Chapter 21: Chapter 21

'A Refreshing take on the Superhero genre.'

'Better than Spider-Man?'

'The Black Superman.'

'Not so Iconic.'

A week passed since the release of Icon, and it was all the media could talk about. It was bringing in a lot of money, but I did not know how much it would have by the end of its run. With the ads and trailers I pushed on YouTube, the opening showing was outstanding. Already having had made 448 million in box office earnings. The cast members were being invited to talk shows, radio stations, and articles were being written about them.

There were also various reviews from people on YouTube. Some were good, some were bad but either way people were paying attention.

After the second day of its release we all decided that a sequel would be made. John already wrote the script for it, and it was a duo film featuring both Icon and Rocket. I wasn't sure if I should keep the same team to direct and produce this film, or change them. For now, we would just wait.

Rocket's film was set to release in July the day after the fourth, with Static's film coming out in late January of next year. Since a solo film of Hardware was after Static, we had to start finding cast members for it soon.

All of that could be settled later, however, as I was more concerned with the end of the meeting I just had with the CEO of WarnerBros Media. It was as I thought, he along with his board, saw the potential that the universe had and wanted it for themselves. Telling me how they owned the characters and I did not get the right to make this film from them.

When I mentioned the only rights they had were to the characters in the comic books but not any productions outside of that, then they got mad. I had Sandra here with me along with her coworker, so this meeting were just talks, and they could not take any legal action against me. This was in a way their own fault. They pushed repeat movies about Superman and Batman, people could only see the same characters so much before interest started to die down. That's why Spider-Man was sitting at the top of the Box Office with the numbers it did.

People liked superhero movies, but they also liked new. Meaning they wanted to see more than just one or three characters constantly. People always wanted to see new heroes emerge.

After my legal team left the meeting room, my phone started buzzing and I opened my phone to answer it. It was Dwayne who had impeccable timing. For him to call me at this moment, it was as if he could see the big wigs from WarnerBros leaving himself. I still answered his call, even if my mood was a bit sour.

"Hello?"

"Alex! The film is a major success everyone is talking about it. Some of the people I founded the company with even wanted to return, can you believe it?"

"Who wants to return? Denys? If he does, the company would grow exponentially. Haven't you seen the show he produced?"

"You're talking about The Boondocks? It's a really good show, but Denys is pretty set on staying where he is. Unless he manages to get a huge benefit for coming back. I was talking about Michael and Derek." Dwayne said.

I wasn't sure what either of those two were up two, as neither one appeared in the news or had their names attached to anything promising. The one good thing they had going for them was that they helped found Milestone Media and created the Dakotaverse.

"I see, do you plan on letting them return?" I asked after hearing who he was talking about.

"I'm thinking about it. We haven't been in touch much since they left, but these last few years we've all been in communication with one another. They did help build this, so I feel it's right that they return. However, it is also at a time where we are in the spotlight, so I'm a bit cautious." Dwayne told me honestly.

This was true and even I had my suspicions on the subject. Neither of them wanted anything to do with the company before, but now after the release of the movie and reboot of the comic series they both wanted to come back. Anyone could tell the reason why.

"If you want my opinion, I'd only let them back if they can produce a promising series. That way the universe can grow, but you also retain the characters that are already there. Imagine if they came back and wanted to start writing new issues for Static? It could be disastrous."

"That is a good point, I think I'll tell them that. Maybe they'll add another female hero or something."

You are reading story Return to 2004 at novel35.com

"Speaking of heroes, you told me that there was a promising artist that just started working there. Has she been assigned to any projects? Or is there something new in the works?" I asked.

"Not really new, she was going to work on a character in the Blood Syndicate. It is our biggest group, so even if she messed up somewhere it wouldn't be noticed or have too much attention drawn to it."

"Can you send me over a bit o her work? I told you before I have a few ideas for some characters and want to see if she is the right person to tell their story."

"Sure, I can do that right away. What kind of character were you thinking of?"

"Well, gender doesn't necessarily matter. I was picturing someone that could gain the power of their religions gods, either old or new gods. I was thinking of calling them Aspect." I told him.

"That's interesting, if you have a background for them as well let me know. They'll probably not be a Bang Baby, it is better to have their source of power come from somewhere else." Dwayne said and I agreed.

This idea was something I had a long time ago so the character sheet was already filled out. I personally did not believe this to be a unique type of power, but it would be different than all the other characters in the Dakotverse. 

"Oh, before I forget, there was this article that came out just a few minutes ago. You started dating Scarlett Johansson?"

Huh? An article? Oh! I nearly forgot that our pictures were taken together last week and no news reported on our outing together. Since nothing new appeared on the internet, or in the papers, it slipped my mind.

Me and Scarlett dating though? That was not the case at all, we were just two people that got together every so often to talk about various subjects. I was pushing for her to audition for the role of Black Widow, but Marvel did not have a character like that as of yet. At least in any of the films they were producing.

"No. I'm not sure if I want to date any celebrities." I replied. "Where did you hear that at by the way?" I added at the end.

"It was released by PopCulture a few minutes before I called you. I only saw it because it was in my news feed on Google."

"Oh, alright. We didn't discuss anything about what we were going to do, so I'll send her a message to see how she wants to handle this."

Dwayne laughed on the other end of the phone once he heard me say that.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. I don't think she'll want to do anything about it is all. This would be good for you both, but its up to the two of you. I'll send over her work in a bit. Talk to you later."

"Alright, talk to you later man."

Five minutes after I got off the phone with Dwayne, Emily one of the people in charge of marketing for our movies rushed in. I kind of knew what this was going to be about since Dwayne just told me. But, it would be interesting to see what she suggested I do.

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: Return to 2004, Read Return to 2004, Return to 2004 novel, Return to 2004 book, Return to 2004 story, Return to 2004 full, Return to 2004 Latest Chapter