As everyone discussed the release of several of the company's films, Jennifer adjusted the projector, and together with Amy's assistant Vanessa, closed the curtains in the conference room and went to the VCR.

Simon stopped talking to Amy and motioned to Jennifer, and the female assistant pressed play.

On the projection screen, after a short black screen, the picture lights up, and in the hellish dark and blazing fire pool, accompanied by a sharp chirp, an orange-red phoenix comes out of the fire pool, circling briefly, and then spreads its wings and freezes in the center of the picture, and the flame dripping from the phoenix's wings forms the name 'Daenerys-Pictures' below the screen, and the name of the film company indicates that there is a line attached below' A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.

When the picture fell, Robert Rehm looked at Simon and said, "Phoenix?"

Simon nodded and said, "The immortal bird of Greek mythology, every five hundred years, this bird throws itself into the flames and is reborn in the flames. I like this concept very much, and the image of the 'immortal bird' in the picture just now will also be used as the company logo of Daenerys Entertainment in the future, and I hope that Daenerys Entertainment can survive for a long time, even if it encounters difficulties, it can be reborn. ”

Hollywood's traditional seven major studios all have impressive opening animations, such as MGM's Lion, Columbia's Statue of Liberty, and so on. Starting with "Lola Run", Daenerys Pictures has always used only simple text titles for the previous films, and the titles of New World Pictures and Highgate Pictures are also very simple.

Now, now that the company is on the right track, Simon has hired design firms in recent months to formally design label titles and company logos for Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures and Gordon Pictures.

Robert Rehm had just thought of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, which is adjacent to southeastern California. After listening to Simon's explanation, although he still didn't quite understand the relationship between the terms 'Daenerys' and 'Phoenix', he very much agreed with Simon's concept.

After a brief chat between Simon and the others, Jennifer loaded another cassette into the VCR, and another intro soon appeared on the screen: after a fierce flash of lightning and thunder, the clouds dispersed, the sky returned to blue, and the words 'Ne-orld-Pictures' appeared in the three-dimensional CG style, and the words 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company' were still marked below the subject words.

Among the proposals offered by several design firms that participated in the bidding, Simon found that the idea was somewhat similar to the later Lionsgate titles. New World Pictures' positioning is exactly the same as Lionsgate, and Simon directly chose this plan.

Compared with the gorgeous and ostentatious opening of Daenerys Pictures and New World Pictures, the opening of Gaomen Pictures is full of literary atmosphere.

In the soft soundtrack, several rows of slowly flowing film gradually form the words 'Highgate-Pictures' against a pure black background, and the carefully rendered images appear to be full of realism, as if the images are still flashing on the two words of Gaomen Pictures, and the name of Gaomen Pictures is also 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.

Simon's main reason for adding the words 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company' under the titles of all three labels is to quickly brand the brand image of Daenerys Entertainment in the public mind.

After the three titles were played, everyone continued to discuss them, and then it was determined that the three titles and the information of the upcoming films under the names of the three labels would be released in newspapers and magazines in the near future, which was also a good publicity opportunity for Daenerys Entertainment.

After discussing these things, it was already more than six o'clock, but Simon did not let Amy and Rem leave, and said, "Let's have dinner together, there is another thing to discuss with you." ”

Naturally, Amy and Rem would not object.

The trio left the company's headquarters and soon arrived at a nearby restaurant where Simon had booked a seat for Jennifer in advance.

"That's right, I found that the two of you are not too concerned about the affairs of Gaomen Pictures," after taking a seat, everyone ordered dinner, and Simon talked directly to the two of them: "New World Entertainment's original film buying team was assigned to Gaomen Pictures, but unfortunately, at the Venice Film Festival last month, Danny Morris led a team to Italy, but nothing was found, and some of the things they submitted to me during this time did not have any bright spots. ”

Danny Morris is the former vice president of the film acquisition department of New World Entertainment, and now also holds the title of vice president of Daenerys Entertainment as the head of Goron Pictures.

Amy and Rem looked at each other when they heard Simon mention this, and Robert Rem took the initiative to explain: "Simon, in the late 70s and early 80s, Hollywood literary films did flourish for a while, and Saul Zaynz probably began to attract attention in those years, and large film companies generally established subsidiaries named after 'classics' at that time, specializing in the literary film market. But now, because of the continuous increase in the cost of Hollywood production, there is no profit to be made in this field. If you don't count your "Lola Run" last year, the best performing literary films in the market in recent years have generally only had a box office of about $20 million, which is already a ceiling, and more literary films are directly loss-making, just like Saul Zahnz's "Prague Love" at the beginning of the year, with a production cost of $17 million, and a total box office in North America of just over $10 million. So, I don't think we need to waste too much energy on this. ”

"You have a point, Bob," Simon nodded earnestly, "However, if Hollywood can have one "Lola Run", there will definitely be a second or even more." And, have you noticed the trend of the cinema industry in recent years?"

Amy replied suspiciously, "Simon, do you mean to open up the control of film companies operating theaters with the government?"

"No," Simon shook his head and looked at Robert Reem, "Bob, AMC, you know for sure, right?"

"This is a chain of cinemas run by the Duwood family, and the biggest feature of the AMC Cinemas chain is the launch of a large number of multiplex movie theaters, which have about 150 movie theaters in North America, but have more than 1,300 screens. However, the capacity of their screening rooms is generally low as a result. Robert Rem said expertly, "I already talked to the AMC representative on Monday about the release, Simon, you don't plan to buy the theater chain, do you? AMC has developed very rapidly in recent years, and the Duwood family will not sell it." Luen Mei Cinemas is a good target, but it was just taken over by John Malone's telecommunications company earlier this year, and we have already missed this opportunity. ”

Simon denied: "Daenerys Entertainment will not be involved in the theatrical market in the short term, I'm just talking about a trend, Bob, multiplex movies are a predestined trend." ”

Robert Rem nodded: "That's true, AMC's model is very successful, and the industry is tracking and trying, but Simon, does this have anything to do with the topic we're talking about?"

"Of course, while the overall audience in North America isn't going to grow too rapidly each year, I believe that the total number of screens in North America will definitely increase significantly in the coming years as multiplexes become more popular. A cinema has 10 screening halls, even if they spend eight of them to show mainstream commercial films, but because they have too many screens, the operator will definitely consider introducing some literary films that meet the tastes of a small number of audiences, and this is an opportunity. ”

Amy heard Simon say this, but couldn't help but say, "Simon, even if what you said is right, wouldn't it be better for us to focus on those 'eight screens'?"

Lacking examples, Simon found himself unable to explain to Amy and Rem how prosperous the solo film market was in the nineties, led by New Line and Miramax. That being the case, Simon quickly decided not to explain too much and instead play to his strengths as a boss: "Well, in that case, Gaomen Pictures will be spun off and reintegrated into a subsidiary that is directly responsible to me personally. I think Danny Morris should have the same idea as you to be so slack, so let him be in charge of New World Pictures, "The Butterfly Effect", "The Grim Reaper" and the new line "Ghost Street" series are ahead of the success of these films, I don't think he will feel like he is being given the cold shoulder anymore. ”

Robert Rem didn't expect Simon to see things so thoroughly.

As the former head of the film buying department of New World Entertainment, Danny Morris still has a lot of authority, after all, most of New World Entertainment's films were purchased from outside. After the company was acquired, Danny Morris was suddenly sent by Simon to take charge of Heighton Pictures, and it was almost certain that there would be a feeling of being assigned.

Literary films, this is simply synonymous with not making money.

As a former friend and subordinate, Danny Morris has spoken to Robert Rem several times, and if he wants to get out of his current position, he doesn't want to jump out of Daenerys Entertainment, which is obviously on the rise, but just hopes to get a more leeway position, even if it is transferred to be in charge of distribution. Robert Rem has also been trying to find an opportunity to mention this matter to Simon, but before he can mention it, Simon will compliment Danny Morris's wishes.

It's just that Robert Rem is not happy for Danny Morris.

Judging from Simon's words just now, his expectations for Gaomen Pictures are very high, and the direct appointment of Danny Morris to take charge of the company is obviously a recognition of the executive's ability. Now, Danny Morris must have lost a lot of points in Simon's mind, and if he can't do well in New World Pictures' position in the future, the result can be imagined.

After dinner, Simon began the next day to find a new head of Heightgate Pictures.

In fact, Hollywood has two of the best candidates available, the Weinstein brothers. The brothers have been in the industry for ten years and have accumulated enough experience. Moreover, Miramax is also in a very bad situation now, two years ago, the brothers had a convulsion and tried to change their careers to become directors, imitating John Hughes's style to write and direct a youth film, but the box office failed miserably, and Miramax almost went bankrupt because of this, and he has not recovered in the past two years.

Simon now has a good chance of success if he recruits the brothers.

Although Harvey gained notoriety many years later for a sex scandal, in Hollywood, Simon would not have thought of running the company anymore if he had any moral cleanliness.

It's just that these brothers are really the kind of guys who are willing to live under people, and the more appropriate description is 'wild and untamable'.

When Disney was negotiating with the Bush administration for the company's very important cable license, the brothers still invested in "Fahrenheit 911", which tried to pull Bush Jr. off the stage, despite repeated warnings from Michael Eisner.

After Miramax's statement, the Harvey brothers have been trying to get rid of the company's industry positioning of focusing on literary films, but the big-budget films they invested in such as "Cold Mountain" and "The Aviator" all failed, and the brothers finally left Disney to stand on their own.

Simon, who had watched the entire Weinstein sex scandal, felt that if the Weinstein brothers hadn't left Disney, it wouldn't have happened. is like John Lasseter, who later became the head of Disney's animation department, who was also exposed to the news of sexual harassment of female employees in that incident, but it didn't make many waves. Many people fell in that turmoil, but John Lasseter continued to appear on the cover of the magazine as one of Disney's 'Big Four' with Robert Iger, Kevin Feige, and Kathleen Kennedy.

It is conceivable that if Harvey Weinstein had not left the Disney system, Disney would have been the 'Big Five', and this already powerful media group would have been even more in the limelight.

Since he didn't plan to recruit the Weinstein brothers to block himself, Simon decided to suppress the brothers before they had yet to rise, so as to avoid the next competition between Miramax and Highgate Pictures.

And it's not that hard to do.

In the original time and space, Miramax entered the fast lane of development with the success of this Palme d'Or after the release of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" next year, and Simon is also clear about some of Miramax's other successful films released during this period, as long as he cuts off the beard.

Without a big sale project, Miramax, who has not been out of the quagmire in the past two years, will not be able to last for a few years.

While taking into account Gaomen Pictures, Simon's recent main focus is still on the casting of "Batman" and "The Sixth Sense", "Bodyguard" and other films, most of the protagonists of these films have been determined, but the selection of important supporting roles is also a very important thing.

In addition, although it was obviously deliberately delayed, on October 12, another Wednesday, the MPAA finally passed the R-rated review of "Scream", and the Big Seven obviously had no intention of officially starting a war with Daenerys Entertainment.

"Scream" passed the review, Daenerys Entertainment also began the final stage of promotion two weeks before the release of the film, and, because of the success of Daenerys Entertainment's previous series of films, as well as the general shortage of content after the strike of theater operators, Robert Rehm finally signed 1,755 screens for "Scream", which is probably much larger than the release scale of the original film.

At the same time, "Dead Poets Society" also got 1693 screens, after all, it is a Christmas file, slightly less than "Scream". Because of the general disapproval of the women's film "Steel Magnolia", the theater chain only gave a total of 922 screens in the end, but this also met the company's expectations.

However, the release of "Scream", "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolia" went well, but "Rain Man" went wrong.