The day after Simon's meeting with Jack Valenty, Daenerys Entertainment barely had its first self-released film, "Avila's Horror," released in North America, with 553 screens.

Although it is a legacy project of New World Entertainment, the media still pays considerable attention to it.

The day after the film's release, many mainstream newspapers in North America published relevant film reviews. It's just that the film's reputation is mostly negative. The Hollywood Reporter commented that the film was 'a horror film that tried to borrow from various horror genres but seemed nondescript'.

Since it was decided to send the film to theaters, Simon didn't plan to make do with it, and deliberately approved a $2 million publicity budget for copy printing and advertising, which in the 80s was already very considerable.

Three days after the opening of the film, under the influence of Daenerys Entertainment advertising campaign, media discussions, or the heroine's pair of big breasts on the poster, "Avila's Horror" still received $2.21 million at the box office despite a sluggish reputation, and the total box office is expected to be around $3 million in the first week.

The $3 million opening week of the box office, according to the general box office trend of the era, the total North American box office of the film is roughly between $8 million and $10 million.

The production cost of "Avila" was $7.5 million, and the total investment was $9.5 million, including the $2 million publicity budget. It's just that with the box office, the film obviously can't recover its costs, even if the film can recover its costs or even make a slight profit after the release of overseas channels, videotapes and TV platforms in the later stage, but overall it is still in vain.

Daenerys Entertainment executives have long expected this situation, and many media outlets can't help but start advocating that Simon Westeros 'fell off the altar' after the box office results were released, and "Avila's Horror" is likely to be the beginning of Daenerys Entertainment's gradual mediocrity.

The New York Times also wrote an article analyzing that Simon's huge acquisition of New World Entertainment was a complete 'stinky move', and too eager expansion would only make Daenerys Entertainment quickly collapse and decline.

Simon was unfazed by the media rhetoric, and he was able to clearly feel the benefits of acquiring New World Entertainment for his foothold in Hollywood.

Buying this company, Daenerys Entertainment acquired an experienced film and television production and distribution team at one time, owned a number of valuable film and television drama rights, consolidated its position in the field of TV program suppliers, and most importantly, got Marvel, all of which are fully worth the $250 million payment.

While Simon didn't mind the loss of Avila, a group of executives from New World Entertainment didn't think so.

The box office data of "Avira" was released, and Robert Rem and others were obviously a little weak in the face of Simon. However, Simon did not say anything to appease these people, there is pressure to be motivated, and the loss of "Avila's Horror" can be regarded as a spur for them.

When "Avila's Horror" sparked media discussion, Daenerys Entertainment sent "Scream" to the MPAA for the third time on the new Monday for rating. In addition, the post-production of the three films "Rain Man", "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolia" was finally completed, and Simon was still waiting for the MPAA or Hollywood's traditional forces to make a statement, so he did not rush to submit these three films for review.

Daenerys Entertainment Burbank Branch.

It's Wednesday, October 5th.

Unlike "Scream", due to the subject matter of "Rain Man", "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolia", the MPAA will not be able to give a rating of more than R no matter how difficult it is. Therefore, although the rating has not yet been confirmed, Daenerys Entertainment has begun to arrange for representatives of major theaters in North America to participate in the trial film in order to sign the screening agreement.

In the screening room, the end credits of "Steel Magnolia" rose, and Robert Rehm, who personally entertained the test film, invited Richard Hill, vice president of the United Cinema Line in charge of film source procurement, to the reception room next door. This is the second screening of the day, and the two of them have already watched the sample film of "Dead Poets Society" in the morning.

In the 80s, the large-scale integration of North American cinema chains had not yet begun, and the Luen Mei Cinema Line, which was spun off from Luen Mei after the Paramount Verdict, was still the largest cinema chain in this era, with a total of more than 2,200 screens across North America and a market share of nearly 10%.

In order to make up for the bad impression that the failure of "Avila" may have in Simon's mind, Robert Rem has been tirelessly pushing forward with the release of several films at the end of the year in recent days, and for three consecutive days, he has personally accompanied representatives of major theaters to watch samples and negotiate cooperation agreements.

Moreover, Robert Rehm also has a vague premonition that his boss may have a showdown with the other party when he met with MPAA Chairman Jack Valenty last Friday, and the theaters directly under several major film companies that were originally interested in cooperating have rejected his invitation to test films in recent days, and Robert Rem can now only fight for screen resources from theaters outside the seven major systems.

However, Robert Rehm is not too worried about the current situation.

Because of the previous Hollywood strike, during this time, major theater chains in North America were generally in a state of shortage of films, and the quality of the films screened could not be compared with the same period in previous years. For three consecutive weeks, the total box office in North America was in a serious state of shrinkage below $30 million. Coupled with the box office miracles created by Daenerys Entertainment in the past two years, Robert Rem has enough confidence to fight for enough canvas for the company's films without relying on the resources of the seven major theater chains.

"Charlie, including the "Scream" I invited you to watch before, these three films were personally selected and supervised by Simon, and "Scream" is actually Simon's idea. Therefore, for the three films, Daenerys Entertainment needs to ensure a comprehensive 55% share. ”

"I've heard about the rating issues that 'Scream' encountered," Richard Hill said, holding a cup of coffee with the same confident expression, "Bob, you don't know if 'Scream' will be released on time." "Dead Poets" and "Steel Magnolia" may not have this problem, but companies such as Universal's Cineplex Cinemas probably won't open up resources for you, so, 40%, that's the highest percentage I can give. If "Scream" can pass the rating, we can sign a one-time contract for the three films, but in several core cities such as New York and Chicago, the United Artists Cinema Line needs to have exclusive screening rights. ”

Because of the attendance, the box office sharing contracts signed between film companies and theaters are usually decreasing in a tiered manner. Usually in the weeks leading up to the opening, studios get at least 60% of the box office, but as attendance decreases, so does the studio's share.

But overall, the major studios are able to get between 40% and 55% of the total box office share for the entire screening cycle, and the North American film industry has experienced more than half a century of development, and the industry has a very mature formula for this. Therefore, Robert Rehm and Richard Hill did not dwell on the specifics, but directly discussed the final share ratio.

"Charlie, our company's situation may not be too good, but your situation is actually worse, and now all theaters are short of sources. Moreover, if the Big Seven can achieve the box office results of Daenerys Entertainment in the previous two years, they will ask for an even higher percentage of the box office, and you may have to pay a huge deposit to get a film contract as you have done in the past. So, 55%, this point Daenerys Entertainment will not back down. ”

Richard Hill retorted: "Previous results are not indicative of the future, and 'Scream' may be pretty good, after all, it was Westeros' own idea, but he didn't sign it." As for "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolia", if it weren't for stars such as Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange, they would actually be more like literary films, and they wouldn't have much selling point at all. ”

"Not to mention Simon's previous five films, the original "When Harry and Sally", the big Hollywood studios also felt that it lacked selling points, but this movie got $110 million at the box office," Robert Rehm still had a strong attitude, saying: "Charlie, if you want to make this business, it's best not to consider the seven external factors." The suppression of Daenerys Entertainment by the Big Seven is unlikely to help you make more money, on the contrary, you can. You have to understand that not only these three movies now, but Daenerys Entertainment will make more films in the future. If we have a happy cooperation this time, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely give priority to providing film sources for United Artists Cinemas in the future. ”

Richard Hill heard Robert Rehm's last words, looked at the other party's expression, and immediately understood the subtext.

If this cooperation is unpleasant, the United Artists Cinema will definitely be ostracized by Daenerys Entertainment in the future.

In recent days, Richard Hill has received calls from some executives of major Hollywood studios, and originally thought that Daenerys Entertainment would have a softer attitude this time, but he didn't expect that Robert Rehm, who had a mild temper in the past during the New World Entertainment period, would suddenly be so strong.

Richard Hill inexplicably thought of the figure of a young man.

That's really a sharp-edged young man.

Thinking so, Richard Hill found that he really didn't have the confidence to have a problem with Daenerys Entertainment.

After all, Luen Mei Cinemas only owns less than 10% of the screens in North America, even if it is the Big Seven, after the government relaxed the theater operation control a few years ago, it only obtained a total of about 15% of the number of screens, although these are the best quality screen resources, but in the whole of North America, there are still 75% of the screen resources in the hands of other large and small theater operations.

Although the long-term relationship of interests has made the Seven have a very strong influence on the entire North American cinema market, if it is other second- and third-tier film companies, the Seven will work together, which may make the major cinema chains block each other out of various considerations.

However, Daenerys Entertainment is not among them, and this film company is just too dazzling.

Six movies have been produced in two years, all of which have been squeezed into the top ten of the annual list, and five of them have exceeded 100 million.

Despite several phone calls, Richard Hill didn't even consider turning down a partnership with Daenerys Entertainment, and he believes many other cinema operators in the industry are doing the same. Perhaps, only the part of the theaters directly under the seven companies is forced to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment due to the overall interests of the parent company, but Richard Hill believes that those directly affiliated theaters must be cursing from the bottom of their hearts.

As a professional manager, everyone has performance indicators.

With all this in mind, Richard Hill suddenly glanced at the reception room and understood one more thing.

In the past, film companies usually invited the heads of multiple theaters to participate in the test film, but this time, Robert Rem invited him alone. This is obviously not just because Luen Mei Cinema is the largest theater chain in North America, Daenerys Entertainment is not like giving major theater chains the opportunity to connect in series.

did not have the confidence to have a stiff quarrel with Daenerys Entertainment, and the terms of cooperation proposed by Daenerys Entertainment were not harsh, and in the next negotiations, Richard Hill's attitude softened unconsciously.

By the end of the day, the two had basically agreed on a rough framework for cooperation.

reached a cooperation, Robert Rehm originally invited Richard Hill to have dinner together, but the other party refused on the grounds that he still had to accompany his family, and originally planned to go home directly, but Robert Rem received a call from Simon again, the company had just got the new label titles of its three companies, Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures and Goron Pictures, and Simon wanted him to go over and watch it together.

Since the boss was still working at the end of the day, Robert Rehm had nothing to complain about, and drove from Burbank to Santa Monica.

Arriving at Santa Monica Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters, Robert Rem went straight to a conference room upstairs.

Simon and Amy were here together, and after greeting each other, everyone sat down at the conference table, and watching Simon's female assistant debugging the video recorder, Robert Rem took the initiative to talk about the results of the afternoon's negotiations.

"United Artists Cinemas agreed to sign all three films, with a 55% comprehensive share ratio and at least four weeks of running time. However, United Artists Cinemas is not optimistic about "Steel Magnolia", they are only willing to give 200 screens, if "Scream" can pass the rating review, this film and the subsequent "Dead Poets Society", they can give 500 screens. Also, Simon, the internal audience screenings of "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society" last week were very good, and I wondered, can we adopt the model of accumulating word-of-mouth by releasing them on a small scale in advance, just like Disney's "Good Morning Vietnam" last year?"

Theoretically, these films are to participate in some film festivals for pre-promotion before they are released. However, Daenerys Entertainment's schedules for these movies are very tight, and there is no time to do these at all.

Simon heard Robert Rehm's suggestion, and after a little consideration, he quickly nodded: "Yes, you and everyone discuss a plan first." ”