212 HWI 212

Hollywood What If Chapter 212

The third week of release of Taken 2 ended and the result was very good. On November 21, 1999, the movie already grossed $132.48 million.

The state of Hollywood was getting better and the power of the media was getting stronger. People loved to watch movies on weekends and that was the reason why the box office was better on weekends.

Kazir Grey made the most of his time, knowing that he didn't have much to do lately.

The director of Taken 2, Fremont Smith, was out promoting the movie with the cast. They visited many national and local TV shows.

Paramount Pictures already promised to promote the movie, they knew that the box office of Taken 2 would make their appetite better. They were also the distributor of the videotapes and DVDs. As long as Taken 2 did well, Paramount would make a better profit from the combined box office and videotapes/DVDs.

Sometimes Brad Grey regrets that he didn't agree with Kazir's decision.

He should have let Grey Pictures invest 30% in the movie, at least Paramount owned the copyrights to Taken.

Grey Pictures would have approval rights, but that was nothing compared to the profit that Taken brought in. The influence of Taken in North America was strong because of the viral kidnapping that happened three years ago. That was the main reason why the movie grossed over half a billion at the worldwide box office.

Also, Taken was part of a huge universe and every movie seemed to be profitable. Even John Wick, which had an average box office, was raking in money in the videotape market.

Obviously, the people who saw Taken also saw John Wick and The Bourne Identity. That means they have to watch the three movies to get the whole plot. So yeah, more money...

Paramount Pictures regretted that they didn't get a share of this huge amount of money! Why the hell did they not agree to Kazir's terms at the time?

If CEO Brad Grey could go back in time, he would slap his past self and yell at him to agree to Kazir's condition of investing 30% in the movie! Hell, he would even twerk in front of the director to convince him.

Money.

People would do anything to get a lot of money.

Just like straight men said, 20 dollars is 20 dollars, so it's not gay... Ahem, completely irrelevant, but you get the point. Money can make a person go crazy and do something stupid.

Not only Paramount, but also the other movie companies that Kazir Grey contacted four years ago had regrets.

Apparently, the outrageous plan Kazir called "Cinematic Universe" was a big hit! The four films released by Grey Pictures were doing well at the box office and at the videotape market.

That was proof enough that the Cinematic Universe was profitable.

Suddenly, Warner Bros. had an epiphany, or to be more precise, they itched to follow Kazir's footsteps and create their own Cinematic Universe. In fact, they already had the best subject to use. It was none other than DC Comics! The Justice League! Where heroes from different comics formed a superhero organization to protect the Earth from disaster.

However, there was something that worried them... They had no idea where to start. They felt they needed to invest money in these projects, but money was not enough to achieve success.

You need someone who can make sure that the project will be a success! That's right, they need someone like Kazir, or more precisely, they need Kazir Grey!

The man, the myth himself, the director who made the impossible possible, director Grey...

The said director was having a good time, watching old movies. Today he was watching the iconic Gone with the Wind, the best movie of the 1940s.

Kazir Grey didn't know that his status was improving again. He received so many invitations from different personalities in the industry, but as usual, he refused most of them. He didn't like parties and talking to strangers, especially if the strangers were only interested in his status and money.

So many women talked to him every time he attended a party, and they always flirted with him.

Movie? No, I want to talk to you about my feelings and how you can give me a role in your next project.

Editing cuts? What's that? Anyway, I want to tell you about my sweet kitten. If you want, you can see it later, my soft tight "kitten"...

What about the production crew? Nah, I want to talk to you about producing a baby.

Yep, it may sound outrageous, but Kazir has heard these kind of pickup lines lately.

Honestly, Kazir Grey wanted to nod his head and say yes to their advances, but his fear of women made him shake his head and walk away. Beautiful female strangers scared him the most.

After watching the iconic movie, Kazir Grey got up and changed his clothes. He had a meeting with an investment company. He had heard that his investment had already surpassed $120 million last time, so he was sure it would increase again this time.

Now that he was a millionaire, he realized that making money was not so hard... Or maybe he was just delusional. The hardest step in becoming a millionaire was earning the first 1 million.

In his past life, his net worth was just over 1 million. His life back then was not that bad, but he was extremely depressed after he got divorced, lost his father, and had no contact with his older brother. He also had never met his mother in his previous life.

He had a hard time connecting with the opposite sex and could never put his heart into them, as if he was afraid of getting hurt again.

He knew that life was never a bed of roses. This led him to the truth that it was better to be a boring man than a passionate one. At least his expectations would never be high and his pain would be less.

[Author's note: Rereading this chapter, I realized that there is no conversation at all. There's no reason to have a conversation anyway...]