One of the few things that Alex figured out in his new life is that he likes acting as much as directing. Alex also liked the attention and adoration by the people. Not all good actors could achieve that. May be thay can gain respect but not worship. There are only few of those kind like Harrison ford, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro etc. And Alex know that action stars are the super stars, but in the new millenium there aren't enough bonafide super stars left that can carry the whole movie by themselves. Only Tom Cruise, Leonardo Dicaprio, Brad Pitt and one or two other actors retained their status.
It's because they couldn't give consistent hits, franchise stars couldn't shed their image, and there were lot of one hit wonder kind of actors. There are talent actors but not Idols and Super stars. Alex want to become both a great and popular actor. To achieve that he had to give consistent hits in deversified roles.
The first step in that direction is "The Sixth Sense" to shed the image of Kevin from "Home Alone". After this year's "Home Alone 2" he wouldn't star in this role again. And even if he want to he couldn't as he was about to hit his growth spurt.
Alex chose to make atleast two films every year, one dramatic movie for awards and one for the masses. He will make sure that both are critical and commercial success.
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Alex was in the shooting of "Home Alone 2" when he remembered a film directed by Steven Spielberg about a boy in Shanghai in the time of World war II. But the problem is the script was adapted from the book by J.G. Ballard based on his experiences in the war as a boy. So, it would be difficult to copy the book. That's why Alex had gone personally to meet with the author.
He didn't take his lawyer along with him as it would be too business like. At the front door he was met with a 21 year-old girl with blond hair pinching his cheeks.
"So cute!" she said loudly with excitement.
It was not the first time Alex experienced this. Ever since the release of "Home Alone" every female whether she was 16 year-old or 60 year-old he gets the same treatment. But he still couldn't get quite used to it.
"Bea, you are embarrassing him" said J.G. Ballard who came after her daughter.
"But dad, Kevin is so cute." she said with a smile.
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Alex said with a serious face "Miss Ballard, my name's not Kevin but Alex, Alexander King"
Bea's eyes became wide and Alex cheeks were again piched "You are cute even in anger."
Alex surrendered with his hands up in his mind.
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After that embarrassing event Alex and James (James Graham Ballard) went on their business. James was quite impressed with alex's work in The Sixth Sense and he agreed to let Alex write his childhood as script on the condition that it will start filming only he was satisfied with it and his name as co-writer in the credits. Alex offered $150,000 and 2% share in profit of the film.
Alex chose to revise the script of the originalversion of the film. The film's length is 150 minutes and there aren't even some grandoise war scenes. Though Alex liked it , it's not everyone's cup of tea. He trimmed it maintaining the soul of it , but adding some muscle to it. In Alex's estimation, this version's length would be around 120 minutes.
James was quite satisfied with the script and signed the contract. Alex showed the script to Steven Spielberg and Steven was excited to direct it. Steven was labeled as science fiction specialist but Alex knew that his two best directors are for war films and this movie will be a training exercise for him.
Alex founded a prodution company named Kingston Studios and along with Amblin Entertainment they are going to produce this film.
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By the start of November "The Sixth Sense" grossed $124.8 million domestically and $138.4 million in overseas for a total of $ 263.2 million world wide. Since it was released almost a decade earlier it couldn't out-gross its $672 million but it may as well reach $450 million mark.
"The Pretty Woman" grossed $111.2 million domestically and $102.6 million from overseas for a total of $213.8 million world wide. Although it may not out-gross it's original version world wide it will definitely out-grosss domestically.
In November "Home Alone 2" was released in 2,120 theatres and opened with a staggering $19.2 million weekend and grossed $30.1 million in first week breaking all the records.
And Alex's winning streak is continuing.
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Empire_of_the_Sun.jpg] Related image [https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/02/06/arts/BOOK/BOOK-blog427.jpg]
James Graham " J.G." Ballard