Malibu.
Unlike New York, which is still freezing in spring, in Los Angeles in March, even the temperature in the early morning seems to be just right.
The cliff mansion on the west side of Dumei Point Park.
In the bedroom facing the sea, the soft morning breeze accompanied by the sound of crashing waves blew into the room from the floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the terrace. On the big bed, Catherine opened her eyes and felt the cool air across her face, so she reached out and touched, Finally, he grabbed another pillow and covered his face silently.
There was a chuckle, and Catherine paused in covering her face for a moment, then she used her elbow to poke the man next to her a few times.
It’s all this little bastard.
What a bastard.
How will he face Jenny next? Moreover, if the incident gets spread...
Simon received a few elbow blows from Catherine and woke up as well. The confusion from last night quickly came into his mind. Looking around, Janet rested her chin on one hand and looked at him with a smile. On the other side, Catherine covered her face with a pillow like an ostrich.
"Morning, Jenny, and Catherine."
After saying hello, Simon stood up slightly, kissed Janet on the face, and then moved to the other side. However, feeling his approach, Catherine struck him randomly a few more times as if she was frightened.
Janet chuckled again and said: "Okay, little bastard, get out of here and help Kate and I prepare breakfast."
Simon put on his clothes in a few moments, and after getting out of bed, he asked Janet: "I also said I was going to New York today. Tomorrow is your birthday, don't you really plan to celebrate it?"
Janet waved her hands in disgust: "I have long said that I am not interested in birthday celebrations."
Seeing Janet's little expression telling him to get out quickly, Simon had a smile on his face. He leaned over and kissed the woman's cheek again before leaving the bedroom and starting to wash up in another bathroom in the villa. However, something appeared in his mind. The beautiful scene last night.
Yesterday, Simon still got off work very late. He had dinner with the director selected by the company for "Steel Magnolias" in the evening and talked about some movie matters. When he returned to Malibu, it was already past eight o'clock. She was staying alone in her study conceiving the script of "Batman" when Janet suddenly called and asked her to pick her up, but it was Janet and Catherine who picked her up.
Then.
Some things just happen.
After making breakfast, Catherine was pulled into the dining room by Janet, but her eyes still did not dare to make contact with Simon.
After filling a bowl of milk cereal and handing it to Catherine, Simon looked at Janet who had already picked up the bread and started spreading jam, and asked: "So, why did you suddenly come back last night?"
Janet took a small bite of bread and said, "Kate and I went to watch the screening of 'When Harry Met Sally', and then suddenly I thought of a certain little bastard."
"Oh," Simon smiled and said, "How was the movie?"
"It's better than the original script, and the pictures are also very beautiful. I didn't know Manhattan could be so beautiful," Janet said while thinking, "Besides, those interviews are also very interesting. Are they a real couple?"
"They are all actors. However, the interviews are real. The crew collected interviews with dozens of old couples and selected these materials," Simon explained, and then looked at Catherine. Seeing that the woman was avoiding his gaze, he still looked for He started a topic and said: "Tomorrow is Jenny's birthday, how about we go to Palm Springs together in the next two days?"
Catherine shook her head in a panic: "No, I have to go back to New York later to take care of... the movie."
Simon wanted to stay, so when he noticed Janet winking at him, he wisely changed the subject. After breakfast, Simon was driven to the company by Janet even though it was the weekend. As long as he had nothing special to do on weekdays, he would continue to work on weekends.
As soon as he arrived at the headquarters of Daenerys Pictures, Simon received a call from ICM. Julia Roberts agreed to his five-film contract request made yesterday.
Then came the When Harry Met Sally thing.
Yesterday, the film was screened in 33 theaters in major cities in North America. As soon as Simon hung up the phone with ICM, Amy Pascal knocked on the door with a happy face and walked in with a document.
"Simon, this is the media feedback on the first day of "When Harry Met Sally" that Disney just sent over. The comprehensive media score reached 9 points," Amy said, and couldn't help but shook her head and said: " It’s a pity that this is an Easter release, and many film critics feel that this movie will not be too popular with young people.”
"As long as the publicity method is appropriate, the audience can always be attracted to the cinema. Moreover, the proportion of young audiences in the summer season is also very large, and the competition is more fierce. It is impossible for us to push the schedule until the end of the year. In comparison, I I think the Easter schedule is more suitable for this movie.”
Simon said as he opened the document handed over by Amy. The first thing that appeared in front of him were some summaries of media evaluations.
"A very clever romantic comedy with a cast of distinct characters that make you feel a little bit like yourself." —Chicago Tribune.
"A movie you won't want to miss this Easter." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Compared with Woody Allen's intellectual cunning, I prefer the freshness and humor of 'When Harry Met Sally'." - "Los Angeles Times"
"Meg Ryan's performance is memorable, and the strong chemistry between the male and female leads makes up for any of the film's flaws." —Variety
"Witty and heartwarming, 'When Harry Met Sally' is destined to be a masterpiece of the romantic comedy genre." — San Francisco Chronicle
“…”
“…”
Browsing through the transcripts of media reviews on the file, Simon's thoughts did not stop and he said, "Amy, did you just say that young people might not be interested in this movie?"
"Yes, look at the back. Disney counted the age distribution of the moviegoers at yesterday's screening. The proportion of viewers under 25 years old was only 32%. During the Easter period, if it is a movie specifically for young audiences, this proportion is usually It will all be above 50%. Moreover, the R-rated rating of this movie will also prevent a large part of the teenage audience from leaving the theater."
"When Harry Met Sally" has many sexual-related topics. The heroine also staged a blushing 'bed scene' in public in a restaurant. It was eventually rated R. Audiences under 17 years old need adults. Viewing is only possible if accompanied.
Speaking of which, during the rating stage of "When Harry Met Sally", the MPAA's rating committee stated that as long as Daenerys Pictures deleted the scene with Meg Ryan in the restaurant, it would then review other aspects of the film. With slight adjustments to the details, the film could have been rated PG-13, but both the film's creators and Simon and Amy refused without hesitation. Everyone agreed that Meg Ryan's scene in the restaurant would definitely be the highlight of the film.
Simon continued to flip through the documents in his hand, thought for a moment, and said, "Amy, do you know the story about going to Africa to sell shoes?"
Amy shook her head in confusion.
Simon couldn't remember where the story came from, so he briefly explained it to Amy, and then said: "The situation we are facing now is the same as that of the salesman. The main audience of moviegoers during Easter are teenagers who are on spring break. . Many young people are not interested in "When Harry Met Sally", which just means that we still have a lot of market potential to tap. Think about it, young people may not like this kind of movie that involves adult love and marriage. I’m thinking about the subject matter of the movie, but I believe they will definitely be very interested in some other elements of the movie.”
Amy thought for a moment and then blurted out: "Sex."
"Yes, there is no sex scene in When Harry Met Sally. However, Meg Ryan's performance in the restaurant is more suggestive. For the next two weeks, the normal marketing process will continue. , what we have to do is to use the media to hype up this scene as a topic. Teenage audiences are the most curious group and the group most interested in sex. As long as we heat up this topic, we will definitely be able to Attract them into movie theaters.”
This method of triggering discussion and gaining attention by releasing controversial plots in advance allowed Simon to easily find a large number of cases from his memory. Although there was no Internet in this era, the concept of media hype works in any era. You know, there are thousands of newspapers in North America. Through a wide range of print media platforms, as long as they are operated properly, it is still easy to hype a certain topic.
After hearing what Simon said, Amy sorted out her thoughts and said quickly: "Simon, I'm going to call Disney right now to arrange a temporary meeting. Do you want to come with me?"
Simon shook his head and said: "I have to go to Fox later. Goldberg has been wanting to discuss the sequels of "The Butterfly Effect" and "Death Comes" with me recently, and he happens to be free today."
After completing the first "Death Comes", the copyright of this film also belongs to Fox, especially "The Butterfly Effect". Simon also considered the sequel issue at the beginning, but it was already very rare to get the share terms of the first part of "Death Comes" from Fox, and Daenerys Pictures had no way to ask for more.
However, although neither series will have much to do with Simon in the future, it is impossible for him to completely let go. Helping Fox with some suggestions for the sequel, apart from a dispensable reward, is actually more of a human investment.
After continuing to discuss some details, Simon and Amy began to get busy separately.
Although Catherine claimed to rush back to New York at breakfast and Simon came home from get off work, the woman still did not leave. After Janet's birthday, in the new week, Simon put the two women on a private plane to New York together.
on the other hand.
After several meetings and discussions, Disney also followed Simon's advice and began to adjust its distribution strategy.
With the efforts of Disney's publicity department, Meg Ryan's restaurant scene in "When Harry Met Sally" quickly became the focus of much media discussion and even controversy, and attracted more and more people s concern.
In the days that followed, the media popularity of "When Harry Met Sally" continued to rise, and the first week of screenings ended quickly.
In the week starting on March 11, a total of six new films were released in North American theaters. However, with the exception of "When Harry Met Sally," the other new films did not make much of a splash. Instead, "Good Morning Vietnam", which has entered its 12th week of release, once again topped the box office in the new week with $5.9 million in box office revenue. , the film’s cumulative box office also exceeded US$90 million.
As for "When Harry Met Sally," the film's first-week box office ultimately grossed $1.68 million, ranking 11th in the single-week box office rankings.
On the surface, "When Harry Met Sally" seems to be underwhelming in terms of box office data and chart rankings. However, if you take into account that this movie only had 33 screens, the movie's box office data seems very amazing.
You know, "Good Morning Vietnam", which topped the box office list this week, was screened on 1,579 screens, and its average box office per theater for the whole week was just over $3,700. In comparison, "When Harry Met Sally" had an average box office of just over $3,700. But it reached an astonishing US$51,000, which is more than ten times that of "Good Morning Vietnam".
If the first week's box office was not enough to reflect the box office popularity of "When Harry Met Sally", in the second week of its release, after the number of screenings was increased to 37, the film's single-theater data not only did not fall, but also gained a lot of reputation. and rose again amid heated discussions.
In the end, from March 18th to March 24th, "When Harry Met Sally" once again received a box office of US$2.07 million with only 37 screens, with an average box office of more than US$56,000. With this $2.07 million in box office revenue, "When Harry Met Sally" jumped into the ninth place in the new week's box office rankings.
Moreover, the screen size of other films immediately adjacent to "When Harry Met Sally" was almost dozens of times that of this film.
In two weeks, the cumulative box office of "When Harry Met Sally" has reached 3.75 million US dollars through just screenings. This figure has even exceeded the total North American box office of many low-cost independent films.
In order to minimize his influence on "When Harry Met Sally", Simon did not even hang the title of executive producer. As Daenerys Pictures' first film not produced by Simon himself, the success of "When Harry Met Sally" is crucial to the entire company.
Simon's talent in film has been confirmed after "Run Lola Run", "The Butterfly Effect" and "The Last Day".
However, Simon alone is obviously not enough to make a movie company grow.
Only when "When Harry Met Sally," a film whose director, screenwriter, and producer has nothing to do with Simon, succeeds will the outside world recognize the development potential of Daenerys Films.
Simon's net worth of more than one billion US dollars gained from the stock index futures market has ensured that Daenerys Pictures will no longer face the dilemma of "When Harry Met Sally" in film production, which took several twists and turns to attract investment. However, if Daenerys Pictures wants to get involved in the distribution field, it must let North American theaters see that this company can achieve excellent box office even if its films are not created by Simon. This matter is obviously not something that can be done simply by money. .
Now.
Having amassed millions of dollars at the box office in just over thirty screens in two weeks, the success of "When Harry Met Sally" was already predictable.
With the success of "When Harry Met Sally", North American theater operators will definitely re-evaluate the box office potential of Daenerys Pictures' films such as "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias". The company will then independently promote these films. Distributing movies will become much easier.