Hollywood What If - Chapter 273
Chapter 273
Both sides were represented by CAA and they started their negotiations.
The good thing was that both Kazir and Tom knew the intentions of this project and they already explained their thoughts to their respective agents.
Pat Kingsley and Salvatore Barlowe decided to start negotiations with the thought that this project would happen. There was no in-between. Now they just have to work to meet each side’s terms.
Honestly, Pat Kingsley was against this project because Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor last year and they didn’t win, even though they did their best PR.
Another thing was Nicole Kidman. You see, Nicole Kidman was striving for Best Actress in 2003 for her role in The Hours. Pat Kingsley was currently on Nicole Kidman’s side regarding the split between the couple. However, she could not let go of Tom Cruise, her biggest client.
Unfortunately, The Revenant would also participating in the 2003 Academy Awards, so Pat Kingsley has a lot of things to do.
Both the agents and their clients were quiet about their plans to compete for Oscars. However, the veterans of the industry probably knew their intentions when they heard that Kazir Grey was going to make an autobiographical film instead of action or comedy films that the audience liked. They were not stupid.
There was only one reason why Kazir Grey would make such a movie: to win the Best Director Award. So yes, they were quiet about it…
With Salvatore Barlowe representing Grey Pictures, the terms and conditions slowly became whole. The result was that Tom Cruise’s salary was $15 million without box office participation. This was the highest salary Grey Pictures had ever given to anyone except Kazir himself.
No one could guarantee the box office of this movie because it was different from the usual projects that Kazir did, so Tom’s side fought for a bigger salary instead of getting a share of the box office.
As for Kazir, he decided to take a $5 million salary for this project. He could say he wanted a $1 salary just to improve the budget, but that would be disrespectful to the four agents who worked with him. They make money on commission.
Now that both sides had negotiated and agreed on the salary, the project officially began.
Kazir and Tom began to talk about the project. Kazir already expected that Tom would talk to him about his role, if he wanted more screen time or lines. Tom was a superstar and he acted based on his status, arrogant. However, as long as it was not outrageous, Kazir would agree.
While this was going on, Grey Pictures was looking for directors to take over their two projects. Fremont Smith had just finished John Wick Chapter 2 and wanted to take some time off. It seemed that Fremont Smith was the kind of director who made movies every two years.
Well, someone like Kazir who never took a vacation was an abomination in this industry.
Kazir already had people in mind to direct Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Supremacy.
Doug Liman was the original director of The Bourne Identity, but Kazir directed the movie for three years, so it affected Doug Liman’s filmography. To make up for it, Stella Willow invited Doug Liman to direct Mr. and Mrs. Smith this time. After all, Doug Liman was also the director of this movie in a past life.
As for The Bourne Supremacy, Kazir recommended Paul Greengrass to direct. Like Doug Liman, Paul Greengrass was also the director of The Bourne Franchise in Kazir’s past life.
Kazir just recruited the original directors.
The two directors could be categorized as B-tier directors, if you want to call them that. They were professional directors and had made a few films, but they were not prominent.
Just like what Grey Pictures did with Justin Lin, the production studio gave Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass a three-picture deal. That means they were legally allowed to make three movies for Grey Pictures. As for the raise, that clause could be bent but not broken.
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November.
Two weeks after the release of Monster, Inc., which grossed over $133 million at the North American box office, a new series of films were released.
November 15, 2001. That was Thursday just before midnight. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released for the first time. The first installment of the fourth largest franchise in the history of cinema.
Note that the first biggest franchise was the MCU, the second was Spider-Man, and the third was Star Wars. This is based on the money the franchise generated.
Harry Potter(novels) was already famous all over the world and had many fans, from teenagers to adults. Many people were excited to see the movie.
Before 2001, J.K. Rowling had already produced four books of the series.
The first day (Friday) of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone made 32.33 million dollars. Very big amount of money, unfortunately the first day of Spider-Man was $39 million, so…
Anyway, on the second day (Saturday) the movie made $33.51 million.
On Sunday, the movie made another $24.44 million.
Combined, the first three days of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone grossed $90.29 million. An impressive performance.
Warner Bros. was happy and wanted to capitalize on this success. Their future investment in the franchise would be great.
But no matter how much they bragged about Harry Potter, it was true that the movie had lost out to Kazir’s Spider-Man, which grossed $114 million in its first three days.
Now Warner Bros. wondered: WHAT IF Kazir Grey directed Harry Potter, would the movie do better?
Nobody knows the answer. After all, it was just a what if.
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[I’ve written six web novels and finished one. Of all of them, HWI is the most summarized. Usually when I add dialog to the chapters, the plot slows down. But I will try to slow it down now, since I have a lot of things to do for 2002: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Supremacy, The Hangover Part 3, Star Wars Episode 2, the failure of John Carter, and probably Jennifer Connelly… Yeah, I guess I’ll add Jennifer Connelly to the poll. I have a crush on the actress, sorry].