After finishing lunch with Terry Semel, Simon returned to Daenerys Entertainment headquarters to resume his afternoon work.
These days, Simon and Amy, along with several other executives, have been re-discussing and arranging the new company's film and television production and distribution plans.
They had originally planned to work overtime for two days over the previous weekend to complete these matters before Simon's trip to Australia, but due to the release of the Forbes rich list, Simon was entangled with various issues all weekend and had to postpone it until a weekday.
Aside from the reality shows Daenerys Pictures had already prepared and the renewed TV series from New World Entertainment, the company does not plan to develop new projects this year.
Therefore, this aspect of the business was quickly streamlined.
In terms of film, the focus is on production and distribution.
After the merger and acquisition, the new company's distribution business will start next month.
In addition to the seven films released in the first half of the year, New World Entertainment has another six films of various genres awaiting distribution.
After screening and discussion, New World Entertainment finally decided that three films would be released in theatres: 'Elvira, Mistress of the Dark', 'Heathers', and 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II', while the other three would go straight to video.
'Elvira, Mistress of the Dark' is a horror film brand that actress Cassandra Peterson has been dedicated to building over the years, generally falling into the horror-comedy genre.
However, the film's biggest selling point is probably just the half-revealed, half-covered large breasts of the female lead in her black outfit.
Simon had a very low opinion of this B-movie style film and did not see any box office potential, originally intending to also throw it into the video market.
However, New World Entertainment had already conducted some preliminary promotion, even having Marvel develop a special comic book for this film.
Considering that the company had no other theatrical release plans in September, Simon reluctantly agreed to re-edit the film and send it to theatres, but limited the number of screens to under 500.
'Heathers' is a low-budget independent film starring Winona Ryder, an actress who had just made her mark in Tim Burton's 'Beetlejuice' in the first half of the year.
The story explores teenagers' disappointment and confusion about life through a series of campus murders.
After watching the rough cut, Simon decisively decided to have this film participate in next year's Sundance Film Festival along with 'Some Girls' and 'Metropolitan', which Daenerys Pictures had previously invested in.
Because the film's box office potential is too low, its release date will be set for February or March of next year.
The last film, 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II', is a horror series developed by New World Entertainment, imitating New Line's 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'.
The first film, with a production cost of $1 million, grossed over $14 million at the box office, which, while not comparable to the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' series, was still pretty profitable.
The production cost for this sequel increased to $3 million, and with the reputation accumulated from the first film, profitability seemed very assured.
New World Entertainment had originally planned to schedule this film for the Christmas holiday season at the end of the year.
If it were before the merger of the two companies, this would clearly be a good choice, but now, the new company's distribution team must focus on the established promotional releases for Daenerys Pictures' films.
Therefore, the release date for 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II' was postponed until next year's Easter.
Aside from MGM's 'Rain Man', scheduled for December 16th, the release dates for Daenerys Pictures' three films, 'Scream', 'Steel Magnolias', and 'Dead Poets Society', which it will independently distribute, were also finalized in this discussion.
'Scream' is scheduled for release on October 28th.
'Steel Magnolias' is scheduled for release on November 18th.
'Dead Poets Society' is scheduled for release on December 23rd.
Michael Hoffman's 'Some Girls', Whit Stillman's 'Metropolitan', and Kathryn's 'Blue Steel' are all in post-production, and their specific release dates have not yet been determined, but they are all expected to hit theatres in the first half of next year.
In terms of film production.
Of the several projects New World Entertainment was originally contemplating, Simon ultimately only retained 'Brenda Starr' which was originally slated to star Brooke Shields, cancelling all others.
The cancelled projects included 'Revenge', starring Kevin Costner, and 'The Punisher', based on the Marvel comic and starring Dolph Lundgren.
'Revenge' is an ethical drama about a retired naval officer seducing his friend's wife, leading to both of them facing retaliation.
It was originally to be directed by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott's brother, who had previously directed well-known films like 'Beverly Hills Cop' and was considered a top-tier Hollywood director.
However, Simon completely failed to understand the concept 'Revenge' intended to express.
Although the film was co-financed with an affiliated company under Columbia Pictures, its $20 million production budget still exceeded Simon's expectations, so he chose to abandon it.
As for 'The Punisher', Simon read the script and found that, apart from the name, the story completely deviated from Marvel's classic comic setting, being purely a B-grade action film imitating the style of Sylvester Stallone's 'First Blood', so there was naturally no need to keep it.
During the strike, Bruce Joel Rubin had already completed the scripts for the other two films Simon had previously commissioned him for: 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Ghost'.
Simon temporarily shelved 'Ghost' and instead greenlit 'The Sixth Sense'.
Robert De Niro had originally signed a package deal for 'Dead Poets Society' and 'The Sixth Sense'.
'Dead Poets Society' was already completed, so he was perfectly placed to take on 'The Sixth Sense'.
In addition, with the end of the Hollywood writers' strike, Daenerys Entertainment has also been intensively receiving various project pitches during this period, and Simon has selected several excellent scripts from them.
One of them is called 'The Bodyguard'.
That's right, it's the one starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in the original timeline.
The film's screenwriter, Lawrence Kasdan, is a big name in Hollywood, having previously written for the 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' series.
However, the script for 'The Bodyguard' had been cold-shouldered ever since it was written in the mid-70s.
It is said that before Simon took it on, the film had been rejected by over sixty producers consecutively, with most film companies believing the plot was too cliché and the scenes of the female singer Rachel's mansion were too expensive.
Therefore, even though Lawrence Kasdan has a high standing, Daenerys Entertainment still managed to buy the script for only $300,000.
Another script is 'Look Who's Talking' by Hollywood female screenwriter and director Amy Heckerling.
The biggest feature of this comedy is having babies speak with the thoughts and voices of adults.
In the original timeline, 'Look Who's Talking' starred John Travolta, with Bruce Willis voicing the baby, and successfully entered the top ten of the year's box office rankings.
This script was also not highly regarded before, which is why it ended up in Daenerys Entertainment's hands.
This is not surprising, as projects generally favoured in Hollywood are usually snapped up by major film companies years in advance.
There's just one thing: because he participated in a violent film like 'Pulp Fiction', John Travolta is no longer suitable for a heartwarming comedy like 'Look Who's Talking', so Daenerys Entertainment can only choose another male lead.
Ultimately, 'The Sixth Sense', 'Batman', 'The Bodyguard', and 'Look Who's Talking' will collectively be Daenerys Entertainment's main projects for next year.
'The Sixth Sense', which achieved an astonishing global box office of over $600 million in the original timeline, and the relatively less impressive 'The Bodyguard' are tentatively confirmed for next year's summer slot.
'Look Who's Talking' and 'Batman' are scheduled for next year's Thanksgiving and Christmas, respectively.
However, strictly speaking, this is actually just Simon's personal idea.
Because these four projects basically do not belong to the popular genres in Hollywood, and a script like 'The Bodyguard' has been cold-shouldered by Hollywood for more than ten years.
Simon doesn't plan to explain too much to others; he just needs Amy and the others to diligently complete their work.
Moreover, preliminary reports show that Daenerys Entertainment has already confirmed 10 films for release next year: 'Heathers', 'Some Girls', 'Metropolitan', 'Blue Steel', 'The Sixth Sense', 'Hellbound: Hellraiser 2', 'The Bodyguard', 'Brenda Starr', 'Look Who's Talking', and 'Batman'.
The number of films the company is still contemplating and those the acquisition department plans to buy will not be lower than this figure.
This means that Daenerys Entertainment's production and distribution plans for next year will directly reach the level of the seven major studios.
Therefore, surrounded by this 'sand,' these four films, including 'The Sixth Sense', even if they achieve the same box office success as in the original timeline, will not be as conspicuous as this year.