Hollywood What If-Chapter 416

Overall, Spider-Man 2 was a standout film in the superhero genre, praised for its emotional depth, strong performances, and thrilling action. It was a blend of character-driven storytelling and comic book spectacle that set a high bar for superhero films that followed.

--From a certain article.

The pacing in the middle was lackluster. It mostly focused on Peter Parker's development as his powers were waning and recovering.

--A review from the website of IMDb.

The CGI is fucking cool! 10/10! I'll recommend it to my friends.

--Another review from IMDb.

Damn, Doctor Octopus' tentacles look hot. I wonder if I can oil them up...

--A review from a certain porn site.

Spider-Man was the start of the superhero genre. Even though some superhero movies were released before Spider-Man, such as X-Men, Superman, and Batman, only Spider-Man received massive success all over the world.

Gaining over $1 billion at the worldwide box office was clear evidence. People would consume the genre as long as the action and visual effects were stunning.

Spider-Man 2 had flaws, but people didn't care much about them. They were in for the action, not to be movie critics.

Of course, some fans were disappointed that Peter chose Mary Jane instead of Ursula, his neighbor. After all, Ursula prepared food for Peter. She was also adorable. Over the years, more fans would agree that Ursula was a better woman than Mary Jane, who bitched around.

Thursday, the first day of July, also the second day of Spider-Man 2 in theaters, casually pulled $23.81 million, increasing the box office up to $64 million… This was just the second day. As everyone in Hollywood understands, the first weekend of a movie is usually the best performance it could have.

Sony-Colombia was already shaking just imagining the possibilities. They hoped that Spider-Man 2 would overcome its predecessor and make $1.2 billion at the box office!

It might be hard, but hoping was free anyway. Besides, the director of this movie was none other than Kazir Grey. The director already had two movies that reached $1 billion, so adding another one was an open invitation.

While Sony-Colombia was celebrating, its enemy, Walt Disney, was in a bad mood.

Seeing the box office result of Spider-Man 2, Walt Disney understood that their upcoming movie would face problems.

Walt Disney was set to release King Arthur, which was six days from now. Six days were not enough to weaken the performance of Spider-Man 2. That kind of movie would remain steady for a whole month.

There were some rumors that Sony-Colombia intentionally released Spider-Man a week before King Arthur just to fuck with Walt Disney. The outcome of the battle between a historical figure and a superhero would be bad for Walt Disney.

Walt Disney might have a problem recouping their investment. The production budget of King Arthur was $90 million, plus the undisclosed promotional budget, so Walt Disney might be in for a big loss.

For Kazir and Tobey, it was karma that Walt Disney deserved. Fuck that studio company, anytime and anywhere.

Fast forward to July 7, King Arthur was released in 3,000 theaters in the country.

On its first day, King Arthur made $4 million... womp womp womp.

On the same day, Spider-Man 2 casually grabbed $10 million. The accumulated box office of Spider-Man 2 already reached $202.12 million! The movie was just released for eight fucking days, yet it already surpassed $200 million. ℞𝐀Ꞑ𝖔Вʧ

As expected, once the media saw this outcome, they started praising Kazir again, saying that Kazir Grey was a once-in-a-lifetime talent in the history of cinema. That his works deserved a documentary. As if the media forgot about the scandal that Kazir was a predator.

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"Sir, these are the list of the product placements."

Erica pushed open the door and gave the documents to Kazir. The director thanked his assistant and read the contents.

"Lamborghini, Nokia, American Express, Mountain Dew…"

Kazir read the products and nodded. Being the director, Kazir had the power to agree or disagree regarding product placement/advertising.

He had an artistic view of the movie, and he knew whether the products could fit the scenes and theme of the movie.

For example, it would be stupid to add a product placement of Coca-Cola in a historical movie such as The Gladiator or The Last Samurai.

At the same time, jewelry had been present since ancient times and could be promoted in historical movies with no problem.

Knowing that Kazir would direct Batman Begins, many brands realized the potential of this movie.

Imagine millions of people watching this movie many years from now, your product would practically have a permanent advertisement as long as people watched the movie.

The list was long, and Warner Brothers chose just four because it would be too much if they added more than that.

Now that Kazir had the list of brands to promote, it was his job to insert them into the scenes, subtly or not.

Many brands were ready to pay top money since Batman Begins was promising. Their confidence rose after the box office result of Spider-Man 2.

These brands paid $8 million overall to have their products featured in the movie.

Batman Begins had a budget of $150 million, but now Warner Brothers only had to spend $142 million.

This budget was actually big, but Warner Brothers was ready to spend as much as necessary, as long as their profit was worth it. They believed that Kazir would bring them another franchise to milk, so investing this amount was expected.

Besides, Kazir was known for never overspending the budget! That was an amazing talent.

Most of the time, directors couldn't help but ask for more money just to see the scenes they envisioned.

The budget for Titanic reached over $200 million because James Cameron overspent. This was a disease that Warner Brothers didn't want.

Thankfully, Kazir never overspent. This was also the reason why Kazir was one of the most in-demand directors. He knew how to spend the investment.

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[Third chapter of the day.]

[I'll post in different timeslots to attract more readers.]