Hollywood Hunter

Simon can roughly understand the feelings of these people when they mentioned Home Alone.

Daenerys Entertainment has independently released several blockbuster films this year. The North American box office of "Pretty Woman" is US$178 million, and the North American box office of "Human Ghost Is Coming" is US$217 million. Both are basically close to US$200 million. level.

Now, "Home Alone" is the same.

On the other hand, among the 10 film projects that Daenerys Entertainment has cooperated with, the only films that have been released are "Sleep with the Enemy" and "The League of Pink Fans" which can reach the local box office level of 100 million US dollars. The other two "Shaking Cradle Hand" "And "Ten Days in Crisis", although they are selling well, the box office potential is only about 80 million US dollars.

Obviously, Simon obviously left the best project to Daenerys to entertain herself.

Moreover, Columbia's Peter Cooper, Fox President Joe Rose and others may be more confused as to why Simon can accurately select these blockbuster films.

Take "Home Alone" as an example, John Hughes is indeed one of the blockbuster filmmakers who emerged in the 1980s, but he has never had a North American box office that broke 100 million yuan in the past, and the best local box office results are Only about 70 million US dollars.

However, all of a sudden, "Home Alone" not only broke the awkward situation that John Hughes' films could not exceed 100 million, but the total box office in North America seemed to go straight to 200 million US dollars.

For traditional Hollywood filmmakers, film investment is like gambling. No one can accurately predict whether a film will sell out. This is why Hollywood filmmakers insist on not participating in film investment as much as possible and only taking labor fees.

Simon Westeros has been breaking the perception of traditional Hollywood filmmakers in recent years.

Of course, Simon will not answer questions for these people, but just chat about various trivial things that happened recently in Hollywood. Now in this circle, if he is unwilling, no one can let him voluntarily reveal certain information.

After chatting and socializing, he noticed that his personal lawyer George Norman was walking here with a few people. Simon nodded to everyone, smiled and greeted Janet together.

Janet just reminded George that he would like to introduce some people to him tonight, mostly friends in his circle.

Simon and the Norman couple greeted them and looked at the past at will, unexpectedly attracted by the other couple.

The men in the couple are in their 40s or 50s, with dark complexion and obviously Latino descent. The woman looks much younger, in her thirties, with short black hair and fair skin, with the delicate charm of the ladies in the wealthy district of Los Angeles.

Most importantly, Simon recognized the identity of the couple at a glance, especially the identity of the woman, Robert Kardashian and Kris Kardashian. If history does not change, the latter will later be renamed Kris Jenner, a powerful woman who later built the "Kennedy Family of Entertainment Industry".

In the past few years, Simon had seen too many people who could only appear in the news reports. Although he felt that the world was too small again, his face did not show a special expression.

However, at Simon's inadvertent glance, it was probably the keen sixth sense unique to women. Kris Kardashian, who was holding her husband, clearly felt that the young man who has a prominent position in this city and even the whole country at this time, see The look at myself seemed a little special.

It must be an illusion, right?

However, the couple recently introduced the godfather of a few children, OJ Simpson, as a client to George Norman's law firm, and they have entered the private circle of this growing barrister in Los Angeles. However, in doing so, I actually hoped that through George Norman, I would be exposed to a higher level of the Los Angeles Pyramid.

The top level of the city’s pyramid is undoubtedly the big figures in Hollywood, especially the young man in front of him.

If they can get a relationship with Simon Westeros, even if they don't have any substantive benefits, it will be enough to make them famous in their social circles.

After introducing a few close friends, George Norman finally signaled to the Kardashians and said: "Simon, this is Bob Kardashian and his wife Chrissy. Bob was also a lawyer before, and we are still cooperating. Yes, but he is now a very good businessman."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kardashian."

Simon and Robert Kardashian shook hands, said hello, looked at Kris Kardashian, and stretched out their hands: "Hello, Mrs. Kardashian."

Chrissy Kardashian had been brewing in her heart the compliments when she greeted Simon, but she couldn't find the right words until she shook hands with him. The young man in front of him had too many dazzling things on his body, so he could only smile and said, "Hello, Simon."

Feeling the slightly rough big hand in her hand, remembering the young man's eyes before, Kris Kardashian couldn't help but sway.

Simon noticed the woman's wandering gaze, suddenly rising, and gently stroked his fingers on the palm of the opponent's palm twice before releasing the opponent. Chrissy Kardashian felt Simon's small movements, the surprise in her expression flashed away, and she quickly converged her expression, but her mood was hard to calm down.

What does Westero mean?

Could it be...

Chrissy Kardashian couldn't help but think of Simon Westero's rumors about the preference for women.

Simon didn't care how Kris Kardashian's mood was rippling, and after picking it up, he took care of it and quickly turned to other entertainments.

After the whole party, the beautiful woman holding her husband’s eyes sometimes looked forward and sometimes frustrated and sometimes resentfully waited at the party for more than an hour, almost looking through the autumn water, but no further hints from a young man, even found the other party Just left early.

The next day is Friday.

Early in the morning, two news items appeared in the media that were very attractive to the public.

Simon Westero finally responded to the $500,000 he received from Matthew Broderick. Many people found it unbelievable when they saw the relevant article in the Los Angeles Times.

Four years ago, the young man had just arrived in Los Angeles, lived in a motel, and had a barely subsistence job. How could he donate a huge sum of US$500,000?

However, the facts are beyond doubt.

On the day the Los Angeles Times exposed the news, a senior UNICEF personally confirmed the news in an interview with CNN.

A series of information subsequently exposed by other media further confirmed the accuracy of this news.

Simon Westeros did donate the 500,000 dollars.

It's incredible.

Although Simon did not publicly respond to the initial winter donation of 500,000 US dollars, the facts are there. Simon, who had the upper hand in public opinion in the storm caused by Matthew Broderick, unconsciously began to gain More people’s favors.

Another piece of news is equally eye-catching, it is the first week of the box office of "Home Alone".

From December 21st to December 27th, "Home Alone" was a hit among other films in the same period. In the first week and seven days, the box office collected 41.93 million US dollars.

Affected by the strong box office data of "Home Alone", among the other eight new films in the same period, only Universal Pictures' "Kindergarten Special Police" barely broke through the $10 million mark in the first week, and others such as Blair de Palma's " "Bonfire of Vanity" and Sean Connery's "Russian House", two large-scale new films, both had a box office of only five or six million dollars in the first week.

However, this is just the beginning.

On December 28, a new week, the North American theaters once again registered a series of new movies.

However, this week, only Sidney Pollack and Robert Redford's feature film "Havana" and Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather 3" have been launched on a large scale.

"The Godfather 3" can be described as a long-awaited movie fans.

However, the pre-screening reputation of this film was not satisfactory. Coppola's daughter Sofia Coppola's performance in the film attracted even more negative reviews.

The film "Havana," where Robert Redford gave a speech about the life story of a gambler in the changing environment of Cuba in the late 1950s, did not splash much.

The production cost of "Havana" is as high as 40 million US dollars. Universal obviously has no confidence in this film. Although the New Year schedule was given, only 813 screens were arranged in the first week. Facts have also proved that this film is a complete failure.

Only one day on Friday, December 28, the box office trend of the new week is basically determined.

"Home Alone" on Friday, just a day's time, the income was as high as 9.91 million US dollars, compared with the same period last week, the reverse decline reached 15%.

Many people had expected that "Home Alone" would hit the box office, but on the basis of the box office of 41.93 million US dollars in the first week, it was able to achieve a reversal, which exceeded most people's expectations.

Then, from December 28th to December 30th, the box office for the next weekend of "Home Alone" was 30.16 million U.S. dollars. Although it was not as good as Friday, it also reached 13%.

Compared with Christmas last week, this week, the statutory holiday on New Year's Day on January 1 happens to be Tuesday, which means that not only the three days of the weekend, but even Monday and Tuesday can be counted as a generous holiday at the box office.

The last weekend of 1990 passed quietly, and 1991 was just here.

In the end, from December 28th to January 3rd, due to the consecutive New Year's Day holiday, "Home Alone" finally reached a box office decline of 15% compared to last week for seven days of the next week, and again received $47.99 million. In just two weeks after the opening, the cumulative box office of this unexpected phenomenon-level children's comedy has quickly reached 89.92 million US dollars, directly breaking all the box office records of John Hughes' previous films.

After the box office was released the following week, Daenerys Entertainment officially announced the launch plan for the sequel of "Home Alone".

Because of the three contracts signed with the young actor Macaulay Culkin in advance, supporting roles such as Joe Pesci are not considered box office big-names who can sit down and start, so the main creator of the film will basically return in the sequel. John Hughes will still lead the project, and the compensation plan is consistent with the first one.

In addition to "Home Alone", "The Godfather 3" released this week, although the first week of the seven days in the first week of $ 22.43 million, surpassed the box office results of all other new films except "Home Alone" last week, but there is no way to hide "The edge.

"Havana," created by Sidney Pollack and Robert Redford, can only be described as a fiasco at the box office.

It was opened for seven days, and it still crossed the popular schedule of the New Year's Day holiday. The first week of "Havana" received a pitiful $3.12 million at the box office, not even a fraction of "Home Alone".

Universal Pictures invested $40 million in the production budget for "Havana". With the film's first week of box office release, this project is basically sure to lose money.

Counting the "Bonfire of Vanity" that was also not successful last week by Brian de Palma, some media couldn't help but ridicule. Daenerys Entertainment's "Home Alone" completely crushed what helped Simon in the first place. Brian de Palma and Robert Redford are two big names.

Fortunately, Brian de Palma was reminded by Simon that Tom Hanks was no longer used as the leading actor in "Bonfire of Vanities" and the film’s original time-space production budget of more than 40 million US dollars was compressed. It's $20 million.

Therefore, compared with "Havana", the "Bonfire of Vanity" with a box office of $5.69 million in the first week is expected to eventually get a North American box office of about $15 million. Although the producer Warner Bros. can not make much from this project , But it is not as complete as Universal's compensation.

Affected by the box office failure of "Havana" and the continued delay in the MCA acquisition, the stock market opened after the holiday, and MCA's stock price once again experienced a wave of volatility, with a tendency to fall below the $60 mark.

As hundreds of thousands of heavy troops in the Gulf begin to finally gather, MCA shareholders are becoming more and more eager, and the management controlled by Lou Vasalman is facing increasing pressure.

After several months of continuous operation, Bell Atlantic successfully won, which may hinder the MCA acquisition and was removed by Simon one by one. In order to give MCA a feeling that Daenerys Entertainment will continue to delay the acquisition, around the New Year In these days, Simon never attended the negotiation of this acquisition.

Lou Vasalman and Sid Simberg understood that the trend was over. After Daenerys Entertainment promised two fairly lucrative consultant titles, they finally officially accepted Daenerys Entertainment’s on January 7th. MCA’s $7 billion acquisition offer.

At this point, this acquisition that has been twisted and turned for several months is finalized.

On the second day of the agreement between the two parties, trading of MCA shares was temporarily suspended from the New York Stock Exchange, and Daenerys Entertainment also submitted the acquisition transaction review to the US Department of Justice.

Compared with Bell Atlantic, this review of MCA seems to many people to be basically a symbolic cutscene. No one would think that after the US Department of Justice approved Westeros’ acquisition of Bell Atlantic, it would suddenly veto it. Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of MCA.

Therefore, this transaction can be said to be firmly established.

On the Hollywood side, the transaction is still under review, and Daenerys Entertainment's management has already begun to slowly take over the operation of MCA.

Upon completion of this acquisition, Daenerys Entertainment will acquire 50% of Universal Pictures, MCA Records, Universal Studios Los Angeles, Universal Studios Orlando, USA Television Network, Putman Publishing Company, 40% equity of CineplexOdeon Cinemas, and a huge A large number of assets such as the Universal Pictures film library.

Although the debt ratio of MCA is very low, it also has debt accounts of about 500 million US dollars. Therefore, the total value of this acquisition was ultimately US$7.5 billion.

Counting the total transaction value of Bell Atlantic totaling 8.7 billion US dollars, in just a few months, two consecutive large-scale acquisitions, the total acquisition amount paid by the Westeros system reached 16.2 billion US dollars, of which cash accounted for 14 billion US dollars. .

Simon's repatriation of funds from overseas at the end of last year, excluding the huge capital gains tax that needs to be paid, plus part of the tax-deductible principal, exactly got back $6 billion in funds.

Once the two acquisitions are completed, the total debt scale of the entire Westeros system will reach 12 billion US dollars.

Simon is not only the richest person in the world, but also the one with the highest personal debt.

Many experts and media have predicted that if Simon cannot handle the huge debt problem faced by the Westeros system carefully in the next few years, or the US economic environment continues to deteriorate after the outbreak of the Gulf War, his personal wealth is likely to be similar. Last year's "Forbes" list, the two richest people in the media industry, Redstone and Murdoch, shrank as quickly.