hunt hollywood

It has been a year since this announcement, and Simon can now raise more funds for the operation of the Japanese stock market by reducing some of his technology stocks.

Spent half an hour on the phone with James Raybould.The two roughly determined a plan to reduce holdings of 6 stocks, 3 of which have performed relatively poorly in the past year or so, and 3 are those that Simon has long confirmed that they will reduce their holdings, such as Apple.

Simon deliberately gave up joining Apple's board of directors for this reason.

When Westeros bought Apple during the stock market crash, the company’s market value was about US$30 billion, and it invested a total of US$1.5 million. Taking into account the small-scale increase in holdings last year, the shareholding ratio just exceeded 5%.

Recently, the market value of Apple has increased to 53 billion US dollars, and the book profit of Westeros' shareholding exceeds 75%, and the total value of its holdings has reached 2.6 million US dollars.

Although Apple's market value in the next few years will exceed 70 billion US dollars in memory, Simon does not intend to wait any longer.Of course, he did not think about selling all of them in the short term. About 5% of the shares are already a large proportion for a listed company. Selling too much at one time will definitely severely impact Apple's stock.

However, for a total of 6 stocks, even if the stock price of Westeros' announcement of the reduction of holdings will have a certain impact, they can easily cash out 3 million US dollars in the next month.After Daenerys Entertainment completes the financial audit, it can transfer some of the funds to Westeros Corporation.

With more than US$5 million principal, Simon can safely increase the position of Nikkei 225 index futures to 1 lots.

Although more can be invested, Simon also intends to stop in moderation.

After cashing out in the next month, when the stock market stabilizes slightly, Westeros will continue to reduce its holdings, but Simon intends to use the excess funds to increase its holdings of stocks in companies such as Microsoft and Intel. The benefits are actually bigger.

After hanging up James Raybould's phone, Simon began to look through several documents from Daenerys Entertainment.

After reading Robert Iger's report on ABC's request for Daenerys Entertainment to significantly reduce the offer for the second season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and participate in advertising placement, Simon called Los Angeles again.

It was just past three o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and it was time for work.

Daenerys Entertainment was able to make $2.5 million from the first season of "Who Would Be a Millionaire," while ABC only got $8000 million.Although Simon very much hopes that this profit distribution model will continue, he also knows that this is impossible.

The company completely took advantage of the Hollywood writers' strike last year, and ABC will not make that mistake again this year.

Fortunately, Daenerys Entertainment has negotiated a contract with NBC for the next three seasons of "Survivor" in advance.

Although the ratings of "Survivor" are higher than that of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the scale of 1 episodes per week and 13 episodes per season does not occupy a large share of NBC programs. NBC did not have such a strong rebound as ABC.

After discussing the negotiation plan with ABC, Simon just hung up the phone, but this time the bell rang on his own initiative.

When I answered again, it was Sofia Feisi calling from Florence, Italy, where Gucci's headquarters is located.

On the phone, Sophia said that she has negotiated a 39% stake in Gucci and is still in contact with other members of the Gucci family.

Although an acquisition agreement was basically reached with the Gucci family last time, the equity of the Gucci family is relatively scattered. The specific price and other conditions need to be discussed separately between Sofia and the three branches of the Gucci family.

Sophia also predicted that because of sufficient funds, she would probably be able to get more than 60% of Gucci's shares, which is higher than the original plan for absolute holdings.

Simon was talking on the phone with Sofia while holding the microphone in one hand, and casually opened Nancy Brill's development plan for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game, with a surprised expression on his face.

Chapter 234 Blizzard (Revised)

A few days ago, Nancy Brill talked on the phone about wanting to try video game making.Simon didn't object, but she flatly rejected her request to get a Marvel superhero role or a request to authorize the adaptation of the Tol King series of games.

The Marvel Super Heroes and Middle Earth series are the two most precious brands in Daenerys Entertainment's copyright library. Without enough assurance, Simon will never allow these two projects to be developed easily.

Unexpectedly, after Nancy Brill was rejected, she got the right to adapt the game of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Simon just happened to have played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game from the Nintendo Famicom era.

In the original time and space, the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series of video games was developed by the well-known Japanese game manufacturer Konami (KONAMI), and has become one of the best-selling series of games under Konami.

The first generation of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game sold 400 million sets worldwide in just one year after its release, bringing Konami hundreds of millions of dollars in net profit. The subsequent sequels of the series also made Konami a lot of money. Bowl full.

After finishing the call with Sophia Feici, Simon began to carefully review the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game plan in his hand.

Nancy Brill got the game development license of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for only $20, which is comparable to the price that Daenerys Pictures won the film adaptation rights of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" last year.However, this authorization agreement comes with a 5% net profit sharing clause.

If the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game developed by Daenerys Entertainment can achieve the success of Konami, just this 5% net profit share will be a sky-high price.

However, Simon was not surprised.

Daenerys Entertainment is just getting involved in the field of video game production. If they don't offer a higher price, the copyright owner is obviously more willing to sell the copyright to those well-known game manufacturers.

What's more, if the entire series of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" can bring Daenerys Entertainment 10 billion-level profits in the next few years, Simon doesn't mind paying Phantom Studios' $5000 million profit share.

Continuing to look through the plan, the total budget of 200 million US dollars also satisfied Simon.

The operating model of the studio in the early stage shows that Nancy Brill did not blindly pursue one step in place. She is very clear that Daenerys Entertainment is just a rookie in the game field, and the development of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is more like a time to accumulate experience. try.

However, the genre positioning of this game is quite different from the Konami version in Simon's memory.

The Konami version of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game that Simon has played belongs to the action role-playing type. The story uses the animation plot as a reference to tell a rescue operation of the four Teenage Mutant Turtles.The plan Nancy gave was intended to be developed into a combat fighting game.

In this era, the best-selling games on the market are basically action-adventure and shooting games, such as Nintendo's "Super Mario" and Konami's "Contra".There are very few very successful fighting games.

Capcom's "Street Fighter" had already released the first generation in 1987, but it didn't cause much response.In memory, the "Street Fighter" series didn't reach its peak until "Street Fighter 1991" in 2.

"Street Fighter 2" not only created Capcom's sales record, but also was judged by many media as one of the greatest video games in history.

Now, there is no phenomenal fighting game like "Street Fighter 2" on the market. This kind of content vacancy is actually an opportunity for game developers.

In the planning plan, Nancy Brill specifically mentioned this point and stated that this is why she positioned "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" as a fighting game.

Moreover, Nancy also pointed out that an important factor limiting the development of fighting games is the hardware platform.

Now the best-selling Nintendo Famicom on the market is still an 8-bit machine, with a market share of more than 90%.However, Sega has released the 16-bit Sega MD game console, and Nintendo is also intensively preparing its own 16-bit console. The game console market is in a critical period of renewal.

Compared with 8-bit machines, 16-bit hosts can bring a qualitative leap in basic technologies such as game capacity and display, thereby providing better hardware support for fighting games.Therefore, the development of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will be directly based on the 16-bit game console platform.

After reading the plan, Simon had to admire Nancy Brill's comprehensive consideration.However, he still found the biggest problem.

Sega's 16-bit game console was released last year, and the planning plan also indicated that Nintendo plans to launch its own 7-bit console in July in the second half of this year.

The normal development cycle of video games in this era is about 3 to 5 months. If all goes well, Daenerys Entertainment's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" fighting game can indeed be launched at the same time as Nintendo's 16-bit console.

However, Simon remembered that due to technical reasons, Nintendo skipped tickets several times in a row. It was not until November 1990 that the 11-bit SFC console was finally launched, which was delayed for more than a year, and the release time in North America and Europe was even later.

Simon doesn't think his 'butterfly' can help Nintendo overcome technical difficulties.

Once the 16-bit SFC is skipped, the 16-bit game "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" developed by Daenerys Entertainment can only be dropped in the hands.Of course, the company has another choice, that is Sega's MD console, or the PC platform.

The current major mainstream game console manufacturers are very strong.

Even large game companies such as Capcom and Konami dare not step on a few boats with too much fanfare, and latecomers like Daenerys Entertainment have no choice.If you cooperate with Sega, you will be rejected by Nintendo.

This situation did not begin to gradually change until the further development of PC games in the 90s and the increasingly fierce competition among major console manufacturers.

After thinking about it for a moment, Simon signaled Jennifer to connect to Nancy Brill's call, and began to write on the manuscript paper about the original action role-playing genre of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game settings.

Jennifer handed over the connected microphone, and Simon and Nancy talked about his 'guess' that SFC might skip tickets, and at the same time briefly explained the game development plan of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" about the action role-playing genre.

The two discussed on the phone for more than 20 minutes. Nancy said that she would carefully investigate the development progress of Nintendo SFC and make appropriate adjustments to her plan.

In the end, Simon provided Nancy with an additional budget of 50 US dollars. Once the plan is confirmed that SFC may skip the ticket, the company can simultaneously develop two games of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" based on 8-bit machines, an action role-playing game proposed by Simon. type, and the other one is still the combat fighting type in Nancy's plan.

Of the two games, the former is out of commercial interests. Since the Konami version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" in my memory is so successful, there is no reason to let it go.The latter can be regarded as accumulating experience. The market vacancy of fighting games is obvious. If the "Street Fighter" series does not have the foundation of the first generation, "Street Fighter 2" may not be so successful.Therefore, this investment is very worthwhile.

Speaking of which, the scale of the global video game industry will catch up with the film industry in the next few years, and this field is definitely promising.

Now that he has started to get involved, Simon doesn't intend to just make a fuss.

Therefore, before ending the call, Simon accidentally asked about the name of the studio.

Nancy Brill didn't pay too much attention to this issue, but casually said that it could follow the naming rules of other subsidiaries of Daenerys Entertainment, called Daenerys Game Studios.

Simon did not intend to mix the game business with Daenerys Entertainment, saying: "In this case, let's call it Blizzard, Blizzard Studio."

Nancy's puzzled voice came from the microphone: "Blizzard, is there any special meaning?"

"Yes, a very meaningful name," Simon said, "So, if you mess up, I will be very disappointed."

Nancy felt that Simon didn't mean to explain in detail, so she stopped asking, and said, "Okay, boss, I'll get someone to start registering tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Simon had unconsciously written and drawn several pictures on the draft paper in front of him.

Signaling Jennifer to sort it out and send it back to Los Angeles, Simon looked at his watch. It was already 11:35, and it would be lunch time soon.

Leaning on the back of the chair, closing his eyes and resting his mind, he sorted out the rest of today's work schedule in his mind.

In the afternoon, I will check out the sample films shot recently, and discuss the production plan of some special effects shots with Daenerys' special effects team. In the evening, I will start shooting another rival scene in the film.

Batman VS Deadshot.

Crocodile and Deadshot, these are two professional killers hired by Black Mask in the film.At the same time, the appearance of these two characters also paved the way for the possible future development of the "Suicide Squad" series.

Opening her eyes again, Jennifer was standing by the side of the desk and bending over to help Simon organize the documents in front of her.The female assistant is wearing a light blue pinstriped shirt and white trousers today. The slim fit makes her figure look slender and not lacking in curves from the side.

Feeling that Simon was looking at herself, Jennifer straightened up and found a topic: "What are you going to have for lunch?"

Simon continued to admire the slim figure of the female assistant, but asked, "Would you be a little disappointed to follow me like this?"

Jennifer froze for a moment, shook her head seriously, and said, "No."

Simon said: "I mean, you originally thought Simon Westeros was an artist. But now, he has become a businessman, thinking about how to make more money every day."

Hearing what Simon said, Jennifer turned around the desk, came to Simon's side and leaned against the edge of the table, after thinking about it, she simply sat on the table, kicked off the small black heels on her feet, looked at the man on the leather chair and said seriously : "I don't like you because you are an artist, Simon, although you are really good at this. But, I like you because you are different from everyone in this world, you are unique .”

Simon touched the ground with his toes and moved the leather chair. This time, the female assistant naturally raised her legs and stepped on Simon's thighs with a pair of little feet in thin stockings. Then she reached out and grabbed them, saying, "Theoretically, everyone is unique."

"Actually, I have never had any ideas. I am not suitable to be that kind of independent woman. Since I was young, of course I have had many crazy ideas, but the number of times I have actually put them into action is pitiful. I am worried about failure, worried about Being ridiculed, worrying about parents being disappointed, Barabara, and then becoming like this. When I was young, I was protected by my parents, but when I grew up, I knew that I could no longer rely on my parents, so I met you," said Jennifer Then, a pair of small feet stepped on the palm of Simon's palm, and the sole of the foot was scratched. He couldn't help laughing, and stepped on it a few times, saying: "So, I will be wrapped around you in the future. Simon, you must Will protect me, right?"

Simon pretended to be embarrassed: "Well, I will try not to let Janet bully you."

"Jenny is very smart, smarter than me, maybe smarter than you, she doesn't care about me, a little assistant who can't threaten her at all."

Simon smiled and said, "It seems that Jenny is the real boss behind the scenes."

"Hehe, yes," Jennifer nodded sympathetically, and after a moment of intimacy, she found another topic and said, "What's the meaning of 'Blizzard'?"

Simon thought for a while and said, "I can't tell you the true meaning. However, there is probably such a song called "Blizzard"."

The man in front of him has too many secrets, since he said he couldn't tell himself, it must be inappropriate to reveal.However, when she heard that there was a song to listen to, Jennifer became interested again, and said, "Can you sing the song called "Blizzard" for me?"

Simon shook his head and said, "This is pure music, without lyrics. I'll make it for you when I have time."

Jennifer stepped on Simon's palm lightly again, and said, "There's a piano in the restaurant downstairs, you can do it now."

Simon thought of the piano in the restaurant of the hotel. He hadn't seen anyone play it these days, probably the hotel owner specially placed it in the restaurant as a decoration, and he didn't know if it could still be used.

Jennifer didn't give Simon any time to hesitate. She jumped off the desk, put on her shoes, and dragged him to the outside: "It's time for lunch. Play it to me first."

The two left the room, but Jennifer turned to her guest room and came out again, already holding an extra [-]mm VCR.

Simon looked at the machine in the hands of the female assistant and remembered the song "Flight of the Bumble Bee" back then. Jennifer obviously thought of this too, she raised the video recorder in her hand and said, "This time it's my collection alone, absolutely not. Will show it to others."

Near lunch time, the restaurant seemed very lively.

Because the hotel was booked out, all the diners were members of the "Batman" crew. Some people still had tired faces, apparently just woke up.

Simon greeted everyone, stopped a waiter and asked a few words, and went straight to the piano by the window.Jennifer chose a nearby dining table to sit quietly, fiddled with the machine in her hand, and then looked up at the man sitting by the piano with expectation in her eyes.

In order to enhance the appeal, this piece needs to be amplified.

The waiter quickly installed the microphone. After Simon pressed the keys for a short sound test, he glanced at the female assistant not far away. Under the gaze of everyone in the restaurant, he smiled and approached the microphone and said, ""Blizzard", to Jenny .”

When many people around heard this sentence, there were knowing smiles on their faces.

In the famous "Flight of the Bumblebee" video, Simon also opened like this.

However, some people understand that the Jenny here in Simon is probably another Jenny, such as a female assistant with a super [-]mm video recorder.

Simon didn't care about other people's thoughts, and when he finished speaking, he began to play a piece called "Blizzard".

The song is not actually called "Blizzard".

It should be "The Dawn" (The Dawn), and the real source is an episode of the movie "Brave to the Deadly Island".

or.

Some people call it "Prelude to the Dead".

Simon felt that the name "Blizzard" was also very appropriate.

Strictly speaking, the piano piece cannot fully express the charm of this piece, but under Simon's exquisite playing, the piano in the hotel restaurant is sometimes light, sometimes passionate, sometimes gentle, sometimes heroic, sometimes silent, and sometimes frantic. The sound quickly immerses all the audience intoxicated.

The girl silently holding the video recorder looked at the focused figure next to the piano, her eyes unconsciously became a little more obsessed.

Perhaps it was some kind of tacit understanding that they had been with for a long time. Jennifer instinctively felt that there must be a long, long story behind this song.In the story, the hero who has killed the evil dragon wears old leather armor, carries a huge sword, braves the dense wind and snow, shuttles through the ancient forest that has been forgotten by too many people, and continues to search for his unknown distance.

Chapter 235 The Last Straw? (build)

new York.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, another day of trading in the North American stock market ended on time, and it was also the last trading day of this week.