My Hollywood System

Chapter 222: [Bonus Chapter] |

The noise in the hall slowly quietened as others focused on what they were assuming was going to be a verbal clash between Titans in the industry.

Many were whispering as they looked curiously at what the CEO of the largest studio in Hollywood had to say to Will Evans, considering [Darklow Wizards] loss against Dream Vision’s [Spider-Man], while some were eagerly anticipating a verbal spar of wits and cleverly concealed barbs to play out in front of them.

“Ooh, we have to record this,” A journalist from Vanity Magazine whispered to her photographer urgently, “This could easily be front page headlines here. Hurry up, Paul! Stop floundering, you idiot and start the camera!”

“Sheesh, calm down, will ya?” The photographer grumbled as he fumbled with the expensive camera hung around his neck, “I’m on it. You don’t have to get on my case like this, Mary. I am on it.”

“Uggh, hurry up! I swear, I regret letting Peter go. He did a much better job than you do.” The reporter, Mary Janet Wardson, commented sarcastically as she watched Paul fumble with the camera.

The man finally got the camera ready as the CEO reached Will Evans.

“Finally, I thought I’d have to make do with my phone, like most other things in my life now.” The reporter snarked.

“What does that mean?” Paul asked grumpily as he started recording the event that was to play out before them.

“Shhh, stop ruining this too, and keep recording!” Mary replied harshly.

The cameraman grumpily started recording what they believed would be a verbal spar that would make the front pages of the entire Oscar event if things played out the way that everyone expected it to, but the charismatic CEO of Allen Studios surprised everyone, most of all Will Evans by smiling widely at him and pulling him in for a firm handshake.

“Congratulations on the Oscar win, Will! You deserve it.” He said, and when he noticed the befuddled expression on Will, he continued, “I loved [1917], just like I loved watching [Spider-Man] last weekend. Truly remarkable masterpieces, the both of them.”

Will quickly gathered his wits and smiled, even as he wondered what angle Ashton was playing for now, and replied, “Thank you, Ashton. I hope we can avoid the clash we had at the box office next time. [Darklow Wizard] was a good movie, all things considered, but it was just unlucky in its run.”

Ashton sighed as he looked Will directly in the eye and remarked, “Maybe it was indeed unlucky, who knows? I just wanted to congratulate you on your success. Have a great night Will!” and he patted Will on the shoulder as he walked away, leaving a very confused audience behind him.

Will stared at the back of the cheerful CEO as he walked off toward the bar. He wondered what angle he was working this time, and Will decided to use the empathy skill he had gained from his system to glean his intention. The only thing he got was a sense of excitement, determination, and mischief. Was he plotting something again? What was that? Only time would tell.

Will just had a sinking feeling in his gut that the clash between Dream Vision’s [Spider-Man] and Allen Studios’ [Darklow Wizards is just one in a long line of clashes that were yet to come in his future.

“This is all your fault, you know! I will have to work twice as hard to get this on the front page. Shit, I might as well just cover Will Evan’s Oscar win as my cover story for this weekend. You can’t do anything right, can you, Paul?” Mary commented as she grumped, seeing the lack of drama that she could report on in the confrontation.

“How is this my fault!?” Paul complained as he finished filming.

“It just is. Everything is your fault. You know what, I will see if I can talk to Zeb and get Peter back. You don’t cut it anymore.” She said as she started making her way out of the hall and back to her car.

“Hey, what the hell!” Paul complained as he followed the redheaded reporter out of the hall as well.

“Exactly my point. What the hell was Zeb Wells thinking assigning you to me!” She said as they both exited the hall.

*********

With [Spider-Man] making more than 600 million dollars at the box office in under a month, most critics were touting it to be another Billion-dollar Box Office blockbuster in Dream Vision’s belt. It had become something of a sensation on almost every platform.

Spider-Man comics and merchandise produced by Dream Vision were rolling off shelves like hot cakes on a calm winter evening. Spider-Man’s latest entry into the comics had managed to cement the beloved character into the hearts and minds of a lot of True Believers, both new and old.

Stan Lee had collaborated with rookie Author Dan Slott and J. Michael Straczynski to bring Spider-Man onto a new pedestal after having recently reworked their greatest comic run in ‘The Night Gwen Stacy Died’, and it headed into ‘The Clone Saga’ introducing new beloved characters like Ben Reilly and Helen Parker into the Spider-Man family.

Many internet critics were using said Comics, alongside other famous Marvel comics like Jim Starlin’s ‘Infinity Crusade’ and Johnathan Hickman’s ‘The Avengers’ giving a rebirth to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s original Avengers comic with their own twist.

CanadaBoy was one such internet critic, as well as a Movie theorist. He also happened to be a long-running Marvel Comics fan. In his latest MeTube video titled [Spider-Man Marvel’s saviour awakens, what’s next?] he said –

[With the success of Dream Vision’s Spider-Man kicking off what looks like the Marvel Universe, Dream Vision has teased yet another Marvel character in the post-credits scenes of the movie.

Stark Industries, a famous weapons developer and the owner of the clunky Iron Man armour Tony Stark has been teased, with Peter Parker and Harry Osborn talking about visiting an event called the Stark Expo.

Now, viewers at home who have not read the comics, either the original or the reboot, may be wondering who Iron Man is and who he represents.

Iron Man is a rich billionaire who, due to his guilt and traumatic life at home, leads a double life as a man in metal armour. His biggest enemy isn’t a big supervillain but is rather his own alcoholism. He has been featured and touted in the marvel comics as a genius who is egotistic and narcissistic with a tendency to live a playboy lifestyle.

He was also a part of Marvel’s Original answer to DC’s justice league, when he featured as a founding member of the Avengers, alongside other famous Marvel characters like the Incredible Hulk, who is a scientist who turned himself into a giant green monster triggered by his own anger, A Norse god of Thunder, Thor Odinson, who lives a double life as a doctor on Earth, as Doctor Donald Blake, and the genius scientist Hank Pym and his wife Janet Van Dyne, who have the power to change their sizes by becoming the ant man, and the wasp respectively.

Whether Dream Vision plan’s to introduce these characters is a mystery as of yet, but with them teasing Stark industries and the consequent presence of the iron man in the movie [Spider-Man] it could mean that Dream Vision has plans to introduce some of these other marvel characters on the big screen.

With [Spider-Man] being Dream Vision and Marvel’s answer to DC comic’s 80s hit Superman, does this mean that it is a rebirth of Comic Book movies in general? I certainly hope so.

Stay tuned for more. Please like this video and subscribe to my channel for more content about upcoming movies or if you want to stay in touch with Dream Vision in general.

This is CanadaBoy signing off!]

******

ComixHub Store – Los Angeles

Nineteen-year-old comic book enthusiast, Stanley Martin, entered the Los Angeles comic book store alongside his girlfriend. He was very excited as they had just come from a date, where they had watched [Spider-Man] at the theatre, and he thought that the date went pretty well.

His girlfriend, Joan Lee, had been awed by the film, and he counted that as a resounding success. Stanley is what a marvel fan would call a true believer. He had followed most major events of the marvel comics religiously, just like his father had once done. His favourite Marvel Comic event was the 1986 Secret Wars two comic event. Sadly right after that, Event Marvel comics’ final successful issue was launched, which killed almost all the famous heroes of Marvel, and never properly reintroduced them again. Until now, that is.

He walked by an isle of Spider-Man figurines while he held his girlfriend’s hand tightly in his hand.

“Hey, Martin! Look at this one. This MJ is an exact replica of her cover from that issue you showed last Sunday. It’s so cool! Ooh, and this one, with the Green Goblin holding Gwen Stacy over the bridge, it’s so beautiful!” She squealed as she admired the design, but he had his eyes on only one figurine on the isle.

The latest movie version of the Spider-Man action figure, fighting the green goblin. Dream Vision Studios and XYZ company had done a fantastic job of recreating the scene from the movie in the form of this collectable. He knew he had to have it.

Picking the figurine off the shelf, while still in its packaging, he admired the intricate work of the fine woodwork. Just as he was about to show the figurine to Joan, he heard a tiny voice.

“Mom! Mom! The uncle said that it was here. The Spidey-Green Goblin collectable is this way! Please, please, please, can I have it!” The voice said, and Stanley Martin saw that it was a little African-American boy, heading right toward the figure that he had just retrieved.

“Yes, sweetheart. I will get it for you, just get it from the aisle, and I will wait for you by the counter, darling.” The boy’s mother replied from somewhere further inside the store.

Stanley saw the boy run right toward him and search for the toy on the aisle, and when the boy saw that the last available piece had been taken by Stanley, his expression turned very dour, and it broke his heart.

Stanley looked at the last collector’s edition piece available in the store, and he was sure that it was probably the last piece available anywhere in the city and fought very hard with himself, but he decided that even here, he would be a true believer and part with the figurine.

He beckoned the kid, who was dejectedly walking back to his mom, seeing the last toy had been taken away. “Hey, kiddo! Wait up!” And he made his way to the boy, who looked inquisitively at him.

Martin took one more look at the figurine in his hand and then at the kid who was staring at the toy now with hope in his eyes, and he said, “Here, take this. You can have it,” giving the toy to the young child.

The boy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, and it melted Martin’s heart.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The boy prattled on as he hugged Martin around the waist, and Stanley chuckled, a little taken aback by the boy’s gratitude. He ruffled the kid’s hair and said, “You’re a fan of Spider-Man, huh?”

The boy nodded, still not taking his eyes off the action figure in his hands.

Stanley smiled, seeing the boy, and asked, “Hey, do you read comics?”

The boy nodded yet again and mumbled, “Not a lot, just a few characters. I love Peter Parker!”

Stanley smiled again and kneeled down to the kid and said, “I love Pete too, kiddo. Say, do you know who Miles Morales is?”

The kid confusedly looked at Martin and shook his head. “Is that a new superhero?”

Stanley smiled widely and said, “Why don’t you wait for me here for a minute? Let me grab a comic I am sure you will love!”

The boy looked unsure of himself but nodded after he looked at his mom for permission, who had been watching their exchange an aisle down from them.

Noticing the woman, Stanley smiled at the woman too, and he made his way into the back of the comic store and grabbed the first issue of ‘Miles Morales – Spider-Man’ off the shelf, and paid for the comic and the collectable action figure at the counter before he made his way back to the kid.

Standing in front of the kid, he kneeled again and said, “Here, this one’s for you! On me!” signalling that he would pay for the comic for the boy, but the boy had his eyes glued to the cover of the comic like a hawk.

The boy immediately turned around as he jumped in joy again, saying “Mom! Mom! Spider-Man looks like me! Spider-Man looks like me!” And Stanley knew he had made the right decision.

The boy had completely forgotten about Stanley, and that was fine by him. He would let the boy enjoy the wonders of the new spider-man. The boy’s mother looked on appreciatively at him as she mouthed ‘Thank You’ to Stanley as they made their way out of the store, the boy now seemingly engrossed in reading the opening panels of the comic.

Martin watched them leave with a wide smile plastered on his face when someone tapped his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Joan smiling brightly at him. She took his hand in hers and gave him a quick kiss, and said, “I am proud of you,”

Stanley smiled back at her and said, “It’s what any true believer would have done. Just like uncle Ben said to Peter, ‘With Great Power comes Great Responsibility, and I had the power to make the day of that little boy, so I took it as my responsibility to do the right thing.”

Joan smiled again at her boyfriend and said, “It’s one of your most endearing qualities Stan. I love you.”

*********

Hollywood Boulevard, Will Evan’s mansion.

Will and June lay under the sheets of their bed as they cuddled each other. Will traced small circles on June’s back after having enjoyed their time together in bed, having returned from the Oscars just recently.

“Babe?” Will asked her as he continued tracing circles on her back.

“Hmm?” She replied contently.

“Don’t you have classes tomorrow? How are they, by the way?” He asked, and she propped herself on the bed, giving Will a wonderful view to enjoy.

She smirked a little, seeing his eyes trial all over her body, but replied, “They are going wonderfully! I am learning so much. And I already got someone to Audition for my first film. The one that I told you about, remember?”

Will nodded, she had taken inspiration from his own [The Blair Witch Project] and decided to make a camcorder-esque movie of her own, and Will was pleasantly surprised when the script that she had managed to pen down came out remarkably similar to [Paranormal Activity] from his previous life.

She had managed to nail the essence of the movie in the script, even though she hadn’t named it yet, and Will was of half a mind to name it [Paranormal Activity] for her. The budget for the original had been around 300k dollars, and if she went with similar production, she would end up with something more or less in the same range after accounting for advancements in tech and CGI.

She had even gotten a few rookie actors to audition for her movie, and she was confident of one of those actors being her lead.

“If you need any help, you can approach me any time, alright?” Will said as he pulled her on top of him, eager to repeat their previous activities.

“Hmmm, I will keep that in mind for now, though, mister, it looks like we have something much more fun to occupy our time with, don’t you think?” She said as she trailed a dainty finger down the length of his uncovered torso and beneath the sheets.

Yes, they were in for a long fun night, alright.

…

//DreamNote//

Sorry for the delay, I timed the chapters at PM instead of AM.

this was a long chapter, hope you enjoyed it. gn