"Regarding the establishment of a board of directors of China Telecom, I just mentioned it last night, but you should not have any hope in the short term, and even if a board of directors is established, the number of places we can fight for will not fall on the two of you, I still hope that you will stand behind the scenes. ”

At breakfast the next day, Simon and Chen Qing talked about some things at the reception reception of the China Telecom roadshow team last night.

Lin Su, who had a ruddy face, just nodded when he heard this, Chen Qing looked at a woman with a radiant face on the other side, turned his head and said to his boss: "But, boss, many people in China take a fancy to these, and I now regret pushing Ah Su to the Forbes list, it's useless, I knew that I would go up by myself." ”

Simon shook his head and said: "Standing in front of the stage, there will definitely be benefits in the short term, but there will only be a lot of trouble in the long run, not to mention China, which is about moderation and introversion." Of course, if you have to jump to the front of the stage, I'm not against that. ”

Chen Qing immediately changed her face: "Boss, I'm just talking about it." ”

Simon smiled and said: "There is also the matter of Scooper's cooperation with BBK to produce DVDs, you must take care of this matter, for the time being, it can only be exported, this is not only to protect our interests in China's VCD industry, but also involves the copyright protection of the entire Western electronics industry and media industry." ”

"Of course, I'm measured," Chen Qing nodded her head and said, "Boss, in this way, we can get a big share of the DVD industry, and Scooper's side doesn't need to worry too much about the transformation in the short term?"

"Yes, but it's all Daenerys Entertainment indirectly negotiated with Sony and other giants, you have to cherish it. And the transformation still has to be transferred, after all, this time in the DVD industry, we are only a share, and we do not have the leading power. ”

Chen Qing said proudly: "Daenerys Entertainment is not the leader, if you don't give those electronic manufacturers content, their DVDs can't be promoted." ”

That's true.

Whether it is the video recorder, the DVD that has begun to be promoted, or even the high-definition Blu-ray later, the Hollywood studio is an important part, and if Hollywood, which has the leading power of global media, is unwilling to provide content, the electronics manufacturers will not want to promote the relevant products to the world.

Except, of course, in certain regions where copyright is not a concern.

And Daenerys Entertainment, which currently controls most of Hollywood, has played a decisive role in the popularization of DVDs.

If Simon is a conservative and is as reluctant to support DVDs as Disney and other manufacturers did when they sued Sony Video Recorders, this product will not be popular anytime soon.

Simon, of course, is not.

However, the support of Daenerys Entertainment must also have its own conditions, ensuring that Scober continues to enjoy the benefits of video decoding chips in the DVD era, which is one of them. In addition, there is Simon's consideration of the online rental industry, with the promotion of DVD, the Westeros-controlled BesTV video chain will further transform online, blocking the development of online rental companies such as Netflix.

Compared with expensive VCRs, the birth of DVD will undoubtedly bring about another industrial change.

Unlike the stubborn record industry, Simon is very active in embracing this kind of change, after all, just like the record industry, if you don't embrace change, the result is often that after the industry is severely impacted, it will completely lose the initiative and can only become a vassal of other industries.

It's still the same sentence: if you can't eliminate yourself yourself, then you can only be eliminated by others.

Simon didn't say much about this, and continued: "Also, do you know the interview with the Vogue magazine that Jian Xin and the others went back to accept last time?"

Chen Qing nodded.

Simon said: "Try to get in touch, we can connect with Condé Nast or Time Warner to jointly establish a large fashion paper media company, this is not a big thing, but if it can really be done, we can get the right to speak in advance in the field of fashion media in China that has not yet become a scale, and when the time comes, whether it is Elite or Melisandre, even Daenerys, will have a fairly high-quality marketing platform." ”

In the past, the fashion media group, which was born out of a magazine affiliated to the China Tourism Administration, almost included China's most influential fashion magazines such as "Harper's Bazaar", "Men's Wear" and "Fashion Home", and also created a famous fashion dinner.

Among them, the 'Bazaar' brand actually comes from the "BAZAAR" magazine, which originally belonged to the Hearst Group, and Fashion Media has become a Sino-foreign joint venture brand invested by the Hearst Group.

After the turmoil of two years ago, when the Hearst Group had sold its magazine series in a package and was taken over by Time Warner, it was natural that it would not be able to make such an investment in China again. Simon was inspired by Jian Xin's private email about taking over an interview with Vogue, and certainly won't miss the opportunity.

Chen Qing heard Simon mention this, and his eyes lit up in a flash: "Boss, this is a good idea, but I don't think we need to bring Condé Nast or Time Warner in, we can do it ourselves, doesn't Daenerys Entertainment have Fashion TV, and besides, what is most lacking in China now is capital, as for the operation concept, it is directly imitated." ”

Simon smiled and asked, "What do you think is the most important factor for 'fashion'?"

Chen Qing thought about it, but could only shake his head: "Boss, what?"

"Style," Simon said, "bring Condé Nast or Time Warner in and make a joint venture brand with their existing old magazines, for example, well, now Time Warner's BAZAAR magazine, in conjunction with China's Vogue, to make Harper's Bazaar, and immediately have an international style, which can quickly open up the situation in China." ”

Chen Qing was stunned, and then said, "In this case, it will be difficult for us to gain control?"

"You only need to make sure that you have 20 to 30 percent of the shares, and it's important that other shareholders don't have absolute control. If you want this investment, you must carry out a clear shareholding system reform, and the management, original shareholders, investors, etc., the equity is controlled within 20 or 30 percent. ”

"But if it's Condé Nast or Time Warner, are they willing to take that small stake?"

"It's not for you to talk to Condé Nast or Time Warner, you can only contact one magazine, such as BAZAAR I just mentioned, so that both the size of the cooperation and the difficulty of the joint venture will be greatly reduced, so that you can make sure that "BAZAAR", you take the time to contact the Chinese side, if there is an eyebrow, I will say hello to Semele. ”

"Hmm. ”

After saying this, Simon thought about it for a while, and then said: "Finally, you take the time to investigate what good investments South Korea has in China." ”

Chen Qing was suddenly puzzled, and even Lin Su raised his head curiously.

Simon didn't reveal much, but said: "Next year, you will understand that the China Research Institute team of Cersei Capital will also determine the same research project, but it will face Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the return is relatively large, which can be regarded as a smoke bomb." ”

Lin Su remembered one thing and said tentatively: "I saw an article analyzing the Asian economy a few months ago, and I think that the general economic imbalance in Southeast Asia, the debt and deficit are obviously too high, and a crisis may break out in the next few years?"

"Don't get involved in these things, just be optimistic about China," Simon nodded slightly, and turned to Chen Qing again: "Don't forget to keep studying, otherwise you will soon hit the ceiling." ”

Chen Qing immediately pouted: "Boss, I'm wronged, I'm much more capable than Asu." ”

After breakfast, Simon was ready to leave for the West Coast.

After a brief cleanup, he put on the windbreaker given by the two women in the hallway, combed it to make sure that there was nothing missing, and finally hugged Chen Qing, turned to Lin Su, hugged the woman's waist, remembered one thing, and said with a smile: "Did the adults tell you one thing after a while?"

Lin Su was held in the man's arms and tilted his head slightly: "Huh?"

"Don't kiss boys, you'll get pregnant. Simon said, seeing that a layer of rouge quickly spread on the woman's face, he smiled and bowed his head: "Come, let's increase the success rate." ”

Back in Los Angeles, it was the morning of December 14th, Saturday.

Mainly to deal with some of the things that have accumulated on the West Coast side before Christmas, Jenny and the others are still in Greenwich, looking forward to the snow for Christmas, and Simon will return to the East Coast before Christmas.

It's the second day of the Christmas season.

Simon is most concerned about the recent box office data of Christmas films.

In the past box office week from December 6 to December 12, "Wonder Woman 2" had a relatively large box office decline, with a drop of 41% in the third week of release, and a box office income of $59.71 million. However, the film was only released for three weeks, and the cumulative box office quickly rushed to a high of $314.3 million, successfully surpassing the previous annual box office champion "007: Spectre" with $307 million and advancing to the first place on the annual list.

Under the cover of the scenery of "Wonder Woman 2", all the other movies released at the same time in the Thanksgiving file were swept away and overshadowed.

In addition to "Wonder Woman 2", there is "Soul Catcher", which opened last week, and the nominations for the 54th Golden Globe Awards announced on December 11.

With an attractive main creative lineup, "Soul Catcher", which cost only $10 million, just opened on 106 screens last week, and attracted a lot of media attention, this low-cost literary drama also lived up to expectations, and received almost one-sided praise after its release, with a classic high of 9.4 points in comprehensive media scores, and the famous film critic Roger Albert raised the film to the level of "another "Rain Man".

The all-round praise, coupled with Gus Van Sant, Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and other attractive creative lineups, attracted a large number of curious audiences to watch the movie for a while.

At the same time, the Golden Globe nominations on December 11 also added a boost to the popularity of the film, relying on its excellent quality, "Soul Catcher" won a total of 5 nominations for Best Picture in a Drama, Best Actor in a Drama, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay at this year's Golden Globe Awards.

Because of the super high reputation and popularity, the average box office of the film in the first week of screening finally reached 51,300 US dollars, and the cumulative box office was as high as 5.43 million US dollars in just 106 screens seven days after the screening.

With this popularity and reputation, it is not difficult for Daenerys Entertainment to pursue the next Oscar victory.

Simon doesn't intend to do that, though.

In last year's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", Simon took advantage of the film's super high box office and popularity to send the film to the throne of best picture through strong public relations.

According to Simon's strategy, this year it was necessary to take a step back.

Otherwise, next year's "Titanic" will definitely change, no matter what, the Oscar organizing committee will not allow Daenerys Entertainment to reach the top for three consecutive years, even if the quality of related films is undoubted, but if the Oscars become Daenerys Entertainment's own place, it will not be good for anyone.

Even so, this time it is still considered that the fertilizer water does not flow into the fields of outsiders.

Because of the other nomination favorite announced on December 11, "The British Patient" produced by MGM, is still Simon's deliberate arrangement.

This film was proposed by Saul Zaynz, a veteran Hollywood solo producer who once held the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" series, because the production cost was obviously too high compared to the subject matter, Zaynz had many twists and turns for the production of the film, and even ceded the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" series to the Weinstein brothers for the establishment of this film.

This time, Simon quietly followed the project early on, and guided MGM to take on the film at the right time last year.

"The English Patient" ended up costing $27 million, which is really high for an adaptation of a literary film, and, frankly, unlike "The Soul Catcher", the content of "The English Patient" is much more gloomy and obscure, but it is also exactly to the taste of the filmmaker.

As a result, compared with the 5 nominations of "Soul Catcher", "The British Patient" won a total of 7 nominations for Best Picture in a Drama, Best Director, Best Actor in a Drama, Best Actress in a Drama, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Film Score, which can be described as the biggest favorite of this Golden Globe Awards, and will obviously become the focus of the Oscars next year's awards season.

In the 1997 awards season that was announced by the announcement of the Golden Globe Award nominations, in addition to "Soul Catcher" and "The English Patient", there are also Coen Brothers' new film "Ice Storm" and Madonna's "Mrs. Peron" released at the end of the summer season of Highgate Pictures.

For Hollywood, where business is king, awards and honors are just embellishments after all, so everyone's attention will soon turn to the Christmas schedule that will start on December 13.

Compared with the golden box office week exclusive to "Wonder Woman 2" on November 22, the Christmas schedule that starts on Black Friday on December 13 will be much more crowded, in addition to the most blockbuster "Game of the Brave", Disney's "Angel Bodyguard", Arnold Schwarzenegger's another comedy "Jingle All the Way", the large-scale opening of "Soul Catcher" and the opening of this week's "The English Patient" and other films will be drawn together.

As a special effects blockbuster between Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner Group, Simon originally used the 2017 version of Johnson's version of the plot in his memory, coupled with the main titles of veteran actor Sylvester Stallone and supermodel Qus Gauff, the film finally cost a production budget of $82 million, slightly overspending.

Fortunately, the finished effect is quite satisfactory.

Also after the premiere was held on December 11, the film's word-of-mouth ban was lifted the next day, and the comprehensive media score reached 7.8 points, which is quite a good level.

The first is the special effects of the film.

Under the control of Daenerys's special effects, coupled with some grand scenes deliberately added by Simon on the basis of the original, the special effects of the film are very shocking.

As for the actors, Sylvester Stallone has won the unanimous approval of film critics for acting as a teenager with a middle-aged body. Even Qusi Gauff, who is known to be praised by a young tycoon across borders, not only caused a strong response from the audience with her stunning and sexy appearance, but also exceeded her acting skills.

If you talk about shortcomings, it is inevitable that it is the plot.

"The Hollywood Reporter" commented that this film is 'a young popcorn movie that doesn't use brains at all', which is the main reason why the film's comprehensive score did not reach more than 8 points.

However, there is no criticism from all sides.

Because "Jumanji" is a light-hearted, hilarious and visually stunning popcorn blockbuster, Simon never thought to add even the slightest bit of connotation to it.

In the first week of release, the number of screens of "Jumanji" finally reached 3,539, second only to "Wonder Woman 2" at the end of the year.

Compared with "101 Dalmatians", which cost $75 million in Thanksgiving, Disney's "Angel Bodyguard" in Christmas, with a budget of only $40 million, tells the story of Henry, a black man in a small town, and his wife Juliet, who is the lead singer of the church choir, who have a growing relationship with each other.

Directed by Penny Marshall and starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston, the film can be described as an all-black starring cast.

And, obviously, the film also follows the footsteps of the bodyguard starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston to some extent, and after the large-scale opening of 1,783 screens in the first week, the film's comprehensive media score is only barely 6.0, which is not satisfactory.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Jingle All the Way" once again continues the action star's comedic style starting with "Dragon Brother and Mouse" and "Kindergarten SWAT", which is a small job in preparation for "Terminator 3".

This time it's really just a small job.

Due to the failure of several consecutive films and Hollywood's decline in traditional action stars, compared with the same type of "Little Guy", which cost $60 million but failed at the box office, this "Jingle All the Way" has a production cost of only $30 million, unlike the previous high salary of $15 million, Arnold signed an $8 million base salary plus profit sharing model with the producer Fox this time, which is almost equivalent to cutting half of his salary.

Moreover, after opening the film on a scale of 2401 screens, Arnold still failed to reverse his bad luck, and the film's comprehensive media score was only a pitiful 3.8 points.

After the three major new films, it is "Soul Catcher", which opened on a large scale within a week of screening, with 1,746 screens. and a small-scale screening of "The English Patient" on 10 screens.