Hollywood Hunter

The three of Simon discussed the release details of several of the company's films. Jennifer set up the projector, and together with Amy's assistant, Vanessa, closed the meeting room curtains and came to the recorder.

Simon beckoned, the female assistant pressed to play.

On the projection screen directly in front of the meeting room, the picture was lit. In the dark, blazing fire pool, with a sharp cry, an orange-red flamingo came out of the fire, hovering briefly in the air, and spread its wings. Fixed in the center of the picture, the flaming flames of the wings of the firebird form the two words'Daenerys-Pictures' below it, and a line of annotations is added below the company name:'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.

After only five seconds of the short intro, Robert Rem looked at Simon and said, "Phoenix?"

Simon nodded and explained: "The immortal bird in Greek mythology, every 500 years, this kind of bird will throw itself into the flames and be reborn in the fire. I like this legend very much, the undead bird in the picture just now The image will be used as the company logo for Daenerys Entertainment in the future. I hope Daenerys Entertainment will survive for a long time, even if it encounters difficulties, it can be reborn."

Big Hollywood film companies have impressive brand titles, such as the MGM lion, the Statue of Liberty in Colombia and so on.Starting from "Rola Run", in previous films, Daenerys has always used simple text titles, and the titles of New World Pictures and Gaomen Pictures are also very simple.

Now that the company is on track, Simon has hired a design company to formally design brand titles and company logos for Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures and Gaomen Pictures in recent months.

Robert Rem had just thought of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, a neighboring state in southeastern California.After listening to Simon's explanation, although he still doesn't quite understand the connection between the two nouns'Daenerys' and'Phoenix', he very much agrees with Simon's ideas.

Everyone briefly talked about it, Jennifer put another video tape into the VCR, and the new world film title quickly appeared on the screen: after a fierce thunder and thunder, the cloudy clouds dispersed, and the sky returned to blue again, and appeared at the same time. The CG stereo style'New-World-Pictures' is also marked with'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company' under the theme.

Among the proposals provided by several design companies participating in the bidding, Simon found that this idea was somewhat similar to the opening titles of Lionsgate.The positioning of New World Pictures is exactly the same as Lion Gate Pictures, Simon chose this solution directly.

Compared with the gorgeousness and publicity of the film titles of Daenerys and New World Pictures, the titles of Gaomen Pictures are full of literary and artistic atmosphere.

In the soft soundtrack, several rows of slowly flowing film films gradually formed the words'Highgate-Pictures' on a pure black background, and the carefully rendered picture appeared full of realism. The movie screen is still flashing, and under the name of Gaomen Pictures is still'A-Daenerys-Entertainment-Company'.

Later Hollywood film companies generally have the parent company’s label on their titles, because the wave of media group integration will only begin when Sony acquires Columbia next year, and no similar style of titles has emerged.

Simon enabled this model of adding the label of the parent company to the title of the brand in advance, mainly to quickly brand the brand impression of Daenerys Entertainment in the public mind.

After the three titles have been played, everyone will continue to discuss it, and then determine that the three titles will be released in the media and some movie lists to be released under the name of the three brands in the near future. This is also a good time for Daenerys Entertainment. Promotional opportunities.

After discussing this matter, it was already more than six o'clock, but Simon did not let Amy and Rem leave: "Let's have dinner together, there is another thing to discuss with you."

Robert Rem didn't think Simon was calling him from the valley at this time just to watch the titles of the three labels, so he readily agreed.

Amy naturally did not object.

The three left the company's headquarters and soon came to a nearby restaurant where Simon had reserved Jennifer's seats in advance.

"That's it, I found that neither of you was too concerned about Gaomen Pictures," after sitting down, everyone ordered a meal, and Simon went straight to the theme, saying: "The original film purchasing team of New World Entertainment has been placed. Gaomen Pictures, but unfortunately, last month's Venice Film Festival, Danny Morris led the team to Italy, and found nothing, and some of the projects he submitted to me during this time have no highlights."

Danny Morris was the former vice president of New World Entertainment's film purchasing department, and now also holds the title of vice president of Daenerys Entertainment as head of high-end film industry.

Amy and Rem heard Simon mention this and looked at each other. Robert Rem actively explained: "Simon, Hollywood literary films did prosper for some time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saul. Zahnz began to attract much attention in those years. At that time, big film companies also generally established a subsidiary named "Classic" to specialize in the art and film market. But now, because of the continuous increase in the cost of Hollywood production, the art film field There is no much profit at all. If you don’t count on your “Lola Run” last year, the best performing literary film in the market in recent years, the box office is generally only about 20 million US dollars, which is already a ceiling, more Literary and artistic films are actually loss-making, like Sol Zahnz's "Love in Prague" at the beginning of the year, with a production cost of 17 million US dollars, the total box office in North America was only 10 million. So, I don't think we need to be in this one Too much energy is wasted."

"What you said makes sense, Bob," Simon nodded seriously. "However, since Hollywood can show a "Laura Run", there will definitely be a second or more. And you Have you noticed the development trend of the cinema industry in recent years?"

Amy wondered: "Simon, are you saying that you and the government are letting go of the restrictions on movie companies operating theater lines?"

"No," Simon shook his head and looked at Robert Rem. "Bob, AMC, you must know?"

"This is a chain of theater companies operated by the Duwood family, headquartered in Kansas City, Nebraska. The biggest feature of the AMC theater line is the launch of a large number of multi-hall cinemas. The number of cinemas this company currently owns in North America is probably 150, the number of screens exceeds 1,300. However, the audience capacity of their projection halls is generally low." Robert Rem expertly introduced AMC materials, said: "I have already talked to the AMC manager on Monday After the issue, Simon, wouldn’t you intend to acquire the cinema? AMC has developed very rapidly in recent years, and the Duwood family will not sell it. The United States Cinema was originally a good goal, but it was only recently adopted at the beginning of the year. John Malone’s telecom company holdings, we have also missed the opportunity."

Simon denied: "In a short period of time, Daenerys Entertainment will not be involved in the cinema market. I am just talking about a trend. Bob, multi-cinema cinema is a doomed trend."

Robert Rem nodded: "It is indeed the case, the AMC model is very successful, the industry is tracking attempts, but Simon, is this related to the topic we are talking about?"

"Of course, although the overall number of audiences in North America does not increase too quickly each year, I believe that with the popularity of multi-room theaters, the total number of screens in North America will definitely increase significantly in the next few years. Multi-room means diversity A movie theater has ten screening halls, even if they put out eight for screening mainstream commercials, but because they have too many screens, operators will definitely consider introducing some literary films that meet the tastes of a small number of audiences on the other two screens. On the air, this is the opportunity."

Amy heard Simon say this, but couldn't help saying: "Simon, even if you are right, but is it better that we focus our attention on the'eight screens'?"

Because of the lack of examples, Simon found himself unable to explain to Amy and Rem how prosperous the independent film market led by New Line and Miramax was in the 1990s.

In this case, Simon soon decided not to explain too much, but to use his advantages as a boss: "Okay, in this case, Gaomen Films will be stripped out and reintegrated into a child who is directly responsible for me. Company. I think Danny Morris should be so slack with the same concept as you, then let him take charge of New World Pictures, "Butterfly Effect", "The Grim Reaper" and the new line " The success of these films in the "Ghost Street" series is ahead, and I think he should no longer feel coldly met."

Robert Rem didn't expect Simon to see Danny Morris' thoughts so thoroughly.

As the former head of the film purchasing department of New World Entertainment, Danny Morris still has a lot of power. After all, most of New World Entertainment’s previous films were purchased from outside.The two companies completed the merger, and Simon sent Danny Morris to take charge of the high-end film industry. The executive inevitably had a feeling of being assigned.

Literary and artistic films, this is simply synonymous with not making money.

Robert Rem and Danny Morris are not just subordinates, their personal friendship is also very good.

Danny Morris has talked to Robert Rem several times before.Daenerys Entertainment is clearly rising rapidly. He never thought of resigning, but just wanted to change to a more functional position, even if he was transferred to the distribution work.

Robert Rem also recently wanted to find a chance to talk about this with Simon. Unexpectedly, before he could mention it, Simon took the initiative to fulfill Danny Morris' wish.

However, Robert Rem was not happy for Danny Morris.

Judging by Simon's remarks earlier, his boss clearly had high expectations for Gaomen Pictures. Before he was appointed to Danny Morris to take charge of the company, it was obviously a recognition of his ability.Now, Danny Morris must have lost a lot of points in Simon's mind. If he can't do anything in the position of New World Pictures, the result can be imagined.

After dinner, Simon began to find a new person in charge for Gaomen Pictures the next day.

In fact, Hollywood has two best candidates out there, the Weinstein brothers.

This year, they are only in their thirties, and the Weinstein brothers have been in Hollywood for more than ten years and have accumulated enough experience.

Moreover, Miramax is in a bad situation.Two years ago, the brothers had their brains out, and good publishers did not run as directors, imitating the style of John Hughes, and self-directed a youth film "See You Have a Share", which ended in a box office defeat. Miramax As a result, he almost went bankrupt, and he hasn't recovered in the past two years.

If Simon now recruits the brothers, there is a high probability of success.

Although Harvey is notorious for sex scandals many years later, in Hollywood, if Simon has this kind of moral cleanliness, he doesn't even want to continue to run Daenerys Entertainment.

It's just that these two brothers aren't really the kind of people who are under the dominance.

In the original time and space, Miramax as a subsidiary of Disney, the Harvey brothers frequently confronted the parent company.

At that time, Disney was negotiating with the Bush administration on the issue of cable television licenses that were critical to the company. The brothers still invested in "Fahrenheit 911", which tried to pull Bush down, under repeated warnings from Michael Eisner.Although this documentary made a lot of money, it made the entire Disney wear small shoes by the Bush administration.

After Miramax’s announcement, the Harvey brothers have always tried to get rid of the company’s business focus on literary and artistic films, but the investment in the "Lengshan" and "Flightman" and other big production films have failed. The brothers It also ended up with Disney.

Simon once watched the entire Weinstein sex scandal. He felt that if the Weinstein brothers did not break away from Disney, the storm would not happen at all.Just like John Lasseter, the head of Disney's animation business was also exposed by the news of sexual harassment of female employees during the incident, but the results did not turn up many waves.

Many people had a big lead in that turmoil, but John Lasseter still unlimitedly logged in as the "Big Four" of the Disney Empire with Robert Iger, Kevin Fitch, and Catherine Kennedy. Vanity Fair magazine cover.

It is conceivable that if Harvey Weinstein did not break away from the Disney system, Disney should be the "Big Five", in addition to Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm and Pixar Animation, plus the invincible Miramax in the Oscar field, Disney's media giant will definitely be more flamboyant.

Since he did not intend to recruit the Weinstein brothers to add to his own block, Simon also decided to suppress the brothers while they had not yet risen, avoiding the subsequent competition between Miramax and High Gate Films.

Moreover, it is not difficult to do this.

In the original space and time, Miramax released the "Sex, Lies, and Video" next year, and then stepped into the fast lane with the success of this Golden Palm film. Successful films are also very clear, and you can easily get rid of them.

Without the selling project, Miramax, who has not walked out of the mud in the past two years, could not last long.

Simultaneously with the high-end film industry, Simon's main energy in the near future is still on the casting of several films such as "Batman" and "Sixth Sense of Extraordinary" and "Bodyguard". Most of the protagonists of these films have been determined. , But the selection of some key supporting roles cannot be ignored.

In addition, although it was obviously intentionally delayed a bit, on October 12, another Wednesday, the MPAA finally passed the R-level review of "Scream", and the seven majors have obviously not yet entered a head-to-head battle with Daenerys Entertainment. Determination.

"Scream" was approved, and Daenerys Entertainment also started the sprint promotion two weeks before the film's release.Moreover, because of the excitement of the success of a series of films by Daenerys Entertainment and the general content shortage of theater dealers after the screenwriter strike, Robert Rem finally signed 1755 screens for "Scream". It may be more than the scale of the original film.

"Death Poetry Club" also received 1,693 screens. After all, it is a popular Christmas file, which is slightly less than "Scream".However, because the female movie "Steel Magnolia" is generally not optimistic, each theater line finally gave only 922 screens.

However, the release of "Scream", "Death Poetry Society" and "Steel Magnolia" all went well, but "Rainman", which MGM is responsible for, is out of order.