บท 246: HWI 246
Hollywood What If Chapter 246
The movie copyrights for Spider-Man were quite complicated. Sony-Columbia and MGM felt that both companies had a stake in the copyrights.
In the '70s, there was a Spider-Man TV show called The Amazing Spider-Man. It aired on CBS, with one of the producers being Colombia Pictures Television (before Sony).
Another adaptation was the Japanese version titled Spider-Man or Supaidāman, also referred to as Japanese Spider-Man or Toei Spider-Man. The production company of this TV series was Toei Company. Also produced in the 70s.
So yes, the copyrights of this superhero character were complicated.
After some legal stuff, the copyrights went back to the original owner, which was Marvel Comics.
MGM and Sony-Columbia had some disputes over those copyrights, trying to figure out which company should acquire the movie adaptation. In the end, the two companies resolved the issue and Sony-Columbia legally purchased the copyright from Marvel Comics.
When Sony-Columbia acquired the superhero, a famous director announced his intentions to direct the movie. It was none other than James Cameron.
He has been interested in this superhero for a long time. The initial plan was already set, the project was approved by the management as well. The budget was set, Sony would invest in the movie.
But maybe because of some negotiations, James Cameron resigned before the project officially started. Well, someone like James Cameron was hard to get. Another thing, James Cameron had a habit of overspending and his projects were usually behind schedule. Maybe that was the factor why James Cameron didn't get the job.
James Cameron already recommended that he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to be Peter Parker and Sony-Columbia thought it was appropriate, knowing that the young actor was super famous after the success of Titanic.
Then Sony-Columbia felt that Sam Raimi, the director of Evil Dead, could be the right director for this project. Sam Raimi was not only good at horror movies, he was also good at other genres. Sony-Columbia decided to hire the director because of his affordable salary.
Everyone thought the project was already on the right track. The director, the producer, the budget and the production crew, the initial stage was happening.
But three days before Sam Raimi was to sign the contract, he found out that his wife was two months pregnant.
Work on a movie would take months or a year to complete. Sam Raimi knew this, so he decided to turn down the project and focus on his wife.
Was this an intervention? Or maybe the original timeline was already over in 1994. The year a certain man started his career and slowly became successful.
In any case, Sam Raimi was now out of the picture. So Sony-Columbia struggled to find a director to take over the project.
The company had already invested nearly $5 million in the early stages of the project, and that amount would be wasted if they postponed production. It was painful for them.
Suddenly, the current CEO of Sony-Columbia, Frank Price, remembered that Grey Pictures had a good relationship with them. Moreover, Marvel Comics indicated that they wanted to meet Kazir Grey.
Yes, Frank Price was interested in Kazir Grey as the director of Spider-Man. The man said he wanted to work with the Big Six again. As long as the terms were right, maybe Kazir would agree to direct Spider-Man.
For the record, Kazir Grey had a better portfolio than other directors. All of his films in the last five years have been blockbusters. None of them lost money, not even John Wick.
Frank Price felt that Kazir had the talent, the charisma and the authority to be the director of this movie.
Sony-Columbia knew they were the lowest of the Big Six and needed a franchise to save them from destruction. Bruce Almighty was set to be released the following month, but that was another story.
All Frank Price and the management at Sony-Columbia wanted was for their projects not to lose out to the competition.
Since Kazir Grey was the hottest director right now and his filmography was amazing, Sony-Columbia had no problem hiring him.
Well, here was the problem. Apparently Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox had the same intention as Sony-Columbia.
They wanted Kazir to direct their respective films.
In Frank Price's opinion, 20th Century Fox would be the strongest opponent. After all, the success of Star Wars was huge. Star Wars was not a movie, it was a culture. People would not hesitate to spend their money to buy tickets for Star Wars.
Surely, if Kazir didn't want to risk his career, he would choose the safest movie.
Yet here they were, in the office where Frank Price and Salvatore Barlowe were negotiating.
"My client wants a 25+25 deal and a 10% profit share on videotapes/DVDs, merchandise and other peripherals related to Spider-Man."
"..."
As expected, Salvatore Barlowe was asking for something extravagant. Well, his client had the right to do so, considering that his latest movie was still making a lot of money.
As of July 21, 2000, Wanted had just grossed $404.62 million domestically. The international release of Wanted happened two weeks ago and the international box office was around $134 million.
Combined, the worldwide box office for Wanted was $538 million. With that as a reference, Kazir Grey had the status to ask for a big contract.
Moreover, Sony-Columbia was not the only company that wanted to work with Kazir Grey. The other companies were definitely ready to snatch Kazir away.
None of the Big Six knew that Kazir had no intention of working with 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney.
Star Wars had been criticized by so many people, while John Carter was not promising.
Kazir's attention turned to Spider-Man and Harry Potter. These two had a high chance of success.
Sony-Columbia and Grey Pictures negotiated for about two weeks. In the end, Sony-Columbia did its best to get the contract down to a 25+20 deal with 7% profit share on videotapes/DVDs and peripherals for the time being...
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