HWI 133

Hollywood What If Chapter 133

Out of the history of cinema, perhaps only Titanic had a unique trend. Usually, the box office trend of movies would go downwards after two or three weeks of screening. 

However, Titanic had an upward trend. The movie didn't have a strong reputation when it was released. Even the movie critics bombed the movie as a disaster. Everyone believe that it would flop. 

Paramount and 20th Century Fox invested a large amount of money into the project but they felt like the only way to get profit was by relentless selling of videotapes/DVDs for decades. 

The extravagant shots. The real ship that was created under James Cameron's order. The sickness the cast suffered while working in the middle of the lake. The latter part of the movie was about the shipwreck so the cast had to be in the water every filming. Some of the cast went to the hospital because of it. 

There were many disasters and bad signs that Titanic would be the greatest flop of 1997. 

Even Paramount and 20th Century Fox were not confident in the movie. Causing it to be released in December. 

Everyone expects the downfall of Titanic, just like its historical version. 

But well... The opposite happened.

One month after the release of Titanic, critics started changing their opinions. Stating the Titanic was the best movie of all time. That it was the movie that would change Hollywood after Jurassic Park. They were not wrong. 

If Jurassic Park was the first billion-dollar movie in history, then Titanic was the second. However, the performance of Titanic was tremendous. It was the highest-grossing movie of all time before Avatar. 

Note that Titanic and Avatar were created by none other than James Cameron. 

Unlike Kazir Grey, James Cameron was the real deal. Honestly, he is the goat in my opinion. Better than Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, or Alfred Hitchcock. 

The man had three movies that exceeded billion dollars worldwide. An achievement that was hard to achieve. 

.........

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February arrived and the North American box office of Titanic was already a whopping $308 million. The movie easily defeated Taken's $268 million. 

The people who congratulated Kazir scratched their heads in embarrassment. They didn't think that Taken's achievements would easily be defeated. 

However, unlike them, the director in person was not affected. 

For someone who knew the future, Kazir kept his composure. He did his job meticulously. Meeting the cast, checking the props, joining their training, and looking for filming locations. 

They even hired a professional dog actor for the movie. This means that the animal rights organization would visit the crew. 

Grey Pictures contacted some companies for possible product placement too. 

Rolex agreed to pay $1 million to promote their new watch. They would pay another $1 million if the movie exceeded the $300 million box office worldwide. 

Even Ducati and Coca-cola agreed and paid $1 million each. 

The investment of John Wick was confirmed to be $30 million. But it seemed that Grey Pictures only need to invest $27 million. 

The three companies didn't trust the movie. They only believe in director Kazir Grey's capabilities. Hollywood accepted the fact that Kazir Grey had what it takes to sell movies. 

The three companies understood that the movie would have a positive performance and investing $1 million was not a problem. 

"... Is this the real numbers?"

"That's right." Erica Mendez assured her boss. 

"I'm not good with math. Honestly, I hate math. Still, seeing numbers like this is making me laugh."

Kazir Grey grinned while looking at the sales of videotapes. Even if Paramount got a 25% profit share, the money that went to the bank account was still impressive. 

They started selling the videotapes around late November last year. 

Now, after almost four months, the profit that went to Grey Pictures was nothing but $98 million. This includes the rentals and sales of videotapes. 

"... Tell the management that they will get a bonus this quarter."

"Eh, Sir, are you sure about it? You just gave them a bonus last December." 

Erica Mendez glanced at Kazir Grey. She had an idea of how much the company spent last year. 

"Don't worry, it's not bad to reward people for their work. Besides, I know that you like getting bonuses anyway."

"Of course." The assistant didn't deny it. 

"Sometimes I'm wondering if I'm your Secretary or Assistant." The woman sighed. 

"What's the difference anyway?"

"You always stay in your office so yeah, I think I'm both. Well, the salary is great and I have more time to spend with the kids."

Erica muttered. She was a bodyguard too. The gun in her purse always reminds her of that. 

"I'm actually happy that you always stay in one place."

She felt like her job was getting mixed. 

"I'm sad to say it but your expectations will differ once the filming start. The crew will go to different places. I'm the director so I have to travel with them, and yes, you're going to follow us."

Kazir chuckled. He could not help but smile seeing the profit the company got after selling videotapes. This business was not bad. However, he still prefers the thrill of box office results after a tiring job of making a movie. He felt like it was more rewarding than selling videotapes. 

"That's fine. I'm prepared. I'm already content that you will film within the country."

"Better stick with the plot."

The setting of John Wick was the imaginary dark city of New York City. Although the crew would film most of the movie in Los Angeles to cut costs. There was no reason to leave the country since they could not get any tax incentives anyway. They were not part of 20th Century Fox that has a strong connection to Australia or any of the Big Six. 

But because of the decision of filming inside the country, most of the crew was happy. At least they didn't have to travel far away.