My Hollywood System

Chapter 214:

At Cloud Cinema, San Francisco

The group of young friends with different opinions on [Spiderman] walked inside the theatre to watch the movie. Even before the movie started, they had different expectations which they shared among themselves.

“I swear to fucking God! If this wasn’t something that we could go home with smiles, I am SO not hanging out with Dickson for the amount of shit he put on me to watch this,” The curly-headed guy said with a scoff.

“Hey, don’t blame it on me. You liked the trailer and even told me that it’s better than the last one we went out to watch, didn’t you?! And, I’m 100% sure that anything Will makes would become a hit!” It was from the friend who sat beside the curly-headed one.

“Yeah, stop that already. Not that I’m rooting for Will or anything, but the trailer looked really good—How much more time do we have till it starts?” The one with the pop-corn said, stuffing his mouth with some.

“Just 7 minutes. Don’t eat everything before the movie even starts,”

The theatre soon began to fill with people with different ages. Kids, teenagers, adults with varying occupations, parents who got a free-time off after exhausting days—and all of them had something in common; which was the need and the urge to watch [Spiderman].

Since it was the first screening of the movie in the theatre, many people had trouble booking the seat where they were right now. Nevertheless, not even one person was inside the theatre against their will, except two-three young men from the friend group we witnessed before; but soon their perspective would have a 180 turn too.

The black screen finally lit up after a few minutes.

“Who am I? You sure you want to know?

The story of my life

is not for the faint of heart.

If somebody said

It was a happy little tale…

… if somebody told you I was just an

average ordinary guy, not a care in the world…

… somebody lied.

But let me assure you, this

like any story worth telling…

… is all about a girl.

That girl. The girl next door.

Mary Jane Watson.

The woman I’ve loved…”

Thus, the [Spiderman] officially began.

***

The entire audience was in a pool of emotions, feelings and extremely into the movie. Some had their eyes glued, and some had their mouths opened.

“Osborn… This is the dude must be that one—”

“John, don’t spoil the movie. Shh…”

A couple who sat four rows behind from the front kept watching the screen in full-focus. Her boyfriend had read the comics before, and throughout the journey she had to threaten him not to spoil it because he tends to do it ‘a lot’. Her words, not mine.

“No, I mean—Look at-”

“Shut the f*ck up, or we’re done.” She muttered and gave the popcorn bucket to her boyfriend who took it and zipped his mouth.

***

At ‘Fries and Fanta’ theatre, Los Angeles

The movie had already begun and they were all at almost the end. The audience had gone through a vivid number of emotions throughout the movie. The way that the characters were portrayed stunned the entire audience.

“Those ungrateful brats!” Green Goblin talked to Osborn on the screen.

“Go away!” Osborn was extremely in agony with the devil he got to face.

“Did they think they could treat an Osborn this way? Did they dream there would not be hell to pay?!”

“Leave my son alone!”

“Not just the idiot son, Osborn… the harlot as well… the interloper… All three of them… They must be dispatched. From a great height…”

Osborn clutched his head in pain.

“What the fuck?!” A person in the crowd shouted.

“I am Norman Osborn, I am Norman Osborn, I am Norman Osborn…” He talked to himself.

“Norman is weak… Norman’s a waste…”

Osborn suddenly fell to his knees. He wasn’t able to bear the pain and the words of the Green Goblin.

The people in the audience had wide eyes, and some were even clutching their nearest partner’s hand! Yet, the entire hall went into pin-drop silence in a split-second.

“…AND I’M IN HIS PLACE!!!” Green Goblin shouted.

“Fuck that monster!”

“Be stronger… Bro! No no no!”

“What in the fucking world…! Shit!”

The words that came out from many adults weren’t exactly pg-13 for all the kids. Nevertheless, kids who were beside their parents were surprisingly silent—maybe pretending they never heard any cusses.

***

*SMACK!*

Spider-Man swinged into frame, splatted to a stop on the side of the OsCorp Building, near the base. He looked up and saw the elevator falling toward him.

He crawled to the machinery panel atop the elevator works.

*SMASH!*

He dived in through the glass, reached into the machine room, grabbed hold of the loose cable as it flew by!

He groaned in pain, wrapped both hands around the cable and fell back to the ground, but still it whizzed through his hands!

The Goblin roared down the building, atop his Glider… then he screamed in anger.

“NO!” Green Goblin shouted.

And then, the next scene appeared where Spiderman was fighting with Green Goblin—Face to face. It was already a mess in the scene, M. J. was in the hands of Goblin and Spidey was planning his next move.

“Mom, will Spidey be able to rescue her?” A ten-year-old asked his mom, while looking up to meet her eyes from his big brown eyes.

“Of course, keep watching! If you want to encourage him, tell him that you want him to win!” His mom whispered in his ear.

“Go spidey.. Go! You got this! Yes.. Yes… No, left left… Go go go!” The little kid started whispering good nothings to support the Spiderman on the screen.

It seemed as if it was not just the kid, but also many adults who had their emotions running up the hill and being dragged down, silently praying while their hands clenched into fists.

***

“PULL UP, PULL UP, PULL UP!!!” The pilots finally pulled Spiderman and M.J. up from the water. They both were soaking wet, but M.J. had other plans due to everything that was going on, including the rush of adrenaline.

M.J. looked into Spider-Man’s eyes. She reached up and raised the

bottom of his mask, revealing only his lips.

“Kiss me now!” she said.

Didn’t have to tell him twice, he kissed her.

The scenes passed by, and people were still watching the movie with the same intense environment as the start of it. Some were feeling heavy due to how the movie was coming to an end, and some simply enjoyed what was playing on the screen.

“Ah! Is this the end…?!”

“I hope not… Please no!”

Two girls chatted among themselves.

“But I can’t. I will never forget these words: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.'”

Spiderman’s voice over came into the play.

“Because I love her, she will never, ever know.”

Up ahead, an enormous mirrored building looms up in front of the screen,

maybe it’s the one Saul Bass used in the opening of ‘North By

Northwest.’

“This is my gift.” His voice said.

The camera showed how Spiderman was approaching the building fast, fast, and it was visible for them. The reflection, growing bigger, bigger, bigger, huge.

“This is my curse”

He is up against the side of the mirrored building, and finally sees him as a figure, blood red and midnight blue just hanging there in the camera lens.

“I am Spider-Man.” He said.

And that final scene was the exact scene from the trailer which attracted so many people. Seeing that, many got goosebumps in their hands.

“Fuck! Yes yes yes yes! Look at him!!”

“Spiderman! I want acheesenother movie with Spidey! Ah! That was the best ending and the best start!”

***

Back again, at Fries and Fanta Theatre

“And… that ended,” A kid’s father told him and patted his head asking him to stand up to walk through the exit.

“That can’t end like that, dad! I want more! He is so cool! I wanna be like Spidey! Please… Please…!”

The kid was still in his seat and his dad was right beside him.

“I know kidd–”

“Hello everyone! Hope no one left the theatre!” A guy suddenly appeared in front of them with a microphone.

“Uh, let’s wait and see, please?” The kid whispered to his dad, for which he nodded.

“I have a little surprise for everyone! From all the faces even while I’m down here and I can see nothing, haha… I can feel how good it was! Did y’all like it?!” The voice got louder and the lights got dimmer.

Everyone cheered saying ‘yes!’.

Suddenly, Andrew appeared out of the blue and did some of the stunts on the front space available. The staircase which was pretty empty, he rolled on the ground and stood straight up, while waving at everyone who already was up from their seats.

“Spiderman!”

“Peter Parker!”

“Are you really Andrew?!!!”

“No way! Peter!”

“Are you real?”

“Is this a joke! No way no way no way!”

The cheers were completely high and above on air.

Behind Andrew, Will Evans and Stan Lee walked inside the theatre.

“Oh my God! Will Evans! Look at that side!” Everyone turned to look at Will. Andrew, who walked back to them, stood beside Will and removed his face mask.

“I can see how much everyone liked the movie! Am I right?!” Will asked loudly and everyone cheered again!

Will’s plan was to bring Stan Lee, Andrew, Damon, and Rachel to the premises, so that they could promote it more. As Will had mentioned, there’d be hundreds of articles running around the world due to this surprise. And this was a great marketing plan that Will implied. But, Damon and Rachel were preoccupied.