HWI 120

Hollywood What If Chapter 120

The audience started clapping their hands once the ending credits rolled. They stood up, they thought the movie was already over. 

However, they didn't expect that after the first minute of the ending credits, a post-credits scene would show up. 

Post-credit scene was not a new thing, some movies have had post-credit scenes since the 1980s. However this method became famous in the 2000s to hype the sequels of movies. Marvel Studios used this method to hype the audience for their next movies. 

'My favorite post-credit scene is not from MCU. It's actually from Fast And The Furious 6. The scene where Jason Statham crashed into Han Lue's car and killed him. For me, it's a relevant scene because it connected Fast And The Furious 3 to the plot. I was hyped so much because Jason Statham is going to be the villain.'

Fast And The Furious 3 didn't have a strong connection to the franchise and Kazir felt like it was useless. However, that post-credit scene made it a bit more important... A little bit. 

Anyway, the audience returned to their seats when they realized that there was a post-credit scene.

[The scene was about an Arabic man sitting on a golden chair. He received a call that his brother died. He put the phone down and was silent for a second before saying. "The High Table will never forget."]

It was only a few seconds post-credit scene but the audience became interested in this "High Table" that the Arabic man said.

Then, they started clapping again. The movie was fun and it satiated their thirst. The whole North America was angry at sex/human traffickers right now, so watching Taken eased their anger. 

Since Kazir and the cast had a premier night, their theater was a bit special. The cast, director, and producer went to the stage and bowed their heads. They had an hour of interview after the screening. 

The reporters naturally questioned Liam Neeson and Kazir Grey. The two were the famous people in the project and they have a reasonable amount of fans. 

"Mister Neeson, can we know the reason why you decided to take the role of Bryan Mills."

Paramount made sure that no hurtful questions would happen so most of the reporters were from Paramount and Viacom. 

"When I read the script, I became interested because I resonated with Bryan Mills. I'm also a father and I will do my best to protect my children. The movie has the motives of spreading awareness about kidnapping and I want to participate in that kind of noble act."

Even the women's organizations were promoting the movie, which was a good free advertisement. 

Even Kazir Grey was not left out, the reporters started asking him about his reason for writing the script and making the movie. Kazir answered their questions with no problem. 

Although there was a reporter who asked him about something unexpected. 

"Director, your ex-wife was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Do you have an opinion about that?"

"No comment."

Kazir answered. Thankfully, the reporters flooded him with questions and the certain reporter didn't have a chance to cause trouble again. He was immediately led to the exit. 

Overall, the premier night of the movie had a positive reaction. Kazir knew that their movie was currently hot because of the sex trafficking incident.

'Not gonna lie, that news helps us a lot.'

The premier ended and the cast left the theater. After the premiere night, people could start watching the movie again with no problem. The screening of Taken would continue. 

Paramount fought Sony-Columbia for the number of theaters. They talked to Cinema Alliance just to make sure that the number of theaters would not decrease. 

Air Force One had 2,919 theaters on its opening day. As for Taken, because of the current situation, it got 3,603 theaters. 

The Cinema Alliance had limited theaters. The United States only has 7,000 theaters back in 1997. 

Note that North America contains Canada, the United States, the Bermuda Islands, Mexico, the countries of Central America, the Caribbean islands, and Greenland. Although the main source of income of Cinema Alliance came from the United States and Canada. 

Taken had the upper hand in terms of theaters, which means that they could earn more than Air Force One. That fact alone made Sony-Columbia mad and writhing. 

Since Kazir was confident in his movie, he decided to go to his apartment and take sleep. He wanted to surprise himself tomorrow. 

July 25, 1997. Two big movies were released at the same time. Paramount distributed Taken which was produced by Grey Pictures. The movie generated $17.80 million on the first day. 

As for Air Force One, because of getting run over by Taken, the movie got $11.98 million. It was not a bad result. In this era, this kind of result was already a good start. 

July 26, 1997. The second day of Taken was stronger. Grossing $26.53 million. 

On the same day, Air Force One earned $14 million. 

July 27, 1997. Sunday. Taken slightly dropped to $18.24 million. So far the movie grossed $62.57 million on its first weekend. Paramount and Grey Pictures believe that the movie would definitely be part of the top 10 movies of this year. Just like everyone excepted, Taken became the box office champion of the week. 

As for Air Force One, it generated another $11.14 million. The first weekend of Air Force One had $37.13 million. Sony-Columbia was satisfied because the box office was within their expectations. The one thing they have trouble with is the next step of promotion. 

Should they increase the promotion budget or lower it? In the end, they decided to promote the movie with a slight increase in the budget. 

Because Taken and Air Force One was released on the same day, people could not help but compare the two. 

In the end, everyone believe that Taken defeated Air Force One. Both movies were action genres and their protagonists were two veterans, but Liam Neeson got the upper hand this time.