hunt hollywood

After Simon finished speaking, he picked up the two proposals and pointed at Robert Rem, then turned and left the conference room.

Robert Rem quickly got up and followed out.

Because the office space is tight, there is no dedicated office for Simon in Burbank.Simon stood directly in the corridor, handed the two plans to Rem, and said, "I'll give you a day to let the two teams of "Scream" and "Steel Magnolias" come up with a new plan together. , By the way, the "Dead Poets Society" and "Rain Man" teams are also involved, so let's implement it now. Tell them, if it can't be completed, everyone's salary next month will be reduced by one level, and the year-end bonus will be halved."

According to a recently decided salary plan, in December, all employees of the company will receive a minimum monthly salary of twice the maximum and ten times the monthly salary according to the length of entry time, work performance and other indicators, and some outstanding employees can also receive additional year-end bonuses .

It is precisely because the relevant news has been announced in advance that the company is full of energy these days. Even if today is Saturday, not many people choose to rest.

Now, under the entire Daenerys Entertainment Group, Daenerys Films, New World Pictures, High Gate Films, Daenerys Television, Daenerys Distribution, New World Distribution, All subsidiaries of Daenerys Home Entertainment, Daenerys Special Effects, Pixar Animation, Marvel Entertainment, etc., as well as some other departments directly under the group, have more than 800 employees.

Because the management has a separate salary system, other employees of Daenerys Entertainment, including some middle and low-level managers, have an average monthly salary of about 3500 US dollars.In a normal month, based on the calculation of 800 people, the monthly expenditure of Daenerys Entertainment is about 280 million US dollars.

Even if all of this year-end salary plan is counted as ten times the monthly salary, Daenerys Entertainment only needs to pay 2800 million US dollars.

In fact, of course not so much.

However, the reward plan of Daenerys Entertainment has surpassed all other companies of the same size in the industry, such as Orion Pictures. Although it has "Pulp Fiction" to support its performance, but because of too many failed projects, the company's overall performance this year It is still a loss, so naturally it can't spend money to reward employees.Even MGM and Columbia, which are at the bottom of the top seven, cannot compare with Daenerys Entertainment.

Simon could have been more generous, but he also understood the principle of gradual progress.

The integration of Daenerys Entertainment has been less than a year, and most of the employees have only been employed for a few months. Now that they are given too much, it will be difficult to satisfy the appetite of the employees in the future.

Chapter 216 General Election (Revised)

Simon explained to Robert Rem, sent him to host the announcement meeting of "Steel Magnolia", and found a small conference room by himself to wait for the discussion to end there to talk to several executives.

Just as he sat down at the conference table, Simon was flipping through a copy of the media feedback material for "Steel Magnolia", when there was a knock on the door, and a tall girl came in with her head in, but it was Julia Roberts.

It was a bit boring to stay in the reception room. Julia went to the bathroom to touch up her makeup. When she came out, she happened to notice Simon and Rem standing in the corridor talking.After the two separated, she quietly followed Simon to this side.

Simon didn't care why Julia knew he was here, but just smiled at her, looking at the girl's still long hair, and said with a smile, "Hair grows so fast?"

In "Steel Magnolias," Julia's Shelby had her hair cut short late in the film due to kidney disease.Simon always felt that Julia looked better with short hair than with long hair.

Julia immediately understood what Simon was talking about, and explained: "It's wearing a wig. If the hair is really cut off, it will be very troublesome. It will take a long time to grow back."

With that said, Julia pushed open the door and walked in.

However, after closing the door and turning around to look at the man at the conference table, Julia couldn't help being a little restrained, not knowing what to do for a while.

This is Simon Westeros.

Simon noticed the woman's hesitation, smiled again, and pointed to his side: "Come, sit down."

Julia just came over, leaned over and sat down on the chair next to Simon, glanced at the document in Simon's hand, and said, "Simon, what are you looking at?"

"The media feedback on "Steel Magnolia", many film critics said that you performed well."

Simon replied casually, the two were very close, and he unceremoniously looked at the big-mouthed beauty who was at the peak of her appearance at this time.Julia is wearing a black turtleneck sweater and white casual trousers today. Sitting sideways, her natural style and straight long legs look quite attractive.

Feeling Simon's eyes, Julia adjusted her posture slightly, and said, "Everyone is doing great, Simon, do you think this movie can get a box office of 1 million dollars?"

Simon said: "I'm not sure, it depends on whether the audience will buy it."

"Steel Magnolia" in the original time and space is a standard box office dark horse. Not many people had expectations for this film, but it exploded so inexplicably.Although it failed to break through 8000 million, the domestic box office of more than [-] million US dollars is enough to make many movies look up to in this era.

Now, Daenerys Entertainment has put far more energy into this film than Samsung Pictures did before, and the word-of-mouth of the film has also been confirmed with yesterday's trial screening. Still very confident.

"'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Pulp Fiction,' 'Instinct,' and most recently, 'Scream,'" Julia counted on her fingers, and said, "This is already four consecutive films. , it would be a pity if it was broken on "Steel Magnolias."

"It's nothing to be sorry about, we have to give others some way to survive," Simon said, remembering Julia's reason for coming today, and said, "The meeting over there is about to start, why don't you go?"

"It's enough for the manager to help and listen. Anyway, I will do whatever Daenerys Entertainment arranges."

Simon smiled and said, "You can really talk."

Julia noticed that Simon raised his left hand slightly when he spoke, combined with his eyes, she realized that the man should have just wanted to reach out and pick his chin or something.Julia would definitely be annoyed by someone else's frivolous gesture, but at this moment she felt slightly regretful that the man hadn't put it into action.

Leaning slightly towards the man, Julia continued: "Simon, Daenerys Entertainment and I still have four film contracts. Can you help me write a script for the next film?"

Simon said: "Your next movie has been decided, but the script is still being revised, and the preparations will probably start early next year, and the schedule is Valentine's Day the following year."

Julia suddenly became curious: "What story, can I read the script first?"

"A romance film similar to La Traviata," Simon explained casually, "After the script is finished, it will be handed over to you. Don't worry."

Julia nodded, and suddenly noticed something else.

Preparations will start in the first half of next year, and it is estimated that filming will start at least in the middle of the year. The schedule will be Valentine's Day in the next year. So, what about next year?Is it possible that I won't have any movies released for the whole next year?

Looking at the man in front of her who seemed unaware of this, Julia raised her hand and made a small gesture in the air, saying, "Simon, before that movie starts shooting, can I take another movie?"

Simon turned his gaze back to the document in his hand, and said casually: "If there is a suitable one, I will help you arrange it."

Julia tentatively said: "If, Simon, if there is no suitable one, can I accept scripts from other film companies?"

Simon shook his head: "No."

Previously, Meg Ryan and Nicole Kidman, Daenerys Entertainment both had priority film contracts for the two.Because the company has no suitable projects for the time being, Simon generously let the two girls go to other movies first.However, this generosity does not seem to have the desired effect.

For example, in "Flying Beyond Innocence" this time, C side directly quoted a high price of 500 million US dollars for the heroine of Meg Ryan, which was fully double the company's expected salary budget for the heroine. Gibson quite.

It has never been a joke that Hollywood male and female stars get equal pay.

Just like Julia in the original time and space, after the global best-selling romance film "Pretty Woman", Julia participated in "Captain Hawk", Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Robin The three main creators of Williams have to take a total of 40% of the film's net profit share on the basis of high basic salaries, but Julia's salary for playing the elf Tinkber is only 250 million US dollars.

Now, since C Lion has opened his mouth, Daenerys Entertainment has also directly lowered Meg Ryan's salary to 200 million US dollars, and the two sides are still in a stalemate.

Because of these lessons, Simon no longer intends to do superfluous things.

Feeling Simon's non-negotiable tone, Julia shrank her neck subconsciously.However, she didn't intend to give up. She boldly reached out with a small hand, stroked the man's arm a few times with her index finger, and said, "Simon, maybe we can find time to chat privately. How about tonight?"

Simon shook his head, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and said, "Not tonight, why not now."

"what?"

This time it was Julia's turn to be surprised. She looked around, and then at the door, as if she had forgotten to lock it.

Simon didn't seem to care about her hesitation at all, and even seemed to forget what he just said for a moment, and the old god once again set his eyes on the document in his hand.

Julia hesitated for a moment, and finally made up her mind, got up, walked to the door, locked the door, and came back.Then, standing beside Simon, his eyes began to wander, looking at the table, the chair, and the ground.

In the end it fell on the man.

nasty man.

With a resentment in her heart, Julia picked up the hem of the sweater and was about to take off her clothes when the door of the meeting room rang.

Simon was indifferent, but Julia was taken aback, and all the courage she had just mustered was released immediately.

The door rang a few more times before Simon gestured to Julia, who was standing still on the spot, to open the door. Julia opened the door with complicated emotions, but it was Simon's female assistant who habitually wore a ponytail Stand outside the door.

With a little dodge in Jennifer's eyes, she held a thick stack of documents and greeted casually: "Hello, Miss Roberts, is the boss there?"

Julia hadn't recovered from the fright just now, so she naturally didn't notice the strange look in Jennifer's eyes, and let the female assistant in sideways, after thinking about it, she said goodbye: "Then, Simon, I'll go to the meeting first Yes. You, uh, can call me anytime."

After Julia finished speaking, she went out and left.

Jennifer didn't seem to hear Julia's words at all. She came to the conference table, turned her back to Simon, silently put a pencil on the table, and spread out several documents one by one.Move as slowly as possible, as if angry, and don't intend to turn around to face someone.

Then, a voice sounded behind her: "Eavesdropping outside?"

Jennifer paused.

Something seems wrong?

Why do I have to feel guilty every time a guy tries to do something bad?

Just now when she learned that the meeting was over, she came here with some documents ordered by Simon, just in time to see Julia Roberts sneaking into this meeting room.Originally wanted to leave first, but still couldn't help coming over, stood outside the door to 'wait' for a while, vaguely heard some guy's hateful words, so he couldn't resist knocking on the door to destroy his good deeds.

I didn't feel guilty if I didn't plan to answer his question, so I planned to leave without saying a word.

My heart is sour.

He wouldn't really let himself go, would he?

As soon as she took a step, a hand came from behind, she struggled lightly, and stopped resisting, but still carried him behind her back, flipping quickly in her mind, whether her expression should be more indifferent or angry, Or should I condemn him first?

After Saturday's meeting, under Simon's personal supervision, Daenerys Entertainment began to adjust quickly.

In fact, Simon has always wanted to be a hands-off shopkeeper, but he also understands that at least Daenerys Entertainment must form a specific corporate culture style before he can let go as much as possible.At that time, this company will be like a machine that has finished running, even without him as an operator, it can still operate according to the established rules.

In the new week, one of the most concerned events in the whole country is undoubtedly the official voting in the presidential election that will start on Tuesday.After half a year of intense campaigning, the two presidential candidates, George Bush and Michael Dukakis, will face off in the final battle.

Most things have not changed much because of Simon's appearance, so he can basically determine the result of this presidential election.

In Hollywood, although the presidential election has attracted the attention of many people, the box office data of the past weekend is still attracting attention.

During the three-day period from November 11th to November 4th, "Scream", which has entered its second week of release, is still firmly locked in the single-week box office champion, and the three-day box office of the next weekend received another 11 million US dollars. The film was released for ten days. The cumulative box office has reached 6 million US dollars.

In comparison, Universal Pictures' new film "Extreme Space" released this week, although it ranked second, only had a box office of 463 million US dollars in the first three days.

It's just that No.2 has been left far behind by "Scream", and most of the other films on the list are even less worth mentioning.

Of course, "Steel Magnolia" is an exception.

This new film, which was screened on only 22 screens across North America, earned $113 million in box office in the first three days of the first weekend because of Daenerys Entertainment’s spare no effort in publicity and unanimous praise from the media. No. 11 on the weekly box office list, but obviously, no one can ignore the fact that the film only has 22 screens.

Moreover, the average museum average of more than 51000 US dollars in three days also surprised many people.

Hollywood film companies have begun to study the highlights of this movie, trying to dig out similar themes to follow suit, but the result is that most people do not understand why a female movie like "Steel Magnolia" is popular.In the end, the circle can only attribute the credit to Daenerys Entertainment's marketing offensive at all costs.

In the process of initially discussing the publicity plan, everyone felt that the theme of female films would greatly limit the box office performance of "Steel Magnolia".

But in the end, after repeated discussions by the team, Daenerys Entertainment finally decided to put aside the characteristics of "Steel Magnolia" as a female film as much as possible, and market this film as a family movie suitable for the whole family to watch during the festival.

Although Thanksgiving and Easter have not yet come, the box office data of the first weekend also allowed the company to confirm the correctness of this distribution strategy.

Tuesday, October 11th.

The 41st U.S. presidential election has officially started, and voting is very new to Simon.Then, he simply didn't go to vote and spent the day at work as usual.

The North American media, which has been paying close attention to Simon Westeros' personal political tendencies, has been chasing him since early in the morning. As a result, more than a dozen reporters squatted outside Daenerys Entertainment headquarters for a whole day, but none of them noticed Simon showed signs of going out to vote. CNN specifically mentioned this in the live broadcast that day, and specially invited current affairs experts to make a serious analysis, and then concluded that Simon Westeros is a person who does not care about politics.

Subsequently, although the voting results of many states were still being counted, in the afternoon of the same day, the major North American TV networks that broadcast live in real time announced that George Bush had won more than half of all 538 electoral votes in the United States, and he was certain to become the next one. President of the United States.

The next day, the general election was completely settled. George Bush finally won 428 electoral votes, completely showing an overwhelming advantage. In comparison, Michael Dukakis only got 111 electoral votes .

Now that George Bush had won the election, much of what Simon remembered was destined to happen, and he began to privately prepare more for things to come.

Chapter 217 Pressure from Hollywood (Revised)

With the results of the presidential election coming in, media and public attention quickly turned elsewhere.But in Hollywood, Daenerys Entertainment remains the center of attention.

11月10日，上映第17周的《本能》正式在北美下档，最终累计票房1亿1712万美元。

In the second week of its release, the box office of "Scream" fell by only 19%. It collected another US$1835 million in the seven days of the next week, and the cumulative box office reached US$3906 million.In just these two weeks of screenings, Daenerys Entertainment has recovered all budgeted costs and achieved profitability according to the step-sharing contract signed with the theater.

The box office performance of "Steel Magnolia" in the first week is also highly anticipated, with a total of 22 screening screens, and the average box office revenue of a single theater in a single week exceeds 68000 US dollars.In the first week and seven days, this stage play adaptation film, which was not expected by many people, earned a box office of 151 million US dollars.

The week before Thanksgiving, Hollywood's year-end schedule finally started to get lively.

On November 11, if you count the small-scale on-demand films that also have dozens of screens, a total of 11 new films will be released in Hollywood.

However, during the week from November 11th to November 11th, although the box office fell by 11% relative to the first week, "Scream" still maintained its position as the single-week box office champion, and the box office received another 17 million US dollars , with a cumulative box office of $23 million in three weeks.

On this week's list, the films ranked after "Scream" also exceeded many people's expectations. The horror film "Return of the Ghost" produced by MGM's United Artists Pictures had a box office of 961 million US dollars in the first week.

During the Thanksgiving holiday season, which should be full of family fun, the two top-grossing movies are both horror movies. This situation is definitely not normal.

This is indeed the case.

Normally, only second-tier studios like New Line, which focus on horror production and distribution, are keen to push their horror films into the hottest dates possible, but that's also because they have no choice.

Obviously, the major Hollywood film companies during this period actually didn't have many choices. In the final analysis, it was still the evil result of the previous screenwriter strike.

According to Simon's memory, among the series of film lists of the two major schedules at the end of the year, if Daenerys Entertainment is not counted, none of the Thanksgiving schedule films of major Hollywood studios can squeeze into the top ten of the annual list.

There are two Christmas files in December, one is "Dragon Boy" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger under Universal Pictures, and the other is "The White-headed Detective" produced by Paramount Pictures. Moreover, the release time of the two films is not the core December 12 around Christmas. The release date of "Dragon Brother and Mouse Brother" is December 12, and the opening time of "The White-headed Detective" is December 25.

Clearly, neither Universal nor Paramount expected these two films to be blockbusters at the box office.

For Simon, this scheduling arrangement actually means another thing, the core schedules of December 12 and December 16 during the Christmas period, Daenerys Entertainment's "Rain Man" and "Dead Poets Society" Will not encounter strong competitors outside the company.

Looking back, after "Scream" and "Return of the Ghost", the most concerned item on the weekly box office list is still "Steel Magnolia".

In the second week of screening, the number of screens for "Steel Magnolia" increased to 35. Although the weekly box office for a single theater dropped from US$6.8 to US$6.6, it still earned US$235 million in seven days.

In just two weeks of screenings, the cumulative box office of "Steel Magnolia" has reached 386 million US dollars, which is almost the same as the total North American box office of "The Secret Detective" that Warner Bros. failed at the box office.