Chapter 862: The Miserable Bag Holder

Ever since its global release, The Avengers had shattered one box office record after another. Its theatrical run had finally ended after nearly a year, and the only mountain standing ahead of it in both the North American and global box offices was Avatar.

In its home base of North America, the film's massive reception secured last year's box office championship without an ounce of suspense. It even cleared the hurdle set by Titanic, hauling in $725.86 million to become the runner-up on the all-time North American box office chart, second only to Avatar's $749.76 million.

On a broader scale, The Avengers racked up a staggering global box office total of $2.26784 billion, surpassing Titanic's post-re-release earnings of $2.18766 billion. It fell short only of Avatar's $2.78796 billion, making it the runner-up on the all-time global chart as well.

At this point, the pinnacle of the global box office was completely dominated by Duke and James Cameron.

The media unanimously agreed that Duke was the only one capable of surpassing Avatar's single-film record, while Duke's total career box office earnings were a figure James Cameron could only dream of reaching.

Before the release of Iron Man in 2006, many people even in North America had no idea who on earth Marvel was. Today, however, even a homeless man on the street probably knew that America had a progressive young man who carried a shield.

As an American comic industry giant on par with DC Company, Marvel had been operating under Duke as its largest shareholder. Following years of careful planning and execution, the Marvel Great Law began its relentless conquest of the film industry.

The Avengers was undoubtedly the ultimate microcosm and beneficiary of these plans. Even with its theatrical run over, there were still plenty of avenues left to monetize.

With the film out of theaters, the standard $19.90 and $39.90 DVD sets were inevitably rolled out.

Today's DVD market, however, was a far cry from the glory days when a blockbuster's first-week sales could easily break the $100 million mark. Still, Duke, Marvel Pictures, and Warner Brothers went all out.

A Blu-ray box set titled Marvel Universe: Phase One was officially released in late April.

It featured Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. Three of these films included both 2D and 3D versions, which, along with a Phase One bonus features disc, made up a luxurious ten-disc collection. It also came with a companion artbook. Packaged in an incredibly sleek briefcase gift box, it was the ultimate collector's item and the perfect gift.

Priced at $129.99, the set's outer packaging featured a faux-aluminum design that perfectly replicated the briefcase S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury used to store the Tesseract in The Avengers.

The box set came with a hefty price tag, but the craftsmanship was outstanding. Even with the massive profit margins, Marvel hadn't cut any corners to cheat their fans.

The "Avengers" lettering on the briefcase handle functioned as a button. Pressing it lit up the S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle emblem on the lid. Opening the collector's box revealed an interior that faithfully recreated the movie prop, complete with the Tesseract in the center and a keypad lock in the bottom right corner. The Blu-ray discs were stored in angled slots, and the attention to detail inside the case was incredibly striking.

Beyond the replica crystal Tesseract and the movie discs, the case also held a wealth of Avengers files.

First was Captain America, Steve Rogers. His file included a rejected enlistment certificate, an application form, a medical report, and a registration card. It also contained a pencil sketch from his diary, three vintage trading cards, a portrait of his scrawny pre-serum self, and the photograph of his first girlfriend, Agent Carter, from his pocket watch.

Next was Iron Man, Tony Stark. His file featured the Arc Reactor design blueprints, newspaper clippings about Iron Man, a Stark Expo tri-fold brochure, the MK1 design drafted on kraft paper, a VIP ticket to the Stark Expo, the napkin Pepper had left her coffee cup on, and Tony's notes on his Tesseract research.

Then came the big green guy, Hulk, Bruce Banner. This section included Stark Industries' Sonar Armored Vehicle blueprints designed to counter the Hulk, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Hulk report, academic papers, newspaper clippings about the lab accident, supermarket product labels, and an aluminum Stark Industries nameplate.

Items for practically every Avenger were included. On top of the six meticulously recreated and highly coveted personal dossiers of the Avengers, there was also a top-secret black S.H.I.E.L.D. envelope. Inside was an access card that allowed fans to log onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. internal website to view bonus clips and trailers, a translucent data sheet, and an evaluation report bearing a URL for the "Battle of New York."

The moment this box set hit the market, fans eagerly snatched it up. In just five days, it raked in over $80 million in North America alone, a clear testament to its immense popularity.

"The merchandising revenue for The Avengers tallied last month has already surpassed $2.5 billion!"

Inside a conference room at Sky Film Studio, David Ellison was roaring at his executives. "And what about Fast and Furious 5? Even if we factor in DVDs, streaming, and television rights, its ancillary revenue hasn't even hit $250 million!"

Fast and Furious 5 had grossed over $285.6 million at the North American box office and over $750 million globally. Factoring in ancillary revenues, it had no problem turning a massive profit, even after paying out huge cuts to Universal Pictures and the late Vin Diesel.

It was just that compared to The Avengers, which was released around the same time, those numbers paled in comparison.

Still, a profit was a profit. Fast and Furious 5 also helped validate David Ellison's efforts, largely pacifying his father, Larry Ellison. The problem was that while the movie had done quite well, the box office performance of Battleship, released last July, had been an absolute disaster, nearly wiping out all the profits earned by Fast and Furious 5.

Between the gains and losses, Sky Film Studio hadn't made a single cent. Once the company's operational costs were factored in, they were actually operating at a loss.

Faced with this situation, how could David Ellison possibly suppress his fury?

Then there were those vampires over at Universal Pictures. Relying solely on their ownership of the intellectual property, they had siphoned off a massive cut of the revenue from Fast and Furious 5, severely crippling Sky Film Studio's profits. Without them, the studio wouldn't have found itself in the red.

After dismissing the meeting, David Ellison returned to his office and immediately called his assistant in. "How are the talks with Universal Pictures going? Can we secure the rights?"

"We're currently at a stalemate," his assistant said, pushing up his glasses. "Universal Pictures doesn't want to let go of the franchise rights."

The massive success of Fast and Furious 5 had shown David Ellison the true potential of the franchise. If he could just secure the rights, future profits would be guaranteed, even without Vin Diesel.

He desperately wanted to buy out the rights, but Universal's refusal to let go was a massive roadblock.

After mulling it over for a few minutes, he instructed his assistant, "Keep raising the offer. I'll also put pressure on Universal through other channels. We have to get our hands on this franchise."

"Also," he added, "how are the negotiations with Paramount Pictures going?"

Paramount Pictures was currently in a bad spot. With no standout releases in recent years, they were essentially being propped up by the Star Trek franchise. Liquidity issues constantly plagued them, to the point where they even had to rely on external financing to fund the production of the Star Trek films.

"We've basically reached a consensus," the assistant replied quickly. "Barring any surprises, we should be signing a formal contract with Paramount Pictures soon to invest in the next three Star Trek films."

That was certainly good news. David Ellison's tense expression relaxed just a fraction.

After his assistant left, David Ellison threw himself back into his work. This Summer Season was crucial for Sky Film Studio. Alien Battlefield, a project in which they held a sixty percent investment stake, was slated for release. However, the distributor, Walt Disney, clearly had reservations about clashing with Duke Rosenberg and The Dark Knight Rises, ultimately shifting the film's release window to June.

The production budget for Alien Battlefield sat at a staggering $270 million. Factoring in the marketing and distribution costs, the total investment swelled to a terrifying $500 million. Sky Film Studio alone had poured $300 million into the project. Even though the bulk of that money came from outside financing, David Ellison still felt the crushing weight of the pressure.

If Alien Battlefield bombed, both he and Sky Film Studio would be saddled with monumental debt.

Two years ago, David Ellison would have had absolute confidence in his investments. He would have even dared to go head-to-head with Duke Rosenberg's Summer Season blockbusters. But after the catastrophic consecutive failures of Robin Hood, TRON: Legacy, and Battleship, even someone as arrogant and headstrong as him couldn't help but harbor doubts about Alien Battlefield.

He cast his mind back to when he had first bought up the investment stakes in those four films. He had acted on inside information leaked from Duke Studio. It was precisely because Duke Rosenberg supposedly had high hopes for them that Ellison had eagerly snatched the projects out from under him...

Yet three of those four projects had now flopped. No matter how slow on the uptake he might be, David Ellison was slowly coming to the realization that he had been played. Duke Rosenberg must have never believed in those four films to begin with. He had intentionally leaked the information, setting Ellison up to become the miserable bag holder...

But by the time he figured it all out, it was too late. Alien Battlefield was already in the final stages of post-production. Pulling his funding out was impossible. His only option was to bite the bullet, finish the movie, ramp up the marketing campaign, and pray that the film would somehow turn a profit at the box office.

Besides, David Ellison still held onto a sliver of hope. Duke Rosenberg's judgment couldn't be right one hundred percent of the time.

But... but what if it actually did fail? What then?

The crushing anxiety continued to gnaw at David Ellison. If the movie bombed, he would be facing a devastating crisis.