HOLLYWOOD WHAT IF

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 480

When the sunset arrived and Kazir saw the orange glint of the sun, the two decided to return to the shore. The fish they caught were taken into the kitchen, where a group of cooks prepared them.

Kazir knew that he wouldn't always win. The bet he played with Tom Cruise showed that. It was good sportsmanship, by the way.

Sometimes, he couldn't believe that he would wager millions of dollars just for fun.

The two started talking about their lives and their projects. After they won the Best Actor and Best Director Awards at the Oscars, the relationship between the two became closer.

Both of them were not perfect people, and they suffered from scandals every other year. So they could relate to each other. As for their personal lives, they respected each other's boundaries and never talked about sensitive topics.

Tom said that his next project was Mission: Impossible III. The movie was already in production.

Kazir was not surprised because he was already aware of it. Mission: Impossible was a well-known franchise at this point after releasing two movies.

"I still can't believe that you didn't agree to direct Mission: Impossible. Paramount is ready to pay you top dollar." Tom laughed.

"We've had this conversation so many times now. You know I'm busy with other projects, and my schedule is full till 2009," Kazir replied.

They had this conversation years ago, even when Kazir was just making action movies. Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise had already expressed their interest in hiring Kazir. Unfortunately, things didn't happen.

While they were filming Revenant, Tom also popped the question once in a while, but Kazir kept saying no.

"How about a cameo? Hm, this sushi is delicious." Tom expressed his appreciation to the chef.

"A cameo?"

Kazir felt like Tom was just tipsy and saying random stuff.

"Nah, I'm serious. This is the third installment of Mission: Impossible, and there's nothing wrong with doing the best. I believe if you have a cameo, the audience will like it."

"Aren't you afraid that they'll misunderstand the movie? What if they think that Mission: Impossible and the CCU are connected?" Kazir frowned. He was sort of a mascot of the CCU. People would think that Mission: Impossible and the CCU were connected if he had a cameo in Mission: Impossible III.

"Then I'll also have a cameo in any of your CCU movies. I can also have a cameo in Pirates of the Caribbean. Don't worry about the money, just think of it as my thanks after you gifted me a yacht."

"You should talk to your agent, the director, and the producer first. Maybe they are not comfortable with what you're thinking."

"Nah, I'm the producer of Mission: Impossible III. I can do whatever I want. Also, Mission: Impossible is my franchise. Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible will never separate."

"Fine, fine. Talk to me tomorrow once you're sober."

The next day, Tom Cruise said that Paramount Pictures was not comfortable with the idea because it could confuse the audience. They might believe that Mission: Impossible was part of the CCU.

It could be used as hype and a great promotion to increase the box office of the third movie. However, it could also affect the franchise negatively if the audience truly believed that Ethan Hunt was part of the CCU. Paramount Pictures decided to go with the safe side.

Kazir told Tom that he could do a cameo in his next project instead.

.........

......

...

2006 came by and the holidays passed. January released some interesting movies such as Hostel, Hoodwinked, Underworld: Evolution, Big Momma's House 2, and Nanny McPhee.

None of these movies surpassed $200 million because January was never a great schedule to release movies. The Big Six usually released their unpopular movies in January. As for the other studios, they released their movies around this month because the competition was less.

Anyway, Kazir had some free time and decided to watch Underworld: Evolution. Kate Beckinsale was truly a gorgeous actress. Truly one of a kind.

This year, many movies were released that were related to him.

Grey Pictures alone had three projects to release: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Bourne Ultimatum, and The Kingsman. The Kingsman was a new franchise that was part of the CCU. It was a surprise movie that Grey Pictures was quiet about, as this movie would become the next assembly of the CCU protagonists.

Grey Pictures could handle three movies in a year since they had a bigger budget now.

For other movies, 20th Century Fox would release 300, directed by Zack Snyder. Kazir also heard that 20th Century Fox was looking for the director of Paranormal Activity.

Ted was also in production, but Warner Brothers couldn't confirm if they would release it in 2006.

As for Lionsgate, after meticulous thinking, the studio decided to buy The Quiet Place and The Conjuring. Lionsgate bought the two scripts for $15 million. Kazir was satisfied with the transaction. It was not bad working with Lionsgate since he knew the potential of this studio.

In his opinion, Lionsgate was the studio that DreamWorks failed to be. In a few years, Lionsgate would become the uncrowned Big Seven because of its continuous success.

++++

[My mind is clouded while writing this chapter, and I paused so many times just to find ideas to write.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 481


November babies were usually created in February, specifically on February 14... But this fact had no relation to the fact that February 2006 had a lot of movies that surpassed $100 million. One movie even surpassed $200 million, which was an achievement for this kind of schedule.

Bambi II from Walt Disney. Curious George from Universal Pictures. Firewall from Warner Brothers. The Pink Panther from Sony-Columbia. Date Movie from 20th Century Fox. Eight Below from Walt Disney, the movie that grossed over $200 million.

There were clear similarities between these movies: they were all from the Big Six.

Forty-six movies were released in February, yet only a few selected movies did great. The small studios couldn't stand at all because they never had the chance to do so.

The Big Six had the complete package in this kind of business dealings. That was the reason why it was impossible to stand up against the Big Six. Not even DreamWorks could do so.

The Big Six monopolized the industry, and it was hard to break through. Only a few selected studios achieved it.

However, movies surpassing $100 million were not the main topic in February. There was more important news, such as the Winter Olympics, the Hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia, and the launch of YouTube's public beta (this news didn't make a ruckus, but it would be an important part of internet history in the next decade).

Aside from that, Hollywood also experienced another shocking piece of news.

The second $1 billion box office from Grey Pictures! The second $1 billion box office of the Continental Cinematic Universe!

When Wanted created history a few years ago, everyone in Hollywood already understood the power of the new genre called the Cinematic Universe. It was an accumulative type of franchise where the more content was released, the more the audience would consume it.

Taken 3 surpassed $1 billion after seven months of screening. The movie grossed $1.07 billion at the worldwide box office as of now.

This kind of news created another sensation in Hollywood. It was very, very hard to achieve this kind of accomplishment, almost impossible.

Yet a rookie director who had only produced three movies actually did it! Taken 3 and Christopher Nolan became hot topics in Hollywood.

Of course, Grey Pictures was also happy. Now they had another trophy to brag about.

After this achievement, the rankings for movies released last year were updated by a magazine.

1.) Taken 3 – $1.07 billion. Grey Pictures/20th Century Fox.

2.) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – $895 million. Warner Brothers.

3.) Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – $849 million. Lucasfilm/20th Century Fox.

4.) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – $745 million. Walt Disney. (In my opinion, this franchise has the potential to become like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.)

5.) Kung Fu Panda – $631 million. Blue Sky Studio/20th Century Fox.

6.) War of the Worlds – $603 million. DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures (International distributor).

7.) King Kong – $556 million. Universal Pictures.

8.) Batman Begins – $549 million. Warner Brothers.

9.) Madagascar – $542 million. DreamWorks.

10.) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – $474 million. Warner Brothers.

.........

......

...

"Another win for Grey Pictures and Kazir Grey."

Ronald Meyer dropped the newspaper and sighed. The fact that Grey Pictures had another $1 billion movie didn't sit well with him.

He felt like all the things he did were useless.

Two years ago, Universal Pictures tried to destroy Spider-Man 2 and Kazir's career. They even talked to Kazir's mother just to find any information that could destroy the director. Instead, the woman said that she could destroy Kazir's will by making him brokenhearted.

In this regard, Elizabeth kept her promise. She managed to break up Kazir and Angelina.

But this breakup didn't make Kazir slack off. He didn't lose motivation, he didn't go to bars and parties all night, he didn't do drugs, and he also didn't hurt anyone.

Instead, because of heartbreak, Kazir became focused on his career. They couldn't find any fault at all. No matter how many scandals they threw at Kazir, the director managed to stand up.

At this point, the only way for Kazir to stop succeeding was by killing him.

However, this kind of solution was never respected in Hollywood. Everyone acknowledged that Hollywood was nothing but business, and no one deserved to die. It would also be a huge loss to the culture of filmmaking if Kazir was killed. No one would forgive the mastermind.

"...The only way to end this conflict is by fixing things with Kazir. But I'm not sure if that can happen. The conflict became deeper after what happened with Spider-Man 2."

Did Ronald regret it? No, he was doing it for the betterment of Universal Pictures.

"For now, let's hire Christopher Nolan to make a film for Universal Pictures. This director is promising. He just made a $1 billion movie. Maybe he's interested in the person who invented the atomic bomb?"

Universal Pictures had to move fast, though, because they were not the only studio interested in Christopher Nolan.

In fact, Walt Disney was also desperate to hire Christopher Nolan. Walt Disney was suffering from its past mistakes and needed a movie franchise that could carry them into the next decade. In this timeline, Walt Disney didn't have Pirates of the Caribbean.

"Since Christopher Nolan is still a rookie, I'm sure he won't disagree with a 20+20 contract?"

Only a few selected directors could enjoy this kind of offer. Christopher Nolan's agent was probably dying from happiness since many studios were trying to work with Christopher Nolan.

As for the outcome, no one could predict it. Kazir had changed the timeline so much that no one could expect what would happen next. Maybe Kazir would have a child in November? We don't know.

One thing was for sure: Pirates of the Caribbean had ended its production. Kazir had now put his attention toward post-production. Perhaps Kazir was also trying to film a small-budget horror movie.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 482


Kazir had a trauma that he wanted to overcome. In his past life, he spent his whole career making horror movies. They were all failures at the box office.

There were so many movies released in a year. His horror movies could only secure dozens of theaters to release his films, and none of them brought in profit.

Still, making horror movies was profitable. He sold his films and made a million that way. He also received residual income from those movies.

Studios loved acquiring films to expand their film libraries. This trend intensified when online streaming became mainstream.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services loved to buy small-budget movies to expand their content libraries. Sometimes, these streaming platforms even invested in producing their own films.

Netflix created Bird Box, Enola Holmes, and other movies and TV series just to make sure their customers had content to watch.

So, even though Kazir's movies were not box office hits, he had a constant source of income. In fact, despite his old age, some actresses were interested in him because of his career as a director.

In his past life, after his divorce from Cassandra, Kazir had a few long-term relationships with women, but none progressed to the next stage, which was marriage. He had girlfriends in his past life. However, he understood that they were only interested in him because of his profession.

It became a bane for him. He had a hard time trusting the opposite sex after that.

Anyway, Kazir had been making horror movies his whole life, and he knew the formula.

Before his death, he had written a script that he wanted to produce. He even convinced Netflix to invest in his project, but he died before the production began.

"Shadows Beneath."

Kazir muttered while staring at the script on his table.

Kazir was scared. He wasn't scared of the script, he was scared that he would fail again now that he was trying to make an original horror movie.

He admitted that he had a trauma, and he had to face it. He was way past the point of being depressed about his decisions.

He had to do it, or else he would stay stagnant and truly never move forward.

He planned to film it in just two months. Editing was also not a problem since the movie didn't require many special effects. This was a small project.

He wanted to hire his friends for this movie, but he knew that it would be tough to do so. In the first place, this movie only had a budget of $15 million.

This film required two months of filming, and those two months were important to everyone. They couldn't waste two months of their time for such a small amount of money, their agents wouldn't agree. Even Salvatore wouldn't approve from a business standpoint.

He had free time this year, and that was the only window he had to film this movie. Because after this year, Kazir had to work on The Dark Knight.

"I should call my assistant director. We will have an audition. In the meantime, I should focus on editing the footage of Pirates of the Caribbean."

Kazir had a new assistant director after Palenque Simone left his crew.

.........

......

...

"Yes, yes? Director... I'll do what I can."

Everest Thorne put down his phone as he looked at the ceiling... He had just woken up. He had partied all night now that he had more time for himself.

Two years ago, Everest was lucky to be hired by Grey Pictures as Kazir's assistant director. It was a huge honor. He had many rivals trying to get the position, but Everest landed the job.

He thought he was the luckiest person alive.

Director Grey had two assistant directors before Everest, and those two assistants got their own projects after working with Director Grey.

It showed that Director Grey was the kind of person who trained his assistants for better careers. He took care of his people and helped them grow.

Everest was so happy at that time.

But after working with Kazir, Everest realized something important, Director Kazir Grey was a workaholic!

Every year, he had a new project to make. It was exhausting. Especially this time, when they traveled to the Caribbean to film Pirates of the Caribbean. Everest was sleep-deprived for half a year because of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Being the assistant director, he was Kazir's right-hand man in managing the production crew. It was not easy at all.

Thankfully, now that Pirates of the Caribbean had wrapped filming, Everest had more time for himself. He still had to go to Grey Pictures to help Kazir with editing the movie, but at least he didn't have to go around managing people anymore.

Last night, he went to a party to have some fun.

And today, while lying in bed, he was forcefully awakened by a call. He looked at the clock and realized it was already 1 p.m.… He was fucking late for work!

He immediately answered the call when he realized it was Kazir calling him.

Everest was nervous at first when Kazir said he didn't need to go to the editing room. He thought he was going to be fired.

But before Everest could explain himself, Kazir dropped a bombshell.

— You don't have to go to the building. Instead, form a small production crew. I want to film a horror movie. I also want you to start an audition.

"..."

Everest was speechless.

They had just finished a project, yet the director wanted to start another one! Damn, like, damn!

"At least he didn't fire me."

++++

[I'm not going to lie. The script for Shadows Beneath is written by ChatGPT. I can write a horror script, but my imagination and knowledge are incomparable to ChatGPT's. In the first place, I accepted that I'm an average writer. I feel like if Kazir is going to make a horror movie, I want it to be a real horror. Some of you guys might not like it, so I'm just saying it ahead of time. In my case, as a writer, ChatGPT is useful. But don't worry, 99% of this novel is created, imagined, and written by me, except for some movie summaries, I fucking hate movie summaries.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 483


While Kazir was busy with the editing of Pirates of the Caribbean, even going to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to check the special effects, Everest focused on the pre-production of the new project.

Most of the crew members expected that this year would be a sort of rest for them since Kazir had no announced projects. Oh boy, they were wrong.

Some of the crew members signed up, while others decided to take a rest for the year.

Because of this, the production crew had missing positions to fill.

Everest talked to Kazir, and the director agreed to go talk to the CAA to fill in the missing positions.

Since the project was unexpected, the crew couldn't help but be disorganized. Thankfully, CAA sent them a producer who would help manage the project.

When everything was in line, the crew asked CAA to provide them with actors and actresses for the movie. At this point, Grey Pictures had hired CAA on a package deal.

In this ordeal, Grey Pictures already spent $9 million of its budget. It was more than half of the production cost.

Kazir had never experienced overspending on his movies, and this might be the first time.

Because the movie would be directed by Kazir Grey, it was impossible to keep it a secret. The news quickly spread, and other agencies also heard about it.

Some actors and actresses applied and even sent in their resumes and audition tapes.

Unfortunately, the production crew had already signed a contract with CAA for a package deal. CAA already had a cast for the movie. When the news came out, many actors and actresses within CAA talked to their agents and hoped that they would have a chance to get cast in Kazir's new project. No one believed that Kazir's movie would fail.

Working with Director Grey meant instant success. He had proven himself many times, and many actors and actresses became celebrities after working with him.

Because the budget of the movie was limited, CAA had to match the salaries accordingly. They also sent small actors and actresses for the roles.

Despite being unknown, it didn't mean that these actors and actresses weren't talented. They were simply people who had failed to find opportunities.

And this time, they received an opportunity they couldn't let slip away.

Before hiring these small actors and actresses, the production crew had to test them first through auditions.

The actors and actresses accepted this fact. It was standard practice that they had to audition before getting the roles.

However, there was a massive problem... The script was missing!

Yeah, the actors and actresses had no idea what scene to act out because they didn't have the script. They only knew that Kazir's small project was a horror movie.

Only Everest had a copy of the full script. He read it and could say that it was promising. The plot twist was pretty cliché, but Hollywood was full of cliché movies anyway. Hollywood is never truly innovative, they just keep recycling stuff and making it look new.

Kazir specifically said that no one should get the complete script, not even the actors and actresses. He also stated that the actors and actresses could only receive one-third of the script in the audition room.

As for why Kazir gave these complicated orders, Everest had no idea. He simply followed them.

Everest didn't know that the reason Kazir didn't want to share the script was because he was embarrassed. This was an original script he wrote himself, and he was afraid the cast might think it was mediocre.

Because of this complicated situation, the actors and actresses attended the audition with no clue what to expect. Before the audition, they practiced their acting. They performed frightened expressions, some actresses even practiced their screams.

When the audition ended, most of the cast passed and signed their contracts. As for those who failed, CAA sent more people to fill the remaining roles.

It was tough for Everest because the project had been announced unexpectedly. Most of the old crew members were absent, either on vacation or working on other projects. This caused a bit of a slowdown in production.

The props preparation, costume designs, and filming locations all had to be ready before Director Grey officially joined the project.

Everest realized that being an assistant director was never easy. He had a lot of responsibilities. Sometimes, he wondered how his seniors, Fremont and Palenque, had survived this kind of job.

.........

......

...

March was the third month of the year. Just like in previous months, new movies were released in March.

Movies like Deep Sea 3D (Documentary), Failure to Launch (Romantic Comedy), The Shaggy Dog (Comedy), V for Vendetta (Action), Inside Man (Thriller/Suspense), and Ice Age: The Meltdown (Adventure) were released in March. These movies surpassed $100 million at the box office and were released in March 2006.

Ice Age: The Meltdown was created by Blue Sky Studios. After the success of Kung Fu Panda last year, Blue Sky Studios received better treatment from 20th Century Fox. Everyone believed that another animation studio could rival Pixar/Disney, aside from DreamWorks.

The competition during that month was tough, despite March not being considered a prime release schedule. Out of all the movies, Ice Age: The Meltdown and V for Vendetta made the most money.

After March, April arrived, and another batch of movies was about to be released.

First on the list was none other than The Bourne Ultimatum. It was obvious that 20th Century Fox couldn't release the movie in a more popular schedule, so Grey Pictures had to settle for April, the month before summer.

Yet, despite The Bourne Ultimatum being released during a less popular window, it was amazing that movie theaters were packed with people eager to see it.

This was the effect of Taken 3 on the audience. Because of the massive success of Taken 3, grossing over $1 billion, the next movie of the CCU also became a box office hit. The excitement still hadn't died down.


[Last chapter today. Thank you for your support.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 484


The Bourne Ultimatum was released in the first week of April, which was April 6, at midnight.

The premiere was extravagant, as Grey Pictures was no longer a simple studio. Despite being only a decade old, Grey Pictures had already solidified its position in the industry. The company had a constant source of profit and made hundreds of millions every year.

Furthermore, the huge success of Taken 3 last year gave the studio confidence. Fans started cheering as the cast showed up one by one.

Kazir also attended the premiere despite his busy schedule. He had spent most of his time in the editing room, polishing the movie.

He was also part of the cast since he had a cameo. This time in the movie, he was just a passerby that Jason Bourne bumped into while walking. He yelled at Jason, saying:
"Hey, that's not nice! Don't you know that people are busy? Man, I can't even sleep because I spent most of my time editing a movie!"

Some might have found that interaction funny, while others felt it was forced. But it didn't matter, people were allowed to have their own opinions.

Paul Greengrass was still the director of The Bourne Ultimatum. Paul had taken over the franchise after Kazir directed the first movie.

While looking at the excited fans who attended the premiere, Kazir had a premonition. Every hair on his skin stood up. He got chills. For some reason, Kazir felt that The Bourne Ultimatum would deliver a powerful performance.

"I suddenly remembered the movie, Captain Marvel..."

Captain Marvel was an MCU movie released in 2019. It came out between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Because of this phenomenon, Captain Marvel experienced strong hype that helped the movie perform impressively at the box office, earning more than $1.1 billion.

"Honestly, in my opinion, Captain Marvel is average at best. It's just a normal popcorn flick from the MCU. But because of its schedule, it was lifted by the massive hype of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame."

That was how Kazir saw it. At best, Captain Marvel could have earned around $800 million at the box office if it had been released in a different window.

This was the sensation Kazir felt while looking through the hectic crowd of fans excited to watch The Bourne Ultimatum. They just wanted to see how it would connect to the tragedy that happened in Taken 3. It was all about curiosity.

Kazir didn't change much of the plot of The Bourne Ultimatum, although he connected it to the terrorist attack. This simple connection made fans satisfied.

When the movie ended, the post-credit scene was about a new movie franchise called The Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The first 24 hours (technically April 7) of box office sales for the movie were calculated. Accounting was faster now that technology had improved.

Kazir, Stella, and the other people from Grey Pictures were on the top floor of the building. They were already celebrating. Some were popping champagne and drinking wine.

They were confident that the movie wouldn't fail. The question was how much it would earn.

When the stats arrived, Stella Willow smiled and announced that they would have a dinner party. She had heard of a Korean restaurant that offered samgyeopsal. The expenses were covered by the company. This was just a small celebration.

On the second day, April 8, Saturday, The Bourne Ultimatum made another $35 million.

On Sunday, the movie made another $29 million.

In just three days, The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $103 million at the box office, probably the fastest $100 million of 2006.

When that news spread, Hollywood became lively again. They were excited and scared about the development. Excited because this kind of performance was extraordinary. Scared because they didn't know how this movie would affect the industry.

The Cinematic Universe had proven to be a profitable way of making money. And so far, only one company had succeeded in doing so.

Rumors were going around that Warner Brothers was preparing its own Cinematic Universe, but no one could confirm whether it was real or fake news.

.........

......

...

Kazir yawned. He had just come out of the editing room to talk to his assistant director. He lacked sleep, he had only slept three hours that day. Well, one of the reasons he failed to sleep was because Scarlett had visited the company last night, and the couple decided to spend their time in Kazir's office, wink wink. Kazir's office had a bed, a bathroom, a toilet, a bathtub, and even a kitchen in case he wanted to eat. Kazir spent most of his time on the filming set or in his office.

"Everest, you did a great job," Kazir praised the young guy. He knew how hard it was to manage a group of people.

Everest smiled, pleased that his work was appreciated.

It had been a month since Kazir announced that he wanted to film a small project. Everest and his team had immediately implemented the plan.

Now, they had completed the cast after a month of auditions. This was probably the shortest preparation they had ever done.

"Here's the cast. First on the list is this new actor, Henry Cavill."

"... Um, who?" Kazir paused for a second there.

"Never mind, continue." Kazir realized his awkward expression.

"Second is Megan Fox. She's a model."

"...... Ah?" Kazir paused for two seconds.

"Nothing. Maybe I just lack too much sleep, so my mind can't process things right. Go on, continue."

"The third is Chris Hemsworth. Also a newbie actor."

"......... What the hell?" He paused for three seconds.

"The fourth is Gal Gadot. She's a beauty pageant contestant and participated in Miss Universe. She's trying to find a career in Hollywood."

"Wow. Sometimes I have no idea how life plays around."

Everest gave documents to Kazir. Everest was confused by Kazir's reaction, but he believed it was because Kazir lacked sleep.

"Thanks, Everest. I'll read this later. While I'm gone, take care of the production. Set up a script reading and make sure they attend. Make them practice rehearsals."

"Yes, sir."

Kazir was shocked when he realized that these four upcoming celebrities would be working with him on this small-budget horror movie.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 485


Kazir had heard of each actor that Everest mentioned. He knew them because they would become famous in the next decade.

"Let's see, it's understandable that they are still not famous. After all, they are just starting in the industry."

If there was one thing that caught him off guard, it was that he didn't expect these four would actually work with him on a small-budget horror movie that he had written.

It was an honor, but at the same time, it was pressure for him. He knew the future of these four actors, they would become well-known celebrities. He didn't want to negatively affect their careers because of his horror movie.

He looked at their documents after Everest excused himself.

"I can say that their agents worked hard just to give them a slot in the audition."

CAA was the strongest agency in Hollywood right now, and they had a lot of clients. Most of those clients probably fought for the roles in his horror movie, but these four new-face actors got them.

At this point, it didn't matter how much the salary was. Any actor would be elated once they got a chance to work with Kazir.

Perhaps some celebrities even offered to lower their salaries, but Everest and the crew still chose these four.

Out of the four actors, Megan Fox and Henry Cavill had the highest salaries. Megan Fox signed a contract for $450 thousand, while Henry Cavill signed for $250 thousand.

As for Gal Gadot and Chris Hemsworth, they both received a meager $100 thousand as their salaries.

Megan Fox had the best filmography out of all of them, as the model/actress had already worked in three movies, although as side characters. Her biggest role was in Bad Boys II.

'I'm not going to lie. 2000s Megan Fox was the definition of beauty. She was so damn gorgeous that everyone would fall in love once they saw her. This was not even an understatement. Especially in the Transformers franchise, she gained a lot of fans because of her super sexy role... Yeah, men were simple, no one could deny that.'

As for Henry Cavill, he had already worked on four projects, but his roles were also side characters. His biggest project was The Count of Monte Cristo.

Chris Hemsworth and Gal Gadot got their debut movies in 2009, which was three years from now. So it was already amazing that they received $100 thousand as their salaries. Obviously, they didn't have credentials to back themselves up. Kazir was actually surprised they got the roles.

Anyway, Everest would take care of them while Kazir was spending his time on Pirates of the Caribbean.

He was close to completing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The special effects were already done, and they just needed polishing and trimming to make the movie theater-worthy.

As for the third movie, which was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, ILM needed two to three months to complete the special effects.

Kazir had already compiled the scenes that didn't need special effects into chronological order. Once the special effects were done, he would return to editing it.

.........

......

...

Aside from The Bourne Ultimatum, the month of April also had some interesting movies such as Scary Movie 4, The Wild, Silent Hill, and R.V.

However, only The Bourne Ultimatum performed amazingly at the box office. Yes, amazing was the best word to describe the movie. Because despite being released on a weaker schedule, The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $318 million by the end of April.

Most of the time, this kind of performance could only be seen in the summer season. Yet The Bourne Ultimatum achieved it in April. Furthermore, a movie that usually surpassed $300 million in a month ended up around $900 million once the screening ended.

In fact, the worldwide box office of The Bourne Ultimatum was already at $450 million as the movie was released in other countries.

In just a month, The Bourne Ultimatum was already close to reaching $500 million.

Just as Kazir expected, The Bourne Ultimatum could be compared to Captain Marvel, a movie that followed the hype and experienced huge success.

"If The Bourne Ultimatum grosses over a billion dollars, I would buy a mansion in California."

Kazir gambled on himself in a fun way. Either way, Kazir and Grey Pictures were all winning. Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass were also winning. The two had solidified their positions in Hollywood, and more studios would hire them, especially once the movie grossed $1 billion. They would also experience the hype that Christopher Nolan experienced.

Kazir had finished the post-production of Pirates of the Caribbean, and the promotion of the movie was ongoing. The marketing team of Grey Pictures was going all out. Furthermore, they were working with Victor Grey's company, which was top-notch at online marketing.

Kazir stepped into the rehearsal studio, where he found the four actors practicing their lines.

The four actors unconsciously fixed their postures when they realized that Director Grey was back.

"Chris, state your lines without stuttering. I know you need to express that you're scared, but you can show that using your expression... Besides, you look too tall to be stuttering."

"I will." Chris nodded and repeated the line.

To be fair, both Chris Hemsworth and Henry Cavill were over six feet. Kazir was also over six feet. The three men in question were tall.

So whenever Megan and Gal talked to them, they had to slightly raise their heads.

+++++

[Author's Note: I can't remember if I named Victor's company or if I just left it with no name at all.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 486

"Henry, your accent is showing. Repeat that line again."

Henry Cavill nodded and looked at Megan Fox. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her to calm her down. Megan was screaming after what she experienced. She saw an illusion where she was tied to a bed while the doctors experimented on her body.

"You're doing great." Kazir nodded and gave it a passing mark. Three days from now, they would start the filming.

Everest and Kazir's trusted friend, Renner Hector, found a filming location where they could shoot the movie. It was a real abandoned mental hospital in Ohio. Ohio had some crazy stuff going on, or so the internet and memes stated.

The production crew had already talked to the municipality, and they agreed. They just hoped that the crew wouldn't make a ruckus, as the mental hospital was near the woods and could possibly start a fire if the crew made mistakes with their props. Also, the mayor wanted an autograph from Kazir.

Kazir looked at the script... He was nervous and excited at the same time. He was afraid that this movie might fail, which could cause his extreme depression. It would prove that he had no real talent as a director and that the only reason why he was successful was because of the plagiarizing he did.

'If that happens... I might kill myself.' He joked. He was mature enough to overcome this kind of challenge. However, he knew that his mentality would be affected if this original script indeed failed.

He glanced at the four actors. This movie was a small project, and these were the only important characters in the movie. The others were just background characters that Kazir could hire at any moment.

He clapped his hands and announced that the practice for the day was over.

"I can see that all of you have potential. I believe your career in Hollywood will be amazing."

Knowing the future, these four actors made names for themselves.

When the four heard Kazir's praise, they couldn't help but smile. It meant that the director could see a future where they became famous celebrities.

To be fair, they were kind of celebrities lately. The fact that they got hired to be part of Director Grey's horror movie qualified them to be celebrities.

Even though this was only a small-budget horror movie, almost everyone in Hollywood became interested in it. It was because of the simple fact that the director of this small-budget horror movie was Director Grey. It gained a lot of attention.

Furthermore, Kazir even said to his agent that he wanted to sell this movie to a studio!

It meant that Kazir planned to let go of these copyrights and let another studio take care of the franchise... If there was a franchise.

Well, Kazir's scripts usually had a sequel or two, so this horror movie could probably have a sequel. Perhaps?

This news immediately shook Hollywood. Salvatore received so many phone calls from people.

As for the intention behind why Kazir did that, he was the only one who knew the answer.

Kazir wanted to sell the copyrights because he treated Shadows Beneath as his first real business deal in Hollywood after so many years. Back in his past life, he also sold his movies to other studios and platforms, such as Netflix, to make money... Let's just say Kazir wanted to experience that kind of transaction. He probably missed it.

.........

......

...

"This place is scary..."

Scarlett Johansson frowned as she stepped into the woods. A couple of meters into the woods, she found an old abandoned mental hospital. The place was so eerie that it gave her the chills.

If not for the tents in front of the building, Scarlett might have turned around and left the place. She was wearing a thick jacket and a bonnet.

She was done with her job and had free time to visit her boyfriend. As she got closer, she saw Kazir talking to a beautiful woman. The woman was hot and sexy, and her eyes were playfully gazing at Kazir.

'If I remember it right, that actress is only two years younger than me.'

Scarlett raised her brow. This was not the first time this kind of thing happened.

Despite having a bombshell of a woman next to him, Kazir kept talking as if he didn't care at all. He gave his opinion, and the actress left with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. It was hard not to be attracted to a tall, mature guy who had a successful career.

In Hollywood, most of the actresses treated Kazir as the peak of masculinity because the director almost checked all of their preferences for a man. In fact, Kazir was featured in a magazine as the hottest man of 2007. It might not be an exaggeration if people fapped to his pictures...

Tall, handsome, mature/older, billionaire, hot, and ahem, had a huge manhood. The last description was just rumors circling around, but there is no smoke if there's no fire.

Scarlett chuckled when she witnessed the whole scene. She found it funny that the actress tried to flirt with Kazir, but she was left disappointed instead.

Scarlett got closer until Kazir saw her. The man stopped the filming and announced an hour break and approached Scarlett.

The woman saw how the man's expression turned happy and excited to meet her.

"I have a nice and cozy trailer. Let me make you a hot chocolate."

He gently took her purse and carried it. He then leaned closer and kissed her.

"Thanks, babe." Scarlett giggled and hugged Kazir's arm as they walked to the trailer.

The crew was a bit surprised as they witnessed how Kazir transitioned from being stoic and serious to having a smile on his face. Most of the time, they rarely got to see him smile.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 487

The filming of Shadows Beneath didn't have much of a problem. However, the production crew faced a problem regarding the budget.

You see, the crew had to work against time and props.

The announcement of this project was abrupt, and they had to finish the filming within two to three months... They couldn't help but blame Kazir for that. Still, money is money, and they couldn't deny that their salaries were quite good, so they were not bitter.

Anyway, they faced problems such as the props and background settings. They needed to make props if those specific props couldn't be bought, which required time and perhaps money, especially if they needed to hire more prop makers.

Also, the background settings. The movie was not only filmed in a single location like the mental hospital. The production crew also needed to make a hospital room in the studio for specific scenes.

Making the background required time, but most importantly, it required manpower. To make sure that background settings were done before the start of filming, the production crew had to spend money to hire more manpower.

Because of this, they overspent...

The expected budget of Shadows Beneath was only $15 million. Yet, they had already spent $17 million.

This was the first time that Kazir overspent on his movie. His clean record was no more.

But Kazir was not angry about it. He was also not angry at his crew. In the first place, he started this project unexpectedly, and most of his long-time crew members couldn't join, hence the slow progression. Furthermore, the time to prepare the props and background settings was too short.

Just to keep up with the schedule, they needed to spend more money. Kazir understood it.

His record of never overspending was not meant to be taken seriously. At least Kazir didn't take it seriously.

Thankfully, except for the small problem of adding another $2 million, their filming was smooth sailing. The cast didn't experience mental blocks while on the set, they were performing great.

Just like that, two months passed while Kazir spent time filming Shadows Beneath. The premiere for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest would happen in a week.

Kazir finished the filming of Shadows Beneath two days before the premiere, and he quickly returned to Hollywood to join the promotion of the movie. He attended many shows together with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley to promote the movie.

Johnny Depp never talked to Amber Heard after the incident, at least that was how Kazir saw it. He hoped that the two were done in this timeline.

By the way, while Kazir was busy with Shadows Beneath, many big movies were released in the summer.

In May, movies such as Mission: Impossible III, The Da Vinci Code, Over the Hedge, High School Musical, and X-Men: The Last Stand were released. These movies received great reception when they were released.

In June, movies such as The Break-Up, The Omen, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, The Lake House, Nacho Libre, Click, Superman Returns, and The Devil Wears Prada were released. These movies received great reception when they were released.

And now that July has arrived, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest would have an introduction on July 6, Thursday.

Superstars such as Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Director Kazir Grey showed up on the red carpet. Considering that they had constant projects in Hollywood every year, they were qualified as superstars.

The premiere was spectacular as Grey Pictures didn't hesitate to spend money.

The Bourne Ultimatum, which was released in April, already grossed $406 million in North America and $382 million internationally. The movie grossed $788 million worldwide. It was a success that the Big Five jealously stared at because they couldn't get a piece of it.

Because of the success of The Bourne Ultimatum, Grey Pictures had no problem spending for the promotion of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. After all, this movie was directed by Kazir Grey.

.........

......

...

"Did we get scammed?"

Barry Mayer, the person who currently held the highest position in the management of Warner Brothers, weakly muttered while staring at the newspaper.

The first weekend of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was a whopping $135 million.

On Friday, the movie grossed $55 million.

On Saturday, it grossed another $44 million.

On Sunday, it grossed another $35 million.

Making the movie gross a total of $135 million.

"The Pirates of the Caribbean is going to make a lot of money," Barry easily deduced.

"As for us..." He sighed.

One of their biggest movies this year was Superman Returns. This superhero had given them so much profit back in the '70s and '80s. They believed that Superman would perform well in this era. But the statistics said the opposite.

Superman Returns grossed $199 million after 9 days of screening. It looked promising, but the experts determined that the fuel of the movie was quickly disappearing. People didn't like it, and the ticket sales quickly went down. Furthermore, the CinemaScore of Superman Returns was an average B+. It was not a good sign.

"People just bought tickets for the hype, but they are not satisfied or excited to watch it again."

Barry muttered the statements of the data experts in the company.

Superman Returns had all of the formulas to succeed, except for one thing. Superman didn't have an enemy, an enemy that could pose a threat to the godly being. That was the biggest factor why the audience didn't like it. It didn't help that the production cost of Superman Returns was a whopping $270 million, the promotion budget was not even included. The movie would have a hard time making a profit.

Compared to Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean had a better reception.

"That damn Kazir. He made an amazing movie this year, but his performance last year was mediocre. Batman Begins just barely made money at the box office."

That was the reason why Barry Mayer felt like Warner Brothers was scammed.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 488

Last year, Batman Begins was released, and its box office was $549 million. The production cost was $150 million. The movie earned more than twice its investment, so it made a profit.

However, just like the management, Barry couldn't help but be bitter that Batman Begins only made that amount. They expected a bit more, around $600 million at least. Especially when Kazir Grey was the one who directed the movie.

And now, his current movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, grossed $135 million in just three days.

Compared to Batman Begins, which only grossed $54 million in three days, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest had twice the profit in the same timeframe.

It was devastating to compare them, but he couldn't help but do so. Both movies were made by the same director. Sure, the genre of the two movies was different, but still...

Barry sighed. He felt like Kazir was not taking their cooperation seriously. Perhaps he was indeed sabotaging their projects.

And now, Barry was thinking if he should hire Kazir for the sequel to Batman. In the contract, Warner Brothers had the upper hand, and they had the power to stop working with Kazir. The director didn't have a say about that.

"...No, let's wait for a while. Based on the performance of Superman Returns, we might have to postpone our plans of making a Cinematic Universe, as we can't afford the losses. For the time being, let's keep the Batman Trilogy. As long as the contract is in effect, Kazir will surely work with us."

The Batman Trilogy was the first trilogy contract that Kazir signed.

"I heard the director filmed a small-budget horror, and he wants to sell the copyrights to a studio. Maybe Warner Brothers can acquire it."

As much as he wanted to deny it, Kazir's movies were profitable. He never had a movie that failed except for his first three movies, which were also horror movies...

"Hm, let's watch it first before making a move."

Barry recalled that Kazir's weakness was horror movies, so he had to think about it seriously before buying the movie.

.........

......

...

Being part of the summer season, July had some movies that surpassed $100 million.

Aside from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, movies such as Little Man, You, Me and Dupree, Monster House, Little Miss Sunshine, John Tucker Must Die, and Miami Vice were released, which grossed more than $100 million.

However, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest smoothly dominated the month. No other movies could face it head-on. When July ended, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed $361 million at the North American box office. The movie was only in theaters for 25 days, yet its box office hit was that tremendous.

The word of mouth and the CinemaScore ratings of the movie helped a lot. People just knew that if Kazir made a movie, it was a sure box office hit.

While the director and his movie were the topic of the month, the director in question was busy with the post-production of Shadows Beneath. After a month of promoting Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Kazir left the scene and let the cast do their jobs.

After all, directors were meant to stay behind the spotlight. No matter what people say, the cast will always be the face of the promotion. Jack Sparrow will always be the face of Pirates of the Caribbean. Even if a certain animation studio decided to fire Johnny Depp from his role, people would still acknowledge the fact that Johnny Depp was the face of Pirates of the Caribbean.

So yeah, Kazir was not the face of promotion, and he was happy about that. At least now he could focus on editing his horror movie.

"Yeah, another sleepless month."

Kazir yawned as he looked at the monitors that replayed the scenes. Next to him was Rector, the head of the editing/post-production team.

The post-production team consists of many positions.

Film Editor. This position was taken by Rector, the oldest editor whom Kazir worked with. The guy was now a permanent editor at Grey Pictures, responsible for editing Grey Pictures' movies.

Aside from the Film Editor:

There was an Assistant Editor, who organized the footage, managed media files, and synced sounds.

Sound Editor, who was responsible for editing dialogues, sound effects, and ambient sounds.

Colorists, who adjusted the colors and tone of the footage. This created a specific mood for the movie.

Music Editor, who worked on background music that was aligned with the movie narrative.

They also had Visual Effects Artists, but Grey Pictures usually hired ILM whenever they needed heavy special effects scenes.

Again, Grey Pictures was not a simple studio anymore. After years of success, it became one of the best B-list studios in Hollywood.

"I still can't believe that you reached this height. Sometimes I feel like you're not even living in the same timeline, I feel like you're from the future," Rector muttered to Kazir who was happy now that he had time to work on his movie.

Rector remembered the time when Kazir was still an unknown director who hired him to edit Napoleon Dynamite. It was a memory that sparked the start of their long-term cooperation.

And now, the unknown director was no more. Only a successful director who was addicted to making movies.

"Kazir, when was the last time you took a long-term vacation?"

"I think it was four years ago, back in 2002."

"..."

Rector sighed. It was impossible to fix the guy.

Just like that, two months passed, and big news shocked Hollywood.

The Bourne Ultimatum surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office! It was the first movie that surpassed $1 billion this year and probably the only movie, unless another miracle happens!

++++

[If my prediction is right, I can probably end this novel around 600-700 chapters. Haha, let's see how I will cook.]

[Edit: This novel is already completed.]

[By the way, which studio should I sell Kazir's horror movie to? I'll make a poll for that.]

[Edit: The poll ended.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 489


It was amazing that The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $1 billion. However, after some studies, the Big Six discerned the biggest reason why the movie performed so well.

It was the hype. What happened in Wanted 3 set the hype so high that people were ready to consume every piece of content that the CCU released. This was the factor that made the movie gross over $1 billion.

Because of this, another event occurred, and experts in movies and box office trends started studying Grey Pictures' marketing techniques and Kazir's miraculous ideas.

Particularly, they wanted to know what was happening in Kazir's mind and how he could come up with such amazing ideas.

The hype for the CCU was still not over. As of September, Grey Pictures had already started promoting the next movie, which was Kingsman. Furthermore, Grey Pictures showed in their trailer that this movie was where the CCU protagonists would assemble!

Hollywood had already witnessed this kind of scene, and they had already seen what it could do.

If things ran smoothly, then Kingsman would also surpass $1 billion! The movie was set to be released in November, and fans were already booking tickets, even though Cinema Alliance had just started releasing bookings. It was an experience that Hollywood rarely saw.

Grey Pictures could probably have another movie that would surpass $1 billion.

While this excitement was happening, Kazir was nearing the end of finishing The Shadows Beneath.

However, Kazir had no time to rest after that. Now that the special effects for the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie were done, Kazir had to lead the team again to edit the footage into a complete story/movie.

Some of the editors resigned because the workplace was so toxic and suffocating.

The editors who resigned said that they couldn't rest at all because it was awkward to rest while their boss was working so hard and never even thought of resting. Kazir was not just the director, he was the big boss of Grey Pictures.

The workers were so conscious of their surroundings that they couldn't rest at all. Furthermore, they had another project to work on, which was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. They realized that they had to keep up with the heavy workload for at least two more months before getting a breather. It would be hell.

Because of that environment, they decided to resign instead. Kazir was not cheap when it came to paying salaries, but they couldn't keep up with Kazir's work ethic, so they might as well find another employer to work with.

When Kazir heard that, he felt bad and decided to give the editing team a week to rest before starting Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

The Shadows Beneath was finished, and it only needed polishing. It was ready to be presented to the distributors.

.........

......

...

"The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $1 billion, and Kingsman: The Secret Service might also surpass $1 billion because it's the movie where the CCU protagonists will assemble..."

Ronald Meyer read the headlines and sighed... Lately, he had been sighing a lot. The position of being the CEO of Universal Pictures was amazing, but the responsibility it carried also put a lot of pressure on him.

Just like Walt Disney, Universal Pictures was having a tough time finding a franchise that they could milk. They didn't own a comic publisher like DC Comics or Marvel Comics as sources of franchises. Universal Pictures was also not a family-friendly animation studio that could spam cartoons every year.

Since its creation, Universal Pictures had focused on live-action movies. And now, they couldn't find live-action franchises to milk. They were in dire need of huge movies.

Ronald looked at the newspaper for the nth time. He might have been old-school because he preferred reading the newspaper rather than watching the news on television. Perhaps most CEOs and Chairmen liked reading newspapers.

Anyway, the headline didn't sit well with him. Based on his understanding, Continental Cinematic Universe wouldn't just have three movies that would exceed $1 billion at the box office. The franchise would probably have four movies that would exceed $1 billion at the box office.

On top of that, Grey Pictures had a franchise apart from CCU that earned a lot.

Based on the numbers that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was showing, this once-unpopular pirate-themed movie had already grossed $841 million at the worldwide box office as of September. And it was obvious the reception was still strong because the fuel of this movie was still pumping.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest surpassed $1 billion.

This fact made Ronald absolutely livid.

"If this so-called Kingsman: The Secret Service performs well, it's obvious that it's going to surpass $1 billion."

Two years! Three movies! Three fucking movies were created by Grey Pictures, and each one grossed $1 billion in just fucking two years. That was so painful to watch.

Wanted 3

The Bourne Ultimatum.

And Pirates of the Caribbean was getting there, near $1 billion.

At this point, Ronald thought of trying to destroy Kazir and Grey Pictures again, but he held back.

Why? Grey Pictures had just announced that they would have a small screening of Kazir's horror movie in November, and Ronald Meyer was invited... Ronald didn't want to disrupt Grey Pictures' business because Universal Pictures was interested in Kazir's horror movie.

"Whoever thought of this plan is a genius. This way, the Big Six will refrain from sabotaging Kingsman: The Secret Service, which is going to be released in November."

Stella Willow was the person who thought of it. Kingsman: The Secret Service would be released in the second week of November, while The Shadows Beneath would have a small screening in the last week of November.

++++

[Author's Note]

[I have a favor to ask, please support my new novel Behind The Spotlight by giving it Power Stones on Webnovel. I want to see if it's possible to break into the Top 10 in the Last 30 Days ranking. This ranking is for new novels that are not a month old.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 490


Kazir's busy life never stopped. This year, he finished filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He had been filming these two movies and he just finished them in the first quarter of the year.

The duration of filming a movie has a lot of factors to consider. If a movie doesn't need much preparation, it can be finished in just two to three months depending on the situation.

Sometimes, a movie can also take years to finish… This movie needed a lot of preparation and special effects. Most of the time, a movie needs a year or two to be completed.

In Kazir's case, his filming was probably the fastest. Especially with scenes that didn't require many special effects, Kazir could easily finish them. Furthermore, Grey Pictures made complete preparations for Kazir's projects every year. The set, filming locations, studios, and props were done before the filming even started.

Kazir could make a movie every year because of that.

When Kazir was done filming Pirates of the Caribbean, he had to move to the next step, which was post-production/editing the movie.

This was a time-consuming task that required a couple of sleepless nights.

When Kazir finished the second movie, Dead Man's Chest, everyone thought he would take a break and rest.

But no, Kazir Grey decided to make another movie, a fucking horror movie! Rest was probably the last thing Kazir wanted to do.

With the help of his assistant director, another crew was assembled. Unlike usual, the preparation for the horror movie ran into a bit of trouble because of time constraints.

Thankfully, Kazir still finished the filming before the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

After joining the promotion, Kazir returned to editing Shadows Beneath.

It was around September when Shadows Beneath was completed… Everyone thought Kazir would take some time to rest.

But fuck no, the director heard that the special effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End were done, and he decided to edit the movie after two weeks of rest… This rest wasn't for him, but for his editing team, who were spent after finishing an exhausting project. In fact, two more people resigned because of Kazir's relentless schedule.

When the two weeks of rest ended, Kazir started the post-production of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It would probably take three to four months to complete this movie.

While Kazir was busy in September and October, new batches of movies were released.

In September, movies such as The Queen, Jackass: Number Two, The Guardian, and Open Season were released. These were the movies that surpassed $100 million.

In October, movies such as The Departed, Flags of Our Fathers, The Prestige, Babel, and Saw III were released. These were the movies that surpassed $100 million.

.........

......

...

"Woohoo—!!! Liam, please impregnate me!"

"Daddy Liam! I want you to be my Daddy!!"

Kazir and Scarlett turned around when a deafening noise struck them from behind.

Kazir and Scarlett were attending the premiere of Kingsman: The Secret Service. Both were part of the CCU, as Kazir had a cameo in every movie while Scarlett played Liam's daughter in the film.

The two saw Liam Neeson stepping out of the limousine. The actor waved his hands and smiled at the fans.

After the massive success of Taken 3 last year, Liam Neeson was recognized as one of the best actors of all time.

Well, he indeed was.

Taken was the movie that helped people realize the seriousness of kidnapping and human trafficking.

Taken was also the movie where Liam Neeson won his Best Actor Award at the Oscars. This was the highest award an actor could receive in his lifetime.

Since then, Liam Neeson had steadily become a globally recognized celebrity. Even his role as a villain in Batman Begins didn't affect his status. In fact, it further helped him.

Liam Neeson was recognized as the hottest daddy in Hollywood. As for whoever gave him that title, he or she was clearly down bad and thirsty.

Liam Neeson gradually approached the two. The actor smiled at them. He shook hands with Kazir and then hugged Scarlett.

The flashes of the cameras rained down on the three as they smiled. The three posed in front of the cameras, showing that they were close. Well, they truly were close.

"I heard from Harold that you spent most of your days in the editing room. You should move around sometimes. Taking in sunlight is good for your health," Liam said to Kazir while the fans were going crazy over their interaction… Yeah, for some reason, women were screaming about that.

"Don't worry, the building has a gym that I can use to keep fit," Kazir replied.

"Going to the gym isn't enough. You should eat healthy foods, too." Scarlett joined the conversation.

"I know, I appreciate it every time you visit me and bring food." The director chuckled and whispered to Scarlett. The actress smiled and whispered something back.

Liam Neeson watched their interaction. Honestly, Liam had some questions regarding their relationship, but he decided to respect their boundaries. After all, it seemed that the couple were happy.

The couple bid their farewell while Liam had to do an interview before heading to the theater.

Kingsman: The Secret Service was the movie where the protagonists would assemble. It was not a surprise that Liam had to do an interview. After all, this would probably be his last time acting as Bryan Mills.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 491


The audience sobbed as their gazes remained fixed on the screen, where Bryan Mills was piloting a plane up into the sky.

"I'm sorry, Kim... I can't attend your birthday." Bryan Mills weakly smiled as the plane flew further away from the city.

"Dad! Dad, please don't do this to me." Kim cried out loud. It was futile. A powerful shockwave struck the city, and the glasses and windows cracked. However, the city was not destroyed, and only a few people were hurt by the explosion.

Kim Mills looked up at the sky and saw a giant red fiery ball slowly disintegrating. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she realized what had happened. She dropped the phone and kneeled. She cried as the people around her panicked because of the explosion.

The other protagonists witnessed the explosion, and they had mixed emotions.

.........

......

...

"That kind of scene is so overused! I've watched so many movies where the good guy always sacrifices himself to save the others. Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Iron Giant, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan. I'll tell you this: that trope is so fucking overused!"

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because it hurts! So you're telling me that Bryan Mills died because he saved a city from destruction!? He is a hero, but God damn, it hurts!"

People were happy yet sad as they left the theater one by one. The workers from CinemaScore asked them to rate the movie, and almost all of them rated it A+. Most of them said the same thing: "The movie was amazing."

Despite the sad part of the movie, the audience liked the overall film. It resonated with them.

The first 24 hours of Kingsman: The Secret Service were so hectic because every theater that screened the movie was full.

The first-day box office hit of Kingsman: The Secret Service was $75 million... This was currently the highest first-day box office hit in history.

The second was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which grossed $55 million on its first day.

See the similarities?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Kingsman: The Secret Service were released in the same year.

The two movies were also released by the same production studio. Grey Pictures!

This fact would make some people go crazy.

The second day of Kingsman: The Secret Service was undoubtedly great. It made $44 million.

On Sunday, which was the third day of screening, Kingsman: The Secret Service made $40 million.

The first-weekend box office hit of the movie grossed $160 million.

Stella Willow was receiving so much praise from people. The management of 20th Century Fox also expressed their congratulations to the woman. She had been one of the key reasons why the performance of Grey Pictures was getting better every year.

As for Kazir, Hollywood couldn't find the director, so the only person they could praise was Stella.

.........

......

...

In the first week of November, Borat, Flushed Away, and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause were the big movies that were released.

In the second week, only Kingsman: The Secret Service was the big movie that was released. No one was stupid enough to release movies in the same week as Kingsman: The Secret Service's release. They made the right choice because Kingsman: The Secret Service dominated the month with no hassle.

In the third week, 007: Casino Royale, Happy Feet, and Déjà Vu were released.

In the fourth week... Nothing much happened except for the fact that Grey Pictures prepared a theater that could house only 100 people to screen a movie.

This small screening was not extravagant, but the audience who attended the movie were all important.

Ronald Meyer from Universal Pictures.

Robert Iger from Walt Disney.

Barry Meyer from Warner Brothers.

Tom Rothman from 20th Century Fox.

Brad Grey from Paramount Pictures.

Frank Price from Sony-Columbia.

Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Lionsgate.

Harry E. Sloan, the CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Even Director Steven Spielberg, the representative of DreamWorks, showed up.

The CEOs looked around and greeted each other. They were all here to watch a movie, and also for business. Despite their amiable smiles, they were ready to tear each other's faces off just to win the copyrights.

These were just some of the people who showed up. Together with them were their entourages and the higher-ups of their respective companies.

"First of all, I want to thank all of you. I'm honored that almost every decision-maker in Hollywood showed up for this small presentation of mine. Now, I will not waste more time. The movie shall begin… For those who have heart problems, I recommend you be prepared."

Kazir announced the start of the screening.

It was a 90-minute-long movie. There were scary and disgusting scenes, but the audience could stomach them. Overall, it was an entertaining movie. The plot twist was also unexpected.

Still… It wasn't that great. Or, to be precise, they had watched better horror movies than this. It was above average but not enough for people to fall in love with it.

Suddenly, most people in the audience felt like they had been scammed.

Kazir kept his smile... Actually, he didn't expect that the CEOs from the Big Six would show up today. He had the intention of selling his movie, but not like this.

He was actually nervous.

One thing was sure, despite the average reception, the movie would still make money. After all, this was Kazir's horror movie.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 492


Despite his nervousness, Kazir kept his smile. Although he was nervous, he couldn't deny that he was also excited.

Shadow Beneath was the horror movie he failed to film in his past life.

He put everything he learned about filming horror movies into this project. This was his dream and also a burden.

Since his regression, he had been haunted by the fact that his past profession as a horror movie director had failed. This was his biggest regret. This was also the thing he feared the most.

Now, Kazir was trying to take a step and face his fears. He looked at the leaders of Hollywood who had personally attended this screening just to watch his movie.

Some of them were skeptical. Some were calculating the profit, and some were against the idea of buying it.

But overall, their expressions showed that they appreciated Kazir's movie. He was nervous as the lights turned on.

Some of the people who attended the screening left, while some stayed. It didn't mean that the people who left were not interested in Kazir's movie. They were probably analyzing and talking to professionals regarding Kazir's new film.

They could see the potential in his movie, but they didn't know the endgame. Furthermore, they also had to determine what offer would satisfy Kazir enough to sell the copyrights to them.

.........

......

...

"The movie is entertaining. I must admit, the plot twist caught me off guard, but it's also not that mind-blowing."

Robert Iger spoke to the people in the limousine as they returned to the company. They had just spent around two hours at Grey Pictures before heading back to the Walt Disney headquarters.

The other people from the management and board of directors agreed.

"It has potential. If we do it right, the box office can reach at least $300 million."

"We can use Kazir as the center of our promotion," one of them added, and many agreed.

To be fair, the reason why the movie could possibly reach $300 million at the box office was because of Kazir's box office appeal.

Whenever people heard that Kazir was related to a movie, they knew that the movie was worth watching.

If Shadows Beneath had the same plot but a different director, the movie would hardly make money at the cinema.

"But let's be honest here. We know that Kazir's career started with filming horror movies. His three horror movies never made money at the box office. I admit that their DVD sales skyrocketed, but it was because people considered them cult classics after they found out that Kazir filmed them. Overall, his first three movies are just average horror films."

They also agreed with that fact.

Being the best director in Hollywood, the management of Walt Disney studied Kazir's filmography seriously. They knew Kazir's strengths and weaknesses.

His strengths were:

His fast filming, where he could make a movie every year.

His strong budget control. He never overspent, except one time.

His understanding of how to catch the audience's attention. He knew what movies people liked.

His weakness:

Kazir didn't have any clear, original style. All of his movies didn't follow a strict filming style.

Horror movies were also considered his weakness based on statistics.

As for the other bad traits, they couldn't really say those were Kazir's weaknesses. They were more like things they didn't like about Kazir.

Kazir loved selling his scripts at an expensive price.

Kazir also loved to negotiate contracts that were quite painful on the pockets.

Lastly, Kazir was hard to convince… This was probably the hardest hurdle they would face in this negotiation.

Robert listened to the management seriously, making their opinions valid. Robert was respected by the management as he slowly acquired ownership of Pixar, one of the foundations of 3D animation in the entire world.

Furthermore, Robert was also the person who pushed for the production of many 3D movies. This year, the money they earned from toys from 3D movies were immaculate. It grossed $462 million. This might look simple, but it wasn't at all. The profit they gained from the franchises were immense.

It all came down to toys. The sales of toys related to Toy Story alone exceeded $1 billion. It was obvious that kids liked the movie. In fact, in 2011, which was five years from now, the the Toy Story franchise would generate $5 billion in merchandise sales.

Robert Iger was one of the keys to why these projects became successful.

After listening to them, and once the limousine stopped in front of the Walt Disney headquarters, Robert stepped out of the car and said to his entourage:

"Contact Kazir and express that we are interested in buying his movie. I heard that this movie cost $17 million to make. We can double or triple that amount. It doesn't matter if we lose some profit. Our intention this time is to form a positive impression on Kazir. We are not investing in his movie, we are trying to fix our relationship through money. Understand that."

"Yes, sir."

Robert stepped into the elevator.

"Well, if we get this movie and it surpass $1 billion, it's going to be a miracle… Titanic did it, so it's not impossible for another miracle to happen."

Robert shook his head. He was already surprised that Grey Pictures and CAA had invited him to watch Kazir's horror movie. It meant that they had a chance to fix their relationship.

++++

[First of all, this is a What-if, so I might as well go all out. Since most of you voted for over a billion dollars at the box office, I will do it. Let's make the impossible possible. After all, this is just fiction.]

[Edit: The patrons voted that the horror movie will surpass $1 billion at the box office... Sorry about that.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 493


On the other hand, a few people stayed in the screening to talk to Kazir and his representative, Salvatore Barlowe, regarding the copyrights of the movie.

Salvatore rarely experienced this kind of job when it came to Kazir. Kazir had his own production studio, and he rarely needed to negotiate with other studios.

But this was different. This was a negotiation that Salvatore loved to participate in because he had a commission to earn.

Sure, a 3% commission looked small… But what if the negotiation went up to $100 million? Does 3% look small anymore?

The agent smiled and joined the conversation.

The people who remained were from Lionsgate, Universal Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The first to offer a price was the representative of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM was a dying company and needed another source of income. They desperately needed a new franchise.

Aside from 007, MGM also owned Carrie, Poltergeist, and Species. The company also distributed some cult classics such as Silence of the Lambs.

In a way, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was good at handling horror movies.

The one who stepped up was the representative of MGM. The CEOs of each studio had already left after giving instructions to their people. CEOs didn't have to do the negotiations, at least not in an informal setting like this.

After all, everyone understood that this was just the beginning of the negotiations. Kazir was tough to crack, and this cunning director would probably wait until he got the deal he was looking for.

"$35 million."

The MGM representative said.

This was just the opening, yet someone had already offered to double their production cost.

No matter how you looked at it, that was a positive sign. Kazir's horror movie had its appeal.

Salvatore grinned and glanced at Kazir before looking at the representative.

"We can talk about that in a better place. For now, let the workers clean this room."

Salvatore excused himself, and Kazir nodded.

This kind of stuff should be left to the professionals. As for the contract, at this point, Kazir was too rich to even care. He would still choose the best deal, though.

.........

.....

...

In November, some strong movies were released, such as Borat, Flushed Away, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Casino Royale, Happy Feet, and Déjà Vu.

Out of these movies, Kingsman: The Secret Service dominated the month. In just 15 days, the movie had already grossed $328 million.

When December arrived, many production studios joined in on buying the copyrights of Shadows Beneath, as this was one of the few movies that Kazir personally filmed but planned to sell.

In his career, Kazir had a few movies that he directed but were not owned by Grey Pictures.

Napoleon Dynamite.

The Hangover.

Spider-Man.

Spider-Man 2.

Batman Begins.

These were the movies Kazir directed but didn't hold the copyrights to. Yet all of these movies were profitable.

Obviously, just because of that simple fact, many studios believed that Kazir's new horror movie would also be profitable. The problem was how much money they could earn.

Three days after the small screening, the highest bidder was $62 million from Sony-Columbia.

Three days was enough for people to study the potential of Shadows Beneath. In their opinion, if promoted right, this horror movie could make about $300 to $600 million, depending on the schedule.

Because of that, $62 million was the base payment Sony-Columbia concluded to pay to get the copyrights.

Some believed it was too small, considering that this movie was directed by Kazir Grey.

However, looking at it seriously, Shadows Beneath had no chance to become a franchise. The story was completed in just a single movie. Kazir also expressed that he had no intention of writing a sequel… To be precise, he had no idea what to write, as this was different from his usual ways.

He realized that writing a script was not easy at all.

While this was happening, big news shocked Hollywood. Some people already expected this, but they were still shocked.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest successfully surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office after six months of screening.

For those who had no idea, they just thought this was normal because Grey Pictures was known to make amazing movies.

But for those who had been in Hollywood for a long time, it was shocking to see a B-tier studio that didn't have distribution lines achieve two movies that surpassed $1 billion at the box office in a year. It was not easy at all.

As of now, only Warner Brothers could replicate that kind of success, since Warner Brothers had Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings to rely on. However, even Warner Brothers could only make two movies reach $900 million each in a year.

Furthermore, as they studied Grey Pictures' three movies this year, they realized that Kingsman: The Secret Service had a strong chance to surpass $1 billion.

Can you imagine that? Three movies owned by a single studio, each surpassing $1 billion. That was hard to imagine, and everyone thought it was impossible.

But this year, Grey Pictures was trying to break the impossible… They kept breaking the impossible.

Because of this, Hollywood further understood how important this chance Kazir gave them was. This ignited their will to compete and acquire the copyrights of Shadows Beneath.

That single piece of news made them look at the horror movie from another angle. Perhaps they could use this chance to ask Kazir to work with them. Kazir had already given Sony-Columbia its first billion-dollar movie. aybe he could work with another studio to help them achieve that milestone too.

+++++

[Thank you guys for all of your support.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 494


When Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed over $1 billion, every capable studio in Hollywood became active in trying to buy Kazir's latest movie.

Sony-Columbia offered $62 million. The reason why Sony-Columbia was active was that they hoped Kazir would direct Spider-Man 3. This was the franchise that they had to maintain. Sony-Columbia was not that confident in Shadows Beneath, but they wanted to use this chance to convince Kazir to sign another project with them.

Warner Brothers offered $64 million. Warner Brothers still had a contract with Kazir regarding the trilogy of Batman, so they were not that active. Still, they were participating in the bidding since why not? Perhaps they had a chance to buy Shadows Beneath.

20th Century Fox didn't participate, as they already got two horror movie franchises from Kazir, which were Final Destination and Paranormal Activity. They were currently putting the focus on Paranormal Activity, as this found-footage genre was a bit difficult to maneuver.

Paramount Pictures offered $69 million. Noice. The reason why Paramount Pictures offered this nice amount of money was that they wanted Kazir to direct the trilogy of Transformers. They already got the copyrights from Hasbro, but they were still looking for a director. They invited Kazir last time, but the director didn't express any interest. They were using this chance to convince him.

Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer both offered the same amount, which was $70 million. The two studios were considered second-tier studios because they were less popular. Still, they had the capability to participate in this kind of auction. The two were looking for a franchise that could help them revive or popularize their respective studios.

As for DreamWorks, which was also a second-tier studio, the company was currently in shambles, as Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg wanted to lead their own teams and divide the assets of DreamWorks. This decision happened because of interference from the Big Six to ensure that DreamWorks wouldn't rise up to become a new giant studio. It also didn't help that Jeffrey and Steven were leaders who had no intention of lowering their heads to one another. The company didn't offer any amount.

Walt Disney was also interested in Shadows Beneath, but for different reasons. They wanted to use this chance as a peace talk. They understood that their studio was losing spark regarding live-action movies. They hoped that Kazir could help them with that. Walt Disney generously offered $82 million.

However, out of all of them, someone was crazy enough to offer $100 million! Universal Pictures was gambling at this point.

Everyone had different reasons why they were interested in Kazir's horror movie. They were indeed affected by the success of Grey Pictures' last two movies, which surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

They were experiencing impulse buying, as if they would regret it if they didn't buy the copyrights for Kazir's horror movie.

Everyone believed that Kazir's horror movie would easily surpass $300 million. That was just the assurance based on the director's strong box office appeal.

However, none of them were insane enough to offer $100 million.

That was more than five times the amount of Shadows Beneath's budget. Anyone would be happy with that kind of profit. Grey Pictures could easily double the whole cast and crew members' salaries with that amount, and the company would still have millions of dollars left.

Everyone was crazy, but Universal Pictures lost all of its reasoning.

Instead of backing down, just to make a statement and ensure that no one would compete, Universal Pictures added another freebie!

$100 million + 5% of the North American box office!

That was so fucking stupid. A stupid, stupid move! It needed to be repeated twice just to emphasize the term stupid.

Universal Pictures basically put a nail in the coffin. That offer was too much to handle.

Even if Shadows Beneath earned $300 million, it would still be considered a loss for them.

However, that decision also stopped others from the game. They decided not to compete anymore, as they didn't want to gamble more than $100 million.

Walt Disney was having second thoughts before admitting defeat. They wanted to use this opportunity to make amends with Kazir, but it seemed that they had to find another chance.

When Universal Pictures said that and even prepared a proper contract, Kazir and Grey Pictures were also happy to have a business deal with them.

Kazir knew that this was business, and he didn't mix it with his personal emotions. He was professional, after all... However, he admitted that he didn't like Universal Pictures because of what they did to him.

While signing the contract, there were cameras that took their pictures. In the pictures, Kazir and Ronald Meyer were smiling while shaking hands. It looked like their bad blood had vanished after this business deal.

Actually, Ronald Meyer was not the one who initiated the offer of $100 million + 5% North American box office share. The mother company initiated it.

General Electric currently owned Universal Pictures, but they were not happy with the situation. There were some rumors that General Electric wanted to sell Universal Pictures to Comcast.

This move was a way to invigorate the stocks of Universal Pictures to increase its worth while General Electric was selling it to Comcast. That's why Universal Pictures suffered a loss from this business deal.

The only way to make this deal worthwhile is if Shadows Beneath surpassed $1 billion. But it should be impossible. After all, no horror movie made that amount of money.

Ronald Meyer sighed as he left the signing of the contract. He actually tried to invite Kazir to a party, but the director respectfully declined. It was obvious that Kazir didn't like him.

"…If Comcast acquired Universal Pictures, they will probably change the CEO, which means I will lose my job."

He felt bad... despite earning millions and using his authority to his advantage. Well, it was indeed sad losing your position as one of the most respected people in Hollywood.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 495


The day after the signing of the contract, there was a meeting that happened in one of the offices in Universal Pictures' headquarters.

This was the third time Kazir went to this place.

The first was when he personally sent his script, hoping that Universal Pictures would be interested in it. The script in question was Seven. From the moment the script readers and analysts confirmed that the genre was dark thriller mystery, they immediately put the script into their script library.

Kazir believed that his old script was still rotting in their library... He was wrong. When Seven became a huge hit, the higher management asked to have the script delivered for them to read.

The second time he visited Universal Pictures was when he was looking for investors for his first action movie, titled Taken... the first movie that introduced the Continental Cinematic Universe.

Universal Pictures believed that this experimental project called a Cinematic Universe would obviously fail, so they didn't work with Kazir. At that time, Kazir didn't want any status to acquire the full rights to Taken, so the highest he could offer to the investors was a 70% investment. Universal Pictures didn't like that, so the deal didn't happen.

And now, Kazir didn't believe that he would step into this building for the third time. What happened in the past made him believe that it would be impossible to work with Universal Pictures.

Some things were impossible to predict.

"Let's start our meeting."

The presenter was Stella Willow. She had prepared for this meeting because she was the type who never backed down.

Even though Grey Pictures only made more than $80 million as an initial profit, the company still had a 5% box office share to feast on. It was small compared to the usual shares they received whenever they worked with 20th Century Fox, but it was still pure profit on their side... Honestly, Stella had no idea why Kazir wanted to do this deal. This was considered a loss for them.

If they had kept the copyrights, Stella had so many methods to make money out of it. Sure, it would take a longer time compared to an upfront payment of $100 million, but Stella was confident she could make more than that if given more time.

Unfortunately, Kazir wanted to experience nostalgia... a selfish reason for a billionaire. Kazir had nothing to lose anyway. In the first place, he was too wealthy to even care. Grey Pictures was also not in a poor situation, and the company was not desperate for money... At least that's how Kazir saw it.

The reason for this meeting was for them to come up with a promotion plan.

Stella was the one who planned this promotion. Truth be told, she didn't want to present this promotion to a rival company, but she also didn't want another person to take credit for her hard work, so she might as well do it herself.

This was the promotion plan that Grey Pictures offered. If Universal Pictures had a better idea, naturally, they would use the better idea.

But for now, Stella Willow was going to explain the plan.

Even Ronald Meyer was present because he was partially responsible for buying Shadows Beneath. He wanted to know how talented this so-called Stella Willow of Grey Pictures was.

Stella had already proven herself, but she still wanted to make a statement. She loved it when people around her looked at her with respect and awe. That was her pride.

Her assistant gave the documents to the people present in the room.

"After doing some research, I found these pictures from the mental hospital where Kazir filmed the majority of the movie."

The people curiously looked at the pictures.

"They were taken in different years, but you can see that there are people in the pictures who resembled our cast."

Kazir nodded. Having a resemblance was true, but Kazir could also see the difference between these people and the cast.

"Based on what you're telling us, you want to follow the promotion that Titanic did a few years ago?"

In one of the many promotions for Titanic, there was a picture of a couple on the ship who resembled Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

"Sort of." Stella nodded.

"Sort of?"

"Here, I have another thing to show you guys."

The projector lit up and a video started playing. In the video, the crew members were busy with their jobs. Suddenly, one of the cameras fell off, and the guy near it paused as if he saw something before turning around and running fast. The people who witnessed it also ran away from the scene. The clip ended with that.

"See what I did there?"

The people in the room were interested in what happened next, but the clip ended. They looked at Stella, they were waiting for an explanation.

"If you watch it out of context, you'd think they saw a ghost and ran away, right?"

Some of the people in the room nodded, while others kept waiting for an explanation.

"Kazir, explain to them what happened."

"The crew found a snake and they ran away. If I'm not wrong, they started screaming about snakes after that video clip."

Ronald now had an idea about Stella's promotion.

The woman didn't wait anymore and started explaining.

"My promotion is that while filming, the crew realized that the mental hospital is haunted. We can make things up and tell people that the cast sensed some unknown entities were watching them while they acted in the set of Shadows Beneath. There was a small accident while filming the movie. We can also blame that on ghosts or whatever. We will promote that the people in these pictures are still in the mental hospital, repeatedly experiencing the tragedies."

Everyone in the room had watched the movie, and they were impressed when Stella came up with a promotion that could connect to the film.

"We will make it look like that mental hospital is a haunted place where spirits lingered."

"So basically just like The Blair Witch Project?"

"That's right."

"Are we not afraid that we will experience another incident like The Blair Witch? Besides, aren't people going to see through our lies?"

"So what?"

Stella grinned.

"I believe it would be better if someone died because of the movie. That way, more people will be interested in the movie. However, I don't want anyone to die, just to be clear."

Hollywood... Their main focus was making money instead of thinking about other people.

"It doesn't matter if they believe it, as long as more people watch our movie, then it's fine."

This promotion was built on a lie. The cast and crew members also signed a contract about this promotion.

From now on, they had to say that the mental hospital they filmed in was eerie. The snake incident didn't happen, it was an act of the supernatural. The stunt double didn't fall from the second floor because of equipment malfunction, he fell because a supernatural entity pushed him.

Of course, Grey Pictures had to pay them money to make sure they would keep the lies.

+++++

[I just kept writing for an hour until I realized that I wrote more than 1200 words. Anyway, this is the best method I can think of as a way to promote the movie.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 496


When the management of Universal Pictures understood Stella's promotion plan, they agreed to it. Even Ronald was surprised by the woman's meticulous planning.

With that, the promotion launched, and December became an active month for Universal Pictures and anyone related to Shadows Beneath. The cast also showed up for many interviews.

The cast was paid to say that the mental hospital they visited was terrifying. They signed contracts to ensure that they wouldn't reveal the truth. The same also applied to the crew members.

A video circulated online, showcasing supposed supernatural acts that occurred on the film set. In one clip, a camera fell, prompting many people to run away.

Another story emerged about the stunt double who had an accident. He claimed he felt like someone pushed him. His medical expenses were covered by the production studio. Furthermore, Kazir promised him a role in the CCU, perhaps as a side character.

Some people suspected that these incidents were just clever marketing tactics devised by Grey Pictures and Universal Pictures. But it didn't matter, many people loved supernatural stories that defied scientific explanation.

Why do you think some people believe that the Earth is flat?

Why do you think people believe that Santa Claus is real? Santa Claus was a real person, but he surely didn't have reindeer that could fly across the sky and deliver gifts to every child in the world.

Why do you think people believe in aliens? To be fair, the existence of aliens might actually be real.

People choose to believe and that was enough for Shadows Beneath to cause a stir. As long as people were interested, they would watch the movie.

December marked the final month of the year, and Hollywood celebrated by releasing big movies such as Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, The Holiday, Charlotte's Web, Dreamgirls, Eragon, The Pursuit of Happyness, Rocky Balboa, The Good Shepherd, and Night at the Museum.

Out of all these films, Night at the Museum sold the most movie tickets, grossing $735 million.

Speaking of Eragon, this was the movie 20th Century Fox used in an attempt to replicate the success of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Eragon was based on a novel, and fans hoped it would be the next big fantasy franchise. Unfortunately, the movie underperformed. It even lost to Blood Diamond, which was released during the same week.

Walt Disney also had a fantasy franchise based on the novels titled Narnia. The franchise had a strong start but quickly faded after three movies.

Only a few novels have had successful film adaptations, such as The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, Dune, and perhaps The Maze Runner.

While all this was going on, Universal Pictures and Grey Pictures actively promoted Shadows Beneath.

Universal Pictures knew they would lose money if they didn't release the movie soon. So, when January arrived, they announced that Shadows Beneath would be released at midnight on January 5.

Universal Pictures was worried they would lose money on this endeavor... They had already spent more than $10 million promoting the movie in the United States alone.

To summarize, Universal Pictures had already spent more than $110 million. And they knew this was only the beginning. They just hoped to break even.

However, Universal Pictures also understood the reasoning behind their decision. Their stock value increased when news broke that they had acquired Kazir's movie. General Electric and Comcast were in negotiations regarding the future of Universal Pictures. General Electric wanted to sell Universal Pictures at a profitable price, which is why they decided to buy Shadows Beneath.

The cast and the director of Shadows Beneath showed up on the red carpet. Typically, the red carpet was reserved for big-budget films rather than horror films with a budget of $17 million.

Megan Fox, Chris Hemsworth, Gal Gadot, and Henry Cavill were clearly enjoying the moment as cameras flashed all around them. Everyone knew they would become instant celebrities after starring in Kazir's film, but the experience was still surreal. They finally understood how hard their agents fought to secure audition opportunities for them.

The four appeared close, like friends, when the cameras were on them... but the crew knew none of them were truly close, especially the two actresses.

.........
......
...

Shadows Beneath.

A group of urban explorers, led by Ethan(Chris), a charismatic yet skeptical leader, embarks on their latest adventure: exploring an abandoned mental hospital on the outskirts of a forgotten town. The group consists of Ethan's girlfriend Sara(Gal), thrill-seeker Carly(Megan), and cameraman Kyle(Henry), who loves using vintage cameras. The hospital, known as St. Dymphna's Asylum, had a notorious reputation for brutal experiments on its patients during the 1950s. Rumors of hauntings and paranormal sightings make it an ideal location for their next web episode.

Act 1: The Setup

The group arrives at St. Dymphna's on a cold, foggy evening. The towering asylum looms against the darkening sky. The building has been abandoned for decades, its windows shattered, overgrown vines crawling up the walls, and an eerie silence filling the air. Inside, they find old patient files, grim medical tools, and graffiti left by previous trespassers. Despite the unsettling atmosphere, they laugh it off, thrilled by the footage they're capturing.

Odd things begin to occur: Sara's camera malfunctions, picking up static-laced audio filled with distorted voices; Carly hears faint whispers in the corridors; Ethan, though normally grounded, feels an unshakable unease.

The group splits up to cover more ground. Kyle sets up stationary cameras hoping to capture paranormal activity. Sara begins to have vivid visions of past events she shouldn't know: doctors in blood-stained coats and screaming patients.

Act 2: The Descent

As night falls, the temperature drops and the atmosphere thickens. Paranormal phenomena intensify. Ethan sees fleeting figures out of the corner of his eye and discovers a hidden room not listed in the asylum's blueprints. Inside are photos of former patients, all with their faces scratched out.

Carly becomes increasingly distressed, claiming she saw someone watching them. The others dismiss her concerns as paranoia until Kyle's hallway camera records a figure in a hospital gown staring at it before vanishing.

The group begins to unravel. Ethan insists they continue filming, but the rest want to leave. When they try to exit, they find the doors sealed and the windows unbreakable. Their phones have no signal.

It's as though the asylum won't let them go.

Act 3: Unraveling Reality

The group is separated. Each faces a personal nightmare. Sara finds a room full of journals detailing Dr. Isaacs' horrific experiments meant to "purge" mental illness by destroying the soul. These experiments ended in the slow deaths of many patients, whose spirits now haunt the hospital.

Kyle finds a patient's journal describing a ritual used by Dr. Isaacs to bind souls to the asylum. The writer claims anyone who enters becomes part of a cycle, reliving trauma endlessly.

Carly is lured into the basement by a child's cries. In a vision, she's strapped to a bed while doctors conduct experiments. She awakens in the present but is now convinced the spirits are trying to consume them.

Act 4: The Twist

Kyle vanishes. His camera is found recording but no sign of him. Reviewing the footage, they see him being pulled into the shadows by a dark figure.

Sara and Ethan reunite. They find a locked room that Sara believes holds the truth. Inside are old photos and records of themselves.

They realize the awful truth: they were never alive. They are the spirits of former patients, doomed to relive their deaths over and over. Their memories of being explorers were fabrications created by the asylum.

"Kyle" was just a remnant of their collective memory, erased when he fulfilled his torment.

Sara remembers her death: strapped to a hospital bed, subjected to Isaacs' cruelty. The hospital feeds on fear, forcing its victims to forget and suffer anew.

Act 5: Eternal Torment

The group's memories return. They see their past lives, each a patient tormented by Dr. Isaacs. The asylum is alive, feeding on the souls trapped within.

Sara and Ethan realize they're part of an endless cycle. The final shot is of Sara staring into a mirror, her reflection turning into her true, tortured form. As the screen fades to black, the sound of a new group entering the hospital echoes.

Final scene: A fresh group of explorers arrives, unaware of the cycle. The camera pans across Ethan and Sara standing silently in the dark, hollow-eyed, watching the newcomers, themselves, the next victims, begin the journey they've already lived countless times.

.........
......
...

Anyway, the premiere occurred without issue.

Because the movie was directed by Kazir Grey, the first 24 hours of Shadows Beneath grossed $18 million.

On the second day (January 6), it made another $23 million.

Then Sunday, the third day, it earned another $14 million.

The opening weekend grossed $58 million.

When Universal Pictures saw these results, they breathed a sigh of relief. Based on the movie's performance, there was now a high chance of making a profit.

+++++++

[Author's Note: Shadows Beneath was written by ChatGPT. Honestly, ChatGPT can cook up some intriguing scripts, I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood started using AI to write screenplays(I heard they are already doing it). I edited it a little, but there might still be plot holes. I admit I can't write a script like this.]

[This chapter is over 2,000 words. 1,100 words of Shadows Beneath and 900 words written by me. I apologize for using ChatGPT for making a script.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 497

[The story is amazing! I feel like a computer wrote the story! I didn't expect the plot twist at all! I'm losing my shit all the time. Man, I want to invite my friends to watch Shadows Beneath because I want them to be scared too. But most of them are weak-willed, and they'll probably cry if they watch it... On second thought, I'll probably invite them just to see them cry.]

— You are crazy! Update us once that happens.

— Lmao, I'll also do that to my friends. I'll even recommend this movie to my professor just to mess with him.

— You guys are bad. Don't you feel bad about doing this?

— The commenter above me is gay.

— Let's gooo—!!

Shane smiled as he looked at the comments. He was one of the employees of Grey Marketing Company.

Grey Marketing Company was the business led by Victor and Aaron, Kazir's father and older brother.

The company specialized in printing ads and producing commercials for local TV networks and radio stations.

Their business started getting better after the turn of the century. The company began exploring the internet, and their new business endeavor turned out to be successful.

They were one of the first marketing companies that popularized online marketing.

The idea of online marketing came from Kazir Grey, and people realized that the director was not just a talented filmmaker, he also understood how to market effectively. His ideas greatly improved the company's growth.

Shane was hired two years ago, during the time when Facebook and other online platforms were rising in popularity.

They had been hired by many companies to promote products online. As one of the pioneers in online marketing, Grey Marketing Company had a solid foundation in the industry, so many businesses preferred to work with them.

In fact, 20th Century Fox also hired them whenever they needed people to promote their movies online, especially on IMDb and other movie rating sites.

Right now, Shane was promoting Shadows Beneath on Facebook. He was using one of his ten Facebook accounts to market the movie by posting content related to it, commenting on other movie-related posts, interacting with users, and persuading them to watch Shadows Beneath.

They were likely the first generation of the so-called "water army." The term referred to a group of people who manipulated public opinion and subtly promoted products online.

While doing this job, Shane realized that as long as he wrote something with a tone of credibility and added a bit of falsehood or exaggeration, people would still believe him.

For example, there was a study claiming that vaccines were bad for health and could lead to death. Some facts seemed to support this, but most were about side effects and allergic reactions with extremely low probabilities of fatal outcomes. Such cases were rare.

Nevertheless, some organizations used this tactic to convince people that vaccines were harmful. They cited isolated incidents and cherry-picked information to support their claims.

Thankfully, Grey Marketing Company focused on advertising and avoided getting involved in politics. Politics was usually the field that thrived on spreading misinformation… or at the very least, twisting the truth into something worse.

Shane was part of a ten-person team that promoted Shadows Beneath on Facebook and other platforms. Other teams were also promoting the movie online, but Shane's group specialized in socializing with users and persuading them to watch the film.

Suddenly, their team leader arrived with a thick stack of documents.

"We have a new job," the team leader announced.

He handed out the documents to each team member, and they began flipping through the pages. There were pictures of abandoned hospitals, people restrained in hospital jackets… and even disturbing images of lobotomies and other unethical experiments.

One of the female employees almost vomited and quickly shut the folder. Even Shane frowned as he turned the pages.

"Our task this time is to spread this information globally… We'll also need to hire translators to help us. For now, just start spreading these pictures, videos, and information."

The internet was still in its early stages, and censorship was difficult to enforce. You could even upload porn and beheading videos on YouTube.

The materials they were distributing focused on the cruelty and medical experiments carried out by doctors in mental hospitals.

As for how their clients had obtained all of this data, no one knew.

One thing was certain, people who were interested in this type of content would eagerly consume such morbid facts.

This was yet another promotional strategy for Shadows Beneath. At the time, Shane didn't realize how massive this promotional campaign would become.

.........
......
...

Kazir was very nervous. He hadn't been able to sleep lately. This wasn't like his usual sleepless nights where he stayed up working on movie projects.

This January, Kazir had so much free time that he could lie in bed without any problem… The issue wasn't about having free time, it was the growing anxiety about his original film.

Universal Pictures and Grey Pictures had done their best to promote the movie, but Kazir couldn't help but feel uneasy.

He had worked hard to promote the film, appearing in interviews and talk shows. Now that the movie was showing in theaters, Kazir felt like he needed to do even more to ensure the movie's success.

Honestly, he would already be happy if Shadows Beneath surpassed $300 million. But deep down, he also wanted to push harder in hopes that the movie would earn even more.

Unfortunately, there was only so much a director could do. Lately, all he could do was lie in bed, doing nothing but feeling nervous. Even sleep became difficult.

Even Scarlett grew concerned about Kazir. She considered inviting him somewhere remote. Someplace without internet or phones, to give him peace of mind.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 498


"Babe, you said that you have three weeks of free time before you start the filming of The Dark Knight, right?"

"That's right."

Kazir nodded. He was still deep in thought regarding Shadows Beneath.

Warner Brothers had already started the pre-production of The Dark Knight a year ago. The props, locations, scripts, and cast had already been prepared by the studio.

Of course, Kazir also checked on the project once a week while he was working on Pirates of the Caribbean and Shadows Beneath. The only time he couldn't visit the studio was when he was far from Los Angeles. Most of the time, Kazir stayed updated on everything happening with The Dark Knight.

When Superman Returns flopped last year, Warner Brothers realized that their plan to launch a Cinematic Universe had to be put on hold for a while.

Because of this, their future projects had to be restructured. Kazir spoke with Warner Brothers and asked them to make the Batman trilogy a stand-alone franchise with no connection to their DCEU plans. Warner Brothers reluctantly agreed since the DCEU was still not happening.

As a result, Kazir convinced Warner Brothers to change the theme and essence of the trilogy. He also changed the title to The Dark Knight.

He wanted the movie to focus on more realistic and deeper themes.

When he sent the unpolished script to Warner Brothers, the studio was initially against it. They weren't stupid, they read the script once and immediately understood that the lead role of the movie was the Joker, not Batman.

This went against common practices. Perhaps this was also the reason why Kazir changed the title to The Dark Knight, deliberately shifting the tone and theme of the movie.

If they added "Batman" to the title, people might think it seemed childish or cartoonish. Perhaps Superman Returns also suffered from that perception.

Hence, the title was changed to The Dark Knight.

However, the script was another issue. Warner Brothers wasn't sure how to proceed with it.

Kazir personally adjusted his schedule to meet with the management of Warner Brothers and DC Comics to convince them. He explained that he wanted to change the tone of the franchise since it was going to be a stand-alone anyway. Furthermore, he believed they could attract more fans if they went in this direction.

Some people said that Rachel Dawes didn't need to die, but Kazir insisted on keeping that scene. He even discussed it with his girlfriend, and Scarlett had no issue. In fact, she liked the scene because it was so heavy and dramatic that it could help her career as an actress.

If it weren't for Kazir's credibility as a scriptwriter and director, Warner Brothers probably wouldn't have listened to him.

Anyway, after a year of negotiations and pre-production, The Dark Knight was ready to go.

And since they still had three weeks before filming began, Scarlett invited Kazir to go on vacation.

"We didn't go on vacation last year. Let's go and relax." She clung to his arm and kissed his cheek.

Kazir weakly smiled. Honestly, he'd been on edge lately because of Shadows Beneath. He admitted that he needed a proper vacation.

As for the results of Shadows Beneath, he believed that the movie would surpass $300 million at least. He was already satisfied with that. It proved to him that he wasn't a failure.

Perhaps because all of his previous films were highly successful, he wanted Shadows Beneath to receive the same level of recognition.

"Yeah, let's go. I'll move my schedule."

"Hmm, I love you, babe."

"Love you too."

January obviously wasn't the summer season, so their best choice was a winter vacation. The two decided to go to Hokkaido, Japan, to go skiing.

Kazir and Scarlett promised not to use their phones or the internet while on vacation. They referred everything business-related to their assistants.

The couple had fun, and Kazir slept soundly throughout the trip. Occasionally, they saw news about mental hospitals and mental health in the headlines, but they didn't think much of it.

Just like that, three weeks passed. Two days from now, Kazir would officially start filming The Dark Knight...

But that wasn't the current concern.

Kazir and Scarlett sat in silence in the limousine after a nice a vacation in Japan.

"Where the fuck have you been? I talked to Erica, and she said you went on vacation! You didn't even bring Anderson with you, so I had no way of contacting you. I almost called for a police search."

Stella clicked her tongue in annoyance. The more she learned about Kazir, the more she realized he wasn't her type at all.

"…Did something happen?"

Kazir felt guilty even though he hadn't done anything wrong. He had spoken to Stella before going to Japan, and the CEO even told him to take care of himself.

Yet now, Stella was fuming.

"You need to see this."

Shadows Beneath Weekly Box Office:

1st Week: $58 million.

Kazir nodded, recalling the number. He was already satisfied that the movie earned over $50 million in its opening week.

2nd Week: $49 million.

This was the week when Kazir left for Japan. He had read the second week's results and wasn't surprised, it aligned with their expectations.

"Hmm?"

However, he was caught off guard when he saw the third week's performance.

3rd Week: $67 million.

Kazir was stunned. The box office should've gone down. That was the typical trend. Movies usually started losing momentum around the second or third week, and only a handful ever made a comeback.

Then Kazir looked at the fourth week…

"What the fuck? Are you sure this is the right document?"

Kazir glanced at Stella, and the woman nodded. Scarlett curiously looked at the document and was just as shocked.

"Fourth week, $72 million," Scarlett muttered.

"While you guys were gone, our promotion started gaining traction until TV networks picked it up. Even the President wants to promote Mental Health Awareness Month this coming May. While you were away, the topic of mental health, mental hospitals, and asylums became huge. It's a serious subject, the World Health Organization even released a statement."

"What?"

Kazir and Scarlett looked at each other. They had only been gone for three weeks, yet so much had happened without their knowledge.

"Shadows Beneath grossed $246 million while you guys were away. Next week, Universal Pictures will release the movie internationally, right when mental health awareness is at its peak."

++++

[Last chapter today.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 499


Universal Pictures didn't expect this outcome. Even the other big studios didn't expect this outcome... They had an inkling about the marketing strategy that Grey Pictures and Universal Pictures implemented, but they didn't know it would become this big.

Videos, documents, and posts started spreading on social media about the cruelty of mental asylums. Because of this, other countries also followed the trend, and curious people began searching for the dark secrets of mental asylums in their respective countries, which led to TV networks and newspapers covering the topic.

Subjects such as mental health, mental hospitals, and cruel experiments on patients became the most searched topics on the internet, and people also discussed them in real life.

The mental hospital that Shadows Beneath's production crew used as a set for the majority of their filming became a hotspot and tourist attraction. Grey Pictures also confirmed that some diabolical experimentations had occurred in the abandoned hospital.

The curious visitors who came to the abandoned hospital believed the souls of the patients were still trapped there. These visitors offered food and other items to appease the spirits. There was no clear explanation, people simply believed that the souls lingered within the mental hospital.

The public was also heavily influenced by the movie, so they were emotionally affected by the supernatural themes. It didn't help that Grey Pictures spread pictures of real patients, and the cast members bore a resemblance to them.

Obviously, Shadows Beneath was having a blast. The Big Six were flabbergasted, and even second-tier studios were amazed by what had transpired... The fact that they once had a chance to acquire Shadows Beneath made it a bitter pill to swallow.

Why? Because after six weeks of screening, Shadows Beneath had grossed $583 million worldwide.

North America contributed $386 million to the box office, while the international box office reached $197 million. The response from other countries had been quiet, yet Shadows Beneath managed to pull in $197 million in just two weeks.

The numbers didn't lie. This year, the topic of mental hospitals as horror hotspots had become the trend. Young people began visiting abandoned mental hospitals just for the thrill. They were influenced by the film Shadows Beneath and its extremely effective marketing strategy.

Universal Pictures was elated, even Ronald Meyer received congratulations from General Electric's headquarters. Comcast was even considering retaining Ronald as the CEO of Universal Pictures.

Overall, the situation at Universal Pictures was going very well... Of course, they had to pay a 5% box office share to Kazir Grey, but who cared? Based on current statistics, Shadows Beneath would likely gross between $750 and $800 million.

After all, horror movies typically couldn't surpass $1 billion... Unless Kazir made the impossible possible. And if there was one director who could, it was Kazir Grey.

Well, Shadows Beneath was going well, so it didn't really matter.

.........

......

...

"Fuck, I forgot about this fact. The Mishimas are ruthless once they put you on the wall."

Pause. That statement could have had another meaning.

"You're talking about their endless combos, right?"

"Huh? Do I look like I'm talking about something else? Of course I'm talking about their combos," Christian Bale replied, unaware of what Kazir was implying.

Kazir and Christian were playing Tekken. Christian specifically requested that his trailer be equipped with a PlayStation.

Christian Bale was the lead actor in the project, and people obviously respected him.

Christian invited Kazir over to discuss the project, but they ended up playing Tekken instead. They forgot all about work once they picked up the controllers.

After half an hour of spamming a single button, Kazir ended up winning most of the matches.

Christian was actually irritated but held it in since he couldn't lash out at the director. He suddenly regretted inviting Kazir in the first place.

When they were done, Christian finally brought up the main reason he called Kazir.

"Kazir, don't you think we need to change something in the filming?"

When Kazir heard that, he smiled knowingly, already anticipating where the conversation was headed.

This wasn't the first time someone brought this up. Even the producer, Enrico Pusi, had asked the same question.

The highlights of the movie were mostly centered around the Joker. Kazir and nearly every Dark Knight Trilogy fan agreed on that.

The Joker was the biggest reason The Dark Knight was a success... Erm, Heath Ledger's death was also a significant contributing factor.

Kazir wanted to maintain the same energy, so the script naturally emphasized the Joker's scenes.

Since Christian was the star and protagonist of the movie, it was understandable that he felt uncomfortable with another actor seemingly taking the spotlight.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure this movie will be a success."

Kazir patted Christian on the shoulder before leaving his trailer... He didn't want to discuss the script any further, he was tired of hearing the same concerns over and over. Kazir was the highest authority on set, and not even Warner Brothers could stop him from doing what he wanted.

Christian was left speechless as he watched the director walk away.

"There's probably a misunderstanding... I wanted to talk about my costume. It's so suffocating wearing it all the time. It's so uncomfortable and hot, my sweat can't even dry while I'm wearing it."

Christian sighed. He would probably have to bring it up to Kazir again later.

++++

[Please support my new novel Behind The Spotlight by giving it power stones. HWI is already near its end and it doesn't need power stones anymore.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 500


"If there's a miracle, then what I'm seeing right now is a miracle."

Barry Mayer frowned as he looked at the miraculous statistics on his table. He had been in the industry for more than a decade, and these kinds of numbers were impossible to achieve. Even his Warner Brothers, the current number one studio in Hollywood, could only replicate two $900 million movies.

That was the best achievement they had accomplished so far.

But the statistics he was looking at proved that two $900 million movies were just child's play.

Have you ever seen a production studio with three $1 billion movies in just one year? Probably not.

However, Grey Pictures was close to doing exactly that.

After five months of screening, Kingsman: The Secret Service had grossed $926 million worldwide.

A great movie could last six to eight months in theaters as long as people remained interested in watching it. In the case of Kingsman: The Secret Service, the movie was making at least a million dollars per day. That explained why it had already earned $900 million.

Barry could see that Grey Pictures would have three $1 billion movies. Kingsman: The Secret Service would be the third to reach that mark.

He realized that 2006 was the year of Grey Pictures. The other studios had lost this particular year, and they didn't like that.

Warner Brothers was recognized as the current number one studio in Hollywood because most of its movies in recent years had been box office hits. Even low-budget movies from Warner Brothers were earning more than $100 million.

Walt Disney couldn't compete at all.

Disney was going strong with its 3D animated movies, but their live-action films weren't selling enough.

As for the other big studios, they couldn't consistently release box office hits like Warner Brothers. Only Grey Pictures could match that level of performance.

Honestly, if Grey Pictures decided to compete against the Big Six and acquired distribution lines, it would probably have the power to face them head-on.

But that kind of threat would easily get plucked out, just like what had happened to their other competitors. So far, only Lionsgate had shown steady performance year after year, but even Lionsgate couldn't match the Big Six.

Barry turned the page, and his expression worsened as he realized that Shadows Beneath had grossed $635 million after nearly three months of screening... It didn't sit well with him that the horror movie he had dismissed was performing so well.

Warner Brothers had been content that Kazir had a trilogy with them. They also didn't think that Shadows Beneath would make that much. They had been too full of themselves.

'If I had known this would happen, I would have increased the bid. At least I'm confident that we could have acquired the copyrights if we had offered more than Universal Pictures did.'

$100 million plus 5% of worldwide shares was a contract that Warner Brothers could easily handle. The fact that Shadows Beneath's copyright had been acquired for that amount was almost laughable. A movie performing that well could bring far more profit.

'It's because of those disgusting experiments on the internet...'

People were so intrigued and curious that they began searching for gruesome content. There was even this thing called the Dark Web that many became curious about...

Barry admitted that Grey Pictures had pulled off an amazing marketing strategy. Even though their own marketing department was studying the secret behind it, Barry had reprimanded them and forced them to study it more seriously.

Regarding The Dark Knight, there were some questionable elements that Barry didn't agree with, but he decided to trust Kazir.

The script was a bit too dark for a superhero movie... Barry had to use his influence to convince the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to rate The Dark Knight PG-13.

Warner Brothers had a seat in the MPAA, and that helped them protect the ratings of their movies.

If The Dark Knight had received an R-rating, it would automatically mean a loss for them. Warner Brothers was already preparing to make sure that never happened.

By the way, the six members of the MPAA were the Big Six. Their seats in the MPAA were also one of the reasons why other studios couldn't surpass them. Being part of the board that decided movie ratings, they had the power to sabotage competing studios.

"If not for his credibility, I would never have agreed to Kazir's plot. This kind of script is too much for the fans to handle. I'm not sure they'll want to see their superhero lose..."

Management had been strongly against it even now. But the recent performance of Grey Pictures' movies was so outstanding that they eventually agreed to Kazir's idea.

.........

......

...

"Hey, so I want to ask, is it all right that you're letting Heath do his own makeup?"

Jane, the head of the makeup team, asked Kazir about his opinion regarding Heath Ledger's decision to do his own makeup.

Kazir glanced at her before turning his attention to the trailer where Heath was currently staying. He paused for a second before nodding.

"Let him do what he wants."

Jane narrowed her eyes and whispered something.

"Hey, are you sure that actor is doing fine? I talked to him earlier and he gave me creepy vibes."

Kazir just chuckled. That only showed that Heath Ledger was doing well... as an actor. It showed he was fully immersed in the role.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it."

Some people had been against hiring Heath Ledger because of his past role. Two years ago, Heath starred in a movie called Brokeback Mountain, his role in that film was a gay cowboy. To be precise, the movie was about two gay cowboys who periodically went to Brokeback Mountain to rekindle their love.

Some people were against hiring Heath because they feared it would negatively affect The Dark Knight's performance, but Kazir had been firm in his decision. In his opinion, Heath Ledger was one of the main reasons why The Dark Knight became successful.

++++

[First, I'm sorry if my uploads haven't been consistent lately. I have no excuse.]

[Second, I want to celebrate the fact that this novel has reached 500 chapters. Thanks to all of your support, guys. I appreciate it a lot.]

[Third, I'm quite confident that this novel will end around chapter 100 to 200. Let's be honest, almost everything in Kazir's bucket list has been completed, except for Ninja Assassin. As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Dark Knight Trilogy, I'll probably not go into too much detail about them.]

[Fourth, the reason I want to end this novel within 200 more chapters is that I feel Kazir's story is nearing its conclusion. I don't want to lose the essence of this novel just because I want to milk it for money. No, this novel needs a proper ending, instead of me spamming plots just for the sake of it.]

[Fifth, as for the days I missed, I'm not going to promise anything anymore, because it feels like a heavy burden that's hard for me to carry. I feel stressed whenever I owe chapters. All I can say is I'll try my best to write this story until we reach the end.]

[Sixth, this is my second novel that will be completed. It's the second novel of mine where I can clearly see the ending. I hope you'll continue supporting me until the very end.]

[If you have any questions, feel free to comment. I'll do my best to answer them.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 501


Hollywood had a lot of gays and lesbians, so they were not that much against the idea of same-sex relationships between two men. However, Hollywood also had a lot of straight people.

When Kazir first invited Heath Ledger to become the Joker, some people in the management of Warner Brothers were against the idea. They were afraid that the controversies surrounding Brokeback Mountain would affect the performance of The Dark Knight.

Despite being an award-winning film, some people still criticized the movie because they couldn't let go of their ideologies while watching it.

Some LGBTQ+ activists didn't like that the two gay roles were performed by two straight men. They wanted gay actors to take gay roles. But acting is a profession where a person acts as someone else or portrays a character. For a straight actor to play a gay man was not wrong, because that was his job.

Another criticism that Brokeback Mountain faced was the backlash from conservative and religious organizations.

In a way, Brokeback Mountain was fucked from both sides… Ahem.

Yet despite the criticism, the movie won Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score at the 78th Academy Awards (Oscars).

The management tried to talk to Kazir, trying to convince him that Heath Ledger's current reputation was a bit tricky for the role of the Joker.

Kazir stood by his opinion. He said it didn't matter since Heath Ledger would always be in clown makeup, and no one would recognize him as the cowboy from Brokeback Mountain. The two roles were vastly different anyway.

He also knew that even the audience would be surprised when they realized that Heath Ledger was the Joker. The usual roles Heath Ledger took were nothing like the Joker.

The Joker was a psychotic and dangerous character.

Just like that, Kazir proved he was right.

The interrogation room was dimly lit, the crew had built an interrogation room in the studio just for this scene… It cost a few dozen thousand dollars.

The camera operators were ready. They had already checked every angle.

Kazir was sitting a couple of meters away, staring at the monitor that showed every angle of the interrogation room.

Heath Ledger was in full makeup as he sat at the metal table. The crew members felt a dark vibe around the actor, and they kept their mouths shut.

The dim room suddenly lit up.

Christian Bale, in his Batman suit, appeared and slammed Heath Ledger's head onto the table… His head didn't actually touch the table, but the camera angle made it look like the Joker's face slammed against it.

"Never start with the head, the victim gets fuzzy…"

"You wanted me, here I am."

Batman and Joker started the conversation.

The confrontation between the hero and the villain.

Kazir liked where this was going. He could see that the two were performing excellently.

"I don't wanna kill you. What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, no. You complete me."

The Joker started giggling.

Batman grabbed the Joker's collar and asked,

"Where's Dent?"

"Okay, cut—!"

Kazir had to cut the scene even though he wanted to continue it. The next scene was about Batman slamming the Joker against the wall, and they needed a stunt double for that. They couldn't afford to hurt any of their cast, so they obviously needed a stunt double for physically demanding scenes.

When the scene was done, some of the crew members stared at Heath Ledger in amazement. They got goosebumps just watching him. They felt like they were looking at the real Joker.

Kazir looked around and saw the management from Warner Brothers and DC Comics. They were also impressed by Heath Ledger's performance. Some of them were the very people who were against casting the actor.

When the management saw Kazir, they avoided his gaze and walked away.

Kazir smirked. In his mind, he gave them a double invisible "fuck you." These people had been on his nerves for a while. They were trying to interfere with his project.

'If I'm right, they didn't want to cast Heath because they had another actor in mind to play the Joker… Probably one of their buttlickers or something,' Kazir thought.

Another reason why the management was irritating was that they were bitter. They didn't like that Kazir's last two movies were performing amazingly while Batman Begins had an average $500 million box office. By the way, $500 million was not average. Only a few movies in the history of cinema had reached that amount in ticket sales.

But compared to Kazir's filmography, Batman Begins was indeed on the average side. Especially when Shadows Beneath was getting close to $800 million.

Some people from the management were holding a grudge against him. Nothing new.

.........

......

...

While Kazir was busy with The Dark Knight, Grey Pictures announced their movies for 2007, which were John Wick: Chapter 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

After the success of La La Land, Fremont Smith decided to film the third movie of the John Wick franchise. In fact, he had been filming it since last year.

Grey Pictures only had two projects this year, as the third season of Game of Thrones had a buffer of two years because the production cost of that TV show was almost comparable to a movie. As for how to solve the financial trouble, Grey Pictures either had to use their own money or take out a loan from the bank. Well, Stella was a great leader, so she probably had an idea of what to do.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 502


From January to March, Kazir did nothing but work on The Dark Knight. His schedule was so packed that his sleep routine was only five hours at best.

If there was something great, it was the fact that Scarlett was in the same workplace to support him. Kazir was known as a professional director, and he made sure to stay professional even though he was working with his girlfriend… Although there were some instances when they cuddled in the trailer.

While Kazir was busy with the project, Hollywood kept spamming movie releases every week, particularly on weekends.

Movies such as Stomp the Yard, Epic Movie, and Shadows Beneath were released in January.

Hannibal Rising, Norbit, Music and Lyrics, Bridge to Terabithia, Ghost Rider, Hot Fuzz, and The Number 23 were released in February.

Bridge to Terabithia was a great movie, but this movie was not for depressed people.

As for Ghost Rider, this Marvel character was currently in the hands of Sony-Columbia, long before Marvel Comics was acquired by News Corporation.

Obviously, Marvel couldn't include Ghost Rider in their upcoming Cinematic Universe because of copyright issues. As long as Sony-Columbia was interested in Ghost Rider, the character would stay with them.

Sony-Columbia realized the power of a superhero movie, so they decided to make another franchise, hoping that they would have another Spider-Man-like success. They spent $110 million on the budget just to make sure Ghost Rider would have a better outcome.

Well, the box office of Ghost Rider was $334 million worldwide. Sony-Columbia cast Nicolas Cage just to make sure the movie would have strong box office appeal… Sony-Columbia was dissatisfied, but they could understand why the movie only grossed $334 million. After all, the director of Ghost Rider was not Kazir Grey.

Perhaps this dissatisfaction was one of the reasons why the sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance took five years to happen.

The movie was enjoyable though, and $334 million was not a bad performance.

In March, Wild Hogs, Zodiac, 300, Premonition, Shooter, TMNT, Blades of Glory, and Meet the Robinsons were released.

Zodiac was a movie directed by David Fincher. The movie was based on a true story, about the Zodiac Killer. Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo starred in this movie.

Another important thing was 300. The movie adaptation rights of this comic were first acquired by Grey Pictures before Kazir sold them to 20th Century Fox.

Kazir's intention in buying the rights to 300 was to hire Zack Snyder and indirectly stop him from working with Warner Brothers to produce the DCEU.

His plan had some rough surfaces, but things happened, and now Zack Snyder worked with 20th Century Fox to direct the movie.

The movie would perform great at the worldwide box office, grossing $456 million. A few months from now, 20th Century Fox would probably thank Kazir again and act friendly with him.

As for the premiere, Kazir didn't attend it since he was busy. He was also not comfortable meeting Zack Snyder because their last meeting was kinda awkward. Kazir invited Zack to work with Grey Pictures, but Zack Snyder chose Universal Pictures. To be fair, Zack was the one who was embarrassed to meet Kazir after that meeting.

When April arrived, news broke out and Kazir received many congratulations from people.

In April, Kingsman: The Secret Service successfully grossed over $1 billion.

This news broke on almost every TV station as news shows covered it. Kingsman: The Secret Service was the third movie that grossed $1 billion among those released last year.

The Bourne Ultimatum grossed $1.03 billion.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed $1.06 billion.

Kingsman: The Secret Service grossed $1.01 billion.

These three movies easily occupied the top three highest-grossing movies last year.

Furthermore, these three movies were all from the same studio. It meant that Grey Pictures released high-quality movies with high success at the box office.

"Flabbergasted" was not enough to describe how shocked Hollywood was. The Big Six also regretted their decisions for the nth time.

There were some posts on the internet about kidnapping Kazir to force him to write movie scripts and direct movies. Of course, these posts were just humorous jokes… Right?

The only one from the Big Six who won was 20th Century Fox because 30% of that $3 billion went to their pockets. They were just the distributor and couldn't maximize the profit since they didn't own any copyrights of the three movies. Still, 30% of $3 billion amounted to $900 million. Only insane people would be dissatisfied with that amount of money.

With that, Grey Pictures became the center of attention again. Even Sony-Columbia offered another acquisition plan just to convince Kazir to sell another portion of his company. Of course, Kazir didn't entertain it, so the acquisition didn't happen.

Another fact was that Shadows Beneath was slowly crawling up to $900 million. The Big Six shuddered as they realized that Grey Pictures could make another $1 billion movie this time.

But if that happened, the biggest winner would probably be Universal Pictures since Grey Pictures could only get 5% of that amount… But does it even matter?

Shadows Beneath only spent $17 million, yet it already profited $80 million from the get-go plus a 5% worldwide box office share. A win is a win, no matter how small it is…

After that jaw-dropping news, Hollywood slowly adapted to Grey Pictures' monstrosity and focused on the summer schedule instead.

When May arrived, almost all moviegoers were excited to watch three particular movies.

Spider-Man 3 would be released on May 4.

Shrek the Third would be released on May 17.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was going to be released on May 24.

It was clear that May was packed with strong movies that could easily surpass $900 million at the box office.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 503


Spider-Man 1 and Spider-Man 2 were directed by Kazir after the director signed a two-movie deal with Sony-Columbia. It was the best decision they had made, as this business deal elevated their studio. It helped them discover how they could survive in the industry.

Kazir changed how Hollywood looked at superhero movies. Now, many studios were interested in trying the genre because of what Kazir did.

The success of Spider-Man allowed Sony-Columbia to keep up with the other giant studios and maintain its relevance. Kazir was a major factor in that.

Unfortunately, Kazir expressed that he wouldn't direct the third Spider-Man movie because he had other plans. Sony-Columbia did its best to convince the director, but he wasn't budging. They offered him a better contract, but Kazir was already a billionaire at that point.

A lot of people were disappointed to hear that Kazir wouldn't direct the third movie, including the fans. Sony-Columbia was disappointed, especially the executives. Even the management of Marvel Comics was disappointed. They had a good relationship with Kazir, but feelings were hard to control.

In the end, Sony-Columbia had to hire another director for Spider-Man 3. It was sad news for Spider-Man fans all over the world... Perhaps Sony-Columbia could find a way to include Kazir in the project.

They did try.

Sony-Columbia hoped that Kazir would participate in the project. They even wanted to hire him as the head of the editing team for Spider-Man 3. They resorted to competing to buy Shadows Beneath just to convince Kazir, but their plan didn't work. Universal Pictures got the last laugh.

By the way, Sony-Columbia was actually not confident that Shadows Beneath would be successful at the box office considering its genre. Horror movies were also considered Kazir's weakness in his filmography.

Sony-Columbia didn't expect that the horror movie would become the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. They regretted not doing their best to acquire the rights to this movie.

Everyone believed that The Sixth Sense, the best horror movie of all time, would lose its position as the highest-grossing horror movie after Shadows Beneath was released.

After all, The Sixth Sense had an amazing plot twist that shocked people even today… But Shadows Beneath also had a plot twist. This just proved that Kazir was THE GUY.

The director was breaking records after records like it was a Sunday morning. At this point, fans may hype the director, but he would still be recognized as underrated. The stats were not lying.

As of now, Shadows Beneath had grossed $891 million at the box office after five months of screening. It made the movie the highest-grossing horror movie of all time... unless another movie could defeat it.

The second highest-grossing horror movie was now The Sixth Sense, which grossed $672 million at the worldwide box office.

If something was terrifying about these facts, it was the fact that Shadows Beneath would probably continue making more money as the movie was still screening all over the world.

Anyway, Sony-Columbia released Spider-Man 3 on May 4, and it was a success.

In just three days, the movie casually grossed $151 million. No one would deny that the movie was a success.

Spider-Man 3 was almost the perfect copy of the original Spider-Man 3 from Kazir's timeline.

Kazir worked with Marvel Studios to write the script, and Kazir had strong authority in making decisions. Also, he was the best scriptwriter in Hollywood, so it was easy to convince Sony-Columbia to make the original version of Spider-Man 3.

As for why Kazir didn't change the plot of Spider-Man 3? He had a simple reason.

He had no idea what to write. He also had no idea what to change. Kazir was just a person, after all. He couldn't come up with great stories like Artificial Intelligence, sad to say.

In his opinion, Spider-Man 3 was perfect the way it was. Sure, it had a lot of downs, but it was still a great movie, and Kazir enjoyed it.

Because of that, some fans had mixed reviews regarding the third movie. Still, Spider-Man 3 was making huge money.

In just ten days of screening, Spider-Man 3 grossed $240 million. It was close to recouping their production cost, which was $258 million. It cost a lot to make Spider-Man 3.

Sony-Columbia kept promoting the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man on many platforms. When May 17 arrived, the movie grossed $258 million… Now they were starting to make a profit.

Too bad because a strong rival was released on May 17. It was none other than the most handsome ogre of all time, Shrek! To be precise, Shrek the Third!

Shrek the Third was a computer-animated movie produced by DreamWorks Animation, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg. Shrek was the first computer-animated movie that DreamWorks released, and it was a massive success. Since then, Shrek became one of the franchises that made DreamWorks Animation relevant. If not for this bad-mouthed green ogre, DreamWorks Animation would be long gone.

Shrek the Third grossed $122 million after four days of screening. It was weaker compared to the performance of Spider-Man 3, but it was still an amazing feat.

Also, because of Shrek the Third, Spider-Man 3 only grossed $29 million between May 17 and May 20. Having two powerful movies released in the same month was tough to look at because one would lose while the other would win.

This month of May was tougher to look at because three big movies would compete to dominate the month.

When May 24 arrived, Shrek the Third had grossed $150 million, while Spider-Man 3 had grossed $289 million.

And on the same day, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released in cinemas.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 504


Under the warm summer evening, fans lined up at the theater while wearing pirate hats to pay homage to the franchise. Most of them were Grey fans, while others were avid fans of Pirates of the Caribbean.

It was an amazing night for many of them. It was memorable, the atmosphere made them excited as they knew that a few hours from now, they would witness the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The red carpet was dazzling as the flashes of cameras were everywhere, almost blinding the evening.

Next, a ten-foot pirate ship became one of the centers of attraction on the red carpet. The pirate ship was a prop created just for this event to make the red carpet match the theme of the movie.

The cast of the movie arrived in grand fashion, as usual, exiting from expensive cars or limousines, depending on the kind of entrance they wanted to make.

Even Geoffrey Rush, aka Captain Barbossa, stepped onto the red carpet with a small monkey on his shoulder. The small monkey was also cast in Pirates of the Caribbean as Jack the Monkey...

The main attraction on the red carpet was undoubtedly the famous cast, such as Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, and Kazir Grey.

However, most fans were most excited to see Johnny Depp. They started screaming like crazy when they saw the actor stepping out of the limousine. Johnny was wearing a tailored suit just for the occasion.

Johnny Depp had been in the industry since the '80s, a few years before Kazir also started his career in showbiz.

Johnny had many significant roles that boosted his career, such as Edward Scissorhands, Willy Wonka, and Donnie Brasco. However, he could say that his role as Jack Sparrow was probably the best thing that had happened to him.

People started going crazy over him when Pirates of the Caribbean was released. Everyone acknowledged his talent after he performed as the unique pirate captain.

And for that, he thanked Kazir for giving him a chance to be part of the massive success of Pirates of the Caribbean...

It was true that Johnny had never watched his own movies, but he decided to watch the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean since he knew it would be a box-office hit. The movie was directed by Kazir Grey, after all.

The media were having a blast as they took pictures upon pictures of the cast.

The cast also interacted with their fans. Some signed autographs, while others took pictures with the fans. Overall, the red carpet was a memorable experience for everyone.

.........

......

...

Ten days had just passed since the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

The movie grossed $217 million as of June 3, which was the tenth day of the movie's screening. Nobody was surprised by this fact, as they knew that the movie would perform amazingly at the box office.

The second movie, Dead Man's Chest, grossed over a billion dollars, and it determined what kind of success the third movie would achieve.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End would probably gross over a billion dollars, not just because of its past success but because of the movie itself.

At World's End was a masterpiece that perfectly tied the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy together.

The fantasy element, the stunning visuals, the exciting action stunts, everything was perfect. No one could deny how great it was.

Fans would 100 percent recommend the movie to anyone, no matter the age. This factor was also one of the reasons why Pirates of the Caribbean was well-received, the movie was for all ages.

At the moment, Kazir was on his way to the filming set of The Dark Knight. He was looking at documents regarding Pirates of the Caribbean while his bodyguard, Anderson, was driving the car.

"With this kind of success, people will watch another sequel of Pirates of the Caribbean..."

Kazir only intended to direct the trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean. As for the next movie, he wanted to hand it off to another director.

In fact, he was thinking of selling the copyrights of Pirates of the Caribbean to another studio. He knew that the huge sales of the franchise came from the first three movies. As for the fourth and fifth movies, they were just sequels made for the sake of making money...

Well, Walt Disney still made a lot of money from the fourth and fifth movies. The problem with the latter movies was that they were mediocre compared to the first three, and even the fans could agree to that.

For now, Kazir wouldn't make a hasty decision. The copyrights of Pirates of the Caribbean would remain in their film library.

"Sir, did you say something?" Anderson looked in the rearview mirror.

"No, I'm just talking to myself." Kazir chuckled.

The two were peacefully going about their day until a speeding car came up behind them.

"Sir, hold tight—!"

Anderson saw what was coming and prepared Kazir for a collision.

Kazir instinctively grabbed the handle next to his seat. A second later, a strong impact sent their car spinning through the air and crashing a few meters away from the road. The crash was so loud that Kazir was left with a lasting tinnitus.

Everything happened so fast that Kazir lost his senses, and his vision went dark.

Kazir groaned as he closed his eyes. The impact had been so strong that he stopped breathing for a while, the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs.

His senses were slowly returning. The creaking of their broken car could be heard along with faint screams from the surroundings.

When he opened his eyes, he realized that his blurry vision was upside down, no, the car was upside down.

As his vision cleared, Kazir saw a man approaching their car. It was their attacker. Kazir felt like he recognized the person. However, that information didn't process well in his mind because the attacker was holding an AK-47 in his hands...

+++++

[Honestly, I already had a thought of adding a bit of an accident/incident to the novel, and I recalled some information that could make this attack believable. Do you think Kazir will survive?]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 505

Kazir was scared, his breathing erratic. It didn't help that his body was aching. He probably had some broken ribs. Blood was flowing from his forehead, obscuring his left eye, making his vision half-red.

He coughed.

The sound of footsteps jolted him awake.

After a long time, he felt like death was knocking on his door again. He had experienced death before, and it was something so painful. Getting hit by a truck was excruciating. The blessing was that after enduring the pain for a few seconds, Kazir had returned to 1994 to redo his life...

This time, Kazir was not sure if that would happen. Having another second chance was too much to believe.

Once in a while, Kazir felt like everything was just a dream. Perhaps this whole regression was merely a fantasy his brain created before he died... Maybe he was already dead, and there was no regression at all?

However, the fact that he felt a sense of dread at this moment gave him the understanding that he wanted to live. This also made him understand that he was alive... He was not dead, he was alive, and everything he had experienced was real.

And today, he didn't want to die.

His will to live ignited, and Kazir forgot about the physical pain he was suffering. He pulled off his seat belt, and his head fell first onto the ceiling of the car. Some of the glass shards cut his head, but he didn't care at the moment.

He then proceeded to kick the cracked window to escape. He wanted to live. He was desperate. He kicked the window twice with more strength. The cracked window shattered.

The attacker saw that Kazir was still alive. He roared and aimed his gun at him.

"Kazir—!! You motherfucker—!!"

These words were so frightening to hear in this situation. The attacker had a grudge against Kazir for some reason. If words could kill, the attacker would have already won.

Kazir shuddered and heard the gun clattering. He instinctively closed his eyes. He squeezed a breath. He hoped that his death would be quick this time.

Then, a gunshot reverberated, and he flinched. Kazir was breathing hard. His body was shaking. His heart was beating so fast that he felt like he was having palpitations.

The silence lasted for two seconds before Kazir realized he was still alive. He opened his eyes and looked at his body. Except for the injuries he suffered from the car crash, he was fine. He didn't find any bullet holes.

He looked at the attacker and found him lying on the ground... Blood was slowly spreading beneath the body. The attacker was dead, unmoving.

"Director, are you okay?"

Kazir looked around quickly. He saw Anderson walking with difficulty, limping toward him. The bodyguard had a hard time moving his left foot, almost dragging it. Anderson was holding a pistol, the firearm he had used to kill the attacker.

"Anderson! Thank you! Thank you!" Kazir's voice cracked as he sobbed.

Kazir didn't know why, but tears just rolled down his cheeks as he frantically came out of the car. He thought he was going to die.

This was probably one of his most traumatic experiences. The first was his mom, the second was his first death, and then third was this incident.

Anderson nodded when he confirmed that his boss was fine. When the car hit them, Anderson had flown out of the windshield and rolled down the road. His left leg was broken.

Still, he immediately stood up to find Kazir despite his injury. When Anderson saw the attacker carrying a firearm, he pulled out his pistol and didn't hesitate to shoot him.

People started approaching them. Some of these bystanders had witnessed the whole scene, and it was like an action movie, but a terrifying one. Some of them started calling the police and the ambulance. Others were murmuring and curious about the incident.

Kazir weakly sat down, followed by Anderson, who had also lost his adrenaline. They were both in pain right now.

He stared at the attacker... Now he remembered. He recognized this person. This man had left a strong bad impression on Kazir.

He was one of the extras in Pirates of the Caribbean. The reason Kazir recognized him was that this person had been speaking badly about him and Scarlett. Kazir had kicked him off the filming set because of that.

In fact, Kazir also remembered his name.

"Aquino…"

Kazir weakly muttered.

.........

......

...

A few days before the incident, Aquino slammed his fists against the table out of anger.

"Why!? Why didn't they include my scenes in the second and third movies!?"

Aquino was one of the extras that Grey Pictures had hired to work on Pirates of the Caribbean. However, his job on set quickly ended when Director Grey fired him... He kinda understood where the director was coming from.

But because of that incident, Aquino lost the remaining favor of his Sugar Daddy, the person who helped him find jobs in Showbiz. Since then, Aquino had held a grudge against Director Grey. Aquino was also a cocaine user, and that didn't help. He had been a heavy user since he stepped into the industry.

Hollywood was famous for drugs, after all.

At first, Aquino was so delusional that he believed Kazir would include him in the movies. He had a couple of scenes where his face was shown. He hoped that this opportunity would give him a comeback... He was super high on cocaine when he thought of these scenarios.

When the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie was released, Aquino was angry that he was not included... Thankfully, his rationality was still active, and he kept his composure. He believed that Director Grey was saving the best for the last. Aquino believed his scenes would be in the third movie.

But when the third movie was released, Aquino decided to personally fix things. He would settle the grudge.

John Lennon.

Christina Grimmie.

Rebecca Schaeffer.

Tupac.

Gianni Versace.

Sharon Tate.

The Notorious B.I.G.

There were so many celebrities who were killed by their fans or haters. Aquino wanted to be part of that list.

+++++

[Author's Note.]

[Yeah, what are Hollywood celebrities if there are no crazy fans/haters?]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 506


The incident blew up. The media became so excited with this news that every news station talked about it. This was a big scoop, something that would catch the interest of America. Especially when there was footage of the incident, although most of the footage was in the hands of the police.

Assassination was not a new thing in showbiz. Heck, four U.S. presidents had been assassinated in the history of America. So it was not a surprise that celebrities could experience the same thing. And actually, many celebrities had been killed for varied reasons.

In Kazir's case, it was revenge. The suspect attacked Kazir because he was fired from his job.

These were the headlines that were circulating in Hollywood... They made it look like Kazir was a bad person.

The CCTV cameras near the incident caught almost everything, from the car crash up to the moment when Aquino, the suspect, stepped out of his dented car holding an AK-47. By the way, owning an AK-47 was not legal in Los Angeles, so Aquino probably got it from someone.

Kazir was in the hospital while the media were having a blast with the news. Some of the reporters and paparazzi tried to infiltrate the hospital, but Grey Pictures hired guards to make sure that no one could disturb Kazir and Anderson, the bodyguard, who was currently in the ICU having surgery for his left foot.

Some people who lived in constant defeat saw this situation as a way to cancel Kazir. This was one of the rarest moments where they could pull Kazir into deep waters.

Obviously, the news painted Kazir with a bad reputation. They said that Aquino was justified because he lost his job. It was also disappointing that Aquino died... "He didn't deserve it," the media quoted.

In the mid-2000s, when the internet was still just starting, the media was the strongest entity that influenced people. Most people heard information from television.

Right now, the media giants were making sure that they would control this situation in their favor. They didn't care if Kazir was a good person. If they wanted Kazir to be the most vile person in Hollywood, then they would make him one.

Hollywood blacklisted Brendan Fraser for speaking about sexual harassment, Richard Gere because he spoke about Tibet. They also canceled Johnny Depp, Janet Jackson, and many celebrities who obviously didn't deserve it.

Now, Kazir was being labeled as one of the worst bosses in America because he fired an extra. As for the reason why he did that, who gives a fuck!? Right?

Only Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox helped Kazir and protected his name.

Not even Universal Pictures helped Kazir. Funny, because Shadows Beneath had just grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Universal Pictures acted like they weren't even doing business with Kazir. Perhaps Universal Pictures believed that Kazir wouldn't survive this ordeal.

Anyway, Universal Pictures could afford to pay Grey Pictures that 5% box office share, then consider it done.

Unfortunately, the media giants had a hard time convincing people. From the footage they saw, it was clear that Aquino was the bad guy. He was clearly insane. Furthermore, it was heartbreaking to see an injured man fighting for his life under the threat of an AK-47.

They saw how Kazir crawled out of the car just to survive. Now that was amazing. It was hard to paint him as a villain when he was doing his best to crawl in order to survive. The footage spoke for itself, Kazir was the victim.

Kazir's will to live and his determination despite the terrifying weapon before him, everything resonated with the people. Even those who were doubtful about whether Kazir was a good person admitted that the director displayed courage, something they were amazed by.

As for the grudges between the two... Who gives a fuck? At this point, Kazir was too famous to get canceled.

.........

......

...

Scarlett was in tears as she stared at Kazir sleeping. The guy had bruises on his face and some stitches on his head and arms. Based on his appearance, he had suffered a terrible accident.

Kazir slowly opened his eyes and found Scarlett crying.

"You're awake," Scarlett's voice was trembling as she sighed in relief.

Kazir weakly smiled and wiped her tears.

"Don't move, I don't want your wounds to open up," Scarlett muttered and wiped her own tears instead. She was happy that Kazir woke up.

"I'm fine. They're just small cuts." Kazir chuckled, a faint smile on his face... But deep inside, he was scared. He recalled what had happened a few hours ago and his face subconsciously paled.

"What about the filming today?"

To forget about the terrible memory, Kazir decided to change the topic.

"You're hurt, you don't have to think about other things. Enrico canceled the shooting." Scarlett was part of the cast, so she heard about it firsthand.

"Good thing that we are just a week away from finishing the shoot, we can afford a few days of day-offs," Kazir muttered, but he shut his mouth when he saw that Scarlett was concerned about him.

"Don't think too much," she said.

She had already been on set when she heard that Kazir was in a car crash. When she heard that, she immediately asked if Kazir was okay. She went to the hospital the moment she found out he was staying there.

"It's fortunate that you weren't with me at that time. I don't know what I'd do if something bad happened to you." He smiled and looked at the ceiling.

Then, Scarlett sobbed again and kissed Kazir's hand.

"Don't talk like that."

"Sorry."

The two stared at each other before they shared a kiss.

A moment later, Kazir's relatives and friends also showed up. The room had been quiet for a reason, and the couple were acting awkward when the people showed up to check if Kazir was doing fine.

++++

[Honestly, I have no idea what to do about the aftermath, but I decided to just think of it in a way
that Hollywood will use this chance to erase their strongest rival which is Kazir.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 507


The room was a bit lively as more people visited. Kazir was not in a grave situation, so he was allowed to have more guests. Besides, he was in one of the most expensive private rooms in the hospital, where he could host up to 50 people if he wanted to.

Honestly, Kazir preferred this lively situation compared to being alone. If he were alone, there was a strong chance he would recall the traumatizing incident.

Most of the people who visited him were from business dealings, such as the people from Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox. These two studios didn't show any hostility despite having a chance to demean Kazir.

Well, Warner Brothers needed Kazir to continue directing the Batman Trilogy. They could also afford a week or two of vacation for Kazir. Kazir was thankful for that.

As for 20th Century Fox, they were considered partners since Grey Pictures and 20th Century Fox exchanged shares. Even though 20th Century Fox was just the distributor of Grey Pictures' movies, Fox was still making a lot of profit. Furthermore, they needed Kazir to continue writing scripts for Final Destination and the upcoming Paranormal Activity.

Kazir's family also showed up. Victor and Arron were so happy to see that Kazir was not badly injured.

A day after the incident, so many people showed up to check on Kazir that the hospital had to implement a strict policy.

Scarlett realized that there were people who cared about Kazir, and she was happy about it. She wiped her tears, but this time, they were tears of joy.

When Kazir started feeling tired, the people bid farewell. Only Scarlett and the Grey family members were left in the room.

Kazir had been through so much, and this incident was probably one of the toughest obstacles in his life.

Kazir weakly smiled as he returned to sleep. He decided to place importance on his life... Once he was done with The Dark Knight, Kazir would go somewhere nice and peaceful.

The next day, Kazir heard that Anderson's operation was successful. His left foot was saved, but he needed three months of recovery, which Kazir gladly gave his bodyguard. Kazir also promised that he would cover all of the expenses... He even thought of buying Anderson a house and a car, he could afford to buy them anyway. No amount of money was comparable to his life.

But since Anderson needed time to recover, Kazir needed to hire another bodyguard. In fact, Kazir believed he needed at least two bodyguards. Salvatore and Erica were looking for the best people, they had to make sure their moneymaker was safe and sound...

Yeah, it was true that Kazir was the reason why Salvatore and Erica earned so much money every year. Kazir was their friend, so they also didn't want him to get hurt.

.........

......

...

The horrifying attempted murder of Kazir was so huge that police had to intervene and take it seriously.

When the incident happened, the giant studios just thought it was simple revenge. They heard from one of the ex-employees (he got fired and paid fines because he broke the NDA) from Kazir's production team that Aquino exacted revenge on Kazir because he was kicked out of the project. That was clear, and everyone thought it was mostly the truth. As for the reason why Aquino was hired, no one cared about it... The media didn't explain it at all for obvious reasons.

Because of that, the Big Four took this chance to try and destroy Kazir's career. So many people believed them, but many also sympathized with Kazir. Just because he fired someone, it didn't mean he deserved to die.

Kazir had experienced so many scandals in his career, yet he survived all of them. People believed he was innocent since he was still not blacklisted in Hollywood.

But everything came to a halt when the police found something interesting on Aquino's computer and phone.

At first, the police were curious how Aquino got an AK-47, since that kind of firearm was illegal in Los Angeles as of 2007.

They confirmed that the AK-47 came from Aquino's "friend," an executive from Universal Pictures. The AK-47 was meant to be used as a prop and should have been destroyed after being used in a movie, but the executive left dozens of AK-47s as "collectibles"... They were not registered, by the way.

Sometimes, production teams needed to use real guns as props, although they used blank bullets. Furthermore, it was cheaper to use real guns that making fake ones.

This executive gave one to Aquino as a gift.

Everyone thought the incident would end there.

But no, there was more to it. The police found an interesting conversation between Aquino and the executive.

— He humiliated you.

— Kazir thinks he is above everyone, that's why he didn't include your scene. You deserve better.

— Don't ask me why your asshole is itchy, we're done since last year.

— No one would blame you if you were going to teach Kazir a lesson. That arrogant director needs a proper lesson.

— I know we're not friends anymore, but if you need money to do it, you can ask.

It was mild and hidden, but the executive was indirectly pushing Aquino to kill Kazir by blaming Kazir for Aquino's failure. The executive said that Kazir intentionally didn't add Aquino's scene because he offended the director.

Aquino was a cocaine addict and didn't realize he was being manipulated. The executive told him their conversation should be deleted, but Aquino was too high to do that.

Another thing, the executive gave Aquino a car and even told him Kazir's usual locations.

Yes, this was an assassination! The public thought this was just a simple tragedy, not a planned assassination! Even the Big Four didn't expect this outcome.

To make it worse, the executive was a close friend of Harvey Weinstein!

++++++

[Note: I don't hate Universal Pictures. They are amazing studio and I like their movies, they are far better than Walt Disney at any angle. Unfortunately, the plot went this way so I might as well stick to it.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 508

The revelation shocked Hollywood. The police were hesitant at first, since this information could put their careers in jeopardy. You know, this was not a simple assault but an assassination that involved an executive from Universal Pictures.

The Hollywood and Showbiz industry was so deep that some information was not allowed to spread.

Thankfully, the LAPD gave the go signal. They were doing the right thing, and they had nothing to fear.

Hence, the situation became chaotic. Who would have thought that this incident was instigated by one of the higher-ups at Universal Pictures?

An executive planning to kill a director, a shocking situation. News stations and publishers loved this moment and went all out. The news spread so fast that when Kazir woke up the next day, he sensed that something was going on.

His father and brother were acting strange. Even Salvatore and Erica were in the hospital room, whispering. Scarlett made tea for them.

If something was surprising, it was the fact that Stella Willow was also in the room, waiting for Kazir to wake up. For the record, Stella and Kazir were friends, but Stella was so busy that she probably didn't have time to visit the hospital early in the morning.

"...What's going on?"
Kazir asked them.

The group of people looked at each other. Scarlett sighed and gave a cup of tea to Kazir, she then passed a newly published newspaper to him.

Kazir actually preferred coffee or cappuccino, but it seemed Scarlett was going for a healthy beverage. The tea was a gift from Stella.

Anyway, Kazir read the newspaper and bitterly smiled, well, the bitter tea was one of the reasons why.

"People will go as far as to kill someone just for profit," he said.

Scarlett held his hand.

"This is not simple. The culture of this industry is so toxic that they feel like they can get away with anything. Don't worry, I'll do my best to make sure this will not happen again."

Stella was the first to reply. She was disgusted by the fact that Hollywood let something like this happen.

"Thanks, Stella."

Kazir smiled.

.........

......

...

Just a day after the news spread, Universal Pictures acted fast and fired the executive. They even stated it publicly in front of the media. They announced that they had no connection with the assassination and that they promoted healthy competition.

Many people were mad about it, and even the movie critics felt disgusted. Universal Pictures had to solve this problem and protect its image.

The executive was caught by the police and admitted the crimes. Except that, he didn't say anything else and kept his mouth shut. He accepted every backlash from the public as if he was threatened to take full responsibility.

Truthfully, Universal Pictures had no intention of killing Kazir. They never resorted to killing people, this was America, and they never liked violence. Unfortunately, stuff just happens.

The scandal also made the Big Four face some backlash. People were not stupid. The Big Four tried to destroy Kazir's career after the director suffered a near-death situation. People realized that the Big Four would do anything just to bury their rivals.

As for Kazir's side, the director was advised by his PR Team to stay quiet and away from the spotlight.

He just released a statement that was crafted by his PR Team. The one who delivered the words was Erica, who faced the reporters in front of the hospital.

"Director Grey said that he is grateful to be alive. He thanks the people for supporting him."

A very short statement. Kazir's PR Team advised him not to speak about the Big Four, as Kazir might have a chance to work with them again... This was from a business viewpoint, and Kazir understood.

In Hollywood, there was no eternal enemy. People in the industry would always do things for their benefit, and Kazir understood that.

However, he would probably not work with Universal Pictures anymore after this. He thought their relationship would improve after Shadows Beneath, but it seemed that he was wrong.

Brad Grey personally talked to him on the phone and said that Universal Pictures never thought of killing him. Based on Brad's voice, he was probably not lying. Still, Kazir was determined to keep his promise this time. This was a painful betrayal that he didn't want to experience again.

As for the other studios, it depended on the circumstances. He had to accept the fact that Hollywood would never change. This industry was so messed up from the roots that it was impossible to change it.

No one could change Hollywood, not even Kazir, nor the Big Six. Hollywood was always the city of sin.

.........

......

...

Kazir asked for a two-week break from Warner Brothers, and the studio gladly supported him. They were already happy that their studio was not part of the scandal. Furthermore, they used this chance of public sympathy to promote The Dark Knight.

Whenever they talked about news related to Kazir, Time Warner always included that Kazir was the director of The Dark Knight. Yeah, a free promotion. Nothing to be surprised about.

Within those two weeks, Kazir spent his time away from the paparazzi. He was in the house most of the time, together with Scarlett. His family and friends visited him once in a while... Kazir was actually bored the whole time.

He realized that he preferred working on his film instead of staying at home and doing nothing. Well, taking a rest was not that bad once in a while. On top of that, he and Scarlett cuddled a lot, so definitely not that bad.

+++++

[Author's Note.]

[For the record, I don't hate Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is actually a great studio. It's just that the plot went on against them, so I can't help but make them bad. If there's a studio I hate, it's only Walt Disney. Also, I just want to remind everyone that this novel is fiction and fake. Not related to real celebrities. Don't take it seriously.]

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 509


"Dear God, why are you doing this to me!? I've never been a bad person!"

Harvey Weinstein stared at the ceiling, talking to a higher existence, asking why he was receiving suffering after suffering despite being a good person.

Harvey was a narcissistic bastard who couldn't see the wrongs in himself. In his opinion, he was one of the good guys in Hollywood.

Yet the fact that he was being judged didn't sit well with him. After his friend went to jail because of a failed assassination, people started looking at him like he was a criminal.

For the record, Harvey Weinstein wasn't part of the crime. It was true that he wanted Kazir dead, but he wasn't crazy enough to hire a hitman. This was an unwritten rule in Hollywood, no killings.

He was indeed friends with the executive and had attended some nice parties that included illegal dealings. They were also friends with Jeffrey Epstein and Diddy, but that didn't mean Harvey Weinstein was a bad person, right?

Just like he believed, he was on the good side of Hollywood... Harvey believed there were far worse people in Hollywood, and what he did was incomparable to their monstrosities.

Anyway, now that his friends had been caught, people were blaming him for some reason. He became part of the scandal, and reporters and paparazzi kept pestering him like he was some kind of rapist who deserved to go to jail.

Because of this incident, Harvey Weinstein had no choice but to lay low again. He decided to hide from the media and rarely left his house.

Harvey felt like the social connections he had worked hard to build were crumbling as his reputation kept sinking lower and lower. He had an inkling that if he got into another scandal, the people around him wouldn't help him anymore. He would probably go to jail the next time.

.........

......

...

After two weeks of rest, Kazir was so excited that he woke up early just to greet the day when the production of The Dark Knight would restart. He looked out the window, the sun was just rising, and the sky was still dark blue.

He kissed Scarlett's forehead. The woman was still sleeping. All of Scarlett's scenes had already been filmed, so there was no reason for her to attend the shoot.

"Take care. I'll visit you after I wake up," Scarlett grumbled and returned to sleep.

Kazir chuckled and left the house... In front of his home, three tall men seemed ready for action. These were the three bodyguards that Salvatore and Erica had found to protect Kazir.

Anderson was still in the hospital.

Kazir nodded at them, a bit awkward that these three strangers would be following him to every event from now on.

The three bodyguards were Dane, Ronan, and Vince. Their presence was a bit intimidating. Kazir knew that they could beat a person in a gunfight or a street fight. Either way, it seemed that Kazir would be safe with them.

"Sir, I'm your driver/bodyguard, Dane Fan. The car is ready," Dane introduced himself.

"Oh, thanks," Kazir said as he entered the new car. This car was a bulletproof vehicle that he had recently purchased. He had to admit he was traumatized by the incident and didn't want to experience it again.

As for the other bodyguards, they would follow in another car.

Both vehicles were bulletproof. Kazir spent $2.4 million to buy these two cars for his safety, it was a great investment. After all, he only had one life… Erm, he had experienced two lives, but it didn't matter, the meaning was still there. Life is important.

When he reached the studio, the crew members were already busy. They were checking equipment, adjusting the lights, setting the cameras, and even preparing snacks and drinks in each cast member's trailer.

When Kazir showed up, they greeted him with good mornings and expressed their concern about what had happened. Kazir smiled and said he was fine. He had suffered a few injuries from the car crash, but he was doing well. Even the stitches on his head were mostly healed. His hair covered the wounds, so they weren't obvious.

Kazir started the day with three bodyguards around him, scanning the surroundings and looking at Kazir, making sure there were no hidden threats.

The crew members felt awkward, but they had to adapt. This was their new normal now that Kazir had almost died in an assassination attempt.

Kazir could also see that the crew members were afraid to approach him because of the stern gazes from his bodyguards. However, he couldn't stop the bodyguards from doing their job.

They just had to adapt until everything became normal.

It was normal for the cast to show up later than the filming crew. Most of the cast of The Dark Knight were famous celebrities, so they had the privilege to do what they wanted.

Filming was scheduled to start around 9 a.m. But most of the cast who were part of the scene were still not present… Kazir was used to this. Most celebrities showed up late for some reason, as if they wanted to be the star of the set by arriving last.

It was 11 a.m. when filming finally started. The cast first greeted Kazir and asked about his well-being, Kazir answered truthfully.

Because Kazir had asked for a two-week break, the schedule was adjusted. It was fortunate that there were only a few remaining scenes to film before the production moved into post-production.