In the blink of an eye, it was Friday again, June 28.
Batman: The Dark Knight completed its third week of release. From June 21 to June 27, the film's box office drop narrowed to 25% compared to the previous week, bringing in another $45.13 million.
At the same time, the superhero blockbuster's North American cumulative box office officially broke the $200 million mark, reaching $207.28 million.
First week over $100 million! Three weeks over $200 million! Such box office records, in many people's eyes, could probably only be broken by other films in the DC Movie Universe.
Additionally, Paramount Pictures' new release last week, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, opened with $31.54 million, exceeding Paramount's expectations.
As Batman: The Dark Knight began rapidly freeing up market space, the industry gradually realized that this unstoppable superhero film was actually having a very noticeable stimulating effect on the overall market.
During the week of May 24 when the summer season kicked off with six new films releasing simultaneously, North American theaters only grossed a little over $86 million for the week. But since Batman: The Dark Knight opened on June 7, the North American market has seen weekly totals of $179 million, $146 million, and $131 million over the past three weeks.
Calculated together, after subtracting Batman: The Dark Knight's $200 million from the three-week cumulative, other films were still averaging $83 million per week.
Clearly, influenced by the recent movie-watching craze sparked by Batman: The Dark Knight, many audiences had been watching more than one film during this period.
Looking at specific films from the same period, aside from The Naked Gun 2½ which exceeded expectations in its opening week, the firefighting-themed film Backdraft, originally from Universal Pictures, had accumulated $56.11 million over five weeks since its May 24 release.
Although its weekly box office had already slipped to around $5 million, Backdraft's final North American total still had a good chance of reaching the $70 million mark.
With a production budget of $40 million, a $70 million domestic gross, combined with expected overseas earnings, would basically allow the film to recoup its production and distribution costs.
City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal, had been in theaters for four weeks since its May 31 release and had accumulated $52.22 million under the shadow of Batman: The Dark Knight.
Unlike Backdraft, which had fallen into the $5 million range, City Slickers still earned a strong $14.18 million in the past week, ranking third on the weekly box office chart behind only Batman: The Dark Knight and The Naked Gun 2½.
At this pace, it would be easy for City Slickers to break $100 million domestically.
It wasn't just mainstream commercial films. The Antarctic documentary Ice World produced by Daenerys Entertainment's Highgate Pictures label had been performing like a small but very eye-catching dark horse since its release.
Although its box office scale was modest, due to its strong performance and being an alternative subject matter amid the summer's mainstream blockbusters, it had attracted considerable media and public attention. Even under Batman: The Dark Knight's dominance, it maintained very good buzz.
Thus, although this non-mainstream Antarctic documentary's highest weekly gross was only $7.66 million in its second week when it actually rose, its cumulative box office kept exceeding everyone's expectations.
As of June 27, Ice World had accumulated $31.12 million. This number was ten times the film's negligible $3 million production budget, making it undoubtedly the highest return-on-investment film of the summer.
Moreover, with the film still earning $4.61 million last week and maintaining weekly drops of under 20% for four consecutive weeks, its North American total had a strong chance of reaching the $50 million mark.
Where there were hits, there were naturally also casualties.
The most dismal performer of this summer season was undoubtedly Bruce Willis's $65 million budgeted film Hudson Hawk. Both its reviews and box office were failures.
As of June 20, Hudson Hawk had earned just over $16 million after four weeks in theaters, not even enough to cover its marketing costs. Most theaters dropped the film after two to four weeks.
Other films such as Disney's The Rocketeer, Fox's Soapdish, and Paramount's various releases also delivered disappointing results.
Spike Lee's new film Jungle Fever, originally produced by Universal with a $14 million budget, also failed to meet expectations due to scheduling and marketing missteps. Its projected North American total was only a little over $20 million.
With an all-Black cast, the film had limited overseas potential. Daenerys Entertainment could only hope to recover the full $19 million in production and marketing costs through subsequent domestic ancillary channels.
The problem with Jungle Fever was obvious. It had gone head-to-head with Batman: The Dark Knight in the schedule. During the company integration period, internal instability made it difficult to adjust marketing strategies in time, and the various departments could not fully align. In the end, this well-reviewed film ended up with disappointing box office.
As Daenerys Entertainment grew increasingly large, Simon understood very well that such issues were inevitable. He alone could not oversee everything.
This was actually one of the reasons Simon had been insisting on streamlining and integrating Daenerys Entertainment's production and distribution teams recently. Corporate bloat was unavoidable for any giant enterprise, but it could be mitigated through continuous adjustments to create a more efficient team.
On June 28, the start of a new box office week, two new films hit North American theaters.
Daenerys Entertainment and Fox's major blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day opened on 2,506 screens.
The sci-fi classic sequel's final production budget reached $73 million. Cameron had forced his way $3 million over the $70 million cap Simon had set.
Fortunately, it was still much lower than the original timeline's $102 million budget.
Since $73 million had already been spent, Simon did not try to save further and asked Fox to allocate a $30 million marketing budget, pushing the project's total production and marketing budget over the $100 million mark.
The other new release was Columbia Pictures' gangster film Boyz n the Hood, opening on just 876 screens, essentially serving as filler.
Simon had spent the morning in Burbank reviewing the next phase of Universal Studios' reconstruction plans. After having lunch with Nancy Brill, who was staying behind, he left by car for Malibu at two in the afternoon.
The vehicle left Universal Studios, heading west along Ventura Boulevard for more than twenty kilometers before turning south onto the 27 mountain road leading to Malibu. After traveling about five kilometers along the 27, it turned onto a newly paved asphalt road.
This road led directly to the Daenerys Studios administrative district, with the entrance conveniently located at the northernmost tip of the triangular studio complex. This had originally been a mountain trail leading to a water tower at the top. After being widened and repaved over the past few months, it had become a two-lane asphalt road.
With Daenerys Entertainment's further expansion, employee transportation and housing had become issues the company needed to address.
Previously, the Malibu Daenerys Studios only had one exit leading from the soundstage area to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Although the southern exit led west directly to Malibu and east to Sunset Boulevard, neither Malibu nor the affluent areas along Sunset Boulevard such as Pacific Palisades, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills were affordable for most Daenerys Entertainment employees. Santa Monica was also a high-cost area.
After the merger with MCA, the problem became even more serious.
Because Universal Studios was in Burbank, most employees lived in the relatively affordable San Fernando Valley area.
As Simon moved most functional departments originally at Universal Studios into Daenerys Studios, many employees faced long commutes.
Previously, to go from Malibu Daenerys Studios to Burbank, one had to exit south to Pacific Coast Highway, head east for a while to the entrance of the 27 Mountain Highway, then head north.
After the completion of the asphalt road connecting the northernmost administrative district of Daenerys Studios to the 27 Mountain Highway, employee commutes saved at least 15 minutes. The entire drive was less than 10 kilometers to reach the northern valley area.
Moreover, there were actually many scattered residential communities on both sides of the 27 Mountain Highway.
Once the asphalt road directly north from the administrative district was opened, many employees could buy or rent houses in these affordable mountain residential communities. They no longer needed to take the long detour from the southern exit. On normal days, they could even walk to work.
The total distance from Burbank Universal Studios to Malibu Daenerys Studios was about 35 kilometers. With relatively smooth afternoon traffic, it took exactly one hour.
Simon was not idle in the car either. By the time the vehicle entered the administrative district through the northern entrance, he had finished reviewing the materials for the New York Wives project, which was set to start filming next month.
Robert Iger had also been in Los Angeles recently and had come over from Universal Studios with Simon.
They got out in the parking lot. Simon was still holding the materials. As he walked, he flipped back to the front page and asked, "The plot summary is very well done, but what's the deal with this woman?"
On that page of the materials, the woman's name was Kris Jenner.
Last year at the Daenerys Studios year-end party, that woman had still been called Kris Kardashian.
Although this was how history had originally unfolded, it seemed a bit too soon.
And moreover.
She had become part of New York Wives.
Robert Iger glanced sideways, a strange expression flashing across his face. He looked at Simon and asked, "You didn't know?"
Simon was even more puzzled. "Know what?"
Robert Iger studied Simon's expression again, hesitated for a moment, and said, "This Ms. Jenner wasn't originally on the final shortlist. However, she contacted me several times and hinted that she... um... knows you very well. So..."
Iger did not spell it out, but Simon immediately understood. He could only smile bitterly and marvel at how capable this woman truly was.
Robert Iger was still somewhat uncertain. If the woman in the materials was not actually close to Simon, why would he suddenly ask about her now.
Moreover, thinking about the thirty-something beauty's figure and demeanor, Iger figured she probably fit the boss's taste. Therefore, for this kind of "small matter" that subordinates were expected to understand, Iger had not verified it with Simon in advance.
Seeing Simon close the folder and hand it over before continuing toward the office building, Iger thought for a moment and still asked, "Simon, do you want me to replace her?"
Simon shook his head and smiled. "No need. This woman is very good at stirring things up. She's actually quite suitable for this show."
Iger nodded and said no more.
Simon added, "I'll be stopping in New York for a day before heading to the UK next week. Arrange for her to meet me."
Iger paused for a second, then simply acknowledged again.
The two soon parted ways. Iger went to attend a meeting while Simon headed to a screening room inside Building One.
There were still two hours left in the afternoon, and the schedule called for an internal test screening of Thelma & Louise, which Kathryn Bigelow had just finished final editing on.
Thelma & Louise was scheduled for September 6. The film's marketing campaign had already begun and had only been fully completed a couple of days ago. It would be submitted to the MPAA for rating next week.
Entering the screening room, the film was already set up and ready to play.
Perhaps because it was confirmed that Simon would attend, the small thirty-seat theater was quite lively.
In addition to Kathryn, the film's producer, and the marketing staff, the two female leads Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis had made a special trip over. They had also brought their respective boyfriends, both film industry professionals: Tim Robbins and Renny Harlin.
Tim Robbins was the male lead of The Shawshank Redemption in the original timeline and had previously appeared in Robert Altman's Short Cuts.
Renny Harlin had risen in Hollywood in recent years by directing Die Hard 2 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, making him one of the emerging new-generation directors.
Moreover, Renny Harlin's latest directorial project was Rambling Rose, also scheduled for release in September, two weeks after Thelma & Louise. The female lead in Rambling Rose was Laura Dern, who had already missed out on the new Jurassic Park.
If history did not change, this couple, Renny Harlin and Geena Davis, would later go on to create one of Hollywood's biggest financial disasters with the film Cutthroat Island, which set a Guinness World Record for movie industry losses.
So, Hollywood really was a small world.
Simon had actually wanted to clear out all the "unrelated people" so he could be alone with Kathryn.
Of course, that was just a thought.
After everyone exchanged greetings, Simon made no attempt to hide anything. He sat with Kathryn in the back corner of the theater and then signaled the staff to start the film.
Kathryn did not have Simon's thick skin. Fortunately, they were in the very last row, so it was not too embarrassing.
Besides, even if she would never admit it to anyone.
Pretty much everyone in Hollywood already knew about their relationship.
After a brief moment of shyness, Kathryn quickly adapted to sitting openly with Simon in public.
Several years had passed. Many things had changed. He was even married now. She had tried deliberately distancing herself from him. Yet the sense of closeness that had built up between them since they first met had not faded.
Having always been a career-focused woman who preferred to stay single, Kathryn had gradually grown accustomed to her current life.
She had her own career, her own life, her own social circle, and a close younger man.
Occasional secret rendezvous were enough to satisfy her for a long time.
Although he naturally possessed everything, he never made her feel the kind of possessiveness that women found repulsive.
Well.
In reality, there was not a single man in Hollywood right now who dared to pursue her anyway.
As the theater lights dimmed and Simon seemed inclined to put his arm around her, Kathryn shot him a glare and whispered, "Don't cause trouble. There are people here."
Simon smiled and leaned close to her ear. "Do I look like a good guy to you?"
"..."
"Oh, my bad. Do I look like a bad guy to you?"
Kathryn rolled her eyes, intending to ignore him for the rest of the time.
Knowing the woman was actually quite thin-skinned, Simon only teased her briefly before saying, "Let's have dinner together at Dume Point tonight. I'm going on a business trip for a while next week and want you to help look after Janet. Consider this my advance thanks."
Hearing this, Kathryn recalled something and replied with a hint of teasing, "The same kind of 'business trip' you took to Seattle last Saturday night?"
"Hm?"
Kathryn gave the man beside her, who was pretending to be innocent, another eye roll. "That night Janet said she couldn't sleep and insisted on having me come over to keep her company. She also mentioned you were in Seattle on a 'business trip.'"
Simon nodded very seriously. "That's right. A business trip. Very urgent matter."
On the screen, the main feature of Thelma & Louise began playing.
Kathryn shifted her body slightly away from him.
She planned to ignore the guy completely for the next two hours.
As punishment.