The outside world did not know that there had been a power change within Marvel because of Iron Man 2.
After all, Avi Arad's term of office has not yet come to an end, and Washimine and Marvel are not in a hurry to announce each other's departure.
In the eyes of the outside world, Marvel, which has produced four consecutive successful films, is a thriving and excellent film company.
The outside world is looking forward to the other party coming up with a new movie, while other companies in the industry are envious of Washimine Entertainment for picking up a hen that lays golden eggs for free.
Although Iron Man 2 was used by Shion as an excuse to get Arad fired, the movie was far from being as bad as she said.
The biggest reason for the poor reputation from all sides is that the previous film "Iron Man 1" was too good, so that everyone had too high expectations for this movie.
So when Iron Man 2 didn't live up to expectations, that sense of disparity made everyone feel disappointed.
If Nanaya really had to evaluate the film from an objective perspective, he would think it was a standard popcorn movie.
The box office performance of "Iron Man 2" also proves this point.
After a huge box office success in the first week, "Iron Man 2" had to face the attack from its rival "Star Trek" in the next week.
"Star Trek" has always been very popular in Europe and the United States, if we talk about Hollywood's space science fiction film series.
After the familiar name "Star Wars", most people will think of "Star Trek".
This "Star Trek" movie can be regarded as a reboot after the new century. Science fiction fans across the United States have been looking forward to this movie for a long time.
Now that "Star Wars" has come to an end, the only thing that can interest space fans is "Star Trek".
Faced with such a strong opponent, coupled with the poor reputation of "Iron Man 2" itself.
The film's box office fell 55% in its second weekend, grossing only $64 million.
According to the prediction of the box office statistics agency, if the trend continues, the final box office of "Iron Man 2" will be between 300 million and 350 million US dollars.
You should know that in May, two movies, Pixar's "Up" and Sony Columbia's "Angels and Demons", will be released.
These movies may not eventually surpass Iron Man 2 in box office, but they will definitely affect the box office curve.
But even so, a box office of $300 million is a huge profit for most movies.
Only movies like Nanaya's "Puella Magi" or Cameron's "Avatar" would be dissatisfied with the North American box office performance of 300 million.
Because "Madoka Magica" had already entered the critical period of post-production at this time, Nanaya only paid a brief attention to the box office curve of "Iron Man 2" and then stopped paying attention to it.
Didn't you see that Nanaya didn't even attend the premiere of "Iron Man 2" and has been staying in New Zealand without moving?
Marvel has also slightly relaxed the promotion of "Iron Man 2" and has focused its attention on their next movie "Thor".
Unlike "Iron Man 2" which is based on its predecessor, "Thor" is a brand new superhero series.
And it's a mythological superhero.
In people's general impression, superhero movies should be science fiction movies, and they wonder whether superhero movies with mythological themes can be successful.
Even Marvel itself is not very confident.
Therefore, after entering June, all the work focus of Marvel Studios was concentrated on the promotion and marketing of "Thor".
So far, "Thor" has been officially finalized and submitted to the film review departments of various countries and regions for review.
However, there is still a lot of room for maneuver in the film's promotion and other work.
Especially in many overseas countries, 4 out of 10 people's impression of the character of Thor comes from Norse mythology.
There are 6 people who don't even know Norse mythology.
As for "Iron Man 2", Marvel sent a small team of ten people to coordinate with Washimine Entertainment.
Everything was going according to plan until one day in June...
"Ster, remember to check with Washimine tomorrow about our roster of attendees for this year's San Diego Comic-Con."
When getting off work, Kevin Feige said to his subordinates around him.
"Okay, CEO Feige." The other party agreed with a smile.
"Fuck you, I'm not yet."
Feige cursed with a smile, but the smug look on his face was evident.
"It's only a matter of time."
The subordinate gave his boss a thumbs-up and left the Marvel Building to catch the subway.
Feige drove home humming a little tune.
When the car came out of the parking lot and whizzed past the Marvel building, Feige turned his head and took a look out of habit.
It was already time to get off work, and many Marvel employees were pouring out of the building.
Many people carry briefcases or file bags, which is almost standard equipment for office workers.
Suddenly, the crowd split into two parts like Moses parting the sea, and an elderly man slowly walked out from the place where the crowd had made room.
The man walked down the steps in front of the building with a gloomy face, holding a medium-sized brown paper document bag.
That person is naturally Marvel's current CEO Avi Arad.
"Poor Arad."
Feige silently mourned for his old boss for a second.
The staff gave way to Arad not out of respect.
The news that Avi Arad is about to step down is no secret in Marvel.
This loser in the office struggle has become a figure that everyone in Marvel Studios avoids.
After all, no one wants to be labeled as an "Arad follower".
Arad did not take the initiative to talk to others. During this period of time, he had already gotten used to being treated as a plague god.
He walked to a nearby parking lot and drove toward the suburbs west of New York where his home was.
Occasionally, Arad would stop in a dessert shop for a while, drink a cup of black tea and eat a piece of cake.
Although the consumption level of this store is not low, it is not a problem at all for rich people like Arad.
The car stopped on the side of the road, Arad walked into the store with a briefcase and skillfully ordered coffee and snacks from the waiter.
As a regular customer, he even received a new donut from the waiter.
Arad found a seat by the window and looked at New York City in the afterglow of the sunset. He felt like a hero in his twilight years.
[No, I'm definitely not a hero. ]
Arad sighed and slowly enjoyed his meal, seeming to be enjoying this quiet time very much.
But if someone looks closely, they will find that Arad's hand holding the tea is shaking slightly.
But this still did not attract the attention of others. After all, it was normal for Arad to have shaking hands at his age.
As usual, after spending about half an hour in the store, Arad finally finished his cake and donuts slowly.
There was still half a cup of black tea in the cup, but Arad had no intention of enjoying it any more.
He left a big tip and walked out of the store shakily.
The file bag on the table was forgotten by Arad, as if he had not brought it.
Arad tried hard to control his desire to look back, got into the car as fast as he could, and left the store.
Then the man sitting on the right side of the seat next to Arad naturally picked up the briefcase.
After gently squeezing the contents of the file bag with his hands, the man smiled with satisfaction.
Then he stood up and left the dessert shop. When he left, he held the briefcase that Arad had brought tightly in his hand.
The other party did not stop on the road, but got into his car as quickly as possible.
After closing the car door, the other party violently tore open the document bag in his hand.
After making sure that there was nothing wrong, the man dialed a number on his mobile phone.
"I got the stuff."
"Are you sure it's true?"
A gloomy voice came from the receiver.
The man said with some embarrassment: "It's hard to say... After all, I don't have any playback equipment here."
"Then send the things to me right away!"
"Okay."
After hanging up the phone, the man started the car.
While humming a little tune, he drove the car and slowly disappeared into the afterglow of the sunset.
··
In a mansion in Los Angeles, Murdoch Jr. was enjoying the beautiful night view with a glass of red wine.
Since taking office in Fox, he immediately bought a villa here.
He has been living a life of luxury since childhood and has never treated himself badly in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation.
"Hmm... it tastes good."
Little Murdoch slowly drank the red wine in the glass.
He seemed to be in a pretty good mood, not at all affected by the recent setbacks Fox had encountered.
But only Murdoch Jr. himself knows the real situation.
Fox has been unlucky recently, with bad news coming one after another.
Japan, East Asia's largest entertainment market, began a vigorous anti-Fox movement at some point.
Not only did no one take the initiative to distribute Fox's films, but even the operation of Fox's records was greatly affected.
If it were just that, it would be fine. After all, Fox doesn't lack such a market.
However, those Japanese companies that Fox had originally cooperated with almost simultaneously defected.
You should know that the projects these companies are involved in are not just the Japanese market, but the entire East Asian market!
This is a huge market involving more than a dozen countries and billions of people.
Especially compared with the European and American markets, which have reached a bottleneck in development, the East Asian market, where the entertainment industry has developed rapidly in recent years, has been increasingly valued by Hollywood.
Although Fox can also abandon these partners and go it alone, the cost of developing the market will increase exponentially.
The reason for this result is that the woman named Washimine Shion, together with Dentsu, ordered all Japanese entertainment companies not to cooperate with Fox.
Not only Fox, but the entire News Corporation in Asia has been under double attack from Dentsu and Washimine.
"Vixen...I will make you pay the price!"
Just as Murdoch Jr. was thinking this, his assistant walked into the banquet hall.
"I just got the news..."
Although there were only two people in the room, the assistant's voice was still very soft.
"I've got the stuff, but there's something wrong with the version. It's not the final version. Do you want to try again?"
Murdoch raised his hand to signal the other party to shut up: "No matter what they got, this matter has nothing to do with Fox and News Corporation from beginning to end."
"This is just the personal behavior of some avid movie lovers and Marvel fans."
Little Murdoch raised the corners of his mouth, as if he had already won.
The assistant nodded in understanding: "Yes, this has nothing to do with us."