HOLLYWOOD WHAT IF

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 299


Robert's funeral was extravagant with many famous people in attendance. Kazir, the crew, and the cast of The Bourne Supremacy attended the funeral.

Kazir saw a few people he recognized. He also saw Cameron Diaz at the funeral, but she didn't approach him. She knew it was not the right time to talk to Kazir.

Cameron Diaz was part of the cast of The Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy, the first and second installments of the Jason Bourne franchise. She knew that Kazir and Robert were friends, despite the huge age difference.

Besides, Cameron had already accepted the fact that Kazir was over her. The man saw their relationship as nothing more than business. They both got their deals and it was a win-win situation.

After that, she left quietly. On her way out, Cameron saw someone she didn't expect to see. A famous actress was wearing a black dress as she approached the newly planted grave.

Kazir also saw the woman.

The woman placed red roses and then walked in Kazir's direction.

"Angelina..."

"Kazir, can we talk?" Angelina was wearing sunglasses so Kazir could not see her emotions.

"I understand."

The two decided to leave the funeral and went to a cafe, they were both wearing black which attracted some attention. Fortunately, the cafe had a few customers.

"I tried to visit the set of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days just to meet you." Kazir started the conversation.

"Yeah, I heard about that... I was there. I told the director that I didn't feel comfortable meeting you, so they didn't let you in the studio. Director Donald really wants to meet you, but he respects my decision."

"I understand." Kazir nodded.

As a professional director working in this industry for more than a decade, he knew that the mentality of the cast was important.

Director Donald prioritized the mentality of the cast to make sure there would be no mishaps.

"I didn't want to see you for a long time because I'm not sure about myself and my feelings. My feelings for you."

"..."

Kazir felt that the answer to the questions he kept asking himself would come today.

"I tried to avoid you, I know I'm quite childish. And I also know I'm arrogant. Maybe I didn't take this relationship very seriously, I thought you were just someone I would forget as soon as I was done with you. I thought I didn't love you." Angelina began to sniff, her nose red and congested as she sobbed.

"But when I heard that Robert Ludlum, a friend of yours, had died, my heart suddenly tightened and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I started thinking about you and how sad you will be. My heart can't take it." She cried and Kazir felt his chest grow warm.

He didn't know why, but he wanted to cry, too.

"I want to be there for you. It hurts me that you are in pain. So I took courage and came to the funeral to meet you and talk to you again."

Kazir hugged Angelina tightly as tears ran down his cheeks, both of them crying.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry for avoiding you, I'm arrogant and proud, I thought you'd come back to me once you realized I was the best thing that ever happened to you."

"No, Angelina, don't look at it that way. Being with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I should be the one to apologize. I let you down."

Kazir was not lying. The woman was indeed one of the best things that had happened to him. His whole life had been lonely, but Angelina gave him warmth.

Maturity.

Admitting your mistakes and doing your best to fix them was a sign of maturity.

"I'm sorry I bullied Kirsten."

Honestly, Angelina was like a crybaby right now. Her snot even landed on Kazir's suit, but that didn't bother Kazir at all. He just wanted to keep hugging her.

"You can bully whoever you want, I will always be there for you. I want you to know that I love you and I don't want to leave you."

"I love you too."

The two looked at each other, their faces streaked with tears and snot. Kazir smiled weakly and kissed Angelina on the cheek.

The sunglasses that Angelina was wearing fell off and Kazir saw what she looked like.

Angelina's eyes were swollen, as if she had been crying all night. Kazir felt bad. He thought he was the only one suffering from their breakup.

No one was perfect and Kazir knew that they both had their faults.

Kazir gently rubbed Angelina's eyelid and murmured, "I miss you. Angelina, I miss you so much."

"I miss you too."

They made eye contact. The chemistry between them grew and they began to kiss. They were almost sucking on each other's tongues.

... As for the other customers, they were stunned by what they were witnessing.

The couple started to cry. Then hugging. Then kissing.

This was a make-up stage! And they were doing it in public.

"Look Mommy, they are kissing! Gross, that's so disgusting!"

Suddenly, a young girl screamed and pointed her finger at the couple.

Angelina and Kazir realized what they were doing and blushed. They looked at each other and giggled, still with tears in their eyes.

So yes, the two found the nearest motel and did the nasty...

Angelina was embarrassed because her eyes were swollen from crying too much, but Kazir reassured her and showed her how beautiful she was right now.

They didn't leave the motel for two days and Kazir and Angelina had to postpone some of their work just to rekindle their relationship.

+++++

[Author's Note: Aight, I want to hear your opinions about this. I'm really curious. Are you disappointed or happy? Do you hate this development or like it? Or maybe you feel nothing at all? Please, comment your thoughts because your comments makes me motivated.]

[Another note: Yes... I just want to say that there's a poll in my P@treon regarding Kazir's possible wife. So far, two actresses had the most votes and there's a possible comeback. It's a privilege I decided to give to my patrons. No matter what the result is, I'll respect it and I'll write it.]

[So I'm blind to Kazir's relationship since I don't hold the decision. Also, since it's a little obvious, I voted for Jennifer Connelly and Kate Beckinsale in the poll because they were my crushes when I was young... If you also have a crush on Jennifer Connelly and Kate Beckinsale, why don't you subscribe to my P@treon and vote? You can also vote on Ko-fi if you can't use P@treon, the votes on Ko-fi will be counted].

P@treon link: https://www.patreon.com/Puji_maki

Ko-fi link: https://ko-fi.com/pujimaki

 

[Garbage_Truck]

Thank goodness man, I was already thinking that the girl was cheating on the protagonist.

 

[Luizinho]

Jennifer connelly is better for a long term.

 

[Knight-Night]

Personally, I would have chosen Kate Beckinsale too.

 

[Pujimaki]

Personally, I would have chosen Kate Beckinsale too.

Click to shrink...

You have a nice taste.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 300


[Damn, I didn't expect this novel to get this far. I started this novel as an experiment, I even thought of dropping this novel, but here I am. I want to thank all the readers and supporters who have supported this novel. Your support gives me motivation and reason to keep writing and maybe achieve my dreams. It means a lot to me].

++++++

The news of Robert Ludlum's death gave The Bourne Supremacy the boost it needed to collect more tickets.

Out of curiosity, people who knew nothing about Robert Ludlum and The Bourne Supremacy decided to follow the crowd and see the movie.

It was a good thing that The Bourne Supremacy was a great movie. The audience has no problem because the movie entertained them.

Even the critics, who are slowly losing their jobs because of the Internet and bloggers, praised the movie. To be precise, they praised Robert Ludlum, who was a veteran writer.

Critics write for a living, and they respect their fellow writers. So they obviously support Robert Ludlum's work.

Even the novels started to attract readers again after so many decades. The Jason Bourne series (novels) started appearing in bookstores.

Two weeks after Robert Ludlum's death, the box office of The Bourne Supremacy made more money.

On July 18(Thursday). The North American box office for The Bourne Supremacy was already $160.45 million.

The production cost of the movie was $75 million and it easily recouped the investment. And that was just in North America.

If a movie does well in North America, it usually does well internationally. Sometimes even more than the North American box office.

Stella Willow worked with 20th Century Fox to achieve this promotion.

Kazir admitted that the woman was talented and deserved the position. Once Grey Pictures had a board of directors, Kazir would make sure that Stella got the CEO position because she deserved it.

"Babe, are you ready?"

Angelina entered the room and found Kazir struggling with his tie. She smiled gently and helped him.

"All right, looks better." She said after fixing his tie. Then she looked at her boyfriend, who was taller than her.

The atmosphere between them was hot, or so they thought, because they both felt it.

Angelina wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her lipstick smeared Kazir's lips before they pulled apart.

"Let's go... Or we might not make it."

She hinted that both of them could stay in the house all night if they did something more.

Kazir chuckled and followed suit, seeing that Angelina was blushing so much that even her blush-on seemed non-existent.

Angelina and Kazir were invited to attend Meet The Fockers, the sequel to Meet The Parents. A comedy Kazir wrote himself.

Actually, only Kazir was invited by Paramount, but Kazir was allowed to bring another person. As if Paramount would say no to Angelina Jolie.

After all, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days was also invested by Paramount and it would be good promotion for the movie if Angelina showed up.

Another thing was that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was produced by Paramount and they have no problem with Angelina supporting their movies.

The only way to stay relevant in this industry was to be remembered by the audience. As long as the actor/actress was famous, jobs would keep coming their way.

For this premiere, Kazir decided to use his Mercedes Benz. Yes, the famous director, who was known for being cheap, bought a Mercedes Benz two years ago and it became his go-to car since then.

His Honda was still in his garage but he rarely used it. However, he still cherishes it.

The driver of the car was Erica, who worked overtime just for this premiere.

Angelina and Kazir rekindled their love and it seemed that their relationship was stronger, Erica was happy for her boss.

A happy boss means a happy bonus, right?

Anyway, the couple had a playful time in the car while Erica kept her eyes on the road... She had to be professional and do her job.

The car reached its destination and followed the line to the red carpet. Kazir and Angelina were not part of the cast, but Kazir was the scriptwriter, so he had the privilege of walking the red carpet... He was also famous.

No big things happened this time, just the usual red carpet. Summer season was usually the time when a lot of blockbuster movies were released. So this was the busiest time in Hollywood.

Kazir was not shocked that he had to attend a lot of movies premieres during this time. In fact, he also had to attend the premiere of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, which opens in theaters on August 7.

After some hustle and bustle, the two found their way into the theater holding hands.

Some of the cast of Meet The Fockers like Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller were already in the theater.

As for Brianna Evans, the film's female lead, she did not appear to be in the theater yet.

A few minutes later, Kazir saw Brianna and Salvatore walking into the theater together.

Kazir smiled at first before realizing that something was wrong. The expressions on their faces were strange.

Salvatore seemed concerned and serious.

As for Brianna... She was cold, no, she seemed like a psychopath. Kazir could not explain it well, but the aura around the actress was cold and indifferent.

Salvatore saw Kazir and immediately spoke to him, sweating a little.

"What's going on?" Kazir asked curiously. Kazir knew that Brianna was a method actor, and she could get so deep into her character that she becomes the character.

"How should I put it... Brianna was interested in a script and said she wanted the leading role. I was against it because it didn't fit her current image. But I couldn't stop her from doing what she wanted, so in the end I agreed. This is the result." Salvatore sighed.

"What's the name of the movie?"

"Monster. The director is Patty Jenkins."

Monster. A movie based on a true story. It was about a prostitute serial killer who murdered seven men...

 

[Luizinho]

Yeah, Monster was another "Oscar bait" type of movie. A cheap movie focused on the main actress acting.

I dislike most of those oscar bait movie.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 301


Monster is a 2003 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Patty Jenkins in her feature film directorial debut. The film follows serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a street prostitute who murdered seven of her male clients between 1989 and 1990 and was executed in Florida in October 2002. (Wikipedia.)

It was quite sneaky that the movie of this woman's autobiography would be released a year after her death. As if someone decided to make a movie out of her after knowing she was going to die...

The female lead of the movie was actually Charlize Theron. She put a lot of weight into the role and even resorted to shaving her eyebrows. She sacrificed a lot just to give the best performance in Monster.

Why did she do that? Because Monster was a movie made for the Academy Awards. The plot, the characters, everything was designed to be nominated for the Oscars and other film festivals/awards.

And it did. Monster was nominated for many awards.

At the Academy Awards, Charlize Theron won the Best Actress award. The biggest award an actress can get in her whole life. Charlize may have sacrificed a lot for the role, but the achievements she received were worth it.

At the Golden Globes, Charlize Theron also won the Best Actress award. Another big award show in Hollywood.

Screen Actors Guild Awards.

American Film Institute Awards.

Berlin International Film Festival.

And on and on.

Charlize Theron won so many awards by portraying a prostitute serial killer, which was actually a difficult thing to do. Charlize Theron was a beautiful actress, but she decided to destroy her image just for this role.

The Academy Awards saw her dedication and gave her the Best Actress Award, the golden statue that represents her achievement in the industry.

But from the looks of it, Brianna Evans was interested in the project as well.

Kazir's eyes narrowed as he stared at Brianna Evans. He could see that Brianna was in the state of method acting... And she was deep into it.

Someone like her could lose herself if she continued to play this psychotic role.

A lot of actors/actresses were traumatized by the roles they played, and someone like Brianna who did method acting was susceptible.

Shelly Duval in The Shining.

Adrien Brody in The Pianist.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

These people suffered from their roles. One of them even died.

If Brianna continued down this path, her fame would not last.

"Babe?" Angelina sensed that Kazir was staring at Brianna too much, so she squeezed his arms.

She didn't like him staring at other girls...

Kazir came to his senses and apologized to Angelina. The woman sulked but let it go.

Then Kazir talked to Salvatore, who was waiting for his answer.

"Did she get the role or is she just going to audition?"

"She's going to audition, but from the looks of it, the producer is interested in casting her," Salvatore replied based on the information he got.

"Salvatore, don't let Brianna take that role. I say she fits into bubbly girl roles and sweet girl type roles. Not something serious like as a serial killer."

Kazir didn't want to hear a news that Brianna killed a man because she couldn't perceive reality.

"That's what I told her, but she said she was tired of it. She said she wanted something serious, something that would challenge her acting."

"I understand. If I find a role that suits her, I'll let you know."

"I'm up for anything, as long as it's not a serial killer... I'm afraid of Brianna right now, to be honest."

Kazir nodded and agreed. He looked at Brianna and found the woman talking to Ben Stiller, but her demeanor was not cheerful. Ben Stiller felt uncomfortable and didn't know how to act. He also felt that Brianna was acting differently.

The premiere of Meet The Fockers went on and nothing much happened. They just watched the movie and did some interviews.

Paramount was the investor and distributor of Meet The Fockers and they were serious about making money.

Meet The Parents was written by Kazir and Paramount got the script in exchange for distributing three movies. Meet The Fockers was also part of the deal. In exchange for the three-movie distribution deal, Kazir had to write the Meet The Parents trilogy for $500,000 each.

I'd say they both earned in that exchange.

Grey Pictures successfully launched the Continental Cinematic Universe because Paramount distributed three of their films. In return, Paramount got a franchise that made them a huge profit.

The script was written by Kazir, everyone had high expectations for the movie.

And their expectations were met, the first weekend of Meet The Fockers made $31.55 million.

Brianna Evans and Ben Stiller along with the rest of the cast toured North America to promote the movie. However, they only went to Canada and the United States because those were the two countries that spent the most on tickets.

Stuart Little 2, produced by Sony-Colombia, was also released on the same day as Meet The Fockers. The film grossed $15 million in its first weekend.

This made Meet The Fockers the box office champion of the week.

However, the movie had a strong opponent next week.

Austin Powers in Goldmember, produced by New Line Cinema, was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. The movie was funny and made a lot of people laugh.

On Sunday, July 27, Austin Powers in Goldmember grossed $55.65 million. In fact, Austin Powers was one of the best comedy franchises of all time and its box office showed why.

As for Meet The Fockers, well, it just made $132.85 million after ten days in theaters...

Indeed, Meet The Parents(Fockers) was one of the best comedy franchises of all time as well, and its box office showed why.

+++++

[There is a typhoon here in the Philippines. So yeah, we lost electricity and are just using candles to light the house.]

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 302


Harvey Weinstein took a deep breath and sat down. But his mind did not settle.

'Why is this happening to me? I haven't done anything wrong. Why do people hate me?'

Harvey Weinstein was one of the major shareholders of Miramax, he was the current CEO. He started the company with his brother, and so far their business has been good.

They couldn't compete with the Big Six, but most of the movies they produced won Academy Awards, which gave them a good amount of profit in the DVD market.

Videotapes were becoming obsolete, and most people had been using DVD players since the turn of the century.

For Miramax, as long as their movie won an award at the Oscars, they had a sure path to profit.

All they had to do was put "Award Winning Director/Actor" on the cover of the DVD and it would get people's attention.

The influence of the Academy Awards was strong at that time and people respected the Academy's taste in movies.

The last time Miramax promoted Good Will Hunting, they expected a good Oscar haul. But in the end they only got Best Supporting Actor. No big deal, the movie still made money on the DVD market.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck distanced themselves from him after Good Will Hunting. Well, a lot of people distanced themselves from Harvey after The Blair Witch Project.

But Harvey could not get over the fact that this was the nth time Grey Pictures had screwed him.

Harvey Weinstein had a strong connection in Hollywood and he found out that Grey Pictures was the reason why his identity as the investor of The Blair Witch Project came out to the public. He was still angry about it... He actually wanted to hire a hit man, but he knew the consequences if he did.

'I am not an evil person. I will never do anything bad to another person._

Harvey said to himself. He was not a bad person, he strongly believed.

Maybe he was just horny, so he did things to women? Or maybe he thought he was a saint who would never hurt anyone. Maybe he was delusional.

The #MeToo movement showed the true color of Hollywood, and Harvey Weinstein suffered the most.

It was actually sad that a bunch of news about sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and r*pe culture came to the surface in the 2010s, when this kind of stuff had been happening for a couple of decades. As if people were just hearing about r*pe for the first time... Well, the media just turned a blind eye to the injustice of little people in Hollywood.

The Internet was the reason the #MeToo movement was successful in the first place.

Actress Virginia Rappe was sexually assaulted in 1921. The rapist lost his career.

Director Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl. The director fled the United States. He was filming The Pianist this year. It was a mystery how the Academy allowed the director to participate in the Oscars.

Patricia Douglas, a movie extra, was r*ped by an employee of MGM. The actress was blacklisted in Hollywood after this incident.

Injustice at its finest.

These are just some of the information about sexual harassment in Hollywood. If we were to list them all, this chapter might not be enough. I just wanted to say that Hollywood was never a paradise. A lot of creepy people lived there. Epstein Island and Diddy's parties were probably just the tip of the iceberg.

You know, the Internet was a fucked up place, but it did some good. At least people had platforms to speak their minds. Unlike the news networks that were bought and would never tell the truth.

Too bad a lot of social media platforms got filtered in the next decade. One day, people were no longer allowed to express their feelings.

"Fucking shit--!"

Harvey Weinstein pounded his fists on the table. No matter how much he tried to calm down, he could not get over the fact that Grey Pictures had screwed up his business again.

Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox announced that they would release Mr. And Mrs. Smith on August 7, 2002.

That sounds about right... But this would be a disaster for Miramax. Because their movie would also be released on the same day.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams was produced by Miramax. Mind you, the production cost of this movie was $38 million. Obviously, Miramax had put a lot of money into this project.

However, Grey Pictures decided to release their movies on the same day. This would hurt the box office of Spy Kids 2 tremendously.

CCU movies always have a good opening.

It was impossible to change the release schedule because Miramax had already talked to the Cinema Alliance.

Their initial agreement was that Spy Kids 2 would get 4000 theaters, but earlier Cinema Alliance told him that Spy Kids 2 could only get 3300 theaters.

Cinema Alliance decided to support Mr. And Mrs. Smith instead of Spy Kids 2. They gave it 4000 theaters on opening day.

This was enough to ensure that Mr. And Mrs. Smith would make a lot of money on its first day.

This fact made Harvey Weinstein furious.

Out of spite, he decided to contact his usual middleman to bring young, unknown actresses to his office... He wanted to cool off.

He knew the shit had hit the fan and it was impossible to change it, so he might as well calm down... Despite the blood boiling anger.

Most of the time, Harvey would promise these young actresses that he would give them roles in his next projects to entice them, and it worked.

.........

......

...

Kazir had five movies scheduled for release this year. Three of them have already premiered and are currently making money at the box office.

The Hangover Part 3 just grossed over $360 million worldwide. It looks like this will be the last installment of this franchise for the time being. Warner Brothers could no longer afford the cast.

The Bourne Supremacy grossed $190 million at the North American box office and its international release would start next week, in August.

Meet The Fockers was in its 15th day of release and the movie made $172 million.

So far, the three movies have done well... They actually did great.

++++

[Author's note: Yes, I'm back. The typhoon left the country, but it had a chance to come back for some reason. What the hell, this typhoon almost ripped the siding off our roof and now it's asking for round 2? How can a motherfucking typhoon turn around and make a comeback? What the hell is a Fujiwara effect anyway? This isn't nice at all.]

[This typhoon is probably the most devastating typhoon we have seen in recent years. The wind is so scary that I feel like our roof is going to be blown off, I'm not kidding. Some of my relatives also suffered from the flood because their house is near the river, luckily they are all fine. I feel sorry for the people and families who lost a lot in this disaster. I was hoping that this damn typhoon will never come again... But from the news report, Typhoon Kristine will probably return, fuck!].

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter
Sorry about your Typhoon issue occurring again in your country

 

[Garbage_Truck]

People, since we're going to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we can make both Captain America and Tony Stark have more interaction, so that they're more visibly friends so that the impact of the Civil War movie is more striking. I always think that this aspect was not reinforced in the previous films.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 303


Most of the big movies have already been released and so far only one movie has been a massive flop worldwide.

Yes, Walt Disney was still delusional and couldn't accept that their movie failed miserably. So they ended up promoting the movie, John Carter, in different countries.

In total, they spent over $200 million on promotion. Together with the production costs of $150 million, John Carter wasted $350 million.

So what was the worldwide gross of the movie? The answer was $284 million... Yes, Walt Disney just lost their money.

Even with DVD sales, it would take them decades to recoup their loss. They screwed up very badly.

So to make up for it, Walt Disney decided to join the acquisition battle to get Grey Pictures.

Unlike Warner Brothers and Sony-Colombia, Walt Disney offered a stock swap instead. There were already a bunch of shareholders and adding one was no problem.

Steve Jobs, Harvey Weinstein, Roy Disney and even Michael Eisner had shares in Walt Disney, so adding Kazir Grey was not a problem.

For 30% of the stock, Walt Disney was willing to give Kazir 1.2% of Walt Disney stock.

Mind you, Walt Disney's total assets were huge and their net worth was $105 billion. Walt Disney owned ABC Studios, ESPN, Disneyland, part of Pixar since Steve Jobs was still alive, Touchstone, part of Miramax, and Hollywood Records.

In some ways, Walt Disney was comparable to Time Warner and News Corporation. Moreover, this company would become stronger once it acquired LucasFilm, Marvel Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox itself.

If not for Kazir's bad experience with Walt Disney, the director might agree.

However, Kazir was still waiting for another party to join the fun. Kazir felt like another studio was cooking.

.........

......

...

The release of Mr. And Mrs. Smith was extravagant as many actors from CCU showed up. Most of them were there to promote their own movies, and Kazir had no problem with that.

In fact, that was the reason why he attended the premiere.

After the reconciliation, Kazir and Angelina became close again and showed their affection to each other in front of the public.

They were holding hands when they attended the premiere of Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

"Kazir!"

Brad Pitt greeted Kazir and his partner Angelina.

... Actually, Kazir felt uncomfortable seeing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together. He knew he had changed the timeline, but he could not forget that they had actually become a couple and gotten married.

Anyway, Kazir was mature enough to understand. Brad Pitt didn't stay long after greeting them. He knew that Kazir and Angelina wanted their own time.

Brad Pitt met Kazir in 1994. At that time, Kazir was nothing more than an unknown director/screenwriter.

Honestly, Brad Pitt accepted the role in Se7en because the salary was enticing. He also knew the consequences of joining Se7en, a mystery thriller.

But he didn't expect his choice to be the right one. Se7en was a success.

Since then, every project Kazir has touched has been a success.

Everyone in Hollywood had high expectations for the man, and Kazir always made sure to deliver. Once his name was attached to the movie, the chances of it being a box office hit were higher.

Kazir also saw Jennifer Connelly in her dress... He immediately looked away when he felt that the woman next to him was staring at him with a cold gaze. He smiled and kissed Angelina's forehead to calm her down.

Kazir felt bad that Angelina was not part of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. After all, Angelina was the original female lead in the movie. But since Kazir added this movie to CCU, and since Angelina and her role in CCU was Fox, it would be impossible to cast her as another character.

Kazir promised to make it up to her. He knew that How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days would be a box office hit and that Angelina would keep her fame.

The theaters went dark and the movie began. The Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox logo greeted the audience first.

On the other side of Hollywood, at Grauman's Chinese Theater, Miramax was in crisis. Just like Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Miramax began the premiere of Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dream.

Based on audience reaction, the movie was mediocre at best. Miramax invested $38 million in this movie and it would be a disaster if it failed.

Miramax was not Walt Disney, which could shoulder hundreds of millions in losses. In the first place, Miramax used a safer way to make money.

As everyone expected, Mr. And Mrs. Smith easily won first place that week.

On August 7, 2002, Mr. And Mrs. Smith grossed $17.47 million on its first day. Something that made 20th Century Fox and Grey Pictures very happy.

As for Spy Kids 2, the movie made $4.67 million on the same day. Considering the fact that Spy Kids 2 had a strong opponent, this kind of result was already good.

By the first weekend, both movies were doing well on their own. Spy Kids 2 earned $25.04 million, while Mr. And Mrs. Smith earned $50.34 million.

In a way, Miramax was worrying for nothing. Even though both movies were about spies, their plots and genres were different.

Spy Kids focused on family comedy and a light-hearted plot.

As for Mr. And Mrs. Smith, it was more of a serious action movie with a dash of romance and comedy. Maybe that's why the two movies didn't have much of an impact on each other.

Even though August was the last month of the summer season, the release of movies didn't stop. Next week, a strong contender could trouble Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

The title of the movie is xXx.

It sounds like a porn site or something, but I swear it's a real movie.

xXx is an action movie starring Vin Diesel.

 

[Luizinho]

The main problem with joining Disney, is the lack of power. The company is infested with super woke people. Infested with idiots.

Unless he can place trustworthy people in key places of the company and get some kind of veto power for the movies/tv shows...

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 304


For those who think otherwise, xXx was indeed a movie. Some might mistake it for another triple x...

xXx was produced by Sony-Colombia and starred Vin Diesel as Xander Cage. A daredevil who became a spy for the National Security Agency. This movie was a box office hit, grossing more than $277 million. The production cost of the film was $88 million.

Actually, Kazir thought about including the movie in the Continental Cinematic Universe, but he decided not to. Simply for the reason that CCU already had a lot of movies to focus on.

Kazir knew that he could not acquire all the promising scripts in Hollywood, or else the Big Six might get together and attack him.

Besides, Vin Diesel was already cast in Fast and The Furious. If they decided to add xXx to the CCU, they would have to find another actor to play Xander Cage.

Ice Cube was the protagonist of xXx: State Of The Union, the sequel to the first film, and State Of The Union grossed $113 million. It's not a bad performance, but it's not that good. Maybe the audience wanted to see Vin Diesel instead of Ice Cube. Which was right, because the third movie, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, grossed $346 million.

xXx was actually a good franchise, but Kazir felt that CCU was already bloated. So yes, Kazir passed on the project.

Now that Kazir thinks about it, Vin Diesel had some good franchises under his belt, even though many audiences hated the guy.

Fast and The Furious

xXx

Pitch Black/Riddick

Guardians of the Galaxy

Vin Diesel was able to keep his career going as long as he was involved in one of these franchises.

On its first weekend, xXx grossed $50.34 million.

As for Mr. And Mrs. Smith, the movie grossed $96.69 million after ten days in theaters.

So both movies had their fair share of tickets sales. There was some friction, but in the end it all came down to audience choice.

Sony-Columbia could have sabotaged Mr. And Mrs. Smith by spreading dirty rumors about the cast, but Sony-Columbia held back. It was not worth it, especially when they needed Kazir to direct Spider-Man 2 in 2004.

Kazir had already proven that he could make billions at the box office, and Sony-Colombia didn't want to end their relationship because of a small dispute.

Another thing was that Vin Diesel was also a cast member of CCU and Sony-Colombia's feelings towards Mr. And Mrs. Smith were complicated.

After the release of xXx, nothing big happened in August and most of the movies that were released were mediocre and nothing surpassed $100 million at the box office except Spy Kids 2, Mr. And Mrs. Smith and xXx. The latter two dominated the month.

By the end of August, Mr. And Mrs. Smith had earned $146.08 million, while xXx had earned $117.26 million.

Of course, the cast of Mr. And Mrs. Smith had to travel around the world to promote the film, even though it had only been in North America for a month. The international screening was a serious money.

If Sony-Columbia's home court was Japan, then Australia was 20th Century Fox's home court. In fact, most of the movies 20th Century Fox invested in were filmed in Australia because the studio could get a tax break there. After all, Rupert Murdoch was Australian, and he could snap his fingers to make way for 20th Century Fox.

September came and the cold treatment in theaters obviously happened. Most students and people went back to their usual things.

.........

......

...

After almost half a year of waiting, Sony-Colombia has already made its payment to Kazir Grey. Calculating the worldwide box office for Spider-Man took a long time because the movie made a lot of money.

After some math-thingy, Sony-Colombia confirmed that Spider-Man actually grossed $1.09 billion.

Now, do not be shocked, but Kazir actually earned $294.3 million as his box office share! This was just one project, but he made that much.

Of course, Sony-Colombia paid this amount per round and not as a single payment.

Kazir already received $27 million from them as his salary and the $294.3 million was his box office share.

In the contract, both parties agreed that Kazir would receive $27 million as his salary and 27% of the worldwide box office, he also had a 7% peripheral profit share.

The amount he received from Sony-Colombia was already over $300 million.

It may seem that Sony-Colombia lost a lot in this deal. They sacrificed their short-term profit for the long-term.

Fortunately, after the success of Spider-Man, Sony-Colombia earned $300 million from peripherals such as DVDs and action figures. The peripherals they could sell with Spider-Man were endless.

They could sell toy cars with Spider-Man design, then boom, easy profit.

They could sell t-shirts with printed Spider-Man, boom, easy profit.

Hell, they could sell a toilet bowl with a Spider-Man design and crazy people would buy it.

That was the power they got after hiring Kazir. They didn't regret hiring someone like him. His value was equal to the amount they pay him.

No one could guarantee that a superhero movie like Spider-Man would succeed in theaters, but Kazir made sure it did.

... Although they admit that it was a bit painful to give Kazir that amount of money. After all, $300 million was a huge amount of money.

On top of that, Marvel Comics also had their share, so Sony-Colombia couldn't take all the profits.

Still, everyone was sure that Spider-Man 2 would happen. Sony-Columbia wanted to make it a trilogy and they wanted Kazir to make it.

A single movie grossing 1 billion dollars? Are you kidding me? Of course Sony-Colombia would milk this franchise for all it was worth! Spoiler alert, Sony-Colombia had three different franchises of Spider Man with three different actors. They were MILKING it.

This was also the reason why Sony wanted to buy Grey Pictures. Grey Pictures could make profitable movies and Sony wanted them. More specifically, they wanted to continue working with Kazir Grey.

+++++

[Author's Note: Yeah, I'm just here promoting my P@treon and Ko-fi. If you want to read more, you can subscribe to my P@treon or Ko-fi.]

P@treon link: https://www.patreon.com/Puji_maki

Ko-fi link: https://ko-fi.com/pujimaki

 

[Luizinho]

Please don't make the same Spider-Man 3 that Raimi did. That was a turd.

Could make a "Sinister Six vs Spider-Man" as the third movie.

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 305


Sony-Columbia knew that their most formidable opponents were Warner Brothers and Walt Disney.

If the other studios were willing to bleed to acquire Grey Pictures, then Sony-Columbia was also willing. Sony-Columbia was the weakest of the Big Six and they could turn it around once they acquired Grey Pictures.

If Walt Disney was willing to trade 1.2% shares for 30% of Grey Pictures, then Sony-Colombia was willing to trade 2.3%, and this amount had already been approved by Sony's chairman, Nobuyuki Idei.

Akio Morita, the last chairman of Sony, died in 1999 and Nobuyuki Idei became chairman.

Sony and Sony-Colombia understood that they needed someone to continue to produce high quality films and Kazir fit the bill.

.........

......

...

The Toronto International Film Festival was one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and held every September. Many movies are released every year at this festival and people love to attend this festival.

The film festival was a way for small directors to present their projects to the public.

Movies released at the festival were mostly arthouse films and only a few were lucky enough to get distribution deals from some studios.

The Toronto International Film Festival gave out awards, and many of its winners went on to make box office hits when they were released in theaters.

Some of these films were:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Slumdog Millionaire

The King's Speech

12 Years A Slave

La La Land

Green Book

These movies won the festival's People's Choice Award, and these movies made a name for themselves at the box office.

And guess what? All of these movies received nominations/wins at the Academy Awards (Oscars).

In a way, for a movie to get Oscar nominations, it had to participate in film festivals and award shows like the Golden Globes.

This was the method used by Grey Pictures. Like the others, The Revenant had its first screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. This was the beginning of their knock on the door of the Academy Awards.

Even Tom Cruise attended the screening. Mind you, the Toronto International Film Festival lasted 12 days. From September 5 to September 17. The actor knew the importance of this film festival, so he attended the 12-day festival even though their movie would be released on the last day. You know, a kind of promotion and publicity.

Not going to lie, Tom Cruise did a lot of selfies and autographs for the fans within 12 days.

Tornado International Film Festival hosted 343 movies this year and it was a lot of movies. Why 343 movies? Because many movies from different countries were screened in this film festival. Different languages, different regions and different races. The Toronto International Film Festival was for everyone. One of the reasons why this film festival was famous all over the world.

Also, one of the reasons why the Toronto International Film Festival was famous was because of the superstars who came. This year the biggest actor who showed up was Tom Cruise.

The opening film was Ararat, while the closing film was Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale.

As for The Revenant, it was the second to the last movie.

Kazir had already finished post-production on The Revenant and made sure it would be at the Toronto International Film Festival. Kazir followed the usual procedure.

He knew film festivals were biased against Hollywood movies, but that didn't stop him.

Their goal was to win the People's Choice Award and gain positive recognition from the members of the Academy Awards.

The days passed and the festival went well. Many viewers stayed throughout the festival, appreciating the art they saw.

However, the last day was quite crowded and almost all the seats were taken.

Kazir Grey and Tom Cruise sat in the front row with the cast, waiting for their movie to start.

Both were confident in the film, they had seen it before the festival and were pleased with it.

But confidence was not enough to win the Oscar. After all, the Academy was biased against blockbusters, movies produced for the sole purpose of making money. And Kazir was known as a director who pursued money.

It was unknown whether they would accept The Revenant. One of the reasons they wanted to test the waters at this film festival and see what the audience reaction would be.

The logo of 20th Century Fox and Grey Pictures appeared on the screen saying that the movie had started.

[The Revenant is an epic survival drama set on the American frontier in the 1820s. The story revolves around Hugh Glass (Tom Cruise), a frontiersman and fur trapper who faces a series of harrowing challenges. The story begins with a brutal bear attack that leaves Glass badly injured. Fighting for his life, he is betrayed by his own expedition team, led by John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy).]

[Left for dead, Glass defies the odds and embarks on a treacherous journey through the unforgiving wilderness. Battling harsh weather, hostile Native American tribes, and a quest for revenge against Fitzgerald, Glass's resilience becomes a testament to the strength of the human spirit.]

[The Revenant] is a gripping tale of one man's struggle to survive against the brutality of nature and the betrayal of those he trusted, creating a visceral and emotionally charged cinematic experience.

The audience clapped at the end of the film, and Tom and Kazir were happy. Judging by the audience's reaction, the film was promising.

Well, they were both veterans of the industry and knew how to make great movies.

Since The Revenant was second to last, Femme Fatale was released after their movie ended.

While this was happening, some of the audience had already decided which movie they were going to vote for.

Movies made by Hollywood were usually high quality, and The Revenant fit the bill. They were entertained. So the audience voted for the movie.

Many expected this year's winner to be obvious. You see, many people know Tom Cruise. This actor was a superstar, famous all over the world. To make it even better, The Revenant was also a great movie.

So the winner of the People's Choice Award was undoubtedly The Revenant. There was no acceptance speech, but Kazir Grey and Tom Cruise were happy with the results. After this event, The Revenant has a good chance to be nominated for an Oscar.

++++

[Author's note: I used Chatgpt for the summary of Revenant with a little editing.]

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 306


It was obvious that The Revenant would win the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award because Hollywood movies are made to please the audience.

Even though The Revenant was made for the Oscars, Kazir made sure that the audience would like the movie as well.

This movie was actually different from the usual subjects Kazir filmed. His filmography was mostly about comedies, action and horror. His first three movies were horror movies that he already forgot.

The Revenant was more about adventure and drama, where a man tried to survive in a harsh environment.

Fortunately, Kazir knew what he had to do and he produced a great movie, he believed. The fact that the film won the People's Choice Award was enough to satisfy his ego.

Besides, the protagonist of his movie was none other than Tom Cruise, the man himself. Their tag team was enough to secure the victory.

Their victory at the Toronto International Film Festival found its way into the newspapers and people realized that the great director Grey had actually made another movie for the year.

The guy had fans all over North America and they were excited to see his movie. All of Kazir's movies were interesting and they knew the director wouldn't disappoint them.

Well, Kazir has never had a flop movie since 1995. All his movies have been successful and profitable.

After winning the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, the team wanted to fight and make sure that the movie would also win awards at the Golden Globes.

Too bad, because the Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival had already ended, and their movie could only participate in the Toronto International Film Festival.

Well, the crew was breathing a sigh of relief because their movie had won an award at this film festival. Winning an award was a requirement to be nominated for the Oscars.

Requirements to be nominated for the Oscars (source: Google)

1) The film must have won an award at a qualifying film festival.

OR

2) The film must have completed a one-week theatrical run in a commercial theater in a qualifying metro area (LA County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Miami or Atlanta).

In addition, the film must have been released to the public between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.

The Revenant was already eligible, and all that is left is for the members of the Academy to vote for it to be nominated.

And for that, Salvatore Barlowe and Pat Kingsley had already prepared a PR plan.

Both Kazir and Tom were willing to spend money just to get their respective awards. Because honestly, the only way to get nominated for an Oscar was to use money and connections.

And yes, the members of the Academy could be bribed, but people don't usually give them money. They gave them gifts instead.

The Academy had to keep the image that they were partial and fair. They want to keep the 'artistry' of Hollywood, even though they cannot help but be biased sometimes.

Another fact was that Tom Cruise and Kazir Grey were actually members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences(AMPAS).

Membership in the Academy is by sponsorship, not application. Nominees must be sponsored by two Academy members from the branch in which the nominee seeks membership. In addition, Academy Award nominees are automatically considered for membership and do not require sponsorship. (Google)

Since they were both nominated for Awards a few years ago, they were automatically members of the Academy. Obviously, they could vote for themselves and their film.

However, their two votes were not enough to secure nominations. In the first place, there were more than 9000 Academy members, so two votes didn't matter at all.

So yeah... Your vote doesn't matter at all, so stop voting, ahem... Nah, I'm just joking.

Anyway, they passed the first hurdle and their movie met the requirements to be nominated.

.........

......

...

September and October were relaxing months for Kazir. What he did in September was to attend the 12-day movie Toronto International Film Festival, but after that everything was relaxing.

He was not busy as he had already finished most of his work. Sometimes he visited the company, but most of the time he spent his days with Angelina, who was not as busy as he was.

Of course, the Big Six still found a way to annoy him. Most of them wanted to talk to him about Grey Pictures and whether he would agree to their proposals.

He was being courted by the giant studios and Kazir was waiting for the best option. He knew that the right moment would come and he just had to wait.

So far, after valuation, the net worth of Grey Pictures has risen to 7.5 billion dollars.

So 30% of his shares in the company was worth $2.25 billion. The giant studios could afford it, but it was also something that could hurt them.

In a way, it was a gamble for them as well. The difference was that once they acquired Grey Pictures, the chances of them winning were very high.

Just like that, October 31, 2002 came and The Revenant premiered. The premiere night took place at the TCL Chinese Theatre, colloquially known as Grauman's Theatre.

Since it was Halloween, some of the audience were wearing costumes, which made the event interesting.

The cast of the movie waved their hands as they stood on the red carpet. The cast of the movie was very small, it didn't even reach 20 actors.

Despite the small cast, many celebrities attended the premiere to support the movie. People like Liam Neeson, Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon showed up as guests.

In addition, many critics and some members of the Academy came to see the movie. They were invited, of course.

In fact, the critics didn't just get invitations, they got money. Obviously to promote the movie and make sure that The Revenant would have a positive reputation.

 

[Pujimaki]

Happy Halloween guys!

 

[Lillie Jones]

Happy Halloween
Thanks for the chapter