In late August 1998, Zane Blackwood's company was trying to find investors for the Spider-Man movie.
Wald Pictures was not a small company anymore. After years of making hit movies, it was now a leader among Hollywood's "second-tier" studios.
But even with this good reputation, the meetings in other countries were going terribly.
In India, Zane's team met with a giant company called Mountain Capital. But the bosses there were furious.
"We don't trust you!" the head of the company told Zane's team. "You Hollywood people have no integrity! You just trick your investors!"
He explained that his company had given $500 million to Steven Spielberg's company, DreamWorks, for a movie deal. But the "cunning" Mr. Spielberg had used all sorts of "Hollywood math" and tricky accounting to hide the money. In just two years, the Indian company had lost at least $100 million.
"Spielberg is more like a vampire businessman than a film director!" the man yelled. "With that terrible example, how can I possibly trust your company now?"
Zane's team didn't know what to say. DreamWorks and Spielberg had made all of Hollywood look bad.
This same thing happened in Korea. The giant company Samsung was just as blunt.
"Don't even talk to me about Hollywood!" their boss said. "How do we know you're not the next DreamWorks? The Asian financial crisis already cost us a fortune. We've been burned too badly by Spielberg."
It turned out that Spielberg's bad, greedy behavior had ruined things for everyone. (Zane knew from his secret "future knowledge" that this was why DreamWorks would have trouble finding money later and would have to be sold to Paramount).
The only good meetings had been with the Carlos family in Mexico, who had invested in Zane's other movies. Zane had treated them fairly, so they were still good partners.
In Japan, the big Sumitomo Mitsui bank was very polite. "Oh yes," the Japanese boss said with a smile, "we would be happy to invest in one of your Wald Pictures movies. You make wonderful films."
"But," he added, "we will not be investing in Spider-Man. After the Batman movies failed so badly, we just don't think superhero movies can make money."
A few days later, all of Zane's teams returned to Los Angeles and told him the bad news.
Zane was furious. He slammed his hand on his office desk.
"Darn it!" he yelled. "Spielberg digs this giant pit, and now we're the ones paying the price for it! What kind of justice is that?!"
Bill McNick, his new president, looked grim. "Zane, it seems we have to find the money for Spider-Man and Harry Potter somewhere else."
Kevin Fitch looked worried. "Boss, maybe we should... set Spider-Man aside for now? We could just focus on Harry Potter. The market just doesn't like superhero movies right now."
The other bosses in the room nodded, agreeing with Kevin.
But Zane shook his head. He was not going to give up. "No," he said, his voice firm. "We are going to do both films. And I don't want to wait."
He stood there, thinking, his mind racing. Suddenly, his whole expression changed. A brilliant, hopeful idea hit him, and a slow, happy smile spread across his face.
"Gentlemen," he said, "things might be about to turn around."
Everyone stared at him, full of interest.
"Don't forget," Zane said, "tomorrow is August 21st. And the new Marvel movie, 'Blade,' comes out tomorrow!"
Kevin's eyes lit up. "Boss... you mean..."
Zane nodded, his smile getting wider. "Exactly. The market lost faith because Batman failed. But if Blade is a hit, it will prove to the world that superhero movies can still make money. It could bring the whole genre back to life! And I have a very good feeling about this movie."
Zane was right. Blade was released the next day.
It made $13 million on its opening Friday. It wasn't a monster hit, but it was a solid, strong start. More importantly, both audiences and critics liked it.
It looked like the movie was going to be a real success and would easily make over $100 million.
Zane's big, hopeful bet was right. Superhero movies were back.
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