After only half watching the sample of "American Pie", it was lunchtime, and it was time to continue in the afternoon, with Amy Pascal, who had returned from maternity leave a few days ago, to discuss some work matters.

Today is March 3rd.

Monday.

Easter in 1997 was March 30, and on March 21, a week earlier, the Easter schedule would begin, and it would be Daenerys Entertainment's three successive films "Horror Ghost", "Hurricane Rescue" and "Cable TV Repairman", and MGM's "Xenomorph 2".

Also, this year's 69th Oscars is March 24.

The Oscars in the nineties are still at their peak, and even if this year is still a small year for awards deliberately given up by Daenerys Entertainment, Simon will not completely ignore it.

Finally, there is the recent box office situation of the movie.

The Star Wars series, which began to be re-released on January 30, briefly seized control of the North American film market, and soon gave way to a film produced by Daenerys Entertainment again.

In the four box office weeks as of February 27, "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" was re-released for a month, and the cumulative box office could exceed 100 million, reaching $100.337 million, according to the box office trend of the past weekend, the first Star Wars series still has a maximum of about $20 million at the box office, and the total domestic box office of this re-release is about $120 million.

In addition, the second "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back", which opened on February 21, after the first part consumed most of the fans' feelings, the box office in the first week was only $21.46 million, and it is estimated that the volume in China will only be about 50 million.

In comparison, "BJ's Single Diary", which was only released on February 14, earned $37.62 million in the first week, and in the second week of release from February 21 to February 27, the box office decline was well controlled at 23%, and another $29.03 million was collected, easily winning the single-week box office champion.

In the past weekend from February 28 to March 2, the decline of "BJ's Single Diary" expanded slightly to 33% year-on-year, still earning $12.73 million, and the box office is expected to remain around $20 million in the third week.

At the same time, two and a half weeks after its release, the cumulative box office of the film reached 79.38 million US dollars, and there was only a gap of 20 million US dollars from breaking 100 million.

Considering the reputation of "BJ's Single Diary", the film will still have a good curve until Easter, and the follow-up box office is conservatively estimated to be no less than $50 million, which also means that the film's local box office is at least $130 million.

Because Julia Roberts's popularity obviously exceeds that of Renee Zellweger, and Hugh Grant, one of the male protagonists, has not encountered the scandal of being arrested for prostitution in this time and space, and his popularity has plummeted, so the production cost of this new version of "BJ's Single Diary" is $10 million higher than the original $25 million, reaching 35 million.

Now, it has only been two and a half weeks since its release, and Daenerys Entertainment has recouped all production costs in North America.

The total publicity budget for the three British films in February is 20 million US dollars, even if 15 million of them are counted in "BJ's Single Diary", it will only be two weeks at the latest, and as the film exceeds 100 million in China, the project will also enter a profit cycle.

The other two films, as of the past weekend, the cumulative box office of "Two Smoking Guns" reached $23.13 million, and the box office of "Following" also reached $19.19 million, the two projects, the former budget is equivalent to less than $2 million, and the latter is only $3 million, plus counting the additional total of $5 million in publicity, the cumulative box office of more than $40 million since February 7 has also begun to bring considerable profits to Daenerys Entertainment.

And that's just North America.

Daenerys Entertainment's packaging and distribution strategy in February was most successful in the UK.

There is no need to repeat the complex emotions that have been entangled between Britain and the United States for a long time, but in short, these three films can be regarded as 'bringing glory to the country', and their distribution in the United Kingdom has been very successful.

Even if the box office data in the UK in a short period of time cannot be compared with North America because of its own market size, according to the recent box office trend from the UK, even if the UK box office of "BJ's Single Diary" cannot catch up with North America, it is equivalent to more than 100 million US dollars, but there is not much suspense.

The other two small films, the up-and-coming British filmmakers and the excellent quality of the films themselves, are more popular in the UK than in North America, and the UK box office is expected to surpass that of North America.

Not to mention the series of blockbusters that were released at the end of last year and are still continuing, three box office dark horses broke out in a row in the first small period of the year, which made Daenerys Entertainment show a kind of 'your uncle is more uncley than before' in front of other Hollywood studios.

During the meal, for the success of the three films in February, Amy couldn't help but ask again, half-jokingly, half-seriously, why Simon's vision for selecting films over the years has been so accurate?

"The key is to be one step ahead of others," Simon also replied with a smile: "The film industry, from silent to sound, from black and white to color, at every stage, the genres that can be discovered have actually achieved the extreme, and if you want to break through, you can only move forward." The recent re-release of the Lucas Star Wars series is a prime example, and it would be difficult to say what the outcome would have been if it had been placed twenty years later. For Daenerys Entertainment, CG special effects and 3D animation are technological advances, and the concept of the cinematic universe is an innovative progress. Besides, the three films this time can be said to be a small innovation at the marketing level on the premise that we have three excellent films. ”

Although Simon was a little concerned about him, Amy still showed a thoughtful expression, and said after a while: "In this case, the technologies such as 3D and IMAX that Daenerys Entertainment has been promoting should be our next innovation and breakthrough, right?"

"Of course. ”

In recent years, Simon has been investing in the research and development of 3D and IMAX technologies, and has carried out small-scale promotion, and has also bought the Canadian IMAX company for this purpose. At the end of the previous year, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" can be described as a debut of IMAX, only 26 IMAX screens in North America, and contributed more than $50 million to the box office of Super Bat Wars before and after.

After the success of IMAX at the Super Bat Wars, the total number of IMAX screens worldwide has quickly surpassed 100 in the past year, and that number will double this year. Among them, the two Jinshu cinemas invested by Simon in China each have an IMAX screening hall.

After the success of the two pilots, IMAX will also become the standard configuration of the second batch of 20 cinemas that are being planned.

With the rapid increase in the number of IMAX screens, the once expensive conversion and copying costs are becoming more and more acceptable to studios after being evenly spread, making this shocking mode of film playback more and more popular.

As the owner of IMAX, Daenerys Entertainment's advantages in this regard can naturally be imagined.

Compared with IMAX, the promotion of 3D technology is much slower, mainly because 3D shooting and projection technology is not mature enough, so Simon has postponed the timetable of this technology and plans to make another effort after 2000.

These things are all in Daenerys Entertainment's plan, but Amy didn't talk about it much, and instead said: "Helen Fielding has completed the idea of the second part of 'BJ's Single Diary', subtitled 'The Edge of Reason', which explores the story of Brigitte and Mark after they are together. According to the agreement, we have the right of first refusal. I was on the phone with Helen, and she'd love to see a sequel come out with the second installment?"

Simon recalled the box office of the sequel to "BJ's Single Diary", which was tepid in North America and still sold well around the world, and nodded: "You are responsible for this matter, well, I remember that Julia signed a contract with us for 5 films, there should still be it, right?"

Starting with "Steel Magnolia", "Pretty Woman", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Gannet Assassination Order", and the recent "BJ Single Diary", there are exactly five films. Amy said, seeing her boss looking back on the past, she smiled, "Does it feel like time flies?"

"yes, I'm 29 years old. ”

It's a bit strange to put this emotion on someone.

Amy rolled her eyes slightly, and continued: "The five-part contract is completed, plus you gave Kate Beckinsale the "Shakespeare in Love" that Julia has always wanted to play last time, and if there is a sequel, Julia's side may not be easy to talk about." ”

"If you don't talk about success, we can't develop a lot of projects on our side now, and there is no shortage of this one. ”

Amy nodded.

Just now with a little ridiculous joke, after so many years at the helm of Daenerys Entertainment, in terms of dealing with celebrities, Amy's attitude is completely the same as that of her own boss.

Daenerys Entertainment doesn't need to accommodate any filmmaker right now.

So he talked about other things again: "The script of "Bad Things" last time has been snatched by Paramount, and it is planned to be produced under the Orion label, with a planned investment of 30 million US dollars, and it is also intended to be released at the end of the year as this year's award film, and now many stars are in contact, even our "Batman" is interested, I have also read the script, and I think it is very good." Simon, why imply that Ella give up?"

Simon asked rhetorically, "What do you think is good?"

"It's a very complete noir crime story, and the creativity, suspense, and pacing are fantastic, isn't it?"

Simon had to nod his head as well.

Amy asked, "So what?"

Simon thought for a moment and said, "It's mainly because of the screenwriter Peter Borg, who insists on writing and directing himself, but I'm not sure what the other party is capable of. You know, while I've always been happy to support newcomers, the premise is that they have to prove themselves first, like the two British directors this time, and the two films add up to a $5 million budget, which is acceptable to me. As for that Peter Borg, he has neither a directing work, nor a film major, and wants to control tens of millions of dollars in investment with just one script, and no matter how good the story is, I would rather give up. ”

After listening to her boss's explanation, Amy had no objections.

Not to mention the $30 million on Paramount's side, even if it doubles several times, Daenerys Entertainment can afford it now, and it can afford it.

It's just that it's not about money, the key is time, to be precise, it's schedule. Investing in such a project will definitely give the corresponding schedule resources, and when the time comes, the loss of 30 million is still second, occupying a period of time, and the result is a failure, for Daenerys Entertainment, the potential loss may be more.

Daenerys Entertainment's rapid growth over the years is, in the final analysis, a large number of successes corresponding to the many failures of other studios.

Thinking like this, just picking up some pasta on the plate with a fork, Amy suddenly remembered the project proposed by her boss some time ago: "Simon, in this case, should you be cautious about "Ghost Record", this is your own idea, I believe that Hollywood must be willing to take over a lot of directors, there is no need to use a newcomer?"

"Have you seen that Lin's work?"

Amy shook her head, "No, why don't I take some time to check it out in the evening?"

"No, you should have more time to take care of your son," Simon smiled and said, "First of all, I am very optimistic about this director, he is just the opposite of Peter Borg we just talked about, he is from a standard film school background, and he is very pragmatic, he is only 23 years old this year, and he has already made two feature films." There are so many people in Hollywood who dream of becoming famous overnight, and there are actually very few people who are really willing to work hard. ”

Amy listened carefully, quite touched, and asked, "Next?"

"Secondly, in order to achieve as much realism as possible, the project is best done by newcomers. ”

"I've seen your memo, but I think it's right for actors to use newcomers, but directors don't have to?"

"It's the same with the director," Simon said, "because the film itself also needs to give people a relatively youthful texture, and if it is a famous Hollywood director, it will inevitably have some deep-rooted patterns." Oh, in this way, Lin, who has made two feature films, may be a little too mature, but, you know, I can't go to the real rookie. ”

Amy laughed: "Anyway, if you keep an eye on it yourself, it's definitely fine." ”

"yes, after watching the sample film of "American Pie" in the afternoon, which is the production meeting of "Ghost Shadow", I will have a good chat with them. ”

Amy nodded slightly, and continued: "Also, Brian is working on "Los City Confidential", the first male protagonist who has been decided, Hugh Jackman, you should be very optimistic about him, right?"

"Hmm," Simon cut the lamb chops on the plate and curled the corners of his mouth: "Actually, I've been looking for some actors in recent years, not very deliberately, but I've been doing it, guess what's I'm preparing?"

Amy thought for a while, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Marvel Cinematic Universe?"

"Bingo, this is a heart-to-heart connection, I want to give you a raise. ”

Amy smiled, "Boss, I'll take it seriously." ”

"Then let's forget about it," Simon continued to joke, and continued, "Hugh is one of them, and as for which role he is suitable for, it will be kept secret for the time being." ”

Amy objected again: "But, Simon, if you make the candidate you are looking for too popular, you should not be able to use it in the future, and you will not be able to sign a long-term contract." ”

"I'll take notice. ”

The two of them said this, and enjoyed their lunch quietly for a while, before Amy said, "Also, boss, we should also arrange some acquisitions this year, BesTV, or, remember boss, you mentioned earlier, Viacom of Lei Shidong?"

"Not for the time being, Blockbuster's work this year is to separate the directly operated stores from the authorized stores, sell the licensing business, take the initiative to slim down, and reduce the resistance to our future wholly-owned acquisitions. As for Viacom...... Simon could only shake his head when he thought about the media company's coveted MTV and Showtime televisions: "The timing is not right for the time being, mainly in the stock market." ”

Amy thought for a moment and nodded, "I see." ”

"And, if you know Lei Shidong, you should know that it is very difficult for us to get Viacom. ”

"Lei Shidong has a very tough personality, I know that, but, Simon, he's 73 years old. ”

Simon remembered a tough old man in his nineties who was still holding on to power after 20 years and reluctantly resigned after being required by the court to undergo a compulsory psychiatric evaluation, and shook his head with a smile: "This shows that you still don't know Lei Shidong." ”

"It's a big deal that we're hostile. ”

"If I'm not mistaken, the Lei Shidong family's control of Viacom is supposed to be a two-tier shareholding model. ”

"That's the problem. ”

"Therefore, only Lei Shidong took the initiative to sell Viacom to us. ”

Amy thought for a moment and shook her head again: "Viacom's MTV is very profitable, if as you said, Lei Shidong is even tougher than I imagined, and I want him to take the initiative to let go, the possibility is very low." ”

"Actually, I've been doing it all these years," Simon said, "Lei Shidong has always wanted to acquire Hollywood studios, but every time he hasn't succeeded, he won't have a chance in the future." In the future, the media industry will be the world of diversified giants, and it will be difficult for Viacom to rely only on the cable TV business for long-term development......"

Simon said this and did not continue, but Amy smiled knowingly.

Whether it's MTV or Showtime, which is still in development at this time, Simon is determined to win. Under the sniping of the past few years, Viacom has missed the opportunity to grow into a comprehensive media group, and it will be too easy for Daenerys Entertainment to target Viacom.

First of all, the roots of the Lei Shidong family are the National Entertainment Company, which is a cinema company.

Now Daenerys Entertainment wants to suppress a cinema company......

Gee.

And then there's Viacom, whether it's MTV or Showtime, it's a cable station.

AOL, which is controlled by the Westeros system, has begun a trial operation of cable operators.

Simon's plan is that after the collapse of the new tech bubble, AOL will rapidly expand its cable business through large-scale acquisitions, striving to grow into the largest cable operator while maintaining the number one network service operator. As long as this goal is achieved, Viacom's cable channel will also be clamped down on AOL.

Daenerys Entertainment, on its part, can also create a similar cable station on its own to compete with Viacom.

In a multi-pronged approach, Viacom either voluntarily sold or went into the most extreme bankruptcy liquidation and was then acquired by Daenerys Entertainment.

Of course, both options take time.

Compared with Lei Shidong, Simon is the most important thing to lack is time.

Don't be afraid for three or five years, and boil slowly.

As we chatted, at the end of lunch, Amy mentioned one more thing: "Universal Studios in Rome, Simon, you should go and see it." ”

"It's reassuring that you're staring at me," Simon said with a smile, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't have time this month, let's go next month, after Easter, I've accumulated a lot of things, and I should go to Europe again." ”

After lunch, the two of them went to their own business.

After spending two hours watching the "American Pie" sample film and discussing the follow-up, it was followed by the production meeting of "Ghost Record".

During this time, with the brief idea written by Simon, Lin Yibin has completed the script.

In fact, this could have been handed over to a more professional screenwriter, whether it was in memory or after contact, Lin Yibin was not good at it, but, for that reason, Simon needed a real green texture, and handed it over to a professional screenwriter, and the script may be easier to fall into a fixed routine than a professional director's operation.

In order to avoid this situation, Simon also deliberately told Lin Yibin not to watch any horror movies during the process of writing the script, especially Daenerys Entertainment's Conjuring Cinematic Universe series.

Just write according to the idea of an ordinary person.

In the past month or so, the script has been completed, and the selection of actors has also ended.

For actors, Simon requires both as many newcomers as possible and acting skills, so Simon's royal casting director Linda Vargas conducted a small selection process in some acting schools in Los Angeles and New York, and the final candidates were all acting school students.

Both coincidentally and deliberately, Simon chose two 'acquaintances'.

It's all female characters.

One is called Amy Adams and the other is Jessica Chastain.

Amy Adams is 22 years old, from a humble background, did not go to college, and only studied acting part-time at a private acting school in Los Angeles.

Simon's requirements for the heroine are to be beautiful with about 70 points and need to bring some gloomy temperament suitable for the atmosphere of horror movies, so this Hollywood actress who has always made Simon feel very suitable for playing a female perverted murderer is very lucky to be selected by the conscientious Linda.

It was a blessing and an accident.

Because she knows Simon's preference for choosing actresses, Linda will always considerately prepare some alternative lists for her boss, otherwise it is difficult to say whether the actress can be shortlisted, and Simon is not interested in deliberately looking for any big stars in his memory.

As for Jessica Chastain, the same is true.

The actress, who is now a student at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, is a step up from Amy's pheasant class, and her audition performance is even better than Amy's.

However, Simon only gave Sister Lamor a friend character in the story who learned that the male and female protagonists' apartments were haunted and came to visit.

Mainly because the model worker sister is much worse than the 70 points required by Simon, according to Simon's personal aesthetic standards, the maximum is 60 points. And as an ultra-low-budget horror film, the actress can't be too beautiful, otherwise it's easy to distract the audience, but it must also be watchable, and Amy Adams' 70 points is just right.

It's even more coincidental that Simon, the heroine in the original "Ghost Record", can't remember her name, but her appearance is obviously similar to Amy Adams.

Although this time there is a heroine and a small match, but since they have met and finished acting in "Ghost Shadow", the two actresses will also become the target of Simon's deliberate attention to cultivating.

As for the actor, Simon is not so interested, and his acting skills are enough, so he chose a young man who is not impressed at all but has excellent acting skills.

The production meeting in the afternoon was also the first assembly after the small team was built, except for Lin Yibin, because of the confidentiality work in advance, the other people knew for the first time that such a small film would get Simon Westeros's personal attention, and then learned that this was Simon's idea, they were even more excited, even if the two actresses were not as bold as some other women who could contact Simon, it was inevitable that some small initiatives would be almost.

However, apart from cultivating the two girls into actresses in the bag, Simon has no other special interests.

Mainly, as the bellies of several women around him are getting bigger and bigger, during this time, Simon's interest in women is also inexplicably getting lower and lower.

Maybe this is some kind of prenatal anxiety of being a father.

The kind that adds up after six women get pregnant together.

The pressure is high.

is different from "American Pie", the meeting with the crew of "Ghost Shadow" is very short, only half an hour, mainly to explain the precautions in the filming process, it must be real and life-like, and it is also recommended that all the main creators go to see reality shows such as "Beverly's Wife".

Of course, how to do it can only be figured out by Lin Yibin and others, Simon will take the time to watch a few samples during the filming process, and if it doesn't work, he will return to the furnace to continue, anyway, it is a digital shooting, and the cost of returning to the furnace is very low, so he is also very relieved.

After the meeting, Simon rushed to the production meeting of the next "Heaven and Earth Collision" non-stop.

And so on until the evening.

Seeing off Ben Stiller, who was in charge of the screenwriter of "The Hangover", Girl A walked in and handed over a note with a slightly strange expression: "This is what Madame just sent me." ”

Simon took it and looked at it.

The first is a list of addresses, probably reminding of a mansion in Beverly Hills.

And then a word.

Very white and very white Natasha is waiting for the darling to enjoy.

After reading it, Simon was a little stunned before remembering that the representative of the Ukrainian side who met at SpaceX headquarters in the morning didn't expect Janet to get started so quickly, well, no, it was to help his man get started.

What a good wife.

The corners of her mouth were slightly hooked to think so, and then she probably understood that Janet may have noticed his anxiety during this time, so she took the initiative to find a woman to let him relax.

Girl A saw that her boss Lao Shen was on the ground and turned back to the desk, just threw the note on the corner of the table, paused, and couldn't help but come over: "Boss, do you want to go over and arrange it in advance?"

Simon shook his head: "No, wait until I get home." ”

"Huh?"

"I've been really not interested lately. ”

Of course, Girl A had no objections, nodded and left the office.

Simon worked until six o'clock, when he returned to Cape Doume.

Janet had already returned early, and was reading a tome with Seattle by the glass curtain wall, and was quite surprised to see Simon.

Simon took the woman in his arms and motioned to the baby-faced waitress Zoe next to him to take away her precious daughter, who would feel inferior when she saw it now, before leaning on the sofa with Janet and watching the last rays of the sun at the end of the sea through the curtain wall.

Janet rubbed one by one to find a comfortable position, enjoying the man's embrace, and asked with a smile: "Why don't you go to Beverly Hills, it's really white, and I took her to do a full set of maintenance?"

Simon joked: "I'm such a responsible man, of course I'm going home from work, how can I go out and fool around." ”

Janet wrinkled her nose with a little expression of 'you liar', opened her mouth and bit Simon lightly, and then put her head on Simon's shoulder, but after only a moment of silence, the woman jumped up from Simon's arms again, and ran away quickly with her bare feet, leaving Simon with an unknown face.

It's just that, in less than a minute, Janet returned again, straddled Simon's lap opposite, grabbed the man's head and leaned over, and whispered a little evil and a little excited: "This time it's a mouth, it's a reward for getting home on time from work, but don't think too much." ”

After saying this sentence without a beginning or an end, Janet lowered her head and kissed the man on the lips.