Daenerys Entertainment in Burbank.
After two weeks of see-saw negotiations, New World Pictures president Danny Morris finally secured the rights to a thriller called "The Silence of the Lambs."
"The Silence of the Lambs," published two years ago, is writer and screenwriter Thomas Harris's sequel to his other novel, "Red Dragon."
"Red Dragon" was published in 1981 and was adapted to the big screen in 1986 under the name "The Night of the Dead".
However, "Killing Night" originally invested US$15 million in budget, but only recovered more than US$8 million at the box office, which can be described as a huge failure. Therefore, although the novel "Silence of the Lambs" is very popular, Hollywood is not very enthusiastic about its film and television adaptation. In the past two years, the project has been passed around among some filmmakers, but none of them successfully started filming.
Until Daenerys Entertainment expressed interest.
Prior to this, only Orion Pictures, which had just received a US$200 million investment from Canada's Seagram Group to survive the bankruptcy crisis, had intermittently been in contact with this project.
As the news spread, Hollywood studios immediately expressed concern and made tentative bids.
When Daenerys Entertainment did not retreat decisively because of the competition as in the past, a bidding war broke out.
According to Daenerys Entertainment's practice of purchasing copyrights in the past two years, when a project is snatched up, the company will not participate in a bidding war.
However, "The Silence of the Lambs" is an exception.
Because Simon said that the copyright must be negotiated.
Then we talked.
The final transaction price was US$1 million plus a 5% share of global box office net profits.
The basic copyright transaction price of US$1 million is far more than the initial offer for the adaptation rights of "The Silence of the Lambs".
According to Hollywood accounting standards, net profit sharing usually does not exist.
However, Thomas Harris's agent was no outsider, and limited the project's cost figure to US$30 million in the contract. In other words, no matter how much Daenerys Entertainment invests in this project in the future, it will only be calculated based on the fixed cost of $30 million.
Such cost constraints are actually very high.
You know, to get a share, it means that the future global box office of "Silence of the Lambs" must reach at least 70 million US dollars.
However, even if he does not get a share, the advance payment of US$1 million is far more than Thomas Harris expected.
Moreover, Danny Morris feels that if "Silence of the Lambs" really has the kind of value that Simon takes seriously, the global box office will be at least around 200 million US dollars.
200 million U.S. dollars, 30 million U.S. dollars in fixed costs. By then, Thomas Harris will be able to get another 3 million U.S. dollars in share.
Of course, if calculated based on the global box office of US$200 million, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely make a lot of money, and such expenditure is worth it.
However, Danny Morris still didn't quite understand why Simon suddenly expressed a strong interest in this project and made an exception for it. Once such a case is opened, more copyright holders will definitely open their mouths after Daenerys Entertainment expresses interest.
Santa Monica.
Simon ended the call with Danny Morris, feeling helpless.
The reason for making an exception for "The Silence of the Lambs" is not only because it is a box-office hit movie in its original time and space, but also to snipe Orion.
Speaking of which, this was also an oversight by Simon.
I should have thought of this project a long time ago.
It is the second horror film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture after "The Exorcist". In just 15 minutes of performance, it created an actor. The box office is also very good. But these are the things that Simon cannot miss.
However, he ignored the film until he came across a batch of copyright materials sent by New World Pictures.
If other Hollywood studios have already obtained or are trying to obtain the rights to this project, Simon may be able to cooperate with them and make "The Silence of the Lambs" one of the original 10-film plan.
But not Orion.
In the original time and space, "Silence of the Lambs" can be said to be Orion Pictures' last box office hit.
Now, because of Simon's appearance, things have changed a lot.
Affected by Simon's series of great successes in Hollywood, many capitals are more interested in the North American film and television industry.
As a result, Australia's Qintex successfully acquired MGM, and Canada's Seagram Group also tested Hollywood in advance. At the beginning of this year, it injected US$200 million into Orion, which was already in bankruptcy crisis, from Orion's original major shareholder John Krueger. Obtained 25% of the shares of this company.
With financial support, Orion has weathered the storm and is preparing to get back on its feet.
"Silence of the Lambs" was not originally a key project for Orion. First of all, its predecessor "The Night of the Dead" failed very badly at the box office, which has largely affected the producers' judgment on the film's box office prospects. Memory , this movie was released in the unpopular month of February and was almost abandoned.
However, it was just that successful.
If Daenerys Entertainment makes contact and then gives up immediately due to the attention and competition of peers as usual, this project is likely to end up in the hands of Orion Pictures.
In order to obtain Orion's film library and to reduce Daenerys Entertainment's competitors in Hollywood, Simon did not allow Orion to have such success again.
Having already taken away "Dances with Wolves" that originally belonged to Orion, and now taking away "The Silence of the Lambs", Simon's memory of Orion's last two blockbuster films has all fallen into his hands.
The Seagram Group is actually just testing the waters. The Bronfman family of Canada has more ambitions for Hollywood, and it is impossible to continue to inject capital into a small pool like Orion.
As long as the $200 million is burned out and the performance fails to recover, Orion will come to an end in Hollywood.
After filming "The Silence of the Lambs", the next step was naturally to start a project and film it.
This time, Simon had no hesitation in abandoning the idea of Anthony Hopkins as the leading actor.
As the butler Alfred in the "Batman" series, if Hopkins suddenly becomes the actor, it will only add more twists and turns to the advancement of the project. Therefore, Simon would rather "Silence of the Lambs" shrink at the box office or even fail because of the replacement of characters, rather than allow the DC movie universe plan, which is the focus of Daenerys Entertainment, to go sideways.
Speaking of which, if the actors participating in the DC movie universe series can safely fulfill their contracts, Simon does not mind supporting these people. But because of what happened after the release of "Batman Begins," Simon gave up on this idea.
People's hearts are always fickle.
Simon is not a person who believes in people's hearts.
In the busyness, the first week of the 1990 Easter season passed quietly.
Easter this year is April 15th.
During the Easter week from April 13th to April 19th, a total of two movies were released in Hollywood, namely "Children of the Corn 2" produced by Daenerys Entertainment's New World Pictures and Paramount Pictures Produced the family comedy "The Geniuses" starring Daryl Hannah. The opening screen size of both films is around 1,300.
"Children in the Cornfield 2" did not receive a good reputation from film critics, and it did not show any dark horse potential. In its first week of release, the box office was only US$7.13 million. Although the box office momentum of "Pretty Woman" has slowed down in its 11th week of release, it barely won the box office championship this week. The total box office in North America is expected to be around US$25 million.
Compared to the film's cost of US$3 million, the expected box office of US$25 million is naturally very successful.
Paramount Pictures' "The Gifted" took in $5.76 million at the box office in its first week. If the decline can be controlled, the total domestic box office is expected to exceed US$15 million, which is not too bad. However, the budget cost of this movie is also US$15 million. If Paramount wants to recover the cost, it can only rely on overseas and other channels for distribution.
"Batman Begins" and "Driving Miss Daisy" at the end of last year and "Pretty Woman" for Valentine's Day in February have all entered the final stage.
None of the box-office champions during Easter week failed to exceed 10 million in their first week, so this Easter seemed a bit deserted.
By the end of April, Hollywood has generally begun to prepare for the summer season in a month.
Daenerys Entertainment has recently begun to release TV trailers for "The Last Days" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on TV stations. These are Daenerys Entertainment's key projects this summer and are scheduled to be released on June 1st and July 7th respectively. June 6th. In addition, there is also "The Amityville Horror 2", which is scheduled to be released on August 10, the end of the summer season. Naturally, the scale of the announcement cannot be compared with the first two movies.
"Sleeping with the Enemy" in collaboration with Fox and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" in collaboration with Disney are scheduled to be released on June 15 and July 27 respectively. The announcement of the two films does not require too much investment from Daenerys Entertainment energy.
However, after all, there are 5 projects related to Daenerys Entertainment this summer, which is more than any other studio in Hollywood.
Simon has always subconsciously wanted to curb his edge, but the reality is difficult to avoid.
Saturday, April 21st.
I have too many things to do recently, and I still work overtime on weekends.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, she was communicating on the phone with Terry Semel of Warner Bros. about the preparations for "The Fugitive". Jennifer opened the door, and Sandra followed the female assistant to see Simon talking on the phone. He walked in very unceremoniously and sat down opposite him.
Simon chatted with Terry Semel for a few more words, put down the phone, and casually made a mark on an actor's information in front of him.
This is the candidate information for Harrison Ford's murdered wife in "The Fugitive". She has a very small role. The original version was played by Sheila Ward.
This time, Sheila Ward still submitted her resume.
After all, she was the woman he spent the night with, and she was an original choice. Simon gave the role to her without any intention of auditioning.
Putting the information aside, he looked up and caught Sandra peeping out her head. Simon put down his pencil and said with a smile, "Don't read blindly, this is a business secret."
Sandra curled her lips: "I'm not interested. Tell me, why did you call me here? I'm very busy. I made an appointment with everyone to go to Palm Springs for the weekend. I'll leave later."
Simon handed over the script of "The Silence of the Lambs" and said, "Let's see if you're interested. I've already asked someone to pass the script to Bob. If you're interested too, you brothers and sisters can just star in this movie together." .”
The Bob Simon was talking about was Robert Duvall, who was also a client under Jonathan's name, and because he had studied under an acting teacher at the same time, he and Sandra were considered teachers even though they were more than thirty years apart. Brother and sister. Duvall also helped Sandra when she first entered Hollywood.
Since Anthony Hopkins is not planned to be used, Simon no longer necessarily pursues the original version of "The Silence of the Lambs". He is not too familiar with the original heroine Jodie Foster, so he might as well let Sandra Try it. In addition to not having the title of actress, Sandra's personal fame and box office appeal in the past two years are actually stronger than Jodie Foster.
Moreover, if the project is still successful, it may help Sandra get an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
If you fail, you will fail.
Sandra picked up the script and flipped through a few pages, then put it in her bag and said, "I'll read it when I have time on the weekend. Is there anything else?"
Simon pretended to be sad and said: "You are in such a hurry to leave, why do I dislike you so much now?"
Sandra rolled her eyes: "You are already a married man, Mr. Westeros, and I don't want any more scandals to spread with you."
"I understand, you are worried that Jenny will settle a score with you."
"whatever you think."
Sandra said this, obviously still aroused by Simon. She stood up as if to say goodbye, but suddenly leaned across the desk, grabbed Simon's collar and pulled him towards her.
Simon thought she wanted to forcefully kiss him, but he saw Sandra opened her small white teeth and made a sharp bite movement toward his nose, which shocked Simon. By the time she realized what she was doing, the girl was already walking out of the office with a smile.
Touching the nose that was almost bitten, Simon shook his head helplessly.
The female assistant opened the door again as a reminder, and Simon got up and left the office, walking to a conference room in the office building.
James Raybould and Leon Black of Apollo Management Company both came to Los Angeles over the weekend. Today they will discuss the acquisition of MCA, mainly the funding issues after the acquisition is officially launched.
Although it started operations very early and knew that Japan's Panasonic was also secretly preparing to acquire MCA, Simon decided to formally launch an acquisition offer for MCA in September of the second half of the year.
In my memory, although the acquisition negotiations between Panasonic and MCA started very early, due to the outbreak of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the North American stock market suffered a heavy setback. Panasonic's acquisition of MCA was not fully agreed upon until the beginning of 1991. Simon also Enough time.
After the war broke out, MCA's stock price fell due to the stock market's setback, which happened to be the best time for Daenerys Entertainment to enter the game.
However, the earlier the preparations are made, the better.
The more prepared you are, the better your chances of success will be in the future.
After private contacts with some banks in North America and overseas during this period, James Raybould has basically solved the problem of funding sources. Some major banks in Europe, Australia and even Japan are very interested in Daenerys Entertainment's financing plan.
Because of the excellent financial data exposed by Daenerys Entertainment and the rich assets accumulated by the entire Westeros system in recent years, these banks are not at all worried that the huge funds borrowed by Simon will not be repaid.
With a huge amount of more than US$3 billion in the plan, Simon certainly would not choose just one bank, although even if he did, he would have a high chance of success. However, diversifying the loans is actually equivalent to gathering potential allies for Daenerys Entertainment.
In this world, as long as you borrow enough money, you can always feel more confident.
Continuously using interests to weave a big web for Daenerys' entertainment and the entire Westeros system. This is something Simon has focused on in recent years.