No movie can be completely useless.
What's more, since the original "Sleeping with the Enemy" was able to earn more than $100 million at the North American box office, there must be some elements in this movie that can arouse audience interest.
After Daenerys and Fox's joint word-of-mouth public relations, when the film was released on June 15, the mainstream media's evaluation of the film either favored the performance of the new protagonist Michelle Pfeiffer, or praised the film's camera and soundtrack. , or dig into the film’s deeper exposure and accusation of domestic violence.
All in all, they are basically positive.
When the comprehensive media score statistics were released, the 6.7 score of "Sleeping with the Enemy" even exceeded the 6.4 score of "The Detective" in the same period, and it was much higher than the 5 score or less that the distribution team estimated before the film was released based on test screening feedback. point.
In addition, "Sleeping with the Enemy" is the first of Daenerys Entertainment's 10 external cooperation films that the media and fans have been paying attention to for a long time. The foundation of popularity has been laid before the filming of the film begins. In the end, in the first three days of its opening weekend, "Sleeping with the Enemy" screened on 1,719 screens and earned a box office of US$18.86 million.
The average sales of the movie exceeded 10,000 in three days, making it one of the best-selling movies.
In comparison, the box office of Disney's "The Greatest Detective" at 22.54 million US dollars in its first three days exceeded that of "Sleeping with the Enemy," but the number of screens it was released on was 2,332. However, the box office performance was not as good as "Sleeping with the Enemy".
The US$18.86 million it earned in the first three days of production is already comparable to the US$19.76 million of "The Last Days" in its first seven days.
Calculated based on the weekend box office ratio which is equivalent to 60% to 70% of the first week, the box office of "Sleeping with the Enemy" is expected to reach US$27 million to US$30 million in the first week. Even if "Sleeping with the Enemy" is due to word-of-mouth, subject matter and audience, "Sleeping with the Enemy" It is impossible to get out of the beautiful long-term trend like "The Last Days", but as long as the drop in the next week does not exceed 30%, it is quite easy for "Sleeping with the Enemy" to hit the 100 million yuan mark in North American box office.
What's more, even if it doesn't exceed 100 million, compared to the total production cost of "Sleeping with the Enemy" of US$15 million and the publicity budget of US$7 million, even if Fox only holds half of the investment share, including a 10% distribution commission , the return on investment of this movie can easily exceed that of "Die Hard 2", which is scheduled to be released on June 29.
Unlike "Sleeping with the Enemy", which had a total investment of US$22 million in production and promotion, "Die Hard 2" starring Bruce Willis only cost US$70 million in production costs. Taking into account the huge local and overseas promotion budget, the film's global box office needs to reach at least three times the production cost, which is US$210 million, in order to break even.
In Simon's memory, the global box office of "Die Hard 2" was only over 200 million.
In the new week, Simon flew to the East Coast on Monday, June 18, in order to guest star in Madonna's Saturday concert.
Originally, he decided to take a year off to relax last year, but after all, he couldn't do it because there were always too many things at hand. Simon simply regarded this guest appearance as a way to relax. After the cameo, Simon will fly to Melbourne to follow the filming of "The Dark Knight" in person.
During this time, Simon has been in very close communication with Madonna’s team.
Madonna only sold the live broadcast rights of her concerts for 6 million, which is equivalent to five times the ticket revenue of each of her concerts at the Brenda Berry Arena, and is equivalent to 10 times the total ticket revenue of this round of concerts. %. In order to achieve the best stage effect and make all parties involved feel value for money, after hard work and hard work, Madonna gave Daenerys Entertainment two free movie guest appearances, and Madonna received two more from Simon. A new song.
Of course, originally it was all hers.
Of course it would be impossible to get songs from Simon if he didn't want to.
However, Madonna's debut time is not too long after all, and there are not many songs suitable for live guitar performance. Although Simon regarded this guest appearance as a break, he did not want to play in a mediocre way, so he agreed.
Although Simon's guest appearance did not mention anything like an appearance fee this time, it involved two new songs. In addition to the previous song "Bad Romance" that Madonna plans to cover as the main feature of her next album, the calculated share is still required. Calculated. Of course, Simon doesn't need to worry about these himself.
Madonna ended her Toronto tour on June 17th. Without Simon's participation, she would have moved to New York and only needed to do proper rehearsals to familiarize herself with the show. However, because of Simon's participation, this week, in addition to the night concert that opened on the 20th, she also had daytime concerts. All was spent rehearsing and honing the three songs that Simon participated in.
Considering that the live broadcast revenue earned from one concert is equivalent to one-tenth of her total box office revenue of this 60-show tour, Madonna is also very motivated.
In the busyness, time soon came to Friday again.
The complete weekly box office data from June 15th to June 21st is also officially released.
Disney's "Top" finally won the box office championship this week with a box office of 34.74 million U.S. dollars.
Immediately afterwards, "Sleeping with the Enemy", which opened in the same week, ranked second with a seven-day box office of US$27.62 million in its first week. Such box office data has clearly exceeded the initial expectations of the distribution team. It is expected that after next week, the film will be able to recover all production and distribution costs through the North American box office, and then it will just wait for profits.
Although the two summer movies related to Daenerys Entertainment have not won the weekly box office championship once, however, the third-ranked "Uncensored" is even better than the second-ranked "With Enemies". "Sleep" is even more eye-catching.
In the third week of its release, after significantly increasing the number of screening screens, "The Last Days" dropped only 12% compared to last week, and the box office took in another US$18.01 million in a single week. In three weeks, this fantasy romance film, which started less than expected, has grossed a total of US$58.33 million at the box office.
Daenerys Entertainment has now begun to generate profits.
Moreover, the box office curve that has been almost flat for three consecutive weeks indicates that the total North American box office of "The Last Days" is likely not to stop at around US$100 million. It is generally predicted in the industry that the North American box office of "The Last Days" will be at least as high as that of "Pretty Woman".
Hollywood originally thought that the strength of Daenerys Entertainment has always been thrillers and horror films. In recent years, the "Dead Man", "Butterfly Effect" and "Scream" series are really too famous. It can be said that in addition to When it came to the unexpected "Run Lola Run", Simon Westeros mainly relied on horror movies to make his career.
Looking back at this moment, I realize that Daenerys Entertainment has unknowingly created three classic romance films that are worthy of being recorded in the history of Hollywood movies: "When Harry Met Sally", "Pretty Woman" and "Love and Ghost". unfinished".
The success of "Batman Begins" at the end of last year proved that Simon Westeros has unlimited potential in comic book action movies.
Counting the blockbuster literary films produced by High Gate Pictures, it is obvious that Daenerys Entertainment has no shortcomings at all.
"Total Recall", which initially suppressed "The Last Days", has significantly narrowed its box office drop of 41% in its third week compared to last week. It only dropped 26% this week, but its single-week box office has fallen to Ranking fourth on the list, it only collected US$15.74 million, with a cumulative box office of US$72.14 million.
According to this box office trend, the total North American box office of "Total Recall" is expected to be only about 120 million US dollars.
The fifth-ranked Warner Bros. crime thriller "Presumed Innocent" starring Harrison Ford also showed an unexpected box office trend. Although it had a modest start, it only saw a slight drop of 13% in the next week, with another US$10.17 million collected. The total box office is expected to reach more than US$50 million.
In addition, in the new week, two new films will be released in North American theaters, namely "48 Hours" starring Eddie Murphy and the fantasy horror comedy "Little Children" produced by Steven Spielberg. Monster 2".
Inside an apartment at East 68th Street on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Simon and Janet were sitting in the restaurant, eating breakfast and casually looking through the box office data of the past week.
The two films that have been released in the summer, "The Last Days" and "Sleeping with the Enemy," are considered to be the final decision. Depending on the box office performance of these two films, next, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will be released on July 6. ”, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” on July 27th and “The Evil Dead 3” on August 10th, Simon is not too worried.
Janet waited for Simon to put the box office report aside and said, "We have basically reached an agreement on the mattress company named Simmons. Would you like to take a look in the morning?"
Simon noticed Simmons because this mattress company is so well-known on the other side of the ocean that it is simply synonymous with mattresses.
However, I have read the information before and found that the operating conditions of this time-honored mattress company in recent years have been unsatisfactory. Moreover, before Simon noticed this company, Simmons had been sold continuously in 1986 and 1988. twice.
The first time was a private equity fund, which bought Simmons for US$124 million in 1986. After two years of operation, Simmons got rid of its original operating difficulties in one fell swoop and was still thriving after the 1987 stock market crash.
The Simmons management team, which believed that it had made the most of the credit in this process, proposed a management buyout to the private equity fund in 1988. The private equity fund did not persist and readily chose to cash out, ultimately taking away US$240 million.
Simmons also became an employee-owned company.
Then, obviously overestimating its own capabilities, coupled with the high debts assumed during the management buyout process and the untimely reform of internal interest distribution, Simmons' originally good business conditions have deteriorated sharply in the past two years, and the situation has begun to fall into the same situation as at this time. Troubled tobacco giant Reynolds Nabisco is no different.
Simon heard Janet talk about this and asked: "What is the specific price?"
"96 million US dollars for 100% equity," Janet said: "However, after the acquisition, we will also have to bear US$136 million in debt."
Over $100 million in debt, apparently left over from the last management buyout process.
Simon thought to himself and asked: "It won't be Apollo Management Company's sole investment, right?"
Janet shook her head and said: "Of course not. We have cooperated with two other private equity funds. We invested US$36 million, accounting for 37.5% of the shares, and we have subsequent control of Simmons."
Simon nodded in approval.
The US$96 million investment, even including US$136 million in debt and US$500 million in cash, was still undertaken by Apollo Management, but this was not in line with the investment style of a private equity fund. Putting all the funds on one project will not only increase the risk, but also prevent the fund from exiting for cash at the right time.
Simon only assumes part of the investment and can also gain control of the acquired company. This is the best investment method in Simon's opinion.
After thinking about it, Simon said: "After the junk bond market collapsed, Drexel Securities, KKR, Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman used highly leveraged methods to swallow up companies and quickly sold assets through spin-offs. The cash-out model is no longer applicable. Next, private equity should focus on improving the operating conditions of the acquired companies. Perhaps, while conducting corporate mergers, Cersei Capital can also cultivate a group of dedicated professional managers. "
Janet nodded seriously and said, "I will discuss it with them in the morning."
Simon heard Janet's simple promise and added: "Of course, what I say may not be right, you are the experts."
Janet leaned towards Simon and said, "Even if you are wrong, I will listen."
Simon pretended that he couldn't bear it and hid, smiling: "Don't do this, it's too easy for men to swell."
Janet's eyes flickered twice, and her gaze moved down to Simon: "Are you swollen? Do you need my help?"
Simon raised his hand and knocked on the woman's forehead.
After laughing for a while, Janet said softly: "I have asked them to start long positions in crude oil futures. If your judgment is wrong this time, we will suffer a big loss."
Although Saddam has threatened to go to war to protect Iraq's oil interests, there are no signs of imminent war in the Middle East, and most people do not believe that Saddam really dares to start another war.
Recent crude oil prices have fluctuated between $14 and $15, and Simon knows that the lowest point of this crisis was roughly $13.
However, many analysts predict that international crude oil prices may fall to around $10 due to the continued increase in production by oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
If the war does not happen as scheduled on August 2, and the price of crude oil drops to US$10 a barrel, Cersei Capital will not only have to spit out all the profits it made through short selling in the past few months, but may even lose its principal.
This is indeed a very risky bet.
Of course, high risk also means high reward.
If you don't bet in advance now, when the situation becomes clear and everyone sees the signs of war and rushes to build long positions, Cersei Capital will not be able to make much profit by then.
Simon thought about this and said to Janet with a smile: "If you lose, just lose. It has been too conspicuous in the past few years. Now I really want to lose somewhere."
Janet smiled and said no more.
After breakfast, Janet rushed to the Cersei Capital headquarters in Midtown, but Simon did not go to Jersey City. Madonna had just performed a concert last night and probably hadn't gotten up yet in the morning.
Simon's destination is the East Coast branch of Daenerys Entertainment in Greenwich Village.
In the morning, I have a new film project that I just got to talk about. It's called "The Wits" and it's adapted from the "Saturday Night Live" sketch. The creator is none other than Mike May, the star of the "Auspicious Powers" series. ers.
After Simon guided Danny Morris, the head of New World Pictures, to determine the next expansion goal of exploring the low-brow comedy market, he soon discovered this original time and space movie with a box office of over 100 million in North America among a group of projects Morris was looking for. Alternative comedy.