"Simon, since you don't feel the story just now, what about this: Danny is a powerful cop out there, but he grew up like a cat mouse in front of his harsh and irascible mother. One day while on duty, Danny meets Theresa, the girl he likes, and the two quickly fall in love. However, Danny is worried that his mother will be unhappy with Theresa, and he seems to be careful about everything with his girlfriend, so he makes a series of jokes. ”

Inside the office.

John Hughes gave Simon several story ideas in a row, but Simon never said anything.

After John Hughes finished introducing another idea, the two discussed a few words, and Simon pretended to be unintentional: "John, I think "Uncle Buck" should do very well at the box office, so, have you thought about making a more pure children's film?"

John Hughes shook his head as if he thought of some terrible scene: "Simon, children's films have always been a forbidden area in Hollywood, and I realized this very deeply during the filming of "Uncle Buck" this time. So, I really don't want to go through it a second time. ”

"Uncle Buck" tells the story of the Russell couple who have to temporarily leave their three children in the care of their bachelor brother, Buck Russell, due to some family changes.

According to the original agreement, "Uncle Buck" was fully handled by John Hughes, and Simon did not pay much attention to the production process, but he did not expect such entanglements in it.

As we all know, children and animals are two of the most difficult elements to deal with in Hollywood movies.

Simon heard John Hughes say this, and he roughly understood why he didn't have the idea of "Home Alone" again.

In the original time and space, John Hughes should have had a great time working with the three young actors in "Uncle Buck", especially Macaulay Culkin, who made a deep impression on him, which led to the subsequent birth of "Home Alone". However, in the new version of "Uncle Buck", the three young actors are no longer the original actors, and they caused a lot of trouble for John Hughes during the filming. In a bad mood, it was naturally difficult for the filmmaker to think of another children's film.

Confirming that Home Alone had been completely fanned, Simon stopped beating around the bush and said, "Actually, I had an idea for a children's film after watching the sample of "Uncle Buck", John, I think this project suits your style very well, and the ideas you just introduced also gave me some other inspiration, like the story of a young man and woman who meet two burglars during a convenience store vigil. So, how about making another children's film, if you don't want to be a director, you can let someone else take care of it, and the compensation package you get for this project can refer to "Uncle Buck". However, this time, Daenerys Entertainment also needs to be involved in the project decision-making, especially the casting of actors. ”

The "Uncle Buck" contract was originally negotiated between the two parties, and John Hughes received a compensation package of $5 million in base salary plus 10% of the North American box office share as a writer, director and producer.

John Hughes was a very shrewd man.

Simon Westeros's idea inspired by his film is also Simon Westeros's idea. Looking at the box office results of Simon Westeros' films in recent years, just the recent "The Sixth Sense" has soared to $300 million at the North American box office.

What's more, you can also refer to the $5 million base salary plus 10% of the North American box office share of "Uncle Buck", John Hughes is not one of those directors with a strong personality, he is well aware that he is just a film businessman, so he can't think of any reason to refuse at all.

"So, Simon, can you elaborate on your idea?"

Seeing that John Hughes agreed almost without any hesitation, Simon also began to elaborate on the general plot of "Home Alone".

As for re-handing over the project to John Hughes and maintaining a $5 million base salary plus 10% North American box office share plan, Simon has nothing to do with it.

John Hughes as the main creator can ensure the 'authenticity' of the new version of "Home Alone" to the greatest extent. Moreover, if the new version of "Home Alone" can achieve an impressive box office performance of more than $280 million in North America alone, John Hughes is also fully eligible to take the $30 million level of salary.

Speaking of which, this decision was also influenced by Simon's recent change in attitude.

The reason is actually similar to the recent plan of 10 foreign cooperation films, if you blindly pursue the maximum squeezing of profits, all the proceeds will fall into the pocket of Daenerys Entertainment, and Hollywood filmmakers will not have much incentive to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment again.

The two discussed for about an hour, and the meeting ended.

John Hughes then decided to stay in Los Angeles for another week in order to continue to communicate with Simon and write the synopsis of Home Alone first.

After the weekend, after some detailed negotiations, Daenerys Entertainment and Fox Film held a press conference to announce the first of the 10 film plans, "Sleep with the Enemy".

"Sleeping with the Enemy" is an original book of the same name written by a female writer named Nancy Price in 1987, and its fame and sales were not very big after it was released, and it has been shelved since the script department of Fox Film won the adaptation rights for a low price of $150,000.

After the announcement of this project, the originally unknown original book "Sleeping with the Enemy" immediately attracted a lot of media attention, and sales increased sharply for a while, and the publisher had to urgently reprint it.

Immediately after, Wednesday, August 16.

Daenerys Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company held another press conference to announce the second of a series of 10 films, titled "Shaking the Hand of the Rocking Basket," a thriller in Simon's memory that tells the story of a housewife who disguises herself as a nanny after her husband commits suicide and has a miscarriage to avenge the family that caused her family tragedy.

Similar to "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Shaking the Hand of the Rocking Basket" is also very well-known, and it is also a screenplay written by a female screenwriter named Amanda Sylvo.

The difference is that "The Hand That Shakes the Basket" does not have an original book, but an original script.

Coupled with the secrecy measures deliberately taken by Daenerys Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company, this time the media can only roughly guess the content of the story of "The Hand That Shakes the Basket" based on some scattered information.

The reason why the two scripts are not well-known is actually not accidental.

Those copyrights that are very well-known and very favored by various film companies generally do not share them with Daenerys Entertainment, just as Simon will not co-invest with other studios in "Home Alone", which has been quietly established. Most of the projects that can be sent to Simon are projects that are not well-known or whose prospects are uncertain.

The following Friday, August 18.

Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures held their third press conference to announce the third film in the 10-film program, which is also another 'blockbuster' that Simon expected, called "The Outlaw".

The story is based on a TV series owned by Warner Bros., which tells the story of a surgeon's wife who is killed and tries to clear his name after being framed.

In the original time and space, "The Outlaw" starred Harrison Ford and grossed more than $360 million worldwide. However, compared with the next year's schedule of the first two projects, Simon also explained to Warner from the beginning that this project will start filming next year, and the schedule will be arranged in the summer of 1991 at the earliest.

Because, according to Simon's plan, the 1990 schedule was too crowded.

confirmed "Home Alone", Simon's memory of the 1990 box office blockbuster, Daenerys Entertainment accounted for five, namely "Pretty Woman", "Ghost Love", "Dances with Wolves", "Home Alone" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Daenerys Entertainment's established plans include "Pretty Woman" to be released on Valentine's Day in February next year, "Ghost Love" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for next summer, and "Dances with Wolves" and "Home Alone" for the end of next year.

If "The Outlaw" starts production now, because this is a big-budget movie, unlike "Sleeping with the Enemy", which can be quickly prepared and filmed, the schedule can only be arranged at the end of next year, which will collide with "Dances with Wolves" and "Home Alone", two films with box office potential of 200 million.

The North American box office of "The Outlaw" in memory exceeded 180 million US dollars, which can be regarded as reaching the 200 million level. If three box office blockbusters are squeezed at the end of the year at the same time, the result will only be a lose-lose three, and Simon confirmed that the year-end schedule of this era will not be able to accommodate three films with a local box office of 200 million.

What's more, there are definitely not only these three movies in the corresponding schedule, so the competition will only be more intense.

Warner understands Simon's decision, but still hopes to announce the news immediately, because it will be good news for Warner and can boost the stock price.

After Paramount abruptly smashed the near-negotiated share swap deal between Time Inc. and Warner Bros. in June, the original plan has now been nullified. As long as they can win Paramount's lawsuit to block the merger between Times and Warner, the two sides will need to renegotiate the merger plan.

Times has also proposed a new merger and acquisition plan of half cash and half stock, but the specific price has not yet been completely finalized.

Now, if Warner's stock price rises by one more point, Time will have to pay one more point next.

And that's exactly what happened, and Warner Bros. shares were up a notable 2.1% before the afternoon close.

At the same time as the announcement of the third film cooperation plan between Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures, the box office data for the new week from August 11 to August 17, which ended the North American summer season, was also officially released.

"Uncle Buck", written and directed by John Hughes himself, opened 2,021 screens and earned $16.94 million at the box office in the first week, ranking first.

"Uncle Buck" at around $8,000 has not reached the best-selling level, but it is still in line with expectations. With a box office start of nearly $17 million, the total North American box office should be able to reach between $50 million and $70 million, which is comparable to Daenerys Entertainment's original prediction and is also in line with the past box office level of Hughes films.

Counting the $5 million base salary that John Hughes took at the beginning, the film's production budget is only $15 million, although Hughes will have to pay another $5 million to $7 million box office share in the future, and Daenerys Entertainment is enough to make a profit at the box office.

"The Sixth Sense", also produced by Daenerys Entertainment, still ranked second on the list in the 7th week of its release, collecting another $16.71 million.

At the same time, the total box office of this phenomenal horror movie in North America officially exceeded the $200 million mark, reaching $211.06 million.

Although Universal Pictures' family comedy "Warm Family" starring Steve Martin did not start obviously, and did not win a weekly box office championship, the box office curve went very beautifully, with a decline of only 22% this week, and another $11.66 million in the fourth week of the opening, and the cumulative total box office of the film has reached $47.32 million unconsciously.

New Line Pictures' "Ghost Street 5" opened this week with 1,902 screens and grossed $11.1 million in its first week, narrowly behind "Warm Family" and No. 4 on the list.

James Cameron's "The Abyss" fell 39% in its second week of release, collecting only $10.69 million, and grossed $28.22 million in two weeks, ranking fifth. There is no hope for the film to return to its original cost, and Fox Film executives continue to be upset.

In addition to the top five on the list, a number of other popular films in the summer file have entered the final stage.

"The Sixth Sense" has exceeded $200 million at the North American box office and is obviously expected to hit the $300 million mark, making the three film projects announced by Daenerys Entertainment and three Hollywood partners attract much attention.

In fact, Simon has confirmed more than these 3 projects, such as "Terminator 2", which Fox has begun to contact with the copyright owner, and a project from Columbia Pictures. The Colombian subsidiary Samsung Pictures decisively gave up Matthew Broderick some time ago, and Simon was not indifferent.

However, Sony's acquisition of Colombia has not yet been fully finalized. Compared with the merger and acquisition of Times and Warner, because all aspects have begun to close, and Colombia, which has had a sluggish performance in recent years, has no other competitors to jump out to compete with Sony, this acquisition is almost a certainty. Sony, for its part, has now begun to take over all aspects of Columbia Pictures' operations, and the decision to ditch Matthew Broderick is a takeover under pressure from the Japanese.

After Daenerys Entertainment communicated Simon's selected project with Colombia, Sony's negotiation team hoped that Daenerys Entertainment would postpone the announcement of the results, so that Simon's favorite project would be a 'good start' after Sony won Colombia, and Daenerys Entertainment naturally did not mind cooperating.

While studios are starting to invest in projects, Hollywood's talent agencies are also getting pampered.

Except, of course, CAA.

Since the second half of last year, Daenerys Entertainment had a disagreement because of "Rain Man", and this year, many key projects produced by Daenerys Entertainment have no CAA stars at all. The two projects in the summer file, "Bodyguard" actor Kevin Costner is an artist under ICM, and the actress Whitney Houston is signed by MA in the industry. As for "The Sixth Sense", including Robert De Niro, all the main and supporting roles are MA's clients.

This situation was nothing in the first place.

There is no shortage of film appointments for CAA's stars.

However, with the announcement of Daenerys Entertainment's 10 foreign cooperation film plans, CAA has felt very obvious pressure.