chapter 363

    "happy birthday, kazir!"

    angelina hugged and kissed her boyfriend. she was happy about the small party she had prepared for him.

    kazir shrugged and sat down. a cake with his age on it, and a candle with the number 35 on it.

    he knew damn well that he was getting old. but he was happy for the life he had. he had already experienced being old, and this was basically his 2nd season of turning 35.

    in his past life, his 35th birthday was depressing because he spent it alone. he had no one to trust deeply, he had friends but they were more like colleagues to be precise.

    his status in the industry was stagnant and there was no hope. he tried his best to contact investors to invest in his movie, knowing that his horror movies never did well at the box office.

    the good thing was that he was not in debt.

    he was also 35 when his father died.

    ''if i remember correctly, then next year was the year that napoleon dynamite was originally released.''

    napoleon dynamite was released in 2004, which was the year kazir heard the news that his father had died. he went to the funeral, but got punched by his brother instead.

    this time, kazir promised himself that tragedy wouldn''t happen again. he would live a happy life.

    he looked around and saw his friends with whom he had formed a bond. now he was not alone.

    angelina knew that kazir never liked lavish parties, so she decided to keep this one small.

    however, the people who attended the party were not ordinary.

    tom cruise was talking to tom rothman about a possible collaboration. 20th century fox was getting better and tom''s career had gotten a boost after winning the oscars last year.

    agent salvatore and cinematographer rector were also invited. unfortunately, producer harold couldn''t make it because he was busy. however, he sent a gift, an expensive bottle of wine.

    palenque simone and fremont smith also attended the party, although they were busy so they didn''t stay long. the two directors were now working on their projects.

    palenque with game of thrones, while fremont was looking for scripts to film. if fremont couldn''t find a script, he would write one himself. although he was not sure he had the talent, he understood that someone like kazir was hard to find.

    now kazir officially broke the curse that pirate-themed movies would never make money.

    "skill issue. get gud."

    those should be the best answers to carolco pictures and universal pictures, the two production studios that failed to deliver great pirate-themed movies, water world and cutthroat island.

    even college professors have studied kazir''s formula for breaking the curse.

    well, if anyone was going to bring change to hollywood, it was probably kazir. because he has brought so many changes.

    kazir popularized realistic action stunts.

    he also started the first successful cinematic universe.

    he was the first director to make two $1 billion movies in a row.

    he was out of this world. truly a director who deserved the respect of many people.

    as for the equalizer, after 60 days in theaters, it has grossed $177 million in north america and $161 million overseas. that puts the equalizer at $338 million.

    grey pictures was in a pretty tight spot a few months ago, but now they can breathe a little easier. 20th century fox has already sent them $100 million for pirates of the caribbean and $70 million for the equalizer.

    the deal for both movies was that 20th century fox would be responsible for distribution in exchange for 25% of the box office.

    25% for 20th century fox.

    40% for cinema alliance.

    leaving grey pictures with 35% as their share. the good news, as always, was that grey pictures owned the copyrights to these movies and they could control how they sold their tv broadcast rights.

    the dvd copies were no problem either, grey pictures would have the bigger profit. in the long run, dvds were more profitable than the box office. because grey pictures could sell dvds for years to come and the profits would increase.

    +++++

    [see you tomorrow.]