Chapter 1543: There Are Big Benefits in It
After the US version of Girls' High Ghost Story started on October 22nd, on October 29th, a new week, the Halloween schedule officially opened. Daenerys Entertainment launched the first part of the latest branch series of the Conjuring movie universe, Ghost Nun.
Although it belongs to the Conjuring Movie Universe series, as the first film, the production cost of The Ghost Nun is still not high, and the production level of 15 million US dollars is still maintained. However, in order to promote this branch series, the New World Pictures team issued an announcement for the project The budget also came in at $15 million, matching the cost.
The number of screens opened for the film is 3137, and the Halloween schedule is the highest.
Compared with the core The Conjuring and the other two branches, after the early premiere of The Ghost Nun, the word-of-mouth is a bit unsatisfactory. The comprehensive media score is only 7.1 points, so people are a little worried about the market performance of this movie.
Fortunately, the reputation of the Conjuring Movie Universe, which has been managed for three consecutive series, is quite strong, and, with a score of 7.1, it is not a bad review after all. From the first day of release, Daenerys was relieved by the film's market performance.
After the lively Halloween, the first weekend ended. From October 28th to October 31st, the three-day box office revenue of Ghost Nun reached 37.19 million US dollars, which is quite outstanding. Subsequently, for a full week, the total box office of this Halloween-themed horror film reached 56.35 million, which was another brilliant performance in the first week of entering the profit cycle.
In addition to the popular ghost nun, the US version of the female high ghost talk market performed as expected in the second week of its release. The box office fell by 41% in the second week, and it continued to earn 16.15 million US dollars, so the cumulative box office reached 43.36 million US dollars.
The total investment of production and publicity is only 15 million U.S. dollars, and the two-week box office is 43.36 million U.S. dollars. Taking into account overseas and follow-up, the income brought by the American version of Girls' Tales to Daenerys Entertainment is second only to the Conjuring movie universe in the same period of this Halloween. The new film Ghost Nun is enviable.
In contrast, among the new Halloween 1999 films, which also opened on October 29, only MGM's Fatal Encounters, a crime thriller, has been able to keep up with Daenerys' pace. The good Australian actor Russell Crowe and the tall beauty Uma Thurman starred, and the veteran actor Ed Harris partnered. The production cost was 35 million US dollars, the publicity was 10 million US dollars, and the box office in the first week was 37.76 million US dollars.
With an estimated domestic box office gross of $70 million to $90 million, MGM will be able to recoup its costs just by relying on the domestic market, and overseas distribution will become profitable.
Let alone other things, Warner has launched a sci-fi thriller this Halloween, inviting Matt Damon and Sean Penn, as well as Hollywood beauties Jennifer Connelly, the name is AI Crisis, and it tells the story of the actor played by Mada who has stopped having autonomy. The story of an intelligent artificial intelligence trying to destroy humanity.
Perhaps saving the world violated Ma Da’s destiny. After all, Comrade Damon was always destined to be saved. Therefore, at a cost of US$55 million, the box office of AI Crisis in the first week was only US$17.96 million, ending in a loss.
As for the other companies, the market performance of new films is even more bleak, needless to say.
The time entered November of 1999.
These days, Simon is more concerned about two big things.
The first is the officially opened Ukrainian presidential election, which is the first presidential election since Ukraine promulgated its constitution in 1996.
Compared with Russia's various undercurrents for the next year's presidential election, after all, it is a small country, and Ukraine's presidential election will be relatively peaceful.
Unlike the United States, Ukraine’s general election adopts a universal suffrage system with unified counting of votes. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of more than 50% of the votes in the first round of elections, a second election will be held for the top two candidates with the most votes.
After the polling day on October 31, according to statistics, the incumbent President Leon Kuchma won 36% of the votes, and Petro Simonenko, the second representative of the Ukrainian Communist Party, got 22% of the votes. No one won an absolute majority. , and successfully entered the second game.
However, with the gap between the two candidates leading the first round of elections, there are few surprises in the second round.
On the Westeros system side, the Ukrainian Progressive Union Party formed by the Rovno gang is a staunch supporter of the current President Leon Kuchma in this presidential election.
At the moment, the ending is basically determined, and then some strategies need to be adjusted.
After being successfully re-elected, according to some memories of Simon, Kuchma started preparations for the third term just after the start of the second term.
Simon will never allow this to happen.
After all, just like the later Russia or neighboring Belarus, a president who has been in office for too long and is deeply rooted will stabilize the country's political situation.
The other two don't mention it, but Ukraine, Simon will not allow this country to be too stable, otherwise, how can the Westeros system easily penetrate and eventually completely control it.
Simon's plan, the next term, is to push Yushchenko, the former spokesperson of the United States, to let the other party serve for one or two terms depending on the situation, and the Rovno gang will continue to stand behind the scenes. Ukraine will continue to operate, and then, when Yushchenko's term of office is over, it will be time for the Rovno gang to officially stand in front of the stage.
Of course, this is only an ideal goal.
If the ending is not ideal, for example, in the worst case, even if the entire Rivne State is reduced to ruins in the unpredictable war, Simon is not unacceptable, after all, it has nothing to do with the foundation of the Westeros system.
Another thing is that on November 3, Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner Lambert, another large pharmaceutical giant in the United States, by Cersei Capital’s Apollo Management Company, is in full swing.
On this day, the top executives of both parties launched the first non-public acquisition negotiation.
The United States does not belong to the country of universal health insurance, but the expenditure on health care in the national budget has reached an outrageous level.
For example, in 1999, the total fiscal budget of the United States was 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars, of which military expenditure was 270 billion U.S. dollars, but health care expenditure was as high as 330 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to the current population of 280 million in the United States, and the per capita expenditure was close to 1,200 U.S. dollars.
For comparison, in China, the per capita annual income in 1999 was estimated to be only US$870.
Some people may think that such a high investment just proves that the US government cares about people's health and well-being.
Standing in the current position, Simon has a million approvals.
Then, as a super capitalist, the Westeros system will spare no effort to enter the medical field of the United States.
There are big benefits in it.
The Westeros system has quietly absorbed about 10% of Pfizer's shares in the past few years. For Pfizer, which is already a publicly held company, it is already the largest shareholder. In addition, Westeros' shareholding in Warner Lambert has also reached 7%. With the continuous withdrawal of the Mellon family before, it is also the shareholder with the largest single shareholding.
Therefore, it is obvious that the merger of the two companies is actually a merger of their own.
After the merger is completed, the new Pfizer will become the world's largest pharmaceutical group.
In the Westeros system, although it is far from an absolute shareholding, as the largest shareholder, coupled with the shareholding of subsidiary capital such as Black Rock Asset Management, they took the opportunity to install both the board of directors and management of the new company. For his own people, the Westeros system is basically the actual controller of this super pharmaceutical giant.
New York.
The time comes to November 5th, Friday.
In China, Mount Everest is opening today. Chen Qing also specifically mentioned in the previous email that there was a grand premiere a week in advance, and the scene was very lively. It is expected that the box office will not be too bad.
He also talked about the project of exploring the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon that was derived from this.
Simon also remembered that he had seen news about this longest and deepest canyon in the world in the past two years. It happened to be a sequel to Mount Everest. It was very good, so he directly agreed to let him contact Daenerys over there. .
As for excluding China Film and CCTV this time, but cooperating with Jiangsu, Simon didn't say anything.
The two families must try their best to win over, after all, it is easy to imagine that if the son is not doing well and is adopted more than him, and he goes to sue his parents, who will be unlucky?
Therefore, it must be offered.
Just like the big projects discussed last time, not only me and my motherland, but also other films will actively attract China Film to participate. This can both share financial risk and reduce other risks. In short, in China's film and television industry, don't put making money as the first priority. You have to be better at being a human being in order to last for a long time.
Simon flew to the east coast yesterday. His main job in the morning was to discuss Pfizer's acquisition of Warner Lambert with the Apollo management company team. James Raybould, who was in charge of Westeros, also participated.
For the Westeros system, the real goal of this acquisition is to achieve the greatest degree of control over the new company in the future.
After all, after the merger of the new company, the management must be adjusted.
Westeros Corporation, Cersei Capital, plus Goldman Sachs, First Boston, etc., who have made friends with this side, of course, are headed by this side. At that time, they can easily realize a cage change.
Still the same reason, for a publicly held company with extremely dispersed equity, controlling the company's board of directors and management is tantamount to controlling the company.
Simon set a goal very early on to control the major American corporate giants one by one as much as possible through a similar model.
Controlling as many corporate giants in the United States and the world as possible is tantamount to controlling the global economy, and further, it is tantamount to controlling the world.
It is a big goal, but in fact, it is not as difficult as imagined to achieve it.
Just like in ancient China, after a founding king has accumulated enough strength, he can grasp the general situation, defeat all opponents, control a country, and even establish a brand new empire. It only takes a few years or a dozen years.