April 1, 2004. It was late night yet some theaters were busy because of the people who wanted to watch a movie.
April was not a popular month to release movies but it didn't mean that there would be no audience at all.
Besides, the movie that was set to be released tonight was a CCU movie. One of the most anticipated movies this year.
CCU catered more to the male population so most of the people in the cinemas were men. Although some women also stayed up all night to buy tickets.
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Some paparazzi on the red carpet kept yelling and asking him about Angelina Jolie.
After all, this was the first time that Kazir attended a premiere without Angelina so some people were curious about it.
Unfortunately, Kazir didn't know how to answer the question. The two ceased their communication after the Academy Awards announced nominations.
Deep inside, Kazir understood that both of them had differences and it seemed like it was difficult to compromise. They couldn't find the perfect answer, because both of them wanted something the other didn't like.
He decided to act deaf. He didn't look at the reporters who kept asking him for gossip.
There were rumors that Kazir and Angelina broke up and this story spread in every corner of Hollywood. The two stopped showing to the public together, giving the media the idea that Kazir and Angelina were done.
Kazir didn't know how to define their current relationship. Perhaps they were indeed done.
Thankfully, the reporter from News Corporation understood the atmosphere and never asked him about Angelina.
Kazir entered the theater in a not-so-good mood. He did his best to control his expression.
He was greeted by the cast and important people from 20th Century Fox.
Surprisingly, Kazir also found Carl Ludwig in the theater. Carl was the producer of Kung Fu Panda, he also had a high position in the Blue Sky Studio.
Carl was eager to talk to Kazir about the project. Perhaps that was the reason why Carl attended the premiere... Erm, he was actually a fan of CCU, maybe he also wanted to watch the movie.
Kazir nodded at Carl who was approaching him.
"Carl, let's talk tomorrow. I'll set up a schedule for us to have a conversation."
"Thanks, director. I'm having a problem with the character designs of some characters such as Tigress..."
Carl paused. He also heard about the rumors. Kazir was the one who recommended Angelina to be the voice of Tigress in the movie. It seemed like this recommendation could backfire.
Kazir just smirked while Carl became uncomfortable.
"Then, let's talk tomorrow, director." Carl excused himself.
Kazir found his seat sat down and sighed. Tonight's red carpet was uncomfortable for him.
'Hopefully, the box office result can give me good news. We spent $130 million on this project overall, with half of it invested in promoting the movie.'
Their budget for every movie was increasing and it was understandable. The salary of the cast and director doubled while the expenses were also huge. They have to rent more than 100 cars for this movie alone. It also didn't help that inflation was getting worse.
After thinking about some stuff, the screening started as the lights went off. The ads for the upcoming movies were shown first, movies such as Garfield, Alien Vs. Predator caught the attention of the audience.
It was a standard procedure that before the movie, movie trailers of upcoming movies should be shown first.
Then, the logo of 20th Century Fox with its iconic music echoed. After that was the logo of Grey Pictures.
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Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, a live-action movie based on a popular cartoon, was released a week before April 1 and it could be considered a rival of 2 Fast 2 Furious.
However, the first weekend of April was dominated by 2 Fast 2 Furious because there were no big movies that were released in the same week.
Scooby-Doo 2 and 2 Fast 2 Furious might have a competition but because of their different genre, the audience had the chance to appreciate each. The families who had under 13 would probably choose Scooby-Doo 2 while men and teenagers would choose 2 Fast 2 Furious.
April 2, Friday. The first 24 hours of 2 Fast 2 Furious grossed $21.25 million. Grey Pictures grew numb to these results, to be honest. They feel like this kind of result was the norm whenever a CCU movie was released.
When Kazir heard the box office result, he decided to relax his mind and focus on talking to Carl about the problems that Kung Fu Panda was facing such as character designs and stunt choreography. Yes, movies like Kung Fu Panda had stunt choreography.
April 2, Saturday. The movie made another $19.27 million.
On Sunday, April 3, the movie made another $22.13 million.
The first weekend of 2 Fast 2 Furious was a success, a term that was always part of the CCU. After years of constant release, it became a tradition for many people to watch at least one CCU movie per year.
Combining the sales every day, the first weekend of 2 Fast 2 Furious grossed $62.65 million. That week, Kazir received another batch of congratulations