Chapter 337: Acquisition Difficulties

Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Acquisition Difficulties

As soon as the news broke, the crew instantly erupted.

After all, in Hollywood, everyone has their own social circles and work schedules. Staying at sea for a long time meant a backlog of pending matters—brand events, script negotiations, family gatherings—these were inseparable parts of their lives.

Most members of the crew left the site one after another, but Irene did not. Instead, she stayed in the temporary editing room.

She combed through the filmed footage again. Jack Sparrow’s sly smile, Elizabeth Swann’s determined eyes, Will Turner’s nimble footwork, and those grand sea battle scenes flashed across the screen.

But her brow would furrow from time to time, her pen constantly making notes in her notebook: "In the shot of Jack and Davy Jones’s first confrontation, a background crew member laughed," "When Elizabeth jumped into the sea, a staff member’s shoe was in the frame," "The hull vibration during the Black Pearl’s encounter with the whirlpool—the props team needs to add authentic tactile feedback."

She knew in her heart that although principal photography was over, if these detailed flaws weren’t fixed in time, waiting until the third film was finished to return to the Caribbean Sea for reshoots would not only cost more time and money but might also disrupt the actors’ performance states. It really wasn’t worth the effort.

At the same time, the ultimate sea battle in the third film’s plot, which would decide everyone’s fate, also caused Irene to struggle repeatedly.

This battle involved a clash of multiple factions—Jack, Elizabeth, Will, Davy Jones, and Lord Beckett. Everyone’s motives and stances were different. How to clearly present each storyline in the chaotic battle while maintaining the scene’s impact was currently the biggest challenge.

She opened the script outline for the third film, which was covered in dense annotations. Especially regarding Captain Jack’s ending, she had yet to finalize it. Should he continue to be that carefree Pirate King, or should she arrange a more fateful ending for him? This question needed to be discussed thoroughly with the core actors.

While the movie side was a complete mess, Lisa also brought bad news.

On the screen, Lisa pushed a document toward the camera, her tone heavy: "Irene, the negotiations with Marvel have completely collapsed."

Irene’s heart sank. She walked to the window and pulled the curtains to shut out the sound of the waves, focusing intently on Lisa’s words.

"I pulled strings through three levels of connections just to see Marvel’s executives, but their attitude was incredibly stubborn." Lisa rubbed her temples and continued, "They were blunt, saying that even if Hulk flops at the box office and their 150 million dollars investment goes down the drain, they will never sell any hero copyrights."

Irene frowned. "Just because we’re not one of the Big Six Studios?"

"That’s one of the main reasons." Lisa nodded, a hint of frustration in her eyes. "They said the Big Six Studios have mature distribution networks and financial strength to maximize the value of hero IPs. As for an independent production team like ours, the company hasn’t even released a single movie with a box office exceeding 50 million so far. A film company like this is simply not worth mentioning in their eyes. We don’t even qualify for cooperation."

The room was silent. Irene could only hear her own breathing.

Irene was silent for a long time before slowly speaking, "Then let’s launch Plan B: we’ll acquire Marvel."

Lisa seemed to have expected her to say this and took out a financial report. "I’ve already done the research. After 2000, Marvel relied on selling hero copyrights to recoup funds, basically resolving most of their previous debts. Their stock price has risen from a low of $1 per share to $7 per share. Then, due to the consecutive hits of X-Men and Spider-Man, the stock price continued to recover, and their market value has reached about 1.8 billion dollars at this stage." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"Despite the minor accident of Hulk causing the stock price to drop another 5%, the market value is still around 1.7 billion dollars. To complete a premium acquisition, the other party’s asking price would be at least 2.2 billion dollars. Moreover, with Spider-Man 2 releasing next year, the stock price will definitely hit new highs. The longer we wait, the higher our costs will be."

"2.2 billion dollars..." Irene murmured to herself, blinking, a sense of powerlessness rising in her heart.

It seemed she still wasn’t working hard enough. Let alone 2.2 billion, she couldn’t even produce 200 million dollars.

When Marvel was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997, she was still a student. At that time, due to the comic book bubble burst and continuous losses, the company’s market value hit rock bottom. But even then, an acquisition would have required tens of millions in capital, plus taking on massive debt and complex legal battles—it was simply not something she could have handled back then.

"Now is the best time, and also the last chance," Irene said softly.

Lisa also agreed with her view. "The failure of Hulk has put Marvel’s stock price at a short-term low. Once they recover, the funds required for an acquisition will likely double."

Lisa truly was a professional who had been in Hollywood for a long time. When Disney acquired Marvel in 2009, it spent 4.24 billion dollars—it really did double.

Irene took a deep breath, her eyes becoming determined again. "I know, but we don’t have that much capital right now. Maybe there’s another way. I’ll think about it. Don’t break off contact with Marvel on your end."

"Understood, Boss."

After hanging up the video call with Lisa, Irene immediately contacted Chen Shiyu and Jean Williams.

Early the next morning, Chen Shiyu and Jean Williams arrived at the Caribbean Sea filming base by private jet.

The Caribbean Sea sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the teak dining table. As soon as Chen Shiyu put down his suitcase, he couldn’t wait to hand Irene the recent materials related to Facebook.

"Irene, these are the latest figures for Facebook. As of last week, registered users in the US exceeded 80 million, global users jumped to 207 million, monthly active users stabilized at 142 million, and daily average clicks exceeded 980 million."

His tone couldn’t hide his excitement. "We’ve signed advertising deals with 67 companies, and annual advertising revenue has exceeded 100 million dollars. We are now the world’s largest social platform in terms of user scale. Investment banks have given a pre-IPO valuation of 9.2 billion dollars. The plan for the August 31st IPO remains unchanged, and there are only 12 days left for the final SEC review."

Irene held her iced coffee, her gaze sweeping over the user growth curve, her fingertips tapping lightly on the edge of the table. "I remember when we launched nationwide last August, there were only 20 million users. This growth rate has indeed exceeded expectations." She looked up at Chen Shiyu. "Looking at your expression, it seems there’s an even bigger surprise waiting for me?"