HWI 262

Hollywood What If Chapter 262

June was tough for everyone, not only the Sony-Columbia but even the Big Six. Heck, even Grey Pictures was going to have trouble this month. 

Why? Because so many movies would be released this month. Even if they didn't want to, these movies would have to fight to make money. The promotion this month was so fierce that every TV channel promoted movies. 

The first weekend of June was dominated by Spider-Man. This was the only schedule that Sony-Columbia found for the movie. Because every week was packed with big movies. 

In fact, next week, starting on June 8, a new batch of movies will be released. This time, Walt Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros would release their movies on the same night. 

Walt Disney would release their animation titled Atlantis: The Lost Empire. A very underrated hand-drawn animation movie. 

DreamWorks released Evolution, a comedy movie. 

While Warner Bros released Swordfish, an action movie. 

These movies performed well within the week. Unfortunately for them, it was hard to face a superhero movie that had great special effects. There was something about a superhero that people in the era loved so much. 

To make it better, the word of mouth of Spider-Man was purely positive. Almost none said something bad about it. Kids, teenagers, and even adults praised the movie. This caused a massive increase in ticket sales. 

Furthermore, the added reputation that the director of this movie was the director of Wanted made it better. Wanted was so huge last year, $1 billion at the box office. Of course it would receive so much attention. Because of this, Spider-Man joined the fun. 

After 10 days of the premier, Spider-Man garnered $223.04 million! Freaking hell, how can a movie produce that amount in just ten days. 

Was the movie really that good? Or Director Kazir Grey was just so talented that he could make any movie shine?

The path of Spider-Man was smooth sailing. Tobey Maguire and the other cast of Spider-Man easily became superstars because of the attention that Spider-Man got. 

Even Willem Dafoe who gambled his career for a villain role was having a good day. Now studios realized that the guy could take many roles, ranging from a good assassin to a villain of a superhero movie. 

Unfortunately, while Spider-Man was at its peak, Kazir Grey could not help but be sad about some stuff. 

June 15, Paramount Pictures joined the battle with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie... A very tough time for the couple.

In fact, Kazir and Angelina had a small argument at that. 

"This is the second time that this happened. Last time it was Gone In 60 Seconds. And now, it's Lara Croft."

Angelina grumbled while snuggling with her man. She hated that Paramount chose a schedule in June. They should have changed its release instead, far from Spider-Man. Angelina was confident that Kazir's movie would dominate the month. 

"We can't help it. We are just a worker and we can't influence the management. Besides, Paramount can't find the right week to release the movie. In July, Legally Blonde, Jurassic Park 3, Planet Of The Apes, and Cats and Dogs are going to be released."

"So are you saying that I should stomach it instead?"

"Of course not, you can cry on my shoulder instead."

He teased the woman by touching her nose. 

"Tch, I can't hate you because you are so hot."

The woman touched the guy's abs and playfully pinched them. Well, the first week of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was quite good. It grossed $47.73 million on its first weekend. 

But comparing it to Spider-Man was quite brutal. The superhero movie grossed $289.88 million. 

Numbers. Looking at these numbers was numbing but the amount it represents was outrageous. You could buy 170 McLaren Elva with that amount! 

To be fair, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was only released for three days while Spider-Man was released for 18 days. However, the first three days of Spider-Man grossed $114.84 million so... Yeah, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was nothing compared to the glory of our friendly neighborhood Spiderman. 

"Now that I think about it, are you going to be okay? Next week, Fast and The Furious will be released. Spider-Man and Fast and The Furious might clash."

Sony-Columbia was responsible for the distribution of Fast and The Furious and they decided to release the movie on June 22, the exact day when 20th Century Fox would release Dr. Dolittle 2.

"Just like what I said earlier, I can't help it. It's already good that Sony-Columbia chose the summer schedule to release two of our movies."

Actually, Kazir Grey fought for this outcome. He didn't want to gamble his two movies so it was better to release them before September. 

Fast and The Furious in June while John Wick Chapter 2 in August. That was the schedule that Kazir fought to get. 

Thankfully, Sony-Columbia didn't want to sour their relationship so they agreed. Besides, Sony-Columbia had nothing big to release this year except Spider-Man. 

Kazir hoped the outcome of his hard work would pay off. He remembered back in his past life, after the success of Avengers, most of Marvel movies gained good profit. 

If his calculation was right, Fast and The Furious and John Wick Chapter 2 would have the same treatment. He really hoped so...  That would be another method to increase their net worth. The more good movies, the more chips they could use. 

Just like that, June 22 arrived and Kazir had to attend the premiere. Even though he was not active in this project because he was working on Spider-Man, he made sure to participate in post-production. He had to watch the footage so that he knew what was happening. 

Not gonna lie, the effect of CCU on Fast and The Furious was so serious. 

+++++

[I skipped the summary for Spider-Man since all of us here already watched it. Yes, I believe all of us watched Spider-Man(2002). That movie was the biggest superhero of the early 2000s and I strongly believe that all of us watched the movie at least once.]