Wednesday, 9 a.m.
The mood at Wald Pictures was heavy. The big conference room was silent and sad.
Victor the CEO and Richard Linklater the director both looked angry and helpless.
"Damn Time Warner!" Zane Blackwood broke the silence. "This isn't over!"
Zane was furious. Because his movie, Juno, had beaten Warner's movie, Space Jam, Warner was now punishing him. They were using their power to force theaters to stop showing Juno.
Monday: Juno was on 2,700 screens.
Tuesday: It dropped to 2,200 screens.
Today: It was on less than 1,500 screens!
Fewer screens meant fewer tickets sold. The daily box office was crashing.
Monday: $9.2 million.
Tuesday: $6.1 million.
Today: Probably less than $4 million.
"Without a wide release," Director Linklater said sadly, "we can't make money."
Zane frowned. "Victor, isn't that illegal? We signed contracts!"
Victor shook his head. "Boss, we're a small company. The contracts favor the theaters, not us. They can cut our screens whenever they want."
"And," Victor added, "even if we could sue them... do we really want to?"
Zane waved his hand. "Forget it."
He knew it was pointless. You can't sue the movie theaters! They control everything. If they decide to stop showing your movie, you lose.
Wald Pictures only made a few movies a year. The "Big Six" studios like Warner made hundreds. The theaters needed the Big Six way more than they needed Zane.
It all came down to one thing: Wald Pictures was still too small.
"Mr. Jones, Mr. Blackwood," Director Linklater said, "the screens are bad enough. But don't forget about Warner's newspapers."
Zane sighed. Time Warner was the biggest media company in the world. They owned Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, CNN, HBO... they controlled everything!
Trying to fight them was like trying to break a brick wall with your head.
"Boss," Victor said, "look at this." He handed Zane a stack of newspapers.
The California Post, New York Life, and six others were all attacking Juno.
New York Life even called the movie a "cancer on society" and a "heinous mudslide!"
"A mudslide?!" Zane yelled. "Why are they so mean? What about the trash movies Warner makes? They want to play dirty? Fine! I'll spend $10 million right now to fight them!"
Zane was ready to throw money at the problem. He wanted to make them pay!
"Boss, calm down," Victor said. "Don't be fooled. These are just small newspapers. If we make Warner really mad, they will use their big magazines and TV stations. Even if you spend $50 million, you will lose!"
"Damn it!" Zane muttered. Big companies were such bullies!
"Mr. Jones is right," Director Linklater said.
"Exactly," Victor agreed. "The best thing we can do is focus on the internet. We need to get young people to go to the theaters that are still showing the movie."
Zane waved his hand. "Fine. Handle it."
At that moment, Zane felt powerless. But he made a promise to himself.
"Damn it," he thought darkly. "I'm writing this down. One day, I will make you regret this!"
Zane knew something Warner didn't. In a few years, Warner would merge with AOL, and it would be a disaster. Their stock price would crash, and the company would be in chaos. They would only survive because of Harry Potter.
"If I can steal Harry Potter from them," Zane thought with a grin, "let's see how powerful they are then!"
The bad news kept coming. But then... a piece of good news arrived.
Jordan, the representative from Paramount Pictures, came to visit.
"Warner is a giant," Jordan said, "but we are Paramount! Our parent company is Viacom. We aren't afraid of Time Warner. We can help you."
Help? Zane knew better. Paramount wasn't a charity!
They had conditions
They wanted the rights to show Juno in other countries.
They wanted a deal to distribute Zane's next five movies.
They wanted to buy a piece of Wald Pictures.
Zane agreed to the first two. But he flatly refused the third one.
If Paramount bought a piece of his company, all his problems would be solved. He would be protected by a giant.
But Zane said NO!
"An investment?" he thought. "Become their puppet? Work for them? No way!"
Zane was a time traveler! He wasn't going to work for anyone else.
It was a matter of pride. Wald Pictures might be small, but it was his kingdom. He would never let anyone else control it, even if it meant losing money.
He was stubborn like that.
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