Chapter 330: Immediately Remove Mandarin

"Fake double team?"

After missing the shot, He Zhongqiu immediately understood Duncan's defensive strategy.

His response was very simple, just let Varejao pay attention to the rhythm of cutting into the basket.

The reason why I chose to shoot myself and not pass the ball to Valanciunas was because Valanciunas did not grasp the timing of cutting in from outside the penalty area, and his mid-range shot was not very good, so I did not pass the ball to him.

When returning to defense, he reminded: "Anderson, don't enter the penalty area before I get the ball. Your time to cut in is when Duncan helps defend next to me, and you must start quickly."

"Okay." Vallejo replied in Mandarin.

In the next offensive round of the Knicks, He Zhongqiu again asked for the ball in the low post on the left wing, and Varejao was outside the right waist position.

When Battier passed the ball, Duncan in the right waist position quickly came to assist in defense, and this time the double-team position was the left waist position.

When Duncan was about to double-team him, Varejao quickly started to cut in.

At this time, because Duncan was attacking from the upper side, Lasu immediately moved a small step downwards, blocking He Zhongqiu's direction to slip to the bottom.

"squeak!"

He Zhongqiu was not in a hurry to pass the ball. When he attracted Duncan to his side, he suddenly turned around, used his right elbow to position himself, and threw the ball out with one hand.

Duncan and Rasu jumped up at the same time to block the shot, but their height was not high enough and the ball flew over their heads.

"boom!"

On the front right side of the basket, Valanciunas quickly cut in and jumped, caught the ball with both hands in the air, and stuffed the ball into the basket.

"Oh, alley-oop, from Wolverine to the Knicks' best player," Barkley yelled.

"The nickname Varejao is not very friendly to Wolverine," Kenny Smith laughed.

"But he is Wolverine's student. His foul-drawing skills and acting skills all come from Wolverine's teaching." Barkley laughed.

"Pay attention to defending the basket." Popovich yelled at the court.

Duncan raised his right hand and signaled to Popovich that he was responsible for the ball.

85 seconds later, He Zhongqiu took position two meters away from the left waist and asked for the ball.

When Lasu followed him out, he received the ball and played one-on-one. After shaking off Lasu with his extremely flexible steps, he hit a two-point shot on the 45-degree rebound and made a goal.

"It's too difficult to defend. The only person in the league who can defend Wolverine alone has not been born yet," said Kenny Smith.

"Duncan, a superstar who has defended many times, can't defend Wolverine alone, let alone a role player?" Barkley said with a smile.

No matter how hard he tried to defend, he couldn't stop it. Popovich was extremely depressed. If he had a way, he wouldn't have lost the last finals 1-4.

But he still had to continue to adjust his defensive tactics and use Bowen from above to double-team Wolverine who was attacking from the wing.

But He Zhongqiu immediately broke his wing double-team tactics with a pass, and Josh Howard hit an open three-pointer.

In the first quarter, at 21:30, the Spurs were trailing by 9 points.

In the second quarter, in the competition between the two teams' substitute lineups, the Knicks showed the advantage of strong lineup depth.

Rick Carlisle sent out David Lee + Rahim + Michael Finley + Clifford + Tyronn Lue, who defeated the Spurs' bench lineup and fell behind by 16 points at halftime.

In the end, the Knicks beat the Spurs by 23 points at home.

21 wins and 3 losses, the Pistons have no game tonight, and the Knicks have regained the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the league.

In the post-game press conference, Popovich once again complained about the unfair competition between big teams and small teams.

"Look at who's on the Knicks bench? Former Bulls scoring champion Crawford, former Mavericks perimeter core Michael Finley, and All-Star Rahim, and what do we have?"

"I think even if the Knicks win three consecutive championships, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a luxurious lineup built with money."

Before the press conference ended, Popovich's remarks were reported at the Knicks' press conference.

"Coach Carlisle, Popovich thinks..."

After a reporter had given his account, he asked, "Do you think what he said makes sense? Do you agree with what he said?"

Rick Carlisle said: "Losers always find all kinds of reasons for their failures, but in fact, Abdur-Rahim's injury is very serious, and Michael Finley was also someone who was voluntarily given up by the Mavericks. They are no longer at their peak.

We were able to get both of them because of the appeal of the defending champions and the appeal of New York, not because of big contracts. They both joined on minimum salaries.

So I think Mr. Popovich complaining about the Knicks being rich is a misconception.”

"Wolverine, you refused to comment on this before. Do you want to say something now?" the reporter asked He Zhongqiu.

He Zhongqiu said casually: "I don't understand one thing, why does Coach Popovich always complain that our lineup is too strong? Is this jealousy?"

"Haha..." laughter rang out in the hall.

The next day, at 9 a.m., the NBA announced that the 2006 All-Star Game would be held at Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks.

The Knicks have been applying for the bid since 02 and finally succeeded this year.

At 10 o'clock, Yang Xue boarded the plane back home.

"Sister Xue, please come back early." Bai Laosi reminded her when he saw her off at the airport.

"Are you afraid that your husband will eat you?" Yang Xue said unhappily.

"Yes!" Bai Laosi nodded honestly.

Yang Xue laughed and encouraged, "I have been doing this alone for such a long time. Now it is time for you to handle this alone. Old Four, I have confidence in you."

Bai Lao Si said with a sad face: "But I don't think I will be successful!"

At noon, Ross Lewis and Frank Zhang came to visit at the same time.

"Boss, the negotiations with Disney are over." Lewis said happily.

"Tell me about it." He Zhongqiu was also very happy after hearing it.

Lewis said: "Disney invested $4000 million to obtain 50% of the comic and film adaptation rights of Boss's superheroes, and Boss retained 50% of the copyright."

"Permanent?" He Zhongqiu asked.

"Yes."

Ross Lewis nodded, but immediately added: "But you will get 20% of the royalties from the sales of each comic, including the copyright income from the 50% of the character copyrights in your hands.

In terms of film copyright, you will receive 30% of the investment amount and 3% of the global box office share for each related film." After saying this, he looked closely at He Zhongqiu.

After talking with Marvel many times, these conditions are already the best conditions he has obtained. If He Zhongqiu does not agree, then he can only operate the image of Super Hero himself.

But whether it is creating comics or making superhero movies, it is better to join forces with Disney than to operate it on your own.

He Zhongqiu thought about it for thirty seconds, then nodded and said, "OK, Ross, you talked well."

Lewis laughed immediately and said, "Boss, as long as you are satisfied."

He Zhongqiu asked again: "Has the character's name been decided?"

Lewis nodded and said, “They are very satisfied with the name He Tianwang.”

He Zhongqiu said thoughtfully: "There are still some conditions to discuss, make them clear."

"Boss, you say." Lewis said immediately.

"For example, my character cannot be humiliating or negative, it must be a positive image."

"OK."

"Also, in He Tianwang's comics and movies, you cannot insult Chinese people."

"OK."

"Also, are there any characters in Marvel that insult Chinese people?"

When Ross Lewis heard this, he immediately began to recall his memories of Marvel.

Frank Zhang, who was drinking coffee next to him, was of Chinese-American descent, and his father was a second-generation Chinese. He reminded:

"In Marvel's Tales of Suspense No. 50, which came out in 1962, there was a character called the Mandarin, who was based on the novel Fu Manchu by British writer Sackman Ross. He had a very negative image and was Iron Man's mortal enemy."

"Yes, but this Mandarin has not appeared in any Marvel movies yet, and I haven't seen it." Ross Lewis nodded quickly.

"Marvel produced an animated series about Iron Man in the 1990s, which featured the character of Mandarin," said Frank Zhang.

He Zhongqiu said without hesitation: “If Disney wants to acquire the copyright of King He, then immediately remove the comics and cartoons about Mandarin and make this character disappear from the Marvel world.

If not, not only will I not sell the copyright of King He, I will not cooperate with Disney and Marvel in the future, including starring in their movies."

Ross Lewis was startled and looked at Frank Zhang.

Although this is not Frank Zhang's job, it is related to He Zhongqiu, so he doesn't mind expressing his opinion.

He said: "The Mandarin is not an important Marvel character, and Marvel is in urgent need of saving. Disney spent billions of dollars to acquire Marvel in order to make money. I don't think this is an excessive condition."

"Okay, Boss, I'll talk to Disney again right away." Ross Lewis nodded in agreement.

"Okay." He Zhongqiu said.

After discussing the Marvel characters, Ross Lewis took out two scripts, placed them in front of He Zhongqiu, and said:

"Boss, you said before that you won't be filming the Iron Eagle King series for the time being. These two scripts are the best at the moment. One is our own, and the other is from 20th Century Fox. You can take a look at them first. We need to decide on them as soon as possible."

"I'll take my time reading it. You can introduce it first." He Zhongqiu put the script aside.

"OK." Lewis began to introduce the two scripts.

Both scripts are action movies, with production costs of over 100 million US dollars each, and are both big productions.

His own company's script is a disaster movie about saving humanity at the end of the world, and Fox's script is from the Predator series.

Lewis said: “Boss, the Alien vs. Predator that was released last year grossed 1.8 million worldwide, which was still profitable, but not very good, not much.

This Predator script was written specifically for you, and they also wanted to continue the Predator series."

"You prefer their script. Are the conditions good?" He Zhongqiu asked.

Lewis said: "The film has an investment of 1.2 million US dollars and a production cost of no less than 7000 million US dollars, which is a Class A production.

Boss's salary is 2000 million US dollars + 20% of the global box office share (box office revenue after deducting the theater's share) + 20% of the peripheral income share.

In addition, Fox agreed to give us up to 20% of the investment amount, which will be jointly produced, produced and distributed by our company and Fox, and we will have all the benefits of the investment amount. "

"The conditions are really good." Frank Zhang said with a smile.

Lewis explained: "Boss, you shot the Predator in 06, and we shot our own script in 07.

There are some big special effects shots in our script, and the special effects backgrounds take a long time to produce, so the shooting schedule this year was a bit tight.”

He Zhongqiu thought about it and agreed.

Ross Lewis added: "Boss, Disney still wants to talk to you about Wolverine."

"What do you mean?" He Zhongqiu asked.

Lewis said: “X-Men was released in 2000, produced by Fox, with Wolverine as one of the main characters, played by Hugh Jackman, and it grossed nearly $3 million worldwide.

In 06, the copyright of the character of Wolverine will return to Marvel and will no longer belong to th Century Fox.

Now Disney, no, it should be said that Marvel Studios, which Disney established on the basis of Marvel Studios, wants to make a separate film about Wolverine. "

"Why didn't Fox make a movie about Wolverine after the copyright expired?" He Zhongqiu asked puzzledly.

"It's too late. The copyright will expire in four months. Fox told me that they had discussed with Marvel before and hoped to extend it for one year, but Marvel did not agree." Lewis shook his head.

He Zhongqiu said: "So, what does Marvel mean now? Let me play Wolverine, or let me change this nickname? I don't think I have registered the copyright for this nickname?"

Ross Lewis said: “Mr. Xia Song said that it was registered in China, but not in the United States, but your popularity has made Wolverine and you two in one. You are the real Wolverine, and now the fans only recognize you.

So if Marvel lets Hugh Jackman continue to play Wolverine, they are worried that the role will not be recognized by fans at the box office, resulting in a box office failure. "

Frank Zhang said meaningfully: “Marvel has not been doing well in recent years. If the box office fails again, the brand may really be ruined.

No matter how much money Disney has, it may not be able to sustain box office failures, and their plan to acquire Marvel may fail."

He Zhongqiu shook his head and said, "Disney's bankruptcy has nothing to do with me. I won't steal Hugh Jackman's role."

Lewis said: "Boss, Marvel has two ideas, one is that you play Wolverine, and the other is to design a Wolverine character for you.

I provided them with this idea, which came from the setting of the character Sun Wukong in the Bone Realm. "

"Two Wolverines?" He Zhongqiu was stunned.

(End of this chapter)