In the western suburbs of Melbourne, an abandoned factory that Daenerys originally bought, after continuous construction in recent years, has become a 50-hectare comprehensive film and television base, covering an area comparable to Daenerys Studios in Malibu, Los Angeles, except that the building density is sparse.

There are a total of 9 large studios in Melbourne Studios, of which only 3 are regular studios, and the other 6 are virtual studios for special effects shooting, and other post-production centers, special effects studios and other supporting facilities are available.

Through continued lobbying by the Westeros System and other stakeholders, the Australian government and the country's states have not only not curtailed the film incentives as more and more Hollywood films are being filmed here, but have increased their support.

A large number of film projects have been shot in Australia, so that the only large-scale modern film and television base in the southern hemisphere has been running at full capacity.

Melbourne Studios has invested more than $300 million before and after, and was once thought to be a drag on Daenerys Entertainment Group, after all, Daenerys already owns two studios in Malibu and Burbank just in Los Angeles. Now, this film and television base not only has no loss, but also contributes very good income to Daenerys Entertainment through venue equipment rental and other film and television project orders.

After Easter, Simon's attention finally turned to the "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" project, which will be completed at the end of April.

As a special effects-based blockbuster, through careful planning in the early stage, the filming cycle of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is only 3 months, starting at the end of January and finishing at the end of April, but it is expected that the post-production will take up to 6 months, and it will probably be completed in October in the second half of the year.

In order to finish the work here as soon as possible, on April 17, the day after Easter, Simon began to soak in the Melbourne Studios in the western suburbs for more than 10 hours a day.

Go through all the shots you've shot over the past few months, finalize and edit yourself, discuss post-production with the VFX team, and more.

The work is trivial and onerous.

People who don't know what to do often think of as a film director are a designer role, but in fact, this profession is more inclined to be an engineer, and it is the kind that requires a lot of hands-on work.

Because movies, especially blockbuster movies, are a very huge project in themselves.

Simon has not personally served as the director of this series since "Batman: Time to Go to War", but as the leader of the entire DC Cinematic Universe series, his job is not easy at all, just like now, Roland Emmerich only needs to focus on the project of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", which is just a DC Cinematic Universe, but Simon is distracted by this project at the same time, but also takes into account the relevant project planning for the next two years, which is not something that can be done with lip service.

From April 17th to April 21st, five days, more than 10 hours a day, Simon finally completed the follow-up work on "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice".

Not only that, but these days, Simon has also done a combing of the layout of the Westeros system in terms of private military forces.

Mainly African.

Since the outbreak of the Rwandan massacre last year, Simon has withdrawn from the Westeros mercenaries stationed in Rwanda this year, and has continued to re-infiltrate these troops into the industry of the Westeros family in African countries, and has been re-active in Africa in the mode of a security team.

The Westeros system already has enough lucrative core industries, and Simon's series of industrial layouts in Africa are only for raising soldiers, and whether they make money or not is only secondary.

If any army is separated from the battlefield environment for a long time, it will inevitably lead to a continuous decline in combat effectiveness.

And Africa, even after ten or twenty years, has never been completely peaceful.

The warlords of Africa are actually very smart.

They are very reluctant to send peacekeepers from other countries or mercenaries with government backgrounds, such as the EO in South Africa, because they know very well that the modern armies of the West can easily influence their rule.

Simon's neat withdrawal of Westeros mercenaries from Rwanda in the second half of last year has caused many African countries, including the Rwandan authorities, to let down their guard against the Westeros system.

Not only that, but in the past year, the Westeros system has also mobilized a lot of lobbying power to operate in Africa, conveying only one message, Simon is a businessman, he has no interest in overthrowing their regime, and he enters Africa just to do business, as long as you give enough benefits, the Westeros system can also give you everything you want, weapons and equipment, very simple, recognized by Western society, no problem.

As long as you can give enough benefits.

In the face of Simon's message, the clever warlords certainly know what to choose.

In addition to Rwanda, Angola quickly became another example of a pleasant cooperation with the Westeros system.

This country, which was originally a Portuguese colony, fought a civil war for decades because of the game between the two parties during the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, but unfortunately, the current victory was actually the faction supported by the Soviet Union and the recognition of the United Nations, but the other side that the United States once supported gradually declined, and the reconciliation reached between the two sides in 1992 also fell into civil war again because a presidential election failed to satisfy the opposition.

After the Westeros system contacted the Angolan side, the current president of Angola, dos Santos, quickly responded positively, and the Angolan leader, who was once supported by the Soviet Union, knew very well that if he wanted to completely eliminate the opposition in the country, he must put an end to the possible support of the United States behind the scenes.

The two sides hit it off.

The Westeros system has not only provided Angola with a large number of cheap arms from Ukraine in the past year, but also facilitated the visit of dos Santos to the United States.

In the process, the Westeros system was granted the right to exploit a number of mineral deposits in Angola.

Moreover, Simon not only did not take it in vain, but also quietly took the initiative to take out shares to make friends with the Angolan government elites, and the relationship between the two sides became closer unconsciously, and even Verizon Telecom easily entered the Angolan market, although there is not much business for the time being, just the construction of a local mobile communication network limited to the surroundings of Luanda, the capital of Angola, but for closed Africa, it is definitely a pioneering initiative.

Most importantly, Simon also quietly deployed 300 Westeros mercenaries in Angola under the pretext of military advisers and corporate security.

The small number of people and the distribution of the whole body did not raise any objections from the Angolan side.

Not only that, Simon visited Angola during the first anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, and dos Santos also offered to get the support of 200 Westeros mercenaries on top of the 100 military advisers to train the authorities' army.

Including an arms order negotiated and two deals, the two deals were exchanged for the right to operate a large coffee-growing area in southern Angola covering an area of about 150,000 acres equivalent to 600 square kilometers.

As long as taxes are paid in the future, 150,000 acres of land is equivalent to Simon's private domain.

Unlike Simon, who has unwittingly expanded to more than 2 million acres of private land on the Australian island of Tasmania, such an area has considerable economic value.

The great cause of landlordism was extended to Africa.

Of course, it is still not comparable to the super-large landowner families in Australia who own tens of millions of acres of land.

This is one of several options offered by Simon himself from the Angolan side.

Because the area where the Angolan opposition is entrenched is in the south of Angola.

Simon's chosen coffee-growing area, which was in opposition hands a few years ago, has been fought over by both sides, with few local residents left and vast tracts of high-quality coffee plantations left unnullius, and is still often harassed by infiltrating opposition forces.

Such an area is simply in Simon's hands.

is often harassed by the armed opposition, so the security task is quite onerous, and it is natural to send a few more people to guard it.

Moreover, such a large coffee-growing area always needs a large number of local labor to take care of it, and in the future, when the situation is completely stabilized, it will definitely form a cluster, and it will be convenient for the Westeros system to carry out some other operations, as long as it is done properly, so that these people can easily have a sense of belonging to the Westeros system.

All in all, the success of Angola's layout has allowed many African countries to show goodwill towards the Westeros system.

Simon is no longer impatient now, and intends to moisturize things quietly and quietly.

It wasn't until April 22 that Simon's family finally left Melbourne.

However, the two women and children will return directly to North America, Simon is going to Europe, the first stop is Ukraine, to deal with some of the extensions of this African layout, then to Italy to visit Sofia, and then to the United Kingdom, where the third project of the Conjuring Cinematic Universe series, "The Conjuring 2", is being filmed, and then he will return to North America.

At the same time, Simon's absence brought the two-week Easter schedule in North America to an end.

"Fighting Wisdom Multistar 3", which was released on April 7, once again brought a surprise to Daenerys Entertainment.

The development of this project has been bumpy.

At the beginning, Daenerys Entertainment and the main creator Mike Myers only signed a packaging contract for two films, and the first two "Fighting Wisdom and Stars" were successful, the first part had a local box office of 120 million, the second part was as high as 140 million, and the third part, without the shackles of the packaging contract, Mike Myers could naturally sit on the ground and start the price.

Simon, however, did not back down in the slightest.

The first part has a budget of $20 million, the second part is $30 million, and the third, because of the success of the first two films, it is natural that the budget should be doubled to $60 million, according to Hollywood practice, Simon insisted on only giving a budget of $40 million. Daenerys Entertainment has no shortage of quality projects, with only $40 million to either go ahead or cancel.

Of course, this time it can be more lenient in terms of sharing.

This is also for the sake of risk aversion.

If the production budget of $60 million, which is doubled compared to the second part, and the $30 million publicity that is halved, the total cost of the third part will reach the bombshell level of $90 million. As a vulgar spoof comedy relying on local culture, the overseas market potential of the "Fighting Wisdom Multi-Star" series has always been very small, and it can basically only rely on North America.

As a result, even if the third part maintains the domestic box office of $140 million for the second part, counting overseas, Daenerys can only barely recoup its original cost.

Even though this new sequel has broken the curse of Simon's memory of the second installment in the series as a box office fiasco, Simon doesn't quite believe that the third installment can still be a big hit.

Therefore, adhere to risk control.

Mike Myers wasn't going to compromise at first, and the comedy star was relieved until the summer "Honeymoon Danger" failed at the box office two years ago, and the total investment of $30 million in production and publicity brought Sony Pictures less than $10 million at the box office.

The final package was a base salary of $8 million plus a 15% omnichannel profit share of the project.

Because this series is a double protagonist, the other actor and the director who has been following up are all rising, which is the highest price Simon can accept, and the other two main creators have also received an equal 7.5% omni-channel profit share of the project on the basis of salary increases.

In the end, the project cost 40 million production and 20 million publicity, with a total budget of 60 million US dollars.

Simon's initial expectation was that the box office of the end of the series would exceed 100 million, even if the task was overfulfilled, through overseas and follow-up videotapes and other channels, after deducting the cost, Daenerys Entertainment could recover a good profit, and the three main creators could also get a considerable share.

If the domestic box office falls below $100 million, both sides may need to make up for it later.

Now the result is, I don't know if the three main creators have found the audience's taste through the training of the first two parts, and the reputation of the third part of the film has not only improved significantly compared with the second part, but the comprehensive media score has risen from 7.3 points in the previous work to 8.1 points at the excellent level, and the box office is surprising.

With 2,893 screens in the first week, "Fighting Wisdom 3" grossed $49.29 million in its first week from April 7 to April 13, an increase of $6 million from the previous film.

And that's not all.

At the beginning, the second week of "Fighting Wisdom 2" fell by 39%, which is a very normal trend for this kind of comedy, and it is also the Easter schedule, probably because it spans Easter on April 16, and the second week of release from April 14th to April 20th, the box office of "Fighting Wisdom 3" fell by only a very good 27%, and it collected another $36.83 million.

In just two weeks, the cumulative box office of the final part of the series has reached $86.12 million.

Even, in an email correspondence with Simon, the head of New World Pictures, Danny Morris, also suggested whether it was necessary to develop another one, after all, there was no public announcement that the series was over.

You must know that the box office of $86.13 million in two weeks, although the Easter schedule has passed, considering that there are no other competitors until the start of the summer season, the reputation of "Fighting Wisdom 3" is so good, and the local box office is likely to break through the $200 million mark.

The total cost of 60 million, the local box office alone is more than 200 million US dollars, and it would be a pity not to develop a sequel.