Hollywood What If Chapter 494
When Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed over $1 billion, every capable studio in Hollywood became active in trying to buy Kazir's latest movie.
Sony-Columbia offered $62 million. The reason why Sony-Columbia was active was that they hoped Kazir would direct Spider-Man 3. This was the franchise that they had to maintain. Sony-Columbia was not that confident in Shadows Beneath, but they wanted to use this chance to convince Kazir to sign another project with them.
Warner Brothers offered $64 million. Warner Brothers still had a contract with Kazir regarding the trilogy of Batman, so they were not that active. Still, they were participating in the bidding since why not? Perhaps they had a chance to buy Shadows Beneath.
20th Century Fox didn't participate, as they already got two horror movie franchises from Kazir, which were Final Destination and Paranormal Activity. They were currently putting the focus on Paranormal Activity, as this found-footage genre was a bit difficult to maneuver.
Paramount Pictures offered $69 million. Noice. The reason why Paramount Pictures offered this nice amount of money was that they wanted Kazir to direct the trilogy of Transformers. They already got the copyrights from Hasbro, but they were still looking for a director. They invited Kazir last time, but the director didn't express any interest. They were using this chance to convince him.
Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer both offered the same amount, which was $70 million. The two studios were considered second-tier studios because they were less popular. Still, they had the capability to participate in this kind of auction. The two were looking for a franchise that could help them revive or popularize their respective studios.
As for DreamWorks, which was also a second-tier studio, the company was currently in shambles, as Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg wanted to lead their own teams and divide the assets of DreamWorks. This decision happened because of interference from the Big Six to ensure that DreamWorks wouldn't rise up to become a new giant studio. It also didn't help that Jeffrey and Steven were leaders who had no intention of lowering their heads to one another. The company didn't offer any amount.
Walt Disney was also interested in Shadows Beneath, but for different reasons. They wanted to use this chance as a peace talk. They understood that their studio was losing spark regarding live-action movies. They hoped that Kazir could help them with that. Walt Disney generously offered $82 million.
However, out of all of them, someone was crazy enough to offer $100 million! Universal Pictures was gambling at this point.
Everyone had different reasons why they were interested in Kazir's horror movie. They were indeed affected by the success of Grey Pictures' last two movies, which surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
They were experiencing impulse buying, as if they would regret it if they didn't buy the copyrights for Kazir's horror movie.
Everyone believed that Kazir's horror movie would easily surpass $300 million. That was just the assurance based on the director's strong box office appeal.
However, none of them were insane enough to offer $100 million.
That was more than five times the amount of Shadows Beneath's budget. Anyone would be happy with that kind of profit. Grey Pictures could easily double the whole cast and crew members' salaries with that amount, and the company would still have millions of dollars left.
Everyone was crazy, but Universal Pictures lost all of its reasoning.
Instead of backing down, just to make a statement and ensure that no one would compete, Universal Pictures added another freebie!
$100 million + 5% of the North American box office!
That was so fucking stupid. A stupid, stupid move! It needed to be repeated twice just to emphasize the term stupid.
Universal Pictures basically put a nail in the coffin. That offer was too much to handle.
Even if Shadows Beneath earned $300 million, it would still be considered a loss for them.
However, that decision also stopped others from the game. They decided not to compete anymore, as they didn't want to gamble more than $100 million.
Walt Disney was having second thoughts before admitting defeat. They wanted to use this opportunity to make amends with Kazir, but it seemed that they had to find another chance.
When Universal Pictures said that and even prepared a proper contract, Kazir and Grey Pictures were also happy to have a business deal with them.
Kazir knew that this was business, and he didn't mix it with his personal emotions. He was professional, after all... However, he admitted that he didn't like Universal Pictures because of what they did to him.
While signing the contract, there were cameras that took their pictures. In the pictures, Kazir and Ronald Meyer were smiling while shaking hands. It looked like their bad blood had vanished after this business deal.
Actually, Ronald Meyer was not the one who initiated the offer of $100 million + 5% North American box office share. The mother company initiated it.
General Electric currently owned Universal Pictures, but they were not happy with the situation. There were some rumors that General Electric wanted to sell Universal Pictures to Comcast.
This move was a way to invigorate the stocks of Universal Pictures to increase its worth while General Electric was selling it to Comcast. That's why Universal Pictures suffered a loss from this business deal.
The only way to make this deal worthwhile is if Shadows Beneath surpassed $1 billion. But it should be impossible. After all, no horror movie made that amount of money.
Ronald Meyer sighed as he left the signing of the contract. He actually tried to invite Kazir to a party, but the director respectfully declined. It was obvious that Kazir didn't like him.
"…If Comcast acquired Universal Pictures, they will probably change the CEO, which means I will lose my job."
He felt bad... despite earning millions and using his authority to his advantage. Well, it was indeed sad losing your position as one of the most respected people in Hollywood.