hunt hollywood

Such cost constraints are actually very high.

You know, if you want to get a share, it means that the future global box office of "The Silence of the Lambs" will reach at least 7000 million US dollars.

However, even if you don't get a share, the $100 million advance payment far exceeds Thomas Harris' expectations.

Moreover, Danny Morris feels that if "The Silence of the Lambs" really has the value valued by Simon, the global box office should be at least around 2 million US dollars.

2 million US dollars, 3000 million fixed costs, by then, Thomas Harris will be able to get another 300 million US dollars

Of course, if calculated based on the global box office of 2 million US dollars, Daenerys Entertainment must also make a lot of money, and such expenditures are worthwhile.

However, Danny Morris still didn't understand why Simon suddenly expressed a strong interest in this project, so he did not hesitate to make an exception.Once such a case is opened, more copyright holders will definitely open their mouths after Daenerys Entertainment expressed interest in the future.

Santa Monica.

Simon felt helpless after finishing the call with Danny Morris.

Why is there an exception for "The Silence of the Lambs", not only because it is a box office hit movie in the original time and space, but also to snipe Orion.

Speaking of which, this was also an oversight of Simon.

Should have thought of this project long ago.

After "The Exorcist", it was the second horror film nominated for Oscar for Best Picture. In just 15 minutes of performance, it created a best actor.

However, he ignored the film until he came across a batch of copyright materials sent by New World Pictures.

If other Hollywood studios have acquired or are trying to acquire the rights to this project, Simon may be able to cooperate with them and use "The Silence of the Lambs" as one of the original 10-film plans.

Not so with Orion, though.

In the original time and space, "The Silence of the Lambs" can be said to be the last box office hit of Orion Pictures.

Now, because of Simon, things have changed a lot.

Affected by Simon's series of huge successes in Hollywood, many capitals are more interested in the North American film and television industry.

As a result, Australia's Qintex successfully acquired MGM, and Canada's Seagram Group also tested Hollywood in advance. At the beginning of this year, it injected 2 million US dollars into Orion, which was already in bankruptcy crisis. Acquired 25% of the company's shares.

With financial backing, Orion has weathered the storm and is preparing to bounce back.

"The Silence of the Lambs" was not originally considered a key project of Orion. First of all, its predecessor "Night to Kill" failed at the box office, which has largely affected the producer's judgment on the film's box office prospects. Among them, the movie was released in the unpopular February, and it was almost abandoned.

However, it was just that successful.

If Daenerys Entertainment, as usual, immediately gives up because of the attention and competition of its peers after contacting it as usual, the project may still fall into the hands of Orion Pictures in the end.

In order to get Orion's film library, and to reduce Daenerys Entertainment's competitors in Hollywood, Simon does not allow Orion to have such success again.

"Dancing with Wolves" that originally belonged to Orion has been taken away, and now "The Silence of the Lambs" is taken away, and the last two blockbuster films of Orion in Simon's memory will all fall into his hands.

The Seagram Group is actually just testing the waters. The Canadian Bronfman family's ambitions for Hollywood go beyond this, and it is impossible to continue injecting capital into a small pool like Orion.

As long as the 2 million US dollars are burned, but the performance fails to recover, Orion will come to an end in Hollywood.

After filming "The Silence of the Lambs", the next step is to set up a project for shooting.

This time, Simon didn't hesitate to drop the idea of ​​Anthony Hopkins as the male lead.

As the actor of the butler Alfred in the "Batman" series, if Hopkins suddenly becomes the actor, it will only add more changes to the advancement of the project.Therefore, Simon would rather "The Silence of the Lambs" shrink or even fail at the box office due to changing roles, and would not allow the DC movie universe plan that Daenerys Entertainment focuses on to have side effects.

Speaking of it, if the actors participating in the DC movie universe series can perform their contracts safely and steadily, Simon doesn't mind giving these people a hand.But because of what happened after Batman: Begins, Simon simply dropped the idea.

People's hearts are always fickle.

Simon was not a person who believed in people's hearts too much.

Amid the busy schedule, the first week of the 1990 Easter schedule passed quietly.

Easter this year is April 4th.

4月13日到4月19日的复活节当周，好莱坞一共有两部影片上映，分别是丹妮莉丝娱乐旗下新世界影业出品的《玉米田的小孩2》和派拉蒙影业出品达丽尔·汉纳主演的家庭喜剧《天才一族》，两部影片的开画银幕规模都在1300块左右。

"Kids in the Cornfield 2" has not been well-received by film critics, nor has it shown the potential of a dark horse.In the first week of its release, the box office was only 713 million US dollars. When the box office momentum of "Pretty Woman" in the 11th week of its release has slowed down, it barely won the box office champion of this week. The total box office in North America is expected to be around 2500 million US dollars.

Compared with the film's cost of 300 million US dollars, the expected box office of 2500 million US dollars is naturally very successful.

Paramount Pictures' "Geniuses" grossed $576 million in its opening week.If the decline can be controlled, the total domestic box office is expected to exceed 1500 million US dollars, which is not too bad.However, the budget cost of this film is also 1500 million U.S. dollars. If Paramount wants to recover the cost, it can only rely on overseas and other distribution channels.

At the end of last year, "Batman: Beginning of War", "Drive Miss Daisy" and "Pretty Woman", which was scheduled for Valentine's Day in February, have all entered the final stage.

The box office champions of the Easter week failed to break through [-] million box office in the first week, so this Easter seems a bit deserted.

At the end of April, Hollywood also generally began to prepare for the summer vacation a month later.

Daenerys Entertainment has recently started to release the TV previews of "Ghostly Love" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on the TV station. This is the key project of Daenerys Entertainment this summer. June 6.In addition, there is also a "Hunting Ghost 1", the schedule is confirmed on August 7 at the end of the summer file, and the scale of announcement and release is naturally not comparable to the previous two films.

"Sleeping with the Enemy" in cooperation with Fox and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" in cooperation with Disney are scheduled for June 6 and July 15 respectively. The announcement of the two films does not require Daenerys Entertainment to invest too much energy.

However, after counting, there are 5 projects related to Daenerys Entertainment this summer, which is more than any studio in Hollywood.

Subconsciously, Simon has always wanted to restrain his edge, but the reality is hard to avoid.

Saturday, April 4.

There are too many things to be busy recently, and I still work overtime on weekends.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, while talking on the phone with Terry Semel of Warner Bros. about the preparations for "The Fugitive", Jennifer opened the door, and Sandra followed the female assistant, watching Simon on the phone, He walked in very bluntly and sat down opposite him.

Simon chatted with Terry Semel for a few more words, put down the microphone, and made a mark on the actor profile in front of him.

This is the profile of Harrison Ford's murdered wife candidate in "The Fugitive", a role with very few roles, originally played by Sela Ward.

This time, Sheila Ward still submitted her resume.

After all, she was the woman who spent the spring night with him, and she was an original candidate. Simon gave the role directly to the other party without planning to audition.

Putting the information aside, looking up just in time to catch Sandra who was poking around, Simon put down his pencil and said with a smile: "Don't read blindly, this is a commercial secret."

Sandra curled her lips: "I'm not interested. Tell me, why did you call me here? I'm very busy. I made an appointment with everyone to go to Palm Springs for the weekend, and I'll leave later."

Simon handed over the script of "The Silence of the Lambs" and said, "See if you're interested. I've already had someone hand over a copy of the script to Bob. If you're also interested, you brothers and sisters can just act in this movie together." .”

The Bob Simon mentioned is Robert Duvall, who is also a client under the name of Jonathan, and because he once studied under the name of an acting teacher at the same time, although he and Sandra are more than 30 years apart, they are considered brothers and sisters .When Sandra first entered Hollywood, Duval also helped the little junior sister.

Since Anthony Hopkins is not going to be used, for the main creator of "The Silence of the Lambs", Simon no longer necessarily pursues the original version, and he is not too familiar with the original heroine Jodie Foster. try.In addition to not having the title of actress, Sandra's personal fame and box office appeal in the past two years are actually stronger than Jodie Foster.

Moreover, if the project is still successful, it may help Sandra get an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

If you fail, you fail.

Sandra picked up the script and flicked through a few pages, then put it in her satchel, and said, "I'll read it again this weekend when I'm free, do you have anything else to do?"

Simon pretended to be sad and said, "Leaving in such a hurry, I don't like you so much now?"

Sandra rolled her eyes: "You are already a married man, Mr. Westeros, I don't want to have an affair with you anymore."

"I understand that you are worried that Jenny will settle accounts with you."

"whatever you think."

As Sandra said this, she was still obviously provoked by Simon, and she stood up as if to say goodbye, but suddenly she leaned over across the desk, grabbed Simon's collar and pulled it towards herself.

Simon thought she was going to kiss him forcefully, but Sandra opened her small white teeth and bit his nose suddenly, which startled Simon.By the time she realized it, the girl had already walked out of the office with a smile.

Touching the nose that was almost bitten, Simon shook his head helplessly.

The female assistant opened the door again to remind him, Simon got up and left the office, and walked to a meeting room in the office building.

James Raybould and Leon Black from Apollo Management both came to Los Angeles over the weekend. Today they want to discuss the acquisition of MCA, mainly the funding issue after the official launch of the acquisition.

Although it has been in operation for a long time, and it is also known that Panasonic Corporation of Japan is also secretly preparing for the acquisition of MCA, Simon still decided to formally launch an acquisition offer for MCA in September of the second half of the year.

In my memory, although Panasonic and MCA’s acquisition negotiations started very early, because of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait broke out during the war, the North American stock market suffered a severe setback. Panasonic’s acquisition of MCA was not fully agreed until early 1991. Simon still has Enough time.

After the outbreak of the war, MCA's stock price fell due to the setback of the stock market, which happened to be the best time for Daenerys Entertainment to enter the game.

However, the earlier the preparations, the better.

The more prepared you are, the better your chances of winning in the future.

After this period of private contact with some banks in North America and overseas, James Raybould has basically solved the problem of funding sources.Some big banks in Europe, Australia and even Japan are very interested in Daenerys Entertainment's financing plan.

Because of the excellent financial data exposed by Daenerys Entertainment and the rich assets accumulated by the entire Westeros system in recent years, these banks are not at all worried that the huge amount of money borrowed by Simon will not be able to repay.

Of course, Simon will not choose only one bank for the huge amount of more than 30 billion U.S. dollars in the plan, although even if he does, there is a high possibility of success.However, spreading out loans is actually tantamount to attracting potential allies for Daenerys Entertainment.

In this world, as long as you borrow enough money, you can always be more confident.

Constantly using interests to implicate Daenerys Entertainment and the entire Westeros system to weave a big net, this is what Simon has focused on in recent years.

Chapter 343 Layout Internet (Revised)

San Francisco Bay Area.

Eagletec headquarters near Stanford University in Palo Alto.

When Simon came to San Francisco on April 4, a meeting room in the company's office building was occupied, and people came in and out to attend the meeting every day.

In addition to Eaglet's top executives, America Online CEO Steve Case and others headquartered on the east coast also flew here. Occasionally, executives from companies such as Cisco, Oracle, Sun, and Microsoft were invited to participate in this event. After a discussion, even the media in the Bay Area took notice of it.

Simon did not disappoint the media. On the second day of his trip to San Francisco, he released a piece of valuable news that Westeros would invest an additional 5000 million US dollars in exchange for another 50% of AOL's shares.

After the deal was concluded, Westeros' shareholding in AOL increased from the original 25% to 75%, achieving absolute control.

Speaking of which, this matter has been promoted since before Simon came to San Francisco.

In the next few years, Simon may lose his original opportunity if he makes a wrong move in his layout of the Internet field. Therefore, he must ensure absolute control over America Online, the most important part of his layout.

In order to achieve this goal, James Raybould made a strong statement when the offer was launched. If other shareholders of AOL do not agree to this capital injection, Westeros will withdraw from AOL and support other companies. same type of enterprises.

AOL executives and shareholders such as Steve Case originally did not agree with Westeros' request to suddenly forcibly expand its shareholding ratio.

However, because Simon did not ask for a wholly-owned shareholding, and reserved 25% of the shares for the original shareholders, and Westeros' firm attitude, after weighing the pros and cons, AOL still accepted Westeros' conditions.

After completing this capital injection, America Online's headquarters will also be moved to San Francisco from the East Coast.

In a villa in the Woodside Mountains in the western suburbs of Palo Alto, after a week of meetings and discussions, the time came to April 4, Saturday, and Simon still did not return to Los Angeles.

Near noon, James Raybould came to this mountain mansion by car, and Jennifer welcomed her father into the villa in the courtyard.

The father and daughter went upstairs, and in a somewhat empty study room on the second floor, Simon was standing with his arms folded in front of a large writing board, thinking about something. On the white writing board, various words were densely written with black pens.

James Raybould roughly scanned the whiteboard.

Portals, instant messaging, e-mail, personal homepages, online news, e-commerce, online forums, online games, cloud computing, big data, search engines, firewalls, online payments...

There are some words that James can understand at a glance, but some words make him a little confused.

It wasn't until many years later, when many of the ideas on today's whiteboard were realized, that James Raybould really understood how valuable the ideas on the whiteboard were.

Seeing that his daughter did not intend to disturb Simon's thinking at all, but looked at the young man in front of him with a little admiration in his eyes, James Raybould secretly sighed that the girl was extroverted, and had to cough lightly himself.

Simon heard the movement behind him, turned around, smiled and stretched out his hand: "Good afternoon, Jim."

After shaking hands with Simon, James gestured to the whiteboard and said, "This is the result of your recent discussion with everyone."

"Some are, some are not," Simon said, "I can only implement a very small part of them for the time being."

Simon said, giving way to his body, James took another step forward, and looked at the blackboard in front of him more closely.

James Raybould has fully proved his personal ability in recent years, and Simon did not hide most things from him. He pointed to some key words circled by himself and said: "In the next few years, With the cooperation of AOL, Eaglet will focus on the business of portal, e-mail, personal homepage, online news, online forums and online games. Some of these functions Eaglet started to develop last year, Surely you know."

James nodded.

The portal website is basically the homepage setting of the graphical interface browser named IE (Internet Explorer) by Eagletec, which acts as a portal guide for Internet surfing.

However, James also knows that the current Internet content is very scarce, and the portal website Simon envisions needs to produce a lot of content independently.

In comparison, e-mail is a very practical function developed by Eaglet.

The demand for mail delivery in Hollywood is very large. Major studios and talent agencies have their own dedicated mail rooms. The first step for employees of talent agency companies is often to do internships in the mail room.

If the e-mail system can be extended to these enterprises, the office convenience of these companies can be greatly enhanced.

Daenerys Studios in Malibu, which will be officially opened next month, has specially customized the email system of Ygritte.James found that if this business can be promoted, it will definitely become Eaglet's revenue focus in the next few years.

Any enterprise that wants to develop and grow needs solid revenue and profits as support.

Thinking about this, James said again: "In addition to the basic software services of Eaglet Corporation, e-mail, online news and online games can all adopt a charging model. Portal websites, personal homepages and online forums rely on advertising revenue, but this requires In recent years, there is probably no hope for Internet users to reach a sufficient volume. Moreover, Simon, if you plan to release the authorization of World Wide Web technology, these applications developed by Eaglet are easy to be imitated. "

"Competition is good. If a company lacks competitors, it is doomed to fall into a situation where it does not want to make progress, and it is not good for its own development." Simon said in a relaxed tone: "Besides, we have already seized the opportunity. If With so many advantages, you can only blame yourself for losing to your competitors."

As a professional manager, for the benefit of his employer, James Raybould suggested more than once that Simon restrict the authorization of World Wide Web technology, or adopt a fee-based model, just like some other commercial networks that have already started operation.