Hollywood What If Chapter 599
Because of the attacks that Grey Pictures launched, Walt Disney had a hard time reacting. Walt Disney's intention to cause problems for Ninja Assassin failed.
It was too late to respond when they realized that the entire charade was actually Grey Pictures attacking them.
When Walt Disney figured out the truth, they spread rumors about the cast of Ninja Assassin and tried to smear its performance. Unfortunately for them, the news about the Lucasfilm acquisition was far stronger than any scandal Walt Disney tried to push. No one even gave a fuck about their gossip. Most of the trending topics in the news and on social media were related to Lucasfilm, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones.
The internet collectively agreed that the only director who could continue the legacy of Star Wars was Kazir. So when they heard that Walt Disney wanted to buy Lucasfilm, the fans rioted in front of their building.
Lucasfilm had a weak reputation in this timeline when it came to live-action movies. Furthermore, people who kept up with celebrity news understood that Walt Disney and Kazir Grey couldn't work together. The two had bad blood after many years.
So yeah, Ninja Assassin had a smooth performance while everyone was distracted by the buzz about Lucasfilm's acquisition.
In just three days (November 25–27), Ninja Assassin grossed over $41 million. The movie performed well, but some were skeptical of the box office numbers because this movie was directed by Kazir Grey. If anything, the movie should have earned at least $50 million within three days. People forgot that Ninja Assassin was an R-rated film filled with blood and gore. Even if kids wanted to watch it, they couldn't. The box office was affected because of that.
In the same three days, The Princess and the Frog grossed over $27 million. The magic of hand-drawn animation was vanishing. Walt Disney could see it, and they were saddened by it. Their company had survived for decades because of hand-drawn animation. It was painful to see it lose its edge. But they had to accept the truth.
The last hand-drawn animated movie by Walt Disney was Winnie the Pooh (2011). After that, Walt Disney moved on and focused on 3D animation.
Ninja Assassin and The Princess and the Frog continued their rivalry, but it was obvious that the animated film was losing.
After 30 days of screening, Ninja Assassin grossed over $156 million, while The Princess and the Frog only grossed $91 million.
With that, Grey Pictures proved that they couldn't be taken lightly anymore. They now had a solid foundation. The fact that they could threaten Walt Disney was a feat that was hard to achieve.
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"Muah, muah, Daddy loves you guys. You're so cute!"
While all this was happening, Kazir was showering the twins with kisses. The twins giggled as they enjoyed the affection. The kids were now four months old, and they were adorable.
"… I can't believe I'm seeing you act like that."
Stella Willow was shocked. This was the first time she had witnessed Kazir acting like a completely different person… She was a little jealous of the fact that Kazir had children before her. Stella Willow was still searching for her Mr. Right.
"My kids are so cute."
"I know, I know. You don't have to repeat yourself."
Stella was annoyed. She had visited Kazir because their plan against Walt Disney had actually worked. And now, she was asking her boss about his next plan.
"Kazir, what's your next plan?"
"Let's see… For the next three years, I'll only focus on filming two movies."
"Oh, what are they?" Stella was curious to hear his answer.
"The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers," Kazir smirked. Two movies within three years was easy for him… He had no intention of filming one movie per year anymore. He was now a better man.
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Days passed.
Weeks passed.
Months passed.
Three years passed, and it was now 2012.
From 2009 to 2012, so many things happened.
Ninja Assassin grossed over $814 million, while The Princess and the Frog grossed over $267 million.
The Continental Cinematic Universe also introduced two new franchises: The Expendables and The Hitman's Bodyguard. Both were considered blockbusters and grossed $791 million and $826 million respectively. This further solidified that the CCU was still going strong.
Wall-E, produced by Blue Sky Studio and directed by Christopher Nolan, was a masterpiece and grossed over $1 billion. Christopher Nolan was now a super in-demand director. Wall-E also won Best Animated Feature Film in 2011. It defeated Toy Story 3.
Modern Family and Game of Thrones were also doing well. Modern Family had consistent production, while Game of Thrones was in its fourth season. Both TV shows were profitable.
The Dark Knight Rises was released in 2011. After months of screening, the final part of the Dark Knight trilogy grossed over $1.11 billion. It was critically acclaimed, and fans agreed that the Dark Knight trilogy was one of the best trilogies in the history of cinema. It had high ratings on IMDb.
You might think Kazir's life was smooth sailing at that point, but nope. Since Kazir's reputation was growing stronger and it was becoming harder to bring him down, Walt Disney and Universal Pictures joined forces once again to try and destroy his career.
They accused Kazir of grooming, claiming that his then-wife, Scarlett Johansson-Grey, had been groomed by him. It was a tough situation since they were being blasted on social media, especially when the couple had just recently gotten married.
However, no matter what scandal was thrown at Kazir, he always recovered. On top of that, people were now getting tired of hearing about his scandals, so the grooming accusation didn't last long before it vanished. People weren't stupid, they knew that this was just an attempt to overthrow Kazir.
Overall, Kazir's three years weren't bad, aside from some scuffles.
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[Author's Note: Next will be the last chapter, and it has two versions. I will also post an Afterword just to say my thanks and opinion regarding this novel.]