HWI 499

Hollywood What If Chapter 499

Universal Pictures didn't expect this outcome. Even the other bug studios didn't expect this outcome... They had an inkling about the marketing strategy that Grey Pictures and Universal Pictures did, but they didn't know it would be 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 searched for the dirty secrets regarding mental asylums in their countries, which led to TV networks and newspapers talking about them.

Topics such as mental health, mental hospitals, and cruel experiments on patients became the most searched topics on the internet, and people also talked about it 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 happened in the abandoned hospital.

The curious people who visited the abandoned hospital believed the souls of the patients were still caged in the place. The people offered some food and such to appease them. There was no clear explanation, they just believed that the souls lingered in the mental hospital.

The people were also affected by the movie so they were strongly about the supernatural. It didn't help that Grey Pictures spread the pictures of the patients and the cast of the movie resembled the patients.

So yeah, Shadows Beneath was having a blast. The Big Six were flabbergasted, even the 2nd-tier studios were amazed by what happened... The fact that they had a chance to acquire Shadows Beneath made it a painful pill to swallow.

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

North America had a box office of $386 while the international box office grossed $197 million. The response from other countries was quiet because Shadows Beneath easily made $197 million in just two weeks.

The numbers were not lying. This year, the topic of mental hospitals as horror hotspots became the thing. Young people started visiting abandoned mental hospitals just for the thrill. They were influenced by the movie Shadows Beneath and its successful marketing strategy.

Universal Pictures was so happy and even Ronald Meyer received congratulations from the main company of General Electric. Even Comcast was thinking of keeping Ronald in his position as the CEO of Universal Pictures.

Overall, the situation for Universal Pictures was doing well... Of course, they have to pay a 5% box office share to Kazir Grey but who cares? Based on the statistics, Shadows Beneath would probably gross more than $750 to $800 million. After all, a horror movie couldn't surpass $1 billion... Unless Kazir made the impossible possible. If there was a director who could do that, that was probably Kazir Grey.

Speaking of $1 billion, Christopher Nolan, the director of Taken 3, signed a contract with Warner Brothers. There was a rumour that Christopher Nolan acquired the copyrights to an animated movie titled Paprika but no one could confirm the fact... Perhaps the director just copied the concept of Paprika without acquiring its copyrights.

Universal Pictures actually tried to hire the rising director, but they failed.

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

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

Pause. That statement could have another meaning.

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

"Huh? Do I look like I'm talking about another topic? Of course I'm talking about their combos." Christian Bale replied, not knowing what Kazir was talking about.

Kazir and Christian were playing Tekken. Christian specifically said that he wanted his trailer to have a PlayStation.

Christian Bale was the lead role of the project and people obviously respected him.

Christian invited Kazir to talk about their project but they started playing Tekken instead. They forgot about the job once they held the controllers.

After half an hour of spamming a single button, Kazir won most of the battles.

Christian was actually angry but he held it deep inside because he couldn't lash out at the director. He suddenly regretted inviting the director.

When they were done, Christian went to the topic.

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

When Kazir heard what Christian said, he suddenly smiled and knew where the conversation would go.

This was not the first time this thing happened. Even the producer, Enrico Pusi, also asked the same question.

The highlights of the movie were mostly about Joker. Kazir and almost every Dark Knight Trilogy fan agreed on that.

Joker was the biggest reason why The Dark Knight was a success... Erm, Heath Ledger's death was also the reason why the movie was a success.

Kazir wanted to keep the same energy so the script obviously highlighted Joker's scenes.

Since Christian was the star and protagonist of this movie, of course, he was uncomfortable that another actor was trying to take his spot.

"Don't worry, I will make sure this movie will be successful."

Kazir tapped Christian's shoulder before leaving his trailer... He didn't want to talk about the script because he was tired of getting the same question. Kazir was the highest authority in the set and not even Warner Brothers could stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

Christian was speechless as he saw the director walking away.

"I wanted to talk about my costume. It's so suffocating to keep wearing the costume the whole time. It's so uncomfortable and hot, my sweat can't even dry out while wearing the costume."

Christian sighed. He probably had to talk to Kazir the next.

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[Sorry guys, only one chapter today. Let's see if I can post two chapters tomorrow... I felt a sense of deja vu while typing this.]