Pokemon: Lord of Fear

Fifty million PokeDollars, then a box office of one million three hundred thousand, with the production company having to share the profits. This is a loss that could leave a company bankrupt—such a financial blow could send a small company into complete collapse, leaving the owner in a desperate situation.

"And the other movies are like this too. For the other large-scale productions, the highest box office is often only around two million," Hayden said with a hint of helplessness in his tone.

Ada nervously moved his lips but didn't speak, as Hayden's words were irrefutable facts.

Making Pokémon movies was something people had already thought of long ago, considering the vast variety and number of Pokémon. Every trainer has Pokémon, and according to statistics, in just the one million resident population of Rustboro City, there are as many as 800,000 registered Pokémon.

What an enormous market this is!

And this is only considering the registered ones—what about the unregistered Pokémon? Adding these to the mix, it's easy to imagine how massive the Pokémon market is, a blue ocean that attracts countless investors. Yet, strangely, movies are an exception within this market.

Edward stroked his chin, and honestly, he wasn't particularly concerned about box office numbers and such. After all, with the backing of the Devon Company, Edward didn't really care much about box office earnings. Otherwise, why would he make horror films? Wouldn't it be better to directly remake the commercial blockbusters from his past life?

But Edward needed fear value.

The more fear value he gathered, the stronger he would become, and his future films would resonate more deeply with audiences. He was also curious about what he could exchange the fear value for.

And if he made a horror movie specifically for Pokémon, or if he made it freely available, could he harvest fear value from the Pokémon?

The biggest obstacle to Pokémon watching movies, in simple terms, was money.

Although the League was pushing for the normalization of Pokémon rights and striving to protect the interests of Pokémon, most Pokémon were still captured by trainers to fight and become stronger. Whether trainers were willing to spend money to take their Pokémon to watch a movie was an issue.

Moreover, Pokémon came in all shapes and sizes, and movie theaters didn't have special accommodations to meet the needs of all Pokémon. So, there were a lot of issues to consider.

And even more importantly, the scare tactics that worked on humans—could they even work on Pokémon? That was another question.

"Ada, right? You can leave now. I'll consider your suggestion," Edward waved his hand, and Ada reluctantly left, leaving only Edward and Hayden in the office.

Q hopped onto Edward's desk, picked up the cup Edward had bought for it, then jumped off the desk, holding the cup and wobbling toward the water cooler to fill it.

Hayden immediately intended to help, but Edward stopped him.

Q didn't like being treated specially.

"Hayden, what was the reason Ada was listed as a special employee?" Edward asked curiously, looking at Hayden, then taking a sip from the glass of water on his desk.

Although Ada appeared to have some mental health issues, from his speech patterns and attitude, he still seemed to be a normal person.

"Ada… He has overthinking syndrome," Hayden flashed a flattering smile. Although Edward had told him not to be so deferential, he still instinctively tried to please his new boss.

"Overthinking syndrome?" Edward understood. He knew about this condition, a mental disorder in the Pokémon world.

The specific symptoms involved the person's brain being constantly active, thinking about all sorts of strange things every minute. The thoughts jumped from one to the next, but the patient's ability to work and live normally wasn't affected. They just appeared a bit neurotic, always thinking and acting impulsively.

Although this didn't seem like much, patients with this condition could never sleep well at night. Their brains would keep them up, making it difficult to fall asleep. Only with special medication or a Pokémon hypnosis service from the League could they sleep soundly.

It was a rare, but very difficult-to-treat disease.

No wonder he was a special employee.

"What do you think of Ada's idea?" Edward asked Hayden, then reached out with his right hand to steady Q, preventing it from falling as it jumped onto the desk.

"Ada? Boss, you mean…" Hayden blinked, seemingly incredulous. So many companies had fallen into this trap. Could it be that their talented new boss was about to make the same mistake?

Strangely, Hayden suddenly remembered an event from his school days.

Back then, their math teacher had dragged him and two other classmates, who were skipping school to play games, and had said in a painstaking tone, "I told you there was a pit ahead, but you all insisted on jumping into it!"

At this moment, Hayden realized why the teacher had said that, as he was thinking the same thing about his boss.

"Well, although I wasn't planning to start filming immediately, maybe we can do some experiments first…" Edward thought for a moment. Starting production right away might be a waste, so it was better to first conduct some market research.

So, Edward tasked Hayden with contacting market research firms across various League regions to conduct a survey on Pokémon movie-watching interest and report back with the findings.

"Got it, boss." Hayden wanted to say something else to persuade his new boss, but since the boss had already made his decision, his job was to execute it, not to question it.

After all, he had already given his advice.

Plus, Hayden had come to a realization: the fifty million PokeDollars lost probably didn't matter to their boss, since he was backed by the Devon Company.

Hayden was full of energy, eager to work hard. Who knows, maybe in the future he could get a raise to provide more resources for his children to raise their own Pokémon.

"Movies…" Edward stroked Q's head while browsing the internet on his phone.

The Pokémon market was so vast that there were plenty of players involved. Medicine like healing potions and status recovery items were produced by large companies managed and invested in by the League, leaving small companies with no chance. The profits here were likely substantial.

But, as Hayden had said, in the entertainment industry, Pokémon-specific films had largely failed.

"Maybe… we could try making some shorter films first to test the market's reaction?" Edward mused.

(End of Chapter)