Hollywood What If

Chapter 353

Bad Boys II's first weekend grossed $46.52 million. The movie was only in theaters for three days and its performance was promising, good news for Sony-Colombia.

In the same days, July 18 to 20, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl earned $33 million. Those three days were won by Bad Boys II.

However, the entire week of Pirates Of The Caribbean made $55 million, so this pirate-themed movie still won the box office champion for the week.

So far, after 12 days of release, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl has grossed $133 million at the North American box office.

In just its second week, the film has already crossed the $100 million mark. 20th Century Fox reacted quickly and started promoting the film in North America. Next month they will release the movie in other countries.

Kazir has already spoken to Tom Rothman. He won't participate in the international promotion because he has a lot of things to do this year.

Tom Rothman understood his intentions and decided to let Kazir finish Game of Thrones instead. Game of Thrones would be broadcast by Fox TV and he expected that this TV show would bring them more viewers in their network.

Fox TV was already recognized as one of the known TV networks in the United States, but it was weaker compared to NBC and ABC. Fox TV needed more programs to attract viewers.

Perhaps Kazir Grey, a director known for his talent, could make history and give Fox TV its most awaited moment.

Depending on how quickly Kazir finishes filming Game of Thrones, the TV show could air in late 2003 or early 2004.

......

...

...

In the CEO office of Sony-Colombia, Frank Price listened to his secretary.

"Sir, as of today, Thursday, July 24, 2003, Bad Boys II has grossed $66 million at the box office."

"That's good to hear. We didn't spend a lot of money casting Will Smith and Michael Bay only to have the movie fail."

Will Smith and Michael Bay were recognized as superstars in their respective professions, and Sony-Columbia had to increase the budget of Bad Boys II just to hire them again. The budget of Bad Boys II was $130 million, certainly expensive as hell.

After working with Kazir Grey, Sony-Colombia understood that hiring a talented director was the best way to ensure the success of the project.

Two years ago, Sony-Colombia paid Kazir more than $200 million just for directing Spider-Man. Although Sony-Columbia spent a lot, the profit they made was also huge.

Both Bad Boys II and Spider-Man had the same budget, but the performance of Spider-Man is three times better.

The production cost of Bad Boys II was $130 million.

The production cost of Spider-Man was $139 million.

Sony-Colombia hired Kazir for $27 million + 27% worldwide box office + 7% peripheral profit share. It was a deal that Sony-Colombia was conflicted about at first, but the result was good in the end. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As for Bad Boys II, Sony-Colombia hired Michael Bay for $30 million + 13% worldwide box office + 3% peripheral profits.

Even though Michael Bay's salary was lower than Kazir's, it was still a massive blow to Sony-Colombia's guts.

'The result of Bad Boys II is not that bad, so I have nothing to say... I just can't help but be disappointed, I guess it's impossible to find someone like Kazir. I thought Michael Bay would have no problem surpassing Kazir.'

To be fair, Michael Bay's highest grossing film was Armageddon, which grossed $553 million at the worldwide box office. That was only half the box office of Spider-Man or Wanted.

Sometimes Frank couldn't help but sigh because they had lost out to 20th Century Fox in the acquisition of Grey Pictures. Now it would be hard to work with Grey Pictures again.

'Bad Boys II and Pirates of the Caribbean have a rivalry right now, but Pirates of the Caribbean has the upper hand. If we play our cards right, we can beat Pirates Of The Caribbean... We can start a scandal...'

Frank decided to drop the idea. In his opinion, it was not worth it. He knew that Kazir would be working on Spider-Man 2 next year. The CEO didn't want to ruin their relationship, at least not yet.

The profit that Spider-Man 2 could bring to the company was immense. Sony-Columbia won the top-grossing film of 2001 just by making Spider-Man.

'Who would have thought a superhero movie could make us that kind of money?'

Frank Price licked his lips at the thought. He didn't remember that his secretary was still in the office, slightly uncomfortable with what he was doing.

'Damn you Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox! Who said you could monopolize the superhero genre?'

If they knew what the two companies were up to, they should have created their own superheroes.

Frank Price was no fool, he knew that superheroes would dominate the movie theaters from now on.

So he was angry that DC and Marvel, the two biggest comic book companies in the United States, were already owned by their rivals.

"...Secretary Vanessa."

Awakening from his inner monologue, Frank decided to ask his secretary.

"Y- Yes, sir," the secretary nervously replied.

"Do you think we could start our own Cinematic Universe? What do you think about MonsterVerse? Where Godzilla and King Kong live in the same universe."

"Sir... I have no idea what you are talking about."

"..."

Frank sighed again.

+++++

[Author's Note: I will post another chapter later.]