Chapter 950 Elopement
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Sophia, who was chatting with a guest, felt a big hand wrap around her waist, looked at the man beside her, and joked, "I thought I wouldn't see you tonight."
Simon nodded to the opposite guest and said to Sophia, "It's time for us to go back."
"OK."
Sophia agreed with a smile, and the two greeted some necessary guests and walked out of the auction house together.
After getting into the car, Sophia wisely did not mention a woman at the reception, but said: "Agnelli just asked me about some details of Westeros system's investment in China, and it seems that he does not intend to give up. into China."
In the auction house lounge, Sofia also sat in on the conversation between Simon and Gianni Agnelli.
Simon said: "That's for sure, but whether it will succeed is another matter."
"I think he still wants to work with us."
"The key is the issue of control. If Fiat enters China, Agnelli will not give up control of the project, and if he cannot win the initiative, I will not participate, so there is no agreement at all."
Sophia looked at the little man beside her, with a bit of love and admiration in her tone: "If it were me, I would definitely be very willing to take a step back. This is working with Simon Westeros."
"It's hard to imagine how much better the world would be if everyone could make sensible and correct choices."
"Anyway, with you, my world is the most beautiful."
Simon reached out and grabbed the woman's face and kissed it, and suddenly turned serious: "It's useless to please me, but I'm very tired in the afternoon, and I won't do anything tonight."
Sophia rolled a glance at someone, then came over again, and the two kissed again.
Set off again the next morning.
At Milan Malpensa International Airport, Simon said goodbye to Sofia who came to see him off. He boarded the gangway and just entered the Boeing 767 cabin when a crescent-eyed woman whom he had just seen at the reception last night greeted him.
"Oh, Simon, it feels like a dream. I'm probably crazy. We just met last night, and you're going to America today, and it's my first time in America, and I'm not even proficient in English."
Alessandra Martinis said so in Italian, but she already took Simon's arm naturally, and she couldn't help but look around.
This was also the first time she flew a private jet. She didn't expect it to be such a luxurious Boeing 767, and the man around her made Martinis feel like a dream.
Simon Westeros.
No matter what happens next, this is a past event that will be enough to write down in my memoirs in the future, if there is a memoir.
That's why the man invited him last night, and she agreed without even thinking about it.
33-year-old Alessandra Martinis is married to a descendant of a wealthy French aristocrat. However, compared with Simon Westeros, her husband can only barely maintain a decent reputation The family has absolutely nothing to show for it.
The reason why she married each other a few years ago was that Martinis had hoped that her husband's family, who was related to the French film and television industry, would help her develop her career, but unfortunately she miscalculated. Until now, she is a small star who is reluctant in the third tier of France.
So, when I met Simon last night, when this man showed interest in her, he was resolute and desperate.
After all, once missed, such an opportunity may never come again.
All in all, it was an elopement.
Taking the woman to the living room in the middle of the cabin, Simon motioned for the other party to sit down on the leather chair near the porthole and sat next to him. A maid from the Wei family took the initiative to help Alexandra fasten her seat belt.
Simon himself fastened his seat belt skillfully, and said to the confused woman beside him: "It may be a little bumpy during takeoff, and we can move freely after it stabilizes."
Alexandra nodded quickly.
She didn't know this, and thought that private jets didn't need any restrictions. Fortunately, she didn't make a fool of herself by asking random questions.
When the waitress fastened her seat belt and left, Simon looked at the cautious look of the woman beside him, and asked with a smile, "Ali, have you had breakfast yet?"
Alexandra subconsciously wanted to nod, but she said honestly, "Not yet."
Didn't sleep all night last night.
After dawn, she was busy getting dressed again, and when the car sent by Simon came to pick her up, she rushed over immediately, and didn't even think of eating.
Simon said: "You can't eat breakfast. I'll let them prepare it later."
"Thank you, Simon, you are so considerate."
Girl a came over at this time, holding a stack of documents in her hand, handed some of the newspapers to Simon, and sat down opposite herself.
Simon took the newspaper and saw that Alexandra was slightly embarrassed by Lady A's indifference, and helped introduce: "This is A, my assistant."
Alexandra took the initiative to reach out and changed her English, which was obviously not very proficient: "Hello, a, I'm Alexandra Martinis, you can call me Yali."
The girl a didn't deny someone face to face, and shook hands with Alexandra.
The waitress who just helped fasten the seat belt came over again, checked with Simon, and then informed the crew to prepare for takeoff.
While chatting casually with Alexandra, Simon picked up the newspaper handed over by girl a. This is a French "Western newspaper", the national daily newspaper with the largest circulation in France. Girl a has already marked it.
A relatively unimportant but prominent current affairs section of the newspaper was a commentary in response to yesterday's announcement by the Rwandan government that it had found new evidence of French involvement in the massacre.
The position is right.
The article severely criticized the Rwandan government's accusations as totally groundless slander, and a deliberate smearing act under the control of some anti-French forces.
The newspapers did not specify which side the so-called 'anti-French forces' were. tv starter..
A note was posted next to the report, explaining that although "Western News" claimed to be neutral, it was actually the mouthpiece of the French government. Simon immediately understood that it was probably like a super newspaper in China.
Then there was a French leftist newspaper Humane.
Compared with "Western News", which deliberately put related incident articles on a lower page, "Humanitarian" directly put the headline on the front page, briefly recalling the Rwanda genocide that shocked the world two years ago. At the same time, the article strongly urged the French The government has set up a special investigation team to investigate members of the French military who may have been involved in the massacre that year.
The article also criticized a series of military policies of current President Chirac, especially the nuclear test program that has been restarted since he took office last year.
After taking office in June 1995, the French government suddenly announced the restart of nuclear tests. From September 1995 to January 1996, in less than half a year, the French army intensively carried out the French New Coredonia Islands in the South Pacific. Six consecutive nuclear tests. "Humanitarian" criticized Chirac's move as likely to provoke a new round of nuclear arms race, bringing the entire human race into an unknowable and dangerous situation.
Looking at several other newspapers, the attitudes are basically half-and-half.
There is no one-sidedness. In fact, it is conceivable to imagine the pressure of public opinion faced by the French government at this time. After all, the crime of participating in the Holocaust is like Germany. original sin.
Because Chirac, a right-wing politician, came to power, the already discordant US-France relations were tense again.
Although Simon's use of Rwanda to attack France was out of personal grudges, it actually coincides with the general trend. This matter will not be ended just by a New York Times article yesterday, but until the French government privately gives Simon an explanation.
Or, there may be no explanation, but torn faces against each other.
Simon has no qualms about this either.
At that time, the Westeros system will lose at most some business in France, and what France loses, it is difficult to determine.
A quick glance at a few newspapers and the Boeing 767 also took off and stabilized at high altitude.
Simon summoned a waitress and asked her to take Alexandra to breakfast, and by the way, she could have a tour around the cabin. Probably understand that Simon wants to discuss work with his assistant, Alexandra obediently followed the waitress and left.
With only Simon left, Girl A reported something that Simon needed to know.
Today it's mostly about movies.
"There was news from Los Angeles that Golden Harvest rejected our cooperation plan for "Police Story 4" and switched to Disney. Disney offered a 28% North American box office share plan, 5 points more than the plan we gave, Moreover, he is willing to make more concessions in terms of publicity and follow-up channels. Danny's last attempt to retain it yesterday was ineffective, so he could only issue a restriction letter to Jiahe, requesting that the film should not use the script ideas that the two parties had discussed in the past, let alone make any comments to the film. The Rush Hour series mimics that.”
The "Police Stories" series doesn't need to say much.
According to common sense, Jack Cheng should focus his work on Hollywood after the success of the "Rush Hour" series. However, "Police Story 4" is a cooperation project that has been promised to the old club before the filming of "Rush Hour". With the relationship between Jack Cheng and Golden Harvest, of course, they cannot break their promises.
After "Rush Hour" exploded in North America, Golden Harvest, which has been trying to enter Hollywood for so many years, will of course not miss this opportunity to revise the already completed script and plan to make "Police Story 4" into a movie that hits Hollywood again. International films.
Simply put, it is to add overseas characters and related storylines, and to shoot overseas.
Similar to "Red Zone".
For the re-planning of the project, of course, the first choice is to choose a Hollywood partner. The New World Pictures team under Daenerys Entertainment, who has cooperated happily several times before, is naturally the first choice, and the New World Pictures has also responded positively.
However, due to the success of "Rush Hour", Golden Harvest, which has greatly increased its confidence, began to try to win more interests, especially when a negative case such as "Black Man" happened recently, Golden Harvest was more determined.
At least this time it is impossible to sell out the copyright anyway.
After the project was re-planned, the New World Pictures team's box office expectation for "Police Story 4" was relatively optimistic and only about $50 million. After all, the project itself had some flaws that could not be fully integrated into Hollywood. On the basis of the popularity of "Rush Hour".
All in all, it is impossible for New World Pictures to give too outrageous conditions. So it was snatched away by other studios that were coveted by Hollywood, and ultimately ended up in Disney.
Overseas films are distributed in North America. If the producer asks for a share, there are usually only a dozen or so points, and there are very few more than 20%. Because of the nature of the film itself, most of the distributors would have received a share from the theater chain. The standard 55%, and the distribution fee charged is generally higher than the Hollywood average.
Although the project "Police Story 4" is special, Jiahe does not intend to let outsiders intervene in investment. New World Pictures only does distribution, and promises to announce the full
In the case of the package, the 23% pure share is quite generous. After all, this is a movie with a clear Hong Kong film gene, and the risk is not small.
Moreover, if there is not enough profit to drive, why should New World Pictures give you the resources, isn't it better to release its own films? After all, the annual movie schedule and movie resources are limited.
The share ratio given by Disney seems to be only 5 points higher than that of New World Pictures, but if it makes concessions in the announcement and follow-up channels, even according to the optimistic box office forecast of 50 million US dollars, there is basically not much profit, unless The film was as successful as Rush Hour.
It's just that this probability cannot be said to be absolute, but it is not much higher than the possibility of a certain country's men's football team entering the World Cup.
After the female assistant finished speaking, she looked at Simon.
Simon just nodded to show his understanding.
The current state of Disney controlled by Vivendi is similar to that of Sony.
The outcome is actually predictable.
Seeing that her boss didn't intend to fight for it any more, Girl A continued: "In China, after we sent out the invitation, several Chinese directors responded positively. This is the plan proposed by Zhang, Chen and other directors."
After the launch of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", with the recent success of "Black Man", in order to praise Jet Li, Simon plans to simultaneously create several other costume Chinese films, such as martial arts, war, and fantasy. Some famous directors have issued invitations, and the core is to show Chinese culture, while at the same time catering to the tastes of Western audiences.
Moreover, the planned investment of 15 million to 30 million US dollars is only medium in Hollywood, so the risk is controllable, but in China, it is an absolute sky-high investment in this era. Just like "The Opium War" that Director Xie is producing, the investment of 100 million, equivalent to less than 15 million US dollars, has already attracted the attention of the whole country.
Simon is certainly not doing good things, and investing in these projects can be said to have multiple purposes.
First of all, it is to make money, and secondly, it can further narrow the relationship with the Chinese government. Then, these big-budget films can activate the Chinese film market on the one hand, and ease the rebound of the Chinese film industry against the invasion of Hollywood films on the other hand.
On the other hand, it is a little selfishness of Simon.
Such a large-scale investment can also maximize the use of China's film and television resources. Needless to say, there are good mountains and rivers. For example, a large-scale war movie with shocking scenes can be pulled out of the army of several divisions. Similar images are quite precious. And it can still be used in these years. After the new century, both East and West will gradually disappear, and only special effects can be used.
Because of "Black Man", Simon's first goal is actually "Hero".
Back then, when the film was just released in China, it could be described as a lot of scolding, but it was an absolute success at the box office.
Moreover, in the next ten or twenty years, when domestic audiences suffered from a large number of bad films, they realized how well-made the blockbusters were in order to open up the Western market at the beginning of the century. Looking back, the actors While the performances and camera images are perfect, even the storyline is actually quite memorable.
The former "Hero" was created by Lao Mouzi after the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and there is no shadow yet.
Simon has looked through the ideas provided by several Chinese directors, and the ideas are quite good, but "Hero" is more secure. After all, it has been proved to be successful, so he intends to provide ideas himself and let Laomouzi improve it. This is not Simon is conservative, but instead takes into account China.
Daenerys Entertainment can stand up to failure, but if the China-specific program fails, many goals will not be achieved.
Simon motioned Alison to continue while looking at the plans of several Chinese directors.
Girl a continued: "Also, on the British side, the tentative film industry team has negotiated with Guy Ritchie and Peter Cattanyo respectively about "Two Smoking Guns" and "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig" The cooperation agreement, the adaptation rights of "Bj Singles Diary" are still being negotiated, but only the last details are left, and the problem is not big."
The first stop on Simon's European tour was the UK.
Some time before the departure, Simon asked the British branch of Daenerys Entertainment to collect various popular books or movie scripts here, and finally personally selected "Two Smoking Guns", "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig" and "Six Heroes of the Light Pig". bj Birth Diary" three projects.
In fact, they have already paid attention.
During the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of this year, because of the discovery of Nolan in advance, Simon thought of Guy Ritchie, but he has always been accustomed to doing certain things more logically, so he chose this trip to Europe. opportunity.
The former "Two Smoking Guns" was only released in 1998, and the script has now been completed.
Guy Ritchie's experience is somewhat similar to Quentin's. He worked as a projectionist before starting to shoot short films and music videos. After a short film "Hardshell" attracted industry attention last year, he began to make his first feature film. The script "Two Smoking Guns" is looking for investment. In the past, Guy Ritchie and his partners spent more than a year just to raise funds for the filming of "Two Smoking Guns". Released in 1998, the film was a blockbuster.
Now, Simon cuts his beard ahead of time.
In addition, "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig" is as famous as "Four Weddings and a Funeral", and the box office is even more popular than "Two Smoking Guns". This low-budget film about a few laid-off workers in the process of England's economic depression finding a new way to become a stripper has historically costed a mere £2 million to make and has grossed more than $250 million at the global box office.
In the United Kingdom, it is the top box office champion in history.
It is also the debut feature film of director Peter Cattanho. The reason why this should be obscure project entered Simon's vision is mainly because of "Trainspotting" starring Robert Carlisle, which was purchased by Daenerys Entertainment during Sundance this year. The director of "The Six Heroes of the Light Pig" took the script to find Carlisle, hoping that he could participate in the role. Carlisle liked this story very much, just because "Trainspotting" established a connection with the team of Daenerys Entertainment, so he recommended it.
Taken again by Simon.
The final "Bj's Diary of a Single", which has been serialized in a British newspaper since last year, just like "Sex and the City" that Daenerys Entertainment has produced. The original time and space's "Bj Singles Diary" was released in 2001. It cost 25 million US dollars, sold 280 million US dollars at the global box office, and made a series of movies.
Now that he has encountered it, Simon will naturally not let it go.
In addition to China and the United Kingdom, on the Italian side, Simon has also personally finalized two projects during his trip to Europe, a "Pianist at Sea" by Giuseppe Tonadore, and one by Roberto Bernini. "Beautiful Life" written, directed and starred.
Both are classic films that once enjoyed worldwide popularity.
In fact, whether it is the layout of China, the United Kingdom or Italy, it is an important part of Simon's new phase of film strategy designed for Daenerys Entertainment, and, in the past few years, Simon has been paving the way for this.
After the Hollywood movie pattern was determined, Daenerys Entertainment no longer retained its strength from this year, and the three labels broke out in an all-round way.
Similarly, on a global scale, Simon also intends to fully blossom and invest more resources to support filmmakers in various overseas markets to make excellent films, while providing diverse film sources for North America, and can also directly distribute in related markets, earning profits on the one hand On the one hand, it can also reduce the hostility and rebound of various overseas markets to Hollywood's invasion, and at least reduce the resistance of Daenerys Entertainment's films in various overseas markets.
For other individuals or companies, this full-blown plan is actually difficult to operate.
After all, no one is omniscient and omnipotent enough to be familiar with the movie market all over the world. Doing so blindly is more likely to lose everything. With the advantage of being a prophet of two generations, Simon happens to be a very special exception.
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