out bonus. GWTW was,  of course, a monster hit, grossing some $20 million during its  initial release. Selznick eventually earned $4 million on the  picture and a few years later sold his rights to  John Hay Whitney (qv) for a paltry $400,000.00 in order to keep  his independent production company afloat. Whitney would turn around  and sell these rights back to MGM for a cool $2.4 million.