HOLLYWOOD WHAT IF

[FallenMetal]

Thank you, and that is quite the lucky break. I am curious to see if Kazir will be able to talk to Heath Ledger and assist him. Great job as always, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[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.

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[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.

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[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?]

 

[Z3r0Sama]

Weinstein finally snapped I see

 

[Seyum]

Weinstein finally snapped I see

Click to shrink...

If that comes true it would be awesome if he could take down Weinstein and people like Epstein and Didi.
I just hope its not other time travlers.

 

[Luizinho]

If you are going to sell IPs, sell it to Fox. The more money they make, more money for Grey.