chapter 360

    "congratulations, director."

    "ah? yes, thank you."

    kazir nodded confusedly as he entered the blue sky studio building. this was the first time he had been to this place, so he was confused when the security guard congratulated him. he was not even sure what the guard was congratulating him for.

    ''is he talking about pirates of the caribbean? or maybe the equalizer?''

    kazir was not sure.

    both movies were making a lot of money at the box office on september 6.

    pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl has already grossed $280.44 million at the north american box office. overseas, the film has currently grossed more than $172 million. the worldwide box office for pirates of the caribbean has now reached $452 million.

    the movie was still making money internationally and its reception was mostly positive. the pirate theme was not common, but people liked pirates of the caribbean.

    as for the equalizer, it grossed $170.25 million at the north american box office. the movie just had its first week of international release and made $48 million.

    as for the other movies released in the same month (august) as the equalizer, their performances were mediocre.

    american wedding, freaky friday, s.w.a.t. and freddy vs. jason, their genres and popularity were nothing compared to a ccu movie.

    they couldn''t compete with the equalizer in the long run. this shows how much grey pictures has struck gold with their franchises. all they had to do was set the movie in the ccu universe and audiences would buy tickets just to see it.

    however, kazir was adamant that the continental cinematic universe should focus solely on the action genre. he had no intention of adding drama, comedy, or romance to ccu. it would lose its appeal, kazir felt.

    ''now that i think about it, my birthday is coming up... maybe the guard wished me a happy birthday earlier. probably not. i know i''m famous now, but most people probably don''t know when my birthday is or any other information about me.''

    the reason kazir came to this place was because of the scripts tom rothman wanted him to write. everyone knew that kazir was a talented screenwriter and his stories made money.

    if blue sky studio couldn''t beat pixar at animation, why not at storytelling?

    finding nemo was a heartwarming movie... surely kazir could cook up something similar, right?

    as a veteran of hollywood, kazir was also interested in the animation market. since he had been given the opportunity to participate in blue sky studio, he wanted to make sure that his participation was worthwhile.

    he had "come up" with three scripts for different purposes.

    the first was wall-e. in terms of plot, this movie was comparable to finding nemo. it won many awards, including the academy award for best animated feature. the box office was not bad either, grossing more than $500 million. kazir liked this movie and he believed that this movie was not only for children but also for adults. no, it was actually meant for adults because of its plot alone.

    as for his second script, he decided to write one of the highest grossing franchises in the animation market. cars!

    cars, starring lightning mcqueen. this franchise grossed more than $21 billion in revenue! it had a simple plot, but the profit it generated was not so simple. pixar struck gold with cars.

    the third was more in his forte, kazir wrote the script for kung fu panda. a 3d animated film based on a panda. it focused more on action and fighting, so boys and men would definitely like it.

    between the three, cars and kung fu panda were successful franchises that had multiple sequels. with cars being the most profitable.

    while wall-e was more focused on novelty and prestige, it didn''t have a sequel and was also the least profitable.

    +++++

    [author''s note: i almost suffered from a disease called procrastination. fortunately, i persevered and updated three chapters today].