HWI 233

Hollywood What If Chapter 233

The formula was the same, almost the same. Just like the last time, the gang went to Miami to have fun on the beach. Then, the climax of the movie was Napoleon Dynamite dancing. 

But then again, why bother fixing something that was not broken? The two prequels grossed quite well at the box office using the same formula anyway. 

While Gladiator grossed $73 million in its second week, Napoleon Dynamite III got $56 million. These two movies were the big shots for the time being and acquired most of the market. 

May was the first month of the summer and students just ended school this month. 

In this month, few movies dominated the box office. Gladiator, Napoleon Dynamite III, Dinosaur, and Mission: Impossible 2. 

There was a rumor that Paramount and Tom Cruise himself personally invited Kazir Grey to be the director of the sequel. However, even though Kazir found the idea entertaining, he knew that it was impossible to shuffle his attention to two projects in a year. 

Instead, Paramount decided to hire John Woo as the director of Mission: Impossible 2. John Woo was a Hong Kong filmmaker famous in the action genre. He was the director of Broken Arrow. He was the director of Face/Off as well, starring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta. 

Perhaps John Woo was influenced by his last movie so Mission: Impossible 2 had the same style as Face/Off. 

Still, the influence of Tom Cruise and the fame of the Mission: Impossible franchise produced more than $500 million at the box office. 

However, Paramount decided to let the franchise rest for a few years before making a sequel. They felt like the noble of Mission: Impossible would disappear if they would make movies every two to three years, just like the 007 franchise. 

The next sequel, Mission: Impossible 3 would be released seven years later, in 2006. 

Based on the box office, the movies released in May would be ranked in 

1. Mission: Impossible 2 with $549 million at the worldwide box office. 

2. Gladiator with $451 million at the worldwide box office. 

3. Napoleon Dynamite III with $356 million worldwide box office. 

For these three, grossing more than $300 million was already a victory. In the first place, this kind of achievement was not that easy. 

As expected, comedy movies were good to watch but more people prefer action movies. The novelty of watching action movies will never disappear no matter how many years pass. Most of the highest-grossing movies of all time were action/adventure movies. Only an abomination like Titanic could stand equal against them. 

Everything was within the expectations of 20th Century Fox and they were not bitter at all. 

The production cost of Napoleon Dynamite III was $50 million and the promotion budget was $24 million. Even if 40% of the box office would be acquired by the Cinema Alliance, Fox Searchlight Pictures would still earn a tremendous amount of money. No reason to be sad at all. 

There was a trend that whenever one of Kazir's scripts was turned into a movie and became a success at the box office, many film companies would regain their interest in buying his scripts. 

The price of his script was now over $5 million. Some companies such as Disney and Universal offered him $10 million just to acquire one of his scripts. 

Kazir had cooperated with four of the Big Six. 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, and Sony-Columbia. 

Only Universal and Disney were unfortunate to never have a slice of the cake. After all, Universal and Disney were the ones responsible for spreading the rumors that Kazir was a wife-beater. Even though their relationships alleviated and Kazir had conversations with their management, the two companies never had the chance to successfully buy his script.

The timing and situation were never right for them. Now they realized that it was a huge mistake to trample on Kazir when he was still new in the industry. They didn't expect that he would actually reach the height where he could use his scripts as negotiation chips. 

Making films was like gambling, nobody knew if the movie would be a success. 

But film companies loved profits and they didn't want to make movies that would only bring them loss. Meaning, they hate gambling and experimenting. 

So they prefer to buy Kazir's scripts instead. After so many years, every one of his scripts proved that they could make a huge amount of money. 

So why bother making a movie that has a chance of flopping? 

Instead of doing that, buy Kazir's scripts instead and turn them into movies.

Yes, this kind of statement was circulating all over the industry. 

That Kazir's scripts were a sure way of making money. Looking at the statistics, it was not a lie at all. 

Film companies would never hesitate to buy his script at the amount of $10 million. Because the profit it could bring them was far bigger. 

.........

......

...

"I hope there will be no problem this time."

Harold sighed. He was close with Kazir and his friend told him that his mother might be into something. 

Harold never met Kazir's mother but he knew that she was responsible for half of Kazir's depression. She was the first woman to break his heart to pieces. 

The producer didn't know the exact story but he knew that Kazir's mother divorced his father and their lives were never the same after that. 

He also heard from Kazir that his mother was cunning... Harold felt like Kazir inherited that trait from his mother. 

Even though Kazir was a good guy, he had his cunning side too. If Kazir was not lying, then the trouble that his mother might bring would be big. 

"Or perhaps nothing at all. There's no in between. Either she will be a huge problem or not."

Everyone in Grey Pictures understands the importance of Wanted. If this movie failed, then all of their plans would turn to dust. 

"He said that his mother has a daughter and she's trying to be an actress, maybe we can do something about that." 

Being a producer, it was his responsibility to make sure that the movie would be a success. He already had a family, a wife, and a son to take care of. He had to build a great future for them, and Wanted was the first step in doing that.

[Author's Note: So yeah, the release of Wanted might be in two or three chapters later. I hope you can be patient enough. I'm going to cook.]