HWI 132 (Patreon)

Hollywood What If Chapter 132

"Yawn... So I heard you're busy. I thought you were not going to see me."

Aaron Grey yawned because his flight to Los Angeles brought him jetlagged. He had a business in Los Angeles and informed his brother about it.

When Kazir Grey heard that his brother was in Los Angeles, he decided to meet him. He dropped his task of attending the training lessons for the cast. 

The two were having a conversation in a cafe. 

"Isn't it obvious that I want to see my brother?"

"Indeed. However, I know that you're not the type who will call me to meet up just because of that."

Aaron smirked. Even though they didn't meet regularly, he knew his younger brother's mentality. He preferred doing what he loves more than anything. 

"It's because of this."

Kazir passed a letter to his brother. Aaron raised his brow and decided to read it. The letter was already opened and Kazir probably had read it. 

"... Sigh."

After reading the contents, Aaron took a deep sigh and covered his eyes.

"What is she going to do this time? She never contacted me after she left."

"That's why I'm trying to figure it out."

Both brothers were confused. Actually, they were skeptical if the letter even came from her, their mother. 

"This is my first time receiving a letter from her."

Kazir said after taking a sip of cappuccino. 

"I never heard of her since long ago. I heard she's having a good life after the divorce... She's still receiving alimony from Dad."

For some reason, the Judge agreed to give monthly alimony to their mother even though the two brothers stayed with their father. 

"One thing is for sure. She wants to meet you." Aaron added. 

"But why me? Shouldn't she contact you instead? You have a stable income than me?"

"Yup, but my cash and liquid assets are nothing compared to yours, Mister Billionaire Director."

"You know that it's not true. My income is not even 1/10 of that amount."

"I'm just joking. Anyway, she wants something from you. I feel pity for you. You know how Mom roasts a person until she gets what she wanted."

"You will help me, right Aaron?"

"Bro, you're an adult. I'm sure you can do it. Besides, I'm kinda busy."

Aaron yawned for the second time. He didn't get enough sleep these days. 

"By the way, congratulations. I haven't congratulated you in person. So am I going to have a niece or nephew?"

Aaron's wife was pregnant. Their wedding was last year. Kazir attended the wedding but he immediately left the day after. Taken was still airing at that time so Kazir was busy. 

"It should be nieces or nephews."

Aaron slightly smiled. He felt like his views about life were changing. 

"What do you mean?"

"My wife is carrying twins. We are still waiting for the gender result."

"So you're not going to throw a gender reveal party?"

"Huh? I never heard of that... But now that you said it, maybe we can do something like that."

"Inform me when. I'm going to buy a plane ticket."

"Alright, Mister Billionaire Director."

"Damn it, I said don't call me that."

"Hahaha."

The two brothers started talking about life and how they became mature to face the world. 

.........

......

...

"Congratulations, director."

"Director Grey, congratulations."

"Kazir, congrats, man."

While the pre-production of John Wick was ongoing, Kazir started hearing congratulations from everyone. 

Kazir kept his expression and accepted their praise. To be honest, he didn't expect this outcome. Yet he was happy with the achievements he got this time. 

The international box office of Taken ended with a whopping $297 million. 

With $268 million from North America, the worldwide box office of Taken was $565 million. 

But with the complicated shares, cuts, and taxes from many countries, Grey Pictures only got $65 million in the bank account. 

Furthermore, Kazir Grey had a 10% box office share so the $65 million went down to $36 million. Still, this amount was already a good thing. This was pure profit. 

Another thing was the television broadcast copyrights. Grey Pictures hold all of the copyrights of Taken and they were free to rent/sold it to anyone. 

For the first two years, Fox TV bought the tv broadcast of Taken for $18 million. This means that only Fox TV was allowed to broadcast Taken in the United States for two years. 

Note that this is only in the United States. In Australia, they sold the two years tv broadcast of Taken for $12 million. 

In other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada, Grey Pictures got $25 million combined. 

Truth be told, Grey Pictures' profit from Taken already exceeded $100 million. Especially when the sales of videotapes were going up. 

They could earn money from Taken no matter how many years passed. As long as they hold most of the copyrights, they means of profit. 

Gone With The Wind was released in 1939. And as of now, the movie grossed more than $3.4 billion.

One of the proofs of why film companies were raking in money even though movies didn't have good profitability in theaters. 

The Shawshank Redemption was a huge flop in the theaters yet the movie was making money as years passed. 

There were no unsuccessful movies. As long as people were interested in movies, they would buy them. 

"I know it's already obvious, but I think Taken will be the box office champion of 1997."

His assistant, Erica Mendez, confidently said to him yet Kazir shook his head. 

He grinned. 

"I don't think so."

It was the last week of January, and the news about Titanic was slowly sinking the media. No one expected the outcome except for Kazir Grey.