HOLLYWOOD WHAT IF

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 282


Joaquin Phoenix had a great filmography in recent years. Perhaps his best recent role was in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for his role as Commodus in Gladiator.

A few years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Joker/Arthur Fleck. He won many awards in his career and everyone knew that he was a talented actor.

Looking at the information thanks Kazir read, he knew that casting Joaquin Phoenix was not a problem.

The expected budget of The Revenant was at least $85 million and Kazir had no problem casting someone like Joaquin Phoenix.

For the same reason, Tom Hardy and Shia Labeouf were good choices.

Tom Hardy made his film debut in Black Hawk Down, but after that his career was unstable. He could not get any promising roles. If Kazir had not known about Tom Hardy's future, he might not have gotten a role in The Revenant.

Tom Hardy's usual roles were about buff, strong guys. This Means War, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Dark Knight Rises were just a few of the movies he starred in. His role in these movies was the buff strong guy.

Out of interest, Kazir decided to give this up and coming actor a chance to work with him.

The same thing happened with Shia Labeouf. Shia Labeouf was a famous actor in the mid 2000s and early 2010s but his career was dying for some reasons after that.

At first his career was going well, at a young age he got roles in Constantine, I, Robot, the first trilogy of Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Eagle Eye and Fury. It was amazing, he was part of so many blockbusters. Maybe one of the reasons he got steady jobs was because of his race, but that was debatable and probably not true.

Well, his presence in Hollywood slowly disappeared after accusation and controversy.

Kazir had heard some stories in his past life, but this and that were two different things.

The Shia Labeouf of 2002 was just an aspiring actor trying to find his way in the industry.

Shia's agent recommended that he audition for The Revenant and Constantine. So far, his role in Constantine was already set, but filming would start in September, which was 9 months later.

The main reason Kazir was interested in Shia Labeouf was to know his current attitude as a young actor. He also knew that Shia could act, his range as an actor was quite wide. As for the reason why Kazir was interested in Shia... It might because of Transformers.

For these reasons, Kazir felt that casting these three actors was not a problem.

One thing was for sure, Tom Cruise had no problem with the cast. None of the actors were more famous than him, and he was confident in his acting abilities as well. He had been in the industry since 1981. His experience was enough to face such talented actors.

Besides, Tom knew that Kazir would never betray him. He would definitely give Tom more screen time and let him showcase his acting skills.

... It was actually written in the contract. For this role, Tom decided to grow a beard for the first time. He even studied bears to understand them.

He might even go so far as to meet a real bear and possibly have a boxing match with it. Tom Cruise was a professional actor and he was known for his stunts. (Note: I'm still skeptical about this. If it's true, no insurance company is going to sign a contract with Tom Cruise. He probably only does stunts that are safe).

.........

......

...

"Nice to see you again, sir. I thought you had forgotten me." Vance Goodhood greeted Kazir after three years of no contact.

Kazir became busy and didn't have much time to return to the investment firm. However, when he contacted the company, he found that the investment firm had been hit hard by the bursting of the dot-com bubble and 9/11. As a result, they filed for bankruptcy.

So Vance Goodhood decided to apply to Goldman Sachs, and he was accepted. His credentials were good. Because of Kazir's warning, Vance pulled out his investment before the stock market crashed. He made millions and was very grateful for Kazir's opinion.

As expected, Kazir Grey was a genius. He was a genius director and even in the financial sector he was making money.

So Vance visited Grey Pictures because Kazir wanted to invest in tech/internet companies again.

This time Kazir was willing to invest $150 million. This was a huge amount, and Vance met with Kazir in person because of the seriousness of the situation.

"Are you sure you want to invest in these companies, sir?"

Kazir had three companies in mind: eBay, Apple and Amazon.

eBay and Amazon were both online sales services, and their growth was promising. Only Kazir knew the exact history of how these companies would become worth billions or trillions of dollars.

As for Apple, now that Steve Jobs had returned to Apple, Kazir knew that this company would usher in the era of smartphones. By the way, Steve Jobs was also a shareholder in Walt Disney because of Pixar.

Kazir would continue to invest in Apple and Amazon, while eBay was only short-term.

Actually, he wanted to get a piece of Google, but the company still showed no interest in his money. Google would not go public until 2004.

At the same time, Facebook did not exist until 2004.

'Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is open to investment.' Kazir thought to himself.

Vance Goodhood was not sure why Kazir was interested in Apple, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

This was a $150 million deal and Vance didn't want to screw it up. He tried to offer Kazir alternatives, but the director was adamant. In the end, Vance Goodhood respected Kazir's decision and took care of the $150 million by investing $50 million in each company.

'As for Netflix... Meh. I'll only invest when their online streaming service happens. Right now, Netflix is still a small company trying to copy Blockbuster's business strategy. I don't want to disrupt and potentially change their trajectory, so I'll just wait until they're stable.'

Being in this industry, Kazir knew that Netflix was going to struggle for a long time. Kazir didn't want any of that part.

++++

[Author's note: I know this has nothing to do with the novel. But I want to say that we will miss you, Detective Amelia Watson of Hololive. Man, I'm sure going to miss your gremlin screams].

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 283


The cold breeze still lingered, but not as cold as in December. Last year's event was something that many people would never forget, and perhaps it affected people's perception of the weather.

Now that another year has come, it is time to move on and let go of the past. Suffering has always been a part of life, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to look forward to. New year, new life.

With that in mind, there was no promising movie in January. This was to be expected as January has never been a famous month for Hollywood to release movies.

Still, it was kind of disappointing that of all the movies that were released in January 2002, only one movie made more than $100 million.

It was Snow Dogs, released by Walt Disney. And yes, it was about dogs...

The fact that The Count Of Monte Cristo and A Walk To Remember were released in the same month and didn't cross $100 million was discouraging. Because those two movies were pretty good.

The Count Of Monte Cristo was based on a famous novel of the same name, and yet it didn't work at the box office.

A Walk To Remember was also based on a novel of the same name, but it didn't do well either.

While January was bleak for Hollywood, Kazir was very busy that month. He visited the production sets of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Supremacy. He also had his own project to work on.

Even though Kazir was still in the USA, he didn't have much time for himself. Much more about Angelina.

Kazir knew that love was important, but his love and passion for filmmaking was stronger than any kind of love. He left his home in the first place just to be a filmmaker. That alone was enough to show how much he loved movies.

Most of the time, Kazir spent more time at work than with Angelina. It caused a bit of a fight, but the couple was mature enough to understand each other.

Two bad, because in March, Kazir would leave the country to go to Canada and start filming The Revenant. Their relationship was a bit rocky and they only had a month to fix it.

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days would also start shooting in March and Angelina would be busy as well. Both of them won't have time for each other after March.

So to make things better, Kazir and Angelina attended a party together. This party was none other than the celebration party for Spider-Man.

Angelina and Kazir entered the party hand in hand and were greeted by many people, mostly people related to Sony-Columbia.

People congratulated Kazir for his outstanding ability to create blockbuster after blockbuster. Just as they predicted, Spider-Man successfully surpassed $900 million in the first week of February.

To date, Spider-Man is the highest grossing film of 2001. John Wick Chapter 2 came in second with $621 million.

In third place was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with a current worldwide gross of $620 million. This was followed by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with $582 million.

2001 was a bad year and people used movies to escape reality and have fun. Many of the audience preferred these four movies mainly because of their special effects, magic or supernatural aspects and cool action stunts.

Hehe, it was also funny that the two currently highest grossing movies of 2001 were strongly related to Kazir Grey.

Kazir was the director of Spider-Man and he was also the writer/executive producer of John Wick Chapter 2.

However, with John Wick Chapter 2 already finished its run, there was no chance for the movie to increase its box office. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone would soon surpass this CCU movie.

"Congratulations Kazir!" Said Tobey Maguire, who was slightly tipsy.

"Congratulations, director." Producer Jezebel Salome was strict as always and didn't touch alcohol tonight.

"Yow, are money maker has arrived!" Willem Dafoe said jokingly and gave Kazir a big hug.

Angelina was happy to see her man doing well in his career. She was proud of him. At the party, Angelina decided to look around for someone.

Angelina was the type who loved to make fun of someone. It helped her boost her self-esteem and confidence. You see, she loved it when someone was jealous of her.

So yes, she was going to look for Kirsten Dunst. She knew that Kirsten had a crush on her boyfriend and she loved to jab Kirsten with that fact.

That was the reason why Angelina wanted to see Reese's reaction the last time. Too bad, it seemed that Reese had already moved on. Well, Angelina had a new target.

"Babe, I'll be right back. You can talk to your friends while I'm gone." Angelina told Kazir and the man nodded.

"Okay, take care."

Kazir said after kissing her hand. Angelina smiled and left her man to tease Kirsten.

Kazir and the others began to talk.

A few minutes into the party, two people approached Kazir. They were Stan Lee and Avi Arad.

Avi Arad was the current CEO/Chairman of Marvel Comics, while Stan Lee was the creator of many Marvel characters.

From the serious expressions on their faces, Kazir knew they were going to talk about the superhero copyrights that Grey Pictures owned.

After so many years in the industry, Grey Pictures has successfully acquired all of the MCU characters. Most notably the original Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. It was time-consuming, but Kazir knew their importance, so he acquired them.

Kazir excused himself and went to the garden to talk to the two of them. This was going to be a serious talk.

++++

[Author's note: Since it's the first day of the month, I want to promote my P@treon and Ko-fi for the nth time. If you subscribe to my P@treon, you can read 169 advance chapters of HWI plus 3 NSFW chapters (exclusive to Patreon only)].

[Second, there's an important poll on my P@treon that will determine Kazir's wife. So far there's a clear winner and I'm already writing about their relationship. However, if the result changes and the current winner is overthrown by landside votes, there could be a comeback. If you're interested, you can check it out. I respect your votes and I respect the outcome].

[One more thing, what do you think about Marvel movies? Should Kazir direct them? The winner of the poll last time was (redacted) and I think that company can acquire Marvel and Grey Pictures together so that the MCU will happen].

[My P@treon has a wider range of content compared to Ko-fi, so I recommend you subscribe to Patreon if possible. Although, don't use the iOS Patreon app because I will automatically lose half of the money if you subscribe using the app].

[If you can't use P@treon, then my Ko-fi is the alternative. Ko-fi doesn't have the 3 NSFW chapters, but it does have the poll regarding Kazir's possible wife and 169 advanced chapters].

[Again, thanks for all your support. I really appreciate it. Your subscriptions mean a lot to me because they help me pay our bills, put food on the table, fix up our house, and pay for my brother's college tuition. He's a sophomore now by the way, and his major is English Secondary Education.]

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

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

 

[JustAnotherFan217]

Stay away from Marvel, just sell the rights back for a profit. The last thing this story needs is another franchise of copy and pasted remakes.

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 284


Most people knew that Marvel Comics went bankrupt a few years ago. And while Marvel Comics was in their deepest shit hole, Grey Pictures approached them to buy some of their characters.

The bank owned the company at the time and they made the arrangements and sold the characters for a few million dollars.

Now, the characters that Grey Pictures bought were mostly small superheroes that were not famous. Marvel's famous characters were Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.

The X-Men that 20th Century Fox made two years ago was successful. Marvel was impressed, but not enough to be excited or elated. After all, the film only grossed $296 million worldwide.

The impact of Spider-Man, however, was far greater. No, this was the most successful movie to come out of Marvel Comics.

Imagine a single character making $900 million at the box office. Because of this, Marvel Comics gained a little confidence in their characters.

The profits from comic books were getting smaller and smaller, and Marvel Comics would go out of business if they didn't solve the problem.

The solution they came up with? Create a Cinematic Universe. Which was the right decision because Marvel Studios is worth billions in original timeline.

Also, Marvel Comics had a good example to copy.

The Continental Cinematic Universe created by Grey Pictures was a huge success. Now every character in this Cinematic Universe has become well known, Bryan Mills, John Wick, Jason Bourne and Wesley Gibson.

There was nothing special about their appearance, but boys and men went crazy just to get their action figures.

In addition, Grey Pictures was negotiating with several publishers to produce novels and comic books about CCU. They were also talking about possible animated series.

It was still a rumor, but Stella Willow, the General Manager of Grey Pictures, was very busy because of these rumors.

One thing was for sure, Grey Pictures was doing well.

Marvel Comics wanted the same treatment, but they knew it would be difficult. Unless Marvel Comics got the same status as Grey Pictures.

A few weeks ago someone from Walt Disney contacted Avi Arad and said they were interested in buying some of the characters from Marvel Comics.

Perhaps Walt Disney was trying to copy the recent success of X-Men and Spider-Man... especially Spider-Man.

However, the characters Walt Disney was looking for were Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk, who were already owned by Grey Pictures.

Walt Disney was willing to pay tens of millions just to acquire their copyrights, which was shocking but expected.

Even Universal and Paramount were interested in their characters after the success of Spider-Man.

So now Marvel Comics was facing some problems. They need money.

'We need to acquire these characters and resell them, or we can...'

Avi Arad stopped thinking. He was not sure of the outcome of this conversation. First of all, he knew that this was just their first conversation and no promises would be made. Especially when Kazir Grey was known for his cunning behavior.

While Avi Arad was busy thinking about business, Stan Lee's thoughts were all about the hopes of Marvel characters having their own movies.

Stan worked with Kazir on Spider-Man and saw the director lay the groundwork for the movie to be released.

In his opinion, Kazir was the main reason for the film's success. His clear vision for the film and his strict but consistent shooting. His authority and the respect he got from the people. Despite his achievements, Kazir was perfect for his career.

'If we are really serious about making a Cinematic Universe, then Kazir is the best option we have. He has already proven himself, and his credentials are unparalleled in that regard.' the old comic creator thought.

Kazir could make another Cinematic Universe with a high chance of success. That was for sure.

So yes, the two higher-ups at Marvel Comics have their own opinions.

Avi Arad wanted the characters back, while Stan Lee hoped that Kazir would start working on Marvel characters as he had promised.

Note that for Grey Pictures to acquire the copyrights for a small amount, they made a contract that Grey Pictures has to make a Marvel movie within 10 years, or else the characters would naturally return to Marvel Comics.

In addition, Grey Pictures must invest at least $50 million in the Marvel movie or the contract would be void.

Grey Pictures acquired the copyrights in 1997 and the deadline was 2007. If the studio failed to make a Marvel movie, the characters would return to Marvel Comics.

The two executives followed Kazir nervously into the garden, but they hid their emotions well.

Kazir stopped in his tracks, and the others stopped as well.

"I already have an idea of what we're going to talk about. So I want to make it clear, I'm very interested in doing a Marvel movie. We can renegotiate the contract if you're interested."

"..."

Stan Lee sighed weakly with relief. He was the co-creator of many Marvel characters and he hoped to see them in theaters.

"Kazir, I think we can talk about this seriously."

Avi Arad frowned. He had no problem with that, but he wanted the best for Marvel Comics. They had already sold the copyrights, but they could fight for the remaining benefits such as box office, DVD sales, and peripheral profits.

"I understand."

Kazir agreed.

At first, he only wanted the copyrights to the Marvel characters because he felt they would jeopardize the Cinematic Universe he envisioned.

But now that the CCU was successful and no one could compete with it, Kazir felt that creating the MCU was not a problem.

"Kazir, first of all, let me ask you this. Who's the first Marvel character you want to make a movie about?"

Since Kazir had already stated his intentions, Stan Lee decided to ask more.

"Hm, let's see... I'm interested in doing The Hulk and Iron Man. Although I prefer Iron Man first."

"Iron Man, huh..."

Honestly, Stan Lee thought Kazir would choose The Hulk because it was a famous character, on par with Spider-Man and X-Men.

Well, Kazir was a talented director, so he probably had a plan.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 285


Was it enough to work with Grey Pictures?

Avi Arad was still skeptical about the idea. Sure, he knew that Kazir was one of the best, if not the best, director in this new genre, but Avi Arad was still not confident in working with the studio.

He needed at least some assurance. Walt Disney was very serious about acquiring their characters and they were willing to pay a lot.

Although there was a downside to that, because Marvel wouldn't start their own Cinematic Universe if they sold their characters to Walt Disney.

And that was the problem with Grey Pictures. Even though the studio bought the copyrights to many of the characters, it didn't mean that Grey Pictures intended to start a Cinematic Universe about Marvel.

Maybe they wanted to make a stand-alone movie like Spider-Man. That was not enough to revive Marvel Comics.

Since getting the copyrights back would be cumbersome, Avi Arad decided to go as far as he could.

"I want to renegotiate the contract," Avi said, and both Kazir and Stan looked at him.

Kazir nodded, already expecting this. Avi Arad was the CEO of Marvel Comics and he had to do his job as CEO for the sake of the company.

"I want to hear your thoughts."

"Cinematic Universe. I want to make sure that Grey Pictures is committed to a Marvel Cinematic Universe. With at least one Marvel movie a year."

Kazir was not surprised.

'Well, since MCU was a massive success in my past life, I have no problem with that. CCU has a steady performance and I can focus on MCU for a while. However...'

"... And what can I get?"

Kazir didn't forget that he had the upper hand in this negotiation.

"If you don't, we'll kill every character you acquired in the comics."

Kazir grinned. It seemed petty, but surely Avi had his intentions.

"So you want to kill the Hulk? He's one of your greatest superheroes."

"We can kill him or we can change his image. We can make him a villain, we can make him a killer, a thief, even a rapist."

Marvel Comics had the rights to all the characters and they do what they want with them.

Surely Grey Pictures would never make a Hulk movie if he became a rapist in the comics, which was the canon plot. So the copyrights would just be useless.

"We both lose if you do that."

If Marvel were serious about this, they would just destroy themselves.

Avi Arad knew this. It was just a threat, but a threat that would never happen unless they were backed into a corner.

They love every character and they didn't want to make them bad.

"Avi, I know your intentions and I assure you that I'm sincere."

"We will extend the copyrights up to 15 years if you agree with our terms." Avi said.n

"I guess you want to use some of your people for this project."

"That's right, the writers should be from Marvel Comics."

"No problem with that. That's my plan anyway."

"Marvel wants to increase the 13% profit share to 15%. We need money."

Marvel was in a near death situation.

"The numbers should be discussed by our agents and so on. But I also have my proposal."

"Tell me about it."

Looking at the grin on Kazir's face, Avi knew that it could affect them.

"Marvel will shoulder at least 30% of the production cost."

Now this condition could be a double-edged sword. It could be good or bad for them.

"I agree, but Marvel should increase its box office share to 20%"

"No, our original agreement is that Marvel Comics can only get 13% of the box office."

"Then investment could be a problem."

"Then there's no Cinematic Universe."

"..."

Avi Arad and Kazir had a stare-down.

As for Stan Lee, he just stood there. He was a creative person and a great artist, but business was never his strong suit.

Actually, it was impressive that Kazir could do business. He had a talent for business management, otherwise Grey Pictures would not have reached its current greatness.

Too bad, because Kazir disliked doing business. If he had a choice, he would have let his agent handle those kinds of negotiations.

But after the Big Six declined to invest in Taken, Kazir decided to strike out on his own and form a production company that would invest exclusively in his own films. It was a dangerous gamble, but one that paid off in the end.

"Exactly as you said, this negotiation of numbers should be given to our management and let them fight over it."

"Very well."

So in the end, there was no clear agreement except for the plan to make a Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For obvious reasons, Marvel Comics was actually on the bad side of this negotiation.

First of all, Marvel Comics could start their own studio and make their own movies.

However, they were not sure if their movies would be successful. On top of that, all of their famous characters had already been acquired by many studios, and they would have a hard time getting them back.

In this situation, Marvel Comics could only agree with Kazir's decision.

'If our situation is the same as DC's, then maybe one of the Big Six has already bought Marvel Comics.' Avi gritted his teeth.

Superman and Batman were basically the mascots of Warner Brothers and they were very famous all over the world. The main reason for that was the movie adaptations. Both superheroes had successful movies.

In fact, Avi Arad was hoping that one of the Big Six would acquire them... At least that would make their lives easier.

Suddenly, Avi Arad's fat cell phone in his pocket started ringing. The phones in 90s and early 2000s were thicc as fuck.

Avi excused himself and answered the call.

Kazir and Stan were left alone.

"S- So Kazir, what's your plan if you're going to make Iron Man?"

"I have some in mind, but I'm not sure yet, I'll tell you later, maybe when Spider-Man 2 starts production. I'll give you a clear plan. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on my current project."

Kazir lied. Of course he had thought about it. Hell, he even watched it.

"Of course." Stan Lee understood.

In fact, he was already grateful that Kazir was directing Spider-Man. He was the biggest safety net in this project, not the cast and not Sony-Columbia. Director Grey was the assurance that every studio wanted to acquire.

Stan Lee was the creator of Spider-Man and he was very happy to see his "son" have a successful run in Hollywood.

Now a lot of people around the world know about Spider-Man. That was enough for him.

Although Stan was hoping that Kazir would also make Spider-Man 3. That would be the biggest piece of good news he could get.

 

[JustAnotherFan217]

Ugh I don't know why I bother anymore. It is obvious that Kazir doesn't want to be anything other than the world's most glorified piece of office equipment, a copy machine. The only interesting part of the CCU in this is the small changes he has made to fit them into one universe. He's not even willing to try something new even when the original sucked, just look at Taken 2. That movie was terrible, but he still just copied it out word for word because putting out a terrible movie was preferable to trying for something better.

It's sad, because I've been following this for over a year now, but I really don't think I can take reading about the MCU. There won't even be the minor changes the CCU had. It sucks, this story has had multiple chances to live up to its potential and branch out into something new, but at every corner Kazir chooses to rest in unoriginality and mediocrity. I know I have been harsh in reviews, but that's because I always hoped this story would finally grow and improve, and become something better…and I've been let down at every turn. I don't even remember the last time I was actually excited for something coming up in this story, and it has left me wondering why I still bother reading. I think I'm going to have to take a break from this, either temporarily or permanently, before it drives me totally insane.

Good luck going forward Pujimaki, and while it's been a long time since I felt that way, thank you for the enjoyment I found in this story in the first parts of it.

 

[a guy1013]

Ugh I don't know why I bother anymore. It is obvious that Kazir doesn't want to be anything other than the world's most glorified piece of office equipment, a copy machine. The only interesting part of the CCU in this is the small changes he has made to fit them into one universe. He's not even willing to try something new even when the original sucked, just look at Taken 2. That movie was terrible, but he still just copied it out word for word because putting out a terrible movie was preferable to trying for something better.

It's sad, because I've been following this for over a year now, but I really don't think I can take reading about the MCU. There won't even be the minor changes the CCU had. It sucks, this story has had multiple chances to live up to its potential and branch out into something new, but at every corner Kazir chooses to rest in unoriginality and mediocrity. I know I have been harsh in reviews, but that's because I always hoped this story would finally grow and improve, and become something better…and I've been let down at every turn. I don't even remember the last time I was actually excited for something coming up in this story, and it has left me wondering why I still bother reading. I think I'm going to have to take a break from this, either temporarily or permanently, before it drives me totally insane.

Good luck going forward Pujimaki, and while it's been a long time since I felt that way, thank you for the enjoyment I found in this story in the first parts of it.

Click to shrink...

true, but what can he do but remake successful movies, the true test is when spider-man 3 comes, and how he handles that mess.

but the author can easily handwave away the problem, still havent see the author buying yugioh ip rights so he can the ccu in card games, since cardgames and video games are the next big merch, especially cardsgames, since they are just cardboard, sure yugioh is a thing, but an easy buy up for the manga would be easy enough for the mc

 

[JustAnotherFan217]

true, but what can he do but remake successful movies, the true test is when spider-man 3 comes, and how he handles that mess.

Click to shrink...

Kazir's contract is only for the first two, guaranteed he is going to hand off the third to someone else.

All the way back at Napoleon Dynamite 2 Kazir had the chance to start stepping out and making something new. That movie never existed originally, but did well here, but he still refuses to change anything. He has the evidence it can work great, but he's too afraid to have even one bomb on his record.

And not all of those movies were successful originally. Taken 2 was awful, but they still shoveled it out here with no changes. The fact that no one has called him out for how bad that movie is really seems unrealistic.

Him buying Yugioh won't change that he won't change his movies. Never mind the fact that I don't like or care about Yugioh anyways.

 

[a guy1013]

Kazir's contract is only for the first two, guaranteed he is going to hand off the third to someone else.

All the way back at Napoleon Dynamite 2 Kazir had the chance to start stepping out and making something new. That movie never existed originally, but did well here, but he still refuses to change anything. He has the evidence it can work great, but he's too afraid to have even one bomb on his record.

And not all of those movies were successful originally. Taken 2 was awful, but they still shoveled it out here with no changes. The fact that no one has called him out for how bad that movie is really seems unrealistic.

Him buying Yugioh won't change that he won't change his movies. Never mind the fact that I don't like or care about Yugioh anyways.

Click to shrink...

he is still a fearful man he seems, since he is not taking risk, but why take risk, when you can make real money, but still he is not changing much now, but he is simply just nudging right now, but he would need to start changing stuff soon, if not he would run out of ideas, and retire, so he would need to make a new story besides just copy and paste, but we are like 150 plus chapters behind patreon, so who knows, unless you are willing to take a peek

 

[JustAnotherFan217]

he is still a fearful man he seems, since he is not taking risk, but why take risk, when you can make real money, but still he is not changing much now, but he is simply just nudging right now, but he would need to start changing stuff soon, if not he would run out of ideas, and retire, so he would need to make a new story besides just copy and paste, but we are like 150 plus chapters behind patreon, so who knows, unless you are willing to take a peek

Click to shrink...

The 150 chapters makes me more unlikely to ever take a peek. If I pay for a month and read those chapters, I would have to keep paying or wait over a year for this site to catch up. Plus the author said once that Kazir has only just now started making changes in Patreon, and I'm not willing to wait 150 chapters to get to that.

I've said it before, it makes since in story for Kazir to just copy movies and never branch out, but it makes for incredibly dull reading on our end. There is a reason that all the successful Hollywood insert stories have the main character make changes to movies and branch out from the originals. It's not like he has to make 100% original movies, but just change pieces of the plot. He could have made Taken 2 different, with a changed plot, but they just went with the same terrible movie.

 

[Luizinho]

At this point in time, RDJ is still high as f....i think

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[OverseerEX]

The story is fine, I enjoyed reading it, but it is a bit shallow. A lot more could've been done to steer the story into more 'AU' territory, and watch what happens with the changes. I would also love to see Kazir's interactions with the world be more dynamic. Basically, a bit more exploration into the investments he has in companies (And perhaps how he can steer them into their success earlier than in OTL), and more interactions with Angelina, to develop their characters.

For movies, I agree with the earlier posts that he needs to change plots/create originals, and I see that the author is already doing this, though after 150+ more chapters. There is a lot of speculations/rumours/alternate endings/fan films(fictions)/axed films (EX: the Obi-Wan Trilogy - Interview with Writer) that can be used to help in the writing process of this story, make failed movies better (especially the modern ones, there's a lot of videos, and discussions on plots which can help with that.)

Also read earlier a post from someone suggesting doing something with the World of Darkness, which I wholeheartedly agree with, WOD has an exciting universe and cosmology and I'm sad that we don't have media (Movies, TV Series, Animated Series...) in real life for it.
(You could make Russell Crowe's character from 'The Pope's Exorcist' be a part of the Second Inquisition (Society of Leopold))

All in all, there's clearly a lot of room for improvement, and it seems that the improvement has begun, albeit a bit late, so I'm going to stick around, and see how things progress.

Thank you for the story.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 286


Kazir and Stan talked for a few minutes before Avi returned. When the two saw Avi's expression, they thought the guy was panting red.

"Kazir, let's talk about the negotiations next time, officially," Avi announced their departure.

"Okay." Kazir nodded and said goodbye. He was curious why Avi was acting like this, but he decided to let it go.

At first he thought that Avi and Stan would spend more time at the party, but it seemed that they had important things to do. The two executives left the party immediately.

"Avi, why are you acting like this? Did something happen? Who called you?"

Stan was not stupid. He knew that the reason Avi was acting strangely was because of the phone call.

"It's News Corporation."

"Huh?"

"Someone from News Corporation wants to talk to us. They are interested in buying Marvel Comics."

The current shares of Marvel Comics were in the hands of the bank because of the company's debt. If News Corporation was really serious about this acquisition, then the bank would be happy to have another company shoulder Marvel Comics' debt.

"Are you serious?" Stan was surprised. He hadn't expected this.

"This isn't a scam, is it?"

"I don't think so. They set up a meeting at 20th Century Fox headquarters in two days. If this is real, we need to contact management."

News Corporation was a media giant and had the ability to acquire Marvel Comics. However, it was still unknown why News Corporation contacted them after so many years. Perhaps the recent success of Spider-Man was the reason. After the success of Spider-Man, Marvel Comics had a new source of profit and their future was promising... Although they were still in debt at the time.

The two got serious. Both of them had shares in Marvel Comics, and if this acquisition really happened, it would be a good thing for them. At least they could face their old rival with confidence.

'If DC is under Warner Brothers, then Marvel Comics will be under News Corporation, uh, 20th Century Fox, I guess?' Avi Arad thought. Hoping that the company's future would be prosperous.

.........

......

...

Kazir was a little confused as to why the two left the party so quickly. They hadn't even had a glass of wine.

'Maybe their only reason for attending this party was to meet me.'

Knowing how big the MCU was going to be in the next decade, Kazir would never say no to Marvel Comics' terms. However, Grey Pictures would fight for better terms.

'It was a good thing that we acquired the copyrights to the MCU characters and can start at any moment. However, I'm still waiting for at least two or three years so that the CGI technology will be better and ready to take Iron-Man or The Incredible Hulk.'

Technically, the second movie in the MCU was The Incredible Hulk, but the contract with Edward Norton fell through. Luckily, Iron Man, the first movie of the MCU, was successful and kept the whole franchise alive.

Of course, Hulk was still in the Avengers, but it was very hard to connect him with the Incredible Hulk. The Incredible Hulk was connected to MCU, plot wise, but sort of not.

Since the original actor (Edward Norton) left and was replaced by Mark Ruffalo. People couldn't help but see the difference between the two.

So in this timeline, if Grey Pictures and Marvel (Studio) were serious about creating another Cinematic Universe, then Kazir would choose Mark Ruffalo from the very beginning so there wouldn't be any mishaps. Also, Mark Ruffalo was a great actor. He at least seemed more approachable than Edward Norton.

'Now that I think about it, The Incredible Hulk's box office was not bad. It made about $260 million at the box office. However, the production cost of the movie is $150 million, so I guess they didn't make a profit at all.'

Things happen and life has always been like that. Even in the 2020s, the influence of the MCU waned after the original Avengers disappeared.

'I also have to be careful about oversaturation. People will get tired of superhero movies, and the Continental Cinematic Universe can suffer the same thing.'

So far, action movies have done well, but that could change later. After all, the era of the 2010s was dominated by superheroes.

'Keeping two CCU movies a year is the best choice. That way, people will not get tired of our movies.'

Maybe another reason why the MCU was at its lowest point in the 2020s was because they were producing so many TV shows, all connected to the MCU. People just got tired of watching so many TV shows. Especially when every one of them was connected to the MCU and it would be detrimental if they didn't watch them.

If you don't watch WandaVision, then you have no idea what happened in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

After thinking about the MCU that Kazir was interested in, he decided to look for Angelina.

He saw some of the cast of Spider-Man and they invited him for a drink, but Kazir humbly declined. Drinking too much would be bad for him, especially when he had a job to do tomorrow.

After looking around for a few minutes, Kazir found Angelina talking to someone. He almost called out to her, but stopped when he realized that Angelina was talking to Kirsten Dunst.

He looked at them and saw Kirsten crying. She walked away while wiping her tears and trying to act completely fine.

The woman walked towards Kazir, who tried to find a place to hide, but failed. Finally, Kirsten saw Kazir and she was stunned. She immediately greeted him as she wiped away her tears.

"G- Good evening director."

She did her best and smiled. She excused herself and left the place, embarrassed about her action.

"..."

Kazir just nodded and let the woman leave. Then, he turned to Angelina who was smirking.

"Aww, baby did you miss me?" Angelina said and hugged Kazir. Kazir hugged her back but was not that enthusiastic about it.

"Angelina, what happened? Why did I see Kirsten crying?"

Kirsten had an important role in the Spider-Man trilogy. If this matter affected Kirsten, then the woman might leave the project and that would endanger the franchise. Kazir was a director who hated that kind of thing.

So yeah, he was disappointed by what he witnessed. Spider-Man was important to him. Angelina might cause irreparable damage to the project, something that Kazir could not accept. This was his art, something that was very important to him.

 

[Luizinho]

People got tired of the MCU mostly due to how bad the newer movies are.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Yeah that was definitely the thing with too many bad mcu movies, but I also think a little oversaturation played a part too in the post Mcu verse post Avengers timeline decline. Resulting in superhero fatigue that could have been avoided like Kazir said 2 movies a year or something bi monthly like that for the series too
You couldn't just wait for Spider-Man 2 to start pre production Angelina , which Kazir Grey had the Kirsten crush in hand delicately for the plot of Spider-Man 2 and he can't have her leaving so soon and now he has to go back clean up Angelina bratty mess and save the star heroine of the Spider trilogy.
Sheesh, Kazir can't catch a break.
Hollywood Reigns
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Black lightning]

The 150 chapters makes me more unlikely to ever take a peek. If I pay for a month and read those chapters, I would have to keep paying or wait over a year for this site to catch up. Plus the author said once that Kazir has only just now started making changes in Patreon, and I'm not willing to wait 150 chapters to get to that.

I've said it before, it makes since in story for Kazir to just copy movies and never branch out, but it makes for incredibly dull reading on our end. There is a reason that all the successful Hollywood insert stories have the main character make changes to movies and branch out from the originals. It's not like he has to make 100% original movies, but just change pieces of the plot. He could have made Taken 2 different, with a changed plot, but they just went with the same terrible movie.

Click to shrink...

Can you recommend some good holywood self inserts

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 287


He did his best to stay calm. He didn't want to judge Angelina without hearing the whole story, but he was certainly disappointed.

"I didn't do anything to her, okay."

Angelina giggled.

Kazir was still silent, waiting for more explanations.

"Well, I found her and decided to talk to her. I told her how great our relationship is and how much we love each other. She actually listens very seriously. I also talked to her about the watch you got for your birthday."

"What did you tell her?"

"I said it was missing and you can't find it."

"..."

Kazir sighed. This could be annoying. He knew that Angelina had a tendency to do such things. People in this business, especially famous people, were very arrogant.

Besides, Angelina had done the same thing to Reese a year ago and a year after that. Of course Kazkr knew about it, but he let it go because he loved her.

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"Oh come on babe, it's nothing. I didn't expect her to cry like that. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, I'm not, I can't be mad at you. But I'm very disappointed. What if Kirsten announces that she is quitting Spider-Man? That would be very damaging."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I can make it up to you."

Realizing that Kazir meant it, Angelina apologized and promised that it would never happen again.

Kazir was silent for a while before nodding. In the end, he sided with Angelina. After all, she was his girlfriend. However, their relationship changed slightly after this incident.

Kazir and Angelina returned to Beverly Hills after leaving the party. They were both busy, but Kazir admitted that he was busier than Angelina. He wanted to make it up to her, but what had happened earlier affected his decision.

They returned to their respective jobs and saw each other once a week, but their enthusiasm for each other diminished with each passing week. Kazir and Angelina were still a loving couple, but there was already a rift.

.........

......

...

"I didn't expect you to show up at Grey Pictures with this intention."

"Kazir, don't be like that. I know you're smart. You already expected this to happen."

"Indeed."

Enrico Pucci came to Grey Pictures for a formal business meeting. The reason: Warner Brothers was interested in acquiring shares of Grey Pictures, which was solely owned by Kazir... Well, Stella Willow held 1.3% after working in the company for 3 years. She started working at Grey Pictures in 1999, around the time of the production of The Bourne Identity.

"Our initial proposal is $1 billion for 40% of the company, but that will probably not work..."

Enrico sighed. This was not his forte in the first place. He was a producer, not someone from Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs who was used to acquisition deals. Well, Warner Brothers was contacting J.P. Morgan for this job right now.

"Hm, you have to keep up with the numbers." Kazir smiled.

After the success of the Continental Cinematic Universe, the net worth of Grey Pictures rose to five billion dollars. Especially when there were rumors that Grey Pictures was going to start another Cinematic Universe based on Marvel superheroes.

"Yeah." That was all Enrico could say.

On February 10, 2002, Warner Brothers began their acquisition. It was a great move that seemed promising, after all, Grey Pictures was now the most sought after studio in Hollywood.

However, one week later, Sony-Columbia also started their acquisition! They announced that they were ready to buy 35% of the company for $2.1 billion. It seemed that Sony-Colombia was in desperate need of high quality movies that Kazir could provide. Especially after tasting the greatness of Spider-Man, which Kazir produced.

Now, Warner Brothers and Sony-Colombia had their battle over who would acquire Grey Pictures.

This could go on for months or even a year. Apparently, Grey Pictures didn't turn down the acquisition, but they weren't adamant either... It was as if Grey Pictures was waiting for something more.

The two studios that dominated Hollywood started their battle, even making deals with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs for this acquisition.

This news was published in newspapers and some TV channels. The opinions of many people were divided.

People in Hollywood knew that the outcome of this acquisition would affect Hollywood tremendously. Once Grey Pictures worked with one of the Big Six, that company would have an advantage at the box office.

In fact, people knew that the answer to this question was none other than Kazir Grey. He was the one who was able to accomplish many things in this industry.

Some people thought of kidnapping the guy to take advantage of his talent, but they were not crazy enough to do that. Hollywood had a lot of crimes, but they wouldn't go as far as kidnapping a famous person... But it was different when the person in question was a nobody. After all, there were rumors that some establishments in Hollywood were involved in sex trafficking, which is technically kidnapping.

While people in Hollywood had complicated thoughts about this acquisition, normal people/moviegoers were cool about it. As long as the quality of the movies Grey Pictures made was amazing, they didn't care which company acquired it.

Just like that, two months passed and April arrived... In that month, Sony-Columbia happily announced that Spider-Man had crossed the $1 billion mark!

It just barely passed the mark at $1.01 billion, but it was a fact that happened!

Now people recognize that Spider-Man was the box office champion of 2001 (last year).

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone finished its run with $974 million. Coming in second

Third on the list was The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with $868 million.

In fourth place was John Wick Chapter 2 with $621 million.

In fifth place was Monster, Inc. with $528 million.

Sixth was The Fast and The Furious with $502 million.

Now Kazir was recognized as the only director to have made two $1 billion movies in consecutive years!

This made the takeover even more intense!

++++

[Hey, I just want to promote my Patreon. For $10, you can read 169 chapters of HWI and other content on my Patreon.]

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

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

[Thanks for all the support, I really appreciate it. By the way, don't take this novel seriously.]

 

[Moran]

Potential ideas:
- Partly inspired by Sheldon's Roommate Agreement, have MC have his romantic partner sign a cohabitation agreement, which includes clause like neither party are to recount anything sensitive about their private lives to the media, don't seduce or be seduced in any environment unless its for an act, or any quarrel be resolved non-violently, etc.

- Cast Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross in MCU's Incredible Hulk.

Kazir could use his influence to cast Harrison Ford with the role Thaddeus Ross in Incredible Hulk 2008 and the MCU. He is given the role for Captains America 4 to replace the deceased William Hurt.

Click to shrink...

- Incredible Hulk post-credit scene: Red Hulk emerges from behind the presidential podium, his body adjusts to the transformation before roaring out.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 288


No one could do what Kazir did. Two years ago, his movie "Wanted" made history, becoming the third movie to surpass $1 billion at the box office.

Everyone thought it would be the greatest achievement Kazir would ever achieve. After all, surpassing $1 billion at the box office was already a difficult thing to do. So far, only three directors have done it.

But who would have thought that the next year, Kazir would make another film that would surpass $1 billion at the box office?

Now, Spider-Man has become the fourth film to achieve this feat. People's opinions of Kazir deepened. Nobody took him for granted anymore. He became the most profitable director in the industry, not even Steven Spielberg or James Cameron could compare to him in terms of box office.

Spielberg and Cameron were indeed amazing and their movies were mostly profitable, but no one could consistently perform at the box office except Kazir.

All his films after 1995 were all amazing. All of his movies were low to mid budget and yet all of them were profitable. In fact, all of the films produced by Grey Pictures never exceeded a production budget of $100 million. Yet they all performed well and made money.

Only Spider-Man had a budget of over $100 million and it was produced by Sony-Colombia.

It was clear that no project Kazir touched ever lost money. They all made money in one way or another.

People were suddenly thinking about the future of this production studio, would it soar higher or would it fall to the ground and crash? Only time would tell.

One thing was for sure, Kazir Grey could be recognized as the most profitable director of this era. It was obvious why so many people wanted to work with him. This was also the reason why the Big Six wanted to acquire Kazir.

Sony-Columbia and Warner Brothers were not stupid. They know that the real money maker of Grey Pictures was Kazir Grey. If they acquired the company outright, the company would lose its value. Grey Pictures was only relevant as long as Kazir was there.

Since they are serious about this acquisition, they are only asking for 40% of the company at best. They would never go beyond that. Because if Kazir felt he was being bullied, he might leave the company altogether and work with another studio. That would be awkward.

You see, Kazir has already made two movies that did very well at the box office, $1 billion each.

Sony-Columbia and Warner Brothers knew this would not be the last time. They could sense that Kazir was still at the top of his game, or maybe he was climbing even higher, and his chances of failure were slim.

How could they not be tempted? Have you ever seen someone like Kazir who could make a billion dollars with one movie? Yes, two other people have done it, Spielberg and Cameron. But Spielberg worked mostly with Paramount and Universal.

As for Cameron, he worked with 20th Century Fox and Paramount, but he only makes movies every few years. In fact, James Cameron's next movie would be in 2009, 7 years from now. His art took a long time to create, unlike Kazir who consistently made one movie a year. That was the most salacious fact about this acquisition.

Even if they could only acquire 20-30% of Grey Pictures, it would still be a profit. And from the looks of it, Kazir was not interested in money. It was just a way for him to preserve his career.

... Because Kazir was not interested in money, the negotiations became a bit difficult. Kazir wanted a stock swap instead.

That is, Kazir would receive stock in Sony-Colombia or Warner Brothers in exchange for stock in Grey Pictures.

The current net worth of Warner Brothers was $27 billion while Sony-Colombia was around $21 billion.

As for Grey Pictures, the company's net worth has ballooned, or should I say increased, after the recent success of their many movies. Sitting around $7 billion.

After all, Grey Pictures grossed over $1 billion at the box office last year, and John Wick's Chapter 2 and Fast and The Furious together grossed over $1 billion. In addition, the profit from merchandise/DVDs sold by Grey Pictures last year was over $150 million. The estimated value of the company was not wrong at all.

To acquire 40% of the company, Sony-Columbia or Warner Brothers would have to bleed $3.4 billion. That could affect their business, but it was a risk they were willing to take. After all, both companies were backed by giant corporations. Sony and Time Warner were powerful companies in their respective industries.

So far, Sony-Colombia was interested in a 35% stake for $2.1 billion. It was a huge amount, but Kazir was not interested in that kind of money. He was not the type to spend money. He could invest in some companies, but he preferred to focus on Hollywood. Besides, Kazir could wait.

Kazir had a feeling that Sony-Columbia and Warner Brothers wouldn't be the only ones competing. One or two studios might also ask for a stake in Grey Pictures.

.........

......

...

Chairman Michael Eisner gritted his teeth as he read the paper. Almost all the publishers praised Kazir Grey for his talent. Well, he was the only one to make a billion dollars at the box office in a row. Of course people would praise him.

'If I knew about it... Sigh.'

Michael sighed, understanding that it was too late for regrets. All he could do was move on. He had many chances to work with Kazir, but he did not.

His position at Walt Disney was quite rocky, and even his friend Michael Ovits resigned because of it. It seemed that everyone at Walt Disney was turning their backs on him. He was losing influence.

One of the executives that really pissed him off was Robert Iger.

'That bastard...'

Robert Iger suggested that Michael Eisner should retire because he was getting too old. Of course, Michael didn't want to retire because he loves being in power.

Right now he has two options to keep his position. The first was to acquire Grey Pictures, a very promising studio. The second was the upcoming release of John Carter. Walt Disney put so much money into this project, hoping that they could follow the performance of CCU.

 

[MichaelSuave]

Bye bye eisner, good riddance...

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 289


April came and went, and people in Hollywood began to feel the change in the atmosphere. People started seeing billboards with pictures of movies being promoted. Advertisements were everywhere, taxis had pictures of movies on them. Especially the TV networks, the big ones, were putting so much money into making sure that people knew about the summer movies.

Jane Kendall got out of her boyfriend's car and thanked him.

"Thanks, Wallace, I'm going to miss you."

"Babe, you're only going to Canada. It's not that far. We can call each other too."

"So you're saying you're not sad that I'm going, huh?" Jane narrowed her eyes and looked at her boyfriend.

"Of course not. You know I'm going to miss you, so much. So much!" He spread his arms to show how much he would miss her.

Jane pouted. After 9/11, airport security was tighter and airline travel was not easy. Jane wanted to go back to California every Sunday to spend time with Wallace, but airlines have different rules now. She might spend more time in the terminal than with Wallace.

Jane Kendall was the head of Grey Pictures' make-up team. Her position in the crew was quite good, especially when she was part of the original crew along with Renner Hector and Harold Witsend. The three were part of Kazir's crew long before the director became famous.

'When was that again? Ah, I think it was around 1989.'

She was well respected in the crew. Because she was part of the original team.

Jane and Wallace met two years ago in the premiere of Wanted. Wallace was the co-leader of Grey Fans and he was one of the guests who got tickets to the premiere. The two hit it off and decided to start a serious relationship.

Now they were 1 year and 4 months into the relationship.

The two knew that distance could affect their relationship, but they promised each other that they would remain stronger.

The two shared a light kiss before Jane entered the terminal. Grey Pictures never had their own private plane, so they used business flights instead. Maintaining a plane was very expensive and Kazir didn't find the novelty of having one... Even though he was making a lot of money.

Jane had heard that Tom Cruise flew to Canada in a private plane, but that was only natural since the actor was a true superstar.

The crew had to go to a snowy part of Canada to shoot the movie. Kazir first sent Renner Hector to check out the possible locations, and Renner already found suitable spots. He also talked to the communities and got permission to shoot.

Most of the scenes would be shot in Sudbury, Ontario. Renner already confirmed that even though summer was coming, the place was still cold and snowy white, an important aspect of their choice.

"I'll miss you."

"Me too."

Jane said goodbye to her lover, she would miss him. She went to the terminal area and found most of the crew. They greeted each other. Then Jane approached Kazir, who seemed busy as usual.

The man had always been like that since the first time they met, when Kazir was still a rookie director and had trouble doing his job, which made him busier. But now, the rookie director was nowhere to be seen.

Just a mature man who seemed to be engrossed in his reading.

"Good morning, Kazir."

"Oh, good morning, Jane. Wallace brought you here to the terminal?"

"That's right."

"Is he still here?"

"No, he has a job. So he left after he sent me here."

"Is that so? Too bad, I want him to contact some members of Grey Fans to visit our movie set to promote the movie. I think some of the members of Grey Fans are amateur movie bloggers."

Movie critics might be the right term, but movie bloggers were more focused on the Internet. Different from movie critics who mostly published their stuff in tabloids and newspapers.

"If you're talking about work, you can call him instead... Wait, so you're saying you want Wallace and the others to visit the crew?"

"Yeah, that's right? Is there anything wrong with what I said? Of course we have to set up a schedule for their visit."

"I'll call Wallace later."

Jane left the director excitedly.

It seems that Jane regained some of her energy after knowing that her boyfriend would be able to visit the filming set. Most of the time, visiting the set was off-limits to keep the content of the movies secret. Especially now that technology was improving and people could hide small cameras in their pockets.

In order to visit the set, you usually have to sign a non-disclosure agreement so that the movie doesn't leak.

In that sense, Kazir had no problem letting some fans visit the crew. This could give them positive impressions.

Kazir was feeling the pressure from the success of Spider-Man and Wanted. His last two films have grossed over $1 billion each. He wanted to work hard to make sure The Revenant got the same treatment, but Kazir knew that was impossible. He was not God, after all.

'Well, my name means God in another language, but that probably has nothing to do with my current predicament.'

... Or maybe his name was the reason why he returned to the past? Was this foreshadowing? Probably not. The author will not cook.

Kazir did not dream to much. Having another $1 billion movie at the box office would not be amazing. Instead, people might think he was a robot/alien or something.

If he remembered correctly, The Revenant exceeded $500 million at the worldwide box office, which was amazing by the way. Only a few select films could do that.

For this movie, Grey Pictures was willing to spend $100 million. Of course, Kazir knew how to spend the money, so there was probably some money left over for PR after the shoot.

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter

 

[Luizinho]

Yeah that was definitely the thing with too many bad mcu movies, but I also think a little oversaturation played a part too in the post Mcu verse post Avengers timeline decline. Resulting in superhero fatigue that could have been avoided like Kazir said 2 movies a year or something bi monthly like that for the series too
You couldn't just wait for Spider-Man 2 to start pre production Angelina , which Kazir Grey had the Kirsten crush in hand delicately for the plot of Spider-Man 2 and he can't have her leaving so soon and now he has to go back clean up Angelina bratty mess and save the star heroine of the Spider trilogy.
Sheesh, Kazir can't catch a break.
Hollywood Reigns
Continue on
Cheers!

Click to shrink...

Fans did not ask for Eternals, nor Madam Webb, nor all those shitty disney+ turds.

Fans hated woke shit (woke shit with good script would be fine, but it was all shit).

The fact Disney hated the punisher tv show and Deadpool shows that they gave the Keys of the magical kingdom to morons.

 

[Pujimaki]

Hollywood What If Chapter 290


Kazir continued to draw on his storyboard. He was not a fan of drawing, but his sketches were very recognisable.

If he did not become a director, perhaps he would work in comics or other hand-drawn related jobs such as animation. Too bad, because Walt Disney stopped their hand-drawn animation, while the other animation studios were not so good.

Anyway, Kazir was good at drawing... Just like that. After working in this position all his life, Kazir learned a lot.

"All of the crew are here."

He stopped drawing when he realised that most of the crew had arrived. Their flight numbers would be announced a few minutes later.

Kazir saw a stall selling newspapers and decided to buy one so he wouldn't be bored during the flight.

He saw something interesting and it reminded him of a certain future.

'... John Carter, huh?'

Kazir bought the newspaper with John Carter on the cover.

[John Carter! The next blockbuster! The future of cinema!]

The article was very confident in the movie.

Walt Disney had invested heavily in this project, and the film's budget was a whopping $250 million. Yes, that news came from someone who worked at Walt Disney. The budget was really huge, but this kind of thing would become the norm a few years later.

Films would become super expensive, especially the big ones that the Big Six were investing in.

Kazir read the article. It seemed that Walt Disney was very serious about this project and was promoting the film almost everywhere.

Last February, John Carter's first trailer was shown at Super Bowl XXXVI. Millions of people watched the trailer and it was well worth the money spent on advertising.

Kazir also watched the trailer and confirmed one thing... It was basically the same as his previous life. Even the cast was almost the same. Kazir had a premonition about this.

The premiere of John Carter was scheduled for the first Thursday in May, two weeks away. By that time, Kazir and the crew were already shooting The Revenant.

.........

......

...

In a dark, deep forest with little greenery and tall trees, a man walked quietly, aware of his surroundings.

The forest was almost silent, as if there were no life in it.

In his thick fur clothing, Hugh Glass sensed that something was wrong. He raised his old long rilfe as if danger were closing in.

He had unkempt hair around his face, showing how haggard he was. His thick beard was quite greasy.

Breathing slowly but deeply, Hugh Glass turned slowly to look around.

He saw two bear cubs walking. The bear cubs were just passing by, looking adorable.

He lowered his rifle and turned around, only to see a huge grizzly bear coming at him.

The bear pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. His gun flew out of his grasp. Hugh Glass grunted and struggled back.

The bear began to attack him on the ground without mercy.

"OK, cut!"

Suddenly the bear stopped moving and Tom stood up with a bit of dirt on his face. He wiped his face and looked at the bear.

"Sorry about that, Tom." The bear said. There was someone inside the bear, a real person. Kazir knew that the bear didn't look realistic, but they were going to use motion capture technology and edit it.

The technology was expensive, but Kazir was willing to spend money on it. The grizzly bear had to look realistic and scary. They need that wow factor.

"No, it's fine," Tom replied to the man in the costume. He knew this scene was going to be dirty. He didn't like dirt, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was an actor and he had to do his job.

Fortunately, the clothes he was wearing were clean and smelled good despite their dirty appearance. The costume design team should be thanked for that.

"Let's take a break." Tom said. He didn't have a problem with what was happening.

First of all, he liked his current appearance. He could feel that he was deep in the act, and for a few seconds he felt like he really was Hugh Glass.

Perhaps the atmosphere in the crew affected him in a good way.

He saw a strong camaraderie between them. They all worked together perfectly. The trust they had in Kazir Grey might be the reason.

It was a trust that had slowly built up over the years. They followed Kazir's orders without hesitation, knowing that Kazir could provide them with another masterpiece. Moreover... The bonus they received after the filming was completed and the film was successfully released at the box office motivated them to work hard.

It seemed that Grey Pictures was quite good to its crew.

"Kazir, what do you think?"

"Amazing, Tom. Your immersion in the role is getting better and better and your performance is perfect. I have nothing bad to say."

Kazir was serious. As expected, Tom Cruise was a great and dedicated actor. It was just that he had chosen to continue with almost the same roles throughout his career because he was afraid of losing his status.

Most of Tom's filmography was about him being handsome and cool... That was basically it.

But now the person in front of Kazir looked exhausted but alert, like a real warrior.

"This is just the first take and I feel like I can do better if we have another take." Tom replied.

"Take 2?"

"Take 2." Tom nodded.

After that, filming resumed and The Revenant continued.

.........

......

...

Meanwhile, Hollywood, just over a thousand miles away from Canada, had begun its usual summer release schedule.

On May 2, 2002, more than five films were released simultaneously. But only one film was promising.

Walt Disney had already announced that they would release John Carter in the first week of May, and the other studios decided to give them that date.

There was no reason to fight Walt Disney if they could find another week to release their films.

The result of John Carter's first weekend was quite... Meh.

The film was not bad, but it was not that good. It didn't have much of an audience appeal, despite the heavy promotion that Walt Disney did.

 

[a guy1013]

yeah, people are right this fic is simply repeating the past, still we are over 150 chapters behind, so we wont know the true impact from our comments until much much later