"To be precise, "Game of the Brave" is a visual spectacle film dominated by CG special effects. The success or failure of the project has the greatest relationship with the story and special effects. The main creator is of course important, but it is not the decisive factor, so Schwarzenegger and Stallone serve as There is not much difference in the protagonist. Terry, I did lean towards Arnold at first, but the reason is just because the character in the script fits Arnold's image. Now that the story has been revised, Stallone has become the most suitable one, and the entire project has also Preparations have already begun around Stallone, and it is impossible for me to make a temporary substitution."
Private beach on the west side of Cape Dume Estate.
The time is July 8th, Saturday.
It was already evening when Simon returned to the West Coast yesterday. He had no work plans for the weekend, so Terry Semel came directly to Dume Point Manor for a visit.
The two are discussing two film projects: "Jumanji" and "The Vapor".
This was caused by the disastrous box office failure of Sylvester Stallone's "Judge" in the past box office week. The Disney Company invested a huge US$90 million, and the domestic box office is expected to be only about 25 million, plus the summer opening "Die Hard 3" The box office performance of "Jumanji" was also unsatisfactory, which not only caused Warner Bros. to have doubts about Stallone, who had signed the leading actor of "Jumanji", but also implicated another Warner-owned project "The Vapor Command".
Schwarzenegger's new film "Evaporation", which was originally planned to start production in September and is scheduled to be released next summer, has reached a budget of US$100 million after the budget statistics were released.
If based on last year's global box office results of "True Lies", the budget of US$100 million would still be affordable. However, the failure of two consecutive old-school action blockbusters has caused Hollywood to completely begin to re-examine this kind of personal heroism movie in which muscular men save the world.
Worried about the risks, Warner executives began to hope to cancel "The Vapor Command".
This kind of thing is very common in Hollywood.
However, despite the millions of dollars invested in the early stage, the film contract that has been signed with Schwarzenegger is not so easy to cancel, because it is a common 'pay or play' agreement among Hollywood celebrities. To put it simply, both parties After signing the agreement, because the star has left his schedule to the studio, the studio must pay the star the full salary stipulated in the contract regardless of whether the movie starts shooting.
'Pay or play' agreements also happen to be in response to the situation where film companies often cancel film projects for various reasons.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's contract salary was US$15 million. Warner didn't want the money to be wasted anyway, so it suddenly came up with the idea that Simon could let Arnold replace Stallone in "Game of the Brave" according to the original plan. ”, which kills two birds with one stone, not only allows Warner to successfully cancel “The Vapor Command”, but also can get rid of Stallone, a potential box office poison.
Compared with Arnold and Warner's 'pay or play', the powerful Daenerys will not sign such an agreement with a star. Even if it is a long-term contract with Stallone, if Daenerys wants to go back on her word, she does not need to pay too much compensation. . Of course, some reputation will be lost, and that's not a big deal in Hollywood.
Seeing Simon's refusal, Terry Semel did not give up and said: "Simon, as long as you agree, all the additional expenses can be borne by Warner. I can also let the news out. It is our persistence that allowed You have to change your mind.”
Simon still shook his head: "Don't mention this matter again. It's impossible for me to replace Stallone temporarily. In my opinion, what you should do here is to find ways to compress the budget of "The Evaporation Order"."
Terry Semel smiled bitterly: "If I could, do you think I wouldn't do it?"
"In my opinion, it's very simple. Change the shooting location from the United States to Australia or Canada, or even Europe, so that you can first get a tax refund of tens of millions of dollars. Then, you can have a good talk with Arnold, like Sean Connery's situation where the entire crew was waiting for him to start playing golf while he went to play golf with his friends would happen less often, and millions would be saved. Terry, in fact, this was the case with last year's "True Lies" , if Daenerys Entertainment hadn't sent people to keep an eye on it, the cost of this project would have exceeded 100 million. As a result, "True Lies" only cost 90 million US dollars."
When Terry Semel heard Simon say this, he immediately thought of "Future Water World".
$175 million.
It was also in order to accommodate Kevin Costner's request for a comfortable shooting environment that he agreed to choose Hawaii, a world-famous tourist destination.
As a result, no one expected that the tides in Hawaii would cause such big trouble. Sets worth millions of dollars were destroyed again and again, and the filming cycle was delayed again and again. Warner was in trouble and had to keep throwing money at the project. , the final three-month shooting cycle was dragged out for as long as eight months, the entire project was completed, and the budget reached an unprecedented $175 million.
Now, "Waterworld" is scheduled to be released on July 28, far away from the early summer blockbusters such as "Jurassic Park 2". Warner only hopes that this project will not fail too miserably.
It is precisely because of the lessons learned from "Future Water World" that Warner is like a frightened bird at the moment, and can't help but repeatedly tangle on the two current projects. You know, the "Future Water World" project has dragged down Time Warner's stock price, which has been unable to catch up with the overall trend of the U.S. stock market for more than half a year.
The Dow Jones Index, which represents the trend of the New York Stock Exchange, rose by 26% in one year from July last year to June this year. Compared with the lowest point last summer, Time Warner's stock price rose by only 18% in one year. The U.S. stock market is in a good situation. , the group's market value was only US$18.6 billion.
Without the drag of "Waterworld", Time Warner's market value would have easily exceeded the US$20 billion mark.
The locomotive effect of the film business is too obvious. "Waterworld" is already a basin of water thrown away. Warner cannot afford another similar failure now.
Simon refused to change his mind, so Terry Semel could only follow the other party's suggestion and start with the "Evaporation Order" project itself.
In any case, the budget of 100 million US dollars is definitely out of the question. Only if it is compressed to 70 million US dollars can it be considered to be in line with Warner's expectations. Think about next summer, the new 007, "Mission: Impossible 2", "The Mummy" and a series of film lists, all seem to be more popular than "The Vapor Command", and that's not counting Daenerys's sole proprietorship. project.
Daenerys Entertainment has many projects in preparation during this period, including a new film in the Conjuring cinematic universe, James Cameron's "Titanic", a new film by Jim Carrey, and Jack Cheng's "" from across the ocean. "Rush Hour", these may not be able to catch up, or they are not very similar. In short, I don't know which ones will become the main features.
I wanted to ask directly, but I gave up after thinking about it.
This is already considered a trade secret.
After all, the two companies still have a competitive relationship.
The two of them walked together on the private beach that still had a cool breeze in the summer. After hesitating for a moment, Terry Semel said another thing: "Simon, did you meet Jack Welch last week? "
Simon nodded, still a little confused: "We played golf together on Independence Day. What happened?"
Terry Semel hesitated for a moment before finally saying: "I heard the news, probably that Welch invited Levin to have dinner with him last night."
Jack Welch, Gerald Levine.
General Electric, Time Warner.
Simon's heart skipped a beat.
This big butterfly seems to have unintentionally brought about another seemingly incredible event.
If GE acquires Time Warner, not to mention GE's other businesses, but NBC and Time Warner, it will definitely be a very compatible combination of powerful forces. If synergies can be successfully realized in the future, GE will not give up its existing industrial business. At the same time, it can also become one of the largest media giants in the world, even if it competes with Daenerys, it is not impossible.
At that time, the two powers will truly stand side by side.
If things come true, Simon will have to admire Welch's sophisticated vision. Being dragged down by a "Future Water World" project, Time Warner itself has gradually got rid of the haze of the merger a few years ago. The stock price of Time Warner is seriously undervalued, if nothing else. , it’s just that HBO, a subsidiary of Time Warner, is now spun off separately, and Simon is willing to pay $20 billion to buy it.
What's more, Warner Bros. Pictures' film business, due to the strong rise of the DC movie universe, has actually been Time Warner's cash cow in recent years.
Messy.
Total chaos.
Realizing that Terry Semel was still waiting for his answer, Simon thought for a moment and finally said: "Terry, I don't know about this. However, from the perspective of a friend, my personal suggestion is that if this If something is real and there is hope for a result, then you'd better be more proactive in participating so that you can gain more initiative in the future."
As co-CEO of Time Warner Group alongside Robert Daley, Terry Semel is now basically one person behind Chairman Gerald Levine. Simon had always hoped that Semel could go one step further and one day replace Levy as chairman of Time Warner and take complete control of the company.
Plans can never keep up with changes.
If GE launches an acquisition of Time Warner, Semel will have to overcome more hurdles than parent company GE in the future.
On the other hand, Jack Welch is a professional manager who knows how to delegate authority. Otherwise, the huge General Electric would not be able to remain orderly at its current scale.
Therefore, if Semel still wants to run Time Warner, he must actively participate in the possible acquisition in order to establish a good relationship with General Electric in advance and gain more say in the new company in the future. .
After some hesitation, Terry Semel told Simon about this, hoping to get some advice.
Hearing what Simon said, he quickly reacted.
If something really happens, active participation is definitely much better than resolute resistance.
With Time Warner's current depressed stock price, it is very likely that the major shareholders and board of directors will accept the acquisition by General Electric.
The two chatted for a while and sent Terry Semel away. Simon returned to Shell Villa while considering the information Semel left.
No one in the family went out this morning. The woman and the children were playing in the outdoor swimming pool of the villa facing the sea.
Simon walked through the lobby of the villa and came to the side door leading to the outdoor swimming pool. He met two girls in swimsuits, both of whom were baby-faced. One was Zoe Parks, and the other was Tracy Gauff. .
Janet was not indifferent to the gossip surrounding Simon these days.
The response was to summon Tracy Gauff, who happened to be doing physical training for "Jumanji" in Los Angeles, to the Point Dume Manor this weekend to work as a maid.
Simon feels that in the future, it is better to recommend less books such as "Dream of Red Mansions" to women.
Feudal dross.
Nancy Gough, who has obviously been trained well by Janet, does not have any grievance or dissatisfaction on her face, but can fit into the character very well.
This also impressed Simon.
Janet can even train a pampered and arrogant lady to become a servant girl, let alone Qu Si Gauff, a beautiful vase that is too low in rank.
In fact, Janet was responsible for the training and placement of many of the women around Simon, whether it was the batch of little vases who were still in the training stage, the girls raised in Ukraine, or even the already very large Wei family. Waitresses and Wei family female guard team.
Simon had no intention of paying attention to this.
Over the years, under Janet's care, there has never been a special situation that made Simon upset.
When Zoe and Qusi saw Simon coming, they greeted the male host politely. When Simon asked about it, they said that the hostess suddenly wanted to drink coconut juice and they were going to prepare it.
After letting the two girls leave, Simon walked to the pool terrace. If it weren't for the two little guys Melbourne and Nick who were flopping under the careful care of the female assistant and maid in the pool, the situation here could be said to be very erotic. The two Jennys and the maids all wore various swimsuits. Except for Janet's sexy bikini, even the swimsuits worn by Jennifer and the maids were conservative styles similar to women's sportswear. Unfortunately, the girls were really good at it. Great.
What did you say
A beautiful woman can still look HF even if she wears a torn sack.
This is absolutely true.
He came to Janet's side, leaned down and kissed the woman, and then asked: "Where is Syl?"
Janet, who was holding a folder and flipping through it casually, put the information next to her and said with a smile, "Isa is carrying it in there."
Thinking that his daughter was obviously not interested in sunbathing and learning to swim, he didn't ask any more questions. He squeezed into a recliner with Janet and glanced at the file the woman had just looked through. The title was a string of abbreviations, ITER, which he had already read. I passed it and didn’t pick it up again.
ITER, the full name is 'International Thermonuclear Fusion Experimental Reactor'.
Some of the things Simon started in Ukraine in April have been quietly advancing during this time.
Among them 'SpaceX' company has been established.
Compared with Musk's company, this time SpaceX will cover a wide range of fields as Simon described with Celia and Girl A in Ukraine, including launch vehicles, space shuttles, controllable nuclear fusion, space reactors, etc. etc.
Moreover, SpaceX is only part of the Simon Plan.
The professional consulting and headhunting team of the Westeros system is also looking for candidates from all over the world, and plans to establish a series of high-end life science research laboratories based on major famous universities in the United States. The main research direction is to decipher the mysteries of human life.
The pursuit of immortality is too illusory.
Simon is very realistic.
With his knowledge of biology, he could probably understand that if he wanted to achieve immortality, his chances would be slim, at least within a hundred years.
Because from a genetic perspective, human beings are already equivalent to a finalized product from birth.
Just like a building.
Different materials and different building structures must exist for different periods of time. Wooden buildings can be preserved for 20 years, while reinforced concrete may have a lifespan of 100 years.
The human body, an already formed 'building', has also determined a lifespan limit due to its material structure. Even if it is carefully maintained to the greatest extent, all that can be achieved is to extend the lifespan as much as possible within the limit. In the end, it is impossible to break through. established limits.
If you want to change it, you may need to genetically construct it from the time when you are still a single cell, which is probably to replace the "wooden material" with "reinforced concrete", and so on. As for the 'house' that has been built, it can only be repaired, or at most renovated and reinforced. After all, the basic material structure cannot be changed too much.
As for ITER, after the establishment of SpaceX, some people in Washington who heard the news took the initiative to send a piece of information.
Basically, I hope Simon can be taken advantage of for once.
ITER is actually a global plan. Just the name 'International Thermonuclear Fusion Experimental Reactor' can probably determine the content of the plan.
In order to solve the energy problem that hinders human development, in 1985, during the meeting between then US President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, they jointly finalized a plan to build a large-scale Tokamak fusion reactor for the study of controllable nuclear fusion. Experimental plan, after years of planning, the construction plan was initially completed in 1990.
Subsequently, in just a few years, the world situation changed drastically. The Soviet Union collapsed, the Gulf War broke out, and the economies of many countries around the world fell into turmoil and downturn. The ITER plan was also shelved.
The main reason is that it costs too much money.
US$5 billion may not seem like a lot, but it is actually just building an extra-large tokamak device.
The Tokamak controllable nuclear fusion program proposed by Soviet scientists in the 1950s and initially confirmed under experimental conditions has always been controversial in the scientific community. Many scientists believe that the Tokamak device will eventually prove to be a dead end and is not worth continuing. Invest.
Therefore, the huge investment of 5 billion US dollars, and finally completed, the result is likely to be just a waste.
Coupled with various other reasons, the plan was shelved.
When someone discovered that Simon was interested in these things, he quickly sent the information over. If the super rich man in Westeros was willing to pay, then all the problems would be non-problems. 5 billion US dollars would be a problem for Simon West now. For Luo Lai, it's really not a lot of money.