"William Friedkin won't work, Tom. The Exorcist back then was indeed outstanding, and The French Connection was classic enough. However, William has been living off his past achievements all these years. The Ring needs a stylistic breakthrough that is completely different from traditional Hollywood horror films. I don't think William can pull it off."
Daenerys Studios.
Simon was in his office discussing the director selection for The Ring with New World Pictures president Danny Morris.
Although William Friedkin was the husband of MGM head Sherry Lansing, and Simon understood that Danny Morris bringing him up first definitely involved some favor for Lansing, he still rejected the idea without hesitation.
After The Exorcist and The French Connection back then, William Friedkin had enjoyed the richest resources in Hollywood. Yet over the past decade or more he had not directed another film that performed excellently in either critical acclaim or box office.
Danny Morris actually didn't hold high hopes for William Friedkin either. He continued, "Then what about Wes Craven, Simon?"
"Wes is better at splatter films. That doesn't match the style of this movie at all."
"Jonathan Demme?"
Today was October 9, Wednesday.
Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs[1] had been in theaters for eight and a half weeks since its release on August 9. Just last weekend, this classic horror film starring Sandra Bullock and Robert Duvall had accumulated exactly over one hundred million dollars at the box office, reaching one hundred and two point seventy-one million dollars.
Simon thought for a moment and nodded. "Joe can be a backup option. However, The Ring places very strong emphasis on creating atmosphere through cinematography and score. I hope the director has stronger foundations in these two areas."
Danny Morris smiled. "Simon, in that case, you yourself would be the most suitable."
"I actually think so too," Simon shrugged and said, "But unfortunately, I don't have the time."
Danny Morris had only mentioned it casually and continued, "There's also Joe Dante. However, if we set the release for next Halloween, Dante definitely won't have an opening in his schedule."
Joe Dante had become famous with Piranha in the 1970s and Gremlins in the 1980s. Coincidentally, for last summer's big box office hit The Sixth Sense from Daenerys Entertainment, the director Simon had chosen was precisely Joe Dante.
Because he was already an established director, the two sides had only signed a one-film deal at the time.
Although everyone in the industry understood that the key to The Sixth Sense's success was Simon, because the film had grossed over six hundred million dollars worldwide, Joe Dante had become highly sought after. He was snatched up by other studios with hefty paychecks and was still fully booked to this day.
If there were no other better options, they could only continue with Jonathan Demme.
However, Simon still had some concerns.
The Ring would represent a completely new style entirely different from traditional Hollywood horror films.
Yet these veteran directors who had been working in Hollywood for many years had basically all formed their own fixed directorial styles. It would be very difficult for them to break their old habits and achieve a breakthrough.
After considering for a moment, Simon said, "Here's what we'll do, Danny. Screen some relatively young backup director candidates. I will personally oversee this project. So the director should preferably have enough plasticity."
Hearing Simon say this, Danny Morris quickly nodded.
This project was originally under Simon's direct responsibility. The boss saying he would personally oversee it now meant he would be spending more energy on this project.
In that case, having a younger director with less experience would actually make them more obedient and easier to work with.
After settling this matter, Danny Morris looked at his memo and continued, "There's also the female lead..."
Simon waved his hand. "I've already given the female lead to Nicole Kidman. You can negotiate the contract directly with her agent."
Danny Morris paused for a moment but could only nod again.
In his heart he silently expressed his regrets to those actresses who had been racking their brains recently to land this project.
In the original American version of The Ring, the female lead had been Nicole's close friend Naomi Watts, who was still unknown somewhere at the moment. Since Simon had decided to make Nicole the spokesperson for Van Cleef & Arpels, he handed this potentially successful project over to her.
The Ring was a female-lead oriented film. Although it was a horror movie, as long as it performed well enough at the box office, it would definitely help Nicole Kidman increase her fame and solidify her status.
After discussing some more details, the two turned their conversation to other projects at New World Pictures.
Most of them were also personally selected by Simon.
One was a copyright acquired after the Universal purchase, called Scent of a Woman.
This was a remake of the 1974 Italian film Profumo di donna. In his memory, the original version starred Al Pacino and featured a tango dance that film fans had talked about for many years.
Simon had no intention of changing the cast for Scent of a Woman. This film would serve as Highgate Films' flagship release for the year-end period of 1992.
The other project was somewhat "alternative," called The Crying Game.
This film directed by Neil Jordan told a very twisted and complex love story involving elements of war, politics, romance, and transvestism.
In his memory, The Crying Game had created a wave of moviegoing in North America due to its bizarre twist, ultimately grossing over sixty million dollars in North America on a production budget of around three million dollars. It was also one of the films that helped Miramax turn things around as the North American distributor.
It was precisely because of this film's success that Miramax caught Disney's attention and eventually became part of Disney.
Now, Miramax was basically on its last legs, and Simon had no intention of giving the Weinstein brothers any chance to make a comeback.
The director of The Crying Game, Neil Jordan, had been preparing for this project for several years. After Highgate Films took over, the film's scale had not been increased, and the budget remained at three million dollars.
However, because it was a project Daenerys Entertainment was interested in, the negotiations naturally attracted attention from other studios.
To secure this project, Daenerys Entertainment additionally agreed to give Neil Jordan ten percent of the North American box office net profit share as well as the same proportion of subsequent video and television broadcast revenue shares.
If The Crying Game could achieve the original timeline's sixty million dollar North American box office, according to the agreement, Neil Jordan could receive at least another five million dollars in subsequent shares. This was already at the salary level of a top-tier director.
Of course, if the box office was disappointing, the bonuses would naturally be out of the question.
Simon also approved this plan.
Although five million dollars was still a considerable expense, it was nothing compared to Daenerys Entertainment's expected returns. Moreover, such a relatively generous profit-sharing scheme could also attract even more filmmakers to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment.
As the entire Westeros System grew increasingly massive, Simon became more inclined to attract talent through profit sharing.
There was definitely never an end to earning money. Through profit sharing, more people could also be bound to the Westeros System, forming a community of shared interests.
After Ira Deutchman left, the female assistant knocked and walked in, holding a stack of cards similar to bank cards. She came to the reception area, handed them to Simon and said, "These just arrived from San Francisco."
Simon took the cards and naturally pulled the female assistant's small hand to sit down beside him before examining the items in his hands.
After more than half a year of development and preparation, the cards in his hand were actually the consumer point cards that Ygritte Company would soon launch. The point cards only came in two denominations: ten dollars and fifty dollars.
This showed the caution of the Ygritte management team.
Online payment was just beginning to be promoted, and security was absolutely the top priority.
If users encountered something frustrating like account theft right after first coming into contact with online payment, it would definitely leave a bad impression.
As a brand new payment method, such incidents could also easily be over-interpreted by traditional media.
According to the plan, these consumer point cards would be sold through the gradually expanding nationwide internet cafe channels and Blockbuster chain stores. Although America Online had already sold off its internet cafe business, the Westeros System still maintained strong influence over it. Blockbuster belonged to Ygritte Entertainment's own channels, and its current chain of stores had already approached three thousand locations across North America. It was absolutely the most suitable retail distribution network.
In fact, not only the consumer point cards, with the launch of the Ygritte App Store, Ygritte's online payment tool Ypay would also start at the same time. Users of the Ygritte portal could apply for special online consumer credit cards through the two banks that had signed agreements with the company, Bank of America and Citibank.
Jennifer quietly sat beside Simon. After the man had played with the consumer point cards in his hands for a while, she said, "The official product launch will take place next Monday. At that time, the Ygritte App Store will also officially open."
Simon nodded.
Privately, he had already tested the internal beta version of the online app store.
In the early stage, the app store mainly focused on electronic games. There weren't many application software options. Jeff Bezos had contacted Bill Gates. Microsoft's operating system was definitely out of the question, but he hoped to sell the Office series of applications on the app store. However, he had been rejected by Mr. Gates.
Nevertheless, Simon was very optimistic about the prospects of the app store.
In the computer field, developing an operating system was actually not as difficult as imagined. The real challenge lay in building a software ecosystem that matched the operating system. Otherwise, no matter how excellent and smooth your operating system was, without application software, everything was useless.
On the other hand, the number of technical talents in the industry capable of developing software could be described as countless. What had previously limited their enthusiasm was mainly that the software they developed was very difficult to promote and sell.
Distributing through physical sales channels was definitely a very expensive affair.
Now, Ygritte Company had provided a platform, one that could bring profits to developers, which naturally increased developers' motivation.
Looking even further ahead, if Ygritte online app store could succeed, it could even significantly influence the popularity of a particular operating system.
In fact, starting from this time, Ygritte online app store would only be open to users of two types of operating systems: Microsoft's Windows and Apple's Macintosh.
As for the old DOS system or other non-mainstream operating systems on the market, the Ygritte App Store would not provide support.
With the increasing popularity of the internet, this choice by the Ygritte portal was destined to influence users' preferences.
Users purchasing computers, considering that choosing other non-mainstream systems might mean losing support from the Ygritte portal, would naturally lean toward Windows and Macintosh.
Even.
If one day the Ygritte App Store shut down the Macintosh version...
Of course, this was just an idea.
Even though he was already a major shareholder of Microsoft, Simon would not do this lightly. Or rather, it was precisely because he was a major shareholder of Microsoft that he could not do so.
Apple's market value had been rising steadily this year, with its recent high point approaching eight billion dollars.
However, this would also be Apple's "peak" in the 1990s. From here on, the company would only go downward.
Retaining Apple and preventing Microsoft from achieving complete monopoly and thus encountering various troubles actually had its benefits. In the original timeline, Mr. Gates chose to invest in Apple in the late 1990s for exactly this reason. The same went for Intel later supporting AMD both openly and secretly.
Putting down the consumer point card in his hand, Simon said to the female assistant beside him, "Arrange it. We'll go together next Monday to attend the new product launch."
Jennifer blinked her eyes lightly a few times, then gave a small sound of agreement.
Going on Monday meant they would definitely return the same day.
That meant they wouldn't be staying overnight.
Simon smiled, knowing that the female assistant had actually wanted to go together over the weekend. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, saying, "You know, Janet is already more than seven months pregnant. Her mood has been a bit off recently. I don't plan on leaving Los Angeles for any extended periods in the coming months."
Janet had shown no abnormalities in the early stages of her pregnancy and had actually been very excited, enthusiastically making many preparations for the little guy's arrival.
However, as the due date drew closer, the woman had inevitably become anxious during this period and had even developed the idea of chasing the little guy out of her belly early.
Simon understood that Janet was the type who was naturally unrestrained and loved freedom. The reason she had initially looked forward to getting pregnant and having a little baby was largely because of Simon. There was also some influence from traditional concepts, after all, the woman had grown up in a very traditional and conservative Western family.
At the end of the day, deep down Janet had a vague sense of rejection toward the little guy who might change her previous lifestyle.
Jennifer nodded understandingly upon hearing this and said nothing more.
Seeing the female assistant's gentle and obedient appearance, Simon also felt a stir of desire and reached out to pull her into his arms.
Jennifer was held by Simon and subconsciously shrank her neck a little.
She was still not quite used to intimacy in the office.
Moreover, it was still work hours.
However, the female assistant's body soon softened. She slightly raised her chin and allowed the man to kiss her fair neck as she murmured softly, "Miss Brill... will be here soon."
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