HWI 525

Hollywood What If Chapter 525

In 2008, Grey Pictures had three projects to release. These projects were Wanted 3, The Equalizer 2, and Game Of Thrones Season 3. These three were huge franchises that brought millions of profits to the company.

As for Kazir, there were three movies outside of Grey Pictures that were related to him that were set to be released in 2008.

First was the superhero movie that he directed, The Dark Knight. A movie about Batman and how he confronted The Joker. Kazir put effort into this movie as he knew that The Dark Knight was the start of an amazing trilogy.

Some people could even agree that The Dark Knight Trilogy was the best trilogy of all time, and only a few could compete, such as The Godfather and Lord Of The Rings.

Aside from The Dark Knight, another two superhero movies would be released this year and they were connected to Kazir.

Kazir was one of the head management of Marvel Studio and also the executive producer of every MCU movie. Naturally, he was connected to Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

These two Marvel movies would also compete this year against The Dark Knight for the best superhero movie of 2008... Well, I think almost everyone knows what movie won.

These three superhero movies were great, but The Dark Knight won the battle. In this timeline, Kazir was the one who directed the movie. Kazir's fan base was like a cult at this point and they would consume any movie he released. The performance of The Dark Knight would exceed people's expectations.

Funny that these superhero movies this year were all related to him. One was personally directed by him while the other two were helped built by him.

Because these three movies were all superhero genres and also related to Kazir, both studios decided to schedule their release dates in different months.

Someone from 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers personally talked to make things clear. In the end, the two studios made a decision. They even signed contracts to make sure that both studios would keep their promise.

Because of this, Iron Man was set to be released in May. No exact date for a moment.

The Incredible Hulk was set to be released in June. Just like Iron Man, there was no exact date for a moment.

As for The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers already set the release date which was July 18.

Just like that, the three movies were a month away from each other. This was to make sure that the three movies wouldn't fight for the box office since they all have the same audience.

Imagine, if the three movies were released in the same month, it would be detrimental to all three since they couldn't maximize their profits. People have to choose between the three superheroes and that was not good for the business.

So yeah, good decision by both sides. Even though DC Comics and Marvel Comics were rivals, they understood that working together, for now, would be the best decision.

By the way, when The Dark Knight started their promotion, some people were actually confused. They thought it was another epic movie set in the medieval era or something.

But when they realized that the movie was about Batman, their confusion slightly disappeared. Still, the fans were confused as to why the production decided to name it The Dark Knight instead of the usual Batman.

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As for Kazir, since he was done with The Dark Knight, he decided to start the production of Ninja Assassin.

The Dark Knight was already completed. Warner Brothers already did a small screening and the people who watched the movie fell in love with it. Some hardcore fans of Batman even cried in the last scene. Some were devastated as they witnessed how their superhero lost against the villain, but they also understood that Batman won in the end. It was just a matter of perspective.

Still, it was a hard pill to swallow.

It could be seen that Warner Brothers and DC Comics had mixed opinions regarding the path that Batman took. The management blamed Kazir for that. Well, all they could do was hope that Kazir would revive the franchise. After all, Superman Returns was a failure, and all they could do was trust in The Dark Knight and trust in the best director, Kazir Grey.

There were some minor edits that Warner Brothers asked and Kazir easily fixed that. Overall, The Dark Knight had a promising future.

Anyway, now, Kazir was on the set of Ninja Assassin, where he watched Enzo facing stuntmen in Ninja costumes.

He promised that he would direct this movie and he kept his promise. The budget for this movie was $75 million. Kazir easily took $20 million of that budget as his salary. Kazir didn't ask for a box office share since Grey Pictures was his property.

Enzo Park's salary was $11 million, while the remaining cast had an overall $8 million salary.

With that, the remaining money to finish this movie was $36 million... Not bad.

Knowing Kazir, everyone in Grey Pictures was confident that he wouldn't overspend. That $36 million was enough to finish the movie. After all, the biggest reason why movies were expensive to make was because of the salaries of the cast. If the budget was not enough, Kazir could lower his salary to make it. He was not in need of money.

If he wanted to, his salary would go down to $1 and it won't be a problem for him. However, his agents would probably never like that kind of transaction.