Director in Hollywood

"Hey, Anna, take a trip to New York and look into a comic book company—Marvel Comics. Yes, I need all the information you can get, as detailed as possible."

Gilbert instructed his assistant, Anna Singh, to reach out to Marvel Comics while he carefully recalled its history in his mind.

It seemed Marvel Comics had filed for bankruptcy protection in the late 1990s, which could be an opportunity for him.

Gilbert had only returned to celebrate Scarlett Johansson's birthday, so he hadn't stayed at his own Melon Manor but instead slept in the guest room.

Early the next morning, Scarlett was up, all dressed up and looking beautiful.

Because of the exhausting travels and back-to-back work, when Scarlett woke up, Gilbert was still asleep.

Ms. Sloan told her daughter, "Scarlett, go wake up Gilbert; it's time for breakfast."

Scarlett grabbed a toothbrush and towel and went to the guest room to wake him up.

She opened the door to see Gilbert still sound asleep, his blanket on the floor, sprawled out in a large starfish shape.

Seeing this, Scarlett couldn't help but smile and walked closer to get a good look at his face.

Maybe it was because he was so tired; Gilbert was even snoring softly, his long eyelashes fluttering slightly. No wonder Hollywood's leading ladies loved to compare their lashes to his.

Gilbert's fans, especially the women, were eager to see him act in a movie someday; they wanted to see how the man behind the scenes would perform on screen.

Scarlett had just turned ten yesterday. Although still a child, she showed remarkable maturity.

Perhaps because her parents divorced when she was young, leaving her with a lack of fatherly love, she developed a special attachment to Gilbert.

Recalling a tip a friend had given her, Scarlett gathered her courage and kissed him on the lips.

She had seen an uncle who brought her mom home do this.

The kiss felt strange; her heart raced, and her face flushed.

Just then, Gilbert turned over, which startled her, and she let out a little yelp, quickly retreating.

Gilbert was awakened by the sound, groggily opening his eyes to see Scarlett standing at a short distance from his bed, covering her face.

Seeing his blanket on the floor, he picked it up and, noting that he was decently dressed in pajamas, wondered why the little girl was covering her face.

"Scarlett, what's wrong?"

"I came to wake you up for breakfast." She said without looking at him and hurried out of the room.

Gilbert was puzzled. "If you're waking someone up, you don't need to yell so loud, right?"

After freshening up and changing, Gilbert went down for breakfast.

Scarlett didn't dare to look at him, and after silently eating, she quickly ran back to her room.

It was hard to understand a young girl's mind—she had been fine just yesterday.

Gilbert didn't care to investigate further. After breakfast, he chatted briefly with Ms. Sloan and prepared to leave.

"Scarlett, I'm heading out!" he called upstairs.

Scarlett came rushing down from her bedroom, throwing herself into his arms.

Gilbert hugged her, carried her outside, and set her down, patting her head. "I'll come back to see you once my work is done."

Scarlett handed him a picture book she'd shown him yesterday. "Keep this safe. I put two photos in it—look at them when you miss me!"

"Haha, sure." Gilbert laughed, waved, and said, "I'm off..."

Scarlett pointed to her lips.

According to what her friend told her, once you kiss someone, they're your boyfriend or girlfriend. And it's normal to have a farewell kiss when a boyfriend leaves for work.

Her mischievous friend had put the idea in Scarlett's head, though if Gilbert knew, he'd probably comment: "Are you trying to get me to act like certain island nations' people?"

Not knowing what was on her mind, Gilbert kissed her on the forehead before leaving, which didn't satisfy her. She watched him go with a slightly annoyed look.

By noon, Gilbert was back on set, and the crew was running smoothly despite his short absence.

He reviewed a few scenes Anne had directed and found them satisfactory.

After rejoining the set, production on The Rock resumed in full swing, aiming to wrap up before Christmas.

Over the course of a few films, Gilbert and his team had become highly synchronized, now resembling a first-rate Hollywood crew.

One benefit of not using CAA's package deals was that the team didn't constantly have to re-adjust to new members. With Gilbert's fast one-film-a-year pace, the team remained stable, and any members who left were quickly replaced by those eager to join a steady gig.

As for Anna Singh, she had soon sent him a detailed report on Marvel Comics via fax.

Gilbert now had a clearer understanding of Marvel's heroes and knew quite a bit about the company's background. He knew Marvel couldn't survive without Stan Lee, but before the Marvel films, he hadn't been aware of the company's struggles with its comic division.

Marvel, founded after DC, started as a low-brow publisher, with its breakthrough in 1941 through Captain America.

The real boom for Marvel came in 1963, when Stan Lee introduced The Avengers and created superheroes with flaws, unlike the godlike heroes of DC.

Doctor Strange, X-Men, and Fantastic Four were all products of that period.

Unlike DC, which had explored superhero movies early on with some success, Marvel only made its first film adaptation in the 1980s. Even so, none of Marvel's films achieved much success until Fantastic Four.

In 1986, Marvel was acquired by New World Pictures, which tried to mimic Warner/DC's formula to replicate the success of Superman and Batman. But they failed.

New World executives were so unfamiliar with the genre that they didn't even know Superman belonged to DC, let alone how to adapt comics to films. New World itself was now in a poor financial state.

In 1989, Wall Street mogul Ron Perelman bought Marvel. Under his leadership, Marvel went public and acquired several toy companies and small publishers. But his aggressive tactics soon created a financial crisis for Marvel.

To resolve the crisis, Marvel had to sell film rights for characters like X-Men, Hulk, and Spider-Man to Hollywood studios. Despite these efforts, Marvel's financial woes continued, leading to layoffs and cutbacks by 1994.

Anna's report concluded that Perelman's other assets were facing trouble, and he was considering selling Marvel to secure funds to save them.

Gilbert saw an excellent opportunity. If he could acquire Marvel, he'd have something to rely on for the next few decades.

When there was no movie to make, he could focus on superhero films, which would be enough for years.

But knowing Wall Street's greed, Gilbert knew this wasn't the best time to make a bid. He needed to wait for the North American comic industry's downturn and the decline in Marvel's value before acting.

Sophia also knew of Gilbert's interest in Marvel and couldn't help but ask, "Gilbert, are you really into superheroes?"

"Why not? I grew up reading superhero comics," he said.

"Who knew you had a superhero dream," Sophia said.

Gilbert didn't have any superhero dream. If he had a favorite, it would be the Monkey King.

As for Marvel, his interest was purely financial.

Marvel was business; the Monkey King was true love.

Of course, even if he bought Marvel, it wouldn't be an instant success.

Rushing into a Marvel cinematic universe without preparation would likely lead to failure.

Making a movie isn't just about putting it in theaters; with Marvel, merchandising is key.

Without a strong merchandise plan, ticket sales alone wouldn't sustain such a massive franchise.

And such a large-scale plan couldn't be achieved alone; he'd need to partner with a major media company.

Gilbert had heard from Robert Iger that Michael Eisner was interested in integrating Melon Studios into Disney as one of its divisions.

If Iger's information was accurate, Gilbert would require Disney to trade shares for the acquisition, making him a Disney board member.

Then he'd be a giant, wielding real influence.

But he heard the proposal had met resistance from many higher-ups, especially the Disney family.

The Disney family had long been trying to regain control of Disney Pictures, and John Disney saw Gilbert as Eisner's protégé, so they wouldn't let Eisner expand his influence.

Plus, Warner and the recently emerged 20th Century Fox wouldn't want Gilbert fully aligning with Disney, so any acquisition by Disney would face significant challenges.

Gilbert himself had concerns. Rumors were that Eisner wanted him to shift his style to align more with Disney's values.

Moreover, Michael Ovitz would become Disney's CEO early next year.

Given their past issues, even if Ovitz set aside his grievances to work with Gilbert, the discomfort would still linger.

Once doubt is planted, it only grows, never fading.

Gilbert recalled that Iger eventually became Disney's CEO, while the two Michaels faded away.

So, there was no rush. He'd wait to see how things developed.

....

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