Corporate IPOs usually choose to set the listing date on Thursday or Friday, so that if an emergency occurs, the weekend market closure can provide a buffer for the IPO company to solve the problem.
AOL's listing date is Friday, July 12th.
Of course, this IPO has been smooth sailing so far.
Even with psychological preparation, the 106% stock price increase throughout the day on Friday exceeded many people's expectations. The closing price of US$43.25, the market value of US$7.46 billion, and Simon Westeros’ wealth appreciation of US$4.9 billion all stirred the nerves of countless people.
A company that continues to burn money and lose money achieved a price-earnings ratio of 72 times on the day it went public. While all parties were amazed and envious, they also discussed whether the company was worth such a stock price.
In this discussion atmosphere, AOL's stock price will inevitably begin to correct in the new week.
Even so, in the five consecutive trading days from July 15th to July 19th, AOL's market value has always remained at a minimum of more than 5 billion US dollars.
After paying all investment bank, lawyer and other fees, AOL finally received more than 430 million US dollars in funding.
With the success of the IPO, AOL immediately started the second phase of its free trial plan.
Because it has accumulated enough fame, the free trial discount this time is no longer as strong as in the first half of the year. Users only have 1 hour of free trial time every day. If they want to exceed 1 hour, they must become a formal user.
In addition, free trial users must also pay a certain deposit for installation equipment. Once the trial period is over and the user does not become a regular user, the deposit can be returned only after the user returns the demodulator and other equipment. If you become a formal user, this part of the deposit will be directly converted into network fees, and you will also receive an additional subsidy.
In addition to the second phase of the free trial plan, AOL will further increase its investment in basic network construction, which is the most expensive project.
Therefore, the deposit measure is actually mainly a plan for AOL to increase its own cash flow.
Also on July 12, the day of AOL's IPO, "The Fugitive", a collaboration between Daenerys and Warner Bros., opened in North American theaters.
Harrison Ford had already tried an action movie about survival after being involved in a conspiracy three years ago. The film was called "Dead in Paris" directed by Roman Polanski, but it did not cause much response at the box office. .
This time, "The Fugitive" far surpasses "The Fugitive in Paris" both in terms of reputation and publicity.
With the completion of the story in one go, the film's comprehensive media score reached 9.1 points. The Los Angeles Times commented that the film's "smooth and tense plot gives people a tense feeling like an injection of adrenaline."
Warner Bros. has focused most of its attention on "The Dark Knight", and "The Fugitive" has inevitably been ignored to a certain extent.
However, in its first week, with only 2,340 screens, "The Fugitive" still strongly earned a box office of 37.61 million U.S. dollars, with an average theater average of more than 16,000 U.S. dollars.
With a first-week box office of US$37.61 million, it also left "The Dark Knight" and "Terminator 2" behind, successfully winning the new week's box office championship.
In comparison, Disney's new film "Tiger Detector", which opened at the same time, only had a box office of US$5.27 million in its first seven days of release.
On July 19, a new week in the second half of the summer season, North American theaters once again launched two new films, namely "We Are the World" produced by Universal Pictures and "The Adventures of Abby 2" by Orion Pictures.
"We Are All" is an old-time American gangster movie similar to "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Scarface".
"The Adventures of Abby 2" is the sequel to Orion's sci-fi comedy two years ago. The first film made more than 40 million US dollars at the box office in North America, which is considered a blockbuster.
In addition, this is also a comedy series starring Keanu Reeves.
Keanu had just transformed into a tough guy actor at the beginning of the year with Catherine's "Point of Interest" and gained a lot of popularity. His silly performance in "The Adventures of Abby 2" really ruined his image. .
In the week from July 19th to July 25th, "We Are the World" opened on 1,513 screens and only earned US$8.79 million at the box office, with the average box office barely exceeding US$5,000.
As a key project of Orion, "The Adventures of Abby 2" has had a pretty good start, with 1,620 opening screens, a box office of US$15.66 million in the first week, and a box office average of close to 10,000 yuan. The opening figures are more than twice that of the first film. .
However, the film's reputation has been somewhat damaged, and it is expected that it will be difficult to find a long-term success.
The box office performance of the two new films was average. The box office champion this week was still "The Fugitive". The box office dropped only 11% the next week, and it collected another US$33.36 million. The cumulative box office in two weeks also reached US$70.97 million.
Because Harrison Ford's salary was as high as 10 million U.S. dollars, the production cost of "The Fugitive" ultimately reached 40 million U.S. dollars, and the publicity budget was 20 million U.S. dollars.
With a North American box office of US$70.97 million, according to the tiered sharing contract signed by Warner Bros. and theaters, Daenerys and Warner Bros. have already recovered most of the production and promotion costs in just two weeks.
Two consecutive weeks of openings exceeding $30 million mean that "The Fugitive" obviously still has great box office potential.
In addition to "The Fugitive", which has a single-week box office average, it is worth mentioning that in the week of July 19th to July 25th, "The Dark Knight" was released in its seventh week, and the total box office in North America officially exceeded 3 billion, reaching US$305.11 million.
However, the single-week box office of "The Dark Knight" has also dropped to 15.11 million U.S. dollars, lagging behind "The Fugitive", "Terminator 2" and "The Adventures of Abby 2" in the single-week box office list fourth place.
Based on the box office curve since its opening, the distribution department of Warner Bros. Pictures predicts that the final North American box office of "The Dark Knight" may be between 360 million and 390 million U.S. dollars, and the 400 million mark should be hopeless.
In addition, the overseas box office of "The Dark Knight" also exceeded US$300 million earlier than the domestic box office.
Because there are still many overseas box office countries waiting for release, Warner Bros. predicts that the expected overseas box office of "The Dark Knight" will be between 500 million and 550 million US dollars, which is basically the same as the first film. The total global box office is the same as "Batman Begins", which will be around US$900 million.
"Terminator 2", which is in its fourth week of release, has a single-week box office figure of US$23.22 million from July 19 to July 25, ranking second on the weekly box office list. The cumulative box office of the film in the four weeks has reached US$153.3 million. .
Simon found that the North American box office of "Terminator 2" is expected to exceed the original figure of just over $200 million.
This is actually not surprising.
"Terminator 2" in the original time and space is produced by Hollywood outsider Carlock Pictures and distributed by Columbia Pictures' TriStar label. Neither company has the production and distribution resources to match Daenerys and Foxx.
Of course, this time, "Terminator 2" could no longer become the North American box office champion in 1991.
On July 26, the 1991 summer season began to wrap up with two new films, namely "A Few Good Men", a collaboration between MGM and Daenerys, and the horror film "Split" produced by Paramount Pictures.
The new version of "A Few Good Men" stars Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Demi Moore. The story has been revised and it also becomes a down-and-out but upright middle-aged lawyer who defends two sailors accused of murder. The story of a Marine's defense.
From the beginning, "A Few Good Men" was identified as a forensic crime film like last year's Harrison Ford's blockbuster "Pushing Innocence". The film was unlikely to be distributed like a popcorn movie and could only hope to be a success. Long term reputation.
Fortunately, although the story has been revised, the film's media reviews are still very good, and Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Demi Moore are enough to support the popularity of this film.
In its first week, "A Few Good Men" earned a box office of US$26.73 million from 1,902 screens. Although it was not as good as any of "The Dark Knight", "Terminator 2" and "The Fugitive", it was more than 1 The average theater price of US$3,900 also met the expectations of Daenerys and MGM.
Moreover, in the first week of August, the second week after "A Few Good Men" was released, the film's single-week box office dropped only 13%, collecting another US$23.39 million. This box office trend has obviously ensured the birth of another member of the billion-dollar box office club.
Kevin Costner's new film "Robin Hood," released on August 2, once again brought a surprise to the producer, Warner Bros. Pictures.
This period action film, independently produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, is scheduled to be released on August 2, which shows its reception during this summer season. However, the film earned US$39.19 million at the box office in the first seven days, which was better than "The Fugitive" which was released on July 12.
Then, on August 9, "The Silence of the Lambs" produced by New World Pictures, a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, basically announced the end of the 1991 summer season.
Moreover, the comprehensive media score of "Silence of the Lambs" as high as 9.6 points also means that this is a perfect ending.
Before its release, the outside world basically didn't pay much attention to this film, which cost only US$15 million to produce and was distributed by Daenerys Entertainment's New World Pictures label.
However, many people in Hollywood circles are paying attention to this film, mainly because the heroine of the film is Sandra Bullock. This new-generation actress, who has risen rapidly thanks to Simon Westeros' "Run Lola Run", has been so successful in recent years that most actresses in Hollywood are jealous.
There are also rumors that "The Silence of the Lambs" was a project personally selected by Westeros for Sandra Bullock, which means there is no room for the industry not to take it seriously.
Facts have once again proved the accuracy of Simon Westeros' vision.
As soon as "The Silence of the Lambs" was released, the film's plot, performances, religious implications and other elements aroused intense discussion in the media.
Robert Duvall, who has the Oscar winner title and multiple Oscar nominations, performed as well as Anthony Hopkins in the original version. The Hollywood Reporter praised "Robert Duvall's chilling performance is enough for him to win the second honor." Oscar statuettes', director Jonathan Demme and actress Sandra Bullock were also frequently mentioned by the media.
The New York Times even predicted that "The Silence of the Lambs" is expected to become the second horror film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture after "The Exorcist."
Under the hot discussion in the media and the sparing-out marketing offensive of the New World Pictures team, "The Silence of the Lambs" earned a box office of US$23.93 million in its first week with only 1,561 screens, and the average theater gross exceeded US$15,000.
Although the start is not too impressive, with the media enthusiasm shown by the film, no one will doubt that this film has the potential to hit the 100 million yuan mark.
As the summer season officially came to an end, the media suddenly discovered that a series of blockbuster films in the 1991 summer season, based on the box office or expected box office expected to exceed 100 million, were seven in total. In order of opening time, they were "The City" "Redneck," "The Dark Knight," "Terminator 2," "The Fugitive," "A Few Good Men," "Robin Hood" and "The Silence of the Lambs."
Among the seven movies, although only "The Silence of the Lambs" was independently released by Daenerys Entertainment, there are four other movies related to Daenerys Entertainment. Only "City Hillbilly" and "Robin Hood" belong to Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Given the strong gambling nature of the film industry, such a ratio of blockbuster films is simply unprecedented.
Compared with the past few years, the media and the industry have begun to become more and more curious about how this situation happened. Does Simon Westeros have the ability to turn stones into gold
These superstitious views are naturally destined to have no answers.
However, the "Hollywood Reporter" gave a relatively reasonable explanation in an article in mid-August.
Simon Westeros, or Daenerys Entertainment, has clearly drawn on much of the resources that have come out of Hollywood in recent years.
Take the most typical "Batman: The Dark Knight" as an example. For the first time, the opening scale exceeded 3,000 screens and the promotion budget was 80 million US dollars. This film is destined to be in the movie schedule, theater platform and promotion channels. It occupies the living space of other movies, and it is a very strong occupancy.
Others such as "Terminator 2", "The Fugitive" and "A Few Good Men" are actually the same.
The way Daenerys Entertainment chooses to cooperate with other studios seems to give up half of the profits, but in fact, on the other hand, it occupies the resources that these studios deserve for their own films.
In addition, the 'blockbuster' films that have emerged in recent years have themselves departed from the element of luck that Hollywood's past films had to offer.
The blockbuster film has had a strong blockbuster advantage since its inception.
All in all, a sufficient budget was invested in the production process, a sufficiently outstanding creative team was selected, the most advanced film technology was used, and a film all-rounder like Simon Westeros had full control. The later release of the film also occupies Hollywood's most high-quality schedule every year and spares no effort in publicity and distribution resources. As long as the quality of this series of films is not too bad, it is really not too difficult to sell it.
Therefore, the fact that films produced by Daenerys Entertainment are becoming more and more powerful in Hollywood cannot be regarded as an accident to a large extent.
Several other major studios are eager to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment. Except for phenomenal blockbuster projects such as "The Dark Knight", it is difficult to say whether they are taking a big advantage or suffering a big loss.
Simon has always been worried that his prophetic 'talent' in movies will cause unnecessary trouble. Although this article in the "Hollywood Reporter" will wake up several other major Hollywood studios, it will This is also a result that Simon hopes to see very much.