HWI 364

Hollywood What If Chapter 364

"Are you excited for Wanted 2?"

"... Hell yeah."

Alexa Nguyen weakly replied while looking at the movie trailer currently airing on the television.

The trailer for Wanted 2 seemed extravagant and impactful. It said that Kazir taught Fremont Smith how to make a compelling trailer by showing him his formula.

There was something about Director Grey's trailers that compelled the audience to watch the movie. Since then, Art Professors and other directors studied his trailers. They wanted to know how to hype the people.

Being one of the members of Grey Fans and lucky people who met the director in person, Alexa was excited to watch the movie.

She was an art student who had the intention of becoming an actress, she was quite knowledgeable about films and tv shows.

In her opinion, Wanted was the movie that paved the success of the Continental Cinematic Universe.

Sure, both Taken and John Wick were released before Wanted but Wanted was the most significant of the three franchises.

It showed the relevance of each movie, making people more interested in the characters. Many people bought or rented DVDs just to catch up with the plot. Especially teenagers, they wanted to keep up with the trends.

Alexa dreamed of working with the famous director. She was so happy when she realized that she was one of the lucky fans who had a chance to meet Kazir in person at the premiere of The Equalizer.

She stayed up all night in the theater, waiting for the premiere of The Equalizer to end.

When she met the director, she realized that the guy was down-to-earth and humble... He was also freaking handsome, Alexa admitted that she had a crush on him.

Suddenly, she recalled that Kazir and Mara were supposedly siblings. Out of curiosity, Alexa said to Kazir that she was Mara's classmate.

"Director, I'm your sister's classmate. I also studied at the California Institute Of Arts."

"Sister?"

Kazir slightly frowned at first. Then, he seemed to recall something. Instead of smiling, his mood turned sour.

He looked at Alexa and said.

"I'm sorry but I don't have a sister."

"Huh?"

Alexa was stunned and realized that Kazir was not comfortable talking about it.

Thankfully, the director didn't mind it and continued the meet and greet. He even treats them to a fancy dinner.

The fans were happy with the event, they received personal memorabilia, autographs, and rare merchandise from Grey Pictures.

In fact, Alexa was lucky to receive a copy of Kazir's dancing.

Yes, Kazir had a clip of dancing Napoleon Dynamite's dance steps and he nailed it. It was a rare footage!

Alexa couldn't help but watch the video every week. It became her way of relaxation.

She was now excited, she wanted the days to go quickly so that the last week of October would arrive. She wanted to watch Wanted 2 so eagerly. She even prepared a tuxedo just for the premiere.

Black tuxedo became the uniform of Grey Fans, derived from the outfit that John Wick wore.

.........

......

...

There were no big movies released in September but October had a bit of competition going on.

Many studios adapted the style of releasing movies that they were not confident in October. Movies that they were not sure could make money, but they already invested a huge amount of money so they couldn't hide them on the shelves and rot.

On the first week of October, School Of Rock by Paramount was released. Making $19 million on its first weekend.

In the second week, Mystic River produced by Warner Bros was released. Making $13 million on its first weekend.

In the same week, Kill Bill: Volume 1 was released. Miramax was never confident in facing the Big Six in summer so they usually release their heavy hitters from October to December. Depending on how the schedule works on the company.

Kill Bill was a famous movie, directed by also a famous director in his niche, Quentin Tarantino. Obviously, the movie would show at least one feet scene...

Quentin Tarantino's filmography slowly gained popularity because his movies had something unique about it.

However, it could never denied that his movies would have a hard time facing the mainstream genres and mainstream audiences. A lot of people appreciated his works but his movies hardly make money at the box office. In fact, in his career, the highest-grossing movie was Django Unchained, grossing $426 million. As of now, this movie has still not been created.

Quentin currently had one successful movie at the box and it was Pulp Fiction(1994). The audience was not sure if this so-called Kill Bill would make money at all.

But surprisingly, Kill Bill: Volume 1 actually made money. $22 million on its first weekend.

Miramax saw the potential and promoted the movie, of course, with the help of Walt Disney. The relationship between the two companies was getting better because of Harvey Weinstein and Robert Iger.

In the third week, Texas Chainsaw Massacre from New Line Cinema. This franchise had so many movies and New Line Cinema did right cultivating the franchise. The budget for each movie was small but the profit was sometimes ten times the budget.

Furthermore, the profit from the DVD market was huge because horror movies have always been part of Cinema culture. God knows how many people love watching horror movies.

The fourth week and a lot of people were excited, to be precise, the people who were fans of CCU were excited to watch Wanted 2.

The movie was set to be released on October 24. But it was not that simple, Wanted had two opponents that could prevent its domination.

Scary Movie 3 was a famous parody franchise, created by Miramax.

Bear Brother had a serious theme despite being a cartoon meant for kids. And yes, this movie was made by Walt Disney.

It was ironic that Wanted 2 had to face Miramax and Walt Disney, two companies that Grey Pictures never liked.

Everyone in Hollywood was curious about the outcome of this competition.

++++

[I'm trying to condition myself and return to the habit of doing productive things, such as writing. There might be two chapters tomorrow, but I'm not confident about that. I'm not dead. Anyway, I have to calculate how much I owe you guys. I do apologize for my absence for quite a while. Stuff happens, still, thank you guys for all of your support. I know I disappointed you. Promise is not enough, I should show my sincerity by writing more. Again, thank you for all of your support and I also apologize for being a disappointment. My decision to change Kazir's girlfriend is already firmed, seems like Scarlett will have her limelight, huh.]