The party in the villa started to end at eleven o'clock in the evening, and at half past eleven, the guests basically left.
Simon personally drove away Madonna, who was drunk and wanted to stay here for the night, and returned to the living room of the villa. The party company's waiter team was cleaning up, and the Wei family maids led by Naomi also joined them.
Girl A saw Simon, walked over and asked, "Boss, will Miss Kirshner stay tonight?"
"Send her back, contact her agent tomorrow, and collect another piece of information for me." Simon ordered, walking straight to the stairs, motioning for Alison to follow, and asked in a low voice: "How is the script? ?”
Alison followed Simon and whispered: "Many people should have seen it."
Simon nodded and added: "The room below will be cleaned carefully tomorrow, and throw away whatever needs to be thrown away. Ella will come over to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. Remember to send a car to pick her up. The traffic here is not convenient; "Four The media feedback on "A Wedding and a Funeral" will be sorted out and sent to Los Angeles before noon tomorrow..."
While thinking and explaining some things, the two came to the third floor. After Alison finished writing the memo, Simon finally said: "Also, let Nata come up."
Alison agreed. Seeing Simon turn to the corridor, she subconsciously took a step forward: "Boss, do you want me to prepare bath water for you?"
When Simon heard this, he stopped and turned to look at the girl behind him.
Alison regretted her words as she spoke. Noticing her boss's gaze, she lowered her head guiltily, holding the small memo uneasily with her delicate white fingers.
Just for a moment, the man's voice in my ear: "This is the first time, don't be greedy. I usually don't like giving people a third chance."
Like a little girl who made a mistake, Girl A whispered: "Boss, I was wrong."
Simon said: "Go down and rest early."
Watching the man in front of her turn around again, Alison raised her head and glanced, and suddenly said in a strange way: "Boss, if you make a mistake, you must be punished."
Simon stopped again, turned to look at the elegant and graceful girl in a black OL suit, and asked, "Are you afraid of pain?"
Girl A lowered her eyelashes: "You can only remember things when it hurts."
Simon nodded: "Come."
After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the master bedroom.
Alison followed her in small steps with her head lowered. She heard a slight clicking sound in front of her. This was the sound of a man's belt being pulled out, and she suddenly felt as if all the strength in her body had been drained away in an instant.
The 10th Sundance Film Festival came to a successful conclusion on the second day. Two films from Gomen Films were shortlisted for the main competition, "Monkey King" and "Barcelona." Only "Monkey King" won a relatively marginal Audience Award. None of the other core awards are related to Daenerys Entertainment.
This result does not disappoint.
Regarding Sundance, what Simon values most is the platform’s ability to cultivate new film talents. The film talents, excellent scripts and finished films that Daenerys Entertainment has discovered from Sundance in recent years have brought more rewards than simply The meaning attached to the award.
High Gate Pictures' lack of awards at Sundance this year is also the result of Simon's deliberate restrictions.
Even though he already has the most powerful public relations team and human resources in Hollywood, Simon definitely does not want major film festivals to become the exclusive preserve of Daenerys Entertainment. This is harmful and unhelpful.
Of course, in the face of absolute strength, there must be exceptions.
Like this year's Oscars, and next year.
On Monday, January 31, the day after Sundance concluded, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially announced the list of nominated films for the 66th Academy Awards.
Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" about the history of the Jewish Holocaust during World War II has undoubtedly become the biggest favorite at this year's Oscars, accumulating wins for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actor. 12 nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay.
Not only that, Daenerys Entertainment also set another record.
The 3D animated film "The Lion King" produced by Pixar, after winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture in the Musical Comedy category, became the first animated film in Hollywood history to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. It also won Best Picture, There were a total of 6 nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Score and three Best Original Songs.
The Best Screenplay award also represents another Oscar nomination for Simon.
Historically, the first animated film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture was Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" in 1992. Because of Simon's appearance, this animated film project that was abandoned by Disney has fallen to Daenerys Entertainment. In the hands of the Pixar team, it will be made into a 3D animated version like "The Lion King" at a glance.
This year's "The Lion King" is actually more deserving of the title than "Beauty and the Beast."
As of January 27, the cumulative box office of "The Lion King" in North America, which is in its 10th week of release, has reached US$286.55 million, and it will only take three weeks at most to break through the US$300 million box office mark.
Before the new century, the Oscars were still very focused on the commercial performance of movies.
As the first animated film in Hollywood to reach a domestic box office of 300 million US dollars, if such a phenomenal box office performance cannot win an Oscar for Best Picture nomination, there will not be many films in Hollywood that have such qualifications.
With the announcement of the Oscar nominations, in the week from January 28 to February 3, the box office of "The Lion King", which once again attracted widespread public attention, fell only 13% in a single week, collecting another US$6.75 million, with a cumulative box office of US$293.3 million. . If Daenerys Entertainment is willing to spend some money on box office, it will exceed 300 million in the next week.
"The Lion King" has already received enough glory, and it is certain to exceed 300 million. Naturally, there is no need to buy box office and teach others.
In addition to the two most watched Oscar-nominated films, "In the Name of the Father," another artistic film starring Daniel Day-Lewis produced by Daenerys Entertainment, also won Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actor. 6 nominations including adapted screenplay.
In the past, "In the Name of the Father" also received a best picture nomination.
This time, Daenerys Entertainment already has two Best Picture nominations through "Schindler's List" and "The Lion King" and can't ask for more. "In the Name of the Father" is nominated for Best Picture. The declaration can only be abandoned.
In addition to the scattered wins such as the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominations for the Tina Turner biopic "What's Love Got to Do with It" and the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for "The Wedding Banquet", Dan won the 66th Oscar in 1994. The total number of nominations for films produced and distributed directly by Nelis Entertainment reaches 29, not counting various other nominations for films such as "Sleepless in Seattle," which is distributed by Disney, and "Superman," which is distributed by Warner Bros.
In addition, "Philadelphia Story", which was originally transferred to MGM by Simon, also successfully received 5 nominations including Best Actor for Tom Hanks.
Considering that the award results are almost inevitable, it is not an exaggeration to say that Daenerys Entertainment has monopolized this Oscar.
Many people have the impression that Daenerys Entertainment knows how to restrain itself when it comes to awards. Therefore, Hollywood generally believes that after this year, next year’s Oscars will be the stage for other studios to perform, but they don’t know that this summer, there will be There’s another phenomenal “Forrest Gump” ready to go.
Simon, on the other hand, dug a hole in the Cutthroat script at the Sundance party, and it worked in the days that followed.
When the news spread, both the executives of major studios and the management of talent agencies got the script of "Cutthroat Island" immediately. Many filmmakers also began to inquire about the project. Warner's Terry Semel even called Simon directly to probe for information.
Do the whole show.
At Simon's request, Amy Pascal personally held a meeting with the management of Carlock Films.
Of course, there was no agreement.
The conditions given by Daenerys Entertainment are actually not harsh, and it is a common practice for foreign cooperation films. Both parties share 50% of the investment, but this time Daenerys Entertainment must be responsible for distribution, and Amy proposed the distribution commission ratio It’s also not high, compared to 12.5% for DC Cinematic Universe projects.
According to the news fed back by Amy, there are obvious differences within Carlock Films.
The most important thing in Hollywood is smart people. With the momentum of Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood at this time, there are many people in the management of Carlock Films who can tell at a glance that the rough budget for a film like "Cutthroat Island" is 7,000. For a $10,000 super blockbuster, working with Daenerys Entertainment is undoubtedly the most guaranteed choice, and this studio has proven this on too many projects.
However, the most indispensable thing in this world is the lack of human hearts.
Since Simon Westeros is very optimistic about this project, some people naturally think that there is no need for Carlock Films to give up so much. After all, Carlock Pictures, which relies on overseas capital support, is not short of money. Cooperating with Daenerys Entertainment can be regarded as investment and distribution income, which is equivalent to giving up at least 60% of the income.
All parties contacted each other to test it out for a week, and the format soon became clear.
Projects that other Hollywood studios have snatched away from Daenerys Entertainment have failed more than once, such as films such as "The Rocketeer" a few years ago and Disney snatched this from Daenerys Entertainment last year. He also smashed Redford's new film "The Lie" in his hand.
Although there is no evidence that those failed films were traps deliberately thrown by Simon Westeros, Hollywood has gradually formed a concept that if other studios snatch up projects that Daenerys Entertainment likes, it will not It can definitely be done well.
Therefore, until the last minute, other studios were in a wait-and-see mode, with the exception of Paramount Pictures.
Seagram Group bought Paramount Communications last year and successfully entered Hollywood. Like Sony, Seagram CEO Edgar Bronfman also hopes to build his company's reputation through one or two blockbuster films as soon as possible.
Considering that the first part of "Mission: Impossible", a collaboration between the two parties, is still in theaters and the development of the sequel has been put on the agenda, Edgar Bronfman knew that it was not appropriate to offend Simon at this time, so he called Simon specifically to communicate.
The fish had bitten the hook, and Simon decisively changed his strategy. He directly stated on the phone that Daenerys Entertainment had given up on the "Cutthroat Island" project because he was not optimistic about the prospects of the pirate movie, and he also told half-truths. Bronfman was persuaded not to get involved with the project.
Simon's attitude this time was very sincere, but Bronfman obviously didn't believe it, and soon launched further negotiations with Carlock Films.
Immediately afterwards, news spread quickly that Daenerys Entertainment had abandoned the "Cutthroat Island" project, as well as Simon's personal statement on the script.
Hollywood suddenly became confused again.
Many people have seen the "Cutthroat Island" script in the villa in Westeros Park City, and Daenerys Entertainment has also discussed cooperation with Carlock Films. This is enough to prove that Daenerys Entertainment is interested in participating in this project. The project.
Simon's sudden statement suddenly felt a little bit cover-up.
Obviously.
This is to make others withdraw due to scruples, and Daenerys Entertainment will wait for an opportunity to take action.
Can anyone believe such a clumsy routine
So the negotiations continued.
In order to attract more competitors, Carlock Pictures also quietly leaked the terms of cooperation offered by Paramount Pictures. It was roughly that Paramount Pictures was willing to join "Cut Throat" with 30% of the budget and 10% of the distribution commission. "Island" project, while providing the best schedule for next summer's summer season, and guaranteeing a screen size of more than 2,500.
Calculated, Carlock Pictures can retain about 60% of its profits.
Moreover, the conditions given by Daenerys Entertainment do not include schedule and screen guarantee terms. Anyone who knows a little about Hollywood knows the importance of schedule and screen. For the same film, the box office performance of a popular summer film and an unpopular spring film are absolutely different, and the commercial potential of a film opening on 1,000 screens and a film opening on 2,000 screens is definitely very different.
One of the most important gaps between Hollywood's independent producers and major studios is that the seven major film companies basically monopolize high-quality screens and marketing resources for the most popular Hollywood schedules. Without these resources, second- and third-tier independent film producers are unlikely to It is difficult to join the ranks of major first-tier film companies.
Now, unless they are willing to assume only distribution work, several other Hollywood studios cannot offer more favorable terms for cooperation than Paramount. It is indeed a bit risky to give a popular schedule and a large number of screens when it is completely impossible to predict the final effect of a film.
Moreover, several other studios are still waiting to wait for further reaction from Daenerys Entertainment.
Unless Daenerys Entertainment steps in at the last minute and triggers a bidding war, in its current state, the project is almost certain to fall to Paramount.
Of course Daenerys Entertainment will not take action to stop it.
Even when MGM CEO Shirley Lansing tested whether Simon could take on the project, he was rejected.
Of the seven major Hollywood studios, only MGM can offer more "beneficial" conditions than Paramount. Because its own strength has not yet recovered, MGM, which is trying to avoid blockbuster projects at this stage, can completely Not participating in investment, only seeking distribution rights and taking commissions, which is 100% in line with Carlock Films' expectations.
The former "Cutthroat Island" was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
However, under Simon's control, MGM now has no shortage of high-quality film projects, and Simon does not allow this film company to waste its schedule. Even if "Cutthroat Island" can be revitalized this time with the strong attention of the film company and the creative team, if MGM only takes a distribution commission, it is better to focus on developing one or two mid-budget films of its own.
After the incident was stirred up, Simon's attention quickly shifted to other aspects. His most recent focus is "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" received very good media reviews, because the media invited to watch the premiere were basically on good terms with Daenerys Entertainment. More than a dozen mainstream newspapers and magazines gave "Four Weddings and a Funeral" an astonishing 9.5 overall rating.
Entering February, Valentine's Day is coming soon.
After Daenerys Entertainment conducted a final wave of intensive marketing based on the film's excellent media reputation, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" officially launched in North American theaters on February 11, with an opening of 1,672 screens. In order to maximize To avoid the audience’s misunderstanding that “Four Weddings and a Funeral” is an art film, the film’s distribution was also handled by mainstream Daenerys Films.