Hollywood What If Chapter 315
December was the last month of the year... Many people already knew that. This month was merry because you know, Christmas. And next month would be happy because, you know, New Year's... Ahem.
While many families were preparing for Christmas, Grey Pictures had a Christmas party to celebrate their success this year. They had a party on December 21, and a lot of workers attended the party, because the company spent a lot of money on this party... Too bad, because Kazir was never a fan of party drugs. The party was too formal.
Some of the crew members used drugs, and Kazir couldn't stop people from doing what they wanted. As long as he didn't see them doing it, he never reprimanded them.
Of course, he didn't tolerate that kind of behavior in his crew either.
Grey Pictures released three films this year, but their revenues exceeded $1 billion. The company was an A-list production studio at that point.
The Revenant was nominated for many awards at the Golden Globes. The movie was released on October 31, 2002. Currently, the film has grossed more than $169.57 million after 52 days at the North American box office.
Also, the international box office for The Revenant was approximately $173.52 million. The total worldwide gross was $343.09 million.
International distribution was much faster now because of technological advances. Back then, production studios had to move tons of film reels and distribute them across the country.
Then, when the local run was over, the Big Six (the six studios that can distribute movies internationally) would pick up all the film reels and send them to other countries. Sometimes they have to make thousands of copies and send more internationally.
However, the invention of memory cards/SD cards and DVD discs changed the way studios distributed their movies. Film reels were thick and heavy, but memory cards and DVD discs were small, thinner and lighter. This made distribution much easier and the cost much lower.
Once the Internet became the norm, distributing movies worldwide would be a click away. But that was another story.
So far, there was a rumor that 20th Century Fox intended to release X-Men 2 in 25 countries on the same day. This would change the game even more. Releasing movies worldwide on the same day would no longer be a dream.
The second movie released by Grey Pictures was Mr. And Mrs. Smith. It premiered on August 7, 2002.
The movie completed its worldwide release after five months. Mr. And Mrs. Smith grossed $487.28 million. Too bad, because the movie didn't cross the $500 million mark before it was put down by theaters. But honestly, that amount was already amazing.
Just like Mr. And Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Supremacy finished its worldwide run and the movie grossed $710.68 million. An amazing performance. The performance was affected positively because of the death of its creator, Robert Ludlum.
Sequels to a successful movie usually do better at the box office because there was already a fan base for the movie.
In the case of The Bourne Supremacy, the series was part of the Continental Cinematic Universe and the whole franchise was very hot at the moment.
This had a positive effect on the performance of The Bourne Supremacy. Some fans were even hoping that John Wick or Bryan Mills would face off in the next film. That would be exciting to watch.
The Revenant has now grossed over $343.09 million!
Mr. And Mrs. Smith finished its run with $487.28 million at the worldwide box office!
The Bourne Supremacy has also grossed $710.68 million worldwide!
Together, the three movies grossed a whopping $1.54 billion. A huge amount of money...
Unfortunately, Grey Pictures only got about 40% of that amount. While Cinema Alliance and 20th Century Fox got 60% of that amount.
If the calculation is correct, Grey Pictures could possibly get $616.40 million. Still a lot of money.
Unfortunately, the IRS would definitely want at least 30% of that $616 million, because the IRS is a daylight robber, I mean, a daylight blessing.
Furthermore, if you subtract Grey Pictures' investment in the three movies, the company's profit would probably be around $250 million at best.
So far, 20th Century Fox has only paid for Mr. And Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Supremacy.
Even though 20th Century Fox was only the distributor of their movies, it was obvious that 20th Century Fox made money as well. Their pure profit just from distributing three movies was probably around $100 million.
20th Century Fox wanted to show that they would be a great partner for Grey Pictures because they were quick to pay the money.
Grey Pictures had a lot of money at the time. One of the reasons why the Christmas party was a bit extravagant.
Another reason why Grey Pictures made the party high class was because CAA used their connection to invite some Academy members. After all, the Academy still hasn't announced the list of nominees for the 75th Academy Awards. Grey Pictures had to work hard to make sure their film would be nominated.
Kazir and Angelina greeted the old men of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy Awards was founded in 1929 and has gathered 10 thousand members after 8 decades of continuation.
Many of the members were old people, over 60 years old. Another fact was that many of them were Jewish. Millions of Jewish people immigrated to the United States when World War II happened, and some of them lived in Los Angeles, more precisely in Hollywood. These Jewish people slowly created their brand in Hollywood and reached a dominant position.
Since Kazir was also Jewish, CAA devised a plan to ensure that he would be nominated for an Academy Award by mingling with the old members. All Kazir had to do was show that he was proud to be Jewish.
CAA was founded by a Jewish man, so after so many years in the business, he had a lot of ties to Jewish members of the Academy.
This may sound offensive, but Kazir was simply taking advantage of his race. He knew what he was doing and was not ashamed of it. Humans are selfish creatures.
Kazir had never been close to his Jewish side, but tonight he was proud to be one. He had to be. Otherwise he wouldn't win the Best Director Award.