Entering September, the movie released by Universal Pictures is DreamWorks' animated film "Shrek."
This cartoon completely subverts Disney's fairy tale animation of princes and princesses. The protagonist Shrek is a big monster, and he is not followed by a white horse, but a mean donkey. And the princess is no longer as beautiful as a fairy, on the contrary, she is as ugly as Shrek...
But it is such an anti-traditional cartoon that became very popular after its release. Not only has the reputation been overwhelming, but the box office has also been rising. Because the audience has long been tired of Disney's false fairy tales and longs for change.
Unfortunately, during the release of "Shrek", a terrorist attack occurred again. Although the time and location were slightly different, it still shocked the American people.
For a time, not only did the stock market crash, the three major U.S. stock indexes plummeted by 12 to 15 percent, but even the entertainment market was severely affected.
In the following weeks, movie theater business was very sluggish, which seriously affected the box office of "Shrek." As a result, the movie only took in 80 million U.S. dollars in box office in North America. Fortunately, the overseas box office exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars, so DreamWorks still made money.
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After the terrorist attack, as more and more information leaked, people gradually discovered that the incident was exactly the same as the movie "True Lies 2" released by Universal Pictures in June.
The same criminals hijacked planes and wanted to hit New York landmarks. But in the movie, it hit the Statue of Liberty, but in real life, it hit the Twin Towers.
It's so similar that it's hard not to relate. In this regard, Xiang Nan, as a screenwriter, even accepted an FBI investigation. Of course it was impossible to investigate anything.
On the contrary, because of this incident, "True Lies 2" was once regarded as a miracle film. The sales volume and rental volume of the DVD increased significantly, and the overseas copyright fees were much higher than those of similar films.
Universal Pictures is also a blessing in disguise.
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Affected by the terrorist attacks, the U.S. stock market crashed, and the three major stock indexes fell collectively.
Such black swan events also led to the collapse of the Internet bubble.
It turns out that since 1993, when the U.S. government announced an investment of US$400 billion to build an Internet highway, the concept of the Internet began to be favored by capital.
Therefore, all companies related to the Internet are favored by capital. It is easier to attract investment, easier to go public, and easier to increase stock prices.
For this reason, even many companies that are not involved in the Internet at all add the [.COM] or [IE] logo to their company names in order to deceive investors who do not know the truth.
According to statistics, from 1999 to 2000 alone, in less than a year, more than 90 billion US dollars poured into the Internet industry in the United States. This not only promoted the development of the Internet industry, but also created a huge bubble.
By this year, the bubble was already showing signs of being burst. After all, all bubble economies are based on beating the drum and spreading flowers, and as the bubble gets bigger and bigger, the stock price gets higher and higher, and sooner or later there will be a day when it cannot be taken over.
Just as the terrorist attacks broke out, the stock market crashed, and the Internet bubble burst. The stock prices of major Internet companies plummeted, and they fell into a mess.
The stock prices of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all fallen by more than 50%. As for the mainland's NetEase, Xinxing, and Sohu, they have fallen to nothing more than cabbage prices.
But misfortune comes with blessings, and if someone is unlucky, someone will take advantage. Xiang Nan had sold his stocks one after another as early as a year ago. Now he just happened to take advantage of the low price, and all of a sudden he bought a large amount of stocks from several Internet companies. The quantity is large enough to interfere with the company's operations.
In this way, a solid foundation will be laid for the future.
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The terrorist attacks depressed the entertainment market for a period of time, and it was not until November that it gradually recovered.
The occurrence of terrorist attacks has increased people's sense of insecurity, so superhero movies are becoming more and more popular.
Americans long for real superheroes to fight crime and protect their homeland. Therefore, "The Defenders", which was released in November, won unanimous approval from the audience.
In addition to "The Defenders", Universal Pictures spent two years laying the groundwork. Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Elektra... these superhero characters are all familiar even to people who have never read comics.
Now that so many heroes are gathered together, it is naturally very attractive to movie fans.
Because of this, the box office has soared since its release, with the box office taking over $60 million on the first day. In the end, the North American box office received 600 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was close to 900 million U.S. dollars, making it the best-grossing movie this year.
The popularity of "The Defenders" has once again ignited the market for superhero comic book movies, making other Hollywood companies salivate with envy and prepare their own superhero movies.
Warner Pictures announced that it will restart the fifth "Superman" movie "Superman Returns". In the 1970s, the "Superman" series starring Christopher Reeve was a hit.
Unfortunately, Warner Pictures and "Superman" director Richard Donner fell out and Richard Lester took over. Before Richard Lester took over, he had never read a "Superman" comic, so he didn't understand the character at all and failed to grasp the essence of Superman as a superhero.
Therefore, the box office reputation of the second and third films he took over were not as good as before. In 1987, Sydney Jeffrey was replaced to shoot "Superman 4", which was already at the end of its game.
The cost of US$15 million was only returned to US$18 million at the box office, which was a huge loss, so Warner hid this superhero.
But now, due to the popularity of superhero comics, it has quickly dug up this IP again and is preparing to revive it.
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But it is a pity that there are only two influential comic companies in the United States. One Marvel Comics, one Marvel Comics. One is in the hands of Warner and the other is in the hands of Universal.
Other comic companies are small in scale and have very low market share, and their comic heroes are rarely well-known.
Therefore, those companies can only watch Warner and Universal make money. They want to prepare a superhero movie, but it is extremely difficult.
However, there are always exceptions. For example, Columbia Pictures has won the film and television adaptation rights for the superhero "Hellboy" under Dark Horse Comics.
New Line Cinema has rebooted the comic book adaptation of "Spawn." In fact, in 1997, New Line Cinema produced a "Spawn", but unfortunately not only did it get a bad reputation, it also suffered heavy losses at the box office.
An investment of US$40 million only returned US$80 million in box office, causing New Line Cinema to lose more than US$10 million. If it weren't for the renewed popularity of superhero movies, it wouldn't have made this money-losing project again.
In addition, some giants tried to discuss with Universal and Warner, hoping to buy the adaptation rights of several lesser-known superheroes, but they were politely declined.
Traveling together is like an enemy. How can you give a project that has the potential to make a lot of money to others casually?
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