HWI 430

Hollywood What If Chapter 430

Ladder 49 was a movie released by Walt Disney. To be precise, Ladder 49 was produced by Touchstone Pictures, which was owned by Walt Disney.

Touchstone Pictures was Walt Disney's go-to studio whenever the company wanted to make a live-action movie. Touchstone Pictures was completely controlled by Walt Disney, unlike Miramax, which had a fat Harvey who would fight for control.

Anyway, Ladder 49 was about a firefighter who was stuck in a warehouse fire. The movie was not based on a real story, but heavily inspired by the heroism that the firefighters experienced.

Honestly, Walt Disney was not confident in this movie. It was the reason why they released the movie in October, which was a stale month for cinemas.

They already spent more than $60 million and they couldn't disregard the potential of the movie. They even cast John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix for the movie... By the way, this was also the reason why the movie cost $60 million to create.

Anyway, the response regarding Ladder 49 was mediocre. Sure, being a public servant was a respectable job. Firefighters were one of the most respected professions for a reason.

Unfortunately, people already moved on from 9/11. That tragedy was heartbreaking, and people had to take a step forward and understand that life was not all about tragedies.

If Ladder 49 had been released after the peak of the 9/11 incident, the movie might have made $500 million. Too bad, Walt Disney's management was busy forcing political views on people instead of making heartfelt movies.

Furthermore, it didn't change that Ladder 49 was released on October 1, the same day as Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

The possibility of this firefighter movie making huge money was low now that its opponent was Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but 20th Century Fox and Grey Pictures decided to release the movie on the same day as Ladder 49. 20th Century Fox couldn't sacrifice their movies for Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2 so they settled with October 1.

The first day of Ladder 49, which was also October 1, grossed $7.46 million. An amazing amount of money in just one day.

On the same day, Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2 causally made $38.73 million. It was frustrating and amazing to witness how movies make money in just a day.

Most of the time, the first day's box office result determines the trajectory of the movie.

From this angle, it was obvious that Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2 had a high return on investment compared to Ladder 49. Even the Cinema Alliance knew what movie they should invest in next week.

Two days had just gone by, and the first-weekend box office results for both movies were calculated.

Ladder 49 grossed $22.08 million while Mr. And Mrs. Smith grossed $76. 08 million. The difference between the two was so painfully obvious.

The Cinema Alliance immediately moved to more theaters to accommodate Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

The initial number of theaters that were screening Mr. And Mrs. Smith rounded up to 4100 theaters in the United States.

As for Ladder 49, the movie acquired 3200 theaters.

The Cinema Alliance had the power to lower the number of theaters and give them a better movie. At the end of the day, the Cinema Alliance was doing business, not charity. They had no reason to keep Ladder 49 around when Mr. And Mrs. Smith could bring them more money.

In the second week, the number of theaters that were screening Mr. And Mrs. Smith went up to 5200 while Ladder 49 went down to 2750 theaters.

This business move made Walt Disney mad. But they couldn't change it since this was an agreement written on the contract. Cinema Alliance was allowed to make changes in the number of theaters responsible for screening movies. Most of the time, Cinema Alliance lowered the number after three weeks.

But the Cinema Alliance won't let this moment slide and take advantage of the situation. So yeah, more money for Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2.

Just as everyone expected, Mr. And Mrs. Smith 2 proved itself with $177.82 million after ten days of screening.

While Ladder 49 didn't even touch $50 million after ten days. The firefighter movie only made $41 million.

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The competition for the next year's Academy Awards was getting clearer as more projects were getting promoted.

The Big Six and many veterans understood that more parties would happen around the end of the year and the new year. These parties would be the means to get more votes from the Academy members.

So far, some films have been making names.

First was The Aviator starring Leonardo DiCaprio. This was the actor's first step to get the golden statue... It would take more than a decade to get it because the Academy Awards had something against the actor. By the way, Leonardo slowly transitioned roles after The Aviator, even his facial features subtly changed.

The second movie was Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp. After he didn't win Best Actor last time, Johnny decided to make a film for the Academy Awards, and this was his take.

The third movie was Million Dollar Baby starring Clint Eastwood, a veteran actor who had been in the industry for quite a while.

The fourth contender was a musical. Directed by Fremont Smith, starring Brianna Evans and Ryan Gosling. La La Land set its vision to compete for the Academy Awards.

People were not stupid. In Hollywood, they could easily understand if the movie was made for making money or winning awards.