Long Beach Port, south of Los Angeles.
For an entire day, Simon personally supervised the packing and shipping of various props needed for the filming of 'Batman'. He didn't leave the dock and return to Santa Monica until all six large containers were securely placed on a cargo ship owned by Johnston Holdings' shipping company.
The Johnston family and the Australian-based 'Batman' crew will take over the subsequent procedures. Because many media outlets are closely monitoring the preparation details of 'Batman', to prevent leaks, the local Australian customs will also specially organize a team that has signed a confidentiality agreement to be responsible for the customs clearance and inspection of these props.
Entering December, Simon began to devote most of his time to 'Batman'. He now only appears at Daenerys Entertainment for an hour each day, and then rushes to the studio specially rented by the 'Batman' crew at Fox Studios to discuss filming details with the main creators.
It was already after work hours when Simon returned to the Daenerys Entertainment headquarters in Santa Monica, where Amy and Deutchman were both waiting for him.
The three entered Simon's office and sat down. Amy said, "Regarding the female lead for 'Fly Away Home', Simon, CAA still hasn't budged. I think it's best if we replace her. Forcing Meg Ryan to fulfil the contract, she definitely won't put much effort into this movie, and the result will only be worse".
"Then replace her", Simon nodded and said, "As for our option contract with Meg Ryan, let's drag it out for a year, and then make her pay compensation".
Option contracts are very common in Hollywood, but once a star becomes popular, to maintain a relationship for future cooperation, film companies are usually the ones who make concessions. If Simon's approach is followed, Daenerys Entertainment and Meg Ryan will never be able to cooperate again, and the company's relationship with CAA will also deteriorate.
However, since Simon had already made his decision, Amy didn't try to persuade him further. She was also very annoyed by CAA's exorbitant demands.
After Simon finished speaking, he picked up the coffee that his secretary Susan had just brought in and took a sip. He looked up and noticed that the female secretary was still in the corner by the shelf, her back to them, tidying something. He asked, puzzled, "Susan, is there something wrong there?"
Susan Landis turned around and held up a few folders to Simon. One of them seemed to slip, falling to the floor with a clatter. She quickly bent down to pick it up, saying, "Mr. Westeros, I saw it was a bit messy here, so I'm just tidying up".
Simon looked at his female secretary, who had been with the company since the establishment of Daenerys Pictures, and rubbed his finger on the coffee cup, saying, "Once you're done, you can leave".
After the female secretary left, Simon continued to Amy, "Also, from now on, for all future projects, the company will continue to send invitations to artists under CAA, but we will not hire a single one. Ira, it's the same for you, do you understand?"
Amy and Deutchman exchanged glances. This strategy was simply too ruthless.
If Daenerys Entertainment could continue to achieve this year's box office success, then CAA would simply have to watch as one project after another that they could have been involved in slipped away. When this happens too many times, the abilities of CAA agents would be questioned, and it could even lead to stars leaving CAA.
However, both Amy and Deutchman understood why the usually mild-mannered Simon was being so uncompromising today.
Today was December 8th, leaving only eight days until the release of 'Rain Man'.
These days, the promotion and distribution of 'Rain Man' had been difficult. Although they hadn't expected the main creators to participate in the film's promotion, it seemed as if to completely cut off Daenerys Entertainment's 'hopes' in this regard, Dustin Hoffman left Los Angeles last month to vacation in the UK, and Tom Cruise had been in Mexico filming Oliver Stone's new film 'Born on the Fourth of July'.
Moreover, in an interview with a British media outlet, Dustin Hoffman openly stated that his experience filming 'Rain Man' was as bad as 'Ishtar'. Last year, 'Ishtar', starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, burned through a $55 million budget but only grossed over $10 million at the North American box office, leaving the production company, Columbia, with a huge loss.
With Dustin Hoffman's public statement, even before its release, 'Rain Man' had already been exaggerated by the media as an 'Ishtar'-like flop.
In addition, the budget of 'Rain Man' also became one of the hot topics in the media.
The initial production budget for this film was as high as $25 million. Daenerys Entertainment spent another $5 million to buy back the distribution rights for North America from MGM through various channels. In recent promotional efforts, Daenerys Entertainment has also invested over $5 million.
Including upcoming expenses for film prints and other expenditures, the total investment for 'Rain Man' has already approached $40 million.
With a total investment of $40 million, Daenerys Entertainment needs to earn over $70 million at the box office, based on a 55% revenue share, to recover its costs.
However, even though Daenerys Entertainment has created one box office miracle after another, very few people now believe that 'Rain Man' can continue the glory of films like 'Scream' and 'Steel Magnolias'.
The company's Christmas release, 'Dead Poets Society', will begin sneak previews tomorrow. Although the audience overlap between 'Dead Poets Society' and 'Rain Man' won't be significant, to avoid diluting promotional efforts, 'Rain Man' did not arrange sneak previews this time. The film will be released directly on December 16th.
Daenerys Entertainment's choice of this strategy was once again interpreted by the media as a sign of their lack of confidence.
Simon frowned slightly, pondering these matters, then looked at Ira Deutchman.
Ira Deutchman, without waiting for Simon to ask, said, "Robert Newmyer called me this afternoon. They don't plan to sell the distribution rights for 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' anymore".
Simon was only momentarily stunned before a wry smile appeared on his face, feeling no surprise at all.
The main investors in 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' were MCA/Columbia Home Entertainment, a joint venture between Universal and Columbia. Influenced by Daenerys Entertainment's string of box office miracles, Highgate Film, a subsidiary of the company, suddenly became interested in their film. It would have been abnormal if Universal and Columbia had no reaction.
Simon wanted to acquire 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' primarily to pre-empt Miramax's rise. A film grossing over $20 million at the North American box office could help a small, workshop-style independent film company rise, but it wouldn't significantly impact a major film company. In fact, if not handled properly, 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' might not even achieve the same success as in its original timeline.
Since there was no hope, Simon didn't dwell on it too much and asked, "Has Robert Altman's 'Short Cuts' been signed?"
"I've already signed the screenwriting and directing contracts with Altman", Ira Deutchman nodded, then added, "Also, Simon, Tony Safford, the chairman of the Sundance Film Festival, told me that the company can only choose one film from 'Some Girls', 'Metropolitan,' and 'Heathers' to participate in the main competition unit of the film festival. He wants us to make a decision as soon as possible".
Simon picked up a pencil from the desk and toyed with it. While Daenerys Entertainment's string of successes hadn't provoked a strong reaction from Hollywood's traditional powers, Simon had clearly felt constraints from this recent series of events.
The main competition unit of the Sundance Film Festival features a total of sixteen films. Simon never intended to cram all three films in from the start. In fact, if he could have secured 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape', he planned to bypass Sundance entirely and participate in the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Among the remaining three films, Simon only hoped for two to be selected.
Now, Sundance directly stated that Daenerys Entertainment only had one slot, which was likely due to Simon and Redford's personal relationship. Without this connection, Daenerys Entertainment might not have any films selected this year.
"So, which one do you think is suitable?"
"'Metropolitan'", Ella Deutchman said, "'Some Girls' will use a teen sex comedy promotional approach and doesn't need to participate in film festivals. 'Heathers,' which addresses the issue of teenage suicide, probably won't be very popular at film festivals. Compared to the others, Whit Stillman's 'Metropolitan' best fits the taste of Sundance and the media".
The next day was Friday, and another week passed.
From December 2nd to December 8th, Paramount Pictures' new film 'The Naked Gun' finally pushed 'Steel Magnolias' from the top spot on the box office chart. In its first seven days, 'The Naked Gun' grossed $12.21 million in North America.
In its third week of wide release, 'Steel Magnolias' once again increased its screen count to 1,215, with this week's box office reaching $9.68 million. Compared to last week, the box office drop was still only 15%, with a cumulative box office of $36.60 million.
In addition, 'Scream' was also pushed to fourth place by Warner Bros.' new film 'Tequila Sunrise'. 'Tequila Sunrise', starring Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer, grossed $8.23 million in its opening week.
In its sixth week of release, 'Scream' saw its week-over-week decline narrow to 11%, taking in another $7.79 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $81.16 million.
At the same time, December saw Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Twins' open on 1,396 screens in North America, while Daenerys Entertainment's 'Dead Poets Society' began sneak previews on 25 screens in North America. Also starting sneak previews was Orion Pictures' 'Mississippi Burning', a film about American racial issues that Simon remembered as another Oscar contender this year.
Although 'Twins', like 'The Naked Gun', achieved an unexpectedly high opening day box office, the next day, 'Dead Poets Society' immediately became the focus of media discussion.
Robert De Niro lived up to his reputation as an Oscar-winning actor capable of playing any type of role. Mainstream media such as 'The Hollywood Reporter', 'Variety', and 'The Los Angeles Times' all mentioned De Niro's passionate teacher portrayal in 'Dead Poets Society' in their reviews, believing that this film would definitely bring De Niro another Oscar nomination.
Compared to the media's affirmation of De Niro's performance, the views expressed in 'Dead Poets Society' sparked some controversy.
'The Chicago Reader' argued that, compared to the dogmatism of Welton Academy in the film, Mr. Keating's behaviour of asking students to tear up other people's poems was also a forced indoctrination of students' minds.
However, the fundamental theme of 'Dead Poets Society' is still the longing for freedom, which is an undeniably positive 'political correctness' in the United States. Therefore, despite some controversy, the film's overall media Word of mouth (public reputation) remained very strong, with its aggregated review score already approaching a classic-level 8.6 points.
December 12, Monday.
As the weekend passed, the most anticipated event in Hollywood this week was the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations.
According to the previously discussed strategy, Daenerys Entertainment submitted two films for Golden Globe consideration: 'Steel Magnolias' and 'Dead Poets Society'. 'Steel Magnolias' was submitted for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and 'Dead Poets Society' for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
However, similar to its experience at the Sundance Film Festival, 'Steel Magnolias' only received one nomination for Julia Roberts as Best Supporting Actress, which clearly also involved additional efforts from ICM. All other nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director, and Best Actress were missed.
'Dead Poets Society' successfully secured four nominations: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
To concentrate public relations resources and ensure maximum profit, Daenerys Entertainment gave up on 'When Harry Met Sally' from earlier in the year and did not submit 'Rain Man', which was not favoured by many, for nominations. However, the exclusion of 'Steel Magnolias' left Simon feeling depressed.
Among the five nominated films for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, 'Big', 'A Fish Called Wanda', and 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' were well-deserved, but the nomination of another film, 'Working Girl', felt somewhat ironic to Simon. The most important reason this film received nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress was probably that its director was Mike Nichols, the director of 'The Graduate' and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' from back in the day.
'The Graduate' and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' are naturally considered classics of their generation, but this film, 'Working Girl', starring Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, can only be described as mediocre and clichéd in its plot. As a business film, 'Working Girl' simply cannot be compared to Oliver Stone's 'Wall Street' from last year.
Furthermore, Simon's 'Pulp Fiction' ironically only received two nominations: Best Actor for John Travolta and a symbolic Best Screenplay. The rights to 'Pulp Fiction' are held by Orion, and for reasons unknown, Orion focused its public relations efforts this year on 'Mississippi Burning', which successfully received four nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Seeing this situation, Simon also realized that Daenerys Entertainment would likely struggle to achieve much in terms of awards this year.
Amidst this helplessness and frustration, time unknowingly arrived at December 16th, when the constantly controversial 'Rain Man' finally opened in theatres across North America.