Hollywood Hunter

No movie can be completely useless.

What's more, since the original "Sleep with the Enemy" can get more than $100 million in the North American box office, it must have certain elements that can arouse the audience's interest.

Therefore, after the public relations between Daenerys and Fox, when the film was released on June 15, the mainstream media’s evaluation of the film, or optimistic about the performance of the new version of the protagonist Michelle Pfeiffer, or praised the film The soundtrack of the camera, or the deeper exposure and accusation of domestic violence in the film, are basically positive.

When the comprehensive media score statistics were released, the score of 6.7 points for "Sleep with the Enemy" even exceeded the 6.4 points of "Supreme Detective" in the same period, and it was much lower than the 5 points or less estimated by the distribution team based on the feedback from the preview before the film was released. Minute. In addition, "Sleep with the Enemy" is the first of 10 Daenerys Entertainment's foreign cooperative films that the media and fans have been paying attention to for a long time. The popularity foundation has been laid before the filming started.

In the end, in the first three days of the first weekend of the painting, "Sleep with the Enemy" won a box office of 18.86 million U.S. dollars with a screening scale of 1,719 screens.

The museum broke 10,000 in three days, making it one of the best selling movies in one fell swoop.

In comparison, Disney’s "Supreme Detective" has a box office of $22.54 million in the three days it opened. Although it surpassed "Sleep with the Enemy", the number of screens of the movie reached 2332, which was averaged over the three days of the weekend. The box office is not as good as "Sleep with the Enemy".

It was $18.86 million in the first three days of the painting, which is equivalent to the figure of $19.76 million in the first seven days of the first week.

According to the calculation of the box office ratio equivalent to 60% to 70% of the first week on weekends, the box office of "Sleep with the Enemy" is expected to reach US$27 million to US$30 million in the first week. Even because of word of mouth, theme and audience, "Sleep with Enemy" It is impossible to get out of the beautiful long-term line like "Human Ghosts Are Coming", but as long as the decline in the next week does not exceed 30%, "Sleep with the Enemy"'s North American box office hit the 100 million yuan mark quite easily.

What's more, even if it can't break 100 million, compared with the total production cost of "Sleep with the enemy" of 15 million US dollars and the announcement budget of 7 million US dollars, even if Fox only has half of the investment share, 10% of the distribution commission is included. , The return on investment of this movie can easily exceed the "Die Hard 2" scheduled for June 29.

Unlike "Sleep with the Enemy", which invested a total of $22 million in production and publicity, "Die Hard 2" starring Bruce Willis, but the production cost reached $70 million. Counting the huge local and overseas publicity budgets, the film’s global box office needs to be at least three times the production cost, which is $210 million, to achieve a balance of payments.

In Simon's memory, the global box office of Die Hard 2 is roughly 200 million.

In the new week, Simon flew to the East Coast on Monday, June 18, in order to appear in Madonna's concert on Saturday.

Originally last year, I decided to take a break and relax for a year. After all, because there were always too many things on hand that failed to make it happen, Simon simply took this cameo as a relaxation. After the guest appearance, Simon will fly to Melbourne to personally follow up the filming of "Batman: The Dark Knight".

During this time, Simon and Madonna's team has maintained very close communication.

Madonna just sold the live broadcast rights of the concert for 6 million, which is equivalent to 5 times the ticket income of each concert at Brenda Berry Arena, and it is 10% of the total ticket income of this round of concerts. . In order to achieve the best stage effect and make all the partners feel value for money, after being forced to give Daenerys Entertainment two free movie guest opportunities, Madonna got two more from Simon New song.

Of course, it was originally her own.

If Simon is unwilling, it is of course impossible to get a song from him.

However, Madonna's debut time is not too long after all, and there are not many songs suitable for live guitar play. Although Simon took this cameo as a relaxation, he didn't want to go on and off the court in a mediocre way, so he promised.

Although Simon’s guest appearance did not mention fees or other matters, it involved two new songs, including the previous one that Madonna planned to cover to the next chapter of the album, "Bad Romanance", so the amount that should be counted still has to be counted. Yes, of course, these don't need Simon to worry about it himself.

Madonna ended his Toronto tour on June 17. Originally, without Simon's participation, she moved to New York and only needed to rehearse familiarly with the show. However, because of Simon's participation, this week, in addition to the night concert that opened on the 20th, the day time was also All were used to rehearse the three songs that Simon participated in.

Considering that the live broadcast income earned from a concert is equivalent to a quarter of her total box office income from this 60-show tour, Madonna is also very motivated.

Busy, time soon came to Friday again.

The complete weekly box office data from June 15 to June 21 is also officially released.

Disney's "Supreme Detective" finally won the box office championship this week with 34.74 million US dollars.

Immediately afterwards, "Sleep with the Enemy", which was drawn in the same week, had a box office data of US$27.62 million for the first week, ranking second. This box office data has clearly exceeded the initial expectations of the publishing team. It is expected that after next week, the film will be able to recover all production and distribution costs with the North American box office, and then only wait for profits.

Although the two summer films related to Daenerys Entertainment have not won a weekly box office championship, however, the third-ranked "Human and Ghosts Are Not Over" is even better than the second-placed "With the Enemy" "Mian" is also eye-catching.

In the third week of its release, after a substantial increase in the screening screen, "Human Ghost Love Is Coming" fell by only 12% compared to last week, and the box office received another 18.01 million US dollars in a single week.

In three weeks, this fantasy romance movie, which started less than expected, won a total of 58.33 million US dollars in the box office. Daenerys Entertainment has already begun to generate profits.

Moreover, the almost flat box office curve for three consecutive weeks indicates that the total North American box office of "Human and Ghosts" will probably not stop at 100 million US dollars. The industry generally predicts that "Humans and Ghosts" will have a North American box office. , At least it will reach a level comparable to "Beautiful Girl in Wind and Moon".

Hollywood originally thought that Daenerys Entertainment’s strengths had always been thriller horror films. In recent years, the "Reaper", "Butterfly Effect" and "Screaming Screams" series have been so famous. In addition to the unexpected "Run Lola", Simon Westeros started his career mainly from horror films.

Looking back now, I find that Daenerys Entertainment has unknowingly created three classic romance films that are enough to be included in the history of Hollywood movies: "When Harry Meets Sally", "The Beautiful Girl in the Moonlight" and "The Love of the Ghost" Up". The success of "Batman: Hour of War" at the end of last year proves that Simon Westero has more infinite potential in comic action movies.

Counting the blockbuster literary films produced by Gaomen Pictures, it is obvious that Daenerys Entertainment has no shortcomings at all.

Originally, "Total Recall", which obviously suppressed "Human and Ghosts", the box office drop of 41% in the third week of the painting was significantly narrowed compared with last week. This week it only fell by 26%, but the box office of the single week has already Falling to the fourth place on the list, it only received 15.74 million US dollars, with a total box office of 72.14 million US dollars.

According to this trend of box office decline, the total North American box office of "Total Recall" is expected to be only about 120 million US dollars.

The fifth-ranked Warner Bros. Harrison Ford starring in the crime thriller "Presumed Innocence" also gave an unexpected box office trend. Although the start was not high, the next week was only a slight drop of 13%. Collected 10.17 million U.S. dollars, and the total box office is expected to rush to more than 50 million U.S. dollars.

In addition, in the new week, two new films will be released in North American theaters, namely "48 Hours of Breakthrough" starring Eddie Murphy and the fantasy horror comedy "Little" produced by Steven Spielberg. Monster 2".

Inside the apartment at the corner of Fifth Avenue East 68.

Simon and Janet were sitting in the dining room, eating breakfast while flipping through box office data for the past week.

The two films that have been released in the summer, "Human and Ghosts" and "Sleep with the Enemy" are all set. Relying on the box office results of these two films, the finale, next, "Teenage Ninja Turtles" on July 6. ", "The Hand Shaking the Cradle" on July 27 and "Hunter 3" on August 10, Simon is not too worried.

Janet waited for Simon to put the box office report aside and said: "The mattress company named Simmons, we have basically negotiated, do you want to check it this morning."

Simon noticed Simmons because the mattress company is so well-known across the ocean, it is simply synonymous with mattresses.

However, I have read the information before and found that the operating conditions of this long-established mattress company in recent years have been unsatisfactory, and before Simon noticed this company, Simmons was successively changed hands in 1986 and 1988. twice.

The first time it was a private equity fund. In 1986, it bought Simmons for US$124 million. After two years of operation, Simmons got rid of its original operating dilemma in one fell swoop. After the stock market crash in 1987, it was still thriving.

The Simmons management team, who thought it was the most important part of this process, filed a management buyout with that private equity fund in 1988. The private equity firm didn't insist on choosing to cash out and eventually took away 240 million US dollars.

Simmons has also become an employee stock company.

Then, apparently overestimating its own capabilities, coupled with the high debt incurred in the management buyout process and untimely internal benefit distribution reforms, the business situation of Simmons, which had been promising in the past two years, has taken a turn for the worse. The troubled tobacco industry giant Reynolds Nabesque is exactly the same.

Simon heard that Janet said that it was basically settled and asked: "What is the specific price?"

"100% equity of 96 million US dollars," Janet said: "However, after the acquisition, we will have to assume 136 million US dollars in debt."

More than $100 million in debt, which is obviously left over from the last management buyout process.

Simon thought to himself, and asked: "Apollo Management Company alone contributed capital, right?"

Janet shook her head and said: "Of course not. We have partnered with two other private equity funds. We invested 36 million U.S. dollars, which accounted for the majority, and we have control over Simmons."

Simon nodded in approval.

96 million US dollars of investment, even if you count the 136 million US dollars in debt, the Apollo Management Company, which still holds 500 million US dollars in cash, is also responsible, but this is not in line with the investment style of private equity funds. Putting all funds on one project will not only increase risk, but also prevent the fund from exiting at the right time.

Only undertaking part of the investment and being able to obtain control of the acquired company is the best investment method in Simon's view.

After thinking about it, Simon said: "After the collapse of the junk bond market, Dechon Securities, KKR, Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman used high leverage to swallow companies and quickly sold assets through splits. The cash-out model is no longer applicable. Next, private equity should focus on improving the operating conditions of the acquired company. Perhaps, while carrying out corporate mergers, Cersei Capital can also cultivate a team of specialized professional managers. "

Janet nodded seriously and said: "I will discuss with them today."

Simon heard Janet's promise and added: "Of course, what I said may not be correct. After all, you are the experts."

Janet slapped Simon and said: "Even if you are wrong, I will listen."

Simon pretended that he couldn't bear it and hid, and smiled: "Don't be like this, it's too easy for men to swell."

Janet's eyes flickered twice and her eyes moved down: "You are swollen, do you need my help?"

Simon raised his hand and knocked on the woman's forehead.

After a few laughs, Janet whispered again: "I have asked them to start a long position in crude oil futures. If you make a wrong judgment this time, we will lose a lot."

Although Saddam has threatened to fight to protect Iraq’s oil interests, the Middle East has not yet shown signs of a flare-up.

The recent crude oil price has changed from US$14 to US$15. Simon knows that the lowest point of this crisis is US$13. However, many analysts predict that due to the continuous increase in production in Kuwait and other countries, the international crude oil price may fall to 10 USD.

If the war on August 2 did not happen as scheduled and the price of crude oil fell to $10 a barrel, Cersei Capital's profits from short selling in the previous few months would not only be vomited out, but even the principal might even be lost.

This is indeed a very risky bet.

However, high risk also means high returns.

If you don't bet in advance now, and when the situation becomes clear, everyone sees the signs of war and builds up long positions, and then there will be no more profit for Cersei Capital.

Simon thought about this and smiled and said to Janet: "If you lose, you lose. It's been too conspicuous in the past few years. I really want to lose it somewhere now."

Janet smiled and didn't say more.

After breakfast, Janet rushed to the Cersei Capital headquarters in Midtown, but Simon did not go to Jersey City. Madonna had just performed a concert last night and probably still hadn't gotten up in the morning.

Simon’s destination is the East Coast branch of Daenerys Entertainment in Greenwich Village. In the morning, there is another new film project that I just got to talk about. It’s called "Anti-Wisdom and Many Stars", adapted from the sketch of "Saturday Night Live". The creator of the drama was Mike Myers, who later starred in the "Powers of Ace" series.

After Simon pointed out the development goal of developing the cheap comedy market for Danny Morris, the head of New World Pictures, he soon discovered this original time-space North American box office in a batch of projects by this person in charge. An alternative comedy that broke 100 million.