Santa Monica.
The time is Thursday, February 1st.
Simon arrived at the company headquarters at eight o'clock, and Jennifer, who had already arrived early, followed him into the office holding a stack of documents.
Because Simon has been letting go of many things, intentionally or unintentionally, and is often away from Los Angeles during this period, Jennifer's authority has grown larger and larger under Simon's instruction, almost assuming the role of Simon's internal spokesperson within the company.
In recent weeks, the female assistant has been personally leading the team responsible for the financial audit work over the past year.
In the second half of last year, due to the huge sales of films such as "The Bodyguard", "The Sixth Sense" and "Scream 2", the sales of the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard", the success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game, TV projects With the continuous income and the overseas and video release of films such as "Rain Man" at the end of 1988, Daenerys Entertainment's revenue has experienced explosive growth.
Compared with the net profit of US$110 million in the first half of last year, even excluding large expenditures such as the construction of Daenerys Studios in the second half of the year and the investment in acquiring EA equity, Daenerys Entertainment’s net profit after tax for the whole year last year The scale is also expected to exceed US$500 million.
With the abundant funds that Daenerys Entertainment continues to deliver, James Raybould has continued to increase investment in new technology fields.
At present, Westeros Company's shareholding ratio in Microsoft has reached 21.3%, of which 10% was taken over from Microsoft's two major shareholders Bill Gates and Paul Allen in the form of loans, and the remaining part was taken over by Danielle The funds provided by Silk Entertainment were absorbed from the open market, and Gates personally approached Simon about this matter.
As the release date of Windows 3.0 approaches, Microsoft's stock price has begun to rise again during this period due to the leakage of internal beta versions.
Controlling 21.3% of Microsoft's shares has exceeded Simon's expectations, and Westeros has no plans to increase its stake in Microsoft in the future.
Westeros Company's shareholding ratio in Intel has also increased to 15.6%, which is also the result of absorbing it again last year. Westeros Company invested nearly US$300 million for this 5% stake based on its original shareholding, all of which were funds sent by Daenerys Entertainment.
Simon sat down behind the desk, and the female assistant handed over today's work schedule. She put down the documents in her hands and said: "The financial audit work will probably be completed next week. Here is a briefing. In addition, there is a copy of Warner's for you. The salary package provided by the producer of "The Flash" and "Cyborg" is a base salary of US$2 million per film plus 10% of the local box office share. Finally, there are several novels and script materials that the company has just purchased recently, including That Michael Crichton dinosaur science fiction novel you mentioned.”
Simon raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard about Michael Crichton's dinosaur novel.
Jennifer noticed Simon's expression and took the initiative to explain: "Amy personally communicated with Mr. Friedman because other studios also noticed the project in Clayton's hands, and everyone made an offer. Finally, it was negotiated The price was $2.5 million, with $2 million being the buyout fee for the novel and $500,000 being the script adaptation fee, the latter being the result of Mr. Friedman’s insistence.”
Simon nodded, understanding why Jonathan asked for this.
By participating in the script adaptation, Michael Crichton will also receive an additional share of the revenue after the film is released under the Screenwriters Guild's "Basic Agreement."
For an unpublished novel, $2.5 million is a bit high.
Although Michael Crichton has gained a lot of fame in the novel world in recent years, before "Jurassic Park", the film and television projects he participated in were not successful. Last year, Crichton directed a crime thriller The film "The Edge of the Trap" cost US$17 million to produce, but only earned a measly US$3.3 million at the box office. The investor, Columbia Pictures, lost almost all its money.
This is why Jonathan can easily poach his opponent from CAA to WMA.
Speaking of which, if it weren't for Simon's expressed intention, Jonathan probably wouldn't have much interest in Clayton.
Thinking about this, Simon asked the female assistant: "When will the novel be published?"
"Clayton has just finished the story outline and will have to wait until at least the end of the year."
"Transfer the information on this project to the special effects studio and ask them to come up with a development plan for CG dinosaurs to me in the near future. The rest will be put on hold for now."
Jennifer nodded, wrote the matter down on the memo in her hand, and continued: "Also, Joe Ross from Fox called yesterday about "Terminator" and asked if you are free to talk about it tomorrow night. thing?"
Simon wondered: "Tomorrow night?"
"Ross is organizing a reception at his home in Coldwater Canyon tomorrow night," the female assistant tore out a page from her pocket memo and handed it over, "Here's the address."
"Put it away for me," Simon pushed the page over again, looked at the female assistant and said with a smile, "How about we go together tomorrow night?"
Jennifer shook her head and said, "I've been very tired recently. I want to go home and sleep."
"Why don't I go over to your place after the cocktail party? Bellaire is still very close to Coldwater Canyon. Remember to leave a window for me."
The female assistant curled her lips and said, "My uncle has a very good shotgun at home. He will shoot you like a wild boar."
Jennifer has been living in her uncle George Norman's house. In this regard, maybe because she is close enough, the female assistant does not have the psychological barrier of being dependent on others like Simon.
Simon had a scared expression on his face, but he asked curiously: "Why a wild boar?"
The female assistant tilted her delicate head with a ponytail and said, "It could also be a rabbit."
Worse than a wild boar!
Simon waved his hands pretending to be angry: "Get out, the BOSS is about to start working."
Jennifer smiled and helped Simon tidy up the table and asked, "Do you want some coffee?"
"Mineral water is fine. I quit caffeine recently."
The female assistant nodded, turned and left.
Simon lowered his head and glanced at today's work schedule again. The production meeting of "Red League" started at nine o'clock and was expected to last the whole morning.
The preliminary preparations for "Red League" are in place and filming will begin next week.
Because it is a female film, Amy is basically in charge of this project. However, as one of the 10 film projects in the plan, Simon still had to attend the final production meeting in person.
Next, the rough cuts of the two movies "The Last Day" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" have been completed. In the afternoon, we will discuss the later fine editing and soundtrack plans with the creative team.
Just these three things will probably keep me busy until six o'clock in the afternoon.
Putting the work schedule aside, Simon took the information just left by the female assistant and put away the top financial briefing. He planned to wait until the audit was completely completed before looking at the final financial report, which would save time.
The female assistant had already introduced the information about "Jurassic Park" and put it aside.
Simon read the salary plans for the producers of "The Flash" and "Cyborg" in general, and then signed and agreed. The detailed contracts still have to be negotiated with Warner by the following people.
Finally, there is a stack of copyright information for novels and screenplays.
Like other Hollywood studios, after Daenerys Entertainment got its operations on track, it began to continue to acquire the rights to various novels and scripts. Of course, most of these may end up being nothing.
This is how Hollywood spends its huge script development budget every year.
However, these expenses will actually be calculated into various other film projects according to the rules of Hollywood ledgers.
In addition to "Jurassic Park", a total of seven novels and script materials were sent. Simon roughly looked through them. In addition to the basic information about the project, there were also various notes attached, or which director had feelings about the project. interest, or which star is interested in starring, or the corresponding producer's opinion of the script.
The Hollywood circle is small after all, or maybe Simon has too much information in his mind. Among the seven materials, Simon easily found a relatively familiar work: "Thelma and Louise."
From my memory, this was a movie directed by Ridley Scott, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, and it seemed to have very good reviews and box office.
The project notes were written by Amy herself, indicating that actresses such as Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer who had read the script were interested in starring, so they could The project is moving forward with a project budget of approximately US$15 million.
15 million was considered a big production a few years ago, but now it can only be considered below average.
Simon read the synopsis of the story and suddenly thought that this story might be something Catherine could try.
Catherine is definitely a feminist at heart, and she happened to have completed a similar off-the-road style movie "Night of the Blood Corpse", so she is very suitable to direct this project.
Thinking of this, Simon took the pencil and wrote his own comments on it, and asked Amy to transfer the script to Catherine.
Katherine is about to start filming "Point", but as long as a woman is interested in the project, Daenerys Entertainment can certainly wait for her to finish her projects before launching the film.
Except for "Thelma and Louise," several other projects failed to arouse Simon's interest.
Next year, Daenerys Entertainment's key projects will basically be external cooperation films such as "The Dark Knight" and "The Fugitive". There are still many project vacancies, so Simon has given the heads of the three brands enough project approval authority, and he didn't want the increasingly large Daenerys Entertainment to rely entirely on him alone.
After reading the information sent by the female assistant, it was almost nine o'clock.
The production meeting of "Pink Alliance" was held at Daenerys Entertainment headquarters. Jennifer opened the door and came in to remind the film director Penny Marshall and others that they had arrived. Simon got up and rushed to the meeting room.
The next day is Friday, February 2nd.
Another week passed from January 26th to February 1st.
Although in the past week, "Batman Begins" still firmly secured the single-week box office championship with a box office of 23.4 million U.S. dollars, and the cumulative box office reached 326.76 million U.S. dollars. However, Hollywood's attention was attracted by another film adaptation of a stage play that was not originally too conspicuous.
"Driving Miss Daisy."
Obviously, this is another film produced by Daenerys Entertainment.
Prior to this, at the 47th American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards on January 20, "Driving Miss Daisy" won three out of three nominations, winning Best Picture in the Musical Comedy category, Best Actor in a Musical Comedy, and Best Musical. Three awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
Subsequently, in the nominations for the 62nd Academy Awards announced on January 22, "Driving Miss Daisy" won 9 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, etc. The film with the most Oscar nominations.
Including nominations for films such as "My Left Foot," "The Bodyguard," "The Sixth Sense" and "Metropolis," Daenerys Entertainment has a total number of nominations at the upcoming Oscars With 21 items, it also ranked first among all studios.
The distribution rights of "Batman Begins" belong to Warner Bros., and Terry Semel originally hoped to promote a Best Picture nomination for the film in order to boost the box office later. However, the Oscar judges were obviously not interested in this comic book film with a heavy commercial nature. In the end, the film only won 3 technical awards, and the relevant nominations were not included in Daenerys Entertainment's name.
Of course, this is beside the point.
Returning to "Driving Miss Daisy", the film has maintained a small-scale screening status until January 25, and the number of screens was only increased to more than 200 in the two weeks before and after the Golden Globe Awards.
To sum up, in the seven weeks from December 8 to January 25 last year, although the reputation and popularity of "Driving Miss Daisy" have continued to rise, due to the limitation of the screening scale, the cumulative box office of the film only barely exceeded 1,000 Ten thousand U.S. dollars. .
On January 26, taking advantage of the high attention brought by the Golden Globe Awards and Oscar nominations, Highgate Pictures increased the number of screening screens of "Driving Miss Daisy" from 278 to 895 at one time. The box office potential has finally been unleashed.
In its first week of large-scale opening, "Driving Miss Daisy" grossed US$8.03 million at the box office on 895 screens, and its ranking on the weekly box office list jumped from seventh place last week to second only to "Batman: The Dark Knight". The second highest spot in "Time to War".
After eight weeks of release, the cumulative box office has only reached US$18.37 million, which seems to be unable to compare with the one-week box office of "Batman Begins" in its sixth week of release.
However, the first week of large-scale opening box office figures rushed to second place on the weekly list. In this awards season with many awards between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, the box office popularity of "Driving Miss Daisy" can easily be sustained. If it continues, this movie is destined to have a very bright box office growth curve.
Judging from the box office of US$8.03 million in the first week of its large-scale opening, the industry predicts that the total North American box office of this movie is likely to reach more than US$60 million.
The production budget of "Driving Miss Daisy" is only US$7 million, and the scale of promotion is completely incomparable with "Batman Begins." The cumulative box office in eight weeks is US$18.37 million, which is enough for Daenerys Entertainment to recover all production and publicity costs.
The total box office is expected to be $60 million, which is already considered a big hit.
Simon certainly knows that the box office potential of "Driving Miss Daisy" is not more than 60 million.
However, no matter what, it is an obvious fact that Daenerys Entertainment has once again unknowingly created a dark horse at the box office.