Michael Ovitz and his group had just walked out of Los Angeles International Airport when the assistant who came to pick them up reminded him that MCA chairman Lew Wasserman was waiting at Marina del Rey nearby.
They arrived at a yacht in Marina del Rey, less than three kilometers north of LAX. The moment Ovitz saw Wasserman, his first reaction was to shake his head lightly.
It was already November 15.
Three days earlier, Panasonic had suddenly announced its withdrawal from the MCA acquisition, catching everyone off guard.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Michael Ovitz had tried negotiating over the phone with Panasonic without success, then flew to Japan in person. Acting on Lew Wasserman's instructions, Ovitz had even hinted that MCA could accept an offer slightly lower than Daenerys Entertainment's. Yet he still failed to convince Akio Tanii to restart the acquisition.
Michael Ovitz was full of regret now. When Meg Ryan had unexpectedly abandoned the planned lawsuit against Daenerys Entertainment the previous week, he had already grown wary. Still, he had never imagined that after all his secret preparations to block the MCA deal, the other side would counter with such a decisive move.
Inside the yacht cabin, Ovitz sat facing Wasserman and said, "From the information I have gathered, Westeros proposed another cooperation plan between Daenerys Entertainment and Panasonic. Panasonic was already hesitant about whether to raise its bid further. After Akio Tanii met secretly with Westeros last week, combined with internal pressure at Panasonic, he ultimately decided to abandon the acquisition."
Lew Wasserman pressed, "Is there really no way to salvage it? Or if necessary, I can fly to Japan myself."
Michael Ovitz shook his head again. "I did not obtain the details of the cooperation agreement between Daenerys Entertainment and Panasonic. However, according to what Panasonic said, Westeros showed great sincerity. The senior executives at Panasonic unanimously believe they should abandon the acquisition and cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment instead."
Lew Wasserman frowned. After a moment he thought of something and asked, "Then, Mike, did you not say last year that other Japanese companies were interested in acquiring Hollywood studios? Toshiba, Ito, or Sanyo?"
"That was last year," Michael Ovitz nodded, then shook his head. "At the time the Japanese stock market bubble had not yet burst. The situation is different now. Even Panasonic's withdrawal was partly influenced by the economic climate. The Bronfman family in Canada is interested in acquiring a Hollywood studio, but they do not have enough capital at the moment and can only test the waters by taking stakes in second-tier companies like Orion. Right now the overall economic situation in Asia, North America, and Europe is not great. So, Lew, it will be very difficult to find another buyer interested in MCA in the short term."
After Michael Ovitz finished speaking, the two men stared at each other in silence.
After a long pause, Lew Wasserman finally made up his mind. "Mike, since that is the case, hand over all the contingency plans you prepared earlier to my people."
Michael Ovitz nodded with some dejection. "All right."
Since Panasonic's withdrawal could no longer be reversed, activating those measures would achieve nothing and would only anger that young man once again. Thinking of this, Ovitz felt even more troubled. Perhaps the Meg Ryan incident had already created fresh friction between Daenerys Entertainment and CAA.
With that thought, Michael Ovitz could not help asking Wasserman, "Lew, do you plan to cancel this acquisition?"
Lew Wasserman gave a bitter smile.
Honestly, Lew Wasserman wanted to cancel the deal immediately. He had tested Daenerys Entertainment several times, and their attitude was extremely firm: after the acquisition, both he and Sid Sheinberg would have to leave. If that happened, the two of them would be completely pushed out of Hollywood's center of power.
Lew Wasserman absolutely did not want to let go so easily.
However, Daenerys Entertainment's seven-billion-dollar offer was almost twice MCA's market value at its recent low point.
The United States was already shrouded in the shadow of another war, and the industry generally held a pessimistic view of the coming domestic economy, believing it could deteriorate further. Under these circumstances, many MCA shareholders wanted to accept the offer and cash out. They did not care what happened to management afterward.
Although he was MCA's chairman and CEO and had run the company for decades, Lew Wasserman held only about five percent of the shares. Sid Sheinberg held roughly two percent. Together their holdings carried little real control.
In the past the two men had been able to maintain firm control over the company. This time, if they openly defied the shareholders' wishes, even if they managed to derail the acquisition, they would likely be forced out.
Therefore, they could only use external pressure to force Daenerys Entertainment to accept more of their conditions, or compel the company to abandon the acquisition altogether.
Since his health had improved, Lew Wasserman felt he could continue running MCA for a few more years, at least until he turned eighty. Moreover, he believed the American economy would eventually recover. MCA's stock price had been severely undervalued due to the recent stock market slump. In the coming years, other buyers would surely appear who could offer a higher price.
While Michael Ovitz and Lew Wasserman were meeting in secret, Simon had just returned from the East Coast.
After this period of negotiations, Bell Atlantic and Westeros Company had reached a preliminary acquisition agreement valued at seven billion dollars total. This matched Simon's expectations from a few days earlier and was a full one billion dollars below the original budget. With the price settled, the other detailed terms advanced rapidly and could even be discussed after the deal closed.
As a result, Simon could announce the details of the acquisition as early as next week if needed.
The next day was Friday, November 16.
With Thanksgiving approaching and the move into the newly completed villa at Point Dume scheduled for the weekend, Janet had been busy on the West Coast handling the arrangements. Simon headed to the Daenerys studio in Malibu as usual that morning.
The box-office data for the past week appeared on his desk the moment he entered the office.
Misery's box-office performance had gone exactly as expected.
Released on October 26, the film was now in its third week.
After opening with 17.16 million dollars, Misery dropped 35 percent in its second week, adding another 11.15 million dollars. In its third week from November 9 to November 15, the drop narrowed to 21 percent, bringing in 8.81 million dollars more.
After three weeks, Misery had accumulated 37.12 million dollars at the box office.
What Simon paid closer attention to today was Dances with Wolves, which had quietly begun its limited release.
Dances with Wolves had opened two weeks earlier on November 2 in select major cities on just 16 screens. Its first-week per-screen average of 67,000 dollars had already signaled the film's strong potential. In its second week of limited release, the screen count increased to 51. With both Daenerys Entertainment's marketing and the film's word-of-mouth gaining momentum, the per-screen average actually rose to 69,000 dollars.
In just two weeks of limited release, Dances with Wolves had already earned 4.63 million dollars. Thanks to overwhelmingly positive reviews from the media, this politically correct story about the historical relationship between white Americans and Native Americans had quickly become a strong Oscar contender for next year.
However, because the theatrical version of Dances with Wolves ran three hours long, Daenerys Entertainment had scheduled only 1,031 screens for its wide release this week, planning to build long-term box office through word-of-mouth and awards momentum.
At the same time, as the Thanksgiving window officially began, two other new films opened today alongside the wide release of Dances with Wolves: the Rocky V sequel starring Sylvester Stallone and Disney's 2D animated film The Rescuers Down Under.
After Panasonic announced its withdrawal from the MCA acquisition this week, MCA's board had found various excuses to delay approving Daenerys Entertainment's offer. But some other parties were growing anxious.
Paramount, for example.
Before contacting Panasonic the previous week, Simon had temporarily promised a cooperation deal on two new films with Paramount and guaranteed that the USA Network's ownership structure would remain unchanged after the MCA acquisition in order to prevent Paramount from interfering.
Paramount's chairman had clearly sensed Simon's concerns and decided to drive a hard bargain. Not only did they demand the number of cooperation films be increased to at least three, but they also insisted on a seventy-thirty investment split with Daenerys Entertainment receiving only thirty percent. They had raised additional demands regarding the USA Network as well.
However, once Panasonic suddenly withdrew and the situation reversed, Paramount became eager to secure the cooperation.
Amy had already discovered that Paramount had originally planned to block the acquisition through an antitrust lawsuit. But after Panasonic pulled out, they apparently realized the inevitable and began rushing to lock in the benefits Simon had promised.
After all, even if they filed a lawsuit, the chances of successfully stopping Daenerys Entertainment from acquiring MCA were very low. Even if they succeeded, Paramount would not gain much, while relations between the two sides would deteriorate further.
Simon met personally with Martin Davis that morning and made some concessions. Paramount dropped its demands regarding the USA Network. On the film side, they kept the fifty-fifty investment split while increasing the number of cooperation films to three. Sequel rights for the cooperation films were also included.
Through this deal, Daenerys Entertainment successfully obtained the film rights to Mission: Impossible, which Paramount had been developing.
After many twists and turns, both of the most famous spy film franchises from the nineties in Simon's memory, Mission: Impossible and The Bourne Identity, were now firmly in his hands.
After such nonstop busyness, the weekend finally brought rest.
And a move.
The streamlined shell-shaped building at Point Dume Estate, modeled after the Iron Man villa in Simon's memory, had become a media focus from the moment its basic structure took shape.
As the even larger silver building than he remembered rose on the Point Dume cliffs, it gradually drew more and more public attention.
Of course, it inevitably became fresh evidence for many media outlets to criticize Simon's extravagant lifestyle.
The completed villa had a footprint of five thousand square meters. From the outside it looked like a museum, even more luxurious than the CG-generated Iron Man villa in his memory. The silver structure spiraled upward in flowing lines across three floors. Including the underground garage modeled after Iron Man's workshop, the total interior space exceeded twelve thousand square meters.
Compared with ordinary luxury homes, this shell-shaped building could not even be adequately described with the word "big."
If anything, it was extraordinarily large.
The final construction cost had also far exceeded expectations. Excluding interior decoration, the main structure alone had cost thirty million dollars.
Janet had naturally spared no expense on the interior decoration and furnishings. Since they were still adding various items, the final budget might even surpass the construction cost.
Therefore, although the villa's decoration appeared simple and clean, every detail was expensive.
The couple had already been living in a villa less than five hundred meters west of the Point Dume Estate. Everything in the shell villa was already prepared, so the so-called move involved only transferring some daily clothes and books. It took just half a day to complete the basics.
They spent the afternoon arranging small details and finally settled in by evening.
Beside the massive glass wall overlooking the sea from the cliff, Simon relaxed against the sofa while Janet curled up beside him. Gazing at the magnificent sunset seascape outside, the woman said softly, "It feels like a dream."
Simon rubbed his face gently against her fragrant hair and smiled with one leg crossed. "Did you never think about building a house like this before?"
Janet shook her head against his shoulder. "No. Even if I had thought of it, actually spending that much money to build a house like this would have meant selling some of my own stocks. And if I did that, the old man would definitely throw a fit."
"Wasn't that your dowry? You should be able to spend it however you want."
"I never planned on finding a man before. The stocks were supposed to be my lifelong living expenses. Spending them all at once would have left me in a miserable situation later."
"Kathryn mentioned it to me," Simon said, still smiling. "Why did you not want to find a man back then?"
Janet lifted her head and bumped it lightly against his shoulder in a playful, spoiled manner. "I was waiting for you."
"Oh, I am truly honored."
"Hmph." Although Janet sounded pleased, she pulled one of Simon's hands into her arms and lowered her voice. "Actually, a very long time ago, someone liked me, and I liked other boys too. But I was probably too smart. Those guys always disappointed me, so I simply decided to stay alone forever."
"Being alone forever is very lonely."
"That's why God let me meet you."
"In that case, many years from now when we meet the old man, we must thank him properly."
"Hehe." Janet snuggled even closer to Simon and watched the increasingly spectacular fiery clouds outside the glass wall. "We really should thank him. Otherwise, you might have stayed single forever too."
"No way. I am so popular with girls. If I had not met you, I definitely would have become Hollywood's number one playboy."
"Hmm, finally showing your true colors, playboy..." Janet's little hand scratched at him in mock dissatisfaction. Simon caught her wrist with practiced ease, causing her whole body to soften instantly. She complained, "Little rascal, you are bullying me again."
"Do you like it when I bully you?"
"No."
Simon applied a little more pressure. "Try another answer."
"Mmm... I like it."
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[The End---- of the chapter]