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There is not much free time at noon. Simon didn't have the mind to argue with Joe Ross. He put down the tableware and looked up: "Joe, I'm not interested in "Marked for Death". If you like it, you can focus on this project yourself. Sleep with the Enemy."

Joe Ross smiled awkwardly, stopped talking nonsense, and said, "So, Simon, what should we do next?"

Simon simply said: "I have had people evaluate it according to my vision. The budget for this project is about 1500 million US dollars. Now start the preparations. If everything goes well, it will start in October and will be released in the summer next year. You can start looking for the right one this afternoon. director and producer, and I also put people in touch with actors."

Joe Rose thought for a while, and said, "This is a movie where the heroine is supported, Simon, who do you plan to let be the heroine?"

"I saw a test screening review in The Hollywood Reporter. You have a new movie coming out in October called The Baker Brothers?"

Joe Roth knew well about Fox's films, and blurted out, "Michelle Pfeiffer?"

"The Baker Brothers" is a music and musical film co-starred by the two Bridges brothers and Michelle Pfeiffer. The movie, the story is indeed very literary, ambiguous and memorable, and even has a feeling of old Hong Kong movies like "In the Mood for Love".

Simon nodded and said: "Michelle's acting skills have become more and more proficient in recent years, and she will definitely be able to support this movie. In addition, if possible, someone can send me a copy, I want to see it in advance Her performance in this movie. The critics said Michelle's performance this time was good enough to get an Oscar nomination, and if that is the case, it will help our movie even more."

"Pretty Woman" is in the middle of filming. Although it can be finished before October, Simon has no intention of letting Julia continue to star in "Sleeping with the Enemy". Poor wife, the image contrast is a bit big, Simon is not sure whether the audience can accept it.

Michelle Pfeiffer has just turned 30 this year, and her acting skills have also begun to enter the peak period. If she can get an Oscar nomination for "The Baker Brothers" next year, her reputation will rise to a higher level, and she will star in "Sleeping with the Enemy" Just right.

If other people asked for a copy, Joe Ross would at least be able to handle it, if not refuse it.However, he readily agreed at this time: "I'll have someone send the copy to Daenerys Entertainment headquarters in the afternoon."

Simon nodded with satisfaction, and said: "One more thing, about James Cameron, I heard that he has completed the script of "Terminator 2", and Fox can buy the copyright of "Terminator" to shoot this movie. movie, which could serve as the second project between Daenerys Entertainment and Fox."

Joe Rose's expression turned bitter when he heard the words, and he said, "Simon, because of the "Abyss", even if I am willing to continue working with James, the company's board of directors will not approve it."

"As I just said, this can be regarded as the second project between Daenerys Entertainment and Fox," Simon said, and added: "In addition, you only need to win the copyright of "Terminator" and Cameron's hands." script, we don’t necessarily have to ask him to be the director.”

Joe Rose understood immediately, but was a little puzzled.

If Simon is optimistic about this project, why doesn't Daenerys Entertainment take it down personally.

Simon saw Joe Rose's doubts, and explained with a smile: "I have had people contact the copyright owner of "Terminator" before, but it was unsuccessful. If I come to the door now, I will definitely be knocked hard."

"Terminator 2" was the North American annual box office champion in 1991 in the original time and space, with a global box office of more than 5 million U.S. dollars. Simon naturally thought of monopolizing this project.

However, since the 10-film plan is proposed, if there is no big hit movie from the beginning to the end, other Hollywood studios will definitely not be so enthusiastic in the future.

After all, the reason why Hollywood is boiling over these 10 projects this time is mainly to expect surprises like "The Sixth Sense".Otherwise, including the 10% distribution commission for each channel, other studios' interest in these projects is probably only 60%.

Calculated in this way, a movie with a North American box office of 1 million US dollars is actually only equivalent to 6000 million US dollars.

Of course, the North American box office of 6000 million US dollars is definitely not low in this era.

Not counting last year's box office explosion, one or two years before that, the North American box office of 6000 million US dollars is enough to squeeze into the top ten of the annual list.Even in the next few years, there will only be about 6000 films in Hollywood with an annual domestic box office of more than 20 million U.S. dollars. Even if all of them fall to the seven major studios, the average number of films will be less than 3 each.

What's more, Simon didn't plan to choose all projects with a level of [-] million yuan this time, which requires a few blockbuster movies to support the performance of this plan.

Letting "Terminator 2" is mainly because the "cost performance" of this project is relatively low.

The original "Terminator 2" was the first film in Hollywood with a production cost of more than 1 million US dollars. Now, even if according to Simon's plan, Cameron is kicked out and the director is replaced, the producer is no longer known as a spendthrift in the circle Carlock Films, the budget of the film will definitely not be much lower, and it is just right to take it out.

After talking about things, lunch is over soon.

As soon as Simon and Joe Ross walked out of the restaurant, some reporters who heard the news surrounded them.

"Mr. Westeros, are you discussing a film collaboration with Joe Ross?"

"Joe, can you tell me what the subject matter is?"

"Simon, are you really psychic?"

"..."

"..."

The North American box office of "The Sixth Sense" is about to break through the $[-] million mark, which can be said to be overwhelming.

Due to the widespread attention from all walks of life, Daenerys Entertainment's 10 foreign cooperation film plans have become the focus of recent media pursuits.Daenerys Entertainment has not made any real action within two weeks after the plan was made public, which aroused intense curiosity from the media and the public.

Amidst the chatter, Simon's bodyguard quickly came over to fend off the reporter, and protected him into a car on the side of the road.

Although Joe Rose enjoyed the feeling of being chased by reporters, he didn't rush to reveal anything. He just asked the reporters around to pay attention to Fox's specific announcement, and then hurried back to Fox Studios in the car.

Santa Monica.

Just as Simon returned to the office of Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters, Jennifer followed him in.

""Forbes" magazine will release the new annual Forbes 400 rich list in the United States next month. They contacted here in the morning to see if we can provide some materials. If possible, they also hope that you can accept an exclusive interview."

Simon shook his head without hesitation, and said, "We will neither cooperate nor obstruct this matter, let them figure it out themselves."

Jennifer hummed, opened the folder in her hand, took out a check and handed it over, saying, "This, it's not good to just put it on the bedside table in the bedroom."

Simon took it and took a look. It turned out to be the check he signed to Linda Carter on Monday.

Presumably Jennifer discovered it when she was doing routine cleaning of the villa in the morning.

Simon hasn't been to Palisades since last Sunday. He thought the woman would take the check away, but she didn't expect the woman to stay.

Pretending to be unintentionally put aside.

"Uncle Buck" was released today. John Hughes came to Los Angeles from Chicago to promote the film in recent days. Simon made an appointment at one o'clock in the afternoon to discuss the second movie in the contract. Of course, Simon's real purpose was to confirm The "Home Alone" thing.

The time will come soon.

Look opposite.

The female assistant was still standing there with her head lowered, as if she was seriously reading the document in her hand, showing no intention of leaving.

After a small confrontation for a while, Simon had no choice but to take the initiative to explain: "Well, I am a very suspicious boss. Of course, I have to test whether the cleaners will steal things. Well, the result is not bad."

Jennifer glanced over slightly, with a half-smile at the corner of her mouth, like a curious baby who wanted to continue 'listening to the story'.

Simon had no choice but to sullenly put on the boss's airs and said, "John is coming over soon, go make a pot of coffee first, and wait for me to deduct your wages!"

Jennifer gave Simon a harmless look, and when she turned around, she didn't forget to repeat a habitual little threat: "I'll tell Jenny."

Chapter 285 Three Press Conferences (Revised)

"Simon, since you don't feel the story just now, how about this one: Danny is a majestic policeman outside, but he is like a mouse that has seen a cat in front of his harsh and violent mother. One day during the duty , Danny met his favorite girl Theresa, and the two fell in love quickly. However, Danny was very worried that his mother would be dissatisfied with Theresa, and everything with his girlfriend seemed cautious and sneaky, so there was a quarrel A string of jokes."

Inside the office.

John Hughes showed Simon several story ideas in a row, but Simon never expressed his opinion.

After John Hughes finished introducing another story, the two discussed a few words, Simon pretended to be unintentional and said: "John, I think "Uncle Buck" should perform well at the box office, so you thought about making a more pure movie. Some children's movies?"

John Hughes shook his head as if thinking of some terrible scene, "Simon, children's films have always been a taboo in Hollywood. I realized this very deeply during the filming of "Uncle Buck". Those little guys It’s so hard on me that sometimes I want to change players. So, I really don’t want to go through it again.”

"Uncle Buck" tells the story of the Russell couple who had to temporarily hand over their three children to their bachelor brother Buck Russell because of some family changes.

According to the original agreement, John Hughes was solely responsible for "Uncle Buck". Simon didn't pay too much attention to the production process, and he didn't expect such entanglements.

We all know that children and animals are two of the most difficult elements to deal with in Hollywood movies.

Simon heard John Hughes say this, and he roughly understood why he failed to generate the idea of ​​"Home Alone".

In the original time and space, John Hughes should be very happy to cooperate with the three young actors in "Uncle Buck", especially Macaulay Culkin left a deep impression on him, and this is the reason for the subsequent "Home Alone" born.However, in the new version of "Uncle Buck", the three young actors are no longer the original actors, and they caused John Hughes a lot of trouble during the filming process.

In a bad mood, it is naturally difficult for the filmmaker to conceive of another children's film.

After confirming that "Home Alone" was completely 'slapped', Simon stopped playing around and said, "Actually, I came up with an idea after watching the samples of "Uncle Buck", John, I think this project is very suitable for your style, Also, a few of the ideas you just introduced gave me some other ideas, like the story about a young man and woman who meet two burglars during a vigil at a convenience store. So, how about doing another children’s film? If you If you don’t want to be the director, you can let someone else take the responsibility. The salary plan you get in this project can refer to “Uncle Buck.” However, this time Daenerys Entertainment also needs to participate in the decision-making of the project, especially the casting of actors. "

In the "Uncle Buck" contract negotiated by the two parties, John Hughes received a salary plan of 500 million US dollars basic salary plus 10% North American box office share in the triple capacity of screenwriter, director and producer.

John Hughes was a very shrewd man.

The idea that Simon Westeros was inspired by his film, that was Simon Westeros idea.Looking at the box office results of Simon Westeros' films in the past few years, only the recent "The Sixth Sense" has a North American box office of 3 million U.S. dollars.

What's more, you can also refer to the base salary of "Uncle Buck" of 500 million US dollars plus 10% of the North American box office share. John Hughes is not one of those directors with a strong personality who only makes movies he likes. Can't think of any reason for rejection.

"So, Simon, can you describe your idea in more detail?"

Seeing that John Hughes agreed without any hesitation, Simon also began to explain the general plot of "Home Alone".

As for re-handling the project to John Hughes, and maintaining the North American box office sharing plan of a base salary of 500 million US dollars plus 10%, Simon has no regrets.

John Hughes as the chief creator can ensure the 'authentic flavor' of the new version of "Home Alone".Moreover, if the new version of "Home Alone" can achieve the stunning box office results of more than 2.8 million US dollars in North America alone in the original time and space, John Hughes is also fully qualified to take a salary of 3000 million US dollars.

Speaking of which, this decision was also influenced by Simon's recent change of concept.

The truth is actually similar to the recent 10 foreign cooperation film project.If you blindly pursue maximizing profits, all the proceeds will fall into the pockets of Daenerys Entertainment, and Hollywood filmmakers will not have much motivation to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment.

The two discussed for about an hour, and the meeting ended.

John Hughes then decided to stay in Los Angeles for another week, in order to keep in touch with Simon at any time, and first write out the outline of the story of "Home Alone".

After the weekend, after some detailed discussions, Daenerys Entertainment and Fox Films jointly held a press conference and announced the establishment of the first of the 10 film plans, "Sleeping with the Enemy".

"Sleeping with the Enemy" is an original novel of the same name written by a female writer named Nancy Price in 1987. After the novel was released, the fame and sales volume were not great. The script department of Fox Films sold 15 After the low price of the US dollar won the right to adapt, it has been shelved.

After the announcement of this project, the original novel of "Sleeping with the Enemy", which was originally unknown, immediately attracted a lot of media attention.

Then, on Wednesday, August 8.

Daenerys Entertainment and Disney jointly held another press conference, announcing the approval of the second project in the 10-film plan. The name of the new project is "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". This is a very classic plot in Simon's memory. A thriller about a housewife who poses as a nanny after her husband commits suicide and has a miscarriage to take revenge on the family that caused the tragedy in her family.

Similar to Sleeping with the Enemy, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is also less well-known, and it is also written by a female screenwriter named Amanda Silver.

The difference is that "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" does not have an original novel, but an original script.

Coupled with the confidentiality measures deliberately taken by Daenerys Entertainment and Disney, the media can only roughly guess the story content of "The Hand That Rocked the Cradle" based on some scattered information.

The reason why the two scripts are not well-known is actually not accidental.

Those copyrights that are well-known and highly favored by various film companies are generally not used to share with Daenerys Entertainment, just like Simon will not jointly invest with other studios in "Home Alone" that has been quietly established Same.Most of the projects that can be sent to Simon are not well-known or whose prospects are uncertain.

The following Friday, August 8.

Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures held the third press conference to announce the third film in the 10-film plan. This is another "blockbuster" expected by Simon, called "The Fugitive" .

The story is adapted from a TV series owned by Warner Bros. It tells the story of a surgeon whose wife was killed and who was framed and then tried to clear up his grievances.

In the original time and space, "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford has a global box office of more than 3.6 million US dollars.However, compared to the next year's schedule of the first two projects, Simon also explained to Warner from the beginning that the filming of this project will be postponed until next year, and the schedule will be scheduled for the summer of 1991 at the earliest.

Because, according to Simon's plan, the 1990 schedule is too crowded.

Confirmed "Home Alone", the box office blockbuster in Simon's memory in 1990, Daenerys Entertainment accounted for five, namely "Pretty Woman", "Ghost Love", "Dances with Wolves", Home Alone and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

According to Daenerys Entertainment's established plan, "Pretty Woman" will be released during Valentine's Day in February next year. " and "Home Alone" are scheduled for the end of next year.

If "The Fugitive" starts production now, because it's a big-budget movie, unlike "Sleeping with the Enemy," which can be prepared and shot quickly, and the schedule is scheduled for the end of next year, it will be the same as "Dances with Wolves" ", "Home Alone" two films with a box office potential of 2 million hit each other.

The North American box office of "The Fugitive" in my memory exceeded 1.8 million US dollars, which can be regarded as reaching the 2 million level.If three box office blockbusters are crowded at the end of the year at the same time, the result will only be a loss for all three. Simon confirmed that the year-end schedule of this era cannot accommodate three films with a local box office of 2 million.

What's more, the corresponding schedule is definitely not limited to these three movies, so the competition will only become more intense.

Warner understands Simon's decision, but still hopes to announce the news immediately, because this will be good news for Warner and can boost the stock price.

After Paramount suddenly disrupted the share-swap M&A agreement between Time Company and Warner Bros. in June, all the plans that were originally reached have now been cancelled.After being able to win Paramount's lawsuit to block the merger of Time and Warner, the two parties need to renegotiate the merger plan.

Time Inc. has also proposed a brand-new cash-and-stock [-]/[-] merger plan, but the specific price has not yet been finalized.

Now, if Warner's stock price rises by one cent, Time Company will then need to pay one cent more.

Indeed, Warner Bros. shares were up 2.1% before the afternoon's close on the news.

At the same time as Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures' third film cooperation plan was announced, the box office data for the new week from August 8th to August 11th at the end of the North American summer vacation was also officially released.

"Uncle Buck", written and directed by John Hughes himself, had 2021 screens and earned $1694 million at the box office in the first week, ranking first.

Although the average price of "Uncle Buck" around US$8000 did not reach the hot-selling level, it also met expectations.Starting with a close to $1700 million at the box office, the North American total should be able to reach between $5000 million and $7000 million, which is in line with Daenerys Entertainment's original forecast and in line with the past box office performance of Hughes' films.

Counting the $500 million basic salary that John Hughes took at the beginning, the production budget of the film is only $1500 million. Although Hughes will be paid another $500 million to $700 million in box office share, Daenerys Entertainment is It was also profitable enough at the box office.

Also produced by Daenerys Entertainment, "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality" still ranked No.7 in the 2th week of its release, and it received another US$1671 million.

At the same time, the total North American box office of this phenomenal horror film officially broke through the $2 million mark, reaching $2 million.

Universal Pictures' family comedy "Sweet Home" starring Steve Martin didn't get off to a good start and didn't win a single weekly box office title, but the box office curve went very well, with a drop of only 22% this week. Painting entered the fourth week and received another US$1166 million, and the cumulative total box office of the film has reached US$4732 million without knowing it.

New Line Cinema's "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5" opened this week with a scale of 1902 screens, with a box office of 1110 million US dollars in the first week, a slight disadvantage behind "Cozy Family", ranking No.4.

James Cameron's "The Abyss" fell by 39% in the second week of its release, and only received 1069 million US dollars. The two-week box office accumulated 2822 million US dollars, ranking fifth.There is no hope of returning the film, and the executives of Fox Films continue to feel bad.

Apart from the top five on the list, many other popular films in the summer file have entered the final stage of finishing.

The North American box office of "The Sixth Sense" has exceeded 2 million US dollars, and it is clearly expected to hit the 3 million US dollar mark, making the three film projects announced by Daenerys Entertainment and three Hollywood partners attract much attention.

In fact, Simon has identified more than these three projects, such as "Terminator 3", which Fox has already started contacting with the copyright owner, and a project of Columbia Pictures.Simon was not indifferent to Columbia subsidiary Samsung Pictures decisively giving up on Matthew Broderick some time ago.

However, Sony's acquisition of Columbia negotiations have not yet been fully finalized.

Compared with the merger between Time and Warner, because all aspects have begun to close, and Colombia, which has been sluggish in recent years, has no other competitors to jump out to bid for Sony. This acquisition is almost a certainty.Sony has now begun to take over a series of operations of Columbia Pictures, and the decision to abandon Matthew Broderick is the result of pressure from the Japanese.