[Shout out to Joe O, Mandy G, MOHIT S, and KumaBEAR!]
Hollywood What If Chapter 124
The ma of Warner Bros began their quarterly meeting. To the left sat the iial shareholders, while to the right sat the executives and key positions in the pany.
At the end of the table sat Terry Semel, listening to the discussion.
"Our projects for year have already passed the review. We already have thh details for them, except for two movies..."
The ma was listening to the speaker, who roducer Enrico Pusi. He romoted to be the head of produa, in charge of making movies.
"And what are the two films we are talking about?"
Some of the ma already had an idea, but the shareholders were clueless, so Enrico Pusi had to expin.
"It's The Hangover Part 2 ahese two projects are promising, but we are fag some problems..."
Enrico Pusi looked at Terry Semel. The odded and gave him the signal to speak.
"Go on."
"... We 't find a director. The cast of The Hangover has already expressed their iion to join the sequel. However, director Kazir Grey said he didn't want to direct the sequel a ma choose the director. As for TED, no one is fident that they make the movie. It needs puter graphid it could cost a lot of money."
Enrico Pusi sighed weakly. This problem had been b him si year.
In fact, he had tacted Kazir Grey and Salvatore Barlowe so many times. Finally, the st hurdle was Kazir Grey.
The director was doh direg edies. He wao focus on his own projects, which were the films reted to his so-called "ematiiverse".
It would be a lie to say that Enrico was not disappointed. He enticed Kazir Grey with many proposals, even going as far as a 20+20 tract, but Kazir was as firm as a ted rock. Enrico could not move him.
"..."
The Ma went silent when they heard about the problem with The Hangover Part 2.
Frankly, they were not fident about TED because the budget for this movie might exceed 50 million. They might push it to two to three years if they couldn't find a director.
But The Hangover Part 2 was different. That movie was their best movie st year (1996). This was the highest grossing R-Rated movie of all time, unless another movie occupied the position. They have to make sure it does not flop.
Usually, sequels do better than the first movie. But some sequels failed at the box offibsp;
The sequel of The Mask(1994) which was called The Son Of The Mask(2004) was a ercial failure. Well, Jim Carrey was not in the cast, so that might have been the reason why the sequel flopped.
Predator(1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was a box office hit but its sequel Predator 2(1990) didn't get the same treatment. Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger was not in the cast, so that might have been the reason why the sequel flopped.
The ma of Warner Bros uood how this industry works.
Kazir Grey was a talented director and he was the brain of the project. His aplishments and skills give them fidence, even the crew members and the cast like him.
And now that he was no longer part of the project, it could cause them irreparable harm. Warner Bros was not prepared for that.
"What about Hugo Lameire? He is the one who takes over Napoleon Dynamite II and the movie is a success. Why don't you tact him?"
One of the directors expressed his opinion, and most of them agreed. Napoleon Dynamite was still making money. It grossed over 200 million worldwide on a budget of only 15 million.
"I actually did that and directo Lameire agreed. Unfortunately, he signed a three-movie deal with 20th tury Fox and they are already preparing Napoleon Dynamite III. His schedule is packed."
Kazir Grey and 20th tury Fox decided that Napoleon Dynamite would be a trilogy. Anything more would be too mud bad.
"I see..."
They were all sad about it. 20th tury Fox tried their best to make sure that Warner Bros did not get Hugo Lameire.
They were all rivals and they could fight each other every year. Even if they had a tacit uanding, they would make sure that no one was above them. Simple as that.
Even Terry Semel could not help but sigh. He prayed that Taken would fail so that they could get Kazir on their side. Unfortunately for them, Taken had the opposite effebsp;
On the ti of North America alohe film had already grossed over 200 million. Paramount only signed a 25% deal, but they were already winning. A profit is a profit, no matter how big or small.
"Let's look for a rept... tact Kazir too, maybe he knows someone who take the director's position. As for TED, we haven't started the project yet, so ostpo. We will start TED once we have a clear pn."
"Yes sir!"
Terry Semel said, and the meeting ended a few mier. In the end, their real problem was The Hangover Part 2. This was an important projed they had to take it seriously.
Terry Semel didn't feel good about Kazir Grey leaving the project. He felt that Kazir Grey was the best option.
'If I had agreed with his decision to i 30% of Taken's budget, this situation might not have happened.'
At least there was a ce that Kazir would listen to their opinion about making him the director of The Hangover Part 2.
'What if...'
They could n back the past, so they had to be responsible for their present situation.
'Now that I remember, Kazir is going to start this movie called John Wick. Maybe I vince him to sign an iional distribution deal with Warner Bros.'
As of now, Paramount was responsible for the local distribution of Grey Pictures' two uping films, but iional distribution was still a question.