Chapter 243


    Days go by and seven days have passed since the premiere of Wanted. The movie performed a miracle at the box office, grossing $196.01 million in seven days.


    It was one of the fastest 100 million dor movies of all time, along with Star Wars and other blockbusters.


    Only seven days passed and everyone knew that the movie would continue to make money after money. Production costs broke even in just two days, as the budget was $75 million.


    While this was happening, Angelina Jolie had a dilemma about her situation.


    You see, Angelina Jolie had two big projects that she was involved in that were going to be released this year.


    First was Wanted, she had a lot of fun working with the crew... Especially Kazir, her heart was always pounding when the guy was around. She loved teasing him, even though Kazir was stoic most of the time. And now Wanted was probably the biggest winner of the year. The response was tremendous and she didn''t regret signing the contract. Even her agent told her to keep a healthy rtionship with Kazir.


    Her second project was Gone In 60 Seconds, with Nichs Cage as the lead actor and her in a supporting role. When Angelina Jolie read the script, she felt that the plot was typical, but it seemed promising. In addition, Nichs Cage had already indicated that he would be the protagonist, so Angelina and her agent epted the role. The sry was not bad.


    It was crazy that the production cost of Gone In 60 Seconds was $103 million, perhaps casting a superstar like Nichs Cage increased the budget a lot. It is estimated that Nichs Cage''s sry was over $20 million. Maybe he also had a share of the box office.


    Unfortunately, Disney, the distributor and investor of Gone in 60 Seconds, would probably suffer a serious situation. Even though there were seven days between the premiere of Wanted and the premiere of Gone in 60 Seconds, the two movies would directly fight for a better position at the box office.


    It was very bad for Angelina Jolie because two of her movies were released within a week and both movies would negatively affect each other.


    "Angelina, we heard that you and Kazir are together. Tell us about your love life."


    The reporter added something to spice up the red carpet interview. Tonight was the premiere of Gone in 60 Seconds.


    "Kazir is such a nice guy, I love him very much. He said he wanted to go to the premiere of Gone In 60 Seconds with me, but he is very busy promoting Wanted. In fact, I just got back from Texas to go to the premiere as well.


    "Being famous is super hard, right?" The reporter asked back.


    "Promoting a big movie is super hard."


    In fact, Kazir wanted to be with Angelina, but he was invited to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show and couldn''t make it. Also, his rtionship with Disney was not so good after he kept denying their intention to buy his script. On top of that, Wanted and Gone in 60 Seconds had a rivalry based on their release dates.


    In fact, even Angelina Jolie felt the scrutiny of her co-stars. Her roles in both movies were important and she clearly had a side she supported the most... She felt unwee at this premiere. But she had to walk the red carpet because she had signed a contract to do so.


    Life was hard... But not for Wanted.


    The first day (Friday, June 9) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $8.40 million.


    Wanted grossed $18.54 million on the same day.


    The second day (June 10, Saturday) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $9.47 million.


    Wanted grossed $24.84 million on the same day.


    The third day (Sunday, June 11) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $7.45 million. The first week of the movie had a total of $25.33 million at the box office.


    As for Wanted. The film grossed $18.95 million on Sunday. The second weekend of Wanted grossed $62.33 million.


    The total ten-day screening of Wanted was $258.36 million.


    There was no need topare the two movies. Based on the numbers alone, Gone in 60 Seconds faced a strong opponent and easily lost the battle.


    The studiopanies felt that the moviesing out in June would be heavily influenced by Wanted. Wanted would dominate June, that was for sure.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    "After Taken, I never underestimate Kazir, I know he is a director worthy of our attention. I even tried to invite him to work with us. But things just didn''t work out."


    Michael Eisner muttered to himself. His position was bing dangerous. The board of directors and the shareholders didn''t like the fact that he now had all the power over Walt Disney. They wanted to expel him, which he didn''t want to happen.


    He was actually against releasing Gone in 60 Seconds the week after Wanted because he knew Wanted had the upper hand. But the schedule was packed and most of the weekends were already taken by the other studiopanies.


    "Those bunch of ingrates sabotaged me and voted for the schedule of Gone in 60 Seconds. They want to me me when the movie fails. I have to do something about it..."


    Suddenly, his vision caught a script that was in the process of being approved by management. It was the Barsoom series.


    "No, this project is for a Cinematic Universe..."


    He recalled a rumor that Kazir was looking to take a break from the Continental Cinematic Universe. Rumors that Kazir wanted to direct a Warner Brothers or 20th Century Fox project.


    "It should be Harry Potter or Star Wars... We can''t let that happen, Kazir should work for Disney this time."


    The old Michael stood up and got motivated. He had to make sure that Kazir would work for Disney.


    "For someone like him, a 20+20 contract is a no-brainer."


    What he didn''t know was that all the Big Six had the same intention. They all wanted to work with Kazir Grey.


    ++++


    [Two chapters today.]