HWI 37

Hollywood What If Chapter 37

[Note: If you haven't watched Napoleon Dynamite, you can skip this. Well, the plot of Napoleon Dynamite is simple and there's no plot twist and such. It's a pure popcorn comedy so...]

Kazir and Reese found seats and sat down. They were holding their popcorn with enthusiasm. They were excited to watch their movie. They were here to have fun.

"Dude, I swear this movie is funny."

Kazir heard a murmur behind them.

"Then why I haven't heard of it?"

"Dude, I promise to you. You will laugh watching this movie. It's awkward yet quirky, I don't know how to explain it. Besides, we already watched Braveheart twice. The ending was not satisfying at all, he just screamed 'Freedom' for five minutes!"

"That's an overstatement and Braveheart is based on a true story."

"Alright, alright. Let's just watch this movie, okay?"

Billy and Wallace were college students. They were movie fans and they love watching movies every week. They were from well-off families so buying tickets was not a problem for them.

Yesterday, Billy was curious when he found out that another movie was released in the cinema. He didn't have any idea about the movie but he decided to watch it.

When the ending credits arrived, Billy was smiling ear to ear. The movie made him laugh, and that was enough for him to invite his friend to watch it with him.

[The film opens with Napoleon, an introverted and socially awkward teenager, riding a school bus on his way to school.]

"Is he the protagonist? He looks dorky as fuck."

"Shh, just watch okay."

[A few seconds later, the audience started laughing at Napoleon and Kip. Their combination was funny.]

[Napoleon had three relatives. First was his brother (I don't actually know). Kip Napoleon. He was a thirty-something guy who usually chat with his girlfriend online. Just like Napoleon, he was a nerd as well.]

[Second was Napoleon's grandmother. She was an active woman who liked desert motorbiking... She had an accident because of that.]

[Third was his Uncle Rico who was living in a camper van. Napoleon constantly argued with his Uncle the whole movie.]

"Haha, this is funny!"

Napoleon's battle against his brother and Uncle brought them laughter.

[Napoleon met Deb and Pedro. Pedro let Napoleon use his bike and Napoleon, unfortunately, crushed his balls.]

This scene brought another laughter.

[His first meeting with Deb was comical. Especially when Deb showed a picture of a model to Napoleon.]

Reese giggled when she watched the scene. She didn't expect that it would be funny as hell. When they shoot this scene, they kept their serious expression.

[At school, Napoleon struggles to fit in with his peers but finds solace in his love for drawing. His drawing was ugly.]

"Pfft--haha! I can't believe he got a girl to agree to join him at the prom with that kind of drawing!"

[As Napoleon and Pedro campaign for class president, they face numerous obstacles, including Summer's popularity.]

[However, the duo manages to win over the student body with a memorable dance routine.]

This scene was simple and the audience still laughed. Perhaps there was something unique about Napoleon's dancing.

[In the end, Pedro is elected class president, Napoleon gets a chance to show off his dance moves, and Kip decides to move to Detroit with his girlfriend LaFawnduh. Napoleon also got closer to Deb.]

The movie ended and everyone clapped their hands.

"Woohoo! Nice movie! Nice movie!"

The cinema only had around 40% audience but everyone had fun watching the movie.

Billy and Wallace left the theater in good mood.

"Hello, guys. I'm just here to ask you a few questions regarding Napoleon Dynamite. With the highest rating of A+ to the lowest F, how will you rate this movie?"

There were usually people who would interview moviegoers after watching a movie. They were from the Cinemascore.

"A!"

"A+. I recommend everyone to watch it!"

Billy and Wallace rated it quite high. They were entertained so they rated it fairly high.

"Thanks, guys."

Ramon was an employee of Cinemascore and his job was to ask people about their opinions on movies. This time, he was tasked to ask people about Napoleon Dynamite.

'600 questionnaires. 47 gave it a rate of B and the remaining questionnaires were A and A+.'

The average was rated A.

"With this reputation, the movie will probably have theater increase next week. Of course, everything depends on its box office."

As long as the movie had positive income, the theaters would milk it.

The first day of Napoleon Dynamite was only $6 thousand.

The second day, which was October 13, 1995, Friday. The movie had $30 thousand.

Saturday, the third day of the movie. Napoleon Dynamite's income was 70 thousand.

Sunday, October 15, 1995. It was only 77 thousand.

Days passed and October 17 arrived. So far, Napoleon Dynamite only had $96 thousand.

These days were the hardest for Kazir Grey. He could not sleep at all. The reception of the movie was doing well in his opinion. But he knew that Fox Searchlight Pictures might have the opposite opinion.

Then, he received a call. He smiled as he heard that Napoleon Dynamite would have its theaters increase to 34.

This was the start of Napoleon Dynamite'e race to the box office list.

Monday, October 23, 1995. Six days after Napoleon Dynamite had 34 theaters. The movie earned $1.2 million. Fox Searchlight Pictures asked the cinema alliance to increase the theaters of Napoleon Dynamite to 160.

Another seven days passed. October 30, 1995. Napoleon Dynamite had made $13.54 at the box office.

November 6, 1995. The movie made $40.47 million in 760 theaters.

Because of the strong word of mouth and reputation of Napoleon Dynamite, the cinema alliance increase its theaters to 1945 theaters!

November 13, 1995... $68 million! Napoleon Dynamite had 68.24 million at the box office!

No one thought that the start of November would have a dark horse! A movie directed by an unknown director had made $68 million in just a month!