The pressure from the media and politics during this period did not have much impact on the already behemoth Daenerys Entertainment.
In late March, Daenerys Entertainment's employee stock subscription plan for the early IPO period has come to an end, and all subscription quotas have been cashed. The company's film, television, cinema, peripherals, games and other businesses still maintained very strong growth in the past first quarter.
Among them, the most important film business is that as of last Friday, March 18, Daenerys Entertainment's three labels had released a total of 9 movies in the 11 box office weeks of 1994.
"Four Weddings and a Funeral," which opened on Valentine's Day, has grossed $5.15 million at the box office over the past three days. This alternative romantic comedy has a cumulative box office of $80.76 million in its five and a half weeks of release.
It is expected that in the box office week spanning the Oscars from March 18 to March 24, the seven-day total box office of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" will be around US$7 million. With the arrival of the Easter schedule, the film will pass the follow-up There is no doubt that it will break through the box office mark of 100 million yuan, so it will become the first North American movie in 1994 to break the 100 million box office mark.
On the other hand, as of last Thursday, March 17, the total North American box office for the 10 box office weeks in 1994 was US$670 million. Of the total box office of 670 million U.S. dollars in 10 weeks, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" alone took in 75.61 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 11.1%.
A series of films that started last year and extended their screening cycle to 1994, including "The Lion King", "Schindler's List" and "In the Name of the Father", each had a box office of 10 in the first 10 box office weeks of 1994. 43.56 million US dollars, 55.39 million US dollars and 18.79 million US dollars, and some other projects also contributed 22.19 million US dollars. This part has accumulated to 129 million US dollars, accounting for 19.2% of the box office in 10 weeks.
In addition to last Friday's "Sex Club" starring Mia Kirschner and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" on Valentine's Day, the other seven films, which are not too blockbuster, have a cumulative box office of 51.76 million US dollars. , accounting for 7.6%.
There are many highlights among the seven films.
New World Pictures bought the rights to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series and filmed "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with a budget of US$5 million. After its release on January 14, the cumulative revenue reached US$23.79 million.
"Basketball Dreams", a basketball-themed documentary released by Gomen Films on January 21, only made a box office of $7.83 million with a production budget of only $700,000. It is another example in Gomen Films' increasingly good documentary-themed release resume. A success.
Kevin Smith's "Clerk", which made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival, was purchased by Gomen Pictures and released on February 4. The production cost was US$27,000 and it earned US$5.16 million in six weeks in theaters. The same is true of using small things to make big things happen.
Ron Howard, who has been a staunch collaborator with Universal Pictures, is re-collaborating with Daenerys Entertainment after filming "Earth" with Columbia Pictures and Tom Cruise.
In addition to the recently signed high-budget blockbuster film "Apollo 13," Howard also cooperated with New World Pictures last year to complete a low-cost satirical comedy "Media Vanguard" with a budget of only US$6 million. In March It was released on the 11th and grossed US$7.05 million in its first week.
The New World Pictures team responsible for the distribution of "Media Vanguard" increased the number of screening screens from 1,017 to 1,531 last Friday. The total North American box office is expected to be between 30 million and 40 million US dollars, which is considered a small dark horse.
Simon casually approved the project last year, not expecting the film to do so well at the box office, which solidified his idea of firmly retaining Ron Howard under Daenerys Entertainment.
There are successes and of course there are failures.
The new film "Trauma" by "Suspiria" director Dario Argento, invested by High Gate Films, was completed last year. Due to poor performance, it was dropped to the unpopular January 28th schedule. The film was released in theaters After only two weeks, the project was hastily canceled due to poor reputation and no one interested in it. The total box office was only 930,000 US dollars, and the investment of 5 million US dollars was basically wasted.
Last year, after Simon signed several producers from the well-known British film industry's "Tentative Pictures", he personally selected three projects: "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Bloody Romeo" and "Love in Love". "Inside My Heart" has been basically completed, and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" has achieved unexpected success.
However, "Love in My Heart" scheduled to be released on March 4 has become a bigger flop than "Trauma", with a production budget of 20 million US dollars, an opening scale of 523 screens, and a box office of only 0.7% in the first seven days of the week. 1.19 million U.S. dollars, the museum’s average barely exceeded 2,300 U.S. dollars, and the revenue of 1.81 million U.S. dollars in two weeks was completely reduced.
As a project decided by Simon himself, the failure of this film has also become the focus of heated discussions in many media, believing that Simon Westeros has lost his magic power.
In fact, this completely unfamiliar project in my memory was basically Simon’s intention.
Even though the script was revised after the project was finalized, it still failed to escape the fate of a box office failure. However, Simon was happy to see the success.
Regardless, Daenerys Entertainment really needs some money-losing projects to prove that Simon isn't all-powerful. Not willing to pretend to be a blockbuster with a budget of more than 50 million US dollars, a mid-range project with a budget of 20 million US dollars is just right.
Finally, there is a B-level sci-fi thriller "Puppet Life" produced by New World Pictures. It tells the story of aliens invading the earth and parasitic human bodies. It has a production budget of US$5 million and will be released on February 4 at the same time as "Crazy Clerk". , the cumulative box office before the release was 5.19 million US dollars. The film temporarily suffered a loss at the North American box office, and could easily recover the money through overseas distribution and video sales, so it was considered a tepid success.
Taken together, the flagship "Four Weddings and a Funeral", a series of old films from last year, and eight new films as of March 17, accounted for 37.9% of the total box office share of US$670 million in the first 10 weeks. Hollywood All other studios can only share the remaining 62.1%.
This does not include cooperation projects such as "Mission: Impossible" and MGM, one of the seven major Hollywood companies that Simon also holds actual control of.
From childhood to adulthood.
It can be said that Daenerys Entertainment’s situation of dominating Hollywood with one enemy against many has been completely stabilized.
Simon was handling various recent affairs of Daenerys Entertainment in the studio office, and the Oscar results from the Dorothy Chandler Theater in downtown Los Angeles continued to arrive.
Spielberg's "Schindler's List" has been gaining momentum, winning many pre-technical awards including Best Score, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction. The phenomenal animated film "The Lion King" also successfully won the top prize. Two statuettes for Best Soundtrack and Best Original Song.
Around eight o'clock, Simon's personal cell phone rang.
Kathryn Bigelow called.
Katherine had just had dinner with some friends in Santa Monica and tried to contact Janet to no avail, so she called Simon.
Having known each other for many years, both as friends and as intimates, the relationship between the Simons and Catherine has always remained the same. The woman has lived in New York for the past two years. Most of the time Simon and Janet go to the East Coast to get together with Catherine. Especially Janet, the few photos that have appeared in the media are when she and Catherine were shopping and eating in Manhattan and being followed by the paparazzi. shoot.
Simon deliberately pretended to be pitiful on the phone and said that he was still working overtime. Janet went to Australia and was alone, lonely, cold, and pitiful.
You could feel Catherine rolling her eyes helplessly on the other side of the phone, but she still asked with concern if she wanted to bring Simon a dinner.
of course yes.
Catherine arrived about twenty minutes later, and as expected, she carried a small takeout box containing food when she entered.
Simon, who was buried in a pile of documents, looked up from behind his desk. The woman had habitually long hair shawl, and a delicate face that did not show the stain of time. She was wearing a light gray high-collar women's windbreaker, with a length of washed jeans exposed at the hem of the windbreaker, and her feet. She wears leather boots, and with her tall and slender figure, she looks like a royal lady.
Seeing the little man looking at her unabashedly as always, Catherine glared at him with some annoyance and asked, "Why are you still working so late?"
Simon closed a document in front of him and put it next to him, laughing at himself: "You can get richer only by working hard."
Thinking of all the news about him in the media recently, Catherine didn't know what to say for a moment, so she had to hand over the takeaway in her hand: "Salt and pepper shrimp, the restaurant where we just ate made very good ones, I'll give them to you as a snack."
Simon stopped talking nonsense and said he hadn't eaten dinner yet. He stood up and took the box, walked out from behind the desk and walked to the reception area to sit down. While opening the carton, he asked: "Who are you having dinner with?"
Catherine sat on the sofa next to Simon, her back straight as usual and her posture pleasing to the eye. She looked at Simon eating with soft eyes and said, "Rockwell and the others."
Simon nodded.
I understand that they are all filmmakers in the New York circle. Alexander Rockwell, Allison Anders, Whit Stillman, etc. are sitting in the Chandler Theater looking forward to the best foreign language film "The Wedding Banquet" Ang Lee, who won the film award, is also a member of the New York gang.
Li is a sure winner for the Best Foreign Language Film award this time, and, counting the time, the award results have probably been announced by now. Since Catherine was here, Simon didn't call Girl A outside to ask.
Catherine did not continue this topic, but said: "Last week, Jenny said that we would have dinner together when I came over. Why did she suddenly go to Australia?"
Simon said: "I feel homesick. Let's go back and have a look."
Catherine looked at Simon suspiciously and asked cautiously: "Is there a conflict?"
She had taken a look at the recent affairs of men, especially the group of goblins in London. They were really the most top-notch beauties.
Think about his nature.
That's ridiculous.
If it were him, he would definitely be very angry.
Simon smiled and shook his head: "There is really no such thing, so don't expect Jenny to give you a chance to sneak in."
Catherine looked around and saw that there was nothing she could throw around, so she could only raise her leg and kick him lightly.
Simon stood next to him without hiding and changed the subject: "How is the script preparation for "Detroit" going?"
After relying on Simon's recommendation for "Thelma and Louise" to get an Oscar nomination for Best Director, Catherine has not made another film in the past two years. When she occasionally helps a friend as a producer, she is researching some reflections in modern American history. Famous historical events, from the Detroit riots in 1967 to the Iran-Contra in 1979 to the Los Angeles riots in 1992, etc. Last year, the woman also focused on the Black Hawk Down incident of the US military in Somalia.
Catherine is very much a leftist anarchist.
However, although Catherine's camera images are often full of violence, her views are not extreme.
This is probably related to her growth experience. As an only daughter from a wealthy middle-class family, she has not encountered many setbacks and social injustices since she was a child. Therefore, Catherine's early works as a film inevitably have a bit of "sorrow for new words" Pretending to be sharp.
It wasn't until "The Hurt Locker" many years later that Catherine's personal style truly matured.
Among several topics, the one Catherine wanted to photograph most was the Los Angeles riots.
It was only Simon who dissuaded him on the grounds that the time was too recent to objectively judge the incident from the perspective of a bystander. As for Iran-Contra and Shadow Fall, it is very likely that such films would have to be filmed abroad, which is too dangerous, and at this stage, they are too much. Sensitive, he finally chose "Detroit" which Simon remembered that Catherine had filmed.
When Catherine asked Simon about this, she said, "I've already started looking for actors."
Simon had just picked up a salt and pepper shrimp from the take-out box and said, "So it's written. When will you show it to me?"
Catherine shook her head directly: "I won't show it to you."
"Well, I'm an investor."
Catherine looked at the deflated appearance of the little man, with a smile on her lips, and explained: "After seeing you, I have to make a lot of comments."
Simon vowed: "I promise not to raise any objections this time."
Catherine persisted, repeating, "I won't show you."
“…”
Simon also understands that Catherine has always felt guilty about her previous Oscar nomination for Best Director for "Thelma and Louise". She deliberately stopped herself in the past two years, just to accumulate more and gain recognition as much as possible with her own strength. .
The main reason why she refused to let Simon read the script was because she didn’t want him to help her anymore.
Catherine is a very strong woman at heart, but the more powerful a woman is, the more likely she is to be defeated by a man who is more powerful than her.
Just like Simon.
As far as movies are concerned, Simon, who has inherited the lifelong talent and experience of more than a dozen filmmakers, is really far away from most Hollywood filmmakers. In this regard, Catherine can only be considered to have just stepped into the threshold. If Simon is asked to help her read the script, Simon will naturally put forward his opinions after discovering the problems. The key opinions must be correct. It’s okay if he doesn’t hear them. Once he hears them, Catherine, who is strong but not stubborn, finds it difficult not to do so. Take his advice.
Thinking about this, Catherine suddenly asked: "Are you not planning to make any more movies in the future?"
Simon told the truth: "I don't know either."
At this stage, there are no projects that would make Simon interested in directing himself. Moreover, given his status in Hollywood at this time, it would be better to be in control behind the scenes. If he continues to direct films on the stage, it will inevitably become a waste of more gain than gain. Big toss.
Feeling Simon's hard-to-define emotional answer, Catherine sighed a little in her heart.
Life is like a boat on a river.
The scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait may be better or worse, but after all, it will never remain the same, nor will it ever be the same as when we first saw it.
Simon didn't feel sad at all. In fact, even if the assassination was successful a few days ago, he really had no regrets over the years.
Throwing the empty takeout box into the trash can, Simon got up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came back, he said to Catherine: "The award ceremony is almost over. Come with me to Melisandre's party. It will be very lively there." .”
Catherine didn't really want to go: "There's no one to talk to."
"Why don't you call Rockwell and the others? Besides, why is there no one? Don't you know Li very well? He may have won the Best Foreign Language Film Award now. I have to congratulate him."
Simon said, already walking to Catherine, reaching out to pull the woman up.
Catherine opened Simon's hand, but had no choice but to stand up, and said: "We have already made an appointment. If Li wins the prize, we will get together tomorrow night."
"Oh, I'm free tomorrow night too, let's go together."
Catherine followed Simon to the door and said, "Don't go."
Simon smiled and said: "Are you worried that the affairs between us will be exposed and they will gossip?"
Catherine didn't answer and planned not to talk to the little man next to her for a minute.
There is no need to gossip.
Because of him, no man even dared to pursue her in the past few years.