The next day.
The Burbank headquarters building of the Disney Group.
That's right, it's the Burbank headquarters. Because the Disney Group has two headquarters in the United States, one in Burbank, Los Angeles, and one in New York.
Owners and representatives of movie merchandise chain stores from various major states and cities—California, Idaho, New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and more—all attended the bidding meeting for "A Bug's Life" merchandise licensing.
Kyle himself did not attend, but instead sent Vice President Kevin Feige to represent him.
"Kevin, does your boss, Kyle, really not think highly of the merchandise market for 'A Bug's Life'?" Old Billy asked again.
"It's not that he doesn't think highly of it, but Boss said 'A Bug's Life' is like a 'chicken rib'," Kevin Feige replied.
A chicken rib?
Well, Mr.Billy didn't understand at all!
"Something that's tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard—that's a chicken rib. The movie 'A Bug's Life' is excellent, and the merchandise market's response won't be bad. It's understandable that major merchandise chain store distributors want to make a profit, but this premise is based on comparison with 'Toy Story'. Do you think 'A Bug's Life' can rival or even surpass 'Toy Story'?" Kevin Feige said in a deep voice.
"This... this should be possible," Old Billy said, unsure.
Hearing this, Kevin Feige shook his head and said, "Initially, I had the same judgment as you, believing that 'A Bug's Life' would inherit the glory of 'Toy Story', and even surpass it. But my boss, Mr. Page, said it couldn't surpass it, and the global box office would be at most 200 million USD."
Actually, there was another thing Kyle didn't tell Kevin Feige.
—The protagonists of the animated film "A Bug's Life" are insects!
Pixar Animation designed their images to be very cute, and the characters' fates moved many people, which is true. However... they are still insects after all!
How many children would like plush toys of caterpillars and ants?
It's not to deny that some would, but compared to "Toy Story," that number would definitely be much lower!
For a moment, Old Billy fell into deep thought.
He glanced at the frenzied crowd in the room, eager to bid at all costs, and then thought about Kyle's miracles over the past two years, which left him very conflicted.
"Forget it, I won't compete this time."
"Anyway, I've already secured the merchandise license for 'Peppa Pig' in Utah, so missing out on 'A Bug's Life' just means earning a little less money."
"But if 'A Bug's Life' really ends up being a fatal trap, a lot of people will be furious."
Old Billy thought a great deal in his mind in a short amount of time.
Not long after... the bidding for the merchandise license of "A Bug's Life" officially began, presided over by an executive from the Disney Group's copyright department.
For the Utah region, the merchandise license was priced at 950,000 USD.
"I'll offer 950,000!" a pot-bellied businessman was the first to speak.
His name was Francis, and he operated a chain of merchandise stores in Utah, with a scale no less than Old Billy's, and perhaps even slightly superior.
"Francis, you're too stingy! And you run 10 merchandise chain stores. Look at my bid. My Monel Merchandise Chain Store bids 1.5 million USD!" a young man declared loudly.
Whoa!
Instantly, not only Francis was shocked, but many of the merchandise chain store owners present were also extremely astonished.
What's going on?
Pushing the price so high right from the start, how are they supposed to play now?
"Monel, you bastard!" Francis immediately cursed.
As a young man, Monel would not tolerate such an insult and immediately retorted, "Old man, if you don't have money, get lost."
That's how it is between competitors!
Especially since they were rivals competing in the same state of Utah, their animosity ran deep!
The next moment, the other few merchandise chain store owners in Utah, excluding Old Billy, all joined the fierce bidding with red eyes.
1.6 million!
1.75 million!
1.9 million!
...Ultimately, it was the young man Monel who had the courage, bidding 3 million USD to secure the merchandise license for "A Bug's Life" in Utah.
"This price is truly not low!"
Kevin Feige gasped on the spot; he finally understood why his boss was so fixated on animated theatrical films.
Old Billy, standing nearby, also gritted his teeth and said, "Two years ago, I got the license for 'Toy Story' in Utah from Kyle for only 1.5 million USD. I never thought that 'A Bug's Life', which hasn't even been released yet and whose prospects are uncertain, would double that price."
The film after its release and before its release are two different concepts; the prices absolutely cannot be equated.
In the following time, merchandise licenses for Pennsylvania, Missouri, Nevada, and other places were also successively put up for auction.
Pennsylvania's merchandise license sold for 2.7 million USD!
Missouri sold for 1.6 million USD;
Nevada sold for 2.4 million USD;
...The two-hour auction finally came to an end.
Ultimately, the Disney Group sold the merchandise rights for all 50 states in the US alone for 117.5 million USD, at an average price of 2.35 million USD per state.
Remember, this is just the revenue from merchandise licensing in the United States!
If you include the revenue from various overseas countries, the earnings for Disney and Pixar from "A Bug's Life" merchandise licensing are imaginable.
Before it even premiered, the film's production costs were fully recouped, and they made a huge profit.
At this moment, if Kyle were here, he would surely curse... oh no, he would be incredibly envious!
In the original timeline, after "A Bug's Life" was released, its box office performance in North America was below expectations, and overseas was even more dismal, which caused those distributors who had acquired merchandise licenses in various states to be filled with regret.
One after another, they suffered terrible losses!
"In a few months, it's possible that several merchandise chain stores will go bankrupt and close down."
Kyle, upon receiving the news, said wistfully afterwards... Meanwhile.
Kyle is currently on the set of the movie "300 Spartans," and today's filming involves cameos by Hollywood big names.
Matt Damon played the Persian envoy who came to Sparta to show off his power at the beginning of the film.
"Humble mortals, Spartans begging for survival, submit to Xerxes, King of Kings!"
However, Matt Damon hadn't been arrogant for long before King Leonidas kicked him down!
"No!"
"You can't kill me!"
"I am an envoy, a servant of the great King of Kings, Xerxes. If you kill me, then His Majesty's hundreds of thousands of Persian troops will slaughter your entire Sparta, burn your country to ashes, and turn it into scorched earth!"
Well, Matt Damon got his lunchbox... Next, the villain played by Johnny Depp appeared!
That's right, he also played a villain!
Johnny Depp played a corrupt religious figure in Sparta, who strongly opposed King Leonidas's resistance against the Persians.
In fact, in Hollywood movies, when big stars make cameo appearances, almost none of them play normal people; they are either villains who get killed off after a few seconds, or funny characters who die quickly.
For example: in the movie "Deadpool 2," Brad Pitt played a hilarious mutant who, during a skydiving scene, died in an extremely simple and comical way by touching a high-voltage wire.
Next, Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix, among others, also appeared as villains.
Decapitated, begged for mercy on their knees and still killed... their deaths were varied.
It must be said that the various ways the guest-starring big names died truly brought a lot of laughter to the set, making people both laugh and cry.