บท 292: HWI 292
Hollywood What If Chapter 292
Walt Disney thought that only Star Wars would be their problem and for the next two weeks they would have autonomy at the box office.
However, on the 8th of May, a mid-budget film produced by 20th Century Fox was released and John Carter's ticket sales were affected. The film was called Unfaithful. An erotic thriller film.
Erotic thriller films were quite popular in the late 90s and early 2000s. Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Eyes Wide Shut were just some of the famous films of the genre. Of course, the genre continued to thrive in the decades that followed. The 50 Shades series was a successful franchise of the genre.
Perhaps because people were looking for something different, they decided to buy more tickets for Unfaithful than for John Carter, which was heavily invested.
John Carter grossed $53 million in its first ten days. As for Unfaithful, it grossed more than $7 million in its first three days.
Yes, for its genre, which was also rated R, Unfaithful was already doing well. Only a few R-rated films like John Wick, The Matrix and The Hangover have managed to make a lot of money at the box office.
But oh well, for obvious reasons, erotic thrillers and erotic films were quite popular on DVD and in video stores. You know, people like to watch this kind of stuff in their own homes, preferably alone... To appreciate the art, of course.
Another week went by and the executives' confidence in John Carter was waning. They watched, shitless, as the numbers kept dropping to dangerous levels.
They had already invested $350 million in this film... It was a huge slap in the face. The fact that they could never recoup their investment would be fatal to their future endeavours.
The 16th of May came and the most awaited sequel of Star Wars was released!
By this time, John Carter had already grossed $62 million... Based on this increase alone, the film had already reached its end... In one week, the film only made $9 million. That was so fucking sad, no lie.
Plus, John Carter had only been out for two weeks and was already running out of gas at the box office.
But Walt Disney was still in denial, or maybe Michael Eisner was in denial.
They could not accept that John Carter was a box office flop, a tragedy. They still decided to promote the film for a week.
Furthermore, Walt Disney had international distribution. Maybe they could recoup their investment internationally.
So yes, Walt Disney continued to burn their money. Historically, this is probably the biggest box office flop that Disney has had in either timeline... Apart from The Lone Ranger, of course. Note that this film was also produced by Walt Disney and their investment was large. But just like John Carter, The Lone Ranger didn't have much to show for it, but that's another story.
As many expected, when Star Wars Episode 2: Attack Of The Clones was released, the first day box office was astounding.
On May 16, the first day of Star Wars Episode 2, it made over $30 million.
It was meant to be. This was a sign that the film would do well at the box office, unlike John Carter, which only made a mediocre $9 million on the first day.
Furthermore, the production cost of Star Wars Episode 2 was only $115 million. That was small compared to John Carter's $250 million. It even did better at the box office.
One thing was clear, there was something wrong with the film. Who would want to see a film that had no clear ending?
Walt Disney focused too much on possible sequels and this was the downfall of John Carter.
When Disney felt that their promotion was useless, they decided to keep a low profile... They hope that the reaction of foreigners to John Carter was worth it, or else...
In May, only one film dominated the month, and that was Star Wars Episode 2.
By the end of the month, Star Wars Episode 2 had already earned 216 million dollars. The film made back its investment in just one month and may have even put more profit.
As for John Carter and Walt Disney... Meh.
This was just the start of the summer season and more films would be released over the next few weeks.
June arrived and Kazir had no choice but to give the crew three days off as he was returning to Los Angeles to attend a premiere.
Filming of The Revenant was going well. In fact, Kazir could say they were ahead of schedule. The crew was happy to get a break and most of them returned to Los Angeles to see their friends and families.
As for Tom Cruise, the star of the project, he decided to spend his time in Canada with his current girlfriend, Penelope Cruz.
The couple didn't hide their relationship after Tom officially divorced Nicole Kidman.
Since Penelope was part of the cast, they could use their relationship to promote the film. They didn't have a problem with that. For Penelope, it could give her a better position in the industry, while Tom was ready to do anything as long as he could earn a golden statue.
Kazir also went through a divorce and his experience was not so good.
Although Tom had it worse. After his separation with Nicole Kidman, Tom was criticised by many people. Some newspapers believed that Tom had been brainwashed by Scientology. Which led to their divorce.
To be honest, Kazir had no idea what Scientology was. He didn't give a fuck either.
As a director, he knew that the industry was never a good place anyway. In fact, he believed that Hollywood itself was a giant cult.
Anyway, Kazir put on his suit and got ready for the limousine. He tried to call Angelina, but she didn't answer.
Kazir sighed, he had expected this. He knew his heart was not ready and he was afraid of getting hurt. So before things got serious, he decided to give it some thought.
He wanted to talk to Angelina, but the woman never answered...
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