the negotiation lasted for a year; and the production company also paid 15% of the North American box office share for this.

Yes, you read that right!

It is 15% of the North American box office share, not the net profit share.

In other words, through the "Sin City" series of films, Frank Miller received a share of more than $50 million from the production company.

This price code completely exceeds the film and television copyrights of many well-known comics!

"I just spent $10 million to take over the film and television copyright of Spider-Man."

"Frank is really dark!"

Not only that, Frank, who tasted the sweetness in the "City of Sin" movie, will become even more powerful in the future.

"I want to be the producer of the movie, I have to be the first producer!"

"I also want to be the director of the movie!"

“Box office split 15%?”

"No! There is no 20% North American box office share, please don't bother me!"

"If it is even necessary, I will be the director of the comic adaptation film myself!"

Well, Frank Miller is such a person who has a headache for major Hollywood film companies.

He is a man who paints comics. Does he know about film production?

Well, even if he understands it, how can he compare it with those senior Hollywood filmmakers?!

As for this time, Zhuke was able to win the relevant copyright of "300" so quickly and successfully, it was because Frank had not yet started the later "vampire" mode.

Before 1997, Frank had many comic copyrights, only the film and television copyright of "Robot Men", and the others were either too niche, or he was still hiding them and was reluctant to sell them at a low price.

"300"?

What is that?!

"300" is just the inconspicuous one among the many comic copyrights in Frank Miller's hands.

Therefore, Zucker only paid $1.2 million to win a series of copyrights for "300".

Well, of course there is also a 3% share of North American box office net profit.

The share, Zhu Kezhen doesn't want to give it to him!

But Frank is not short of money!

If he couldn't reach an agreement, he wouldn't sell it at worst.

Frank said at the time: "Without the box office share of the movie, I will never sell any copyrights of the comics."

At first hearing this sentence, Zhuke wanted to slap his old face on the spot.

You have such a big face!

In fact, this result is already a blessing in disgrace.

He has money;

There are many copyrights in hand;

He was not worried about not being able to sell the many copyrights of the comics he had.

In the original time and space, Frank served as the producer of "Spartan 300 Warriors" with a tough attitude. He had extremely amateur operational standards in filmmaking, and he delayed the film for more than two years before the filming was completed.

His tough attitude greatly damaged the interests of the production company.

.........

After a long discussion between Zhuke and Director Zach, Zach Schneider left Wald Pictures with satisfaction.

This time, although he was unable to start the preparations for the film "300" immediately, he still took away a movie script from Wald Pictures.

Not "300"!

It's the script of "Purge of Humanity"!

Well, of course, the capitalist Zhuke would not let him wait for the 10-month window, but would try to squeeze him hard.

"The Human Purge" is one of the cheapest among many Hollywood movies, and it just so happens that Zucker watched its four-part in his previous life. The production cost of the first film in the series was less than $10 million, but its global box office was close to $100 million.

Even though this profit ratio is not as good as the famous "Saw", it is not much worse.

"It's not that I haven't thought about creating "Saw", but I just heard of it in my previous life, but I haven't watched it~!"

I only regret that I have little book when I use it!

In his previous life, Zhuke liked all kinds of movies in Hollywood, whether it was high-cost popcorn blockbusters or low-cost movies.

However... after starting work, I rarely watch niche Hollywood movies.

When I go to the cinema to watch movies, I usually watch domestic comedy movies. Well, even if I watch Hollywood movies, I always watch various special effects blockbusters.

...

...

At the end of January 1997.

Zucker left the Burbank area where he had been staying for a long time and drove to Silicon Valley early in the morning.

I went to Silicon Valley today, but there was something big!

Today, icq will hold its first stock expansion meeting, which is the Series A financing meeting.

None of the representatives invited to participate in the A round of financing conference were weak, either today's Internet giants IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, or large Wall Street investment banks such as ****, Goldman Sachs, and Citi.

In fact, Zhu Ke disagreed with IQ's A-round financing at this stage.

Well, I firmly oppose it!

Because today's IQ users have only exceeded 4 million, and they have not shown their due potential in the future at all. Nowadays, they will only be underestimated by the market.

However, the founding teams of IQ such as Weisger and Wadi have a firm attitude towards financing this.

"The development of Icq is now in a bottleneck and requires huge development funds."

In this regard, Zhuke, Weisger and others have a common attitude.

"If you want funds, I can invest additionally. Of course, I can even provide the company with an interest-free loan of US$10 million to 20 million for further expansion."

But the difference is that as the founding team, they are unwilling to let Zucker hold 45%, a stake that is enough to threaten their holdings, and continue to exist.

They were eager to introduce other shareholders to check and balance Zhuke, who owned a large amount of equity.

For this reason, they did not hesitate to kill a thousand enemies and harmed themselves eight hundred!

Well, even if Zhu Ke has signed a priority follow-up agreement with them, it is enough to ensure that the shares are not diluted, but it will inevitably be targeted by a number of giant companies and even famous Wall Street investment banks!

Man, no matter which of them, Zhuke can't afford to offend him at this stage!

There is no doubt that it is inevitable that Zhuke's shares will be diluted.

Obviously, Zhu Ke, currently the largest individual shareholder of ICQ company, is no longer as close to Weisger and others as before, and even begins to be in an opposite position.

There is an irreconcilable contradiction between the two sides.

Of course this is not uncommon.

When most companies develop to a certain stage, the game between the company's management and shareholders is a normal behavior.

"It seems that it's time for me to start the stove again."

Zhuke thought to himself: "The long-planned Internet company LinkedIn has finally come to its launch."
Chapter completed!