Chapter 1027 Apple... Pie
Simon continued to spend the weekend in Australia before heading back to North America on his own again on Monday. Although in the end, even Amy Pascal reminded him in a private call with Simon that maybe he should go to the Titanic set, which was obviously out of control. Producers on a budget, don't waste time arguing with James Cameron, and try to work with each other to finish the film.
This is already a hint of laissez-faire.
In fact, Simon didn't ignore it completely, and privately asked someone to re-estimate. According to the progress at this time, Cameron will need about 1.5 billion US dollars to complete the film. Dollars to save a lot.
In addition, the former Titanic also indirectly made James Cameron's light storm special effects studio. This time, starting from Terminator 2, all the special effects technologies involved in Cameron's film production are retained in Danieli Silk special effects, and the Titanic, it seems to outsiders that it is not as dazzling as Star Wars, Transformers and other movies, but the special effects technology contained in it is only a lot more.
These special effects innovations are quite valuable technical assets for Daenerys special effects.
In addition, Simon really hopes that Daenerys will have a little entertainment and entertain the public. After all, even if the Titanic fails completely this time, it will not hurt the Daenerys Entertainment Group, which has completed a comprehensive and diversified layout. fundamental.
In short, Kashen can play casually this time.
Simon pays.
Back in Los Angeles, the local time is still September 9.
on Monday.
Simon first paid attention to the 1996 summer season that has officially ended, which is actually the confidence that Daenerys Entertainment can support James Cameron to play casually.
The duration of this summer vacation period, to be precise, is from the release of Evaporation Secret and Romeo and Juliet on May 10, to the full opening of schools in North America on September 5, lasting a total of 17 weeks, and the just past September 6 to On the weekend of September 8, the weekend box office in the North American market dropped from more than 62 million in the same period last week, marking the end of the summer season.
As long as 17 weeks, a total of 6 films and 6 movies have emerged in North America with a box office exceeding 100 million yuan, all of which have more or less connections with Daenerys Entertainment, even if Daenerys Entertainment did not intervene in investment and distribution at all. Eddie Murphy's new film, Professor Fatty, was also privately pushed to Fox by Simon.
You must know that Professor Fatty in the Original Time and Space is a film invested by Universal Pictures, and Universal is now part of Daenerys Entertainment.
Moreover, in addition to the 6 films with over 100 million domestic box office, the entire summer season, not to mention cooperation projects such as The Mummy and Mission Impossible 2, are just films independently produced by the three labels of Daenerys Entertainment, whether it is Black Man, Police Empire , Ice Blood Storm, etc., have achieved quite good results.
If the timeline is extended to the first eight months of 1996 from the beginning of the year to the end of the summer vacation on September 5, there have been 9 movies with box office exceeding 100 million in North American theaters, namely:
First place: Spectre 007 Second place: Mission Impossible $221.6 billion.
Third place: Sleeping Hollow, $17.7 billion. Fourth place: Mummy, $15.6 billion.
Fifth place: Rush Hour, $14.1 billion.
No. 6: The Haunting of the Mortuary 2, No. 7: Romeo and Juliet, No. 1 No. 8: Professor Fat Man, No. 1 No. 9: Detective Plane Head 2, $10.8 billion.
The entire list is clear at a glance.
Among them, Daenerys Entertainment has produced 5 of the 9 films by itself, and there are also two co-production films, even the No. 1 007 Spectre, because MGM's distribution capabilities are insufficient, overseas Daenerys Entertainment is responsible for the distribution of many markets, so it is also a stake.
There is only one fat professor, which is completely exclusive to Fox.
Although the first place on the list is temporarily occupied by the 007 Spectre Party produced by MGM, although Simon actually does not want to compete for the limelight of this first place, considering that at the end of the year, the distribution rights in the Cinematic Universe series happen to belong to Daenerys Entertainment's Wonder Woman 2 is released, and the final result of the annual list is still unknown.
In any case, just looking at the list so far, Daenerys Entertainment is no less than Disney at its peak in Simon's memory.
If we can completely sort out the relationship between this series of films, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Simon has basically controlled the entire Hollywood at this time. In the century-old history of Hollywood, Louis Mayer, who was once in the limelight, has more power than this Simon at that time was nowhere near as good.
Daenerys Studios.
In Simon's office, as an insider, David Geffen, who has watched the entire rise of Simon Westeros, looked at the young man opposite, and couldn't help but be filled with emotion. Even the Geffen Records he founded back then was already part of Daenerys Records.
And now, not to mention other things, just the power of this young man in Hollywood is enough for everyone to look up to.
On the sofa in the reception area, Simon took a sip of the soda that the girl had just delivered. He was a little uncomfortable looking at David Geffen. You must know that this is a Hollywood recognized big man who came out of the closet. Put down the glass and Simon goes straight to the topic Said: "David, I have a meeting later, so let's make a long story short."
"Oh, of course," David Geffen quickly put his thoughts away and said, "I have already sent an email in advance about the matter. DreamWorks hopes to buy the rescue movie from Daenerys Entertainment.
Bing Ryan script, Simon, I also checked in advance, Daenerys has not made any preparations for this project, I think you should not mind changing hands. "
Simon was noncommittal and said, "David, Saving Private Ryan is a World War II-themed script, and it must be a blockbuster-level investment. The risk is very high. Why do you want to make this project?"
"It's mainly..." David Geffen wanted to prevaricate and hesitated a little, but he finally told the truth, with a wry smile on his face: "Well, Simon, it was actually Steven who saw this script. Afterwards, I was very moved, but unfortunately we were late."
Hollywood is full of intrigue.
It's just, for Simon Westeros, if he used a lie today, even if he got the script to save Private Ryan, once the matter is revealed, this young man can't just admit his bad luck like other deceived filmmakers. , the entire DreamWorks will be implicated. Rather than telling the truth.
Even if it wasn't for Spielberg's request, David Geffen didn't want to accept the job at all. As a shareholder of DreamWorks, his attitude is consistent with what Simon just said, and he is also not very optimistic about such a huge investment in the future. A popular war movie.
Simon had already guessed the general inside story, and since Geffen confessed, he didn't go around any further and said, "Since Steven is interested, Daenerys can let it go. However, it just happened to be an opportunity, Why don't Steven pay back the last movie contract he owes Daenerys Entertainment this time."
David Geffen didn't expect Simon to agree so readily, but he was stunned again.
Looking at the expression on Westeros' face, this big man who has been in Hollywood for many years, inexplicably feels that he may have stepped into a pit on his own initiative.
But, this can only be said to be a feeling.
No evidence.
However, David Geffen quickly reacted. If this project can be made into a cooperative film with Daenerys Entertainment, it will also be a good thing for DreamWorks, which has been ambitious and has not developed so smoothly after its establishment.
The problem is that Spielberg asked him to come over and talk about the script, but he didn't want to have any contact with Daenerys Entertainment anymore. After all, after the success of the Jurassic Park series, Daenerys kicked him out of the game. Well, Spielberg made two hits, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, for Daenerys Entertainment.
The fact that the young man on the opposite side later threw off Spielberg and started new people was really cold.
Simon saw that David Geffen was hesitant, and then said: "David, you can go back and discuss with Steven, if he wants this project, my conditions are also very simple, our two companies will invest together, Dan Nellis Entertainment is in charge of the distribution, oh, in terms of production, I'm very comfortable with Steven, so I won't interfere at all."
There's one more thing Simon didn't say. It's easy to think about whether it's Geffen or Spielberg. After completing this project, the film contract that Spielberg owes from Universal Times will be completely cleared this time.
Seeing that Simon has made clear conditions, David Geffen nodded slightly, but said again: "The problem is, Simon, we have an agreement with Paramount."
"This is not a problem. I think Paramount can also talk about it. For Daenerys, I only ask for half of the investment share and the distribution rights of the film."
David Geffen was not very optimistic about saving Private Ryan, but at this time, seeing Simon Westero, who was still expressing the same attitude, asked this, he immediately confirmed some intuitions just now, and naturally he felt , leaving only half of the investment share to share with DreamWorks and Paramount is definitely not enough.
However, after continuing the discussion, Simon refused to give in any more, so he had to get up temporarily to leave, thinking about how to go back to discuss with Spielberg, and, or whether he could get rid of Paramount completely.
Sending off Geffen, Simon was about to attend the American production meeting that had just been approved some time ago, but was temporarily stopped by another incident.
The girl brought the news that had just arrived from San Francisco.
After this period of secret negotiation, the girl in charge of Tinkber successfully negotiated an acquisition agreement with Apple.
After all, it's just a small business of billions of dollars. Simon explained it to the girl last month. In just one month, Apple agreed to Tinkbell's acquisition offer.
Mainly because Apple is really dead.
It is clear that the new technology industry has flourished in recent years. As an old giant who created the era, Apple has been bucking the trend all the way under the impact of Microsoft. The most direct manifestation is the market value, which was as high as 70 in the early 1990s. With a market value of more than $100 million, Apple’s market value has almost fallen to the $2 billion threshold recently, which has shrunk by more than 70% compared to its peak.
Moreover, Apple, which could barely maintain profits in previous years, has fallen into a quagmire of losses since last year. In the first two quarters of this year, Apple's total losses have reached more than 600 million US dollars.
Barring a miracle, Apple will go bankrupt in at most two years.
On the other hand, this time, Jobs, who had already sold Pixar to Simon, has unknowingly fallen into obscurity. Without the appeal brought by Toy Story, it is impossible for the other party to return to the helm of Apple, and Simon does not intend to allow this. situation occurs.
Therefore, selling to Tin Coble is almost the only way out for Apple.
Even probably many people will not quite understand the intention of Tinkerbell's acquisition of Apple.
Continue to a nearby conference room and signal to Danny Morris, the president of New World Pictures.
To start the meeting, Simon is holding a draft of the acquisition agreement that Tinkbell had reached with Apple.
Tinkber will acquire Apple in the form of cash and stock, and the final transaction price is US$2.8 billion. Compared with the market value of about US$2.1 billion at this time, the premium will be paid, and the other US$1.6 billion will be Tinkable. 's stock.
At the same time, Tinkerbell will also assume about $1.2 billion in Apple's debt.
Calculated, the total transaction value is 4 billion US dollars.
That's a markedly high price relative to Apple's depressed state at this point. However, the higher offer is also the key to Tinkerbell being able to negotiate a proper acquisition agreement within a month. After all, once the time drags on for too long and the news leaks, Apple's stock price may go up within a few days. As for Apple, at this time, Datin Kerber didn't have the confidence to be a fat sheep, and he probably didn't want to dream too much at night.
So this is basically the final solution.
As long as Simon has no objection here, the news will be announced tomorrow morning.
In addition, such an acquisition will not encounter any resistance from the authorities' review, and Simon can now consider the next step.
The first is the system.
Since Igreit got the original source code of the n system in 1991, Simon began to plan a graphical interface operating system with n as the kernel. At present, the Igreat team has been developing for 5 consecutive years and has begun to use it for Igreat. The operating system of Great's self-built data center.
As for the version, it was planned to be officially launched in 1997. Now, with Apple and a series of core patents for the graphical interface operating system, the Westeros system will also be free from Microsoft's patent barriers.
The big deal is a lawsuit.
Second, is the hardware.
Many people may not know that the British company that proposed the architecture was first invested by Apple, and now Apple is still a major shareholder. In recent years, the Newton tablet is a processor using the architecture.
Take Apple, and then take full control.
Then, use the resources of the Westeros system to fully promote the research and development of architecture chips suitable for mobile electronic devices, even if the mobile Internet era may take 10 years to fully arrive, but in the case that products such as , r and other products have been successful, the chip As the core, it is more than enough to develop more portable mobile electronic devices, and create a mini family-style mobile interconnection ecosystem through Bluetooth, etc. technologies that have appeared at this time.
Simon had seen the draft agreement between Tinkobel and Apple, and quickly began to write all kinds of brainstorms on the scratch paper in front of him. Before he knew it, an hour had passed.
It wasn't until Danny Morris reminded me that it was an American Pie production meeting.
Simon quickly glanced at the meeting memo handed over by the girl next to him, and finally retracted his mind and turned to the theme of this meeting, and said to Danny Morris and others: "About this project, at the public level, we need to package the film into a tape. There is a story about youth and growth with special connotations, but you must understand that, in fact, the selling point of this film is only one word, sex. Only by firmly grasping this point, whether it is the production of the film or the future release, Everyone will not go astray.”
Over the years, many movies in Simon's memory have been dropped by butterflies, and many movies that have never been heard have appeared.
The American Pie under discussion belongs to a story that was lucky not to be dropped by the butterfly. Although the details of the script differ greatly from Simon's memory, the overall situation has not changed much, so it was decisively won by Simon and gave the whole green light.
Once the American Pie, after the first movie sold more than 200 million at the global box office at a cost of only 11 million US dollars, even Simon couldn't remember how many sequels were made.
Although there are various analyses of the core of the film, youth, growth, Barabara, but in fact, the key to the success of this series is indeed only one word, sex. The film even coined proper nouns such as this that became a fixed adult vocabulary, so you can see it.
As for the others, they are all foils outside this core.
So, for this new version of American Pie to be successful, Simon will have to get the New World Pictures team to understand the heart of the project, no matter how a more vulgar theme is painted in the future.
Catch the main contradiction.
Although there is no comparison with the movie universe, or even the conjuring movie universe, but according to memory, this series is actually a gold mine. , including several non-theatrical releases that were only available on videotape and the market.
Daenerys Entertainment still has a huge Blockbuster video chain system, so it can maximize the benefits of this series in all directions. Combined with the information in memory, this seemingly unremarkable youth film series, if properly developed, will be enough to bring Daenerys Entertainment a billion-dollar revenue in the future.