A pier in southern Melbourne.
After three days of shooting, "Batman" finally ended with the film's first fight scene.
The plot begins with five consecutive murders in Gotham City. Some victims were shot, some had their necks broken, and some had signs of animal bites on their bodies. Based on clues, Batman successfully rescued Gotham Times female reporter Vicky Val when she was about to be murdered, and tracked the murderer along the sewers to an abandoned dock on the edge of the city.
The murderer's true face was revealed, and he turned out to be a huge monster with sharp teeth and scales that looked like a crocodile.
After a hard fight, Batman finally subdued the Crocodile Man.
At the same time, Vicky Val, who was still in shock, called the police, and Director Gordon, who was also closely tracking the recent murders, personally led the team to the dock. Because the police arrived, Batman had no time to interrogate the Crocodile Man and had to escape early.
This action scene is followed by a literary scene, which is also the first official contact between Commissioner Gordon and Batman.
The recently started night scene shooting is from 6pm to 2am, which is still eight hours. It’s midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere, and the sky is very long, but usually after finishing preparations for shooting, night has fallen.
It was already one o'clock in the morning, after the previous action scene was over. The scene didn't need to change much. The police were cleaning up the mess in the original venue. Chief Gordon was reminded and came to a nearby warehouse.
The set here has been completed in advance, Simon briefly communicated with the two actors Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones, and filming officially began.
The clapperboard was laid down and all the actors who had taken their positions in advance started to move.
Commissioner Gordon hesitantly came to the streetlight in front of the warehouse, while Batman squatted on the edge of the warehouse roof, with most of his body covered by a cloak. The composition of the shot has an obvious meaning. Commissioner Gordon and Batman, one is in the light and the other is in the dark.
Feeling a slight sound above his head, Chief Gordon looked up and finally saw the 'wanted criminal' he had been looking for for a long time.
The two had a brief confrontation, and Gordon spoke first: "Okay, although... but, you did a good job."
Batman had no intention of greeting Gordon, and said in a calm and cold tone: "Have you discovered the connection?"
Gordon nodded: "Including Vicky Val, three reporters have been attacked in the past week. Something must have happened in the city, and someone wants to cover it up."
Batman paused and did not tell Gordon that he had actually discovered five related murders. He just said: "I need an interrogation report on that crocodile."
"I will not cooperate with a wanted criminal," Gordon blurted out. Sensing Batman's hesitation just now, he asked again: "Do you know anything else?"
Batman responded with his exact words: "I will not cooperate with the police."
Gordon frowned: "Then why do you think I will give you the report?"
"I'll still be here at 12 o'clock tomorrow night."
Gordon moved on the spot, seeming to be thinking about how to gain some initiative. After a brief daze, he looked up again and saw that the figure on the roof had disappeared.
"CUT!"
Simon behind the monitor raised his hand slightly and shouted, then started to play back the footage just now.
Adam Baldwin and Tommy Lee Jones soon joined in.
"The emotions are still a bit lacking," Simon personally pressed the playback to explain to Tommy Lee Jones: "Tommy, this conversation means that the two of you have unknowingly formed some kind of potential tacit understanding, so The rhythm needs to be well controlled. Also, your little action just now was a little too deliberate. Please adjust it next time."
What Simon needs is a feeling. Naturally, there is no way to tell the two of them in detail how to act. They can only figure it out on their own.
After a brief discussion, the two actors made some preparations and started filming for the second time.
When Bruce Wayne is in his Batman state, he basically has three attributes. The acting requirements for Adam Baldwin are not very high, and Tommy Lee Jones is also a veteran actor for many years. Therefore, after taking several consecutive shots, Simon got the satisfactory effect he needed.
At two o'clock, the crew finished work on time.
Simon went to bed at about three o'clock in the morning, had breakfast at nine o'clock the next morning, and returned to the study room of his hotel suite.
Jennifer's main job is to maintain contact with the two local companies in North America, and she does not need to stay up late with Simon on the set. Simon walked into the study, and the female assistant had prepared the documents he needed to review today.
"We have successfully established 5,000 Nikkei 225 index futures long contracts on two commodity futures exchanges in Osaka and Singapore. The opening index is about 31,200 points. The average single-lot margin is US$25,300, and the total margin paid is US$126 million. Dad feels that , the company only needs to keep a reserve of US$50 million to resist risks, so it can open an additional 1,000 positions.”
The original S&P 500 index futures, with 10 times leverage, required only about $15,000 in margin for a single transaction.
Nikkei 225 Index futures are still 10 times leveraged. However, the contract multiplier for this index futures is 1,000 yen, which means that the book value of each contract held by Westeros Company is 31.2 million yen.
The Japanese yen has continued to appreciate against the US dollar in recent years, with the recent exchange rate reaching 123 to 1. 31.2 million yen is roughly equivalent to US$250,000, and a 10% margin ratio is US$25,000.
Simon listened to Jennifer's introduction while flipping through the documents in his hand.
In the past two weeks, the growth rate of the Nikkei 225 Index has accelerated significantly. In December last year, when the Nikkei 225 index exceeded 30,000 points, the monthly increase was only 623 points. However, in the past two weeks, the Nikkei index has risen by a full 860 points, an increase of 2.7%.
I don’t know if this is the result of someone hearing the news and starting to follow the market.
The only funds that Westeros Company can freely use at present are the US$200 million that has just been transferred from Daenerys Entertainment. The planned 5,000 positions are completed, and the remaining funds are only US$70 million. Simon is not as clear about the trend of the Japanese stock market in the next year as he was in the North American stock market in October of the previous year, so he certainly cannot fill his position and needs to set aside a sum of funds to resist the risk of a possible margin call.
After rough calculation, based on the current position ratio, if the Nikkei 225 Index can still reach the original high of more than 38,000 points in time and space. Theoretically, excluding the stock index futures trading tax and high capital gains tax in the Japanese market, Westeros Company's principal of US$200 million can probably double by the end of the year and achieve 100% net profit.
Compared with the time two years ago, the current one-year operation and 100% net profit cannot be considered a very good business. If Simon made other investments based on the information in his memory, he would actually be able to earn so much in one year.
Like buying Columbia Pictures stock right now.
Throughout 1988, Columbia Pictures released a total of 15 movies, but the box office for the year was only US$88 million. That's right, 15 movies, 88 million, and the average box office revenue per movie is less than 6 million US dollars.
Although TriStar Pictures, a joint venture between Columbia and HBO, had better box office figures for the year, the total box office for the same 15 movies in 1988 was only US$198 million. It is rumored that Samsung Pictures' cumulative losses in the five years since its establishment have exceeded US$500 million. In order to cover up this fact, Time Group, the parent company of HBO, even had to use financial means to allocate losses to other departments.
Although news of Sony's possible acquisition of Columbia has spread, Columbia's stock price continues to fall due to the studio's sluggish performance, and the stock price of Coca-Cola Group, which holds 49% of Columbia's shares, has also fallen.
Columbia Pictures' current market value is only US$1.6 billion, and its debt ratio has reached 100%. If it continues to fall, it will become insolvent.
However, Simon clearly remembers that Sony acquired Colombia in the second half of the year, and the final transaction price was US$3.4 billion, which more than doubled. Moreover, Sony also assumed Colombia's entire $1.6 billion debt, bringing the total value of the entire transaction to $5 billion.
If Simon enters the market and buys Columbia Pictures stock now, he will also be able to double his income in the second half of the year with lower risk.
However, because he is in Hollywood, Simon's actions will definitely lead to unnecessary speculation and even be investigated for insider trading.
With the fall of a large number of arbitrage trading tycoons such as Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken who had dominated Wall Street for many years, the federal investigative agency, which was enjoying its reputation, would definitely want to bring Simon Westeros to justice. A big fish with an even more bizarre path to wealth is caught in the net.
Therefore, seeing many stock arbitrage opportunities such as the recent Reynolds-Nabisco merger and the Sony acquisition of Colombia in the next few months, Simon has refrained from taking action.
Although it disagrees with most hedge funds on Wall Street who are bearish on the Japanese stock market, there is no such risk when making money through the Japanese stock market.
Suppressing the rise of Japan is completely the "political correctness" of the United States in recent years.
Of course, the profits generated by speculating on Nikkei 225 Index futures may not actually come from Japan, but this is not something Simon needs to consider.
Constantly thinking about it in his mind, Simon heard Jennifer convey James Raybould's suggestion, thought about it and nodded quickly: "Okay."
The position has increased to 6,000 lots, and the risk is still within control. However, even so, the expected income is still difficult to satisfy Simon's appetite.
Funding is still a big issue.
Simon did not intend to use a loan to speculate in stock index futures, and the possibility of obtaining a loan on this basis was unlikely, and he did not allow himself to take such a risk.
Thinking like this, he suddenly remembered something. Simon looked up and asked Jennifer: "Is your father still in the company?"
Jennifer nodded: "It's six o'clock in the afternoon in New York, but dad is still there. When you were having breakfast, dad called and said he would wait for you."
As the female assistant spoke, she picked up the phone on the desk, dialed a series of numbers skillfully, and then handed the phone to Simon.
After reducing its holdings of Motorola shares, the number of listed technology companies held by Westeros is 25. The company has board seats in 16 of them, and the other 9 simply hold shares and have not joined the board of directors.
In order to avoid dragging down the entire technology stock market during the process of reducing its holdings in Motorola, Westeros issued a one-year non-reduction statement for companies that have not joined the board of directors and a three-year non-reduction statement for companies with board seats.
A year has passed since this announcement, and Simon can now raise more funds for Japanese stock market operations by reducing some of his holdings in technology stocks.
Spent half an hour on the phone with James Raybould. The two roughly determined a reduction plan for 6 stocks, 3 of which have performed poorly in the past year or so, and 3 that Simon has long confirmed will be reduced, such as Apple.
Simon specifically gave up joining Apple's board of directors for this reason.
When Westeros bought Apple during the stock market crash, the company's market value was around US$3 billion, and it invested a total of US$150 million. Counting last year's small-scale increase in holdings, the shareholding ratio exceeded 5%.
Recently, Apple's market value has increased to US$5.3 billion. The book profit of Westeros' shares has exceeded 75%, and the total value of its shares has reached US$260 million.
Although Apple's market value will exceed $7 billion in the next few years, Simon doesn't plan to wait any longer. Of course, he has not thought about selling them all in the short term. About 5% of the shares is already a large proportion for a listed company. Selling too much at one time will definitely have a serious impact on Apple's stock.
However, with a total of 6 stocks, even if the Westeros Company releases a shareholding reduction statement that will have a certain impact on the stock price, US$300 million can be easily cashed out in the next month. After Daenerys Entertainment completes its financial audit, it will be able to transfer some funds to Westeros Corporation.
With more than $500 million in principal, Simon can safely increase his position on the Nikkei 225 Index futures to 15,000 lots.
Although he can still invest more, Simon also plans to stop when enough is enough.
After cashing out in the next month, when the stock market stabilizes slightly, Westeros will continue to reduce its holdings, but Simon plans to use the excess funds to increase its holdings of stocks in companies such as Microsoft and Intel.
The forward income from this part of the investment is actually even greater.
After hanging up the phone from James Raybould, Simon began to look through several documents sent by Daenerys Entertainment.
After reading Robert Egger's report on the ABC television network requiring Daenerys Entertainment to significantly reduce the price of the second season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and participate in advertising placement sharing, Simon made another call to Los Angeles.
It was still just past three o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and it was time to go to work.
Daenerys Entertainment was able to make $250 million from the first season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", but ABC only got $80 million. Although Simon desperately hopes that this profit distribution model can continue, he also knows that this is impossible.
The company completely took advantage of the Hollywood writers' strike last year, and ABC will not make such a mistake again this year.
Fortunately, Daenerys Entertainment has already negotiated a contract with NBC for the next three seasons of "Survivor" in advance.
Although "Survivor" has higher ratings than "Who Will Be a Millionaire", with 13 episodes per week and 13 episodes per season, it does not occupy a large share of NBC programs. NBC has not experienced such a strong backlash as ABC.
After discussing the negotiation plan with ABC, Simon had just hung up the phone, but this time the ringer rang proactively.
When I answered the call again, it was Sofia Fesi calling from Florence, Italy, where Gucci is headquartered.
During the phone call, Sophia said that she had negotiated a 39% stake in Gucci and was continuing to contact other members of the Gucci family.
Although the acquisition agreement was basically reached with the Gucci family last time, the Gucci family's equity is relatively dispersed. The specific price and other conditions still need to be discussed separately by Sofia and the three branches of the Gucci family.
Sofia also predicted that because of sufficient funds, she might be able to obtain more than 60% of Gucci's shares, which is higher than the absolute shareholding originally planned.
Simon held the microphone in one hand while talking to Sophia on the phone, and casually opened Nancy Brill's development plan for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game, his expression suddenly showed some surprise.