[Shout out to Alexander, George H, Adam C, Mark S, Ashywar B, SAINT, zwarrior0596, and Oliver HS!]
Hollywood What If Chapter 159
After seeing John Wick, audiences who saw Taken last year realized that the two movies were connected.
The appearance of Raizo.
The gold coins as currency.
And the High Table.
These three appeared in both movies, and the audience felt that director Grey was cooking up something big. Some of them were excited, while others felt that this plan might fail before it happened.
They were talking about movies that costs millions to make. It was not that easy to complete something like Cinematic Universe without failing at least one.
After all, most of the audience believed in stand-alone movies with no connection to other movies. This broad concept was difficult to realize because the movie companies preferred safe movies with an obvious profit. What Kazir Grey and Grey Pictures did was a gamble.
No one knew if this so-called Continental Cinematic Universe would be successful. Even the Big Six were afraid to venture into this uncharted territory.
Some tried, but only the MCU and DCEU came out on top. The next three decades would be all about superhero movies.
One thing was for sure, audiences were eager to see director Grey's next film. Maybe it would be related to Taken and John Wick.
The midnight results were within the expectations of Grey Pictures and Paramount. They did their best and promoted the movie in various ways. Heck, Kazir Grey even used his love relationship to promote the movie. Something he didn't like to do.
Maybe it was lucky that they didn't have any competition this week. Most of the movies this month were not promising either.
September 10, 1998. John Wick grossed $4.60 million. Paramount and Grey Pictures had agreed that the movie looked promising for the month of September. Maybe Kazir was starting to get a reputation.
The next day, some tabloids and newspapers were talking about the connection between Taken and John Wick. Significantly, the two movies are set in the same universe. Also, one of the characters in Taken showed up in John Wick.
Even Kazir and Fremont's cameo was used to promote the movie.
On September 11, 1998, with 3,500 theaters. The total gross of John Wick was $12.84 million. The weekend usually had a good reception for theaters. Many people would see movies on the weekend.
Saturday, September 12, 1998. The movie overall grossed $22.52 million.
Sunday, John Wick's box office was $30.03 million and easily won the box office champion of the week.
Just like the usual forecast, the performance from Monday to Thursday was dismal. John Wick only rose to $41.08 million. Meaning, in that five days, the movie only made around $11 million.
"What do you think, Ovitz? Will John Wick cross the $100 million mark in North America?"
Michael Eisner dropped the newspaper and looked at his right-hand man. The two old Michaels watched every move Grey Pictures made. It would be a lie to say they were not interested. After all, Grey Pictures was doing something new.
"The best it can do is $90 million.
Michael Ovitz shook his head. He watched the movie on his own time and didn't like too much violence. Maybe his age was one of the reasons he didn't like the movie. The schedule, the promotion and the movie itself were too weak to produce a good result.
"It can make over $100 million internationally, but it might be hard for the movie to make the same result here in North America."
"So you think John Wick can make at least $190 million worldwide? That's not bad, considering the movie's budget is only $30 million."
"Indeed. But it all depends on Paramount's decision. Will they distribute it internationally?"
The two old men are not interested in this movie, so they won't contact Grey Pictures. They don't think the other companies will either.
While people speculate, John Wick crossed the $50 million mark on its second Sunday, September 19, 1998. The movie grossed $54.48 million to be exact.
Unfortunately, John Wick didn't win the box office champion of the week because it was beaten by Rush Hour. Rush Hour grossed $33 million and obviously knocked John Wick off its throne.
After that, Paramount decided to cut their advertising budget and let fate decide the outcome. Grey Pictures had no say in the matter unless they used their own money, which would be detrimental to their next projects.
Overall, everyone involved with John Wick was happy. Even Viggo Mortensen was happy that his first movie as a protagonist didn't flop. Plus, he heard from Kazir himself that there would be a sequel in the next two or three years. He even had cameos in a couple of movies.
Viggo Mortensen was still not famous and almost nobody knew his name. He was still a nobody. He hoped that his appearance in Lord of the Rings as Aragorn would bring him fame, but after attending the script reading, Viggo realized that he was not the protagonist at all. The plot of Lord of the Rings didn't revolve around him. In a way, he was a supporting character. He was only protagonist in name but the movie focused on so many people.
With no hope, his role as John Wick was his best option. He started studying Russian just to make sure his next performance would be better. As long as he was part of Kazir's movie, he had a chance to turn the tables and become a household name known all over the world.
Just like that, two months passed and John Wick did its best to cross the $100 million mark. The film grossed $103.36 million. Obviously, John Wick just scraped by to cross $100 million.
Cinema Alliance felt that John Wick had already wasted all of its potential and pulled it out from theaters.
Fortunately, Paramount kept their promise and released the film internationally.
Worldwide, the film grossed $186.72 million. Unlike the North American box office, John Wick did quite well in other countries. Paramount expected the movie to make at least $100 million internationally.
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"I'm back."
Kazir Grey sighed as he stepped onto the ground in Los Angeles. He joined the cast and promoted the movie in major countries like UK, Japan and Australia.
He enjoyed the foreign countries, especially Japan. Japan was a great country. The people there were decent and disciplined. Probably the best country in Asia in his opinion. Japan, Numbah Wan In Asia.
He returned earlier than the cast because he had a lot of things to do in the month of November.
The first was the release of The Hangover Part 2.
The second was auditioning for The Bourne Identity.
Kazir had no rest. Luckily, the new crew that Salvatore hired were all enthusiastic, so he didn't have a problem working them to the max.