Kapitel 310: HWI 310
Hollywood What If Chapter 310
Since the release of The Revenant, the cast has obviously had to promote the movie. Kazir Grey and Tom Cruise understood that they would be busy for the next few months. They have to promote the movie while meeting with Academy members, basically begging for their votes.
It may sound bad, but it was true that the outcome of the Oscars would be determined by the members of the Academy.
So while the cast of The Revenant was traveling back and forth between Canada and the United States, their respective PR teams began their work.
The PR teams were paid by Kazir and Tom, they invested a lot of money just for the nominations. They knew it would be impossible to compete at the Oscars without spending money.
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Martin Ariel sighed as he stretched his sore back. He was too old to move, but he couldn't sit still all day without doing something. So he decided to check his mail.
He was surprised to see that someone had actually sent him a thick letter.
"Ah, is it that time already? It's still November."
Martin Ariel was an old veteran director who retired a decade ago. He had been nominated for the Best Director Award in the 60s. Since then he has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). He was still part of the committee that voted on the nominations. He had the power to list the movies he wanted to nominate.
Every once in a while he would get some packages from Hollywood. He knew that this kind of thing was not allowed because it was an obvious bribe.
However, the PR teams usually identified these as nothing more than "gifts". Of course you had to accept the gifts, why are you so bitter?
Gifts were a common thing, and everyone had an agreement to keep quiet about it. At least they received gifts every year.
Martin returned to his house and decided to open the "gifts". It was four tickets for The Revenant, which would expire in two weeks.
"As expected..." Martin shook his head. Giving money was not allowed, but sending gifts was allowed, especially gifts related to the nominated movie.
"Well, my grandchildren might like it. These tickets are for The Revenant? Hmm, Director Grey? Who is this person? Never heard of him. Maybe I will ask my grandchildren about this movie."
Spoiler alert, Martin's grandchildren were all fans of Kazir Grey, and they were happy that Martin had given them four tickets.
Martin was old, and he was happy to see his grandchildren happy. So he decided to vote for The Revenant to get it nominated. Of course, it also depends on how the other committee members would vote for The Revenant.
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"This is interesting..." Kazir muttered after sipping a hot coffee in the morning.
He was in an expensive hotel room because he had a local TV interview last night.
While reading the newspaper, Kazir noticed some interesting news.
Apparently, News Corporation had decided to buy Marvel Comics. As for the details, Kazir had no idea how the negotiations went.
Such a thing had never happened in his previous life, and he understood that he was one of the factors in the outcome.
Instead of being acquired by Walt Disney, this time Marvel Comics was acquired by News Corporation.
"Is this one of the reasons why 20th Century Fox is keeping quiet?"
So far, four major studios have tried to acquire Grey Pictures. Only Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox remained silent.
Universal Pictures had an obvious reason, Grey Pictures never really liked the company.
But 20th Century Fox was different. Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox were very close. In fact, the current distributor of their films was 20th Century Fox.
'I think Tom Rothman is going to leave Fox this year or early next year. Someone will take over as CEO of 20th Century.'
With this acquisition, Kazir realized that 20th Century Fox could start its own Cinematic Universe with Marvel Comics... Though there were some problems.
Most of the known Marvel characters were in the hands of Grey Pictures. Marvel Comics would have to buy back the copyrights if they wanted to start a successful Cinematic Universe.
Or Marvel Comics could create another batch of superheroes and use them as movie characters, but this method had a low chance of success.
The reason Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men were successful in the first place was because they were famous.
Kazir stood up and looked out the window. The city was very foggy, even though it was early in the morning.
"Was Washington this foggy, or perhaps this very city was a foggy one?" He wondered.
Suddenly his cell phone on the table started ringing.
At first he thought it was Angelina Jolie, because his girlfriend liked to call him in the morning when they were apart. He laughed and grabbed the phone.
His smile faded when he realized it was not Angelina.
"Hello, Salvatore? Is there a problem? Huh, me? Yes, I'm in Washington right now... Okay, I'll be back in Los Angeles today."
His expression became serious. It seemed he was wrong this time. 20th Century Fox was still interested in Grey Pictures, they were just going after the weakest link first.
Kazir heard from Salvatore Barlowe that Tom Rothman wanted to talk to him personally. They wanted to negotiate with him about Grey Pictures. From the looks of it, News Corporation was the one that wanted to make this venture happen.
Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox could do a stock swap and both sides would make a deal to distribute the films.
Kazir contacted Tom Cruise and the rest of the cast and told him he had to return to Los Angeles. Tom Cruise didn't have a problem, but Kazir had to promise to attend at least one party a week. You have to communicate with people, especially Academy members, to get nominated.
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[Author's Note]
[I can't remember if Martin Ariel is a real person or an original character. Anyway, I'm here again to promote my novel because my brother's exam is coming up and we have a bill to pay... I apologize if I have to beg people on the internet to help me pay our bills. I'm a shameless person and I have to do it because I have to. You may think I'm using my brother as an excuse to siphon off money, but I'm not. I'm not doing it for me, I'm doing it for the betterment of my family.]
[I won't lie, I'm actually proud of myself because I helped fix our roof and our house. Also, our house now has tiles and a shower... If you're a Filipino (poor Filipino to be precise), you'll understand how happy we are whenever we have a chance to use a shower. And now our house has shower too! I can shower every day now! I'm really happy about this little success.]
[Haha, galawang squatter. Tuwang tuwa kapag may shower!]
[All this happened because you supported me. There's even pictures of our roof in my Patreon if you want to see it, I posted it a year ago.]
[If you subscribed to my Patreon or Ko-fi, you can read up to chapter 478. If you use math-thingy, it means you can read 168 advanced chapters. Thanks guys, your support means a lot to me.]
P@treon link: https://www.patreon.com/Puji_maki
Ko-fi link: https://ko-fi.com/pujimaki
Kapitel 311: HWI 311
Hollywood What If Chapter 311
Dealing with something as big as the acquisition of a billion-dollar company was something to be taken seriously.
Kazir knew how important this venture was. He was tired of trying to find a distributor every few years. He wanted a stable partner to distribute his films worldwide.
Honestly, sometimes Kazir thought about buying distribution channels instead so that his problem would be gone. But he also knew that this was just a dream. First of all, acquiring and maintaining distribution channels costs a lot of money.
Not even Grey Pictures or Kazir Grey had the financial means to do that. Unless they got a loan from the bank, but that would be detrimental to their upcoming plans. Remember, Grey Pictures wanted to make two successful Cinematic Universes. The first was the CCU and the second was the MCU.
The MCU was actually only a second thought. But it seemed that Kazir was now interested in making it happen.
The competition for Grey Pictures intensified now that 20th Century Fox had entered the fray.
That fact alone increased the net worth of Grey Pictures to $8 billion. And why? Because 20th Century Fox made them a higher offer than the others could match.
Previously, Sony-Columbia had been willing to trade 2.3% of its stock for 30% of Grey Pictures.
But 20th Century Fox was different, they would pay $300 million to buy 3.75% of Grey Pictures. Not only that, but 20th Century Fox would exchange 3.38% stock for another 30% of Grey Pictures.
The net worth of 20th Century Fox was $71 billion. That means that 3.38% of the stock was worth $2.40 billion.
If the deal went through, 20th Century Fox would own 33.75% of Grey Pictures.
If this was a normal acquisition, 20th Century Fox wanted to buy the company outright, but they knew that would be detrimental to their plan because the real value of Grey Pictures was Kazir Grey. So they stopped at that amount.
"So I get $300 million and 3.38% stock?" Kazir asked curiously. That was not bad. Especially when 20th Century Fox promised that Kazir would get $300 million in cash in one payment...
He really didn't know what to do with that amount of money. Maybe he would invest it in stocks... Or maybe buy a mansion or an island in the Pacific.
"That's right." Vance Goodhood nodded. He had been Kazir's financial advisor long before the dot-com bubble burst. Vance worked for Goldman Sachs now, and Kazir was still his client.
For this job, Vance and his small team of elites would receive a 4% commission when he closed the deal.
Kazir would be a major shareholder in 20th Century Fox, if this acquisition went through. He had the power to be part of the board of directors and make a decision for himself and 20th Century Fox.
The largest shareholder was still Rupert Murdoch, and the guy had just bought Marvel Comics last week.
"Vance, I think we know where this is going," Kazir grinned.
"I understand." Vance understood immediately.
20th Century Fox was lighting the dynamite, and that dynamite would affect the other major studios. Even if one of them was interested and increased the offer, it would be great for Grey Pictures.
"Secretly spread the word that 20th Century Fox is willing to buy 30% of Grey Pictures for $300 million and 3.38% stock. I know Goldman Sachs had their ways of making it look like this information didn't come from us."
It was actually 33%, but that little difference didn't matter, did it?
"I understand."
The two shook hands. This was an important deal that Vance didn't want to miss.
Just three days after 20th Century Fox extended its willingness to partner with Grey Pictures, rumors began to circulate in Hollywood that 20th Century Fox was willing to buy 30% of Grey Pictures for $350 million and 3.50% of the stock.
Apparently, Goldman Sachs upped the ante for their own agenda... Bigger numbers mean bigger commissions.
Kazir just chuckled when he heard the news and decided to go back to bed. Angelina, who was in bed, giggled when she saw how active Kazir was lately. The guy was satisfying her in and out of the bedroom.
As everyone expected, one of the Big Six also made an offer. It was none other than the desperate Walt Disney. This company had lost a huge amount of money this year, but it seemed they were willing to bleed even more just to acquire Grey Pictures.
Chairman Eisner called Kazir personally. The old man offered him a seat on the board, he would also receive $375 million and 2.4% of Walt Disney stock. Keep in mind that Walt Disney's net worth was $105 billion.
Those 2.4% shares were worth $2.52 billion.
If Kazir's calculation was correct, then Walt Disney's offer was higher.
20th Century Fox offered only $300 million plus 3.38% stock ($2.40 billion).
As for What Disney, it was ready to give Kazir $375 million plus 2.4% shares ($2.52 billion.).
Now, 20th Century Fox could withdraw from the competition because something happened and their offer was leaked. But it seemed that 20th Century Fox was also serious about Grey Pictures.
Instead of stopping, they continued to contact Grey Pictures and Goldman Sachs about the matter.
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While this was happening, November was slowly passing by. 8 Mile starring Eminem was released on November 8th and did well.
8 Mile grossed $51.24 million in its first weekend. By that time, The Revenant had already grossed $95.70 million. The Revenant was close to $100 million.
However, a lot of people knew that The Revenant's third week gross would be affected. Why was that? Because Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets would be released on November 15th.
That movie was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Surely the sequel would make a lot of money at the box office.
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[Author's Note: I know that my pricing for the net worth of the Big Six are far from reality. Sad to say, I can't edit it anymore because the whole math-thingy in the next 50 chapters will be affected.]
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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