It sounds like you’re experiencing the same issue that these people are in this thread - Game Just Disapears At Start
it sounds like it hasn’t been resolved yet, but hopefully there may be some help in there (or coming soon)
(Sorry I couldn’t offer something more useful)
Oh, don’t worry about it trying to load the ‘Funcom Live’ stuff once it gets to the main menu screen - that bit actually is normal. (Although, it not playing the intro movie does sound odd too - I assume you’re not clicking through or anything like that - I thought it automatically played the intro movie, and you’re right it should come before it gets to the main menu.)