Warner Bros. and Wald Pictures had a long, bad history.
Grudge #1: Zane's first movie, Static (1996). Back when Zane was just starting, a manager at Warner tried to hurt him. He used his power to reduce the number of theaters showing Zane's movie to less than 200! If Zane's friend, Old Bill, hadn't helped him, the movie might have failed. Zane never forgot that.
Grudge #2:Juno (end of 1996). Zane loved Juno. But because it was competing with Warner's Space Jam (starring Michael Jordan!), Warner attacked it. They used their newspapers and theaters to say bad things about Juno. Zane was just a rookie then. He had to be clever and use the "scandal" of teen pregnancy to get people talking. He survived, but he was angry. Grudge +1.
Grudge #3:The Human Purge Project (1997). This was the worst one. Every movie in America needs a rating (like PG, PG-13, or R). Warner Bros. had a seat on the rating board. They played a dirty trick and gave Zane's movie an NC-17 rating (which means no one under 17 can watch it). This would have killed the movie's ticket sales. Zane had no choice. To get the rating changed to R, he had to sign a bad deal with Paramount and give up a lot of his profit.
These three fights were all started by Warner. And they didn't stop there! They attacked Zane's TV shows (Got Talent and Millionaire), his cartoons (SpongeBob and Peppa Pig), and even tried to stop him from selling movies overseas.
When Zane was small and weak, he had to swallow his anger and stay quiet. He had to act like a scared dog with its tail between its legs.
But now? Zane was rich and strong. He wasn't going to hide anymore. He was ready to fight back!
February 13th.
It was the day before Valentine's Day, and the day before Zane's new movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, came out.
Warner Bros. launched a huge attack.
Time Magazine (owned by Warner) ran a headline: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a Lazy, Bad Movie."
The article said: "The female star, Nia Vardalos, is 37 years old. The male star, Joaquin Phoenix, is only 25. Do you really want to watch a romantic movie with such a weird age gap? It's just wrong!"
This was a mean trick. In real life, age gaps happen all the time. But movies are like dreams. Warner knew that some people might not want to see an older woman with a younger man in a romance movie. They were trying to ruin the "fantasy."
Other Warner newspapers joined in:
"This movie is not worth the ticket price!"
"It lacks heart!"
"Can Wald Pictures make anything besides horror movies? Who wants a horror studio making a Valentine's movie? Say no!"
Warner even paid famous movie critics to be mean.
Ente Battier, a 52-year-old critic, wrote: "Bullshit! This movie is like... well, like poop! I saw it early, and it disgusted me. I swear to God, it is ugly, rotten, and stinking!"
...
Valentine's Day, February 14th.
The movie was released. And Warner dropped one final, nasty bomb.
Their newspapers "exposed" a rumor: "The female star, Nia Vardalos, is actually a closeted lesbian."
Was it true? It didn't matter. Warner just wanted to plant the idea. They figured couples on a romantic date wouldn't want to see a romance movie starring a lesbian. It was a ruthless, heavy blow.
But... something strange happened.
Wald Pictures said nothing. Even Zane, who was famous for speaking his mind, didn't say a word to the media.
Everyone was confused. They knew Zane wasn't the kind of guy who just took a beating.
Even his old friend Charlize Theron thought it was weird. "The Zane I know," she said, "is someone who always pays back a grudge."
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