After lunch with Terry Semel, Simon returned to Daenerys Entertainment headquarters to resume his afternoon work.
These days, senior executives such as Simon and Amy have been renegotiating the new company's film and television production and distribution plans. Originally, he planned to work overtime for two days on the previous weekend to complete these things before the trip to Australia. Due to the release of the "Forbes" rich list, Simon has been entangled with various things on the weekend and had to postpone it to the working day.
Except for several reality shows that Daenerys Pictures has already prepared and TV series that have been renewed by New World Entertainment, the company does not plan to develop new projects this year. Therefore, this aspect of the TV business was quickly straightened out.
In terms of movies, it’s mainly production and distribution.
After the merger is completed, the new company's issuance business will begin next month.
In addition to the seven films released in the first half of the year, New World Entertainment has another six films of various genres waiting for release.
After review and discussion, New World Entertainment has finally determined that a total of three films will be released in theaters, namely "Elvira", "The Sisters of Sid" and "The Amityville Horror 2". The other three films will be released directly to video. issued.
"Elvira" is a brand of horror films that actress Cassandra Peterson has been focusing on building over the years. It is generally a horror comedy style. However, the biggest selling point of the film is probably the heroine's half-covered and half-exposed large breasts under a black dress.
Simon had a low opinion of this B-movie-style film and did not see any box-office potential. He originally wanted to dump it on the video tape market as well. However, New World Entertainment has already conducted some pre-publicity and even asked Marvel to develop a set of comics specifically for this movie.
Considering that the company had no other theatrical release plans in September, Simon reluctantly agreed to re-edit the film and send it to theaters, but limited the number of screens to 500.
"Sid" is a low-budget independent film starring Winona Ryder, an actress who just made her mark in Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" in the first half of the year. The story explores teenagers' perspectives on life through a series of school murders. Disappointment and confusion.
After seeing the sample, Simon decisively decided to let the film participate in next year's Sundance Film Festival together with "Sisters" and "Metropolitans" previously invested by Daenerys Films.
Because the film's box office potential is too low, the release date will be set for February or March next year.
The final "The Amityville Horror 2" is a horror film series developed by New World Entertainment to imitate New Line's "A Nightmare on Elm Street". The first film earned more than 14 million U.S. dollars at the box office with a production cost of 1 million U.S. dollars, although it cannot compete with "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Compared with the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, it is still a big profit.
The production cost of this sequel has increased to US$3 million. With the reputation accumulated by the first film, profits are very guaranteed.
New World Entertainment originally planned to schedule the film for the Christmas season at the end of the year.
Before the merger of the two companies, this was obviously a good choice, but now, the new company's distribution team must focus on the promotion of several established films of Daenerys Pictures. Therefore, the release schedule of "The Evil Dead 2" It has been postponed until Easter next year.
In addition to "Rain Man", which is scheduled to be released by MGM on December 16, Daenerys Pictures will produce and independently distribute three films: "Scream", "Steel Magnolias" and "Dead Poets Society" The schedule was also completely finalized during this discussion.
The release date of "Scream" is October 28.
The release date of "Steel Magnolias" is November 18.
The release date of "Dead Poets Society" is December 23.
Michael Hoffman's "Sisters", Whit Stilton's "Metropolis" and Catherine's "Blue Angel" are also in the advanced stages. The specific schedule has not yet been determined, but it is expected that they will all be released. It will enter theaters in the first half of next year.
Filmmaking.
Of the several projects that New World Entertainment was originally planning, Simon ultimately retained only "The Drifter," which was originally scheduled to star Brooke Shields, and canceled all others.
Among the projects being axed are "Revenge," starring Kevin Costner, and "The Punisher," a Marvel Comics adaptation starring Dolph Lundgren.
"Revenge" is an ethical film about a retired naval officer who seduces his best friend's wife and suffers revenge. It was originally scheduled to be directed by Tony Scott, who is Ridley Scott's brother and has also directed before. With well-known films such as "Beverly Cop", he is also considered a first-line director in Hollywood.
However, Simon was completely unable to understand the concept that "Revenge" wanted to express. Although the film was co-invested with a company affiliated with Columbia Pictures, the production budget of US$20 million still exceeded Simon's expectations, so he chose to give up.
As for The Punisher.
Simon read the script and found that except for the name, the story was completely divorced from Marvel's classic comic settings. It was purely a B-level shootout film imitating the style of Stallone's "First Blood". Naturally, there was no need to retain the result.
During the strike, Bruce Joey Robin had completed the scripts for the other two films that Simon had originally ordered from him, "The Sixth Sense" and "The Last Days."
Simon has temporarily shelved "The Last Love" and is working on the project for "The Sixth Sense."
Robert De Niro originally signed a two-part package contract for "Dead Poets Society" and "The Sixth Sense". "Dead Poets Society" has been completed, and it happened to take over "The Sixth Sense" at this time.
In addition, with the end of the Hollywood writers' strike, Daenerys Entertainment has also begun to receive intensive promotions for various projects during this period, and Simon has selected several very good scripts from them.
One of them is called The Bodyguard.
Yes, the one in original time and space starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.
The screenwriter of the film, Lawrence Kasdan, is well-known in Hollywood. He was once the screenwriter of the "Star Wars" series and the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series.
However, the script of "The Bodyguard" has been receiving cold treatment since it was written in the mid-1970s. It is said that before Simon took over, the film had been rejected by more than 60 producers in a row, and most film companies I think the plot of this movie is too cliche, and the scenes in the mansion where the female singer Rachel is in the movie are too expensive.
Therefore, despite Lawrence Kasdan’s high status, Daenerys Entertainment bought the script for only $300,000.
Another script is "One Flew Over the Child" by Hollywood female screenwriter and director Amy Heckerling. The biggest feature of this comedy is that it allows babies to learn how adults think and speak. In the original time and space, "One Flew Over the Child" starred John Travolta, with Bruce Willis voicing the baby, and successfully entered the top ten box office rankings that year.
Previously, this script was also not favored, so it was snatched up by Daenerys Entertainment.
This is actually not surprising. Hollywood's generally promising projects have basically fallen into the hands of major film companies several years in advance.
There's just one thing: because he participated in violent movies like "Pulp Fiction", Travolta is no longer suitable to star in a warm comedy like "One Flew Over the Child", so Daenerys Entertainment can only choose a new male lead.
Ultimately, "The Sixth Sense," "Batman," "The Bodyguard" and "One Flew Over" will be Daenerys Entertainment's flagship projects next year.
"The Sixth Sense", which has grossed an astonishing global box office of over 600 million US dollars, and the relatively inferior "The Bodyguard" have been initially confirmed to be released in next summer, while "One Flew Over the Child" and "Batman" are scheduled to be released for Thanksgiving and next year respectively. Christmas.
but.
Speaking carefully, this is actually just Simon's idea.
Because these four projects are basically not popular genres in Hollywood, scripts like "The Bodyguard" have been ignored by Hollywood for more than ten years. Simon doesn't plan to explain too much to others, he just needs Amy and others to do their best to complete their work.
and.
Preliminary statistics show that Daenerys Entertainment’s films confirmed to be released next year include “Sid,” “Sisters,” “Metropolis,” “Blue Angel,” “The Sixth Sense,” and “The Bodyguard.” , "Bad Girls", "One Flew Over the Child", and "Batman", a total of 10 movies. The number of films that the company is still planning and the film purchasing department plans to purchase will not be lower than this number. This means that Daenerys Entertainment's production and distribution plans next year will directly reach the level of the seven major studios. Therefore, surrounded by this piece of 'sand', with the four films "The Sixth Sense" mixed in, even if they can Achieving the same box office results as in the original time and space will not be as conspicuous as this year.