HWI 195

Hollywood What If Chapter 195

In the first week of The Bourne Identity, the box office was $39.15 million.

Using that trend, the next week would be a positive result as well. Even though the release of The Bourne Identity happened, the promotion didn't stop. Many advertisements all around the place, radio stations, and television channels advertised the movie. 

People heard the title of the movie all around. The word of mouth of the movie was strong as well. People liked The Bourne Identity and they recommended it to their peers. 

Even Kazir Grey and Cameron Diaz were seen dating and acting lovey-dovey. The media used this method as another way of promotion. 

The movie had the same ingredients as Taken and John Wick. Because of that, people were already used to the unique style of the movie. The movie was realistic but it had a touch of non-realism. Since these ingredients were already shown in the previous movies, people already adjusted to them and they easily accepted them. 

Together with the positive opinion of the people, more movie-goers decided to watch The Bourne Identity. There were no good movies in August anyway. 

The box office of The Bourne Identity for the second week(August 22,199) was $68.52 million. 

August was the least popular month in the summer schedule so this amount was expected. In fact, this amount was already a huge thing, considering that The Bourne Identity didn't have a strong cast. Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz were A-tier stars but they were not superstars. 

Compared to Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Tom Cruise, the cast of The Bourne Identity was A-tier at best. Their box office appeal was not star-studded. 

Anyway, the third week(August 29, 1999) arrived and The Bourne Identity was $86.60 million. 

Only $14 million and The Bourne Identity would surpass the $100 million mark. 

The production cost of The Bourne Identity was $50 million. Grey Pictures initial investment was $60 million but it went down to $50 million when everything was quoted. A  blessing for Grey Pictures since they were tight on money because they have two projects this year. 

For reference, a movie could generally get a profit if the box office achieved 2.5 times the production cost. 

Meaning, that for The Bourne Identity to be profitable, it should surpass $125 million. Based on the trajectory of the movie, The Bourne Identity would surpass $150 million. Of course, this was based on statistics and probability. No one knows the future, erm, except Kazir Grey. 

'The North American box office of The Bourne Identity will be around $150 million. That's already a good deal. After all, we have the overseas release to get more profit.'

If the movie had a good performance in North America, it would definitely have a good performance internationally as well. That would be the case for The Bourne Identity. 

If Kazir's deduction was right, The Bourne Identity would have $200 million internationally. People all over the world like watching action movies, hehe. 

'In that case, our profit for The Bourne Identity will be over $100 million. As long as nothing bad happens, The Bourne Identity will bring us more than $100 million.'

It was amazing that this kind of situation would happen. Investing in movies was a fast way to get profit, but it was not a safe venture. There were cases when the movie flopped. 

'A movie can be finished in a year and the investment will return fast. As long as you know the trick, you can make it big.'

The fourth week(September 5,199) arrived and The Bourne Identity grossed $107 million. 

In four weeks, The Bourne Identity surpassed $100 million. This was an obvious answer that the movie was successful. 

"These people... I swear, they always try to pester me whenever my movies are released!" 

Kazir muttered and massaged his forehead. 

"Well, every movie you direct is successful. They want to congratulate you." Cameron Diaz was sitting next to him, rubbing her skin against him. 

"Congratulate my ass, they are asking for me to cooperate with them."

"That's a good thing."

"I know... It's just, some people are trying to invite me to those parties again and I never like to attend parties."

Cameron just smiled and let the man grumble. 

"On top of that, many agents are trying to contact me. Most of them are trying to offer me a better contract and leave CAA."

William Morris Agency(WMA) tried to contact him again. This time, they expressed their thoughts and hoped that Kazir Grey would return to his "original home". They said that Carl Morin and Lawlor Dean were not working in WMA anymore and no one would bully him again. 

'Bullshit, they just want me because of my status of bringing them roles for their clients.'

CAA loved him in this aspect. Most of his cast were from CAA. 

Not only WMA, but even UTA(United Talent Agency) was trying to hook him to their lineup. They lowered the contract down to 2% commission! They were insane. 

Unfortunately for them, Kazir was not interested at all. What he needed right now was stability. The Continental Cinematic Universe was still in its initial stage and he didn't want to bring trouble. 

Besides, his cooperation with Salvatore Barlowe and CAA was good. Far better than WMA that kicked him out. 

'I don't want to tell this to Cam, but an agent actually tried to push his client to me just for a role. Of course I never agree.'

The actress was beautiful but Kazir was immune to beautiful women. He had no reason to have sex with a woman just because his libido was boiling. He was mature enough to control his primal urge. 

Not only that but even his crew members were getting snatched. 

'Freddie from the camera department was hired by a production studio to direct a small-budget movie. I can't blame him. If I'm in his position, I will take the chance as well.'

Some of the important people in the crew were almost snatched as well.