HOLLYWOOD WHAT IF

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 240



[The group went to the location. As expected, they found nothing. Someone like Marcus was certainly meticulous.]


[Wesley decided to look for clues alone... Only to find Marcus waiting for him in an alley].


[Wesley immediately drew his gun and fired at Marcus. Marcus fired back at the same time, deflecting the bullet.]


[Marcus tried to talk to Wesley, but the man had no intention of talking to him. The commotion attracted the attention of the others.]


[The first person to arrive on the scene was The Exterminator, the one who taught Wesley about explosive rats.]


[Marcus took the opportunity to escape. He shot The Exterminator, killing him].


[Wesley awoke in the ice sauna. He realized that The Exterminator died and his hatred of Marcus had grown even stronger. He treats everyone in the Fraternity as family. He didn't know who he was until the Fraternity took him in.]


"This is the bullet Marcus used to kill the Exterminator. Unlike last time, this bullet is traceable. I found the man who made that bullet. Sloan, I want this mission."


[Wesley placed the bullet that killed The Exterminator on the table. Sloan examined the bullet, then turned to Fox].


"Wesley, you are not ready."


"No, I am ready. You trained me for this, to kill Marcus. He killed a member of our family, he must die. He killed my father, I have to kill him."


[Sloan stared at Wesley and nodded, agreeing with his decision].


"Okay Wesley, the mission is yours. Find the manufacturer of these bullets and ask him about Marcus."


[Wesley left immediately after that. He wasted no time].


"Are you sure you want to leave him alone?"


[Fox asked Sloan]


"Fox, this is your next mission."


[Sloan handed Fox the documents on her next target. In the picture was Wesley Gibson]


"After he kills Marcus, I want you to kill him."


.........

......

...


[Wesley found the bullet maker. The old man tried to attack Wesley, but Fox showed up and helped Wesley take the man down.]


"I don't know where Marcus is... But I can help you arrange a meeting."


[The bullet maker called Marcus and announced that they would meet at the train station].


[Wesley and Fox wait for the meeting. Watching the area, waiting for Marcus to show up. To finally end this.]


[But this was actually a trap for Wesley and Fox. Marcus deliberately used a traceable bullet so that Wesley and the others would locate him. He used that moment to get a chance to talk to Wesley.]


[The old bullet maker began to run. Fox and Wesley followed.]


[Suddenly, Wesley realized that Marcus was actually on the train, looking at him.]


[Wesley stopped on the tracks and entered the train. Their target was Marcus, there was no need to go after the old man.]


[Fox realized that Wesley had entered the train, but the train was already moving. To follow the train, she used a car and chased after it.]


[Wesley and Marcus had a fight on the train. Wesley noticed that Marcus kept dodging his bullets. But he never intended to hurt Wesley. Too bad, Wesley was so consumed with revenge that he didn't think about it].


"Wesley, listen to me."


[Marcus tried to talk to Wesley, but Fox almost shot him from outside. The woman was beside the train, her gun pointed at Marcus.]


[Fox crashed her car into the train, causing the train to fall into a steep ravine.]


[Half of the train fell into the canyon and Wesley almost fell as well. But Marcus grabbed him and tried his best to save Wesley.]


[Wesley Gibson was drowning in revenge, he didn't hesitate to shoot Marcus even though he was trying to save him].


[With the last of his strength, Marcus pulled Wesley up and saved him.]


"Wesley..."


[Marcus knelt and coughed blood. Then Wesley punched him in the face and pointed his gun at him.]


"Sloan is... lying to you."


"You bastard, you killed my father."


"No Wesley... You're my son."


"What? Huh? What the hell are you talking about? Answer me!?"


[Wesley was stunned and asked the man, but Marcus was already dead. His last breath ended after saving his son.]


[A few seconds later, Fox appeared. Her head was bleeding, but she seemed fine, at least better than Wesley, who was confused and shocked.]


"Is it true? That Marcus is my father?"


"Yes."


"Why?"


"We're using you. Because you're the only one he'll never kill."


[Wesley realized that Fox would kill him. He shot out the window and escaped with his father's body. Fox shot at them, but Wesley had already escaped.]


[Wesley and Marcus fell into the canyon and fell into the flowing river.]


.........

......

...


[Sloan waited for the results. When Fox returned to the textile factory smirking, he knew the problem was not over.]


"We taught him so well."


[Fox said and left Sloan thinking]


.........

......

...


"Gaa--hhaa--!"


[Wesley gasped as he sat up in the ice-filled tub. He gasped for air as he looked around. He didn't recognize this place.]


[He weakly stood and left the tub. He found the old bullet maker, but he was talking to someone. It was a person with shoulder-length black hair and a beard.]


"What... What is going on?"


[He asked, looking at the two of them].


"I'm John Wick, I'm your father's friend."


[Wesley was still processing the situation, so he just nodded.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 241



[Wesley Gibson was still shocked by the truth. John Wick told the truth about Marcus and how The Fraternity betrayed Marcus].


"Marcus wants to live a peaceful life, but The Fraternity does not, so they try to kill him."


"The Fraternity tried to kill you, Wesley, but your father did his best to protect you."


[Wesley looked out the window and realized that this house, his father's house, was only next door to his house. Meaning Marcus actually lived near him].


"Your father wants you to have a peaceful life."


"I can't... Not after this."


[Wesley stared at the bearded man. His time in the Fraternity had been short, but he knew this bearded man was strong].


"I want revenge. Sloan deserves to die."


"I know you will say that."


[John Wick sighed. He had expected this outcome. Wesley was already tainted by the hidden side of the world and it was impossible for him to leave.]


[Marcus saved John Wick the last time, and he had to do his part. John Wick has already had a conversation with Marcus. Marcus told him that the Fraternity was acting strangely and he asked John Wick for a favor.]


"I contacted some people who work for the High Table. Apparently, they were unaware that the Fraternity had groomed some members and infiltrated the CIA, specifically the Treadstone. The High Table wants to keep their status, but The Fraternity has compromised them."


[This was the reason why The Fraternity was adamant in killing everyone related to the Treadstone.]


"I know I can't stop you, but I want you to calm down and think clearly. It's not that easy to destroy the Fraternity."


"My decision will not change."


"Then... You should wait a few days. I know someone who can help us."


"Us?"


"That's right. Marcus is my friend, and he saved my life. I'm going to return the favor. It looks like the High Table will not interfere after what the Fraternity did."


[John Wick tosses a gold coin to Wesley and the young man catches it].


"Use this to collect explosives. You know where to find rats, right?"


"I know where to find them."


.........

......

...


[A few days later, two people entered an abandoned building. They were Jason Bourne and Raizo. Inside the building, Wesley Gibson and John Wick awaited their arrival].


"What's the plan?"


[Raizo trusted John Wick. As for Jason Bourne, he realized that the people in the building were not so simple, especially the old man.]


"Simple, we break down the door and get in there. End this all at once."


[What they didn't know was that there was one person who had the same intention as they did. Bryan Mills found the location of the Fraternity after extensive research].


[D-Day arrived and the group began their plan. A huge truck crashed into the textile factory and thousands of rats infested the factory.]


[This was the welcome gesture. Once the rats spread around, the detonation happened and destroyed the building.]


[Bryan Mills, who was watching from the apartment, was a bit shocked when he realized that his mission was being taken over by others. As a veteran agent, Bryan knew how to use sniper rifles... It was funny that he was the one who was going to snipe them this time. But unlike last time, Bryan Mills would never miss. He set up his rifle and started to help the unknown group.]


[The team gathered and began the riot. Wesley and the others had their respective enemies, they were strong, but the protagonists were far stronger.]


[Wesley found the Sloan and Fox, along with the Fraternity members he thought were his family].


"Sloan lied to you, the code in the cloth was fake! He only used you to kill people, like hired killers."


[Some of them hesitated when they heard Wesley's confession. Fox stared at Sloan, gun still raised].


"Is it true?"


"All of you, all of your names came out of the fabric, but I saved you."


"..."


[The members argued, not knowing who to believe. In the end, the Fraternity members bend the trajectory of their bullets and kill everyone in the circle. Fox lost her life.]


[The battle ended after that, but Sloan successfully escaped].


"Sloan--!!!"


[Wesley screamed at the top of his lungs. The person he wanted to kill escaped.]


.........

......

...


[A few months later, the stuff about the Fraternity started to disappear. Just like John Wick said, the High Table excommunicated the Fraternity and ended all business with them.]


[A young office worker searched for his name and the incident about the Metropolitan Building and the textile factory.]


"Wesley, you thought it was over? Are you still trying to find out who you are?"


[Sloan pointed his gun at the clerk. The office worker turned and showed his face. It was not Wesley. Sloan realized he had walked into a trap. He looked down and found that he was stepping on an X-mark. The office worker was just a decoy].


"Oh fuck..."


[The bullet traveled out of the house, hit his friend's beer can, went through the hole of the donut Wesley's fat boss was about to eat, and reached Sloan's skull.]


[Wesley looked into the horizon and said.]


"What the fuck have you been doing lately?"


.........

......

...


"Woohoo!!"


The applause from the audience was endless as the credits rolled. Everyone gave a standing ovation, cheering and supporting the movie.


"... Damn."


Even Harrison Ford cursed under his breath and clapped his hands. He realized that the movie was very entertaining. He had a disguise to make sure that no one would recognize him. He was interested in the movie and curious how the performance would be.


In the middle of the movie, Harrison Ford could not stop thinking about what-ifs.


'What if I had lowered my salary and agreed to sign a trilogy and several cameos? What if I had gotten the part of John Wick?'


The enthusiasm around him was overwhelming, and the veteran could not contemplate the future he would never see.


+++++


[Three chapters today just to finish this summary. Yeah, I agree with you guys, the summary is pretty long. This will be the first and last time I'll do this. I'm going to make a poll in the morning about the future projects Kazir will do. I want Kazir to try a different genre and I'm curious about your opinion about it].

[Edit: The Poll already ended a few months ago, the next movie is... no spoiler.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 242


Wanted was the most anticipated movie of the year. It was no lie that most of the audience was interested in seeing the movie. Excited to see their favorite actors together in one movie. The most ambitious crossover ever.

The Continental Cinematic Universe focused more on the male audience. But because of the influence that Taken had on women, many women became fans of the franchise as well.

Not only that, but some women fell in love with Liam Neeson, saying that he was "daddy material", whatever that means. Because honestly, Liam Neeson was a good-looking guy.

Last year, a famous magazine announced that Liam Neeson was the hottest man alive, despite being in his late 40s. The best father in the history of cinema.

Even Matt Damon and Viggo Mortensen had a career boost. They got a lot of scripts inviting them to big projects.

The Continental Cinematic Universe opened up a new career for them.

"This is going to be a hit! A huge hit! The question is, how big will it be?"

Frank Price, the current CEO of Sony-Columbia, had a happy nervous breakdown. His tenure was coming to an end and Sony was happy with his performance. If Wanted was a huge success, Frank would definitely get a bonus. Maybe he could be invited to become a director or president of the parent company, Sony.

The premiere had just ended and the cast of Wanted took questions from reporters and fans.

Sony-Columbia was responsible for distributing the film. They were very generous, because they knew that this movie wasn't going to flop, everyone believed that. Also, Frank Price heard that Kazir had the intention of working with the Big Six again. It was still a rumor, but it was a good thing for them. Sony-Columbia was hoping that Kazir would shoulder one of their projects.

"The movie is very fun, it has a lot of wow factor. Every time Bryan Mills, John Wick and Jason Bourne appeared, they screamed and cheered. That response is enough to conclude that this movie will be a success."

Frank Price believed that, he really believed that. He didn't get into this position without a good sense of how to crack a movie. He knew which movie would be a success or not, based on the scripts, the cast, and the schedule.

Unless something happened that affected Wanted, his expectations would remain high. Even if their share in this movie was small, profit was still profit. Besides, he wanted to look good in front of Kazir. He wanted to talk to him about a certain movie...

.........

......

...

June 1st, the very first day of June, was Thursday. Thursday night was the best time to start a premiere because the next days were the weekend and it would help the movie to boost its sales. That's why most movies were released on Thursday night.

On June 1, only one movie had the potential to give Wanted trouble. It was Big Momma's House, produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was a comedy about an undercover cop who dresses up as a fat, gentle old lady to find a criminal... It was actually a very funny and good movie.

But obviously, it failed to compete with the Wanted. Big Momma's House lost to a blockbuster.

The posters referred to Wanted. The trailers were always on TV. The hype about it was huge. Every TV channel was talking about it. And the response was all positive.

In the first 24 hours, June 2, Big Momma's House grossed $7.66 million. On the first day box office, it was a big amount.

But Wanted was a different breed. On its first day of release, it made a fucking $55.83 million! On the first day alone. The 5,000 theaters that were showing the movie were packed. Nearly 90% full in every round.

The movie was 110 minutes long. That means the theaters could only repeat the movie 13 times in one day. And each time, the seats were full.

On the second day, June 3, Wanted grossed another $44 million.

On the third day, it was $35 million.

Combined, the first weekend of Wanted grossed $135.63 million. It easily won the top spot as the weekly box office champion for the week.

As for Big Momma's House, its first weekend was $25.66 million.

The numbers for Wanted continue to climb. Many people supported the movie and watched it so many times that they said it was the best movie ever made. They believe that the Continental Cinematic Universe has changed the concept of action movies.

This was not wrong, many movies in the future would adopt the same style as the Continental Cinematic Universe. No one could deny that Kazir's filmography was the beginning of a new era.

And while this was happening... The cast and director of Wanted suffered the usual situations: promoting their movies in different parts of America.

Even Liam Neeson, Viggo Mortensen and Matt Damon made a schedule to promote the movie. This was a way to hype their next projects as well. Especially for Viggo Mortensen, Peter Jackson personally spoke to him to promote the upcoming Lord of the Rings, which was to be released in 2001.

Kazir Grey knew that his movies had won him a lot of fans. But this time, what he saw every time he showed his face in public was overwhelming. People kept asking for his autograph. Most of them were men in their teens, telling him that he was a great director and that his movies were all amazing.

That was the moment when Kazir realized that he had made it. He had reached the status where a director like him was recognized for his art. Now he could say that he was on par with Steven Spielberg and James Cameron. He made it.

"So this is the feeling of being recognized... Not bad, I like it."

He chuckled. He had dark circles under his eyes, but he was ecstatic and elated that his movie was doing well.

++++++

[Author's note: I didn't add Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay because Michael Bay hasn't made Transformer yet, which is his best franchise. As for Quentin Tarantino, his movies were not so much appreciated broadly, but Tarantino's movies are indeed cult classics].

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 243


Days go by and seven days have passed since the premiere of Wanted. The movie performed a miracle at the box office, grossing $196.01 million in seven days.

It was one of the fastest 100 million dollar movies of all time, along with Star Wars and other blockbusters.

Only seven days passed and everyone knew that the movie would continue to make money after money. Production costs broke even in just two days, as the budget was $75 million.

While this was happening, Angelina Jolie had a dilemma about her situation.

You see, Angelina Jolie had two big projects that she was involved in that were going to be released this year.

First was Wanted, she had a lot of fun working with the crew... Especially Kazir, her heart was always pounding when the guy was around. She loved teasing him, even though Kazir was stoic most of the time. And now Wanted was probably the biggest winner of the year. The response was tremendous and she didn't regret signing the contract. Even her agent told her to keep a healthy relationship with Kazir.

Her second project was Gone In 60 Seconds, with Nicholas Cage as the lead actor and her in a supporting role. When Angelina Jolie read the script, she felt that the plot was typical, but it seemed promising. In addition, Nicholas Cage had already indicated that he would be the protagonist, so Angelina and her agent accepted the role. The salary was not bad.

It was crazy that the production cost of Gone In 60 Seconds was $103 million, perhaps casting a superstar like Nicholas Cage increased the budget a lot. It is estimated that Nicholas Cage's salary was over $20 million. Maybe he also had a share of the box office.

Unfortunately, Disney, the distributor and investor of Gone in 60 Seconds, would probably suffer a serious situation.

Even though there were seven days between the premiere of Wanted and the premiere of Gone in 60 Seconds, the two movies would directly fight for a better position at the box office.

It was very bad for Angelina Jolie because two of her movies were released within a week and both movies would negatively affect each other.

"Angelina, we heard that you and Kazir are together. Tell us about your love life."

The reporter added something to spice up the red carpet interview. Tonight was the premiere of Gone in 60 Seconds.

"Kazir is such a nice guy, I love him very much. He said he wanted to go to the premiere of Gone In 60 Seconds with me, but he is very busy promoting Wanted. In fact, I just got back from Texas to go to the premiere as well.

"Being famous is super hard, right?" The reporter asked back.

"Promoting a big movie is super hard."

In fact, Kazir wanted to be with Angelina, but he was invited to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show and couldn't make it. Also, his relationship with Disney was not so good after he kept denying their intention to buy his script. On top of that, Wanted and Gone in 60 Seconds had a rivalry based on their release dates.

In fact, even Angelina Jolie felt the scrutiny of her co-stars. Her roles in both movies were important and she clearly had a side she supported the most... She felt unwelcome at this premiere. But she had to walk the red carpet because she had signed a contract to do so.

Life was hard... But not for Wanted.

The first day (Friday, June 9) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $8.40 million.

Wanted grossed $18.54 million on the same day.

The second day (June 10, Saturday) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $9.47 million.

Wanted grossed $24.84 million on the same day.

The third day (Sunday, June 11) of Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $7.45 million. The first week of the movie had a total of $25.33 million at the box office.

As for Wanted. The film grossed $18.95 million on Sunday. The second weekend of Wanted grossed $62.33 million.

The total ten-day screening of Wanted was $258.36 million.

There was no need to compare the two movies. Based on the numbers alone, Gone in 60 Seconds faced a strong opponent and easily lost the battle.

The studio companies felt that the movies coming out in June would be heavily influenced by Wanted. Wanted would dominate June, that was for sure.

.........

......

...

"After Taken, I never underestimate Kazir, I know he is a director worthy of our attention. I even tried to invite him to work with us. But things just didn't work out."

Michael Eisner muttered to himself. His position was becoming dangerous. The board of directors and the shareholders didn't like the fact that he now had all the power over Walt Disney. They wanted to expel him, which he didn't want to happen.

He was actually against releasing Gone in 60 Seconds the week after Wanted because he knew Wanted had the upper hand. But the schedule was packed and most of the weekends were already taken by the other studio companies.

"Those bunch of ingrates sabotaged me and voted for the schedule of Gone in 60 Seconds. They want to blame me when the movie fails. I have to do something about it..."

Suddenly, his vision caught a script that was in the process of being approved by management. It was the Barsoom series.

"No, this project is for a Cinematic Universe..."

He recalled a rumor that Kazir was looking to take a break from the Continental Cinematic Universe. Rumors that Kazir wanted to direct a Warner Brothers or 20th Century Fox project.

"It should be Harry Potter or Star Wars... We can't let that happen, Kazir should work for Disney this time."

The old Michael stood up and got motivated. He had to make sure that Kazir would work for Disney.

"For someone like him, a 20+20 contract is a no-brainer."

What he didn't know was that all the Big Six had the same intention. They all wanted to work with Kazir Grey.

++++

[Two chapters today.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 244


June passed and the theaters were having the best time of their lives. It was summer vacation, and families and students were more than happy to go to the theaters to watch movies.

Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $75.12 million the moment June passed. Numbers couldn't lie, and the performance of Gone in 60 Seconds was average at best, considering the investment Disney had made in the film. Disney would have had a hard time recouping the $100 million investment if they wanted to based on the box office.

Fortunately, this industry was saved by videotapes. Another way to make money. Although the movie companies felt that DVDs would overtake videotapes. The Big Six adapted to these changes by producing more DVDs of their movies.

Note that the Big Six had thousands of movie copyrights in their film libraries. As long as people were consuming movies, they had ways to make money.

So now Walt Disney felt that they had to rely on the videotape and DVD markets to recoup their investment and make a profit in the long run.

Unlike Disney, 20th Century Fox was pleased with the performance of Big Momma's House. The film grossed $90.95 million at the box office. The investment for this comedy was only $30 million. This kind of production cost was considered small now that making blockbuster movies was expensive.

If there was a winner in this month of June, it was none other than Wanted, which was distributed by Sony-Columbia.

Produced by Grey Pictures, the film earned $376.42 million. In just one month, one damn month. This case was very difficult to replicate.

This movie was not like Star Wars, which had millions of fans around the world.

This movie was not like Jurassic Park, which was based on a novel and made into a movie. It was directed by a star director, Steven Spielberg.

This movie was not like Titanic, which had a heartbreaking plot and captured the hearts of many women.

Yet Wanted had the same box office performance as those three.

Well, Wanted was a different kind of movie. It was an action movie with lots of action stunts and choreography. It also had a superhero element that men love. Perhaps the biggest reason why Wanted did so well was because of the hype that was built up.

A lot of people were excited to see the movie. And now that the movie was released, people's opinions about it were positive, which pushed more people to see it.

The opinions of movie critics were mixed, one side felt that the movie had no substance and the plot was boring. The other side praised the movie and said that Wanted would open up another field for the movie industry to make money from.

If there was one thing that was certain, it was the fact that everyone realized that Kazir Grey was not just a director. He belonged to the group of directors who have written their names in the history of cinema as the best.

In fact, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which is responsible for the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, invited Kazir and hoped that he would add his name to the historical landmark.

So yes, if you visit the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, you will see Kazir Grey's name on one of the brass stars.

.........

......

...

While all this was going on, a certain couple decided to look for a house.

"This place is nice. The house got a pool, a big garage, a living room, seven bedrooms, and a big ballroom we can use if we want to have a party. But knowing you, I'm sure you don't like parties." Angelina giggled, making fun of Kazir.

"We can have a party to celebrate the new house. I'll invite my family."

"I'd like you to do it. I want to see your sweet cute niece."

Angelina met Kazir's family while they were promoting the film in New York. The little girl was so adorable that Angelina fell in love with her. Kazir's sister-in-law and Angelina had a great meeting.

"Well, since we both like this house, what's your decision?"

Kazir was known to be a cheap person, but Angelina knew the whole story. Kazir just didn't like spending money on useless things. The man was actually sincere and loved to take her to expensive restaurants and Kazir also bought her expensive gifts.

The woman realized that Kazir knew how to spend his money. He would never hesitate to spoil Angelina because he knew what was important.

She didn't know how much the guy spent on her, probably more than seven figures.

The real estate agent kept smiling, trying to hide his nervousness. This was a big deal and he hoped Kazir would buy the house. They had already looked over four houses.

There was only one condition that Kazir wanted to meet, the house had to be in Beverly Hills. Kazir had never had the opportunity to live in this area and it was one of his dreams to live in this place. He was just trying to experience that.

"How much is the house?"

"Sir, it's $25 million. The owner of this house was in desperate need of money after filing for bankruptcy. The dot.com bubble burst hit him so hard."

"Well, I'll take it. Let's get the paperwork done."

Los Angeles was a very expensive city to live in. It also had a high crime rate. Beverly Hills was a safe and perfect place for celebrities to protect their privacy. In his opinion, $25 million was already good for a house like this.

The house could go for more than $100 million in the next two decades. Buying it early was a good decision.

The real estate agent almost jumped for joy. He giddily shook Kazir's hand.

"We can start renovating. I'll probably be living here in three to four months. Depending on the situation."

"What do you mean by that? Babe, we both know that you're going to keep living in your office and this house is just a decoration--mmm."

Angelina moaned weakly as Kazir grabbed her ass. The woman gave him a "fuck me" look after that interaction.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 245


After the realtor left, the couple decided to bless the house with their bodily fluids...

Angelina was very exhausted and cuddled up to her man on the sofa. Most of the furniture was gone, but the beds, tables, and other things had been left behind by the previous owner.

"I heard that people are going crazy because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Huh, don't tease me. Stop touching my-- you pervert, I'm telling you, I'm serious right now. Staph~~"

Kazir just chuckled.

"I don't know why, but Disney is desperate right now. They want me to direct a movie based on a novel."

"What novel? Maybe I've read it."

"It's the Barsoom series, by Edgar Rice Burroughs."

"Really? You're joking, tell me you're joking!" Angelina was quite shocked.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a famous writer. His most famous works were the Tarzan and Barsoom series.

His works were famous in the early 1910s and his works are still appreciated today. Angelina knew of the Tarzan and Barsoom series. She didn't expect that Walt Disney would acquire the movie rights to the Barsoom series.

"Walt Disney wants to make a movie of the Barsoom series and they hope that I can be the director... They want to call the movie John Carter, based on the protagonist of the Barsoom series."

"What do you think? I think it's a great deal. I think Disney has offered you a desirable contract."

"They contacted my agent and said they are willing to do a 20+20 deal with me. It's negotiable."

"Wow, I'm so proud of you." The woman showered him with kisses.

"They keep forcing Salvatore to accept the project."

"What are you waiting for? I think the novel adaptation will be great if you're the one to direct it. You're an amazing person."

"Thanks, babe."

The reason Kazir was hesitant to accept the deal was because of what he knew about the future. He was actually surprised that Disney wanted to make John Carter very early compared to the original timeline. Well, he knew that one way or another, the reason was because of his interference with the timeline.

John Carter was a box office disaster. Walt Disney tried to promote it overseas to recoup their losses, but it was useless. In the end, they shut down the project with no intention of making a sequel.

Another reason was that--

"Warner Brothers also contacted me. They want me to direct Harry Potter. It's a children's book."

"I haven't heard about that. You know I'm busy."

Angelina replied, ruffling the man's hair.

"They said they would give me preferential treatment, a 20+20 deal, and a 5% profit share on videotape/DVD for five years."

The first five years of a movie's life in the videotape/DVD market were the best for profits. After that, sales would slow down.

In his estimate, Kazir would make about $20-40 million on the videotape/DVD profit share alone. That was a huge stake that Warner Brothers was willing to take.

"I'm speechless."

Indeed, Angelina didn't know what to say. She was quite famous and her net worth was over 7 figures, but she didn't expect her boyfriend to make ten times her annual salary. She was so proud of him.

"Then I guess you'll choose this Harry Potter."

"You're not afraid I'll fail?"

"As if. We are talking about you, the talented director Kazir Grey. Of course you will do well. I believe in you."

Kazir smiled and nuzzled against her breasts...

"Actually, I have an offer from Sony-Columbia as well."

"Let me guess, their offer is more tempting than Walt Disney and Warner Brothers. You know what, I think 20th Century Fox also contacted you, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I just guessed, based on our conversation."

To be precise, the one who contacted Kazir was actually LucasFilm. George Lucas called him personally and congratulated Kazir. Then George Lucas asked Kazir if he would be interested in directing Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.

After their first meeting a few months ago, the two met several times and talked about their daily lives. One time, George Lucas invited Steven Spielberg over and the three of them had a good time.

Steven Spielberg said that he was happy that someone like Kazir would take up the banner now that most Jewish directors were getting old. Kazir just accepted it and didn't bother to explain himself.

"What about Sony-Columbia? What do they want from you?"

"You know Spiderman?"

"That comic book superhero? I read a few issues."

"Sony-Columbia is hoping I'll direct this project. Well, it's complicated, actually. Even Marvel is trying to talk to me."

Grey Pictures bought a lot of superhero movie copyrights from Marvel, and the company was hoping to meet Kazir.

Kazir had an idea why they wanted to talk to him. Marvel was at its lowest point at the time, in a downward spiral. Beaten by their rival, DC Comics.

Maybe they were trying to find a solution to get back on their feet. They believed that Kazir had the answer to their questions.

The people at Marvel were no fools. When they learned that Kazir intended to create a Cinematic Universe about assassins, killers, agents and ninjas, Marvel understood the reason why Grey Pictures had bought their not-so-famous superheroes.

Grey Pictures wanted to make a Cinematic Universe about superheroes!

'Uh, not really. I bought the superheroes' movie adaptations in the first place because Marvel might become my enemy later on. So I just cut their wings before they can fly... However, if we have an agreement, I have no intention of avoiding money.'

Especially now that Sony-Columbia wanted Kazir Grey to direct Spider-Man, he would definitely meet with the higher-ups of Marvel Comics.

He felt he was getting to the point where he had to decide his future. Because honestly, he was interested in the DCEU as well.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 246


The movie copyrights for Spider-Man were quite complicated. Sony-Columbia and MGM felt that both companies had a stake in the copyrights.

In the '70s, there was a Spider-Man TV show called The Amazing Spider-Man. It aired on CBS, with one of the producers being Colombia Pictures Television (before Sony).

Another adaptation was the Japanese version titled Spider-Man or Supaidāman, also referred to as Japanese Spider-Man or Toei Spider-Man. The production company of this TV series was Toei Company. Also produced in the 70s.

So yes, the copyrights of this superhero character were complicated.

After some legal stuff, the copyrights went back to the original owner, which was Marvel Comics.

MGM and Sony-Columbia had some disputes over those copyrights, trying to figure out which company should acquire the movie adaptation. In the end, the two companies resolved the issue and Sony-Columbia legally purchased the copyright from Marvel Comics.

When Sony-Columbia acquired the superhero, a famous director announced his intentions to direct the movie. It was none other than James Cameron.

He has been interested in this superhero for a long time. The initial plan was already set, the project was approved by the management as well. The budget was set, Sony would invest in the movie.

But maybe because of some negotiations, James Cameron resigned before the project officially started. Well, someone like James Cameron was hard to get. Another thing, James Cameron had a habit of overspending and his projects were usually behind schedule. Maybe that was the factor why James Cameron didn't get the job.

James Cameron already recommended that he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to be Peter Parker and Sony-Columbia thought it was appropriate, knowing that the young actor was super famous after the success of Titanic.

Then Sony-Columbia felt that Sam Raimi, the director of Evil Dead, could be the right director for this project. Sam Raimi was not only good at horror movies, he was also good at other genres. Sony-Columbia decided to hire the director because of his affordable salary.

Everyone thought the project was already on the right track. The director, the producer, the budget and the production crew, the initial stage was happening.

But three days before Sam Raimi was to sign the contract, he found out that his wife was two months pregnant.

Work on a movie would take months or a year to complete. Sam Raimi knew this, so he decided to turn down the project and focus on his wife.

Was this an intervention? Or maybe the original timeline was already over in 1994. The year a certain man started his career and slowly became successful.

In any case, Sam Raimi was now out of the picture. So Sony-Columbia struggled to find a director to take over the project.

The company had already invested nearly $5 million in the early stages of the project, and that amount would be wasted if they postponed production. It was painful for them.

Suddenly, the current CEO of Sony-Columbia, Frank Price, remembered that Grey Pictures had a good relationship with them. Moreover, Marvel Comics indicated that they wanted to meet Kazir Grey.

Yes, Frank Price was interested in Kazir Grey as the director of Spider-Man. The man said he wanted to work with the Big Six again. As long as the terms were right, maybe Kazir would agree to direct Spider-Man.

For the record, Kazir Grey had a better portfolio than other directors. All of his films in the last five years have been blockbusters. None of them lost money, not even John Wick.

Frank Price felt that Kazir had the talent, the charisma and the authority to be the director of this movie.

Sony-Columbia knew they were the lowest of the Big Six and needed a franchise to save them from destruction. Bruce Almighty was set to be released the following month, but that was another story.

All Frank Price and the management at Sony-Columbia wanted was for their projects not to lose out to the competition.

Since Kazir Grey was the hottest director right now and his filmography was amazing, Sony-Columbia had no problem hiring him.

Well, here was the problem. Apparently Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox had the same intention as Sony-Columbia.

They wanted Kazir to direct their respective films.

In Frank Price's opinion, 20th Century Fox would be the strongest opponent. After all, the success of Star Wars was huge. Star Wars was not a movie, it was a culture. People would not hesitate to spend their money to buy tickets for Star Wars.

Surely, if Kazir didn't want to risk his career, he would choose the safest movie.

Yet here they were, in the office where Frank Price and Salvatore Barlowe were negotiating.

"My client wants a 25+25 deal and a 10% profit share on videotapes/DVDs, merchandise and other peripherals related to Spider-Man."

"..."

As expected, Salvatore Barlowe was asking for something extravagant. Well, his client had the right to do so, considering that his latest movie was still making a lot of money.

As of July 21, 2000, Wanted had just grossed $404.62 million domestically. The international release of Wanted happened two weeks ago and the international box office was around $134 million.

Combined, the worldwide box office for Wanted was $538 million. With that as a reference, Kazir Grey had the status to ask for a big contract.

Moreover, Sony-Columbia was not the only company that wanted to work with Kazir Grey. The other companies were definitely ready to snatch Kazir away.

None of the Big Six knew that Kazir had no intention of working with 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney.

Star Wars had been criticized by so many people, while John Carter was not promising.

Kazir's attention turned to Spider-Man and Harry Potter. These two had a high chance of success.

Sony-Columbia and Grey Pictures negotiated for about two weeks. In the end, Sony-Columbia did its best to get the contract down to a 25+20 deal with 7% profit share on videotapes/DVDs and peripherals for the time being...

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 247


The problem with Spider-Man was profit sharing. Note that Marvel Comics had a share because they were the rightful owners of the copyrights. Marvel Comics only leased it to Sony-Columbia. If Salvatore Barlowe was fighting for such a large share of the profits, it would be bad for Sony-Columbia.

But the Spider-Man project was already behind schedule, and more money would be wasted if Frank didn't make a decision.

"...27+27 contract and 7% profit share on peripherals."

In the end, Frank Price decided to raise the salary and the box office share and lower the peripheral profit share.

Frank Price kept a straight face. The two of them stared at each other. After a few seconds, Salvatore Barlowe nodded.

"Alright."

"Glad to hear it."

Frank Price sighed privately.

Salvatore Barlowe knew it would be hard for Sony-Columbia to give up their peripheral profits, and Kazir agreed to the 7%.

In fact, the two sides had fought hard to reach that amount.

Now that the two sides have agreed. They would have to finalize the contract and Kazir would sign it.

Sony Columbia was in a desperate situation. In this case, they might as well choose the best director out there who could give them a lot of money. After all, they couldn't intentionally screw up Spider-Man, that was written into the contract between Sony-Columbia and Marvel Comics.

All they were hoping for was that Spider-Man would be at least half as good as Wanted. Oh boy, they were wrong, it was more than half. The Spider-Man trilogy was the beginning of the superhero movie era.

.........

......

...


"So you're telling me that both sides have come to an agreement?"

Michael Eisner asked his secretary, looking rather disheveled. He thought Walt Disney had the opportunity to work with Kazir Grey.

'I don't understand, I thought we had an initial agreement.'

At that time, four of the Big Six had an initial agreement with Kazir Grey. But of course Kazir could only promise one project at a time. He could not work with all of them.

The old man sat down and sighed in defeat. He did his best. He promised Kazir a contract that only a few directors had the privilege of receiving. But it seemed that the guy was more interested in working with a washed up superhero from a bankrupt comic company...

"Anyway, the project is still going on. We can hire other directors... Try contacting Fremont Smith and see if he is interested. As long as the conditions can be met, we can work with him."

Most of Kazir's films were original screenplays, except for The Bourne Identity. Since that was the case, they might as well look for others.

Fremont Smith was associated with the Continental Cinematic Universe, and he had an idea of how Cinematic Universe worked. He fit the criteria.

"Yes, sir."

The secretary left, quite tense because the chairman was clearly in a bad mood.

"Kazir, are you still upset about what happened?"

Walt Disney and Universal Pictures joined hands to defame Kazir, and behind them was the WMA.

"Or maybe you didn't like that we didn't kick Harvey Weinstein out of the company?"

Honestly, he should have. Now Harvey Weinstein was like a rat in a wooden wall, slowly destroying the house he built. The fat guy was still sucking up to Roy Disney.

Harvey was still trying to hide from the public after the Blair Witch Project incident. But he was active in corporate politics.

Now, Chairman Michael Eisner felt that his days in his position were coming to an end... Maybe it was time to retire.

"No, I love the authority I have. It's impossible to leave this job, this drug that keeps me and my ego high."

This John Carter, this movie should be successful.

"I should also talk to Steve Jobs. Walt Disney needs Pixar."

.........

......

...

Having a contract like the one he has now was the highest and most absurd contract he had in his life.

What?

A 27+27 deal with a 7% profit share on videotapes/DVDs/merchandise/peripherals?

Kazir would receive half of the $27 million at the start of production, and the other half would be transferred to his bank account when the project was completed.

Half of the $27 million was $13.5 million. This meant that Kazir had that amount of money on his first day on the job.

But that didn't matter.

At that moment, Kazir was simply the most in-demand director, and Sony-Columbia was crazy enough to go for it.

Here was the thing: over the next two decades, James Cameron made at least $95 million for directing Avatar 2. So yeah, the Big Six was crazy enough to hire people for that amount of money.

Anyway, Kazir's side and Sony-Columbia's side finalized the deal.

Sony-Columbia wanted Kazir to sign a trilogy deal, but Kazir could only promise 2 movies. The two sides compromised and the profit sharing on peripherals and such was lowered to 6.8%.

So yeah, it was now 27+27 and 6.8% profit share on peripherals. Was it a loss? In my opinion, no, it was not... The amount was so damn huge.

The two sides signed a contract and the project officially began.

However, Kazir realized that the job was not so easy. He realized that the project was in shambles.

First, the production crew. Kazir had to hire his crew members from Grey Pictures. So now the production crew responsible for the project was Grey Pictures. But this was the first time these crew members had worked for the Big Six after The Hangover, and they were adjusting.

The second was the Marvel creative team. Of course there would be people from Marvel Comics involved. Especially Stan Lee, the man himself.

Because it was an adaptation and Kazir didn't have absolute authority, it was hard to get his opinion on some things.

Another problem was the producer. The producer, who was mostly in charge of the finances and managing the crew, was from Sony-Columbia and Kazir had no experience working with her.

Let's just say she had a thing about women. No, not that thing, she hated women. Especially beautiful and sexy women, she hated them for some reason and it affected the project.

++++

[Author's Note: Just to be clear, the Producer is an original character and has no connection with the real-life Spider-Man Producer.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 248


Kazir met the producer for the first time, it was a meeting with some of the Marvel staff. They were choosing the costume designs for Spider-Man and Green Goblin.

At first the meeting was peaceful, the Marvel Comics staff had a nice conversation with Kazir... They wanted to know what Kazir intended to do with the superhero characters that Grey Pictures had bought from them.

Marvel Comics was at its lowest point and they were trying to find a way to turn things around. They felt that movie adaptations were the way to go. After all, this generation preferred movies than comics.

The Blade movie had a great response and Marvel Comics found that their superheroes had what it took to be on the big screen. They made a profit on the movie as well. Unfortunately, the adaptation rights was bought by New Line Cinema and Marvel Comics couldn't maximize their profit.

Note that Marvel Studio, the production company responsible for the MCU, had not yet been formed.

However, profit was still profit.

So yes, these employees wanted to know if Kazir was going to sabotage them or not.

At first they wanted to buy back the copyrights of their superheroes, but Marvel had to buy them in a significant amount, and as if Grey Pictures would sell them easily.

But the success of the Continental Cinematic Universe made them realize that Kazir Grey definitely had a plan for their superheroes. As for what it was, they hoped it was something positive.

In fact, Marvel Comics pushed the idea of working with Kazir Grey and Sony-Columbia supported their desire because Kazir was a great director.

He had experience with adaptations, as The Bourne Identity was based on a novel, and Kazir did a good job with that project.

Anyway, the situation in the meeting room turned sour when a costume designer showed up to present her work. The woman wanted to be a fashion designer, but breaking into the fashion industry was not that easy. She is currently working as part of the costume design team.

When the crew saw her designs, they nodded and knew that her art sheets were the best yet. They were also detailed.

Most of the crew on this project were not from Grey Pictures, but were hired by Sony-Columbia, so Kazir did not know the woman.

"I think this is the best we have so far."

He admitted, and everyone around him agreed. Except for the producer.

"Um... Actually," Jezebel Salome, the producer of this project, nudged her glasses and said her opinion.

"I think the Green Goblin looks silly. The audience will make fun of our villain if we make the Green Goblin look like this. We should go with the earlier one, his designs are great."

Jezebel smiled at the designer, but her eyes were not so sympathetic.

"..."

Kazir stopped speaking for a second. He looked at the designs instead.

'This is actually the costume that Willem Dafoe wore in the movie. Except for some color schemes, they are basically the same,' Kazir recalled.

Now the question was. Should Kazir go along with the producer?

'As expected, working with people you don't know will have some complications.' He thought.

"Jezebel, the designs are very close to the comic counterpart. Although I agree with you."

"I'm glad we have the same idea..."

"We should drop the purple color and make the suit all green, shiny green."

"..."

Jezebel stopped talking. She looked down at the art pages and nodded weakly.

"Okay... Okay, we can do that."

The mood in the room improved after that. Now they have costume design references. They should now look for the cast who would use these costumes.

Kazir knew that keeping the original cast was the right thing to do. The original movie was successful and he admitted that the cast was part of the reason.

So Kazir personally invited Willem Dafoe to audition. Willem Dafoe was the late Marcus in the Continental Cinematic Universe and he now had a status in Hollywood.

Many fans expressed their sadness when Marcus died and Willem Dafoe's image was good because of that.

So when he received a call from Kazir that the director wanted him to play the villain in a superhero movie, the actor was hesitant. Actors must maintain their image. If he accepted the role, it might affect his public image.

After all, people hate villains. His status as a protective father was still raring.

However, after reading the script, Willem Dafoe admitted that he was interested in the role. Norman Osborn/Green Goblin was not a 2-dimensional character. He had a good reason for turning evil. That got Willem's attention.

In the end, Willem Dafoe did the audition. The agent was against it, but not that much. The director of this project was Kazir Grey, who was responsible for Willem's recent fame in Hollywood. Maybe Willem wanted to return the favor. Besides, who wouldn't want to work with Kazir?

Hell, more and more actresses were trying to flirt with him just because they wanted to work with the director.

Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz and Angelina Jolie worked with Kazir... There was a rumor that in order to have a chance with the guy, you had to work with him first.

So, yeah, it affected the auditions for the female roles.

"Willem, there's no need to test your acting. Everyone here knows you're a great actor. I can testify to that."

"Thank you, Kazir."

"I guess we both have an agreement then?"

2/3 of the people in the audition room were from Sony-Columbia and Marvel Comics and they didn't have a problem with Kazir's decision. They all saw Willem Dafoe's audition and it was amazing. Plus, his look fits the Norman Osborn they had in mind.

"I'm going to call my agent."

"I hope we can finalize this as soon as possible."

"I hope so too."

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 249


Willem Dafoe then left the room. But even though they knew the role was already taken, the casting director was still looking for second and third choices.

They kept the audition for Norman Osborn open for many reasons.

If Willem's side didn't want to work with them, then the crew had to find another actor to fill the role. But honestly, Kazir wanted Willem to get the part. For that, he had no problem adding another million dollars to Willem salary if the negotiations didn't work out. If that amount is not enough, then go with Plan B.

.........

......
...

Now that the role of Norman Osborn was in good hands, the crew began looking for Mary Jane. In the comics, Spider-Man had many lovers. His most famous ones were Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy. Unfortunately, most of his relationships didn't end well.

In this movie adaptation, they decided to go for the safe route. Tobey's girlfriend would be Mary Jane.

Dozens of actresses auditioned for the role of Mary Jane. Some of them were quite famous in the industry.

But the one thing that bothered him was the producer sitting next to him. Jezebel was quite a critic, she kept telling all the mistakes that each actress made, so today's audition was like walking on eggshells.

"Miss Kirsten Dunst, are you okay with dyeing your hair red?"

Stan Lee asked. The man had not been at the audition yesterday because he had other things to do. So this time the old man tried to be active.

Stan Lee already had a conversation with Kazir, but the subject of superhero copyrights was still not discussed. Marvel Comics was still trying to understand the director. They didn't want to blow this unique moment to convince Kazir of their plan to create a Cinematic Universe.

"Yes, I can do it."

Kirsten nodded. She knew that Mary Jane Watson had red hair in the comics. Because she wasn't sure if she could get the role, Kirsten didn't dye her hair yet.

"Miss Kirsten, I can see that you're not at all serious and passionate about this role. At least the other actresses dyed their hair and showed their clear intentions. I'm sorry, but I'm going to give you a minus for that." Jezebel said.

"I-I understand."

Kirsten Dunst stammered, blushing slightly with embarrassment. But she didn't want to damage her hair without the assurance that she would get the role.

Stan Lee did his best to keep the atmosphere peaceful. As for Kazir, he was quiet the whole time, always thinking and rarely speaking.

'If I'm not mistaken, Kirsten Dunst had a kissing scene with Brad Pitt in Dance With The Vampire. To be clear, Kirsten was only 12 years old at the time.'

Kazir couldn't remember the exact story, but Kirsten did kiss Brad in the movie.

As for hiring Kirsten Dunst... Kazir was not sure what to do. Again, he had trouble making a decision, especially when the producer next to him was making passive-aggressive comments. Well, her criticism was not so bad.

"We have a wig. You can wear it and we will discuss if you fit the role. There's no problem with the acting, we just want to know if red hair works for you."

A few minutes later, a male make-up artist was doing his best to give Kirsten a makeover. Yes, most of the crew members were not from Grey Pictures.

The head of the Grey Pictures make-up team was Jane, not a man. Jane might have trouble working in this kind of atmosphere.

The people looked at the actress and nodded. Well, it was not that bad. Not that great, but not that bad.

When Kirsten Dunst left the room embarrassingly, knowing she had messed up, Kazir announced something.

"Put Kirsten Dunst on the top list. She's our first choice for now."

"Wha-- Okay, I get it."

Jezebel was shocked at first. She gritted her teeth, but decided to keep her cool. Obviously, she was not to blame this time.

Unlike original script, this movie was based on comic books, and the actresses and actors had plenty of time to prepare. In Kirsten's position, she could just dye her hair or put on a wig before the audition. But the woman showed up with her blonde hair.

After that, the audition had a break. Unlike yesterday, it seemed that the selection of the female lead might take a while.

Kazir's reason for putting Kirsten Dunst at the top of the list was his knowledge. He knew that the original Mary Jane was Kirsten Dunst.

The break was still going on and Kazir decided to eat a salad, feeling quite hungry for a healthy diet. He looked at his phone and smiled when he got a message from Angelina Jolie saying she missed him. Kazir texted back.

While eating, he noticed that the makeup artist was eating a little too close to his table. The director decided to talk to the makeup artist.

"You're the makeup artist, right?"

"Yes, I'm Peyton Joel."

"Just call me Kazir. Anyway, Peyton, do you know Jezebel? I just want to ask, but does she have a problem with women or something? I noticed that most of the crew members are men."

"Ah, about that... I don't know if I should say this, but I think it's important for you to know because it might affect the movie. From what I have heard, Jezebel was abused by her mother and her sisters beat her because she acted righteous and smart. I also heard that her classmates bullied her when she was in school, apparently she was a smart woman and they didn't like that about her."

"I see, thank you Peyton. Please keep this between us."

"I understand."

Trauma was a real thing. Even Kazir suffered from trauma, he was not sure if he had overcome it yet. He thought about therapy, but he felt it was a waste of time. His therapy was his work, he loved to work.

As for Jezebel, too bad, but her prejudice was affecting the production. Kazir hoped it wouldn't become a big problem.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 250


The matter of the female lead ended after the audition for Mary Jane. The group voiced their opinions, but on this project, Kazir Grey had the ultimate authority.

Some of them were unhappy when Kazir decided to cast Kirsten Dunst. Her passion and motivation for the role was lacking. But because of Kazir's past successes and his eye for casting, they decided to accept his decision.

The main reason Kazir cast Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson was because of his knowledge.

Spider-Man was a huge success in his past life, and he believed that as long as he followed the original version, his chances of getting a box office hit were higher.

Fortunately, when Kirsten Dunst showed up and signed the contract, her hair was already dyed red and it didn't look bad. Even Jezebel Salome thought it was acceptable. Still, Jezebel was against Kazir's decision to choose the female lead.

After that, the subject of the protagonist, the person who would become Spider-Man, came up.

At first, James Cameron, the first choice director, wanted to invite Leonardo DiCaprio for the role and Sony-Colombia was not against it

However, it seemed that the young actor was not very enthusiastic about being a superhero. Maybe he despised wearing tight costumes...

Instead, Leonardo DiCaprio recommended his friend. The one and only Tobey Maguire, our Bully Maguire.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire have been friends since they were young. But unlike Leonardo, Tobey was still trying to find his place in this industry.

Everyone knew that Kazir Grey and Sony-Columbia had a project and the investment for this movie would definitely exceed $100 million. Besides, working with someone like Kazir Grey would boost the actors' careers.

So yes, the audition for the lead in Spider-Man was terrifying. Kazir's fame influenced the situation.

Kazir had the nickname "Star Maker". Because every actor who starred in his movies got a foothold in Hollywood. Some examples were Reese Witherspoon, Ed Helms, Pedro Pascal, Brianna Evans and Enzo Park.

Even though Kazir only attended the final round of auditions, he was still shocked when he realized there were more than 100 actors in line.

"I guess being Peter Parker is not that easy."

Well, Peter Parker represents the common man, though he was more of a bullied nerd.

The director sighed and went with the flow... He knew Tobey Maguire would get the part anyway. He would do his best to make it happen.

With over a hundred participants, the audition ended quite late.

"I will say it again, I think Tobey Maguire fits the role. He is not an unknown actor, he is part of many TV series and some movies. He has the knack for acting and his looks are nice, he looks like a good guy."

Kazir announced. Although he knew that Tobey was famous for being known as Bully Maguire. Tobey hates the paparazzi, and frankly, he was right to hate them.

Maybe Tobey's career has been affected by that bully scandal. But he is actually a great actor, he knows how to act. Too bad he is only famous for being Spider-Man. He didn't have a memorable role after that.

Kazir sighed inwardly. He thought that Tobey was just misunderstood.

"Yes, I agree with Kazir this time."

Stan Lee nodded. Tobey made a good impression and seemed promising.

Stan Lee had the highest authority on the Marvel staff. Besides, Stan Lee was the creator of Spider-Man, so his opinion was not to be taken lightly.

"I'm okay with that, too."

Even Jezebel agreed. Tobey Maguire's portfolio was good.

Surprisingly, everyone actually agreed to cast Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Kazir thought some opposition would happen.

Tobey Maguire agreed to sign a trilogy and his first salary was $3 million. His agent even fought just to get that amount. Regarding salary, Kazir clearly had the highest one in this project.

.........

......

...

The management of Grey Pictures became the responsibility of Stella Willow, the general manager of the company. The business matters, the hiring of staff, and finding people who would take over the projects.

Next year, Grey Pictures intends to release two movies. The first was The Fast and The Furious while the second was John Wick Chapter 2.

Fremont Smith already expressed that he would direct John Wick Chapter 2. The budget was already approved and the pre-production would start next week.

Actually, Walt Disney was trying to contact Fremont Smith in the hope that he would direct John Carter.

Fremont Smith already signed a contract with Grey Pictures. However, there was no clause that he couldn't work with other companies. Of course, he had to promise and make sure that his energy was rightfully put on John Wick Chapter 2 before anything else.

As for The Fast and The Furious, Stella Willow was looking for someone to direct the movie.

In fact, Kazir wanted her to look for a Taiwanese director. Honestly, Stella Willow had no idea why Kazir was looking for a Taiwanese director but she decided to trust Kazir.

The person she was looking for was Justin Lin.

Only Kazir knew that Justin Lin had an important role in the franchise of The Fast and The Furious.

He was the director of:

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Fast & Furious

Fast Five

Fast & Furious 6

F9

Fast X

Yup, the titles made no sense...

Anyway, Justin Lin was also the director of Star Trek Beyond.

Stella Willow sent staff to Taiwan just to personally invite Justin Lin to be part of the Continental Cinematic Universe.

The general manager hoped that Kazir's decision would be the right. Because of Wanted, a lot of people were watching every move of Grey Pictures and they didn't dare make any mistake.

Just like what Kazir said, this was just the start. The Continental Cinematic Universe would expand until they could release three movies every year. With every movie being successful. That would be the next goal.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 251


August 3rd arrived and the people from Sony-Columbia did their best for the premiere of Bruce Almighty. The cast of the movie, especially Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Steven Carell and the others, walked the red carpet one by one. Presenting themselves to the media.

As the screenwriter of the film, Kazir also attended the premiere. Like the actors, he also walked on the red carpet. On his left arm was Angelina Jolie in her sexy dress.

Even though he was only the screenwriter, the attention Kazir brought was tremendous. He was not an actor, yet he was the center of the cameras.

The recognition he had after so many successful films made his position as a scriptwriter elevated. Usually, only the director, the cast and important guests would walk on the red carpet.

At the time of Se7en's premiere, Kazir didn't have the status to be part of the red carpet. He used the backstage entrance instead, ah, he was with Reese Witherspoon at that time.

Another reason he showed up at the premiere was to pre-promote Spider-Man. If you keep showing your face to the public, they will remember you and the things associated with you.

'But if I'm not wrong, people might remember the Continental Cinematic Universe movies more than Spider-Man if they see my face.' Kazir thought.

Kazir always had a cameo in every Continental Cinematic Universe movie. The production crew had already set up a schedule for him to film a cameo, even though The Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2 were still in pre-production.

"Good evening, Ms. Jolie and Mr. Grey."

"Good evening to you as well."

"Is it true that you recommended Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman for this movie?"

"Jim is the face of comedy right now. As for Morgan, I've worked with the guy and he's a nice and talented actor."

Of course, no red carpet would be complete without interviews.

"Congratulations, Mr. Grey. You just broke the record for the highest grossing movie of June."

"Thank you."

Kazir and Angelina smiled. Of course they were proud that their movie was getting recognition.

The worldwide box office for Wanted had reached $753 million!

The performance of Wanted in North America had been steady, earning a million or two every day. This was a matter of course. Two months had passed and Wanted was already running out of gas.

Even the number of theaters that showed the movie dropped to 1500 theaters. The North American box office of Wanted was currently 431 million dollars.

But internationally it was different, the movie just passed its first month of international release and it already grossed $322 million.

In fact, even though all of Kazir's movies have been successful, none of them have crossed the $800 million mark. But from the looks of it, Wanted definitely had the power to do so.

No, the prediction was that the movie could surpass $900 million or maybe even $1 billion. If that happened, Wanted would be the fourth movie to gross $1 billion!

Kazir had been in the business since 1988, when he worked as a crew member on Rain Man.

Then he signed with Carl Morin and made horror movies until WMA kicked him out of the agency. Then his ex-wife filed for divorce... Then the memories of his future life overtook him and he started his real journey.

Napoleon Dynamite

The Hangover

Taken

John Wick

The Bourne Identity

Wanted

'I can't believe I'm getting to this moment where one of my movies has a chance to go over $1 billion.' He was genuinely happy.

That was one of the hardest things to accomplish in this industry, making more than $1 billion box office.

Kazir and Angelina went to the theater to see the movie.

.........

......

...

The summer schedule was packed, no doubt about it. Every week new movies would be released to compete in this lucrative schedule.

August was the last month of the summer, and the Big Six wanted to make sure they milked the audience with more ticket sales.

On August 3, the public had three big movies to choose from.

First was Space Cowboys, distributed by Warner Brothers.

Second was Coyote Ugly from Walt Disney.

Third was Bruce Almighty.

These three would compete for first place.

... The winner of the first weekend was obviously Bruce Almighty, hah! We were talking about Jim Carrey. Also, the screenwriter of this movie was Kazir Grey. Everyone knew that Kazir's scripts were always profitable. The only question was how much money they could make.

The first weekend (August 3-6) of the three movies was not too bad.

Space Cowboys grossed $18.09 million.

Coyote Ugly took in $17.31 million.

The two did well, too bad they ran into Bruce Almighty.

Bruce Almighty made $67.95 million!

There were many factors as to why this happened. Jim Carrey and Kazir Grey were part of it.

Jim Carrey had a very strong box office appeal. When audiences found out that Jim Carrey was the protagonist of this movie, they became interested in watching it. The movie was also entertaining, it had good word of mouth and people praised it.

I mean, the plot of the movie was about a guy who gets the power of God. He can do almost anything with that power.

In this world, who hasn't wanted to be God? Who didn't want to have superpowers to rule over humanity and rule the world?

Sony-Columbia already knew that they had the month of August all to themselves. Most of the Big Six's big-budget films had already been released before August, such as The Perfect Storm, Mission: Impossible 2 and Gladiator.

The next schedule to prepare for was October and November. Speaking of November, Charlie's Angels was scheduled to open in November.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 252


Reputation was a very important thing. This aspect would determine how people would look at you. How they would respect you or ignore you.

Kazir experienced being ignored. When he tried to sell Se7en to many production companies, almost all of them ignored him. Had it not been for New Line Cinema's interest in his script, he might never have reached his current position.

'But I can't deny that New Line Cinema is not a company you can trust. What they did to Peter Jackson was nothing to be proud of. They basically cheated the director.'

It hadn't happened yet, as Lord Of The Rings was still in production, but Kazir was 100% sure that New Line Cinema would definitely screw Peter Jackson over.

"Reputation is hard to build, but so easy to destroy. Once you make a mistake, it's impossible for people to forget it."

Kazir muttered to himself as he watched the crew prepare the set. The place had a green background all around.

Kazir wanted to use green screen technology for some scenes. This technology was also called chroma key compositing or chroma keying.

A visual effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on color hues (chroma range). (Google)

This technique was mostly used for backgrounds. The crew could film the scene in real locations, but there were situations where it was difficult to do so. To film in public places, such as public roads, they had to contact the local municipality and time was their main problem in this regard.

A green screen could solve this problem. Although Kazir intends to use this technology only a few times... He wanted to practice using Sony-Columbia's money.

Kazir's expertise in his past life was more in horror movies, using dark shades and such to scare the audience... His films were never popular. His experience with green screen was basically non-existent.

So yes, he used this moment to ask for a green screen studio to expand his knowledge.

Kazir knew that from now on, the future of most blockbusters would rely on heavy green screens.

Marvel movies.

DC movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean.

'Sony-Colombia made a huge investment in Spider-Man, spending some of it on a green screen is not a crime. Besides, I'm not spending my money anyway. A win for me.'

He grinned slightly. That was the power of respect. Sony-Columbia respected him because he could make a lot of money.

So yes, he was milking the company to learn green screen technology.

Speaking of respect...

Kazir glanced around and noticed that Kirsten Dunst seemed uncomfortable. The actress tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but Kazir could see through her lies.

The set was full of men. The reason for this was that many women quit their jobs after being berated by the producer.

Three people had the most authority in this project. Kazir Grey, the Marvel representative, and Jezebel Salome.

Unfortunately, Jezebel loved to demean the women in the crew. One by one, the women left the crew until only a handful remained.

From the looks of it, Kirsten Dunst seemed to be suffering from the producer as well.

Kazir thought about firing the producer, but he knew he could not do it without a real reason.

Jezebel was put in the position by Sony-Colombia to control Kazir in case the director ran amok.

'I can't say that she is affecting the production because there is no substantial effect. Production is going as smoothly as possible.'

Kazir admitted that Jezebel had bad blood with the women, but overall her work ethic was good. The production was on the right track because of her.

The producer was responsible for keeping, organizing and managing the crew. So far, Jezebel was doing the right thing with no flaw.

'Jezebel works for Sony-Columbia, so even though I'm the director, they can't put all the faith in me. At least Jezebel has respect for me. Whenever I have spoken my mind, she has agreed with most of it.'

He could say that his authority over the crew was amazing, even though almost 2/3 of that crew was working with him for the first time.

Kazir decided to approach Kirsten Dunst, wanting the actress to be calm so she wouldn't interfere with the shooting schedule.

But before he could talk to the woman, an old actress comforted Kirsten Dunst.

The old actress was Rosemary Harris, the movie's Aunt May. Peter Parker's Aunt May.

Rosemary Harris had been in the business since the 50's. They hired her because her salary was within their budget.

Rosemary was talking to Kirsten and the young actress smiled slightly.

Kazir came closer and overheard their conversation.

"I can't believe she called me fat and ugly. I didn't eat today because I don't want to look fat on camera."

"She really said that word for word?" Rosemary asked.

Even Kazir was surprised. He hadn't expected Jezebel to say that directly.

"No, she just said that I have to be thin and pretty because Mary Jane is the queen of the campus. She told me that three times on different occasions because she wanted this project to be perfect. Since then, I can't help but be aware of my body. This is my biggest role and I don't want to make any mistakes. You know how hard it is for a woman to get a big role. It's not easy to compete for this role, and I don't want to be replaced."

The woman touched her flat stomach. She might be hungry.

"Oh, honey, you don't have to think about it seriously. You are pretty and young."

The standards of beauty for women were outrageous and sometimes fucked up. Women had to shave their legs, go on diets to maintain their figure, and use makeup to disguise themselves. To be honest, men were also responsible for this problem.

 

[Pujimaki]

[Author's note: I just want to remind you guys that Jezebel is just a character I added to the story. She is not a real person.]

[I really want to thank you all for supporting my novel. It means a lot to me. I pray that motivation possesses me and I keep writing.]

Hollywood What If Chapter 253


The two women began to talk and Rosemary comforted Kirsten Dunst.

Kazir felt he didn't have to talk to the actress anymore. Someone was already doing it for him.

Suddenly, Kazir noticed that Rosemary was staring at him, signaling that everything was fine.

Kazir nodded and walked away, giving them more time to talk.

'The mentality of the actors was very important. Their mental state could affect the filming.' He thought.

Just as Kazir expected... Kirsten Dunst had dozens of NGs. She did her best, but she couldn't help but be aware of the cameras.

'She tries to show her beauty...'

Kazir sighed. It was a good thing they were not late. Kazir had this passive ability that made the filming faster. He knew what to shoot and his plan was set. There was no need to pile up many useless scenes, since the movie was already finished in his head.

However, it was a different matter if the actress had the problem. That was out of his hands.

The best he could do was to encourage Kirsten and never berate her. Her mental state was delicate and negative comments would be bad.

"Kirsten, come here."

"Yes, Director."

The woman realized that the director had reached his limit.

Directors had short fuses and they were vocal about it. They would scream in anger if the actress continued to make NGs (no good).

Kazir was known as a calm director but everyone has a limit. It seemed that Kazir had reached his.

Kirsten swallowed hard and approached the director who was sitting in the chair.

"Kirsten, what are you thinking about right now? Your eyes are always looking at the cameras. You're consciously trying to be sexy. What's up with that?"

"Director... I want a lasting impression."

The director sighed...

This is the typical mentality of Extra and Vase.

Extra and Vase characters were background characters. They didn't have lines and they weren't important at all. So these small-time actors/actresses had this mission to make a 'lasting impression' so that they would have a chance to work on another project.

But Kirsten had already passed that stage before she became an adult.

She was part of the cast of Interview with the Vampire along with Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and Brad Pitt.

She was also in the cast of Jumanji. She was not a fucking Vase.

Kazir could scold the woman right now. But he knew that would be the wrong thing to do.

The best response was to give her the confidence she needed.

"Kirsten, do you know why I decided to cast you even though some of the crew were against it?"

"Director?"

"Because I see something in you. I see potential in you. You're young and your future is limitless. Besides, you're beautiful. The way you smile makes me smile. So don't worry about leaving a lasting impression. Because in my opinion, you are already making a strong impression on everyone in the cast."

Kazir didn't give a fuck about what he said. He was basically lying. Sounds heartless, but Kazir would never hesitate to praise a literal shit if that shit would bring him a huge box office.

"Don't think about some people making fun of you. In my opinion, they are trying to destroy your mentality because they don't want to see you succeed. They are jealous of you."

So yes, he was lying with a straight face. Kazir never liked Kirsten Dunst, that was the truth. But business was business and he would do his best to make things work.

'... Am I a sociopath or a psychopath? I didn't study psychology and I never knew the definitions. Maybe Palenque knows the answer, my assistant director knows a lot about human psychology.'

Suddenly Kirsten's eyes widened as if she realized the truth. She looked at Kazir, blushing slightly, and nodded.

"T- Thank you, director!"

Kirsten glanced in the direction where Jezebel stood. She gave the producer a smug smile and returned to the set.

Jezebel just tilted her head. The producer was actually angry that Kirsten kept making a mistake. She reminded Kirsten that she was supposed to be perfect on camera and yet she had so many NGs.

Surprisingly, after this conversation, Kirsten Dunst rarely had NGs. Even her smile and expressions seemed genuine. It was as if she was a recent college graduate blossoming in society, playing Mary Jane in the movie.

.........

......

...

"Girl, did you see the paper?"

"Shh, we're in the office. You shouldn't talk about movies that have nothing to do with us."

"Why, it's early in the morning. Most of our managers and supervisors are coming in half an hour later--"

"What are you talking about?"

Tom Rothman appeared from behind the two interns. He was always early.

"C-CEO! Good morning!"

The two interns greeted their boss and walked away. They were new to the job and didn't want to make a scene, especially in front of the CEO.

Tom Rothman glanced at the newspaper one of the interns was carrying and thought of something.

When he got to his office, he asked his secretary to bring him the day's newspapers.

Most of the covers were about Wanted.

--The fourth $1 billion movie in the history of cinema! Wanted!

-- The movie directed by Kazir Grey surpassed $1 billion in the first month of November.

-- After six months in theaters, Wanted has surpassed $1 billion!

-- The Movie of the Year 2000. Wanted!

Reading the headlines, Tom Rothman could only shake his head.

There were no what-ifs. Not anymore. All that was left was regret.

Regret that they hadn't held hands with Grey Pictures.

"X-Men" came out in July and had a great reception. But if I knew that the Cinematic Universe would have this kind of impact, I should have delayed the project and waited for the chance to work with Kazir, or at least get his opinion on a possible X-Men Cinematic Universe."

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 254


Tom Rothman had complicated thoughts about so many things. He was happy that 20th Century Fox had the chance to work with Kazir Grey, but he was unhappy that Kazir Grey was working with other competitors. He was also unhappy that Grey Pictures was making massive profits.

A billion dollars... A very large amount of money. Even if Grey Pictures could only get 10% of that amount, they were already winning.

Based on the contract that Grey Pictures signed, they will probably make around $350 million. It depends on the situation, the international profit distribution is very complicated and it takes months to settle.

Still, it was a huge amount of money.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head.

'... Either Grey Pictures disappears or 20th Century Fox buys it. There's no in-between. Grey Pictures needs a solid distributor and a strong wall to rely on, and that's something they lack. Acquiring this company can bring a lot to 20th Century Fox.'

But the big problem was that Kazir Grey owned Grey Pictures. The sole owner. They could not buy the stock or invest in the stock, they had to deal directly with Kazir.

And if Kazir was not interested in selling his company, that would be a problem.

'But just like how Miramax and New Line Cinema gave in, Grey Pictures never has a chance to go up against the Big Six. That's the truth, and I think Kazir knew it.' Tom nodded.

If the Big Six made a decision and decided to gang-bang Grey Pictures, then the company would be run through very badly... Ahem.

Anyway, it would be bad for Grey Pictures if the big giants of the industry got together and bullied them.

Even DreamWorks was facing a backlash, even though they were working with Universal and Paramount to distribute their films internationally.

The only way for Grey Pictures to survive was to work under one of the Big Six.

'Kazir is not stupid. He has probably already thought of this...'

Tom Rothman realized that there might be another competition.

'I should ask management to do some research on Grey Pictures and determine its net worth.'

Since Wanted had grossed over $1 billion plus the overall performance of CCU, Grey Pictures' net worth would probably be over $1.5 billion. The company had profitable movies to exploit, and it seemed that it had a lot of superhero copyrights as well.

But Grey Pictures was only founded a few years ago and it had already gained a good reputation. The fact that the company had $1.5 billion was really amazing.

Suddenly, Tom Rothman felt bitter. He realized that Kazir might be richer than he was.

'Kazir is low-key rich, damn it.'

Before he could get in touch with management, his secretary informed him that George Lucas had arrived.

LucasFilm was only a production company and didn't have the ability to distribute its films like Grey Pictures.

However, LucasFilm was much bigger than a young company like Grey Pictures. Even though LucasFilm only focused on a few movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, this company was far more important than Grey Pictures. The profit that LucasFilm made each year was comparable to the Big Six. Especially now that the new Star Wars trilogy was underway.

In fact, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney were trying their best to acquire the company. George Lucas was still biding his time.

Although spoiler alert, the damn woke Disney acquired LucasFilm. The result of this acquisition was complicated. Either Star Wars fans loved it or they hated it. Not gonna lie, Star Wars fans were a little toxic.

Tom Rothman agreed and met with George Lucas. The two greeted each other with respect and began to talk business.

"It's unfortunate that Kazir didn't agree. I really hope he will direct Star Wars. With him, I think Star Wars will have a great performance." George Lucas sighed.

The subject went to Kazir for reasons unknown.

Tom Rothman kept his mouth shut, but he agreed. Kazir was super dedicated to his job and the chances of Star Wars getting bigger would be high if he directed it.

George Lucas and Kazir Grey had a good relationship after their first meeting. George then tried to offer the job to Kazir, but the young director was not sure.

In the end, Kazir decided to make a superhero movie... Nobody knew the outcome of his decision.

"$1 billion box office is something that is very hard to achieve."

George admitted, and Tom agreed. Making that amount of money was a miracle.

When there were rumors that Kazir might be the director of Star Wars, Natalie Portman was actually excited and hoped that she would have a chance to work with her crush. Yes, the young actress developed a crush on the director after their first meeting.

Unfortunately, Kazir once again chose to direct a movie about a guy who climbs buildings, shoots webs and fights crime.

It made no sense to be honest, Star Wars was a better choice than Spider-Man at that time. Maybe it came down to salary and contract. Because Kazir got a good contract from Sony-Columbia. His salary alone was 25 million dollars. Can you believe that?

.........

......

...

"Congratulations, director!"

"Hey Willem, I should congratulate you too. Our movie made it to the top of the box office."

Kazir Grey and Willem Dafoe were having the time of their lives on the set of Spider-Man.

Willem had a huge role in Wanted and it set his career on a great path. Even though his character died early, it was worth it because the fans started to love him.

"Auditioning for Marcus is the best decision I ever made in my life!"

Now some studios were inviting him to work with them. But of course he had to focus on Spider-Man first. Norman Osborn was an interesting character and Willem felt that he could do a good job on the character. Like Kazir, he was dedicated to his art.

The rest of the cast also congratulated them. Tobey Maguire, James Franco and Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten even gave Kazir a gift, a wristwatch, which Kazir was surprised to receive but appreciated.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 255


November was a busy month for Hollywood. A lot of good movies were released this month.

Unbreakable, Rugrats In Paris, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Charlie's Angels.

These were the movies that did well this month.

There was also other Hollywood gossip.

-- Harrison Ford confirms that he and his wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, are separated.

-- Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones get married in an extravagant ceremony in New York City.

-- Robert Downey Jr. is arrested in Palm Springs, California, for possession of cocaine and methamphetamine.

-- Wanted grosses over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It becomes the fourth film in the history of cinema to surpass $1 billion.

A lot of news about Hollywood celebrities surfaced. Most people loved to hear gossip, so they focused more on celebrities.

But it was different for Hollywood companies. They didn't care much about the lives of celebrities. They were more shocked by the fact that Wanted surpassed $1 billion in almost 6 months after its release.

"Let's see, the critics' opinions are complicated. Some complained that the public's taste was appalling because Wanted was nothing but a circus with no substance. While others praised it for being ambitious by casting the protagonists of the previous films related to the Continental Cinematic Universe."

Angelina Jolie read the paper while waiting for her boyfriend. Stuff about celebrities was nothing new to her. She knew that being an actress cost her privacy. In fact, she had been a target of the media when she was a drug addict. Her past was something she could not be proud of.

She turned the next page and frowned when she saw an article about the cast of Charlie's Angels.

-- Charlie's Angels stars Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu get the royal treatment as they dine with Prince Charles at St. James Palace in London. The dinner followed the London opening of the blockbuster, which benefited one of the prince's charities. The other Angel, Cameron Diaz, was filming an upcoming movie and was unable to attend the soiree.

Angelina didn't like Kazir's exes for obvious reasons. The fact that some women had a taste of her man didn't sit well with her.

Three weeks had passed since the premiere of Charlie's Angels and the box office was doing well.

The movie earned 93.25 million dollars. The performance of Charlie's Angels made the Big Six realize that actresses had a chance in the action genre. The three actresses were the protagonists of the movie and it was done right.

Usually when an actress is the protagonist in an action movie, it doesn't end well.

'I guess that is why Paramount Pictures invited me to audition for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.'

She thought. She talked to Kazir about the project, knowing that Kazir had the eyes to tell if a script was good or bad. Kazir said the script was promising and she should go for it. Besides, the salary Paramount was offering her was quite generous.

In this industry, actresses were usually paid less than actors. Only a few actresses had the ability to demand huge salaries, such as Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jodie Foster, and Winona Ryder. These women were the most famous actresses of the 90s.

A few minutes later, Angelina heard someone approaching and turned around. She saw Kazir and ran to give him a hug.

"I miss you."

"Angelina, we just met earlier." The man chuckled. He had a gift bag in his hand.

"Yes, and I miss you."

"Let's go to my house. I'm going to cook to celebrate the success of Wanted."

Angelina was a little surprised that Kazir wanted to go to the newly renovated house instead of the usual office. Maybe Wanted made him happy.

Kazir took her hand and led her to the parking lot.

"Now that Wanted is a huge success, Grey Pictures is having a celebration party in December."

"I'm part of the cast, so of course I will be there," Angelina replied.

With more than $300 million in his bank account, Kazir had no idea what to do with it, so he decided to buy a nice car. Yes, goodbye to his Honda.

The couple got into a black Mercedes-Benz.

"By the way, what's with the gift bag?"

"Oh, this?"

Kazir handed the bag to Angelina to have a look.

"Can I open it?" Angelina found a small box inside the bag.

"Of course."

The actress opened the box and found a brand new watch. It was a Hamilton watch.

"Nice, who gave you this watch?"

"It's from Kirsten. She gave it to me when she found out that Wanted had passed the $1 billion mark."

"Kirsten... Kirsten Dunst?"

"That's right."

For a second, Angelina's eyes went dark before they returned to normal. She smiled and put the watch back in its box. She placed the gift in the backseat.

Then she leaned closer to Kazir and gave him a sloppy kiss. They stayed like that for a few seconds.

"Before you cook, how about we have some fun, huh?"

"I'd be crazy to say no. We are talking about the sexy Angelina Jolie."

"Geez, Kazir. I thought you were not a playboy. How can you say something so cheesy?"

Despite her embarrassment, Angelina felt ticklish that her man was so nice to her.

'Sometimes I feel that Kazir is very clueless. This Kirsten woman might have some impure intentions for him.' She thought while licking her lips.

If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was the fact that Kazir never flirted on the set. He was strict with himself and his actors. She knew this firsthand because when they shot a kissing scene between her and Ben Affleck, Kazir never showed any discomfort.

That Kirsten Dunst would have a hard time seducing a man like Kazir. Even Angelina took so many shots just to seduce the man.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 256


Manhattan, New York.

The original setting for Spider-Man was New York. Obviously, the crew flew to New York to shoot the movie.

Particularly was the Times Square.

One of the most popular Spider-Man locations is Times Square. In the first Spider-Man trilogy, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) saves Mary Jane from the Green Goblin at the Unity Festival, in Times Square.

It was an iconic scene, the scene where the Green Goblin glides in the sky and throws special grenades.

This project had a huge budget and Kazir didn't hesitate to hire a crane. They use it for Spider-Man's web-slinging and landing. Of course, they use it mostly when Spider-Man and Green Goblin need screen time in the sky or landing from the sky.

Although most of the web-slinging and swinging by the buildings would be created by special effects. Sony-Columbia has already hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the necessary scenes. The special effects alone cost them almost half of the budget. This was early 2000 and special effects were very expensive. Even the people who knew about VFX were few and far between.

With the crane, Tobey Maguire landed safely on the ground with the wire connected to the crane.

"Cut!"

Kazir announced through the megaphone and the crew started to fix the set.

"..."

Kazir touched his chin as he watched the landing from different angles.

He nodded.

"This is over."

The crew knew what they had to do. Since the director had announced that this scene was over, they began to clean up the set. The giant crane was moved out and the cameras were returned to the van for the next location.

Tobey took a deep breath. Finally, he had the time to take off his tight costume. It was really uncomfortable to spend most of the day in the costume.

Fortunately, they were done for today. Apparently, Director Grey wanted to meet his relatives, so he decided to end the shooting early.

Kazir packed his things, even though it was only a cup of coffee. Erica Mendez followed him, keeping her job as his assistant/bodyguard.

The chances of Kazir getting into a gunfight were slim, but this was the land of the free. People could carry guns for protection. Unfortunately, there were people who used guns for the wrong purposes.

Gun control was quite complicated...

As Kazir started to leave, he found Kirsten fidgeting and quietly following him. The woman realized that the director sensed her.

"Is something wrong, Kirsten?"

"Um, director, I baked some cookies. I hope you'll try them."

"Thank you." Kazir casually accepted the gift.

"By the way, is Jezebel still..."

"Unfortunately, yes. Although I've gotten used to her. What she says always makes sense, but she's very strict with me," Kirsten replied.

"Tell me if something happens."

"Yes, director."

Kazir and Erica got into the car. As the assistant/bodyguard/driver, Erica was responsible for driving the car.

Kazir looked at the box of cookies and decided to take a bite.

"Not bad. Maybe my niece will like it."

Kazir was not stupid. He knew what Kirsten was up to.

He was responsible for the movie and he didn't want any mishaps, so he decided to let things be. However, Kazir had no intention of flirting with the young woman. He just wanted to make sure that Kirsten was in her right mind so that the filming would go smoothly.

The actress' mental health has been very delicate lately.

Kazir wanted to do something about Jezebel, but the woman had no faults other than being strict with women. In fact, she was good at her job.

So to balance things out, Kazir decided to accept gifts from the actress, but made sure to keep the proper distance and create a boundary between them.

If Kazir flirted with Kirsten, Angelina would definitely be upset. They had a great relationship and Kazir didn't want it to crumble.

'The watch Kirsten gave me is missing. I can't find it after my night with Angelina. She probably did something with it.'

Well, Angelina made up for it by buying Kazir a Rolex, a much more expensive watch.

"I prefer G-Shock, but whatever," he looked at the Rolex he was wearing and confirmed that it was 4:45 pm.

The traffic in New York was terrible and they were still in Manhattan. Then Erica decided to take a new route and they reached Wall Street...

Not a minute later, the two heard a thud and then a loud scream.

People started screaming and some of them had pale faces.

Kazir frowned.

"What happened?"

He decided to lower his window and saw something horrible. A man in a suit, his head literally open, brain matter everywhere.

Fortunately, Kazir worked in horror movies and was used to seeing gruesome corpses (props). In fact, he saw much more disgusting than this.

Still, Kazir was affected by the fact that a person had died close to where he was.

He looked at Erica and the woman had a normal expression. The woman had served in the military and had probably seen the same things.

"The man jumped off the building!"

"Ambulance! Call the damn ambulance!"

"Fuck, this is the fifth one this month. When are they going to stop?"

"It's all because of the bubble burst!"

"Bubble burst? Dot-com bubble burst?"

The man was probably someone who worked in the financial sector, maybe dabbling in stocks. But because the dot-com bubble burst, the man lost everything. He decided it was better to kill himself than face the consequences.

"Let's go."

Kazir ordered his assistant.

"Sir, we can't. The traffic here is not so good either."

Kazir sighed and shut the window. The stock market was no paradise. Someone would win, someone would lose.

The two were silent for a while until they reached the place where Aaron and his family lived.

++++

[VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Some of you may have heard about what happened to the Patreon iOS app recently. Basically, greedy Apple wants to take a 30% cut whenever someone subscribes to Patreon using the Patreon iOS app. Please, if you want to subscribe to Patreon, don't use the iOS app. Instead, use the website or the Android app to subscribe. Because 30% is a huge cut for creators, we're going to suffer because Apple wants a cut of our revenue. And yes, fuck Apple.]

[Another Note: I've got to get to the Grey Pictures stuff first, like Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2, before I start the Spider-Man premiere].

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 257


The room was a little awkward. Well, strangers had just entered this place to start the script reading schedule. This was their first meeting and the bond was still not there. Quite a problem, since the whole motto of Fast and The Furious was "family".

Yep, nothing beats family.

- Dom Toreto.

To make matters worse, the director of the movie was not fluent in English. He could speak English, but his accent and his speed were not so fast.

At least you could understand him. That was enough.

Paul Walker and Vin Diesel were the main characters of this movie. An LAPD (Brian O'Connor) and a notorious street racer (Dominic Toreto) respectively.

The copyright of The Fast and The Furious was quite complicated. Well, Kazir Grey made it very complicated.

Kazir wrote the script in 1995 and registered it with the Writers Guild. However, in 1998, an article about street racing was published that had some similarities to his script. Kazir expected this because the first movie in the Fast & Furious franchise was inspired by the article.

The name of the article was Racer X by Ken Li, published in Vibe magazine.

To make things easier and to avoid a lawsuit. Grey Pictures bought the said article for an amount of 50 thousand dollars. Now the problem was easily solved.

Once that was done, the production of Fast and The Furious was approved by the management, although Kazir was the main decision maker anyway.

The investment was made. Grey Pictures hired an insurance company to make sure the production was on track.

The director of the film was a Taiwanese director named Justin Lin. The man had been a director since 1997 and had made one movie. When he received an invitation from Grey Pictures to direct one of their movies, the answer was only one.

"Absolutely."

This was a unique opportunity for him to break into Hollywood. The biggest show business in the world.

For a nobody like him it was hard to turn it down. He was actually shocked and scared. He didn't expect this situation. He even thought it was a scam.

He flew to Los Angeles just to meet Stella Willow, the General Manager of Grey Pictures.

Justin Lin knew that his position in this industry was so low, so he agreed to most of her conditions. He had to do it. Otherwise the position could be taken by others.

He signed a contract and got a salary of $1 million. It was actually the highest salary he ever had.

After that he signed with CAA and had an agent to help him. Salvatore Barlowe was already in a tight spot after having two directors, so it was impossible for him to get Justin Lin. CAA would not let that happen.

"Haha, L- Let's start the script reading."

Justin Lin announced in his unique accent, wiping his sweaty brow. He was actually nervous.

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, still strangers, stared at each other and wondered.

'Can this guy even direct this movie? He looks like he's going to pass out from sweating so much.'

All the actors in this movie were new to the industry. None of them had established their status.

Vin Diesel had been in some projects like Saving Private Ryan and even starred in Pitch Black, but the guy was still not that famous. Grey Pictures could afford his salary, so yes, he was not that famous...

The biggest reason why these actors and actresses auditioned for this movie was because of the influence of Wanted and the previous CCU movies. Hollywood predicted that the movies produced by Grey Pictures had a high chance of making a profit.

For new actors/actresses who didn't have a steady career in the industry, this was the chance they didn't want to let go.

What they didn't know was that Kazir understood the importance of this franchise. Because he knew how much money Fast & Furious could make.

As for why Kazir didn't hire Rob Cohen, the first director of The Fast and The Furious movie. The first film lacked unrealistic stunts.

The Continental Cinematic Universe was filled with spies, assassins and even ninjas. The movie needed spice to make it interesting.

Justin Lin was the director of:

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (3rd sequel)

Fast & Furious (4th sequel)

Fast Five (5th sequel)

Fast & Furious 6 (6th sequel)

F9 (10th sequel)

Many of these movies had unrealistic stunts that hyped the whole franchise.

Cars falling from the sky with parachutes? Yes, they did.

Military tanks that had the speed of a race car? Yes.

Cars overtaking an airplane? Yes.

Oh, here's another one. Cars in space? Absolutely yes.

Kazir didn't need the mellow version Fast and The Furious. He needed the adrenaline-pumping version of Fast and The Furious.

He felt that Justin Lin was the right person for that. He gave the director control over the film's action sequences, as long as it fit the Continental Cinematic Universe.

"Tsk, let's just go with that and finish the session."

17-year-old Scarlett Johansson muttered, and that got the attention of the cast.

On this project, Scarlett had perhaps the longest association with Grey Pictures, except for Harold, who was still the producer.

Kim Mills had a brief appearance in this movie.

Nobody knew how the story would go on. Even the author has no idea...

If there was one good thing, it was that Kazir had already written the general plot of the first movie. It was about an undercover LAPD who infiltrated a gang of criminals who were stealing expensive electronic goods...

Kazir leveled up the plot. The gang stole military equipment instead, that brought them to the list of wanted criminals.

+++++

[Author's note: Yes, that was the plot of the first movie, I found it on Wikipedia. But to add in the CCU, I decided that Dom Toreto's gang stole military equipment instead.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 258


Kazir spends the months of December and January in New York filming Spider-Man.

While in New York, he spent some time with his family.

Most of his energy went into the movie, as it was a project he didn't want to mess up. His family was very supportive, his father told him that he was so proud of him.

He was so proud of his two sons, they are living their lives now and they have achievements.

If there was one thing he wanted for... He wanted to see his younger son start a family and maybe have a child.

In fact, Victor Grey (Kazir's father) wanted another grandchild to spoil!

You see, Aaron and his wife decided to take things slow after having a daughter. They have no intention of having another child for the time being.

Now that Victor has experienced having a granddaughter, he has realized that life is worth living. So yes, out of selfishness, he wanted Kazir to have a child or two.

It is up to Kazir if he wants to marry again. After all, his son experienced the same thing as he did. The heartbreak of divorce.

Victor met Angelina a few times and didn't have a problem with the woman. She seemed nice. If Kazir and Angelina wanted to get married and have a child, he would be happy to support them.

For an old grandfather who didn't have much in life except work, Victor felt that having grandchildren was the best thing he could have.

As for Kazir, he was still unsure of his future path. He was traumatized by the divorce and couldn't imagine getting married again. At least not now.

As for having a child. He didn't know how to be a father. He was not sure he would be a good father. He had a chance to be one, but his ex-wife aborted the baby. He didn't know it at the time and he couldn't stop it.

He and Angelina had a good relationship, but it was not enough to determine if they were sure about getting married, much less having a baby. Besides, Angelina's career was just taking off and a pregnancy could affect her blossoming career.

Looking back, Angelina and Kazir began their relationship over a year ago. They had their first night together in December, Christmas Eve to be exact. After that, they decided to become a thing.

And now the year 2000 has just passed and it was already February 2001. Time sure flies when you're that busy.

.........

......

...

"Congratulations. Not only Wanted, even the Bruce Almighty you wrote had a great performance."

"Thanks George. I have to stay motivated to stay relevant. I'm not like you, who created a culture in the United States. The influence of the Continental Cinematic Universe is nothing compared to Star Wars."

Kazir visited Industrial Light & Magic to see the progress of the special effects. The special effects project was 85% complete and just needed a few tweaks. Of course, Kazir had to put all these shots together into a complete movie before everything was done. So he probably had to spend another month or two in post-production.

"Give it a few years, your movies will get the same treatment."

Kazir shrugged at George Lucas' answer.

"Anyway, I know you turned down Star Wars Episode 2 because you were interested in Spider-Man. But what about Episode 3?"

"You really want to hire me?"

"I can't help it. You're the most profitable director right now. If you direct Star Wars, I'm sure the box office will be over $1 billion."

"I can't promise you anything."

In his opinion, the romance between Padme and Anakin was somewhat forced. He had an idea how to fix it, but wanted to keep it to himself since he was not sure if he would be working with Star Wars. The plot of the new trilogy was lacking.

The special effects for Spider-Man were going in the right direction. Most of it involved Spider-Man swinging past buildings in New York as if he were Tarzan.

'I can't believe we spent millions of dollars on that eight to ten minutes of detailed animation.'

CGI was very expensive in the early 2000s. But if you compare it to recent movies that are full of CGI, like the Marvel movies, the early 2000s movies had better CGI.

After checking with Industrial Light & Magic, the man decided to return to the studio that Sony-Columbia had given him to edit Spider-Man. He had five editors to work with, one of whom was the senior editor Kazir talked to the most.

Another thing was that someone from Marvel Comics would be in the editing room to watch the whole thing. And sometimes give his opinion.

Luckily, Kazir was given full editing privileges. This gave him the power to bring his full creativity to the project. He had already proven himself in the industry, so Sony-Columbia gave him the power.

One of the perks of being a successful director. Everyone believed your movie would make money.

Perhaps the only thing Kazir could be proud of was his strong memory of things related to movies. Being his most devoted hobby and job, Kazir rarely forgot a scene. This helped a lot in the post-production process.

"Use our third shot for this one. I think it has the right angle and the emotions are expressive."

"Yes, director."

While Kazir was busy editing Spider-Man. One of the Big Six announced its intention to buy Grey Pictures...

+++++

[Well, the time has come. Honestly, I'm still sticking to my opinion to sell at least 30% of Grey Pictures so that the company can join one of the Big Six. Because realistically, if Grey Pictures continues to make successful movies, the Big Six would band together to destroy it. DreamWorks, Lionsgate, and even I can say that Miramax and New Line Cinema have suffered because of the Big Six. Let's not forget 20th Century Fox, that company was now under Disney now. So the Big Six became the Big Five.]

[I want to get your opinion on selling some shares of Grey Pictures to one of the Big Six].

[I'll post two more chapters later, but I can't promise it...]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 259


"Ptui--! What did you say?"

Tom Rothman coughed out the coffee he was drinking when he heard a certain rumor from his secretary. Life as the CEO of 20th Century Fox was not so easy.

In a year or two, Tom Rothman would become part of News Corporation and leave the position of CEO of 20th Century Fox. He worked hard for that company, but he knew he was just a worker. The real owner of 20th Century Fox was News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch to be exact.

Well, at least he got some stock options and the credits he accumulated were enough for him to have a good position in News Corporation.

As for the next CEO of 20th Century Fox, Tom Rothman had no idea who it would be.

He thought his job would be smooth sailing for the next two years, but he didn't expect one of their rivals to actually start a takeover!

"Some of our spies admitted that they had seen Terry Semel visit Grey Pictures."

Corporate spies were real. They were hard to find because it was easier to send information now that there was the Internet and telecommunications.

"They said that Terry Semel and Warner Brothers intended to buy stock of Grey Pictures."

'Buy shares? Kazir is already a multimillionaire and the guy is not greedy. Because if he is greedy, he would easily accept the contract that 20th Century Fox and LucasFilm offered him to direct Star Wars. That's a lot of money.' He thought.

Tom knew that Kazir was a tough guy to crack, and it would be impossible for the guy to just sell part of Grey Pictures to one of the Big Six.

'I say he trades stock for stability.'

At best, Kazir could get 2% of Warner Brothers in exchange for 30 to 40% of Grey Pictures.

The net worth of Warner Brothers was $27.97 billion, while Grey Pictures was expected to be around $1 billion to $1.5 billion. Grey Pictures was not a publicly traded company, so they had to determine the net worth through research.

Tom Rothman put down his coffee and wiped his mouth. Like him, Terry Semel was nearing the end of his term, and Yahoo had already invited the guy to be chairman and CEO.

Alan Frederick Horn would be the COO of Warner Brothers while Barry Mayer would be the Chairman now that Terry Semel planned to end his job at Warner Brothers.

'This is strange, this guy should have focused on training his successor instead of trying to acquire Grey Pictures. Was this ordered by Time Warner? Are they interested in Grey Pictures?' Tom couldn't get it.

Unlike him, who had at least a year to move a job, Terry Semel was already in his last quarter at Warner Brothers. Yet the guy contacted Grey Pictures.

Tom Rothman narrowed his eyes and thought seriously.

'Should I contact Rupert? News Corporation might also be interested in Grey Pictures.'

Unlike other production companies, Grey Pictures had a good chance of becoming a world-class studio.

'Kazir is a smart guy, he didn't try to create a distribution channel at all. Maybe he expected this outcome... Is he really confident about CCU?'

Well, Kazir proved himself right, and now Grey Pictures' net worth was over $1 billion, even though it was less than a decade old. It was already making millions in profits, sometimes over $100 million a year. Last year's revenue was over $1 billion because of Wanted, the box office of Wanted was now $1.21 billion and some countries were still showing the movie.

On top of that, Bruce Almighty ended its run with more than $484 million worldwide. The movie premiered in August last year and seven months have already passed.

Do you know a director who could write a script that had a 100% chance of making a profit at the box office? No, because being a director and a screenwriter are two different jobs.

But Kazir had the two talents, they complemented each other and made a fantastic chemical reaction.

'Most of his movies were original screenplays, except for The Bourne Identity and the upcoming Spider-Man. Well, the guy had the talent to make the movie a box office hit.'

Tom Rothman admitted as much.

The first time was nothing but a bluff. The second time was interesting. But the third, fourth and even fifth were no miracles. It was talent and consistency, and Kazir has been making successful movies for years.

But Grey Pictures is useless without Kazir.

Obviously, Warner Brothers wanted Kazir Grey more than they wanted Grey Pictures. They wanted his creative mind. If Kazir Grey owned shares of Warner Brothers, he would focus on it to make sure his shares didn't go to waste.

Also, Grey Pictures was in desperate need of distribution. Paramount Pictures and Sony-Columbia deals were coming to an end and Grey Pictures had to find another company to hang on to. Grey Pictures also had no distribution channel. They also didn't have Viacom, Time Warner and News Corporation controlling the media around the world.

Grey Pictures may be flourishing right now, but it won't be long before it reaches its limit.

The Big Six became the Big Six because they controlled the media and movie distribution.

In a way, it was a win-win situation between the two if Grey Pictures allied with one of the Big Six.

"What time is it in Australia?"

Rupert Murdoch was Australian, and he had tremendous authority in the country. One of the reasons why 20th Century Fox was able to get tax breaks from the Australian government when they filmed in the country.

"Sir, it's 1 a.m. in Sydney right now."

"..."

The time difference between Los Angeles and Sydney was 17 hours.

Anyway, if Warner Brothers was interested in Grey Pictures, 20th Century Fox had to be very careful about this acquisition. It could affect them for better or worse.

+++++

[Author's note: I can't find the net worth of Warner Brothers in the 2000s, so I decided to use the current net worth, which was $27 billion.]

[This is the second chapter for today].

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 260


"Warner Brothers is interested in my company. That is obvious. But the timing is odd. If I'm not mistaken, Time Warner and AOL are going to merge this year... Now that I think about it, I haven't heard any news about their merger. Is this another butterfly effect?"

Kazir wondered in confusion. He was surprised that Terry Semel had personally visited Grey Pictures for the first time to inquire about the possibility of acquiring Grey Pictures.

Terry Semel was no ordinary man, he was the CEO of Warner Bros. and someone like that doesn't just visit another studio.

"Should I hire a detective and do some research on Time Warner and AOL?"

AOL was a web portal and online service provider. This company was very famous in the 90's but lost its strength in the 2000's. It merged with Time Warner and people called it the worst merger in corporate history. In the end, AOL lost and failed to adapt and became a small subdivision of AOL Time Warner.

"Is this a method to hide the news of their merger?"

The merger of AOL and Time Warner was supposed to cost about $5 billion, but it turned out to be $165 billion. As for how it got so big, there were many factors.

However, the merger of Time Warner and AOL was a disaster.

"If this is really a way to benefit them, then that's good. But I have to think twice before I sell them shares. I don't want to be associated with a sinking ship. If AOL and Time Warner do merge, it will affect Warner Brothers and possibly Greg Pictures."

Kazir admitted that he was never good enough at corporate politics. He fucking hated it when he used his mind to think about that stuff. He should put his mind to something that made him happy, like movies.

But because of Warner Bros., he couldn't help but think about it.

"Warner Brothers is not so bad. They are a giant in the industry. They can do Grey Pictures."

But Kazir had no intention of selling Grey Pictures just for the tip. He wanted to see what effect Wanted would have on audiences. If the result was positive, then the net worth of Grey Pictures would increase, possibly to $2 billion or maybe $2.5 billion.

Another thing was the videotape profit from Wanted and other CCU movies.

Because of Wanted, the other movies also had an increase in sales. In total, the profit from videotapes and peripherals reached more than $180 million. This was the profit of the previous year (2000).

However, the profits of videotapes became smaller compared to DVDs. The DVD sales accounted for more than 50% of the peripheral profit last year.

In addition, Grey Pictures worked with clothing brands to promote their CCU clothing, such as T-shirts with the faces of the protagonists. Then Hasbro hoped to buy their copyrights to make action figures of the CCU characters. This business collaboration was part of the $180 million profit.

Hasbro was the toy company that made Transformers, G.I. Joe and Beyblade.

Yes, Hasbro now had the license to produce toys for the Continental Cinematic Universe. Everything from action figures to paper toys and stuff.

"Stella Willow seems to be very active lately, maybe because of the bonus and the shares I promised her, she's working harder."

Kazir had no intention of taking his company public because it would affect the company. As for selling some shares to one of the Big Six for protection, that was Kazir's intention all along. Otherwise, the company wouldn't survive that long.

Grey Pictures didn't have distribution, didn't have a media backer, and didn't have a seat in MPAA film rating.

But unlike other studios that lost money on some of their films, all the films Grey Pictures produced were profitable. That was the biggest difference between them and Grey Pictures.

Perhaps because of this and the news that Warner Bros. was interested in Grey Pictures, some of the Big Six felt that Grey Pictures was worth acquiring. More specifically, they wanted Kazir Grey, the brains behind the company.

Was creativity really so important? In Hollywood, creativity means a huge risk of loss. Hollywood was not made for art, it was made for business. So a movie with too much artistic sense would never work. All they wanted were movies that would make them more money.

And surprisingly, Kazir's creativity fit in well. Using realistic action stunts and creating a cinematic universe. It was creative, but it didn't turn them off. Instead, they wanted more.

Kazir Grey is a perfect fit for this industry. That was why the Big Six wanted him.

.........

......

...

February was not a good month for Hollywood. A lot of movies were released every week, but most of them didn't do well. Some of these movies deserved a better chance, but fate was cruel to them.

The most coveted schedule was always taken by the Big Six. These six giants would always have a battle in the summer to see who would make more money. The Big Six would leave January, February, March and April to the small studios to release their movies and let the small studios get some crumbs.

In February, only one movie made more than $100 million. It was Hannibal, produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). The film grossed $350 million. Yes, MGM became one of the small studios that had to settle for crumbs to get by. The company could not compete with the Big Six in the summer unless they used 007 Bond movies. But even the Bond films were faltering, especially when Peirce Brosnan announced that he was done with the franchise.

In March, only two films grossed over $100 million.

The first was The Mexican, which grossed $145 million. Produced by DreamWorks.

The second was Spy Kids. Spy Kids grossed $197 million. It was produced and distributed by Walt Disney. It was very sad that even these lesser known schedules were dominated by the Big Six.

Small studios didn't have the strength to compete with them. Marketing and promotion were difficult because they didn't have any connection with the media (television, radio and newspapers).

++++

[This is the last chapter today.]

[Shout out to Luizinho for reminding me about MPAA film rating. This is actually an important aspect if a movie will make money at the box office. If MPAA decides that movie deserves a R-rated or NC-17 rating, that movie will have a strong chance of flopping.]

[If you're interested in reading more, you can subscribe to my Patreon. I have more than 150 chapters. Just don't use iOS app to subscribe because Apple takes 30% of creator's profit if you use iOS app to subscribe].

https://www.patreon.com/Puji_maki

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 261


The media was truly dominated by the Big Six, and they would keep that status forever. One of the reasons why small studios would never have a chance to get rich in this industry if they did not serve the Big Six.

How could they promote their movies if the Big Six wouldn't let them? How could they make money if the Big Six rated their movies poorly?

So many movies were being released every week, but none of them were making a profit at the box office, they would quickly go to the videocassette market. That is the sad truth about this industry. It would never give you a fair fight.

It was fortunate that Grey Pictures didn't suffer that fate. But Kazir knew that future was never far away. Because once the deal with Paramount and Sony-Columbia ended, Grey Pictures would have to go back to the Big Six to distribute its films internationally.

Finding a local distributor was not so easy, but international distribution was another matter. Only the Big Six + MGM could do that.

April came and went and only two movies made over $100 million. Again, these were not good months to release movies. People were usually busy in those months.

The first was Along Came A Spider from Paramount, which grossed $105 million. This was not a horror movie, it was a thriller/mystery about a kidnapping.

Second was Bridget Jones's Diary with $272 million, produced and distributed by Miramax.

As always, it was hard for small studios to profit from the box office when the Big Six controlled the media. No way to promote their movies, always eating crumbs. No chance to prove themselves.

.........

......

...

Well, the summer schedule officially started in May. So many blockbusters were released that month that people didn't know what to watch. This was the beginning of the annual battle between the Big Six.

The Mummy Returns premiered in the first week and was distributed by Universal Pictures. The Mummy franchise was a good movie, but it lost its meaning after Brendan Fraser disappeared from Hollywood. Brendan Fraser was sexually harassed and he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. That was life in Hollywood, you had to keep your mouth shut even when crime was all around you.

Anyway, The Mummy Returns grossed $435 million. You see, the franchise was amazing.

In its second week, The Knight's Tale barely passed $100 million. It was produced by Sony-Columbia.

In the third week, the chad of the movie called Shrek was released. This was an animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation. This was proof that Disney was not the only one that could compete in 3D animation. The film grossed $491 million.

Pearl Harbor premiered in the fourth week. This was the first project Ben Affleck worked on after Wanted. His fame levelled up and more people recognized him. The film grossed $449 million.

As a result, the summer schedule was very competitive. Every week, big movies were released and tried to fight for the box office ranking.

The schedule was very tight and everyone was vying for the best week. Sometimes there were situations where two or three big movies were released in the same week, unfortunately they had to face each other.

.........

......

...

Midnight, June 1st, Friday.

The premiere of Spider-Man ended with such a bang. So many kids, teenagers and even adults were wearing Spider-Man costumes. They were so happy as they left the theaters one by one.

Every theater had satisfied customers. The Spider-Man movie would define the meaning of the superhero movie.

"I'm going to give it an A+! I don't care what anybody else thinks! This is the best movie I have ever seen! Dude, did you see that scene where Spider-Man swings from building to building? That's a shot that will never leave my mind! Trapped in my childhood memories!" proclaimed by an avid comic book reader, and many passersby agreed. Interested, they decided to answer the survey. They thought the movie deserved it.

The word-of-mouth about Spider-Man was so influential. Perhaps its influence was comparable to that of Wanted, which was released last year.

The rating averaged A and the CinemaScore felt like it was going to be A-. That was a high rating.

The midnight box office for Spider-Man was $10 million. That was just the midnight. Sony-Columbia predicted that the first day would be around $30 to $35 million.

A first day gross of $30 million was a clear success. Sony-Columbia made the right choice in choosing the right person to direct the movie.

As always, Kazir got it right. Everyone thought the $100 million budget was too small to make a superhero movie. But Kazir was so good at budgeting the project that a few million was left over.

Sony-Columbia decided to add those millions to the marketing budget. The marketing budget was $39 million and they promoted the movie all over the country. They have to win the US first before others.

The X-Men that came out last year was good, but Spider-Man was amazing.

That was the beginning of the epiphany for Marvel Comics. They realized that their characters had a place in theaters. No, they were made for theaters.

Time was changing and people preferred digital. Movies and TV shows were the answer to their problems.

Suddenly they had an epiphany... Most of their characters had been looted! They were selling them so that Marvel Comics could survive!

They realized how much they had screwed up! If they had known that their characters could make a lot of money, they would have kept them or sold them at higher prices.

So yes, management tried to contact some companies that had acquired their characters. Their target, the guy who owned most of their characters, the guy who actually directed Spider-Man. Director Kazir Grey of Grey Pictures.

Well, maybe they could work with the guy.


++++


[Author's note: Damn, this is more like a fast forward summary. I'm sorry, I have no idea what to write, so I decided to fast forward. Besides, I know you guys wanted the Spider-Man premiere to start anyway.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 262


June was tough for everyone, not just Sony-Columbia, but even the Big Six. Hell, even Grey Pictures was going to have trouble this month.

And why is that? Because so many movies were coming out that month. Even if they didn't want to, those movies were going to have to fight to make money. The promotion this month was so fierce that every TV channel was promoting movies.

The first weekend in June was dominated by Spider-Man. This was the only schedule Sony-Columbia could find for the movie. Every week was packed with big movies.

In fact, next week, starting June 8, a new batch of movies will be released. This time, Walt Disney, DreamWorks and Warner Bros. would release their movies on the same night.

Walt Disney would release their animated movie titled Atlantis: The Lost Empire. A very underrated hand-drawn animated film.

DreamWorks would release Evolution, a comedy.

While Warner Bros. released Swordfish, an action movie.

These movies did well during the week. Unfortunately for them, it was hard to compete with a superhero movie that had great special effects. There was something about superhero movies that people loved so much at that time.

To make matters worse, the word of mouth about Spider-Man was nothing but positive. Almost no one had anything bad to say about it. Kids, teens, and even adults praised the movie. This led to a massive increase in ticket sales.

The fact that the director of this movie was also the director of Wanted made it even better. Wanted was so huge last year, $1 billion at the box office. Of course it would get that much attention. So Spider-Man joined the fun.

After 10 days in theaters, Spider-Man made $223.04 million! Damn, how can a movie make that much in just ten days?

Was the movie really that good? Or was director Kazir Grey just so talented that he could make any movie shine?

Spider-Man's path was smooth sailing. Tobey Maguire and the rest of the Spider-Man cast easily became superstars because of the attention Spider-Man got.

Even Willem Dafoe, who risked his career to play a villain, had a good day. Now the studios realized that the guy could play many roles, from a good assassin to the villain of a superhero movie.

Unfortunately, while Spider-Man was at his peak, Kazir Grey could not help but be sad about some things.

On June 15, Paramount Pictures joined the battle with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie... A very hard time for the couple.

In fact, Kazir and Angelina had a little fight.

"This is the second time this has happened. Last time it was Gone in 60 Seconds. And now it's Lara Croft."

Angelina grumbled as she cuddled with her man. She hated that Paramount chose June as release date. They should have rescheduled it away from Spider-Man. Angelina was confident that Kazir's movie would dominate the month.

"We can't help it. We're just a worker and we can't influence management. Besides, Paramount can't find the right week to release the movie. In July, Legally Blonde, Jurassic Park 3, Planet of the Apes and Cats and Dogs will be released."

"So are you saying that I should stomach it instead?" She raised her brow.

"Of course not, you can cry on my shoulder instead."

He teased the woman by touching her nose.

"Tch, I can't hate you because you're so hot."

The woman touched the man's abs and playfully pinched them. Well, the first week of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was pretty good. It made $47.73 million in its first weekend.

But the comparison with Spider-Man was pretty brutal. The superhero film grossed $289.88 million.

Numbers. Looking at those numbers was numbing, but the amount it represented was outrageous. You could buy 170 McLaren Elva's with that amount!

To be fair, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was only out for three days while Spider-Man was out for 18 days. However, the first three days of Spider-Man grossed $114.84 million, so... Yes, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was nothing compared to the glory of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

"Now that I think about it, are you going to be okay? Next week is Fast and The Furious. Spider-Man and Fast and The Furious might collide."

Sony-Columbia was responsible for distributing Fast and The Furious, and they decided to release the film on June 22, the same day 20th Century Fox would release Dr. Dolittle 2.

"Like I said before, I can't help it. It's already fortunate that Sony-Columbia chose the summer schedule to release two of our movies."

In fact, Kazir Grey fought for this outcome. He didn't want to jeopardize his two movies, so it was better to release them before September.

Fast and The Furious in June and John Wick Chapter 2 in August. This was the schedule Kazir fought for.

Fortunately, Sony-Columbia didn't want to sour their relationship, so they agreed. Besides, Sony-Columbia had nothing big to release this year except Spider-Man.

Kazir hoped his hard work would pay off. He remembered that in his past life, after the success of Avengers, most of the Marvel movies made good profits.

If his calculation was correct, Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2 would receive the same treatment. He really hoped so... That would be another way to increase their net worth. The more good movies, the more chips they could use.

Just like that, June 22 came and Kazir had to attend the premiere. Even though he was not active on this project because he was working on Spider-Man, he made sure to attend the post-production. He had to watch the footage so he knew what was going on.

"I won't lie, the effect of the CCU on Fast and The Furious was so serious."

+++++

[I skipped the synopsis for Spider-Man, since all of us here have already seen it. Yes, I think we have all seen Spider-Man (2002). This movie was the biggest superhero of the early 2000s and I strongly believe that all of us watched it at least once].

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 263


"Woohoo! This car is amazing!"

LAPD Brian O'Connor exclaimed as he tried out the car that Dom Toreto had given him to try out.

This car had the new technology that Dom and his gang had stolen from a semi-truck trailer. The technology was still in the experimental stage, but Brian O'Connor realized the danger it could bring.

The engine was so fast that he felt like everything was turning white. However, Brian understood that this was not the dangerous technology that the CIA was looking for...

.........

......

...

These were just some of the plot changes that affected Fast and The Furious.

Kazir shook hands with all the cast members of Fast and The Furious. These actors were still new, and none of them had a stable foothold in the industry.

"Director, thank you for casting me."

Paul Walker approached him and thanked him sincerely. Paul Walker had been in this industry since the 80s and he knew that it was very hard to get stable jobs. Even though the Fast and Furious franchise has so many actors, Paul Walker knew his role was important.

"It's nothing. By the way, do you use a stunt double for your stunts?" Kazir asked curiously.

"Yes and no. If the stunt is not too hard, I'll do it."

"... Okay."

Kazir nodded and asked nothing more.

Paul Walker's death was very sad for the "family" of the Fast and The Furious franchise.

The man died after attending a charity event. It was a car accident, Paul Walker was not even the driver. He was just the passenger.

'Paul didn't die on the set, but I still have to be sure.' Kazir didn't want to see people around him die.

Honestly, Paul Walker's death brought something positive and something negative to the franchise. But Kazir was not crazy about it. Life was something he would never joke about.

On June 22, the first day of Fast and The Furious, it grossed $17.05 million. And yes, this was a clear success based on 24 hours of screenings. Now all they had to do was keep that trend going. As long as Fast and The Furious didn't suffer too much from other movies, it would be fine.

But surprisingly, Dr. Dolittle 2, released on the same day, actually beat Fast and The Furious!

With $27.63 million, Dr. Dolittle 2 secured the top spot for the day! Even Spider-Man could not compete with only $7 million.

Well, Spider-Man already made $305.07 million, so no big deal. Sony-Columbia recouped their investment in just 22 days, which was a good thing.

It was a surprise that Dr. Dolittle 2 beat Fast and The Furious.

People didn't remember that the protagonist of Dr. Dolittle 2 was Eddie Murphy! This guy had strong box office appeal. 48 Hours franchise, Beverly Hills Cop franchise, and The Nutty Professor franchise. Man, the guy was a famous actor.

Compared to a bunch of new actors in Fast and the Furious, of course Dr. Dolittle would do well. The question was, for how long? The genres of the two movies were comedy and action. Two completely different genres, which one would last long?

Grey Pictures was a bit on the edge and even Kazir was nervous. If Fast and The Furious flopped, it would be bad for them.

The following week, Kazir had trouble sleeping. It was funny that Spider-Man was doing well while Fast and The Furious was still hanging. The publicity for Fast and The Furious was weaker compared to Spider-Man, which could be one of the factors.

Some critics even accused Grey Pictures of becoming arrogant and believing that their movies would always be box office hits. They even blamed Taiwanese director Justin Lin.

Fortunately for Grey Pictures, the seven days showed that Fast and The Furious was just filling the gas tank to speed up.

Dr. Dolittle 2 grossed $56.27 million after seven days.

As for Fast and The Furious, it was $69.18 million!

With that, the movie critics started to shut up. Besides, who cares about the opinions of movie critics? Most of their opinions are biased anyway.

If people liked certain movies, then the critics would fucking hate those movies. It was as simple as that.

In the new century, critics became less relevant. The internet and blogging were some of the reasons.

With that as a start, the performance of Fast and The Furious got better.

When Independence Day (July 4) came, Fast and The Furious grossed $92.73 million.

Spider-Man also grossed $360.11 million that day.

Even Lara Croft: Tomb Raider did well with $107.31 million.

The summer schedule was indeed the best months to release movies because so many people would buy movie tickets. The money that theaters made this season could be more than $2 billion if you add it all up.

Just like that, June ended and July arrived. Another batch of movies would be released. The studios were very busy competing for more theaters.

Even Spider-Man and other movies started to lose theaters as more movies would be released and they needed theaters.

From 3600 theaters, Spider-Man went down to 2700 theaters. It was a miracle that Sony-Columbia was able to keep the numbers up, because it was hard to keep the theaters open in the summer. Fortunately, Spider-Man was doing well and was making millions every day.

Although it won't be long before the number of theaters drops to 2000. That was a result that was impossible to overcome.

After so many hectic days and knowing that Fast and The Furious would have a steady trend, Kazir received an invitation from 20th Century Fox to attend the premiere of Legally Blonde.

Kazir was the scriptwriter of this movie although his participation was counted on one hand.

Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon were competing for the female lead of this movie and Reese Witherspoon won the role.

Now Kazir had no idea whether he should attend the premiere or not.

++++

[Author's note: So should Kazir go to the Legally Blonde premiere? I will write a chapter about the red carpet of Legally Blonde if you say yes. I know this question has already been answered next chapter but I still want to read your opinion. Heck, you can even comment down that the author is so fucking stupid because he can't post chapter everyday.]

[Anyway, the last few chapters were like summaries. But what can I do, it was the summer schedule and I have no plot to add. Unless you want me to write about Kazir's mother instead. Maybe some scenes about Mara Cohen's modeling career?].

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 264


20th Century Fox bought Legally Blonde at a high price. The company bought it for $4.7 million after many negotiations with Rafael, the other agent responsible for Kazir.

Besides Salvatore, Kazir had two other agents who helped him in his career.

The first was Stetson, a writer and novelist who helped Kazir tailor the dialogue in his screenplay.

The other was Rafael, who filled in when Salvatore was busy with other work. Rafael was usually the one who dealt with the studios when they wanted to buy Kazir's scripts.

So yes, Rafael got a commission after 20th Century Fox bought Legally Blonde.

Anyway, Legally Blonde was one of the scripts that Kazir wrote, and he was attached to that project even though he didn't have any rights to it anymore. He was just a screenwriter and executive producer. Although, to be honest, his latter position was basically nonsense this time.

He only came to the set twice because he was also busy with Spider-Man.

He also had to show up for cameo appearances in Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2. Yes, Kazir still kept up the tradition of appearing in every movie.

In fact, he added that aspect to Spider-Man as well. He asked Stan Lee to do a cameo in Spider-Man and the old man was happy to do it.

The red carpet for Legally Blonde was extravagant. The red carpet was not red, it was pink. Almost everything was pink and yellow.

Of course, since it was his script, Kazir had to attend the premiere. Like last time with Napoleon Dynamite III, Angelina Jolie was with him.

The woman was interested in this movie. She was also interested in Reese Witherspoon. Last time, the woman made a good impression, but Angelina noticed something strange about Reese. She wanted to confirm her suspicions.

Angelina followed the theme and wore a pink dress. As for Kazir, the man wore a lame black suit and a yellow tie. He was the type who never wore anything colorful. If possible, he would wear baggy pants and a t-shirt just to feel comfortable.

The couple waved to the fans. Angelina and Kazir were celebrities. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider grossed more than $118 million after one month in theaters. However, the number of theaters showing the movie had been reduced to 1000.

There were so many movies coming out this July and August that some movies would suffer from a lack of theaters. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was one of them.

As for Spider-Man, the number of theaters that showed the movie was down to 2000.

They were a perfect couple and they had chemistry. Well, they had been in a relationship for over a year and it was not that long to understand each other clearly.

The two didn't stay on the "red" carpet for long and instead went into the theater.

"Kazir, nice to meet you. I didn't expect to see you tonight."

"Tom, this movie was written by me, of course I'll be here."

Kazir shrugged and replied to Tom Rothman.

"Have you thought about our last conversation?"

After the Warner Bros. news, Tom Rothman contacted Rupert Murdoch, and 20th Century Fox got the green light to acquire Grey Pictures. Of course, this was just the beginning and there was no official statement from the company.

However, Tom Rothman had already given Kazir some indication of their intentions.

'I say that 20th Century Fox is helping me a lot. There's no news about Time Warner and AOL, so I think Warner Brothers is really interested in my company. But now that 20th Century Fox has joined the competition, the chance of getting a better deal is higher.'

If he sold at least 30% of his shares, he could get $1 billion from one of them. But Kazir was not interested in money.

What he wanted was shares. That was the only way he and Grey Pictures could survive. As long as he had stock in Warner Bros. or 20th Century Fox, he could sit on the board and influence their decisions. He could protect his company and his profession.

'You have to be part of the family to be treated like one. So I'm not going to sell it, I'm going to trade it for shares instead.'

For someone like him, who made millions every year, money was just part of the excitement. But the main source of his happiness was making movies.

Just as chairman Michael Eisner had a hard time kicking out Harvey Weinstein because the brothers had shares in Walt Disney, Kazir would grab the leg and never let go of the protection.

"I'm still thinking about it."

Kazir smiled and answered briefly. He wanted to wait a year or two before looking for the best company to join. Even Walt Disney or Universal Pictures were no problem, he would be happy to work with them if the price and conditions were right.

"That's good to hear." Tom Rothman didn't stay long and left the couple alone.

Angelina giggled, proud of her man.

"You're going to promote your movie in Japan next week, right?" She asked.

"Yes, Japan is the hometurf of Sony and they want all the cast to be there for the premiere of Spider-Man. Even the publicity in Japan is so strong that Sony has hyped the movie."

"Since you're going away for a week or two, how about we go to the beach and have some fun? Paramount Pictures will be promoting Lara Croft internationally, so we will also be busy next week."

"Okay."

Angelina took his arm and pulled him to a certain place. Angelina hadn't forgotten why she was at this premiere, to tease Reese...

The actress found Reese talking to someone and grinned.

"Hi, Reese. Congratulations on your new movie!"

Angelina greeted the woman excitedly.

"Huh? Ah, thanks."

Reese was surprised at first, then she responded when she saw Angelina and Kazir. Reese looked great, and she was with someone.

+++++

[Author's Note: All right, I'll say it. Reese is done with Kazir, feelings and emotions can fade with time. The woman has really moved on and I'll write it in the next chapter].

[Just to remind everyone, do not take this novel seriously. Just think of this novel as a parody.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 265


A man stood next to Reese and it seemed that they were quite close. The distance between them seemed to be zero.

Angelina was surprised and didn't expect this situation. Nevertheless, she kept her smile and congratulated the woman.

Kazir also approached Reese and greeted her.

"Congratulations Reese, Legally Blonde is going to be a box office hit."

"Thank you, Kazir. It's your script, so I believe the same."

"..."

Angelina didn't expect Reese to answer Kazir. She even looked into Kazir's eyes without hesitation. Reese didn't show any embarrassment, she was just happy and true to herself.

It was then that Angelina realized that the woman had changed. Last year, at the premiere of Napoleon Dynamite III, Reese could not look at Kazir, but now she was fine. She was no longer affected by Kazir.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce my friend. Angelina, Kazir, this is Ryan Phillippe."

"Nice to meet you, Ryan."

"Nice to meet you."

The two men shook hands.

Ryan Phillippe was an actor. He had starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer, 54, Playing By Heart, and Cruel Intentions.

"I'm a fan of your movies, director."

"Is that so? I'm glad to hear that."

"I tried to audition for Wanted, but I didn't make it past the second round."

"Maybe we can work together next time."

The two men began to talk about their jobs. They almost forgot about the women next to them.

"Um, we're going to go now. Have fun, guys."

Disappointed that she didn't see the result she was looking for, Angelina decided to pull Kazir away from the couple. She thought she would see Reese getting uncomfortable, but she saw none of that.

'She moved on. Wow...' Angelina didn't expect that outcome.

Feelings and emotions can change and disappear. Kazir and Reese had not seen each other for almost three years. It was enough for a person to change.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Angelina and Kazir sat down.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"About Reese and her boyfriend."

"They look perfect together. I can see they are in love. I'm happy for them."

Kazir wished his friends and relatives a good life. No one deserves to suffer.

"...Kazir, you really are a nice person."

Angelina sighed and kissed him on the cheek. She loved that about him. She knew that Kazir meant it when he said it.

'That's good, because I don't want him to be jealous that his ex got a boyfriend. His feelings should only be for me.' she giggled.

In the last few months, she heard a lot of rumors that Kirsten Dunst was trying to get closer to Kazir. Angelina could testify that the rumors were true, she witnessed it herself when she visited the set of Spider-Man. Of course, she signed a non-disclosure agreement before entering the set.

Anyway, she saw Kirsten trying to flirt with Kazir. The good thing was that Kazir was always serious about his work and had no intention of playing with the actress. However, Angelina was still mad about it, so she dominated Kazir in bed... for a few seconds.

Kazir was not a toxic person, and he was genuinely happy that Reese had found someone to love.

'He is not toxic, but he just loves movies so much. I think he loves movies more than I do...'

"Angelina, why are you looking at me like that? Why are you sulking?"

"Nothing, don't mind me."

She said.

A few minutes later, the movie started and the theaters went dark. Movie trailers for upcoming movies began to appear one by one.

.........

......

...

The first weekend of Legally Blonde grossed over $27 million.

This cemented the fact that Kazir Grey's scripts could make money, especially if they were in the comedy or action genres. Unfortunately for the studios, Kazir never sold any of his action scripts. He only sold comedies, well, they were profitable, so it was not a problem.

While Legally Blonde was making money, Spider-Man was doing the same.

The superhero movie grossed $382.53 million after 45 days in theaters. Many believed it would be the highest grossing film of the year domestically.

'Maybe worldwide. But too bad, there are two movies that can challenge Spider-Man at the top.' Kazir thought as he sat in one of the seats of a private plane.

Sony gave them a private plane to use for this worldwide tour. Their first stop was Japan.

'Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings will officially start their huge franchise this year and one of them can become the top 1 highest grossing movie of the year. If I'm not wrong, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will be the highest grossing movie this year.' he recalled the hype regarding this series.

The cast of Spider-Man had a "light" celebration on the plane. Tobey Maguire and James Franco had a showdown to see who could drink a bottle of beer the fastest.

Tobey Maguire was recommended by Leonardo DiCaprio because they were friends.

As for James Franco, Kazir cast him because he wanted to keep the original cast. Even though he heard that this guy had some scandal...

Anyway, Kazir didn't give a fuck. He knew and accepted the truth about Hollywood, this industry was filled with disgusting people.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Kazir asked his friend Willem Dafoe.

"No, I'm not used to partying. I like alcohol, but not bars and parties."

"Yeah, we are the same."

"It's funny because you're two decades younger than me, but you act like you're already in your 70s. Kazir, you should act like you're your age."

"Willem, I think I act my age."

"Okay."

Anyway, the two "old" men drank a toast and enjoyed the taste of a fine wine served by the flight attendant.

It was a good thing the media wouldn't be there to greet them and they would go straight to their hotel to rest. Otherwise, the newspapers would have reported that the cast of Spider-Man was drunk when they landed in Japan.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 266


Promoting a big movie was very difficult. Since Spider-Man was predicted to gross more than $400 million outside the U.S., Sony-Columbia felt they needed a lot of publicity.

The cast of Spider-Man went to Japan as their first stop. The culture of Japan and the U.S. were not the same at all, and the Americans had a hard time adjusting to their week in Japan. Only Kazir knew how to use chopsticks.

Fortunately, most of the major countries that contributed to the box office were English-speaking, such as Great Britain and Australia.

Kazir was a famous and important director. With that in mind, Kazir personally told Frank Price that he would only promote the film for three weeks. After that he would return to the U.S. to attend the premiere of John Wick Chapter 2.

Frank Price had no problem with that. Kazir was the director but he never showed his face in the movie, the audience wanted to see the cast like Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe more than him.

Another reason was that Frank Price wanted to maintain a good relationship with the director. He was working with Kazir for the fourth time and he knew that Kazir was an amazing talent.

John Wick

The Bourne Identity

Wanted

Spider-Man

These four films were distributed by Sony-Columbia and they were all successful. Unfortunately, Sony-Columbia couldn't maximize their profits because three of these movies were solely owned by Grey Pictures.

But hey, Spider-Man did well, so that's good.

Recognizing this fact, Frank Price even went to Sony headquarters to get approval to take over Grey Pictures. Sony-Columbia was weak because they couldn't make a successful franchise. If Sony-Columbia acquired Grey Pictures, that problem would be over.

Sony was promoting their DVD players to the masses and Sony-Columbia was an important part of that project. Even though Sony-Columbia was currently surviving, Sony wanted to maintain its position in the US.

Sony's management felt that acquiring Grey Pictures would be a good thing, so they decided to start an acquisition plan. Besides, Grey Pictures was just a start-up company and the highest net worth it could get was $4 billion... Unless the Big Five decided to compete and increase the value of Grey Pictures.

Three companies had already agreed to acquire Grey Pictures. Although there was no official announcement and they were all still in the watch and listen stage.

Another reason why Frank Price let Kazir leave the promotion earlier was because John Wick Chapter 2 was also going to be distributed by Sony-Columbia. If Kazir's presence would help the movie sell more tickets, then Sony-Columbia would let the guy attend the premiere.

According to the contract, this was the last time Sony-Columbia would distribute their films. Grey Pictures and Sony-Columbia signed a deal for four movies.

After that... Kazir's plans were unknown at the time, and it was not certain that he would renew the contract.

One thing was for sure, Sony-Columbia would not fall for another 20% of the box office as a distribution fee. This contract was a terrible deal for Sony-Columbia.

In exchange for Bruce Almighty and writing the screenplay for 21 Jump Street, Sony-Columbia bled a lot. Although working with Grey Pictures has given them something good as well.

Now more audiences are realizing that Sony-Columbia is getting better because their recent movies have been mostly successful.

.........

......

...

Late on the night of August 16, 2001, at the Dolby Theaters in Los Angeles, the lobby was filled with fans eager to see the movie.

Also, most of the fans were wearing black tuxedos. They looked professional and neat. Most of the men in tuxedos had shoulder length hair and beards. Some of these were fake, but most were real hair and beards.

Kazir heard that his fans were starting to get a reputation. He decided to reach out to the fan base and invited 100 Grey fans to the premiere.

This was the first time Grey fans were officially invited to a premiere. Kazir also promised Grey that he would sign autographs after the premiere in the building next to the Dolby Theater. The fans could get their merchandise signed by the famous director himself.

Kazir attended the premiere alone because Angelina was promoting Lara Croft: Tomb Raider overseas.

Before Kazir could enter the theater, he heard a loud cheer from the fans. He turned to find Tom Cruise walking down the red carpet.

The actor waved to reporters and fans, basically stealing the spotlight. Tom Cruise remained famous for the next two decades. One of the actors who maintained his popularity and relevance throughout the decades.

"Show-off." Kazir chuckled.

He was actually the one who had invited the actor to see John Wick Chapter 2. He wanted to talk to him about possible movies they could work on together.

But surprisingly, Tom Cruise did not attend the premiere with his wife. Maybe the rumors were true. Maybe the relationship between them is already over.

Maybe Eyes Wide Shut (1999) made their relationship rocky because that was the last time the couple worked together and the result of the movie was good but not the best.

The cast of Eyes Wide Shut was star-studded. Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and director Stanley Kubrick. Damn, it was basically a dream team.

The production cost of Eyes Wide Shut was $65 million and the box office was $162 million. So yeah, not too bad. Unfortunately, the couple went cold on each other after that.

+++++

[Author's Note: Next year, I want Kazir to compete for the Oscars. I like Tom Cruise as an actor, so he will work with him. I'm going to make a poll about the possible movies they can make to win Best Director and Best Actor].

[By the way, do you want Kazir to change his girlfriend or stay with Angelina for a while? I can make a poll about that as well]

[Edit: The patrons had decided the fate of our MC.]

[Another Edit: I know some of you might not like Tom Cruise, but bear with me. I've watched Tom Cruise movies when I was a child and I can say I'm a fan. I like him as an actor. As for his personality outside his job, I can't say he is perfect. My favorite Tom Cruise movie is War Of The Worlds.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 267


Viggo Mortensen received so much applause from the fans who watched him walk down the red carpet. He still had shoulder-length hair and a short beard. He was John Wick.

He looked around and noticed that behind the reporters who kept clicking their cameras, there were a bunch of people who looked just like him...

It was like he found his twin... So many twins. The fans wore black suits. They have shoulder-length hair and beards, just like him. They were a bunch of clones.

Viggo heard that some fans of the Continental Cinematic Universe were invited to the premiere, so Viggo was calm about it.

He could see that these people loved John Wick because they were wearing his outfit.

After modeling for the reporters and being interviewed, Viggo entered the theater.

The first person he found was Kazir Grey. Viggo had so much respect for this guy.

Kazir was an honorable and talented person. Viggo admitted that this director was the one who gave him a career. And he was grateful for that.

So he approached the guy to express his gratitude.

Kazir saw Viggo approaching and sighed.

"Viggo, if you say, 'Thank you for casting me,' I'm going to sucker punch you.

He had heard that line from Viggo so many times that he was tired of it.

Viggo was surprised at first, then shrugged.

"I just wanted to congratulate you, Spider-Man is a box office hit."

"Glad to hear it."

Kazir nodded.

"I hear The Lord of the Rings is coming out in December."

"That's right."

New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. had already announced that they would release the epic fantasy film on December 19, 2001.

This should make the other studios back out of that date and find another date to release their movies. So far, none of the Big Six has announced that they will release their movies on December 19th. Which means their plan worked.

Monopolizing a week of theatrical release was good for The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.

Everyone knew about the movie and New Line Cinema had invested so much money in the movie. If all went well, they would make a profit.

New Line Cinema only invested in the first movie because they were not sure if The Lord Of The Rings would be successful. If the movie was a hit, they would approve the investment for the 2nd and 3rd sequels.

This was the same situation with The Matrix. Warner Bros. was not sure if the movie would do well, so they only invested in the first movie. But after knowing that The Matrix was successful, Warner Bros. didn't hesitate and immediately approved the filming of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

"I heard there was some trouble on the set."

"Well, how can I explain it? Fans of the novel protested and infiltrated the set, destroying some of the props. They felt that the movie would tarnish the reputation of the story that J.R.R. Tolkien spent his life telling."

"You know, these people grew up reading the series and they are afraid that their childhood memories will be replaced with something bad if The Lord Of The Rings is badly adapted. However, it's fucked up for them to cause trouble on the set."

"Some of the crew got hurt because of them. Sometimes you can't be civil with obsessed fans. They will not hesitate to commit crimes."

Viggo sighed as he spoke.

"Seems like you speak from experience."

"Well..." Viggo smiled weakly. "An obsessed fan followed me to my hotel room and entered the bathroom while I was showering. She was naked and hugged me from behind. I swear, not a good experience at all."

The woman was beautiful, but that didn't make things any better. Viggo forgot to lock his room because he was too tired. A few minutes later, a female stranger hugged him.

Viggo almost had a heart attack when this happened. Fortunately, he calmed down and handled the whole thing peacefully. He called the guards and threw the woman out.

The woman kept saying she was John Wick's wife, which was not funny at all.

"I realized that being famous is not so easy... At least this shows that I'm already a famous person, haha."

He tried to lighten the atmosphere with a joke, but he noticed that Kazir was looking at him seriously.

"Hire a bodyguard. Or hire an assistant who can be a bodyguard."

"Should I?"

"Such things should be taken seriously. Lock your door, always."

"Yes, I started doing that after the incident."

The two were silent for a few seconds.

"I think The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Rings will be successful."

Kazir muttered confidently.

"It's comforting to hear that from you. I'm nervous about The Lord of the Rings. I spent two years in New Zealand just to be a part of this project. I was also a fan of the novel, and it's an honor to be part of the cast, no, it's an honor to be Aragorn. But sometimes I can't help but be nervous. Maybe if someone like you are the one directing this movie, I'll be 100% confident. A lot of small and big problems happened during the filming of this movie. I'm not even sure if there will be a sequel."

"Am I really that great?"

"That's right. Your presence is enough to make things better."

"Damn..."

Kazir was speechless and a bit embarrassed. The flattery was too much.

"How is it working with Fremont? This is his second movie."

Fremont Smith was invited by Disney to direct John Carter, but Fremont turned the offer down.

The last time Kazir heard from John Carter, filming was underway, with a possible release next year.

"He's doing well. He swears sometimes, but overall he is fine." Viggo said of Fremont.

"If a director doesn't swear once in a while, he's not a director."

Cursing was already part of the English language. "Fuck" has so many meanings that people sometimes used it to praise someone, like: "Fuck, you're so beautiful." Or "You're a fucking genius!" Or "Fuck me in the ass, you big stud!"

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 268


The plot of John Wick Chapter 2 was the same as the past life Kazir saw. Some scenes were added and some scenes were deleted, but the overall plot was basically the same.

There were also some cameos about Wesley Gibson and Raizo that made the movie more exciting. But the one who made the movie complete was none other than John Wick himself.

His fights were all amazing and there was never a boring moment in the theater. The last few minutes were even more exciting after the High Table announced that John Was was "excommunicated".

The audience stood up and clapped their hands. As always, CCU movies always delivered. They stuck to their formula, but took it to the next level.

The cast stood on stage and bowed. The premiere usually had some interviews and the reporters asked the cast and the director about the project.

Unlike the last time, when Fremont was in tears, the black director was calm and confident in his speech. He decided to keep his fade haircut instead of growing his hair out and going back to his afro look. Being a director was very stressful and busy. Keeping his afro hair was never an option in this job. Hell, there were times when he couldn't shower nor fix his hair at all.

Fremont and Viggo were the stars of this project, so most of the questions were directed at them.

After two successful movies in a row, Fremont seemed to be climbing up the ladder of great directors. Directors who had box office appeal, someone who could make a profit from their art.

Kazir knew his work was done and decided to take the next step.

Kazir and Sony-Columbia signed a contract for Kazir to direct two Spider-Man movies. Sony-Columbia wanted a trilogy deal, but Kazir's side had the upper hand, so the result was only two movies.

Sony-Columbia decided to release Spider-Man 2 in 2004, three years from now.

That gave Kazir two years to do his thing.

After much deliberation, he decided to compete for the Best Director Award at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.

Actually, Kazir had so many ideas in his head, but he didn't know what to choose.

So first he talked to Tom Cruise and asked the actor if he wanted to compete for the Oscars.

Tom Cruise has been nominated for four Academy Awards in his entire career, but he has never won.

He was nominated twice for Best Actor for his roles in Born On The Fourth Of July and Jerry Maguire.

Have you ever seen Tom Cruise in a wheelchair with a thick mustache and long, bald hair? Yes, the handsome young actor tried to destroy his career for his role in Born On The Fourth Of July, which earned him a Best Actor nomination. But oh well, his sacrifice didn't win him a golden statue.

Tom Cruise was famous for choosing safe roles and maintaining his image as a good-looking guy. He rarely chooses roles that could destroy his image.

Seven years after Born On The Fourth Of July, Tom Cruise took the role of Jerry Maguire, but that was not enough for him to win a golden statue either.

Last year, in 2000, Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his supporting role in Magnolia... He didn't win either.

As for his fourth nomination... It would come 23 years later, a Best Picture nomination for Top Gun: Maverick.

None of his four nominations won him a statue. Everyone admitted that Tom Cruise was a superstar, but the golden statue was not meant for him.

Kazir has long been a fan of Tom Cruise, even in his former life. The fact that Rain Man was Kazir's first job in the industry added to that.

Kazir and Tom had a brief conversation on the set of Rain Man, and that memory stayed with Kazir, giving him the truth that actors and actresses are human: An ordinary person like him had the chance to talk to Tom Cruise as if they were just two ordinary people.

After that, Kazir decided to become one of his fans. It was as simple as that. Maybe Tom Cruise was one of the reasons why Kazir decided to become a director.

Even if it sounds silly, Kazir wanted to return the favor by inviting the actor to be the protagonist of his project... Um, he was still not sure what kind of movie he wanted to produce.

First, he had to ask Tom about his opinion on attending the Oscars.

.........

......

...

"The premiere is not over yet, but you already left the place, why is that?"

"Nah, it's their movie, not mine. They should get all the attention."

"Wow, so our talented director Kazir Grey is actually arrogant. He thinks he is attracting the attention of reporters."

"I should say that to you as well. I saw some people asking for your autograph. Bruh, you're just a guest, you should act like one."

Kazir and Tom teased and laughed at each other. They clanked their wineglasses, having fun.

Kazir didn't talk about Tom's love life because it could be a sensitive subject. Instead, after a few shots, he asked Tom for his opinion on the Oscars.

"Tom, what do you think about the Academy Awards?"

"Hm?" Tom was quite surprised, but perhaps because of the alcohol, he didn't mind the question.

"If you're asking me about the Academy Awards, it's a program that glorifies Hollywood. I admit that the members are prejudiced and never like the opinion of the public, but the Academy Awards is indeed one of the reasons why Hollywood stands still."

"Are you interested in a gold statue?"

"You mean the Oscar's best actor award? Of course I am. That's every actor's dream in this business. The Academy Awards are full of shit, but I can't deny that the prestige it brings is powerful. It means that the industry has accepted the truth that my acting is worthy of an award."

Tom Cruise began to chatter about his thoughts on the Oscars. As for Kazir, he just listened.

The next day, Tom Cruise would realize that Kazir had a reason for asking him questions about the Oscars.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 269


The first weekend of John Wick Chapter 2 was as successful as many expected.

The movie grossed $49.45 million on August 19. With that, the two Continental movies were released and are currently doing well.

The Fast and The Furious has earned more than $131 million at the box office and would have its first international release next week. The cast of The Fast and The Furious would have a world tour to promote the movie... John Wick Chapter 2 would do the same next month.

Spider-Man also did something incredible. The movie grossed $403.62 million after almost three months in theaters. In North America, the movie was already losing steam, with daily grosses dropping to $1 million at best. The number of theaters showing the movie also dropped to 700.

Nothing bad, Spider-Man had already proven itself at the North American box office. Few movies could compete with it this year, only Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings could do so.

On top of that, the international box office took in more than $121 million, bringing the total to $524 million. But unlike North America, overseas was just experiencing the Spider-Man craze, and the tickets sold would only continue to grow.

Spider-Man was PG-13 and families could see it together. It was for all audiences. Plus, the movie had a great reputation, and fans continued to praise it.

As a result, sales of Spider-Man merchandise also increased. Sony-Columbia and Marvel Comics were having the time of their lives.

Of course, Kazir was having a good time, too. After all, he was getting 7% of the sales. The contract was for 10 years, so Kazir had a steady source of income.

Another thing was the 27% share of the worldwide box office! Damn, that was huge.

Kazir had already received his $27 million salary directly into his bank account... He had so much money, but he didn't know what to do with it. Maybe he should also start investing in companies. He should invest in Apple, Google and Amazon.

Anyway, now that Spider-Man has grossed over $524 million, Kazir should get $141.48 million... That seems about right.

Sony-Columbia may have to pay him in 4 installments because releasing that amount of money could affect the company's operations.

Sony-Columbia could not do what New Line Cinema did to Peter Jackson because they needed Kazir to direct the 2nd film. They couldn't scam Kazir. So they have to accept this outrageous result.

Although they admitted that Kazir was worth the contract because the movie was a massive success. They just didn't expect to lose a huge amount of money. In fact, hiring big directors is quite difficult.

Sony-Columbia wondered if someone from the Big Six could break their record of 27+27 contracts.

If one of the Big Six hired Kazir, maybe.

A lot of big movies were released in August because it was the last month of summer.

The Princess Diaries and Rush Hour 2 both released in the first week.

American Pie 2 and The Others in the second week.

John Wick Chapter 2 in the third week.

Each of these films crossed the $100 million mark at the box office. Considering the circumstances, surpassing the $100 million mark was already an achievement. More than 40 movies were released this month, but only 5 movies reached $100 million, so it was something to be proud of.

Just like that, the summer season ended and September arrived.

After being so busy for so many years, Kazir decided to invite his family to his new house to celebrate his birthday.

Kazir's birthday was September 9th. Kazir was now 33 years old. He should probably take things seriously because he was really getting old now.

His birthday was extravagant, he spent his money on this special occasion. He rarely used his money and this was basically a miracle at this point.

"Happy birthday, baby!"

Angelina kissed his cheek after Kazir blew out his birthday cake, which had 33 candles.

Many of his friends came to celebrate his birthday. His new house was big enough to host a party for about 100 people.

"This is my gift."

Angelina was the first to give a gift. It was a card.

"... A wish card? What's that?"

"It means you can do whatever you want to my body tonight." She whispered.

"Oh honey, I've done what I want with your body. I have explored it so many times."

Kazir whispered back.

"You silly guy~~" She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. Angelina smiled and flirted with her man. She didn't care if Kirsten Dunst was staring at her from the corner of the house.

'Yeah, bitch. What are you gonna do about it?' Angelina flaunted in front of the young woman. She really loved seeing another woman get jealous every time she flirted with Kazir. Reese moved on, but it seemed Angelina had another woman to tease...

Of course, the cast of Spider-Man was invited to his party. Kazir has built up a huge network after working in the industry for more than a decade. So his birthday had a lot of celebrities.

+++++

[Author's Note.]

[Hi, I just wanted to say thank you for all your support. Your comments, likes, powerstones, and patreon subscriptions motivate me to keep going despite my mentality. I appreciate all your support].

[By the way, speaking of comments, I also appreciate your opinions and criticisms. One thing I've realized is that it's impossible for a perfectionist to write a novel, and I'm definitely not one...]

[Your comments and reviews, no matter how positive or negative, are allowed in my novel. Because all of your comments are interesting and have given me some ideas on how to move Hollywood What If forward].

[As for numbers, math, and grammar, don't expect me to step up my game. I've already accepted my fate, I'm stupid].