HWI 105

Hollywood What If Chapter 105

When Kazir heard that 20th Century Fox was interested in making a sequel to Napoleon Dynamite, he already expected that they would ask him to be the director or the scriptwriter. 

Since Kazir didn't have any idea about the outcome of the movie, he decided to take responsibility for the script instead. He was evading possible failure and it was not a bad thing to do. 

For a person like him, his knowledge about the future was his strongest talent. Not his calm mind nor his strong memory regarding films. 

So Kazir decided to gamble with the script this time... He had taken inspiration from The Hangover. 

In the plot he created, Napoleon and Pedro went to Las Vegas to visit Deb. They were already older and graduated high school.

To be honest, Kazir had no idea what he was doing... The truth was showing, that Kazir didn't have talent in scriptwriting. That was the reason why he hired a bunch of writers to fill holes in the plot. He made sure that the writers had experience in writing comedies just to be sure. 

Because of that, the script of Napoleon Dynamite was created. Las Vegas had its bad side but it had a good side too. Unlike The Hangover where the movie emphasized drugs, crime, and prostitution(sort of), the script of Napoleon Dynamite was mild. 

Every few minutes, there were comedy skits and funny lines to make the movie entertaining. 

Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro Sanchez entered a casino and they won a lot of money by betting on horse races. Because of that, the administrator noticed them and tried to cancel their money. 

Napoleon and Pedro didn't have a choice but to run to escape from them. 

Las Vegas was huge and Napoleon found a place to hide. He was caught in a live tv show where he had to perform dance steps... And he started doing those goofy dances again. 

He didn't know that his Uncle and brother were actually an audience of the show and they went to the stage to stop Napoleon. It was hilarious, at least that was what Kazir thought. 

Since it was live, Napoleon became famous in just a day and the casino decided to let them leave with their money. 

'That's right. That's the whole plot of the movie.'

20th Century Fox was actually skeptical about the script. Especially Tom Rothman he felt like there was another way to make it better. Tom Rothman secretly hired writers to make another version of Napoleon Dynamite II just to be sure. 

However, their distrust immediately disappeared when The Hangover was released. 

Napoleon Dynamite II and The Hangover had some similarities, they were both set in Las Vegas. 

20th Century Fox decided to go with this script. They trust Kazir's creativity.

"... I didn't expect that this will be the result."

Kazir looked around and he found that most of the audience had a great reaction towards the sequel of Napoleon Dynamite. All of them were smiling, satisfied with what they watched. They even laughed. 

"... What?"

He asked himself. In his past life, Kazir always writes noir and horror films. The seriousness and depressing tone of noir films. The frightening shock and eat deafening scream of horror movies. All of his movies were either noir or horror films. He never stepped into comedy and action. 

When he wrote Napoleon Dynamite, Kazir understood that it was his real creation. He just plagiarized it. He was a thief, a bastard. 

Yet this time was different. The idea was all from him. Sure, it was inspired by The Hangover but it was still something different. 

Kazir felt like he achieved something big. 

"Kazir, are you okay?"

Suddenly, Reese asked him worriedly and touched his arm. 

"Huh?" 

"You're crying."

Kazir touched his face and realized that he was actually crying. In the middle of the long applause that the audience gave, Kazir was shedding tears. 

.........

......

...

June 5, 1997. It was Thursday night. To be exact, it was close to midnight.

The summer schedule was always packed with heavy movies and the month of June was not that simple. 

The heavy that was released today was Con Air by Walt Disney and Napoleon Dynamite by 20th Century Fox. 

The two movies were released at the same time and it was obvious that the collision was going to happen. 

"Kazir, I didn't expect that you will stay. I thought your job is already over after passing the baton to Hugo Lameire."

Kazir could not sleep. Not when this movie was connected to him. 

"Tom, don't be like that. Napoleon Dynamite is like a child of mine. I want to see it successful."

Kazir glanced at the corner. He found Hugo Lameire sipping expresso vigorously. His anger was long gone and only nervousness was there. Right now, Hugo Lameire was hoping that the movie would be a hit. Or else all of the promises that Warner Bros told him would vanish. Everything relies on the result of Napoleon Dynamite II. So he was nervous instead of mad. 

"Sir, the result is here."

"Give it to me."

Tom Rothman received the statistics. 

"$3.8 million. Not bad."

This was already within their expectations and Tom Rothman didn't have a problem with the result. After all, there was another heavy movie that was released today. 

"How about Con Air?"

Kazir asked. 

"It said here that Con Air raked $4.3 million."

Con Air had Nicholas Cage and his box office appeal was very strong at this time. Kazir already expected this situation. 

However, both Kazir Grey nor Tom Rothman didn't expect that the liveliness of Napoleon Dynamite was strong. 

June 5, 1997. Friday. Napoleon Dynamite got $11.32 million while Con Air got $7.21 million. 

June 6. Saturday. Napoleon Dynamite grossed another $13.50 million while Con Air was $9.62 million. 

June 7. Sunday. Napoleon gained another $8.78 million. Combined, Napoleon Dynamite grossed $33.61 million.

As for Con Air, it got $8.08 million. For three days, Con Air got $24.91 million.

-- Pah!

"What is going on here!?"

Out of anger, Michael Eisner slammed the newspaper against the table. He was mad. 

Why? 

Because the investment of Con Air was large yet it was defeated by a small-budget comedy movie! 

The production budget of Con Air was $80 million alone! On top of that, they invest $15 million in advertising! 

"S- Sir..."

The secretary flinched when she saw the old man fuming with rage. 

"... Contact Kazir Grey, and ask them if Grey Pictures is interested in cooperating with Walt Disney."

He took a deep breath and decided to calm down. In his opinion, Kazir Grey was the one responsible for the movie's success. Of course, he wanted to squeeze the man's creativity before it became dry. Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox accomplished it, so why not Disney?

"Y- Yes." The secretary stuttered. 

This was just the first week but Michael Eisner already knew that the rampage of Napoleon Dynamite II was just the beginning.