Veronica arrived in Los Angeles on March 1 and took Melbourne away.
Janet had completely lost her initial excitement halfway through the pregnancy. After sending off the frequently mentioned "little nuisance," she was finally free and flew to New York the next day.
Neither Simon nor Janet worried that Veronica would take good care of Melbourne.
Because in February, Veronica had suddenly decided to resign from her position as chief financial officer of Johnston Holding Company.
The Johnston family had not obstructed this too much.
In fact, Raymond Johnston had long hoped that his little sister would break free from her long term unchanging workaholic state and return to normal life.
Veronica controlling the family finances was on one hand due to her ability, and on the other hand an arrangement from when Janet's grandfather was alive.
The chief financial officer position in many companies was often a key candidate for CEO, showing how important the role was.
The Johnston family did not have the complicated internal struggles of other wealthy families, but Veronica voluntarily giving up power was ultimately what the next generation family head Anthony Johnston hoped to see.
As for Veronica giving up her job to help Simon and his wife take care of the child, this matter left the entire Johnston family quite puzzled.
The final reason they found was probably that Veronica had always been very fond of Janet.
Although this reason was hard to accept, including Raymond Johnston, no one delved deeper.
Of course, the old man still personally called to harshly lecture Simon and his wife for irresponsibly dumping the little one on Veronica.
...
Simon was very interested in Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret. Janet, who nearly blindly followed Simon's judgments, designated this company as Cersei Capital's key acquisition target for the year and personally flew to New York to oversee it.
After sending Janet to the airport, Simon came to Daenerys Studios and began the new week's work.
Today was March 2, a Monday.
Just as he arrived at the office, the female assistant followed in.
While reporting the day's schedule and various matters Simon needed to know, the female assistant handed over several documents.
The first thing Simon saw was a box office report for all seven films released by Daenerys Entertainment's three labels in the first two months of 1992. There was also a summary meeting for the three labels' film release work in January and February at nine fifteen.
Without rushing to open the report, Simon deliberately lowered his voice and whispered to the female assistant, "Janet is not home tonight. Want to come to my place?"
Jennifer listened to Simon's obviously deliberate cheating tone and shot him a sideways glance with a slightly flushed face. She pointed to the stack of documents in Simon's hand and said, "There are also the Wisteria Lane effect drawings planned according to your draft inside."
Simon simply nodded and continued pursuing by giving the female assistant a meaningful look.
The red tint on Jennifer's fair cheeks became even more obvious. After hesitating for a small moment, she said, "We will go to San Francisco."
"Then you arrange it," Simon said with a smile at the corner of his mouth. "However, the 767 took the little one to Australia, so we can only take another plane. Also, since we are going to San Francisco, arrange an Ygritte senior management meeting for tomorrow morning. I want to learn more specifically about the recent operating data of the Amazon online mall and the application status of cloud computing."
The female assistant nodded, took out her memo pad and jotted down a few notes. Her eyes on the small notebook in her hand, she seemed to ask casually, "Why send Melbourne to Australia? He is still so small?"
Simon did not find the female assistant's question too strange. Of course he would not tell the truth either. He used the excuse he had prepared long ago, "This involves some privacy of the Johnston family. It is not convenient to tell you."
The female assistant gave a small hum, looked up, and her bright eyes glanced at Simon. She suddenly said very firmly, "My Seattle will not let you send away casually."
Simon answered without hesitation, "Of course. You are the mother. You decide."
When Jennifer heard Simon say "You are the mother," the color on her face grew a little redder again. She put away the memo pad in her hand and said, "The meeting starts at nine fifteen. I will come get you later."
With that, she left the office.
Simon smiled as he watched the female assistant leave, then opened the box office report in his hands.
In the first two months of 1992, Daenerys Entertainment's three labels had continuously released seven films. This was already equivalent to the full year releases of some second and third tier film companies.
In fact, even MGM had only released eight films in the just passed year.
Therefore, even if he did not say anything on the surface, Simon still felt some unease about this obviously aggressive release rhythm.
Inside Daenerys Entertainment, there was no lack of objections to the forty film annual release volume Simon had set for the three labels. Amy had expressed concerns to Simon more than once.
The reason Smon insisted on this was on one hand to further expand Daenerys Entertainment and occupy more market share, and on the other hand to accumulate more content copyrights in a short time. At the same time, with this content advantage, further tap the development potential of Daenerys Entertainment in the theater market and video tape market.
Having sufficiently rich content copyrights could also lay a content foundation for Daenerys Entertainment's continued advance into the television industry and even the longer term streaming market.
Whether it was the cable television era for the next twenty years, the streaming era after that, or even the video tape market that had already flourished at this stage, the demand for content resources was extremely strong.
After acquiring MCA and controlling MGM, the film and television copyright resources Simon could nominally mobilize reached several thousand titles. However, one had to admit that a large portion of these film and television works were too old. Unless they were classics like Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz, most people would not have much interest in watching an old film from decades ago.
Of course, if the facts really proved that this rhythm was not feasible, Simon would not stubbornly hold his ground.
A key point for any company to prosper long term was to face its own mistakes squarely and change in time, rather than sticking to its ways.
Opening the report in his hands, the data for the seven films from the previous two months appeared before his eyes.
In the first two months of 1992, the seven films released by Daenerys Pictures, New World Pictures, and Highgate Pictures under Daenerys Entertainment were Shout, Strictly Ballroom, The Lovers on the Bridge, Reservoir Dogs, Hellraiser IV, Twin Dragons, and High Heels.
Among them, Shout and Strictly Ballroom were released by Daenerys Pictures, The Lovers on the Bridge, Reservoir Dogs, and High Heels by Highgate Pictures, and Hellraiser IV and Twin Dragons by New World Pictures.
Shout was a musical starring John Travolta and Heather Graham. It was also a project taken over from Universal Pictures. Musicals were the genre that had made Travolta famous back then. After appearing in Pulp Fiction, Travolta's popularity had risen again in recent years. Therefore the film's budget reached 15 million dollars.
However, after Shout opened on 1,107 screens on January 17, this old school musical whose genre had become somewhat outdated earned only 1.98 million dollars in its opening week.
The dismal opening performance meant Shout basically left theaters after two weeks, with a total box office of 3.51 million dollars.
A complete loss.
Fortunately, with a 15 million dollar budget cost, the loss was ultimately not too devastating.
Hit by the failure of this film, Travolta would probably have to completely transform next.
After reading the film's information and data, Simon casually circled the name of the female lead Heather Graham in the rep0ort with a pencil.
This sexy actress, now in her early twenties with a delicate Barbie doll like appearance, had already shown her face in films like Drugstore Cowboy and License to Drive in recent years. Shout was her first female lead film, and her co star was John Travolta.
But the facts proved that this pretty vase who had always been very active in Hollywood in Simon's memory ultimately had little commercial potential and could only remain her own vase.
Turning past Shout, Simon looked at the data for the next film.
Strictly Ballroom was also a musical. The director was a newcomer from Australia named Baz Luhrmann.
Yes, the Baz Luhrmann who had directed Moulin Rouge in the original timeline.
Unlike Shout, which leaned toward old school disco style, Strictly Ballroom was more of a dance film.
Moreover, this feature film debut by Baz Luhrmann carried the director's strong personal style, passionate, gorgeous, bright. At the same time, the film had no pretentious profundity. Whether it was the pleasing dance or the simple and clear plot, it carried a very direct commercial flavor.
Compared with Shout's composite media score of 4.6, Strictly Ballroom, released on February 7, achieved an excellent composite media score of 9.5.
Because the box office prospects of this film were uncertain, the distribution team had adopted a small scale opening release model for Strictly Ballroom.
It opened on 38 screens in its first week. Driven by the outstanding reviews, Strictly Ballroom's per screen average for the opening week ultimately reached 28,000 dollars.
In the slow season of February, a per screen average of 28,000 dollars could be called a dark horse.
After quickly adjusting the distribution strategy, following another week of word of mouth fermentation on 76 screens, the distribution team expanded Strictly Ballroom's screen count to 681 on February 21.
Up to the just passed weekend, after three and a half weeks of release, Strictly Ballroom had accumulated 9.31 million dollars at the box office.
The audience for musicals was ultimately limited. The main cast of Strictly Ballroom were all Australians and lacked sufficient popularity foundation in North America. Therefore, the distribution team had no intention of further increasing the screen count.
However, in three and a half weeks, 9.31 million dollars at the box office already ensured that this musical would take in at least 20 million dollars in North America.
On the other hand, although Strictly Ballroom was an Australian film, it was actually a project personally selected by Simon. Therefore it had been invested in by Daenerys Entertainment's Australian branch.
As a newcomer work with no big stars, Strictly Ballroom's budget cost was only 3 million dollars converted to U.S. currency, and it even enjoyed a portion of tax rebates from the Australian government.
Simon had invested in Baz Luhrmann based on his prophetic advantage mainly for his other two box office hits, the modern version of Romeo + Juliet, Leonardo's breakthrough film, and the later Moulin Rouge. He had not had much memory of Strictly Ballroom, so he had not held high expectations.
The result was a not small surprise.
The film could take in 20 million dollars at the North American box office alone. Doubling that globally would be no problem at all.
After full channel operations, this film with a budget cost of only 3 million dollars would bring Daenerys Entertainment no less than 30 million dollars in net profit.
Simon also marked a few notes beside Baz Luhrmann's name and continued to the next film.
The Lovers on the Bridge was a romance starring Juliette Binoche. The impression this film gave Simon was the scene of the male and female leads embracing and shouting on the bow of a ship. Later, this scene had been used by Cameron in Titanic.
The budget cost of The Lovers on the Bridge reached 160 million francs. It could be called the highest budget romance film in French history, equivalent to 28 million dollars.
The film's production process had been full of twists and turns. After its European release, the result had also been a disaster.
Highgate Pictures had acquired the distribution rights for The Lovers on the Bridge with originally low expectations. It had only hoped to use the "highest budget cost" gimmick. The contract signed with the French distributor had been a pure agency distribution deal.
The facts once again proved that this film was a tragedy.
Highgate Pictures had arranged a small scale opening for The Lovers on the Bridge on 103 screens on January 10. In the first seven days it earned only 130,000 dollars, with a per screen average of less than 1,300 dollars. It left theaters after two weeks, with a North American total of only 190,000 dollars.
Calculated, Highgate Pictures would still lose about 600,000 dollars in distribution costs on this project. It could only hope that later video tape releases would make up for some of it.
Reservoir Dogs' release date was January 31, the second week after the Sundance Film Festival ended.
Striking while the iron was hot.
This time, because of appropriate distribution strategy, Reservoir Dogs' market performance had been very good.
It opened on 336 screens. In the first seven days it earned 4.37 million dollars, with a per screen average of 13,000 dollars.
Subsequently the screen count increased to around 500. After four and a half weeks, this low budget drama's cumulative box office had reached 11.73 million dollars. It was expected to hit 15 million dollars before leaving theaters.
Compared with the 2.5 million dollar budget cost, the project could be said to have made a big profit.
Before Highgate Pictures invested in Reservoir Dogs, it had signed priority contracts for Quentin's next two films. Simon was also curious what Quentin's next work would be without Pulp Fiction.
Next.
High Heels was a drama by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. It told a twists filled story involving incest and murder between two generations.
Almodóvar's film from last year, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, had caused considerable controversy. Daenerys Entertainment had originally had the chance to acquire it but had proactively given up because of the film's controversy. However, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! had not fallen into the hands of the original Miramax either. It had been taken by Orion, and the box office had been lukewarm.
For this High Heels, Highgate Pictures had signed a distribution contract with 300,000 dollars prepaid plus a fifty fifty profit split, including all North American channel rights.
After opening small scale on 166 screens on February 7, in three and a half weeks High Heels had accumulated 1.37 million dollars. It was expected to reach 2 million dollars total.
Overall it was a small profit.
Finally, the two films released by New World Pictures, Hellraiser IV and Twin Dragons, had both achieved success.
Hellraiser IV belonged to a long running horror series from New World Pictures. The project's box office scale could not compare with New Line's A Nightmare on Elm Street series, but the returns had always been very stable.
This time's Hellraiser IV had a 5 million dollar budget cost. It opened on Valentine's Day, February 14, on 1,217 screens. In the first seven days it earned 7.39 million dollars.
Up to yesterday, March 1, in two and a half weeks Hellraiser IV had accumulated 12.69 million dollars. It was expected to reach 16 million dollars before leaving theaters. Relying on box office alone it could recoup all production and distribution costs and generate profit. And as everyone knew, horror films were a genre the video tape market had always favored.
Twin Dragons was a Hong Kong film starring the currently popular Jackie Chan across the ocean. Its schedule was February 28.
Because Jackie Chan's several attempts to break into the North American market had not been very successful, although Twin Dragons' budget cost had reached 10 million dollars, New World Pictures had only bought out the film's all North American channel rights for 1.5 million dollars.
After investing another 1 million dollars in distribution costs, Twin Dragons opened on 761 screens. In the first three days of the weekend it earned 2.87 million dollars.
In the slow February season, a per screen average exceeding 3,700 dollars was already a small miracle for a Hong Kong film that had always had low presence.
The 2.87 million dollars earned in the first three days of release meant Twin Dragons' total box office was expected to hit the 10 million dollar mark.
With all channel rights bought for 1.5 million dollars, just the North American box office would bring in 10 million dollars. It could be predicted that Hong Kong films would receive considerable attention from Hollywood's major studios next.
Simon left some notes specifically behind this film. Since they had already seized the initiative, Daenerys Entertainment of course had to do its best to hold onto this advantage.