433 Chapter 433. Revenge
<The box office numbers for last week are out. [Hex – Part 1] rules the box office with around 450 million dollars in its first weekend worldwide. With the momentum of the movie and the steep fall on Monday, it might collect around 800-900 million dollars at the box office, going by how it would have to compete with major movies after its second week.>
That was the major news everywhere at the end of the first weekend for Hollywood. A new fantasy movie has arrived and it has smashed box office records left and right.
Not even Titan studios executives who have said yes to the movie had expected it. They would have been happy with a good amount of profit but this was turning out to be a big blockbuster.
That was the best news for them.
The thing that excited them more was that it was just the first part. The movie had ended on a cliffhanger and it had spreaded everywhere. With time, there are going to be theories and rumours about it and they would be able to grow the hype around the second part more.
Normally, in these types of cases, the second part easily earns at least 30 percent more than the first movie and that means that they would be looking at a 1 billion dollar movie around the same time next year.
That was enough to give every executive in Titan studios sleepless nights due to the excitement of the success they had.
It was already the end of the year and this year, they have been mostly at a loss with a lot of their projects not earning up to the mark. Actually, the whole movie industry was having sort of a blackout with mid budget movies not working.
So, [Hex – Part 1] was the movie that made them forget all their losses and even rake in great profit. Both the parts were already done and they just have to wait for the time to come.
With the two parts, they were going to have around 2 billion dollars in the box office alone (According to estimates).
That’s why, just after the first weekend, they hosted a big success party in the most expensive hotel in LA with top celebrities and everyone who worked in the movie being there.
The party was open to anyone who had worked with Titan studios in the past and undoubtedly, Aiden was the star of it.
“I feel like a lot of people are looking at me with predatory eyes.”
Aiden said as he walked in with Ava. Everyone was looking at both of them. They walked comfortably, so no one thought that both of them were together as even before that, it was an open secret that Ava was one of Aiden’s major connections.
“It’s because you proved one thing that no other star in the younger generation was able to prove.”
“What?”
“That you have people’s support. A lot of people went to the theatre just to support you as a person. No one knows if it’s gonna stay but it’s a major thing still. So, everyone wants a piece of you, literally.”
Aiden just smiled hearing that. From time to time, people introduced themselves to him and he smiled and walked past them. It was pretty standard procedure.
People’s behaviour was very different compared to what it was when the controversy had broken out. Success really changes how people see you.
While walking, Aiden suddenly saw Alberto talking to a few executives and decided that it was time to say hello to him.
Someone from that table also saw Aiden and Ava and waved at them.
They walked closer to the table and Aiden could see Alberto’s face ceasing a bit, seeing him. He smiled a bit at it.
“Aiden, you are here. We were just talking about you. I was telling all of them about your genius idea of dividing the movie into two parts.”
A fat executive, who has attended the meeting in which they have decided to make the movie in two parts, said.
“I think it’s genius only because it worked. If it had failed, I’m pretty sure I would be getting a lot of curses, especially from you Alberto.”
Aiden looked at Alberto who could just laugh.
“I think you are just exaggerating. I’m not really like that.”
“I beg to differ. My assistant got a lot of interesting texts and calls from you just two weeks ago.”
Alberto was sweating at that point. He opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to say something but he didn’t have the words for it.
Everyone on the table knew what had happened two weeks ago and they could already tell that things weren’t right between them.
“Haha, I’m sorry if I have said anything wrong. You know we were very distressed two weeks ago.”
“I know that but a bit of support would have been nice, you know. But well, it’s okay. Everything is fine now.”
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Anyway, they wanted to talk to Aiden about something.
“By the way, Aiden, you have no projects after this right?”
“That’s right.”
He nodded his head and a white bearded man sipped on his drink and opened his mouth.
“Timmy must be throwing things in his office right now. He got you off the project and cast a less known actor in the role when you could have made that movie a hit easily.”
“I can’t do anything about it. The decision was his but I don’t have any hard feelings.” Aiden replied and in his mind, he did feel hurt but he knew that one movie would never make or break his career.
In the future, if Timmy wants to work with him, he wouldn’t mind but he would not make it easy either.
“That’s the right attitude to have.”
The white bearded man said as he nodded his head. The person who had started the conversation added.
“Then, would you be interested in acting in more movies in the <Hex> universe?”
The atmosphere became a bit serious then. Even Ava looked a bit surprised as she hadn’t expected them to bring this up so soon.
It was just the success party for the first part.
Originally, Aiden was supposed to be a part of the first movie and kickstart it and after that, there would be individual storylines of different characters and maybe even a prequel.
Blaze’s character arc was going to be done by the second part and as a character, he would become extremely complicated. Aiden wondered how they would even continue his storyline.
The only one who could do it would be Olio and that guy was probably not interested after making his [Hex] movies.
He was someone who would jump up to something else for sure.
“It’s early to say that. Are there any plans?”
Aiden asked as he squinted his eyes a bit at the executive who laughed.
“We have been busy trying to get a good plan in motion. Two prequel movies on other characters and a TV series are already greenlit. But we were hoping to have another Blaze movie in the next 5 years.”
The man said and Aiden could see profits in his eyes. 5 years was a long time and it seemed like Titan studios wasn’t going to rush. Though, they already have a lot of the VFX work done with [Hex] as a lot of things could be used again and again.
So, making those movies and shows would be less costly now.
Aiden was going to reject it as it was too soon when he thought about something and turned towards Alberto.
“I don’t mind returning actually. But I didn’t have a great time, you know. The movie shooting was good but after that, I felt a bit abandoned. You know what I mean, right?”
Aiden smiled and Alberto glared at him. If he had a gun, shots would have already fired.
“What do you mean, Aiden?” Alberto asked but Aiden ignored him and focused on the executive in front of him.
“I get what you mean. It’s hard to work with people you don’t get along with. There needs to be faith involved.”
“Yes, so if I come back in the role, I would need that faith from the studio.”
“You will get it. After all, you are a big part in the movie’s success.”
The executive said and patted his shoulders. Seeing how close he was being to Aiden, Alberto couldn’t help but intervene.
“What do you mean by that? You know the movie wasn’t a success just because of him.”
“Alberto, I know it was a team effort but even you know we got a lot of goodwill due to Aiden. He’s a major part of it.”
“But…”
“Let’s talk about it later.”
The executive said and shut Alberto off for good.