HWI 81

Hollywood What If Chapter 81

Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Star-Lord, Black Panther, Thor... Almost everyone that was part of the MCU was acquired by Grey Pictures. 

Marvel was facing their greatest down in history and Kazir used this moment to acquire the movie copyrights of these superheroes.

Marvel still held the comics copyright and other copyrights such as toys and many merchandises. The contract stated that Grey Pictures had the authority over the movie copyrights for twenty years. 

It should be fifty years but Marvel asked for an outrageous amount. 

In the end, Grey Pictures bought the copyrights for 27 million dollars. 

'These characters are not that famous and Marvel didn't care about these superheroes at all. Their famous superheroes are actually Spiderman, Iron Man, and Hulk.'

Kazir sighed. He sighed in relief after acquiring the characters. Now that the contract was clear and he paid the money, he didn't have to worry that Marvel would make trouble. He just had to show the contract. 

'Of course, I'm still going to contact them. They know these superheroes more than me.'

He didn't have a problem inviting Stan Lee. Although the MCU had to wait for a decade. 

The current graphic technology was not mature enough to create a superhero movie. 

It was December 13, 1996. The Hangover was officially dropped from the cinemas. The movie had a box office of $469.3 million. 

Because of this result, many film companies tried to contact Grey Pictures about Kazir's next project. Unfortunately, each one of them was rejected. 

Grey Pictures announced that Taken would be solely invested by the company. 

Regarding Ted, Kazir sold the script to Warner Bros for $2 million. Buying a script for 2 million dollars was a dumb move. Yet Warner Bros understood Kazir Grey's capability in terms of writing a comedy. He already proved himself twice. 

'They invited me to be the executive producer. Not a problem.' 

This position was in-name-only. Warner Bros needed Kazir's opinion on making the movie funny. He just had to show up once in a while in the filming. Thankfully, Warner Bros would start the filming of Ted at the end of the next year, around October 1997. 

Kazir believe that he was free at that time. 

"Salvatore, what is Liam Neeson's answer?"

"Liam didn't have any project next year... He agreed, but he didn't like the contract."

"I understand..."

Since Taken was a trilogy, Liam Neeson had to sign a trilogy. Furthermore, Liam Neeson had to sign cameos in the other films. This was all for the sake of solidifying the Continental Cinematic. Liam Neeson had to show his face in other movies.

"Is he not satisfied with the salary?" Kazir frowned. 

"He is satisfied with the $3 million. I believe this is the biggest salary he received as of now. However, he didn't like the clause for the next two movies."

"..."

With each sequel, Liam Neeson's salary would increase by 35%. This means that in Taken 2, Liam Neeson's salary would be $4.05 million. Then his next salary would be $5,46 million in Taken 3.

"His agent is asking for a more percentage increase. They are fighting for a 60% salary increase per film."

"Make it 50%... But they have to sign a few cameo contracts."

"Okay. I'll contact Rafael."

The negotiations with Liam Neeson were going well. At least Liam's agent was much easier to convince than the agent from WMA. 

In fact, after the trouble with The Hangover, Kazir decided that he would not hire actors from WMA. He didn't want that agency to interfere with his movie. 

"By the way, I heard that Enzo's brother is here. I want to see him."

Enzo's older brother was a stunt director in Hong Kong. He participated in many films. He was a martial artist and he knew many attack patterns. Kazir needed a professional stunt manager to help him make the action sequences. 

.........

......

...

Tae-Won Park. He is Hae-Won Park's(Enzo Park) brother. He was currently 32 years old. He was working as a stunt director for seven years. 

Just like Enzo, Tae-Won Park dreamed of going to Hollywood. However, he felt like his profession was not respected in Hollywood. 

'The action stunts in Hollywood are different from Hong Kong.' 

The action sequences of action movies in the 80s and early 90s were too simple and monotonous. They even have to repeat the punches so many times just to get a point. 

The movie that influence Kung-Fu in Hollywood was Matrix. Since then, many movies hired stunt directors from Hong Kong. 

Kazir Grey wanted to start the trend of hand-to-hand combat with great choreography. So he needed someone like Tae-Won Park. 

The Korean guy nervously opened the door. He heard that the director was calling him. He was actually waiting since earlier but Salvatore and Kazir were currently talking. 

"Director..." His pronunciation was a bit awkward. Perhaps influenced by the Cantonese language of Hong Kong. 

Still, Kazir Grey could understand his English enough. 

"So you are Tae-Won Park."

"Director, thank you for taking care of my brother."

"It's nothing. You are a professional stunt director from Hong Kong. I wonder, do you know mixed martial arts?"

"I know, but we never usually use this kind of action choreography in our movies. The movies that we produce are all Kung-Fu."

"It's fine. We have enough time to think about it. First, I want to hear your thoughts on this."

Salvatore passed the remote control to Kazir... He was slowly becoming an assistant. 

'I have to hire an assistant, huh.' 

Kazir was getting embarrassed because Salvatore was his assistant for the past two years. 

"Anyway, check this action choreography and tell me your honest opinion."

The footage started. On the screen, Kazir Grey and Enzo Park started their battle. In this situation, Enzo Park was taking the role of retired agent Bryan Mills while Kazir was simply a mob. 

Enzo started doing straight-to-the-point and deadly hits on Kazir. 

"... It's different from what I expected." Tae-Won Park answered. 

The action sequences were precise and deadly. Almost like a veteran soldier who had the sole purpose of killing.