Chapter 260


    "Warner Brothers is interested in mypany. That is obvious. But the timing is odd. If I''m not mistaken, Time Warner and AOL are going to merge this year... Now that I think about it, I haven''t heard any news about their merger. Is this another butterfly effect?"


    Kazir wondered in confusion. He was surprised that Terry Semel had personally visited Grey Pictures for the first time to inquire about the possibility of acquiring Grey Pictures.


    Terry Semel was no ordinary man, he was the CEO of Warner Bros. and someone like that doesn''t just visit another studio.


    "Should I hire a detective and do some research on Time Warner and AOL?"


    AOL was a web portal and online service provider. Thispany was very famous in the 90''s but lost its strength in the 2000''s. It merged with Time Warner and people called it the worst merger in corporate history. In the end, AOL lost and failed to adapt and became a small subdivision of AOL Time Warner.


    "Is this a method to hide the news of their merger?"


    The merger of AOL and Time Warner was supposed to cost about $5 billion, but it turned out to be $165 billion. As for how it got so big, there were many factors.


    However, the merger of Time Warner and AOL was a disaster.


    "If this is really a way to benefit them, then that''s good. But I have to think twice before I sell them shares. I don''t want to be associated with a sinking ship. If AOL and Time Warner do merge, it will affect Warner Brothers and possibly Greg Pictures."Kazir admitted that he was never good enough at corporate politics. He fucking hated it when he used his mind to think about that stuff. He should put his mind to something that made him happy, like movies.


    But because of Warner Bros., he couldn''t help but think about it.


    "Warner Brothers is not so bad. They are a giant in the industry. They can do Grey Pictures."


    But Kazir had no intention of selling Grey Pictures just for the tip. He wanted to see what effect Wanted would have on audiences. If the result was positive, then the worth of Grey Pictures would increase, possibly to $2 billion or maybe $2.5 billion.


    Another thing was the videotape profit from Wanted and other CCU movies.


    Because of Wanted, the other movies also had an increase in sales. In total, the profit from videotapes and peripherals reached more than $180 million. This was the profit of the previous year (2000).


    However, the profits of videotapes became smallerpared to DVDs. The DVD sales ounted for more than 50% of the peripheral profitst year.


    In addition, Grey Pictures worked with clothing brands to promote their CCU clothing, such as T-shirts with the faces of the protagonists. Then Hasbro hoped to buy their copyrights to make action figures of the CCU characters. This business coboration was part of the $180 million profit.


    Hasbro was the toypany that made Transformers, G.I. Joe and Beyde.


    Yes, Hasbro now had the license to produce toys for the Continental Cinematic Universe. Everything from action figures to paper toys and stuff.


    "Ste Willow seems to be very activetely, maybe because of the bonus and the shares I promised her, she''s working harder."


    Kazir had no intention of taking hispany public because it would affect thepany. As for selling some shares to one of the Big Six for protection, that was Kazir''s intention all along. Otherwise, thepany wouldn''t survive that long.


    Grey Pictures didn''t have distribution, didn''t have a media backer, and didn''t have a seat in MPAA film rating.


    But unlike other studios that lost money on some of their films, all the films Grey Pictures produced were profitable. That was the biggest difference between them and Grey Pictures.


    Perhaps because of this and the news that Warner Bros. was interested in Grey Pictures, some of the Big Six felt that Grey Pictures was worth acquiring. More specifically, they wanted Kazir Grey, the brains behind thepany.


    Was creativity really so important? In Hollywood, creativity means a huge risk of loss. Hollywood was not made for art, it was made for business. So a movie with too much artistic sense would never work. All they wanted were movies that would make them more money.


    And surprisingly, Kazir''s creativity fit in well. Using realistic action stunts and creating a cinematic universe. It was creative, but it didn''t turn them off. Instead, they wanted more.


    Kazir Grey is a perfect fit for this industry. That was why the Big Six wanted him.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    February was not a good month for Hollywood. A lot of movies were released every week, but most of them didn''t do well. Some of these movies deserved a better chance, but fate was cruel to them.


    The most coveted schedule was always taken by the Big Six. These six giants would always have a battle in the summer to see who would make more money. The Big Six would leave January, February, March and April to the small studios to release their movies and let the small studios get some crumbs.


    In February, only one movie made more than $100 million. It was Hannibal, produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). The film grossed $350 million. Yes, MGM became one of the small studios that had to settle for crumbs to get by. Thepany could notpete with the Big Six in the summer unless they used 007 Bond movies. But even the Bond films were faltering, especially when Peirce Brosnan announced that he was done with the franchise.


    In March, only two films grossed over $100 million.


    The first was The Mexican, which grossed $145 million. Produced by DreamWorks.


    The second was Spy Kids. Spy Kids grossed $197 million. It was produced and distributed by Walt Disney. It was very sad that even these lesser known schedules were dominated by the Big Six.


    Small studios didn''t have the strength topete with them. Marketing and promotion were difficult because they didn''t have any connection with the media (television, radio and newspapers).


    ++++


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