Chapter 334

Santa Monica.

It's February 1, Thursday.

Simon arrived at the company headquarters at eight o'clock, and Jennifer, who had arrived early, followed him into the office with a stack of papers.

Because Simon has been letting go a lot of things intentionally or unintentionally, and she is often not in Los Angeles during this period of time, Jennifer's authority is growing under Simon's instruction, and she almost has to assume the role of Simon's internal spokesperson in the company.

In recent weeks, the female assistant has personally led the team in charge of the financial audit of the past year.

In the second half of last year, due to the big sales of "bodyguard", "sixth sense", "scream 2" and other films, the hot sales of "bodyguard" original record, the success of Ninja Turtle video game, the continuous revenue of TV projects, and the overseas and video release of "Rain Man" and other films at the end of 1988, the revenue of Denise entertainment showed an explosive growth.

Compared with the net profit of US $110 million in the first half of last year, even excluding the construction of Denise studios in the second half of last year and the investment in acquiring EA equity, Denise Entertainment's after tax net profit of last year is expected to exceed US $500 million.

James Leibold has been continuously increasing his investment in new technology with the abundant funds of danielis entertainment.

At present, westero's shareholding in Microsoft has reached 21.3%, of which 10% is taken over from Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the two major shareholders of Microsoft, in the form of loans, and the other part is absorbed from the open market by the funds provided by Denise entertainment. Gates also personally went to Simon for this matter.

With the release date of windows 3.0 approaching, Microsoft's stock price has started to rise again in this period because of the outflow of the internal test version.

Holding 21.3% of Microsoft's shares has exceeded Simon's expectations, and westero does not plan to increase its stake in Microsoft next.

Westero's stake in Intel has also increased to 15.6%, which is also the result of its re absorption last year. On the basis of its original shareholding, westero has invested nearly US $300 million for the 5% or so shares, all of which are funded by daenerys entertainment.

Simon sat down behind his desk, and the female assistant handed over today's work schedule. She put down the paper and said, "the financial audit work will probably be finished next week. Here's a briefing. In addition, there is a salary package offered by warner for you to be the producer of "flash" and "steel bone", with a base salary of $2 million per film plus 10% of the local box office share. Finally, the company recently bought several novels and scripts, including Michael Clayton's Dinosaur science fiction

Hearing Michael Clayton's Dinosaur novel, Simon raised his head and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Jennifer noticed Simon's expression and offered to explain: "Amy communicated with Mr. Friedman in person, because other studios also noticed the project in Clayton's hands, and everyone made an offer. The final negotiated price is US $2.5 million, US $2 million for the buyout of the novel, US $500000 for the adaptation of the script, and the latter is the result of Mr. Friedman's insistence. "

Simon nodded to understand why Jonathan wanted it.

Michael Clayton will be able to get additional revenue share according to the basic agreement of the writers union after the film is released.

For an unpublished novel, the $2.5 million offer is a bit high.

Although Michael Clayton has made a big name in the fiction industry in recent years, the film and television projects he participated in before Jurassic Park were not successful. Last year, a crime thriller "the edge of the trap" directed by Clayton himself received only a pitiful $3.3 million at the box office with a production cost of $17 million. Columbia Pictures, the investor, simply lost blood There is no return.

That's why Jonathan can easily poach the other side from CAA to wma.

If it wasn't for Simon's intentions, Jonathan probably didn't have much interest in Clayton either.

With that in mind, Simon asked the female assistant, "when will the novel be published?"

"Clayton has just finished the outline of the story, at least until the end of the year."

"Transfer the information of this project to the special effects studio, and ask them to come up with a CG dinosaur development plan for me recently, and put the rest on hold for the time being."

Jennifer nodded, wrote it down on her memo, and continued, "and Joe Ross of fox called yesterday about terminator and asked if you'd be free to talk about it tomorrow night?"

Simon wondered, "tomorrow night?"

"Ross is organizing a reception at his home in cold water Canyon tomorrow night," said the assistant, tearing a page out of her pocket memo and saying, "here's the address."

"You can keep it for me," Simon pushed the page over again, looked at the female assistant and said with a smile, "why don't you go with me tomorrow night?"

Jennifer shook her head and said, "I've been very tired recently. I'm going home to sleep.""Or I'll turn to you after the reception. Belle is still very close to the cold water canyon. Remember to leave a window for me."

The female assistant turned her mouth and said, "my uncle has a very good hunting gun at home, which will beat you like a wild boar."

Jennifer has been living in her uncle George Norman's house, which may be because she is close enough. The female assistant has no psychological barrier like Simon.

Simon's face showed the expression of fear, but good strange way: "why is the boar?"

The female assistant tilted her delicate head with a ponytail and said, "it could also be a rabbit."

Not as good as a boar!

Simon pretended to be angry and waved his hand: "go out, boss is going to start working."

"Would you like some coffee?" she asked, smiling and helping Simon clean up the table

"Mineral water is OK. I've recently given up caffeine."

The assistant nodded and turned away.

Simon lowered his head and looked at today's schedule again. The production meeting of the pink league starts at nine o'clock and is expected to last all morning.

The preliminary preparations for "pink League" are ready, and shooting will begin next week.

Because it's a female film, Amy is basically in charge of this project. However, as one of the 10 film projects, Simon will attend the final production meeting in person.

Next, the rough cuts of ghost and Ninja tortoise have been completed. In the afternoon, I will discuss with the main creative team about the fine cuts and soundtrack in the later stage.

It's just that these three things are going to be busy until six o'clock in the afternoon.

Put aside the work schedule, Simon took the information just left by the female assistant, took away the top financial briefing, and planned to wait until the audit was completed, so as to save time.

The female assistant has already introduced the materials of Jurassic Park and put them aside.

Simon had a rough look at the pay plan for the producers of "flash" and "steel bone" and then signed an agreement. The following people will continue to negotiate with Warner on the detailed contract.

Finally, a stack of copyright materials for novels and scripts.

Like other Hollywood studios, Denise entertainment began to acquire the copyright of various novels and scripts when it was on the right track. Of course, most of them may end up in the end.

That's how Hollywood spends its annual budget for script development.

However, these expenses will also be included in other film projects according to the rules of Hollywood ledger.

In addition to Jurassic Park, there are seven copies of novels and scripts sent by Simon. In addition to the basic information of the project, there are all kinds of notes attached. Either the director is interested in the project, or the star is interested in acting, or the views of the corresponding producers on the script.

Hollywood circle is very small, or Simon's mind is too rich in information. Among the seven materials, Simon easily found a fairly familiar work: flowers of doomsday.

In my memory, this is a film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Susan Sarandon and Gina Davis. It seems that its reputation and box office are very good.

Amy wrote the project notes in person. She said that the actresses such as Gotty Han, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, who have seen the script, are interested in acting. Therefore, the project can be approved and the project budget is about $15 million.

15 million was a big production a few years ago, but now it's just below average.

Simon read over the outline of the story, and it suddenly occurred to him that this story might give Catherine a try.

Katherine is definitely a feminist in her heart. She just finished a similar highway style movie "night of the bloody corpse", which is very suitable for directing this project.

Thinking of this, Simon took the pencil and wrote his own notes on it, asking Amy to transfer the script to Catherine.

Katherine is about to start shooting "Thriller point", but as long as women are interested in the project, danylis entertainment can wait for her to finish the project before starting the film.

In addition to "the last flower", several other projects failed to arouse Simon's interest.

Next year, danielis Entertainment's key projects are basically foreign cooperation films like Batman: the dark knight and the end of the world. There are still many project vacancies. Therefore, Simon has given enough project approval authority to the leaders of the three brands, and he does not want to rely on him alone for the growing danielis entertainment.

After reading the information sent by the female assistant, it was almost nine o'clock.

The production meeting of "pink League" is held at Denise entertainment headquarters. Jennifer pushes in to remind the film director that penny Marshall and others have arrived. Simon gets up and rushes to the meeting room.

The next day was February 2, Friday.

Another week passed from January 26 to February 1.

In the past week, Batman: the moment of war still won the box office with $23.4 million, and the cumulative box office also reached $326.76 million. However, Hollywood's eyes were attracted by another stage adaptation film which was not so obvious.Driving for Miss Daisy.

Obviously, it's another movie from danielis entertainment.

Before that, at the 47th Golden Globe Awards of American film and television on January 20, "driving for Miss Daisy" won three awards of best picture, best actor and best actress in musical comedy.

Then, in the 62nd Academy Awards Nominations announced on January 22, "driving for Miss Daisy" won nine nominations including best picture, best director and best actor, making it the most nominated film in this year's Academy Awards.

Taking into account the nominations for "my left foot", "bodyguard", "sixth sense" and "Metropolis man", Denise entertainment has won 21 nominations in the coming Oscars, also ranking first among the studios.

"Batman: the moment of war" distribution rights to Warner, Terry Semel had hoped to PR for the film a best picture nomination, in order to boost the late box office. However, the Academy Awards judges are obviously not interested in the commercial nature of the film. The film finally won only three technical awards, and the relevant nominations were not included in the name of danielis entertainment.

Of course, this is a digression.

Back to driving for Miss Daisy, until January 25, the film remained in a small-scale state, and the Golden Globe only increased the number of screens to more than 200 in two weeks.

All in all, from December 8 to January 25 last year, although the reputation and popularity of "driving for Miss Daisy" has been on the rise, due to the limitation of screening scale, the cumulative box office of the film is only worth more than $10 million..

On January 26, taking advantage of the high attention brought by the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscar nominations, gaomen pictures increased the number of screens of "driving for Miss Daisy" from 278 to 895 at one time, and finally released the box office potential of the film.

In the first week of large-scale painting, "driving for Miss Daisy" took us $8.03 million at the box office with 895 screens, and the weekly box office ranking also jumped from the seventh place last week to the second place after "Batman: the moment of war".

After eight weeks of release, the cumulative box office only reached $18.37 million, which seems unable to compare with the box office of Batman: the moment of war in the sixth week.

However, in the first week of large-scale opening, the number of box office hits the second place in the weekly list. In this season of Golden Globe awards to Oscars, there are many awards. The box office popularity of "driving for Miss Daisy" can easily continue, and the film is bound to go out of a very bright growth box office curve.

Based on the box office of $8.03 million in the first week of large-scale painting, the industry predicts that the total box office of the film in North America is likely to reach more than $60 million.

The production budget of "driving for Miss Daisy" is only $7 million, and the scale of publicity is not comparable to Batman: time for war. The cumulative box office of $18.37 million in eight weeks is enough for Denise entertainment to recover all the production and publicity costs.

The total box office is expected to be 60 million US dollars, which is already a big sale.

Simon certainly knows that "driving for Miss Daisy" has more than 60 million box office potential.

However, in any case, it is an obvious fact that Denise entertainment has created a black horse at the box office again unconsciously.