HWI 287

Hollywood What If Chapter 287

He did his best to stay calm. He didn't want to judge Angelina without hearing the whole story, but he was certainly disappointed.

"I didn't do anything to her, okay."

Angelina giggled.

Kazir was still silent, waiting for more explanations.

"Well, I found her and decided to talk to her. I told her how great our relationship is and how much we love each other. She actually listens very seriously. I also talked to her about the watch you got for your birthday."

"What did you tell her?"

"I said it was missing and you can't find it."

"..."

Kazir sighed. This could be annoying. He knew that Angelina had a tendency to do such things. People in this business, especially famous people, were very arrogant.

Besides, Angelina had done the same thing to Reese a year ago and a year after that. Of course Kazkr knew about it, but he let it go because he loved her.

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"Oh come on babe, it's nothing. I didn't expect her to cry like that. You're not mad, are you?"

"No, I'm not, I can't be mad at you. But I'm very disappointed. What if Kirsten announces that she is quitting Spider-Man? That would be very damaging."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I can make it up to you."

Realizing that Kazir meant it, Angelina apologized and promised that it would never happen again.

Kazir was silent for a while before nodding. In the end, he sided with Angelina. After all, she was his girlfriend. However, their relationship changed slightly after this incident.

Kazir and Angelina returned to Beverly Hills after leaving the party. They were both busy, but Kazir admitted that he was busier than Angelina. He wanted to make it up to her, but what had happened earlier affected his decision.

They returned to their respective jobs and saw each other once a week, but their enthusiasm for each other diminished with each passing week. Kazir and Angelina were still a loving couple, but there was already a rift.

......

...

...

"I didn't expect you to show up at Grey Pictures with this intention."

"Kazir, don't be like that. I know you're smart. You already expected this to happen."

"Indeed."

Enrico Pucci came to Grey Pictures for a formal business meeting. The reason: Warner Brothers was interested in acquiring shares of Grey Pictures, which was solely owned by Kazir... Well, Stella Willow held 1.3% after working in the company for 3 years. She started working at Grey Pictures in 1999, around the time of the production of The Bourne Identity.

"Our initial proposal is $1 billion for 40% of the company, but that will probably not work..."

Enrico sighed. This was not his forte in the first place. He was a producer, not someone from Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs who was used to acquisition deals. Well, Warner Brothers was contacting J.P. Morgan for this job right now.

"Hm, you have to keep up with the numbers." Kazir smiled.

After the success of the Continental Cinematic Universe, the net worth of Grey Pictures rose to five billion dollars. Especially when there were rumors that Grey Pictures was going to start another Cinematic Universe based on Marvel superheroes.

"Yeah." That was all Enrico could say.

On February 10, 2002, Warner Brothers began their acquisition. It was a great move that seemed promising, after all, Grey Pictures was now the most sought after studio in Hollywood.

However, one week later, Sony-Columbia also started their acquisition! They announced that they were ready to buy 35% of the company for $2.1 billion. It seemed that Sony-Colombia was in desperate need of high quality movies that Kazir could provide. Especially after tasting the greatness of Spider-Man, which Kazir produced.

Now, Warner Brothers and Sony-Colombia had their battle over who would acquire Grey Pictures.

This could go on for months or even a year. Apparently, Grey Pictures didn't turn down the acquisition, but they weren't adamant either... It was as if Grey Pictures was waiting for something more.

The two studios that dominated Hollywood started their battle, even making deals with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs for this acquisition.

This news was published in newspapers and some TV channels. The opinions of many people were divided.

People in Hollywood knew that the outcome of this acquisition would affect Hollywood tremendously. Once Grey Pictures worked with one of the Big Six, that company would have an advantage at the box office.

In fact, people knew that the answer to this question was none other than Kazir Grey. He was the one who was able to accomplish many things in this industry.

Some people thought of kidnapping the guy to take advantage of his talent, but they were not crazy enough to do that. Hollywood had a lot of crimes, but they wouldn't go as far as kidnapping a famous person... But it was different when the person in question was a nobody. After all, there were rumors that some establishments in Hollywood were involved in sex trafficking, which is technically kidnapping.

While people in Hollywood had complicated thoughts about this acquisition, normal people/moviegoers were cool about it. As long as the quality of the movies Grey Pictures made was amazing, they didn't care which company acquired it.

Just like that, two months passed and April arrived... In that month, Sony-Columbia happily announced that Spider-Man had crossed the $1 billion mark!

It just barely passed the mark at $1.01 billion, but it was a fact that happened!

Now people recognize that Spider-Man was the box office champion of 2001 (last year).

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone finished its run with $974 million. Coming in second

Third on the list was The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring with $868 million.

In fourth place was John Wick Chapter 2 with $621 million.

In fifth place was Monster, Inc. with $528 million.

Sixth was The Fast and The Furious with $502 million.

Now Kazir was recognized as the only director to have made two $1 billion movies in consecutive years!

This made the takeover even more intense!

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