....

  [ Day]

  [July 7th, 2010]

  ….

  The ued blockbuster success of [Following] had sent shockwaves through the industry.

  While Regal and pany basked in their victory, fueling the hype with celebratory promotions, the cast and crew were still struggling to prehend the sheer scale of what they had achieved.

  While that was happening, behind closed doors, frustration simmered in pces far removed from the glitz of box offiumbers.

  Among them - the most disgruntled were Brad Carter and his assistant, John, both from Pixy Studios.

  Brad, a Script Review Coordinator, sat in his office, fuming in silence.

  Outside, John stood just beyond the doorway, clutg a folder he had long fotten the tents of. His mind was elsewhere, repying a versation he had once dismissed.

  Hundred million dolrs… Regal words echoed in his head.

  He had already crossed the the box office, and on top of it, the run isn't over yet. Estimates say it's gonna add another fifty million to that number.

  Regal's cims hadn't been arrogant.

  It had beeainty, the kind of unshakable fidehat, in hindsight, John had uimated.

  He had spent the past week scrolling through article after article about [Following], glowing reviews, analytical breakdowns, arospective articles calling it a 'lottery ticket' for the cast and director.

  Lottery? - that term made him scoff.

  Luck had nothing to do with it.

  This wasn't some fluke. It was a meticulously orchestrated triumph.

  Success wasn't always a matter of ce. Sometimes, it was crafted, executed, and forced into reality with ruthless precision.

  It is an undeniable fact that - Regal had pyed the game and won, while John had been too blind to see it ing.

  Taking a regretful sigh, he pushed open the heavy door to Brad Carter's office.

  Brad sat stiffly in his chair. His gaze flicked upward as John stepped inside, sharp, cutting as the barely restrained fury in his eyes.

  This wasn't going to be a pleasant versation. John thought.

  But then again. When was it ever?

  "M, Sir."

  He greeted him. He didn't dare to say good m.

  "..." Expectedly, Brad didn't respond.

  Still, John tio stand still in front of the now closed door, brag for the iable.

  "Do you have any idea how badly we screwed up, John?" Finally Brad's voice shed through the room like a whip.

  A folder smmed onto the desk, papers spilling out in a chaotic mess. "You had one job! One damn job, get that green-leaf brat on board before they release the movie!"

  John's jaw tightened. He had expected this. Brad's go-to move whehings spiraled out of trol was to find someoo pin it on.

  "...I-I apologize, sir, but Regal was never ied in selling. He only wanted distribution. From the start, there was o be made."

  Brad scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "Bullshit. There is always a deal to be made. You just didn't try hard enough to find the right angle."

  "Sir, the CEO called." John added, pletely hoping to redirect the topic.

  Brad's breath hitched. His nostrils fred, fists twitg like he was resisting the urge to throw something. His anger was volic, but for the first time, it stalled.

  Silence.

  Then, with a heavy exhale, he dropped bato his chair.

  John stood firm, posed. This was the only way to cut through Brad's tirades, dropping something heavier than his e.

  "...tinue." Brad respourning quit.

  John gave a small nod. "The CEO assistant tacted us this m for a meeting."

  "Meeting?" Brad questioned.

  John and Brad both exactly knew what this meeting was about - it is mostly probably about a full 'debrief' report on what happened on Pixy Stuidio's ret box office venture.

  However, it won't just end there, as by now the information abal approag the studio with the movie should have been informed, and obviously he wants to know how and why Brad let [Following] slip right through their fingers.

  John couldn't help but wonder how many studioing through the same process right now.

  Brad exhaled through gritted teeth and kicked the edge of the desk, sending one of the scattered papers fluttering to the floor. "Perfect. Just perfeow I have to up this mess because you couldn't do your damn job!"

  John said nothing. The truth was too obvious to waste words on. He knew better than to push back further when Brad was like this.

  After a beat, Brad let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head. "That little brat… turned an io a goddamn box office phenomenon. And we didn't eve crumbs."

  He exhaled sharply, rubbing his temple before leveling a gre at John. "Fiell me exactly when the meeting is scheduled."

  Because like it or not, they were going to have to answer for this.

  "...about now." John replied, gng at the clock.

  "Be ready. Your mistakes are about to cost both of us." Brad snapped, jabbing a fi John before st off. "And trust me, the sequences won't be pretty."

  As the door shut, Joh out a defeated breath, running a hand over his face befathering the scattered papers.

  He o focus.

  But ohought refused to leave his mind - how the hell had Regal mao pull Stephen Hawking into all this?

  When Regal rejected their offer, John had expected the kid to e crawling back, tail between his legs, ohe realities of distributio in.

  That was how this industry worked.

  Young, cocky filmmakers always made a show of independence, until they hit the wall of logistid funding.

  But this time, it was different.

  Regal hadn't just proved them wrong. He had flipped the entire script.

  They were the ones left regretting their decisions.

  The irony wasn't lost on him. The film industry has a very low success rate. Most projects flopped. Even those with promise barely broke even.

  But when a hit did nd?

  It could secure a studio's future for years. One box office juggernaut meant more projects, more talent, and more power.[Following] had bee that success, a on-a-decade phenomenon.

  If they had just pyed their cards right, pushed a little harder, secured that deal…

  The studio would have made it big.

  And John?

  He would have been rewarded - of course, if he hadn't been robbed of the credit first.

  Still, there was another yer to Brad's frustration, ohat went beyond [Following] success.

  Pixy had released a film the same week, a project Brad had personally championed.

  The film, [Eragon], was an adaptation of the wildly popur first book in [The Iance Cycle] tetralogy, a property that had geed siderable buzz.

  inally published in 2002, the novel had bee a bestseller, amassing a huge following, particurly among young fantasy readers.

  On paper, turning it into a movie should have been a safe bet.

  Adaptations, after all, came with a built-in audience, a guaranteed baseline of ticket sales.

  Brad had pyed it safe at every turn, ensuring the marketing team leaned heavily into the book's fahe pre-release hype had been overwhelming.

  And that was the problem.

  The hype raised expectations.

  When [Eragon] finally hit theaters, it didn't just underperform.

  It crashed.

  Hard.

  Meanwhile, [Following] soared, siphoning off audiences, dominating headlines, aing industry expectations iime.

  The trast couldn't have been more humiliating for Brad, or more infuriating.

  John pressed his lips into a thin line as he finished anizing the scattered papers. He uood the frustration. But this wasn't his failure.

  Regal had outmaneuvered them at every turn, and Brad's refusal to see that wasn't his burden to carry.

  Not that it mattered.

  In Brad's world, someone had to take the fall.

  And that someone was almost always him.….

  Same Time.

  Regal stepped out of the theater, the night air doing little to lift the weight in his chest.

  Less than 25% oc its first week - that was the cold, hard truth staring him in the face. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that meant.

  The movie was as good as dead.

  He could hear the disappointed murmurs around him, scattered fragments of critique from fans and casual viewers alike.

  "Such a letdown."

  "Not what I expected at all."

  "They had so much material to work with…"

  The ents didn't surprise him, but they stung heless - the movie itself wasn't terrible. If anything, it had its moments.

  But somehow, it just didn't nd.

  As Regal walked toward the parking lot, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, gng at the s.

  [Keanu]"Hellal answered, his toral.

  ["Hello. Where the hell are you?"] Keanu's voice came through, ced with irritation. ["You vanish without a word, and now you are not even pig up your phone?"]

  "I went to watch a movie." Regal replied, stepping off the curb and into the night.

  ["Oh, still basking in your own success, huh?"] Keanu's sarcasm was as sharp as ever.

  "Nah, not ours." Regal corrected.

  ["Then what?"]

  "The other ohe ohat dropped the Friday after ours. [Eragon]"

  ["Huh? How was it?"] Keanu asked, his tone shifting slightly.

  "It was… det." Regal said after a moment.

  ["Det? Then, that's definitely bad."] Keanu's response came instantly.

  There was no doubt in his voio room fotiation. It was a simple equation - if Regal didn't ht praise something, then it was bad.

  Keanu didn't know the specifics, and frankly, he didn't care to. He had long since grown aced tal's unfiltered opinions when it came to movies.

  Maybe it was because Regal was also in the creative field, someone who uood how tough filmmaking could be. Or maybe it was just who he was.

  Either way, he had no iion of debating it.

  He just equated it to his character, simply assuming - it is because he is also reted as he is from the creative field and knows how tough it is to make a film.

  ["Well, hurry up a back here. We are waiting."] His voice came again.

  "Yeah, yeah. I am on my way." Regal muttered before ending the call.

  The faint hum of wheels on asphalt pulled his attention.

  He turo see a poster for [Eragon], illuminated uhe dim glow of the marquee.

  For a moment, he simply stared at it, frustration simmerih the surface before esg in a quiet sigh.

  "How the hell do you screw up a project like this - not once, but in both worlds?" He muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Because this so-called [Eragon] was, iy, her than the same [Eragon] movie from his world.

  Yeah. Same title, same train wreck.

  His gaze lingered on the poster for another sed before he scoffed and turned away.

  "Some things never ge, do they…?"

  With that, Regal walked off, his mind already spinning with possibilities.

  ….

  Regal slid into the backseat of a waiting taxi.

  He gave the driver the address of the restaurant where the creaiting, then leaned back, his mind still buzzing with thoughts of [Eragon].The film had been adapted from [Eragon], the first part of [The Iance Cycle], a novel he had read earlier that week to pare this world's version to the one he remembered.

  While the book itself had already made a few ges from [Eragon], the movie had taken it to another level.

  Some ges were immediately noticeable.

  They butchered everything that made the book great.

  First off, they cut out key characters like Murtagh and Ajihad, both of whom pyed signifit roles in Eragon's journey. On top of that, the protagonist himself cked the depth he deserved.

  Eragon in the movie was just a typical, b hero with no real development.

  The dragon -Saphira? The CGI was awful, and she looked nothing like the majestic dragon from the book.

  The plot was rushed, especially the battle with the Empire and Murtagh's twist. It was supposed to be emotional, but it just fell ft.

  The world-building, which was a huge part of the book, barely eves in the film. The movie missed out on expining the different cultures, history, and everything that made the world feel alive.

  Then there was the VFX - a critical aspect for a film of this nature.

  Instead of enhang the high-oe a ses, the visuals were jarring and poorly rendered, breaking any sense of immersion.

  It was as if the studio had tried to cut ers, hoping the y of the source material would carry the project.

  While the parisoween the novel and book was unavoidable, and [Eragon] came out looking like a cheap knockoff.

  The movie was a huge financial loss, and Regal doubted the studio would greenlight a sequel anytime soon.

  .

  ….

  [To be tinued…]

  ★─────??★??─────★

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