HWI 124

Hollywood What If Chapter 124

The management of Warner Bros started their quarterly meeting. The left side sat down the influential shareholders while the right side was the directors and important positions in the company. 

At the end of the table was Terry Semel who was listening to the discussion. 

"Our projects for the next year already passed the audit. We already have thorough details for them except for two movies..."

The management was listening to the speaker, which was Producer Enrico Pusi. He became the head of production management, responsible for making movies. 

"And what are the two movies we are talking about?" 

Some of the management already have an idea but the shareholders were clueless about it so Enrico Pusi had to explain it. 

"It's The Hangover 2 and TED. These two projects are promising but we are facing some problems..."

Enrico Pusi glanced at Terry Semel. The CEO nodded and gave him the signal to speak. 

"Go on."

"... We can't find a director. The cast of The Hangover already expressed their intentions of joining the sequel. However, Director Kazir Grey, said that he didn't want to direct the sequel and let the management choose the next director. As for TED, no one is confident that they can pull off the movie. It needs computer graphics and it might cost a big amount of money."

Enrico Pusi weakly sighed. This problem was troubling him since last year. 

In fact, he contacted Kazir Grey and Salvatore Barlowe so many times. In the end, the last hurdle was Kazir Grey.

The director was done with directing comedy movies. He wanted to focus on his own projects which were the movies related to his so-called 'Cinematic Universe'.

It would be a lie to say that Enrico was not disappointed. He enticed Kazir Grey with many proposals, even going as far as a 20+20 contract but Kazir was firm like a cemented rock. Enrico could not budge him. 

"..."

The management became quiet when they heard the problem with The Hangover 2. 

Honestly, they were not confident about TED because the budget for this movie might exceed $50 million. They might postpone it to the next year if they can't find a director. 

But The Hangover 2 was a different thing. This movie was their best movie last year(1996). They have to make sure that the movie would not flop. 

Usually, sequels would have a better performance than the first movie. But some sequels failed at the box office. 

The sequel of The Mask(1994) which was named The Son Of The Mask(2004) was a commercial failure. Well, Jim Carrey was not in the cast so that might have been the reason why the sequel flopped. 

Predator(1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was a box office hit but its sequel Predator 2(1990) didn't have the same treatment. Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger was not in the cast so that might have been the reason why the sequel flopped.

The management of Warner Bros understood how this industry works. 

Kazir Grey was a talented director and he was the brain of the project. His achievements and capabilities bring them confidence, even the crew members like him. 

And now that he was not part of the project might cause them irreparable damage. Warner Bros was not ready for that. 

"What about Hugo Lameire? He is the one who takes over Napoleon Dynamite II and the movie is a success. Why don't you contact him?"

One of the directors said his opinion and most of them agreed. Napoleon Dynamite was still raking money. The movie got over $200 million worldwide even though its budget was only $15 million.

"... I actually did that and Director Hugo Lameire agreed. Unfortunately, he has signed a three-movie contract with 20th Century Fox and they are already preparing the Napoleon Dynamite III."

Kazir Grey and 20th Century Fox decided that Napoleon Dynamite would have a trilogy. Any more than that would be too much and bad. 

"I see..."

They were all sad about that fact. 20th Century Fox was trying its best to make sure that Warner Bros would not get Hugo Lameire. 

They were all rivals and they could were fighting each other every year. Even though they have a tacit understanding, they would make sure that no one is above them. Simple as that. 

Even Terry Semel could not help but sigh. He prayed that Taken would flop so that they could pull him to their side. Unfortunately for them, Taken had the opposite results. 

In the continent of North America alone, the movie already surpassed $200 million. Paramount only signed a 25% deal but they were already winning. A profit is a profit no matter how big or small it is. 

"Let's look for a replacement... Contact Kazir too, maybe he knows someone who can take the director's position. As for TED, we still haven't started the project so we can postpone it. We still start TED once we have a clear plan."

"Yes Sir!"

Terry Semel said his opinion and the meeting ended a few minutes later. In the end, their real problem was The Hangover 2. This was an important project and they have to take it seriously. 

Terry Semel didn't feel good now that Kazir Grey left the project. In his opinion, Kazir Grey was the best option. 

'If I agreed with his decision of investing 30% of the budget for Taken, this situation might not happen.'

At least there was a chance that Kazir would listen to their opinion on making him the director of The Hangover 2. 

'What if...'

They could not bring back the past so they have to be responsible for their present situation. 

'Now that I remember, Kazir is going to start this movie called John Wick. Maybe I can convince him to sign an international distribution with Warner Bros.'

As of now, Paramount was responsible for the local distribution of Grey Pictures' three movies but the international distribution was still a question.