HWI 190

Hollywood What If Chapter 190

Two weeks after its release, The Blair Witch Project had grossed more than $84 million. Even though the hype was over, some people liked the uniqueness of the found footage movie and decided to see it again.

In this aspect, everyone in Hollywood realized the power of viral marketing. However, after studying this method, they learned that it is very hard to replicate this kind of performance. Maybe only The Blair Witch Project could do it.

If not for the fact that Harvey Weinstein was caught in a bind, this movie might have been classified as a successful film. Too bad for Miramax, they didn't make a profit even though the movie was a success.

The out-of-court settlement happened quickly because Harvey Weinstein wanted to end the scandal as soon as possible. He didn't want to stay in the spotlight.

In the end, the settlement was $11 million each. It was the best the lawyer could do. It was a miracle that Harvey Weinstein didn't go to jail this time. Maybe his influence was not that simple. Anyway, this was a big loss for Harvey Weinstein and Miramax. They have learned their lesson and will never try this marketing method again.

The news related to The Blair Witch Project slowly faded away as the matter was already over.

John F. Kennedy Junior, his wife and relatives were killed in a plane crash. This terrible news alleviated the matter of The Blair Witch Project and people gradually forgot about it.

There were still some people protesting in front of Miramax, but the media had already forgotten about them. Maybe next month these people would get tired of protesting as well.

Moviegoers started to see other movies after the truth about The Blair Witch Project came out.

Eyes Wide Shut was released on July 16, just two days after the release of The Blair Witch Project. This movie, starring Tom Cruise and his wife, Nicole Kidman-Cruise, was affected by The Blair Witch Project and only grossed $21 million in its first week.

Eyes Wide Shut was the last movie the couple appeared in together. 2 years later the couple filed for divorce.

A week after The Blair Witch Project, The Haunting starring Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones was released. The influence of The Blair Witch Project on this horror movie was quite strong, considering that both were horror movies.

Nevertheless, perhaps because of Liam Neeson's performance over the past few years, The Haunting grossed $33 million in its first week. Liam Neeson was now a famous actor who had an Oscar statue among his achievements. In this case, even his performances were better than Tom Cruise, who never won an Oscar statue.

Next was Deep Blue Sea. This movie was kind of a Jaws rip-off about smart sharks eating people. If there was anything interesting about this movie, it was that Samuel L. Jackson got eaten by a shark while giving a Ted talk. A great moment indeed...

In the month of July, the biggest winner was none other than The Runaway Bride starring Richard Gere and Brianna Evans. Because of the recommendation Kazir made to Paramount, Julia Roberts did not get the part. Instead, it was Brianna Evans who became the female lead in Runaway Bride.

Runaway Bride grossed $35 million in its first week at the box office. The difference between The Blair Witch Project and Runaway Bride was the production value. Unlike horror movies that were rated R, Runaway Bride was a PG-13 movie and it had a better audience than The Blair Witch Project.

In the long run, Runaway Bride would make more money than The Blair Witch Project.

Kazir's interference in the timeline caused changes such as Liam Neeson's status and Brianna Evans' appearance. One thing was for sure, it would not be the last time.

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August was the least popular month in the summer schedule. The Big Six usually didn't release their profitable movies in this month, just like in September.

Sony-Columbia didn't have any major movies to release this month. They agreed to release The Bourne Identity in the second week of the month and put their resources behind the movie.

The initial promotion for The Bourne Identity began a month ago and intensified throughout August.

Billboards of Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz on many buildings. The Bourne Identity flyers plastered on walls. Movie commercials on television.

Even though The Bourne Identity was not owned by Sony-Columbia, they cared about the movie and did their job faithfully.

It was crazy how Sony-Columbia agreed to this decision. Maybe they were desperate to keep their position, afraid of losing their edge. Afraid that DreamWorks would take over their position as one of the Big Six.

The Bruce Almighty would be released the following year. The movie needed more time in post-production because it had many special effects.

Perhaps the bleak August schedule was a good thing because The Bourne Identity had no competition. There was no big movie to compete with. This meant that most of the tickets would be acquired by The Bourne Identity.

Unfortunately, some of the universities had already started their school days, and that might affect the box office of The Bourne Identity.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

A group of people shouted in unison. They wore suits for this movie, even the women wore suits.

After the success of Matrix a few months ago, the fashion sense of young people was affected. They were wearing black tuxedos, black pants. They look like professional office workers...

Knowing that The Bourne Identity was related to Taken and John Wick, these people decided to wear a suit that resembled John Wick's appearance.

These people were loyal fans who supported Kazir Grey. Napoleon Dynamite, The Hangover, Taken, and John Wick. These people have seen at least one of Kazir's movies and decided to join this group.

Um, they call their group the Grey Fans...

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[I'll post another chapter a few minutes later. Let me have a dinner first.]