Hollywood What If Chapter 246
The movie chts for Spider-Man were quite plicated. Sony-bia and MGM felt that both panies had a stake in the chts.
In the '70s, there ider-Man TV show called The Amazing Spider-Man. It aired on CBS, with one of the producers being bia 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 produ pany of this TV series was Toei pany. Also produced in the 70s.
So yes, the chts of this superhero character were plicated.
After some legal stuff, the chts went back to the inal owner, which was Marvel ibsp;
MGM and Sony-bia had some disputes over those chts, trying to figure out whipany should acquire the movie adaptation. In the end, the two panies resolved the issue and Sony-bia legally purchased the cht from Marvel ibsp;
When Sony-bia acquired the superhero, a famous director announced his iions to direct the movie. It was her than James Cameron.
He has been ied in this superhero for a long time. The initial pn was already set, the project roved by the ma as well. The budget was set, Sony would i in the movie.
But maybe because of some iations, James Camerned before the project officially started. Well, someone like James Cameron was hard to get. Ahing, 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 reehat he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to be Peter Parker and Sony-bia thought it ropriate, knowing that the young actor was super famous after the success of Titanibsp;
Then Sony-bia 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 enres. Sony-bia decided to hire the director because of his affordable sary.
Everyohought the project was already on the right track. The director, the producer, the budget and the produ crew, the initial stage was happening.
But three days before Sam Raimi was to sign the tract, he found out that his wife was two months pregnant.
Work on a movie would take months or a year to plete. Sam Raimi khis, so he decided to turn down the projed focus on his wife.
Was this an intervention? Or maybe the inal 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-bia struggled to find a director to take over the projebsp;
The pany had already ied nearly 5 million in the early stages of the project, and that amount would be wasted if they postponed produ. It ainful for them.
Suddenly, the current CEO of Sony-bia, Frank Price, remembered that Grey Pictures had a good retionship with them. Moreover, Marvel idicated that they wao meet Kazir Grey.
Yes, Frank Price was ied in Kazir Grey as the director of Spider-Man. The man said he wao 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 i five years have been blockbusters. None of them lost money, not even John Wibsp;
Frank Price felt that Kazir had the talent, the charisma and the authority to be the director of this movie.
Sony-bia khey were the lowest of the Big Six and needed a franchise to save them from destru. Bruce Almighty was set to be released the following month, but that was aory.
All Frank Prid the ma at Sony-bia wanted was for their projeot to lose out to the petition.
Since Kazir Grey was the hottest directht now and his filmography was amazing, Sony-bia had no problem hiring him.
Well, here was the problem. Apparently Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and 20th tury Fox had the same iion as Sony-bia.
They wanted Kazir to direct their respective films.
In Frank Price's opinion, 20th tury Fox would be the stro oppo. 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 moo 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 Prid Salvatore Barlowe were iating.
"My t wants a 25+25 deal and a 10% profit share on videotapes/DVDs, merdise and other peripherals reted to Spider-Man."
"..."
As expected, Salvatore Barlowe was asking for somethiravagant. Well, his t had the right to do so, sidering that his test movie was still making a lot of money.
As of July 21, 2000, Wanted had just grossed 404.62 million domestically. The iional release of Wanted happewo weeks ago and the iional box office was around 134 million.
bihe worldwide box office for Wanted was 538 million. With that as a reference, Kazir Grey had the status to ask for a big trabsp;
Moreover, Sony-bia was not the only pany that wao work with Kazir Grey. The other panies were definitely ready to snatch Kazir away.
None of the Big Six khat Kazir had no iion of w with 20th tury Fox and Walt Disney.
Star Wars had been criticized by so many people, while John Carter was not promising.
Kazir's attention turo Spider-Man and Harry Potter. These two had a high ce of success.
Sony-bia and Grey Pictures iated for about two weeks. In the end, Sony-bia did its best to get the tract down to a 25+20 deal with 7% profit share on videotapes/DVDs and peripherals for the time being...