After the American version of "The Conjuring" was released on October 22, on October 29, the new week, the Halloween schedule officially started. Daenerys Entertainment launched the first part of the latest branch of the Conjuring movie universe, "The Haunted Nun" .
Although it belongs to the Conjuring movie universe series, as the first film, the production cost of "The Ghost Nun" is still not high, maintaining the production level of 15 million US dollars. However, in order to promote this branch series, the New World Pictures team provided a high price for the project. The publicity budget has also reached US$15 million, which is the same as the cost.
The film opened on 3,137 screens, the highest during the Halloween period.
Compared with the core "The Conjuring" and the other two branches, the reputation of "The Ghost Nun" after its early premiere this time is slightly unsatisfactory. The comprehensive media score is only 7.1 points, so people are a little worried about the market performance of this film. .
Fortunately, the reputation of The Conjuring Cinematic Universe, which has been managed for three consecutive series, is quite strong, and, with a score of 7.1, it is not a bad review after all. From the first day of release, Daenerys was relieved by the film's market performance.
After the lively Halloween, the first weekend ended. From October 28th to October 31st, the box office revenue of "The Ghost Nun" reached 37.19 million US dollars in the first three days, which is quite outstanding. Subsequently, in the entire week, the total box office of this Halloween-themed horror film reached 56.35 million, another outstanding performance in the first week of profitability.
In addition to the popular "Ghost Nun", the market performance of the American version of "The Ghost Story" in the second week after its release was as expected. The box office dropped 41% in the second week and continued to earn US$16.15 million, bringing the cumulative box office to US$43.36 million.
The total investment in production and promotion was only 15 million U.S. dollars, and the bi-weekly box office was 43.36 U.S. dollars. Taking into account overseas and follow-up, the revenue brought to Daenerys Entertainment by the U.S. version of "The High School Girl" was second only to The Conjuring in the same period this Halloween Cinematic Universe's new film "The Ghost Nun" is enviable.
In comparison, among the new films that were also released on October 29 for Halloween 1999, only the crime thriller "Fatal Encounter" produced by MGM was slightly able to keep up with Daenerys. The film was produced in Hollywood in recent years. The Australian actor Russell Crowe, who is also developing well, and the tall beauty Uma Thurman star, and are partnered by veteran actor Ed Harris. The production cost is 35 million U.S. dollars, and the promotion is 10 million U.S. dollars. The box office in the first week was $37.76 million.
It is estimated that the local box office total of 70 million to 90 million US dollars will allow MGM to recover its costs just by relying on the local market, and overseas distribution will begin to make profits.
Talking about other things, Warner has launched a science fiction thriller this Halloween, inviting Matt Damon and Sean Penn, as well as Hollywood beauty Jennifer Connelly, called "AI Crisis", about the male character played by Ma Da. The protagonist stops an artificial intelligence with autonomous intelligence from trying to destroy humanity.
Perhaps saving the world goes against Ma Da's destiny. After all, Comrade Damon has always been destined to be saved. Therefore, with a cost of US$55 million, the box office of "AI Crisis" in the first week was only US$17.96 million, ending at a loss.
As for other companies, the market performance of their new films is even more dismal, needless to say.
Time enters November 1999.
These days, Simon is focused on two major things.
The first one was the officially opened presidential election in Ukraine. This was the first presidential election after Ukraine promulgated its constitution in 1996.
Compared with the various undercurrents surging in Russia for the presidency next year, since it is a small country after all, Ukraine's presidential election is relatively peaceful.
Unlike the United States, Ukraine's general election adopts a universal suffrage system with unified vote counting. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of more than 50% of the votes in the first round of the election, the top two candidates with the most votes will conduct a second election.
After the voting day on October 31, the results were calculated. Current President Leon Kuchma received 36% of the votes, and the second-place representative of the Ukrainian Communist Party, Petro Simonenko, received 22% of the votes. No one received An absolute majority, so they entered the second round smoothly.
However, given the vote gap between the two leading candidates in the first round, there will basically be no surprises in the second round results.
On the Westeros side, the Ukrainian Progressive Union Party formed by the Rivne Gang is a firm supporter of the current president Leon Kuchma in this presidential election.
At the moment, the outcome is basically determined, and then some strategies will need to be adjusted.
After being successfully re-elected, according to some of Simon's memories, Kuchma started preparations for a third term just at the beginning of his second term.
Simon would never allow this to happen.
After all, just like Russia or neighboring Belarus later, if a president has been in office for too long and is deeply entrenched, the country's political situation will tend to stabilize.
Not to mention the other two, but in Ukraine, Simon will not allow this country to be too stable. Otherwise, how can the Westeros system easily penetrate and eventually completely control it.
Simon's plan is to push Yushchenko, the former spokesperson of the United States, to serve in the next term, and let him serve for one or two terms depending on the situation. The Rovne gang will continue to stand behind the scenes. From now on, there will be another 10 to 15 years to control the situation. Ukraine will conduct business, and then, when Yushchenko’s term ends, it will be time for the Rovne gang to officially come to the forefront.
Of course, this is only an ideal goal.
If the ending is not ideal, for example, in the worst case, even if the entire Rivne State is reduced to ruins in an unpredictable war, Simon will not be unable to accept it. After all, it has nothing to do with the foundation of the Westeros system.
Another thing is that on November 3, Pfizer's acquisition of Warner Lambert, another large pharmaceutical giant in the United States, participated by Apollo Management, a subsidiary of Cersei Capital, was officially launched. On this day, the top management of both parties launched the first meeting. A private acquisition negotiation.
The United States is not a country with universal health insurance, but the national budget’s spending on health care reaches an outrageous level.
For example, in 1999, the total fiscal budget of the United States was US$1.7 trillion, of which military expenditure was US$270 billion, but health care expenditure was as high as US$330 billion, equivalent to the current population of 280 million US dollars, and per capita expenditure was close to US$1,200.
For comparison, in China, the per capita annual income in 1999 was estimated to be only US$870.
Some people may think that such a high investment just proves that the US government cares about people's health and well-being.
Standing where he is now, Simon agrees with it a million times.
Then, as a super capitalist, the Westeros system will spare no effort to enter the medical field of the United States.
There are big benefits in it.
The Westeros System has quietly absorbed about 10% of Pfizer's shares in the past few years. For Pfizer, which has long been a publicly held company, it is already the largest shareholder. In addition, Westeros Company's shareholding in Warner Lambert has also reached 7%. With the continuous withdrawal of the Mellon family, it is currently the single shareholder with the largest shareholding.
Therefore, it is obvious that the merger of the two companies is actually a merger of themselves.
After the merger is completed, the new Pfizer will become the world's largest pharmaceutical group.
In the Westeros system, although it is far from absolute shareholding, as the largest shareholder, coupled with the shareholding of auxiliary capital such as Black Rock Asset Management Company, we took the opportunity to install the board of directors and management of the new company. Among our own people, the Westeros system is basically the actual controller of this super pharmaceutical giant.
New York.
It’s Friday, November 5th.
Over in China, "Everest" opens today. Chen Qing specifically mentioned in her previous email that a grand premiere was held a week in advance. The scene was very lively and the box office is expected to not be too bad.
He also talked about the project to explore the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon that was derived from this.
Simon also remembered that he had seen news about the longest and deepest canyon in the world in the media in the past two years. It just happened to be a sequel to "Everest", which was very good, so he directly agreed to let himself and Danielle over there. Wire contact.
As for excluding China Film and CCTV this time and instead cooperating with Jiangsu local authorities, Simon didn’t say anything.
Those two families must try their best to win over each other. After all, it is easy to imagine that if the biological son does not do well and is adopted out of favor, and goes to complain to his biological parents, who will be unlucky
Therefore, it must be offered.
Just like the major projects discussed last time, not only "My Motherland and Me" but also other films will actively attract China Film to participate. This not only shares financial risks, but also reduces other risks. In short, in China's film and television industry, don't put making money as the first priority. You need to be better at being a good person in order to last.
Simon flew to the East Coast yesterday, and his main job in the morning was to discuss Pfizer's acquisition of Warner Lambert with the Apollo Management team. James Raybould, who is in charge of Westeros, also participated.
For the Westeros system, the real goal of this acquisition is to achieve maximum control over the new company in the future.
After all, after the merger of the new company, the management will definitely need to be adjusted.
Westeros Company, Cersei Capital, plus Goldman Sachs, First Boston and other companies that have good relations with this side, of course, led by this side, when the time comes, they can easily vacate the cage and change the bird.
Again, for a publicly held company with extremely dispersed ownership, controlling the company's board of directors and management is equivalent to controlling the company.
Simon set a goal early on to control every major American corporate giant as much as possible through a similar model.
Controlling as many corporate giants in the United States and the world as possible is equivalent to controlling the global economy. Going further, it is equivalent to controlling the world.
It’s a big goal, but actually, it’s not as difficult to achieve as you think.
Just like in ancient China, after a founding king has accumulated enough strength, he can take control of the situation, defeat all opponents and control a country, or even establish a brand new empire. It only takes a few years to more than ten years.