Hollywood What If - Chapter 261

Chapter 261

The media was truly dominated by the Big Six, and they would keep that status forever. One of the reasons why small studios would never have a chance to get rich in this industry if they did not serve the Big Six.

How could they promote their movies if the Big Six wouldn’t let them? How could they make money if the Big Six rated their movies poorly?

So many movies were being released every week, but none of them were making a profit at the box office, they would quickly go to the videocassette market. That is the sad truth about this industry. It would never give you a fair fight.

It was fortunate that Grey Pictures didn’t suffer that fate. But Kazir knew that future was never far away. Because once the deal with Paramount and Sony-Columbia ended, Grey Pictures would have to go back to the Big Six to distribute its films internationally.

Finding a local distributor was not so easy, but international distribution was another matter. Only the Big Six + MGM could do that.

April came and went and only two movies made over $100 million. Again, these were not good months to release movies. People were usually busy in those months.

The first was Along Came A Spider from Paramount, which grossed $105 million. This was not a horror movie, it was a thriller/mystery about a kidnapping.

Second was Bridget Jones’s Diary with $272 million, produced and distributed by Miramax.

As always, it was hard for small studios to profit from the box office when the Big Six controlled the media. No way to promote their movies, always eating crumbs. No chance to prove themselves.

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Well, the summer schedule officially started in May. So many blockbusters were released that month that people didn’t know what to watch. This was the beginning of the annual battle between the Big Six.

The Mummy Returns premiered in the first week and was distributed by Universal Pictures. The Mummy franchise was a good movie, but it lost its meaning after Brendan Fraser disappeared from Hollywood. Brendan Fraser was sexually harassed and he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. That was life in Hollywood, you had to keep your mouth shut even when crime was all around you.

Anyway, The Mummy Returns grossed $435 million. You see, the franchise was amazing.

In its second week, The Knight’s Tale barely passed $100 million. It was produced by Sony-Columbia.

In the third week, the chad of the movie called Shrek was released. This was an animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation. This was proof that Disney was not the only one that could compete in 3D animation. The film grossed $491 million.

Pearl Harbor premiered in the fourth week. This was the first project Ben Affleck worked on after Wanted. His fame levelled up and more people recognized him. The film grossed $449 million.

As a result, the summer schedule was very competitive. Every week, big movies were released and tried to fight for the box office ranking.

The schedule was very tight and everyone was vying for the best week. Sometimes there were situations where two or three big movies were released in the same week, unfortunately they had to face each other.

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Midnight, June 1st, Friday.

The premiere of Spider-Man ended with such a bang. So many kids, teenagers and even adults were wearing Spider-Man costumes. They were so happy as they left the theaters one by one.

Every theater had satisfied customers. The Spider-Man movie would define the meaning of the superhero movie.

“I’m going to give it an A+! I don’t care what anybody else thinks! This is the best movie I have ever seen! Dude, did you see that scene where Spider-Man swings from building to building? That’s a shot that will never leave my mind! Trapped in my childhood memories!” proclaimed by an avid comic book reader, and many passersby agreed. Interested, they decided to answer the survey. They thought the movie deserved it.

The word-of-mouth about Spider-Man was so influential. Perhaps its influence was comparable to that of Wanted, which was released last year.

The rating averaged A and the CinemaScore felt like it was going to be A-. That was a high rating.

The midnight box office for Spider-Man was $10 million. That was just the midnight. Sony-Columbia predicted that the first day would be around $30 to $35 million.

A first day gross of $30 million was a clear success. Sony-Columbia made the right choice in choosing the right person to direct the movie.

As always, Kazir got it right. Everyone thought the $100 million budget was too small to make a superhero movie. But Kazir was so good at budgeting the project that a few million was left over.

Sony-Columbia decided to add those millions to the marketing budget. The marketing budget was $39 million and they promoted the movie all over the country. They have to win the US first before others.

The X-Men that came out last year was good, but Spider-Man was amazing.

That was the beginning of the epiphany for Marvel Comics. They realized that their characters had a place in theaters. No, they were made for theaters.

Time was changing and people preferred digital. Movies and TV shows were the answer to their problems.

Suddenly they had an epiphany… Most of their characters had been looted! They were selling them so that Marvel Comics could survive!

They realized how much they had screwed up! If they had known that their characters could make a lot of money, they would have kept them or sold them at higher prices.

So yes, management tried to contact some companies that had acquired their characters. Their target, the guy who owned most of their characters, the guy who actually directed Spider-Man. Director Kazir Grey of Grey Pictures.

Well, maybe they could work with the guy.

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[Author’s note: Damn, this is more like a fast forward summary. I’m sorry, I have no idea what to write, so I decided to fast forward. Besides, I know you guys wanted the Spider-Man premiere to start anyway.]