Everyone was discussing the release of several of the company's movies. Jennifer adjusted the projector, closed the conference room curtains with Amy's assistant Vanessa, and came to the video recorder.
Simon stopped talking with Amy and gestured to Jennifer, and the female assistant pressed the play button.
On the projection screen, after a short black screen, the picture lit up. In the dark and blazing fire pool like hell, with a sharp chirp, an orange-red phoenix emerged from the fire pool, hovered briefly, and then opened its arms. The wings are frozen in the center of the picture, and the flames dripping from the phoenix's wings form the name 'Daenerys-Pictures' at the bottom of the screen. The name of the film company is accompanied by a line of 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.
When the screen fell, Robert Rem looked at Simon and said, "Phoenix?"
Simon nodded and said: "The phoenix in Greek mythology. Every five hundred years, this bird will throw itself into the flames and be reborn in the fire. I like this concept very much. The 'immortal bird' in the picture just now The bird's image will also be used as Daenerys Entertainment's company LOGO in the future. I hope Daenerys Entertainment can exist for a long time and can rise from the ashes even if it encounters difficulties."
The seven traditional Hollywood film companies all have impressive title animations, such as MGM's The Lion, Colombia's Statue of Liberty, etc. Starting from "Run Lola Run", Daenerys Pictures has only used simple text titles for several previous films, and the titles of New World Pictures and Highgate Pictures are also very simple.
Now that the company is on track, Simon has hired design firms in recent months to officially create label titles and company logos for Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures and Highgate Pictures.
Robert Rem was actually thinking of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, which is adjacent to southeastern California. After listening to Simon's explanation, although he still didn't quite understand the connection between the two terms 'Daenerys' and 'Phoenix', he very much recognized Simon's ideas.
Simon and the others chatted briefly, and Jennifer loaded another video tape into the video recorder. Another title soon appeared on the screen: After a burst of intense lightning and thunder, the clouds dispersed, the sky returned to blue, and a three-dimensional CG appeared at the same time. The words 'New-World-Pictures' in the style, and 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company' is still marked below the theme words.
Among the plans provided by several design firms that participated in the bidding, Simon found that this idea was somewhat similar to the later Lionsgate film titles. New World Pictures has the same positioning as Lionsgate Pictures, so Simon directly chose this plan.
Compared to the gorgeous and flamboyant openings of Daenerys Pictures and New World Pictures, the openings of Highgate Pictures are full of literary and artistic atmosphere.
To the soft soundtrack, several rows of slowly flowing film films gradually formed the words 'Highgate-Pictures' against a pure black background. The carefully rendered pictures looked full of realism, and the films forming the two words "Highgate Pictures" seemed to The image is still flashing, and below the name of Daenerys Entertainment is also 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.
The main reason why Simon added the words 'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company' under the titles of the three brands was to quickly brand the Daenerys Entertainment brand impression in the public's mind.
After the three titles were played, everyone continued to discuss, and then decided to publish the information of the three titles in newspapers and magazines in the near future, as well as information about the upcoming films under the names of the three brands. This is also a good opportunity for Daenerys Entertainment. Publicity Opportunities.
After discussing these things, it was already past six o'clock, but Simon did not let Amy and Rem leave, saying: "Let's have dinner together. There is another thing to discuss with you."
Amy and Rem would naturally not object.
The three of them left the company headquarters and soon came to a nearby restaurant where Simon had already reserved a seat for Jennifer in advance.
"It's like this. I found that you two are not too concerned about the affairs of Gaomen Pictures." After everyone sat down and ordered their meals, Simon directly talked about the business directly to the two of them: "The original purchase of New World Entertainment The film team was assigned to Gaomen Pictures, but unfortunately, at the Venice Film Festival last month, Danny Morris led the team to Italy and found nothing. Some of the films they submitted to me during this period were not bright at all. "
Danny Morris is the former vice president of New World Entertainment's film purchasing department, and now also holds the title of vice president of Daenerys Entertainment as the head of Gaomen Pictures.
Amy and Rem heard Simon mention this matter and looked at each other. Robert Rem took the initiative to explain: "Simon, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Hollywood literary films did flourish for a period of time. Sol... Zaenz probably began to attract attention in those years. At that time, major film companies generally established subsidiaries named "Classic" to specialize in the literary film market. But now, due to the continuous increase in Hollywood production costs, this There is no profit left in the field. Excluding last year's "Run Lola Run", the box office of the best-performing literary films in recent years is generally only about US$20 million. This is already a ceiling. More Literary films are directly loss-making, just like Saul Zaenz's "Love in Prague" at the beginning of the year. The production cost was 17 million US dollars, and the total box office in North America was just over 10 million. Therefore, I don't think we need to do anything about this. Too much energy is wasted on it.”
"What you said makes sense, Bob," Simon nodded seriously and said, "However, since there can be one "Run Lola Run" in Hollywood, there will definitely be a second one or even more. And, please pay attention. Have you seen the development trend of the theater industry in recent years?”
Amy answered doubtfully: "Simon, are you saying that you are going to work with the government to lift the controls on movie companies operating theaters?"
"No," Simon shook his head, looked at Robert Rem and said, "Bob, AMC, you must know, right?"
"This is a theater chain company run by the Durwood family. The biggest feature of AMC Cinemas is that it has launched a large number of multiplex cinemas. This company has about 150 cinemas in North America, but has more than 1,300 screens. However, Therefore, the audience capacity of their theaters is generally low." Robert Rehm said skillfully, "I already talked to the representatives of AMC about distribution on Monday. Simon, you are not planning to acquire theaters. Right? AMC has grown very rapidly in recent years, and the Duwood family will not sell it. United Artists Cinemas is a good target, but it was just controlled by John Malone's Telecommunications Company at the beginning of the year. We have also missed this opportunity. .”
Simon denied: "Daenerys Entertainment will not be involved in the theater market in the short term. I am just talking about a trend. Bob, multiplex movies are a destined trend."
Robert Rem nodded: "That's true. AMC's model is very successful, and everyone in the industry is following up on attempts. But Simon, does this have anything to do with the topic we are talking about?"
"Of course, although the overall number of viewers in North America will not grow too rapidly every year, I believe that with the popularity of multiplex theaters, the total number of screens in North America will definitely increase significantly in the next few years. Multiplex means variety. Culture, a cinema has ten screening rooms, even if they use eight to show mainstream commercial films, because there are too many screens, the operator will definitely consider introducing some artistic films that satisfy the tastes of a small number of audiences. This is an opportunity. "
When Amy heard what Simon said, she couldn't help but said: "Simon, even if you are right, wouldn't it be better for us to focus our main energy on the 'eight screens'?"
Lacking examples, Simon found himself unable to explain to Amy and Rem how prosperous the independent film market was in the 1990s, led by New Line and Miramax. In this case, Simon quickly decided not to explain too much, but to give full play to his advantages as a boss: "Okay, in this case, Gaomen Pictures will be spun off and reintegrated into a subsidiary company directly responsible for me. company. I think Danny Morris has the same concept as you and is so slack. Then let him be in charge of New World Pictures, "The Butterfly Effect", "The Return of Death" and New Line " With the success of films like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, I don't think he feels like he's being snubbed anymore."
Robert Rem did not expect Simon to see things so clearly.
As the former head of the film purchasing department of New World Entertainment, Danny Morris still had great authority. After all, New World Entertainment had previously purchased most of its films from outside sources. After the company was acquired, Danny Morris was suddenly sent by Simon to take charge of Gaomen Pictures, which was almost destined to give him the feeling of being assigned.
Literary films are simply synonymous with not making money.
As a former friend and subordinate, Danny Morris has talked with Robert Reim several times about wanting to get rid of his current position. He does not want to break away from Daenerys Entertainment, which is obviously rising rapidly, but he is just looking forward to it. I can get a position with more room for development, even if I am transferred to be responsible for distribution work, it will be no problem. Robert Rem has also been trying to find an opportunity to mention this matter to Simon. Unexpectedly, before he had a chance to mention it, Simon complied with Danny Morris's wishes.
However, Robert Rem was not happy for Danny Morris.
Judging from what Simon just said, he has very high expectations for Gaomen Pictures. He had directly appointed Danny Morris to be in charge of the company, which was obviously a recognition of the executive's ability. Now, Danny Morris must have lost a lot of points in Simon's heart. If he fails to make achievements in his position at New World Pictures, the consequences can be imagined.
After dinner, Simon started looking for a new person in charge of Gaomen Pictures the next day.
In fact, Hollywood has two ready-made best candidates, the Weinstein brothers. The brothers have been in the industry for ten years and have accumulated enough experience. Moreover, Miramax is also in a very bad situation. Two years ago, the brothers had a brain attack and tried to change careers as directors. They wrote and directed a youth film imitating the style of John Hughes. As a result, Miramax failed miserably at the box office. As a result, Si almost went bankrupt and has not recovered in the past two years.
If Simon recruits these brothers now, he has a high chance of success.
Although Harvey would be infamous for his sex scandal many years later, in Hollywood, if Simon had any moral obsession, he would never want to continue running the company.
However, these two brothers are really the kind of guys who are willing to be subordinate to others. A more appropriate description is 'wild and untamable'.
In the original time and space, as a subsidiary of Disney, the Harvey brothers frequently went against the parent company. When Disney was negotiating with the Bush administration for the company's very important cable TV license, the brothers still invested despite Michael Eisner's repeated warnings. "Fahrenheit 9/11" tried to bring down George W. Bush. Although this documentary made a lot of money, it made Disney unable to step down.
After Miramax's announcement, the Harvey brothers have been trying to get rid of the company's industry positioning of focusing on literary films. However, the big-budget films they invested in such as "Cold Mountain" and "The Aviator" all ended in failure, and the brothers eventually Break away from Disney and start your own business.
Simon had watched the entire Weinstein sex scandal, and he felt that if the Weinstein brothers had not left Disney, it would never have happened. Just like John Lasseter, who later became the head of Disney's animation department, news of sexual harassment of female employees was also exposed in that incident, but the result was not much trouble. Many people fell in that storm, but John Lasseter still appeared on the cover of the magazine together with Robert Iger, Kevin Feige, and Kathleen Kennedy as one of Disney's "Big Four".
It is conceivable that if Harvey Weinstein had not left the Disney system, Disney would have been one of the "Big Five" and this already extremely powerful media group would have become even more popular.
Since he did not intend to recruit the Weinstein brothers to cause trouble for him, Simon decided to suppress the brothers before they rose to avoid future competition between Miramax and Gomen Pictures.
Moreover, it is actually not difficult to do this.
In the original time and space, Miramax was on the fast track with the release of "Sex, Lies and Videotape" next year with the success of this Palme d'Or film. Simon expressed his feelings towards some of the other Miramax releases during this period. Successful movies are also very clear, just cut off the details.
Without blockbuster projects, Miramax, which has not been out of trouble in the past two years, will not be able to survive for a few more years.
While taking care of High Gate Pictures, Simon's main focus recently is on the casting of several films such as "Batman", "The Sixth Sense" and "The Bodyguard". Most of the protagonists of these films have already been confirmed. , but the selection of important supporting roles is also a very important matter.
In addition, although it was obviously deliberately delayed, on October 12, another Wednesday, the MPAA finally passed the R-rated review of "Scream". The Seven obviously did not officially go to war with Daenerys Entertainment. intention.
"Scream" passed the review, and Daenerys Entertainment also started the final stage of promotion two weeks before the film's release. Moreover, due to the stimulation of Daenerys Entertainment's previous series of successful films, and the theater operators' strike after Due to the general shortage of content, Robert Rehm finally signed up 1,755 screens for "Scream". This number is probably much larger than the original film's release scale.
At the same time, "Dead Poets Society" also received 1,693 screens. After all, it was the Christmas season, slightly less than "Scream". Because "Steel Magnolias" is generally not a female-driven film, theaters only provided a total of 922 screens, but this also met the company's expectations.
However, while the releases of "Scream," "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias" were all going well, something went wrong with "Rain Man."