章節 274: HWI 274
Hollywood What If Chapter 274
Warner Bros. could not help but compare Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Spider-Man. After all, their first choice for director was Kazir Grey. Just like Sony-Columbia, Warner Bros was confident they could fulfill Kazir's contract, but the man ultimately chose Spider-Man.
It was sad, but Warner Bros. had to move on. The plan was already in motion. First of all, they are promoting J.K. Rowling and her books just for the upcoming movie.
Warner Bros. was looking for movie franchises to milk and they felt that Harry Potter was profitable. Lord of the Rings was different because it was acquired by New Line Cinema. The profits of the two companies never merged. Also, New Line Cinema had its own distribution. There was nothing Warner Bros could do about it.
In the last few years, Warner Bros. had two movies that they focused on, The Matrix and Harry Potter. They spent hundreds of millions on each movie.
The Matrix sequels were already in production and seemed promising.
If Harry Potter didn't do well, they would lose money. So the management at the time invited Kazir Grey, who had come out of CCU, to be the director.
Well, the result was obvious. Kazir turned it down and they went with Chris Columbus, the director of Home Alone.
Now, comparing the two movies hurt the management of Warner Bros. for many reasons.
To be fair, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was an amazing movie. And it was an amazing success. It made $90 million in just three days. That was amazing, very few movies could do that.
But it was still bitter to think that Kazir Grey, who turned it down, did better with his Spider-Man movie.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was an adaptation of the novel, and many scenes in the novel were obviously never shown in theaters, which caused some disappointment to fans of the novel. Perhaps if Kazir had been the director, he would have done a great job in this regard.
Unfortunately, they could never bring back the past. Regretting their decision was useless, especially when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was doing well.
After the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, no movie had a promising performance in November.
By the end of the month, only Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone had earned $202 million at the box office. The movie was only in theaters for 15 days and it already made that amount of money.
Hehe, too bad, but Spider-Man made over $252 million in 15 days.
Someone from Warner Bros. curiously did a comparison and was disappointed with the results.
It seems that some people at Warner Bros. were bitter about it. They couldn't help but compare the two.
December 7th and another batch of movies were released. Warner Bros. had another movie to promote and it was Ocean's Eleven.
For this movie, Warner Bros. invited so many big personalities. They invited George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. Yes, it was like a dream team. To accomplish this task, Warner Bros. invested $85 million in this project.
Ocean's Eleven was a heist movie about a group of people who stole money from a casino to get revenge.
Actually, Kazir was very interested in this movie, but he could not get the rights.
Ocean's Eleven was a remake of Ocean's Eleven (1960). Some things did not go according to his plan. Ocean's Eleven was not meant for him and Grey Pictures.
The one who bought the movie copyright was Warner Bros. Well, Grey Pictures would have to invest a lot of money to make this movie. Also, Ocean's Eleven was supposed to be a trilogy and Grey Pictures might have trouble casting famous actors. After all, they were not one of the Big Six.
Grey Pictures was at least a B-tier studio. For them to be an A-tier studio, they should have distribution. But from the looks of it, Kazir Grey, the owner of the company, has a different future for the company.
The first weekend of Ocean's Eleven was good, but not the best. It managed to make $38 million... Not at all comparable to Harry Potter or even Spider-Man.
But again, this performance was already amazing. Very few movies could do that in three days. People just couldn't help but compare it to the best. Just like basketball fans always compared players to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James... These three were the common topics of who was the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT).
12 days after its release, Ocean's Eleven grossed $76 million. Again, an amazing feat... But nothing compared to Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
But that was about to change because on December 19, another movie was released that could rival Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
2001 was a terrible year for the United States, but it was true that these three movies had huge performances that year.
The third movie was none other than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.
The Lord Of The Rings had so many cast members but it was acknowledged that the protagonist was Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen).
Viggo already had a status in Hollywood with his role as John Wick. But after that, Viggo Mortensen would have another role to be proud of being written in his filmography.
Now the trio of 2001 was released and it would determine which would be the highest grossing movie of this year (2001).
Last year, the highest grossing movie was Wanted with $1.21 billion... Would Kazir Grey make a miracle and have a back-to-back championship?
+++++
[I was interested in Ocean Eleven at first, but I can't find the right time to include it in the CCU. In the end, I decided against it because Ocean's Eleven is never an action movie, but more of a heist movie. It can fit in well with CCU, but the timing just didn't feel right.]
[I have no idea what I'm doing writing this chapter.]
[Anyway, thank you for all of your support.]
章節 275: HWI 275
Hollywood What If Chapter 275
"So you're going away for a while?" Angelina pouted as she cut her steak. To maintain her figure, Angelina made sure to eat as little as possible. It was the punishment she had to take to maintain her status in this industry.
People in Hollywood were very prejudiced against chubby women. They don't cast chubby women and they prefer skinny women. That was the preference at that time.
To keep up with the ideals, Angelina has to play by the book and keep her stomach as flat as possible. Honestly, there were times when she wanted to eat a whole pizza, but she couldn't because she had to shoot the next day and the director might nag her if she didn't look fit and sexy.
But when she was with Kazir, she didn't feel self-hatred. Instead, the man encouraged her to eat and stay healthy.
Women in the acting and modeling industries suffer from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder and fear of gaining weight.
It was a sad notion that showbiz pushed on many women that being sexy meant not eating for a day or two.
Angelina was happy in her relationship with Kazir. The man was different from the men she usually dated, Kazir was sincere and serious. The type who didn't like to play games had a clear vision of his future. Besides, the guy was cute and good in bed... The last statement was the biggest reason why she liked him.
Their relationship was getting better and Angelina knew that Kazir was the best man out there... She had many rivals because of that.
Whenever they go out and have fun, there are times when a woman flirts with Kazir.
For the same reason, Angelina was a little upset that Kazir was leaving the country.
"I have three months before I go to Canada. We have plenty of time." Kazir assured her.
After calculating their budget, the production crew decided that it would be better to shoot the movie in real snow than to create artificial snow and do a green screen. Using a real natural background was cheaper than creating a snowy mountain and jungle.
"But you're also going to be gone for three or four months. I don't want that."
"I promised I'd come back every weekend."
Kazir was actually surprised that he had reached the point where he could ignore his work for something else. Damn, weekend rest, Kazir would actually do something like that? Really?
"Besides, Canada's not that far away. We can still call and text and stuff."
"Hm." Angelina nodded sadly after finishing her steak. Kazir encouraged her to have some fun and enjoy life, eating delicious food was one of the best things in the world.
Angelina had two projects this year, one was currently underway while the second was scheduled to start shooting in March, the same month Kazir would be going to Canada. Both of them would be busy then and Angelina was worried that they would lose interest in each other.
A long-distance relationship was not that easy, even if it was only for three or four months. A lot could happen in that time.
Angelina had two projects. The first was Life or Something Like It. Kazir read the script and was not impressed. However, the production team was willing to give Angelina a salary of $7 million, so Angelina's agent begged her to accept.
Then she received another script called How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. This time Kazir had a good opinion of it, so Angelina decided to audition. Even though her salary for this movie was only $5 million, Angelina felt it was worth it.
It was important to keep her fame.
Coincidentally, the said project, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, would start shooting in March, just like The Revenant. How climatic...
Kazir felt that Angelina was sad. He took her hand and held it.
"Look, we'll spend our days together when I'm back. I promise you that."
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
"Take me to a nice restaurant tomorrow, no, for a week."
"Babe, I'm doing that right now."
"So you're backing out?"
"Of course not." Kazir chuckled.
Kazir had already spent a week with his family back in September. Even though half of that vacation was pretty dark because of 9/11, he had still spent a week with them.
So now, on Christmas Eve, Kazir decided to spend it with Angelina. Just like two years ago.
"Remember our first Christmas Eve?" He asked.
Angelina didn't answer. Instead, she smiled and blushed. Of course she remembered. That night had been amazing and out of this world. God, she didn't regret making a move on Kazir back then.
"Actually, this is our third Christmas Eve together and our second anniversary. We should have fun."
"I love you." Angelina squeezed Kazir's hand.
"I love you too."
They smiled at each other. If they were not in public, they might already be kissing and undressing each other.
...
...
...
"Director Grey! Director Grey!"
"Hm?"
Kazir frowned as he came out of the cafe near Grey Pictures. His eyes were puffy after "cuddling" with Angelina all night, and he loved every second of it.
"Director Grey!"
"Sorry, I don't have time for an interview."
As always, some paparazzi would show up and ruin his beautiful day. It was not the first time this had happened.
"I'm just here to ask a few questions. Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are doing well at the box office. Everyone thinks that one of them is going to be the champion of this year's box office." The paparazzi proceeded to ask more.
"But considering that Spider-Man has already grossed $800 million worldwide, your movie should be added to the list. Are you afraid that Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings will overtake Spider-Man as the highest-grossing film of the year?"
This question got Kazir's attention, so he stopped walking and faced the paparazzi.
"If Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings fought Spider-Man, would you lose?"
Kazir grinned and said.
"Nah, I'd win."
+++++
[Author's note: this was very, very late.]
[Funny that I wrote a Christmas Eve chapter on Christmas Eve. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all! Thanks for all your support. I hope everyone has a blessed and abundant Christmas!]
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