Arad’s method of making Marvel movies had fallen out of favor with Perlmutter, who was unhappy with the financial yields from his licensing deals. But since the two Israeli buddies had been through a war together to win control of Marvel in the 1990s, Perlmutter was generous. In May 2006, Arad’s 3.15 million shares of Marvel stock became fully vested, allowing him to sell a chunk of them for $60 million. Having made it in Hollywood, Arad had no interest in returning to toy design. Instead, he planned to create his own production company, Avi Arad Entertainment. He signed a non-compete deal,
...more
