The day after Simon met Jack Valenti, Daenerys Entertainment's first self-distributed film "Elvira" was released in North America, with an opening screen size of 553.
Although it is a legacy project of New World Entertainment, the media still paid considerable attention to it.
The day after the film was released, many mainstream newspapers in North America published relevant reviews. However, the film's reputation was mostly negative. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as 'a horror film that tries to borrow from various horror genres but appears to be neither fish nor fowl'.
Since he had originally decided to send the film to theaters, Simon did not intend to make do with it. He specifically approved a publicity budget of US$2 million for copy printing and advertising. In the 1980s, such publicity costs were already very considerable.
In the three days since its release, due to the influence of Daenerys' entertainment advertising campaign, media discussions, or the heroine's big breasts on the poster, "Elvira" has still received a box office of US$2.21 million despite a sluggish reputation. The total box office in the first week is expected to be around US$3 million.
It started with a first-week box office of US$3 million. According to the general box office trends of this era, the film's total North American box office is roughly between US$8 million and US$10 million.
The production cost of "Elvira" was US$7.5 million. Taking into account the US$2 million publicity budget, the total investment was US$9.5 million. Just relying on the box office, this movie obviously cannot recover the cost. Even if the film can recover the cost or even make a slight profit through later overseas channels, video tapes and TV platform distribution, overall it is still a waste of time.
Daenerys Entertainment executives had anticipated this situation for a long time. After the box office results were released, many media couldn't help but began to advocate that Simon Westeros had "fallen off the altar". "Elvira" is very likely to happen. This is the beginning of Daenerys Entertainment’s gradual decline into mediocrity.
The New York Times also wrote an article analyzing Simon's massive acquisition of New World Entertainment as a "bad move". Overeager expansion will only lead to the rapid collapse and decline of Daenerys Entertainment.
Simon was not affected by these media remarks. During this period, he could clearly feel the benefits of acquiring New World Entertainment to gain a foothold in Hollywood.
By buying this company, Daenerys Entertainment acquired an experienced film and television production and distribution team at one time, and owned a number of valuable film and television drama copyrights, consolidating its position in the field of television program suppliers, and most importantly , and got Marvel, all of which are completely worth the $250 million.
Although Simon didn't mind the failure of "Elvira" too much, a group of senior executives from New World Entertainment didn't think so.
The box office data of "Elvira" has been released, and Robert Rehm and others clearly felt guilty when facing Simon. However, Simon did not say anything to appease these people. Only when there is pressure can there be motivation. The failure of "Elvira Horror" can also be regarded as a spur to them.
When "Elvira" sparked media discussion, Daenerys Entertainment sent "Scream" to the MPAA for rating for the third time on the new Monday. In addition, the post-production of the three films "Rain Man", "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias" has finally been completed. Simon is still waiting for the MPAA or traditional Hollywood forces to express their opinions, so he is not eager to release these three films. Submit for review.
Daenerys Entertainment Burbank Branch.
The time is Wednesday, October 5th.
Unlike "Scream," due to the subject matter of the three films "Rain Man," "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias," the MPAA would not be able to give it a rating above R even if it made things difficult. Therefore, although the rating has not yet been confirmed, Daenerys Entertainment has begun arranging for representatives from major theaters in North America to participate in test screenings in order to sign a screening agreement.
In the screening room, the closing credits of "Steel Magnolias" were rising, and Robert Rehm, who was personally hosting the preview, invited Richard Hill, United Artists' vice president of film source procurement, to come to the next door. Reception room. This is the second screening today. The two of them had already watched the sample film of "Dead Poets Society" in the morning.
In the 1980s, the large-scale integration of theater chains in North America had not yet begun. United Artists, which was spun off from United Artists after the Paramount verdict, was still the largest theater chain company in this era, with a total of more than 2,200 theaters across North America. screen, with a market share of nearly 10%.
In order to make up for the bad impression that the failure of "Elvira" may have produced in Simon's mind, Robert Reim has been working tirelessly in recent days to promote the release of several films at the end of the year. For three consecutive days, he personally accompanied each Representatives from major theater chains viewed sample films and negotiated cooperation agreements.
Moreover, Robert Rehm also had a vague feeling that his boss might have had a showdown with MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti when he met with him last Friday. Several theaters directly affiliated with major film companies that were originally interested in cooperating have declined in recent days. For his test film invitation, Robert Rehm can now only fight for screen resources from seven theaters outside the system.
However, Robert Rem was not too worried about the current situation.
Due to the previous general strike in Hollywood, during this period, major theater chains in North America were generally in a state of shortage of film sources, and the quality of film screenings could not be compared with the same period in previous years. For three consecutive weeks, the total box office in North America in a single week has been in a state of severe shrinkage below $30 million. Coupled with the box office miracles created by Daenerys Entertainment in the past two years, Robert Reim has enough confidence to secure enough canvas for the company's films without relying on the resources of the seven major theaters.
"Charlie, including "Scream" that I invited you to watch before, these three films were personally selected by Simon and supervised the entire production. "Scream" was actually Simon's creative idea. Therefore, these three films , Daenerys Entertainment needs to guarantee a combined 55% share."
"I've heard about the rating issues that "Scream" encountered," Richard Hill said, holding a cup of coffee with a confident expression, "Bob, you probably don't know about "Scream" yet. "Scream" can be released on time. "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias" may not have this problem, but companies such as Universal's Cineplex theater chain probably will not open up resources for you, so, 40%, This is the highest share ratio I can give. If "Scream" can pass the rating, we can sign a one-time contract for the screening of these three movies, but in several core cities such as New York and Chicago, United Artists Theater Line needs to have exclusive screening rights.”
Because of attendance rates, box office sharing contracts signed between film companies and theater chains usually decrease in a stepped manner. Usually, a few weeks before the opening of the show, the movie company can get at least 60% of the box office share. As the attendance rate decreases, the share share received by the movie company also gradually decreases.
But generally speaking, major mainstream film companies can obtain between 40% and 55% of the total box office share during the entire screening cycle. The North American film industry has experienced more than half a century of development, and the industry also has very mature calculation formulas for this. . Therefore, Robert Rem and Richard Hill did not get hung up on the specifics and directly discussed the final share ratio.
"Charlie, our company's situation may not be very good, but your situation is actually worse. Now all theaters are short of film sources. Moreover, if the Seven can achieve the box office results of Daenerys Entertainment in the previous two years, they ask for The box office share ratio will be even higher, and you may have to pay a huge deposit to get a film contract as before. So, 55%, Daenerys Entertainment will not give in on this."
Richard Hill retorted: "Previous results do not represent the future. "Scream" may not be bad. After all, Westeros personally conceived the idea, but he did not sign it. As for "Scream" "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias," if it weren't for stars like Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange, they would actually be more like art films and not have much of a selling point at all."
"Not to mention Simon's previous five movies, the original "When Harry and Sally" was also felt by major Hollywood studios to lack a selling point, but this movie received a box office of US$110 million," said Robert Rehm. Still strong, he said: "Charlie, if you want to make this business, it's best not to consider external factors like the Seven. The suppression of Daenerys Entertainment by the Seven Film Companies cannot help you make more money." More money, on the contrary, it is possible to cooperate with us. You have to understand that not only the three movies now, Daenerys Entertainment will also produce more movies in the future. If we have a happy cooperation this time, Daenerys Entertainment will We will definitely give priority to providing film sources to United Artists Cinemas."
When Richard Hill heard Robert Rem's last words, he looked at the other person's expression and immediately understood the subtext.
If this cooperation is not pleasant, United Artists Cinemas will definitely be ostracized by Daenerys Entertainment in the future.
In recent days, Richard Hill has received calls from executives of some major Hollywood film companies. He originally thought that Daenerys Entertainment's attitude would be softer this time, but he did not expect that she had a mild temper during the New World Entertainment period. Robert Rehm would suddenly be so strong.
Richard Hill inexplicably thought of a certain young man.
That is a truly sharp young man.
Thinking about this, Richard Hill found that he really didn't have the confidence to have a dispute with Daenerys Entertainment.
After all, United Artists Cinemas only owns less than 10% of the screens in North America. Even the seven major ones only have a total of about 15% of the screens after the local government relaxed controls on theater operations in the past few years. Although these are the largest High-quality screen resources, but across North America, 75% of screen resources are still in the hands of other large and small theater operators.
Although the interest relationships formed over a long period of time have given the Big Seven a very strong influence on the entire North American theater market, if it were other second- and third-tier film companies, the Big Seven might work together to make the major theater chains act in various ways. Consider blocking the other party.
However, Daenerys Entertainment is not among them. This film company is too dazzling.
Six movies were produced in two years, all of which ranked among the top ten of the annual list, and five of them exceeded 100 million. With such amazing box office performance, which theater company would want to refuse such a huge profit temptation
Although he has received several calls, Richard Hill has never considered refusing to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment. He believes that the same is true for many other theater operators in the industry. Perhaps, only those theaters directly under the seven major theaters are unable to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment due to the overall interests of the parent company, but Richard Hill believes that the operators of those theaters directly under the theater must be cursing in their hearts.
As professional managers, everyone has performance indicators.
Considering this, Richard Hill suddenly glanced at the reception room and understood one more thing.
In the past, film companies usually invited the heads of multiple theater chains to participate in test screenings, but this time, Robert Rehm only invited him. This is obviously not just because United Artists Cinemas is the largest theater chain in North America. Daenerys Entertainment does not give the major theater chains the opportunity to connect in series.
There was no confidence to have a stalemate with Daenerys Entertainment, and the terms of cooperation proposed by Daenerys Entertainment were not too harsh. During the subsequent negotiations, Richard Hill's attitude softened unknowingly.
By the time they got off work, the two had basically agreed on a rough cooperation framework.
After reaching a cooperation, Robert Rem originally invited Richard Hill to have dinner with him, but the other party refused because he wanted to spend time with his family. He originally planned to go home directly, but Robert Rem received a call from Simon again. , the company had just received the new title titles from its three companies, Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures and High Gate Pictures, and Simon wanted him to come over and take a look.
Since his boss was still working after closing time, Robert Rem had nothing to complain about and drove from Burbank to Santa Monica again.
Arriving at the Daenerys Entertainment headquarters in Santa Monica, Robert Rehm went directly to a conference room upstairs.
Simon and Amy were here together. After saying hello, everyone sat down at the conference table and watched Simon's female assistant adjusting 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 4 weeks of screening time. However, United Artists Cinemas was not optimistic about "Steel Magnolias" and they were only willing to give 200 yuan Screen, if "Scream" can pass the rating review, this film and the subsequent "Dead Poets Society", they can give 500 screens. In addition, Simon, "Steel Magnolias" and "Dead Poets Society" The internal audience test screenings arranged last week were very good, and I was wondering if we could adopt a model of early small-scale screening to accumulate word-of-mouth, just like Disney's "Good Morning Vietnam" last year?"
In theory, these films need to participate in some film festivals for pre-publicity before being released. However, Daenerys Entertainment's schedule for these movies is very tight and there is simply no time to do this.
Simon heard Robert Rem's suggestion, thought about it for a moment, and nodded quickly: "Okay, you can discuss a plan with everyone first."