HWI 263

Hollywood What If Chapter 263

"Woohoo! This car is amazing!"

LAPD Brian O'Connor exclaimed as he tried out the car that Dom Toreto had given him to try out.

This car had the new technology that Dom and his gang had stolen from a semi-truck trailer. The technology was still in the experimental stage, but Brian O'Connor realized the danger it could bring.

The engine was so fast that he felt like everything was turning white. However, Brian understood that this was not the dangerous technology that the CIA was looking for...

...

...

...

These were just some of the plot changes that affected Fast and The Furious.

Kazir shook hands with all the cast members of Fast and The Furious. These actors were still new, and none of them had a stable foothold in the industry.

"Director, thank you for casting me."

Paul Walker approached him and thanked him sincerely. Paul Walker had been in this industry since the 80s and he knew that it was very hard to get stable jobs. Even though the Fast and Furious franchise has so many actors, Paul Walker knew his role was important.

"It's nothing. By the way, do you use a stunt double for your stunts?" Kazir asked curiously.

"Yes and no. If the stunt is not too hard, I'll do it."

"... Okay."

Kazir nodded and asked nothing more.

Paul Walker's death was very sad for the "family" of the Fast and The Furious franchise.

The man died after attending a charity event. It was a car accident, Paul Walker was not even the driver. He was just the passenger.

'Paul didn't die on the set, but I still have to be sure.' Kazir didn't want to see people around him die.

Honestly, Paul Walker's death brought something positive and something negative to the franchise. But Kazir was not crazy about it. Life was something he would never joke about.

On June 22, the first day of Fast and The Furious, it grossed $17.05 million. And yes, this was a clear success based on 24 hours of screenings. Now all they had to do was keep that trend going. As long as Fast and The Furious didn't suffer too much from other movies, it would be fine.

But surprisingly, Dr. Dolittle 2, released on the same day, actually beat Fast and The Furious!

With $27.63 million, Dr. Dolittle 2 secured the top spot for the day! Even Spider-Man could not compete with only $7 million.

Well, Spider-Man already made $305.07 million, so no big deal. Sony-Columbia recouped their investment in just 22 days, which was a good thing.

It was a surprise that Dr. Dolittle 2 beat Fast and The Furious.

People didn't remember that the protagonist of Dr. Dolittle 2 was Eddie Murphy! This guy had strong box office appeal. 48 Hours franchise, Beverly Hills Cop franchise, and The Nutty Professor franchise. Man, the guy was a famous actor.

Compared to a bunch of new actors in Fast and the Furious, of course Dr. Dolittle would do well. The question was, for how long? The genres of the two movies were comedy and action. Two completely different genres, which one would last long?

Grey Pictures was a bit on the edge and even Kazir was nervous. If Fast and The Furious flopped, it would be bad for them.

The following week, Kazir had trouble sleeping. It was funny that Spider-Man was doing well while Fast and The Furious was still hanging. The publicity for Fast and The Furious was weaker compared to Spider-Man, which could be one of the factors.

Some critics even accused Grey Pictures of becoming arrogant and believing that their movies would always be box office hits. They even blamed Taiwanese director Justin Lin.

Fortunately for Grey Pictures, the seven days showed that Fast and The Furious was just filling the gas tank to speed up.

Dr. Dolittle 2 grossed $56.27 million after seven days.

As for Fast and The Furious, it was $69.18 million!

With that, the movie critics started to shut up. Besides, who cares about the opinions of movie critics? Most of their opinions are biased anyway.

If people liked certain movies, then the critics would fucking hate those movies. It was as simple as that.

In the new century, critics became less relevant. The internet and blogging were some of the reasons.

With that as a start, the performance of Fast and The Furious got better.

When Independence Day (July 4) came, Fast and The Furious grossed $92.73 million.

Spider-Man also grossed $360.11 million that day.

Even Lara Croft: Tomb Raider did well with $107.31 million.

The summer schedule was indeed the best months to release movies because so many people would buy movie tickets. The money that theaters made this season could be more than $2 billion if you add it all up.

Just like that, June ended and July arrived. Another batch of movies would be released. The studios were very busy competing for more theaters.

Even Spider-Man and other movies started to lose theaters as more movies would be released and they needed theaters.

From 3600 theaters, Spider-Man went down to 2700 theaters. It was a miracle that Sony-Columbia was able to keep the numbers up, because it was hard to keep the theaters open in the summer. Fortunately, Spider-Man was doing well and was making millions every day.

Although it won't be long before the number of theaters drops to 2000. That was a result that was impossible to overcome.

After so many hectic days and knowing that Fast and The Furious would have a steady trend, Kazir received an invitation from 20th Century Fox to attend the premiere of Legally Blonde.

Kazir was the scriptwriter of this movie although his participation was counted on one hand.

Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon were competing for the female lead of this movie and Reese Witherspoon won the role.

Now Kazir had no idea whether he should attend the premiere or not.

++++

[Author's note: So should Kazir go to the Legally Blonde premiere? I will write a chapter about the red carpet of Legally Blonde if you say yes. I know this question has already been answered next chapter but I still want to read your opinion. Heck, you can even comment down that the author is so fucking stupid because he can't post chapter everyday.]

[Anyway, the last few chapters were like summaries. But what can I do, it was the summer schedule and I have no plot to add. Unless you want me to write about Kazir's mother instead. Maybe some scenes about Mara Cohen's modeling career?].