The Internet industry has just emerged, and the same type of online rental platform has not yet appeared.
Therefore, Blockbuster does not have an urgent need for transformation.
The launch of Blockbuster Online is more of a preliminary layout. In the early stage, it will only conduct business in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and other relatively prosperous cities on the east and west coasts. This can not only save costs, but also accumulate online operation experience in advance.
However, thanks to Igret's early start in the e-commerce field, Blockbuster Online opened during the Independence Day holiday in the United States. It also achieved very good results the following weekend. In just three days, Blockbuster Online The number of members who have activated online services has reached 160,000, and more than 200,000 purchase and rental orders have been placed through the online platform.
After the Independence Day holiday, Nancy Brill, with Simon's support, also began to push Blockbuster to gradually eliminate late fees.
Because of the existence of independent franchisees, even if this matter is approved by the board of directors, it will be difficult to accomplish it overnight.
Fortunately, Nancy Brill planned to gradually use the opportunity of canceling late fees to further strengthen Blockbuster's membership system and increase user stickiness, so she was not in a hurry.
In Hollywood, during the week from July 3rd to July 9th, three new films were released in North American theaters, "The Last of the Mohicans", "Honey, I Grow the Baby" and "Patriot Games" ", despite the blessing of the Independence Day holiday, the final box office performance was not satisfactory.
As the sequel to Paramount's previous "The Hunt for Red October" and starring Harrison Ford, "Patriot Games" had the best box office performance, earning US$25.29 million in the first seven days, ranking first on the weekly box office list. Second place.
Also a sequel, Disney's "Honey, I Turned the Kids Bigger" did not have the good fortune of "Honey, I Turned the Kids Smaller" three years ago, with a production cost of 40 million US dollars and an opening of 2,311 screens. In terms of scale, this sci-fi family comedy only had a box office of $18.39 million in its first week, which was far lower than Disney's expectations.
Moreover, "Honey, I Grew the Kids Up" received unsatisfactory reviews from the media and audiences. The starting point in the first week was too low, and it may suffer a sharp box office drop the following week. The box office prospects are difficult to predict.
"The Last of the Mohicans" co-produced by Daenerys and Warner Bros. This adaptation of the "Knight Saves the Princess" novel has been repeatedly remade. After its release, it received unanimous praise from critics, with a comprehensive media score of 9.5. .
However, probably due to its limited theme of ancient costumes, the film's box office in its first week was not satisfactory. With 2,173 screens open, "The Last of the Mohicans" only had a box office of US$23.19 million in its first week, with an average of over 10,000 US dollars. , has reached the level of big sales, but it cannot be regarded as a hit.
Of course, due to its excellent reputation, "The Last of the Mohicans" should be able to have a very good long-term run compared to Disney's "Honey, I Turned the Kids Up."
The three new films had mediocre openings at the box office, leaving "Wonder Woman" as the box office champion this week.
In its fifth week of release, due to the Independence Day holiday, "Wonder Woman"'s box office dropped only 17% this week, continuing to earn US$26.15 million. In five weeks, the cumulative North American box office of this female superhero movie reached US$260.32 million.
This number has exceeded the total North American box office of "The Flash" released last year, and is second only to "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight."
Considering that "Wonder Woman" still has a single-week box office base of more than 25 million U.S. dollars and maintains a good weekly box office decline curve, the film's total North American box office is very hopeful to exceed 350 million U.S. dollars, and even catch up with "Batman: The Dark" "Knight"'s US$373 million is not impossible.
With the release of "The Last of the Mohicans", four important films related to Daenerys Entertainment in the summer of 1992 have been released.
Taken together, "Wonder Woman" naturally performs the strongest.
Immediately afterwards, the opening box office performance of "Love Deal" exceeded the other two, reaching 32.27 million U.S. dollars in the first week. However, in the second and third weeks, "Love Deal" lost a larger box office of 40% and 32% respectively. fell, earning US$19.1 million and US$12.99 million respectively.
In three weeks, the total North American box office of "Peach Deal" reached 64.37 million U.S. dollars. Through subsequent releases, the film's total North American box office is expected to be between 80 million and 100 million U.S. dollars, which is enough for the producer to withdraw all production and promotion. Invest and possibly achieve a small profit.
The local box office alone will be able to recoup its costs, which means that "Peach Deal" will earn very generous profits through overseas release, video sales and TV broadcasts.
Even if not considered a dark horse, this is obviously a very successful project.
After "A Time to Kill" had a box office of US$3.73 million in its first week, relying on its excellent reputation, the box office dropped only 13% the next week, and it collected another US$20.64 million, bringing the cumulative box office in two weeks to US$44.37 million. This courtroom crime movie involving racial discrimination and judicial fairness has obviously successfully copied the box office trajectory of Harrison Ford's "Presumed Innocent". It is expected that through a long run, the North American box office is very hopeful to exceed the US$100 million mark.
The reputation of "The Last of the Mohicans" is even better than that of "A Time to Kill." The opening $2,319 also reached the level of "A Time to Kill." Although it is the first week, it is not yet possible to see the subsequent box office trend. However, the two The box office curves of the two films are likely to be very similar.
All in all, the total box office in North America for the three foreign cooperation films is expected to be around US$100 million.
This kind of box office performance cannot be compared with "Wonder Woman", but it is enough to rank at the top of the annual box office list.
After "The Deal", "A Time to Kill" and "The Last of the Mohicans", Daenerys Entertainment has only four external cooperation projects left, of which the ones that have been confirmed are with Disney's "Sleepless in Seattle" ", "Grannet" finalized with Warner Bros. and two "Mission: Impossible" films in partnership with Paramount Pictures.
After the Independence Day holiday, the summer season is already halfway through.
On July 10, two new films continued to be released in North American theaters, namely "House and a Half Wife" produced by MGM and "Dangerous Love" produced by Fox Pictures.
"House and a Half Wife" was originally an incubation project of Universal Pictures, starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. It tells a series of stories about a hotel waiter who moved into the hero's villa on his own and lied about being his wife.
Daenerys Entertainment's project schedule was so full that "House and a Half Wife" was originally going to be axed.
However, considering that the box office performance of this film was relatively good in memory, Simon was directly transferred to MGM.
Fox's "Dangerous Love" is another extramarital affair film that followed the lead of "Fatal Attraction" starring Michael Douglas.
Going forward, looking at the follow-up film list for July and August, apart from Clint Eastwood's new film "Unforgiven," which will be released on August 7, Simon has not found any other films with big-selling potential. This tepid state, lacking strong box office contenders, is just right for the long-term trend of four films including "Wonder Woman" and "A Time to Kill."
For Daenerys Entertainment, this summer season is still a bumper harvest.
Entering July, Daenerys Entertainment's two other key projects, "Sleepless in Seattle" starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and the TV series "Desperate Housewives" to be aired in the fall have started filming. . In addition, the announcement of projects such as "The Ring", "Home Alone 2" and "Jurassic Park" scheduled for the end of the year have also officially begun.
However, during this period, what attracted the most attention was the 1992 U.S. presidential election, which had entered its second half.
After the game in the first half of the year, the current President George Bush has further confirmed the identity of the Republican candidate in this year's election. On the Democratic side, with a series of competitors gradually withdrawing, Bill Clinton's advantage has become increasingly obvious.
However, this time, the traditional candidates of both parties failed to overshadow the independent candidate Ross Perot.
Because of the many criticisms of George Bush's administration, the lack of popular candidates from the Democratic Party, and perhaps the economic downturn that has caused Americans to be dissatisfied with the current situation, Ross Perot, a billionaire with a strong personality and a love for the limelight, has gradually attracted attention. attracted more and more attention.
Since officially announcing his participation in the election, Ross Perot's approval rating once reached 36%.
Gradually, both parties increasingly felt threatened by Ross Perot.
Out of this fear, some people are attacking Ross Perot more and more frequently.
This lasted until July 13, the new week. Simon and Janet had just woken up when James Raybould called. At nine o'clock in the morning Eastern time, Ross Perot suddenly held a press conference to announce the launch of this year's president. election.
Aside from his covert bet on Bill Clinton, Simon appears to be almost indifferent to the presidential election.
Even though he had the information in his memory that Ross Perot had withdrawn from the election, Simon was still a little surprised when he heard the news. He personally told Clinton something. In this presidential election, if the other party wants to win the White House, he must Securing Ross Perot's candidacy to spread the conservative vote.
However, something happened 'again'.
Janet was originally going to fly to New York alone today, but suddenly this happened. After breakfast, the couple boarded a plane to the East Coast together.
Arriving in Manhattan, it's already four o'clock in the afternoon on the East Coast.
In the evening, the Rayboulds and Joseph Schlapp, the head of the Schlapp Consulting Company, and his family were invited to have dinner at the manor outside Greenwich. Joseph Schlapp also conveyed some of the information he had just obtained to Simon.
Ross Perot's withdrawal is actually just a delaying measure.
Privately, Perot knew very well that he could not win this presidential election, so he was gradually attracted by the Democratic Party.
However, Ross Perot’s approval rate now exceeds 30%, which will not only severely impact George Bush’s votes, but in fact, the candidates of both major parties will be seriously affected. If this continues, conservatives may lose their share The effect of votes.
After several rounds of communication, Ross Perot finally decided to temporarily announce his withdrawal from the race, which would cool down his already high support rate and give the Democratic Party enough opportunity to perform at critical moments in the next few months.
Simon heard Joseph Schlapp's explanation, reorganized some information in his memory, and suddenly understood.
In my memory, Ross Perot did announce his election in July. However, some people still seemed not to let him go, and even tried to disrupt Perot's daughter's wedding in August through some malicious gossip in the media.
If Ross Perot is serious about withdrawing from the election, as long as he is smart enough, he will know that he should not tease this strong-willed billionaire at this time.
The reason why some people still do small tricks in private is probably because they are aware of something.
However, this behavior just gave Perot an excuse to re-announce his candidacy in October.
Moreover, in my memory, Ross Perot even named the Bush administration and accused the Bush administration of using dishonorable means to try to ruin his daughter's wedding.
In fact, this dishonorable method is not that serious. It just published some photos of Perot's daughter suspected of being gay in the gossip media. Perot insisted the photos were artificial.
As for the truth, Simon doesn't care.
In recent months, the Igret portal has been quietly promoting news that is biased towards Bill Clinton. Although Simon did not come forward personally, some senior officials in the Westeros system have quietly helped Clinton organize several fundraising receptions. .
Moreover, whether it is Hollywood or Silicon Valley, a large number of people stand on the side of the Democratic Party, largely due to the Westeros system that promotes it.
Everything that needs to be done has been done. After learning the inside story of Perot's withdrawal from the election, Simon made some arrangements and then retreated behind the scenes to watch the changes.
After completing the acquisition of LTD, the team of Apollo Management Company will not make much action in the short term.
The performance of the hedge fund team of Cersei Fund Management Company in the first half of the year was also officially released. Stimulated by the increasing popularity of technology stocks in the market, in the first half of 1992, the hedge fund team achieved a net gain of 21% by doing long technology stocks. income.
After routine settlement at the beginning of the year, the principal amount of approximately US$3 billion has increased to US$3.6 billion through operations in the first half of the year.
Conservative estimates predict that this hedge fund will be able to achieve an after-tax net profit of US$1 billion by the end of 1992.
Even if the return rate is not as high as during the previous two years of great market conditions, a net profit margin of more than 30% will definitely exceed most competitors in the same industry.
Of course, it is certainly not as good as the Quantum Fund, which is about to launch a sniper attack on European currencies.
However, Simon still didn't have any chance to stand out.
To make a fortune on European currency, the Westeros System's other businesses in Europe will surely lose more.
In addition, among the three subsidiaries of Cersei Capital, Black Rock Asset Management, which has always been relatively low-key, is actually developing the fastest.
Whether it is Cersei Fund Management Company or Apollo Management Company, the size of the funds is controlled at around several billion dollars.
Black Rock Asset Management, which mainly engages in low-risk fixed income, treasury bonds and large-cap stock investments, has been affected by the recovery of the North American stock market after last year's Gulf War and has rapidly expanded in scale. The total amount of funds under management now exceeds 70 billion US dollars.
Of course, this number is still far from the US$6 trillion asset size of Black Rock Asset Management at its peak in Simon’s memory.
However, compared with other asset management companies of the same type, Black Rock Asset Management has successfully been promoted to the giant level. This growth rate is even more astonishing considering that this company was established less than 10 years ago even if it started as a subsidiary of Blackstone Group.
Moreover, the asset scale of US$70 billion is enough to have an impact on many industries that cannot be underestimated.