Chapter 256: BttF Nitpickers III: The Studios
It would be quite hard to swallow that a single complaining lady is what sparked the controversies against Back to the Future!
It was way too methodic with a perfect blend of organized and chaotic. There was bound to be a manipulator or manipulators that are pulling the strings behind the scene.
And sure enough, Alexander was not far off with what he assumed to be the culprits.
He had an in-depth take on competitor dynamics... and all his learnings lead him to other film-related companies.
From the Major Studios... to all that make up the film production industries...
They are competitors that are in direct conflict with the newly debuted Creed Pictures.
Essentially, they are branded businesses that sell the same products to the same target audience- film and film-watching crowds.
They operate within the same industry which is Hollywood and the film industry beyond it.
They satisfy the same customer need and they even use the same channel of distribution- theaters, cinemas, tapes, and tv re-showings.
Anyways... these were all the hidden norms of the industry and it would come as no surprise that it might already be on its way to becoming a tradition of sorts.
Whatever the case was, a number of these film companies took part in nitpicking the low points of Back to the Future...
Their attempts only had minimal influence on the time travel flick though... and this made them second guess whether they should have gone all out on their intensity.
It was too bad that the momentum of Back to the Future is already set in stone... and any further slandering they'll do... would just be a waste of their resource.
Their big takeaway from all of this though was to increase their attention on this Creed newcomer.
This unexpected upstart had a pretty powerful entry to this whole film dynamic after all!
If this Creed Pictures isn't put in place, then their share of this little film market cake would probably be in turmoil.
Just as Back to the Future had taken up a lot of the earnings from the summer slot... the film production company might have a chance of doing so as well.
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The Majors and the other film companies weren't really ones that dismiss success as flukes after all.
This was the reality of business with real consequences... and they weren't foolish foils that are waiting to be face-slapped.
Besides they had already done a lot of that when it came to Back to the Future.
Zemeckis and Gale's 40-plus rejection story had been pretty prevalent these days after all and they were face-slapped foils already!
They didn't want to extend that feeling towards Creed Pictures as well.
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Granted, Creed Pictures was truly on the radar of a lot of Hollywood movers and shakers now.
It may just be a company with one film under its belt and has no distribution capacity... but it wasn't to be underestimated.
Perhaps Universal is the one that knows this all too well.
It had to be noted that it was their Universal Lot that was rented in the making of Back to the Future after all.
A lot of other films were being made there as well... and they did consider encroaching on this Zemeckis project through their means.
With this advantage of their's, they could easily have latched on to this summer blockbuster and have it under their belt.
They were even considering it due to Zemeckis' track record and Speilberg's rumored insistence to produce it... leading them to believe that Back to the Future had high odds.
However... Spielberg backed out on his earlier insistence... and Universal executives considered Back to the Future as something that wasn't worth it.
Due to the regretful decision to follow Spielberg's whims and intuitions... they ultimately lost something that was right under their nose.
Universal can't be blamed for their Spielberg-based decision-making though... Spielberg's works are relatively what made them rise to prominence... so it made sense that they made him some sort of guiding charm.
In any case... Creed Pictures was not to be underestimated at all and Universal's example is proof of it.
It also had to be noted that Back to the Future should not just be the close call that they had in this altered 1985... it should have been their next Spielberg-led magnum opus!
Too bad that they were plundered by the Chaos Butterfly.
It would have been quite interesting to see their reaction to this factoid.
If they had known... their generally blue world logo would have been mixed with the 'green with envy' expression.
A turquoise Universal world would have been quite the sight!
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Of course, aside from Universal that set their sights on Creed Pictures... Columbia was among the Major ones to keep tabs on it.
Although they didn't take part in the BttF nitpicking... they were the ones that considered Creed to be a pretty considerable threat!
One might wonder why Back to the Future's distributor was acting as such against their partner.
But it is due to this "partner" status that they knew more of Creed's potential and capabilities.
Aside from the Back to the Future sequels that are already on standby... Columbia knew of Creed's other capable methods as well.
Particularly Sullivan Creed... the old man who finessed them out of owning Back to the Future entirely.
Yes... Columbia was pretty much on the same boat as Universal. Columbia was the one that held unto Back to the Future's copyright after all.
But for some reason... it became owned by Creed... and Columbia just became the dutiful distributor.
How could they not be as regretful as Universal? They were pretty much fuming from this.
Unlike Universal which had BttF under their nose... they were the technical owners of it! Yet they somehow gave it away!
There were plenty of explanations as to how this Sullivan Creed character had been able to do this...
It is said that Sullivan fooled the script holder in Columbia to sell away a lot of dismissed film ideas and BttF was hidden amongst it.
It is said that Sullivan had connections in Columbia's parent company of Coca Cola... which is quite contradictory since BttF used Pepsi as the dominant product to advertise. This was one of the infraction that made one wonder why Columbia even dealt with Creed's BttF at all.
It's unclear which of which was true... but none of them were as substantial as the reality that they were just distributors of Back to the Future.
Sullivan's capabilities were enforced there... as it is said that during the negotiations for the distribution deal... the old man had put down a preventive clause in the contract that inhibited Columbia from just buying Back to the Future.
With their monopolistic distribution capabilities, Columbia should have owned the entire trilogy already... but they had to helm their ambition due to the fact that Creed was still holding the BttF sequels hostage.
There were still a lot of factors that are in play with this Creed-Columbia dynamic... but it is clear that their "partnership" status was just a temporary impasse.
If they weren't "partners", then Columbia Pictures might just be the angry leader that would lead the slander strategy to take down BttF.
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Of course aside from these two prominent studios that had direct contact or direct "beef" with Creed and Back to the Future... there were other studios as well.
Paramount, MGM, Tristar, and Warner had a lot of incentives to try and take them down a peg.
The other summer films are from these respective studios after all and they had to give their films some support... all the while undermining their competition.
Back to the Future just became a common enemy for them... and ultimately nudging them to manipulate all the negative news that arrayed towards the time travel flick.
Anyways.... they have varying or pretty much the same rhyme and reason for doing what they'd done!
Even though the opposing bandwagon and perhaps even the distinguished 'Karen' are the BttF nitpickers that these film studios consider a strategy... it is quite fair to say that they should be considered themselves BttF nitpickers as well.