On the original timeline, the creative lineup of "Jade Flame", which basically copied the routines of "Instinct", can be described as 'powerful'.
The director of the film is William Friedkin, who has directed "The Exorcist" and "The French Cartel", the screenwriter is Joe Ezzethas, the creator of "Basic Instinct", and the heroine is Linda Fioren Tino, the production cost of the film is also as high as 50 million US dollars.
It's a pity that Joe Ezettehas' two films, "Jade Flame" and "Showgirls", both released in 1995, failed miserably at the box office. This famous screenwriter, who was once sought after by Hollywood, has since fallen into obscurity. To such an extent that he could never turn around again.
There was actually another reason why Simon and Jonathan talked about this script.
William Friedkin was the husband of MGM head Shirley Lansing.
Hollywood is not accustomed to the habit of some people eating one movie for a lifetime. William Friedkin once directed the phenomenal "The Exorcist", which not only became a global box office hit, but also became the first movie in Hollywood history to win the Oscar. to the Oscar-nominated horror film for Best Picture.
Times have changed, but now William Friedkin is completely out of date, and he doesn't even have a chance to keep his old salary. He shoots one movie after another, and most of the time he can only serve as a director of TV series.
Since they are a couple, Shirley Lansing must of course consider her husband and has been trying to recommend Friedkin to direct some projects over the years. Because of the popular trends in recent years, and because he is quite good at it, Lansing also took a fancy to "Jade Flame" this time, hoping that Friedkin can turn around with it.
Simon valued Shirley Lansing, one of the few female executives in Hollywood history, but could not invest in such a high-budget project destined to fail.
MGM, which has just recovered its strength, cannot afford such a torment now.
Since Simon lacked interest in this project, Jonathan stopped mentioning it and instead said: "The review of the Disney acquisition case in Washington should have results by next month at the latest. Vivendi is not satisfied with the current management. They Should I try to recruit people from your side?"
Simon nodded and asked with a smile: "Has Vivendi contacted you too?"
In the past six months, Jeffrey Katzenberg has left, Michael Eisner has resigned due to illness, and Frank Wells is about to retire. The three executives who brought Disney from decline to prosperity in the 1980s have been swept away. Vivendi, who is about to take over Disney, is not satisfied with other current executives of the company. During this time, he has begun to look for the next head of this major movie company.
Daenerys Entertainment, currently the most powerful company in Hollywood, is undoubtedly the top priority target.
However, the traditional concept of preferring to be the head of a chicken is correct. Unfortunately, the current Disney and Daenerys are too different in strength, and they are still a mess. The core of Daenerys Entertainment basically sees the future of Hollywood clearly. industry trends. Staying in Daenerys Entertainment, even if you have to share a big tank with some people, there is no reason to jump into a broken bowl.
As for those sub-level executives who are willing to change jobs, Vivendi also looks down on them.
In addition to Daenerys, some well-known independent producers or agency executives are also more suitable targets.
Michael Ovitz would have been a good choice.
However, this time Michael Ovitz is far from the number one person on the Hollywood power list. Moreover, because Eisner had previously sent an invitation to Ovitz, the two parties had almost reached an agreement, and then Vivendi launched an acquisition of Disney. Eisner, a die-hard opponent of Vivendi's acquisition of Disney, was out, and together with Eisner Ovitz, who had a good personal relationship with Naname, was also implicated, so naturally it was impossible for him to get this position again.
Then, Jonathan, who has a good relationship with Simon, is undoubtedly another suitable target.
Jonathan heard Simon ask and nodded: "Yes, but I have already refused."
Without the emergence of Daenerys Entertainment, Jonathan Friedman would never have dreamed of switching from a talent agency to take charge of a major Hollywood studio.
The brokerage company may seem glamorous, but in the final analysis, it is still a job of serving people. Even if you hold shares in a brokerage company, because talent agency-type companies lack fixed assets, the price of the company itself will not be too high. In comparison, being in charge of a major film company is the real power you have.
This is also the main reason why Michael Ovitz is willing to give up his throne as the "number one person on the Hollywood power list" in the original time and space and jump to serve as the second-in-command of Disney.
But it's different now.
Jonathan can also see that compared to Daenerys Entertainment, which has a market value of more than 100 billion and is still expanding, the other major Hollywood companies will only continue to decline in the future. This decline must be fueled by Daenerys. Jonathan didn't think that his personal relationship with Simon would allow the young man in front of him to be accommodating to the company he was in charge of.
Therefore, if you change jobs and go to Disney, not only will you not get Simon's help, but the previous friendship between the two parties may disappear.
Jonathan often regrets it now.
It was not that he had no chance to join Daenerys Entertainment. If he had done so, he would not only be one of the core executives of Daenerys Entertainment, but he would also become a billionaire with the listing of Daenerys. Even billionaires are not impossible.
In comparison, although he has become the top leader of WMA, after so many years, Jonathan's accumulated wealth has only exceeded 50 million US dollars, a large part of which comes from the investment advice Simon occasionally provides him.
Simon was pleased that Jonathan was able to make this choice.
Disney is Simon's established target.
Although he was very grateful to Jonathan for helping him back then, Simon would not change Daenerys Entertainment's established expansion strategy for him.
The two talked about Daenerys's latest foreign cooperation plan, Paramount and DreamWorks' agreement with each other, and other topics. During this period, some socializing was inevitable. It was not until ten o'clock in the night that Simon left Jonathan's house with Charlize Theron. The reception was held in a nearby mansion in Beverly Hills.
The following weekend, the most eye-catching news in Hollywood came from MGM.
Although there was no official announcement, the news that MGM was about to restart the 007 series and get two cooperation projects from Daenerys spread quickly.
The appeal of James Bond goes without saying.
Moreover, along with the news of the restart of the series, there is also the news that MGM has gained more control over 007. These are quite significant benefits for MGM, which has been silent for a long time.
The other two projects that have reached cooperation with Daenerys are even more exciting.
The "Charlie's Angels" series was adapted from the popular TV series of the 1970s, and the "Bourne" series was adapted from Robert Ludlum's best-selling novels.
In related news, 'series' is undoubtedly the key word.
By analogy, Daenerys's 10 external cooperation projects this time will probably no longer be just 10 movies, but will be series productions like "Mission: Impossible", even if they cannot reach the scale of the DC movie universe. At a high level, the benefits that a series of movies can bring to the studio must far exceed that of a single work.
When there is no definite news, everyone can still wait patiently.
Now, with MGM picking up two projects outright, all of Hollywood is abuzz. Both other studios and major talent agencies have become more proactive in contacting Daenerys Entertainment.
October 10th, a new week.
The release of the 1994 Forbes 400 Richest Americans list instantly attracted everyone's attention.
However, many people immediately lost interest when they saw Simon Westeros’ personal net worth of US$300 billion, which topped the list.
$300 billion.
Isn’t this the number that many media have been hyping up during this period
Moreover, "Forbes" magazine's ambiguity in many aspects of data processing also attracted the attention of interested people. Everyone is smart and can naturally guess what happened.
Due to the rapid decline of the Hearst family in the first half of the year due to the confrontation with the Westeros system, coupled with the Westeros system's efforts to win over several major media groups in the United States, such as the "New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", etc. North American mainstream print media did not raise much objection to the US$300 billion figure. The Internet platform, which was originally relatively open, also failed to make any waves because it was basically the territory of the Westeros system.
However, some media saw the huge gap between the wealth of the first place on the list and the subsequent rich people, and they inevitably questioned whether it was necessary to continue the Forbes list.
Too no suspense.
You know, the number one Simon Westeros personal net worth is as high as 300 billion U.S. dollars, and the second-ranked Damen classmates directly fall to 28 billion U.S. dollars, a difference of more than 10 times. In the entire Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, the total net worth of the 400 richest people is US$638.3 billion, and Simon Westeros personally accounts for almost half.
Is this kind of list really necessary, which makes other rich people on the list feel a strong sense of powerlessness
Simon wanted to reduce the topic of this matter as much as possible, but the tree was still and the wind was still blowing.
There is only one month left before the mid-term election voting, and it is a critical moment in the American political arena. How can Simon, an obvious target, escape
With the release of the list, many politicians who are canvassing for votes have once again picked up the topic related to Simon's personal wealth. Especially those politicians who stand on the opposite side of the Westeros system have spared no effort to publicly express their positions, threatening to It will push Congress to limit the uncontrolled growth of the personal wealth of the super rich, and issues such as targeted 'asset tax' have become hot again.
Simon can make most of the mainstream media in the United States cautious about topics related to the Westeros system, but it is impossible to silence all politicians, nor can it affect the extremely developed and extensive local media platforms in the United States.
However, Simon did not turn a blind eye to this.
After the Forbes list was released, the media public relations and political lobbying teams of the Westeros system had dedicated people to collect the opinions of politicians. Who can be supported and won over, and who should be blacklisted, will be clearly remembered on the list.
What Simon lacks most is patience and time, not to mention financial support. Even if there is nothing that can be done in the short term, it is not difficult for Simon to spend ten or eight years working to drive some politicians who oppose the Westeros system into dust.
For those die-hards, unless they have been saints since childhood, Simon has enough resources to dig the opponent down to the ground. Even if a 'saint' does appear, it is not impossible to be dragged into the water. Even if they themselves do not go into the water, it is impossible for their relatives and friends to insist on not going into the water.
In this world, no one is impeccable.
Along with the release of the Forbes wealth list, Daenerys Entertainment Group also released its first quarterly financial report after going public on the following Wednesday.
From July to September 1994, Daenerys Entertainment Group's revenue reached US$6.708 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39%, and quarterly net profit reached US$771 million, a year-on-year increase of 21%.
Both core numbers beat Wall Street expectations.
Not only that, the financial report also listed the growth highlights of Daenerys Entertainment Group in core film, television, games, music and other businesses. Even though many people witnessed it with their own eyes, they saw many phenomena that appeared around everyone in 1994. The entertainment topics all come from Daenerys Entertainment, which is still shocking.
On the day the financial report was released, Daenerys Entertainment’s share price rose 2.3%. At the close of trading on Wednesday, the market value of this Hollywood entertainment giant was as high as US$127.3 billion.
Daenerys Entertainment Group's closing market value on its first day of listing on July 1 was US$112.8 billion.
For several months, the media and capital, which have always believed that the share price of Daenerys Entertainment Group was in a bubble, continued to be bearish, and even made large short bets. The result is that although it has inevitably experienced shocks in the three months since its listing, the company's stock price has generally maintained a very strong upward trend.
In three months, Daenerys Entertainment’s share price has increased by 12% compared to the initial listing, and its market value has increased from the initial US$112.8 billion to US$127.3 billion. Looking at the numbers purely, from more than 110 billion to more than 120 billion, the increase is It may not seem too big, but in fact, the market capitalization increase of US$14.5 billion in three months alone has exceeded the market capitalization of most companies in the U.S. stock market.
According to Simon’s 81.9% shareholding ratio in Daenerys Entertainment, his personal net worth increased by US$11.8 billion in the past quarter just from the stocks of this company. Daenerys Entertainment Group as a whole has brought Simon Personal wealth of $104.3 billion.
On the other hand, despite the impact of the official launch of antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, Cisco and AOL, two core technology companies in the Westeros system, soon experienced a short-term setback in their stock prices as the Internet wave continued to surge. Once again showing upward momentum.
Two days after Daenerys Entertainment Group released its financial report, Cisco and AOL also released their quarterly financial reports on Friday, October 14th.
Of course this was Simon's deliberate arrangement.
Since financial report disclosure is inevitable after listing, Simon hopes that all relevant topics can be released within a week.
Compared with Daenerys Entertainment, Cisco and AOL's high-growth financial reports are even more eye-catching, causing the stock prices of both companies to increase by more than 3% on Friday. At the close of the day, Cisco's market value reached 87.9 billion. The U.S. dollar has successfully pushed away General Electric, which was still the No. 1 market value player in the U.S. in the first half of the year.
America Online's market value is as high as $71.6 billion.
According to Simon’s shareholding ratios of 46.3% and 65.5% in Cisco and AOL respectively, the two companies contributed another US$40.6 billion and US$46.9 billion to Simon’s personal wealth respectively. Counting the US$105.6 billion contributed by Daenerys after the stock price rose slightly again on Friday, the total value of Simon's shares in these three companies alone reached US$193.1 billion.
Cisco, AOL and Daenerys Entertainment have brought Simon a personal wealth of nearly US$200 billion. The entire Westeros system, Ygritte, Melisandre, Cersei Capital, Verizon Sen, Nokia, Billiton, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, SUN, Tinker Bayer... How much will all these add up to
As a result, more and more people are realizing that the wealth list released by Forbes on Monday is really too watery.