After a long sixteen-hour flight, Simon returned to Los Angeles. It was still Sunday evening, June 25th, Eastern Time, but due to the time difference, major exchanges in Asia had already begun a new week of trading.
The various measures taken in the past two days had clearly taken effect. When the Tokyo stock market opened, the Nikkei 225 index began to rise slowly.
It was a new week in North America.
When Simon woke up in the morning, the Nikkei 225 index had closed at 36,617 points the previous day. Although this figure had not yet reached last week's high, the unexpected crisis in the Japanese financial market had already stabilized.
Many newspapers in North America had been relishing the news of Simon's trip to Australia to visit his girlfriend, which triggered a sharp drop in the Japanese stock market, even coining a new term: the 'Westeros Effect'.
The front-page news of the Los Angeles Times on Monday was still about this matter, with an accompanying photo of Simon and Janette embracing at Melbourne Airport. The article re-introduced the events of the past few days, and did not forget to tease Simon, saying he was definitely the most unpopular guy in Japan right now, and predicted that the probability of him being denied entry if he wanted to travel to Japan in the long term was as high as 100%.
In Australia, Cersei Capital's agreement with the Japanese progressed very smoothly. In less than a week, both parties completed all aspects of the discreet transfer.
In the final agreement, ownership of Cersei Capital's Sub-Funds 1 to 5 was entirely transferred to the Japanese, and outwardly, Janette and Anthony remained responsible for their management.
Janette really wanted to fly to Los Angeles immediately after the transaction was completed, but to avoid sudden personnel changes causing external speculation, the Japanese requested that she remain in charge of operating Cersei Capital for at least two more months. Of course, this was under the premise that the Japanese would be in complete remote control, and Janette herself would have no actual decision-making power.
For the benefit of everyone, Janette had to agree.
Two months, in fact, was just right.
Post-production for 'Batman' wouldn't finish until September. Simon planned to take a long vacation after completing the film, with the Milan Fashion Week in September as his first planned stop. By then, Janette could also use this very reasonable excuse to leave.
Since she couldn't leave for the time being, Janette didn't sit idle. She began to prepare the operational team for Cersei Capital's Sub-Funds 6 to 10, in order to short the North American junk bond market in the second half of the year. The source of funds was naturally the $5 billion in cash that the Japanese had recently transferred to Cersei Capital's offshore account.
To keep their own arrangements confidential, the Japanese also requested that this fund from Cersei Capital not be transferred back to Japan for at least one year. Everyone agreed to this point.
For tax avoidance considerations, Simon had no intention of transferring the money back to the country in the short term, and the various investors in Australia also hoped to continue to rely on Cersei Capital for more returns.
Although no settlement had been made yet, based on the original tiered commission agreement, Simon's personal profit from this transaction could be roughly predicted.
With $5 billion in capital, deducting the principal of $1.57 billion, the profit figure was $3.43 billion.
In the original agreement, Simon only requested a profit share from the returns generated by the $970 million invested by external participants; his own and the Johnston family's $600 million were exempt. The tiered commission scheme was 20% for profits within 30%, 30% for profits between 30% and 100%, and 50% for profits exceeding 100%.
After all calculations, Simon's principal profit was $1.093 billion, and his commission income was $836 million. Including his initial principal of $500 million, Simon's book share in this $5 billion fund had reached $2.429 billion.
In addition, the Johnston family's principal of $100 million had a book profit of $218 million. The other Australian capitals' principal of $970 million US dollars had a book profit of $1.283 billion.
Although Simon would take away more than half of the profit share, no Australian investor requested a redemption, or even a partial redemption, after this transaction. This was not only due to the initial agreement, but also because converting $1.57 billion into $5 billion in less than half a year meant that all parties' returns had exceeded 100%. Any Australian investor with a normal mind would understand that Simon was completely worth such a high share.
Faced with such a large sum of money held by Cersei Capital, Simon gradually began to have some other ideas.
Of course, that's a story for another time.
Having left Los Angeles suddenly for several days without warning, it was natural to work overtime to make up for lost progress upon returning.
On the other hand, the competition in the North American summer box office was also becoming increasingly fierce.
Simon left Los Angeles on Wednesday evening last week. Immediately after, the box office for 'The Bodyguard's third week was released. The film's box office drop compared to the second week was still a slight 11%, bringing in $17.86 million, with a cumulative box office of $61.55 million.
The following Friday, three new films were released simultaneously in the North American summer lineup: Disney's sci-fi family comedy 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids', Columbia Pictures' 'The Karate Kid Part III', and Orion Pictures' musical biopic 'Great Balls of Fire!'
Although none of the three new films had a huge opening weekend like 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' and 'Ghostbusters II', they still had a clear impact on the box office of a number of older films.
From June 23rd to June 29th, the week after Simon returned from Australia, 'The Bodyguard's box office drop widened to 21% compared to the previous week, collecting another $14.11 million.
Although 'The Bodyguard' ranked only fourth on the weekly box office chart, trailing 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids', 'The Karate Kid Part III', and 'Ghostbusters II', this film, which no one had initially been optimistic about, had already accumulated $75.66 million in box office revenue after four weeks of release.
In addition, 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's box office for the new week shrank to $12.07 million, ranking fifth, with a cumulative box office of $140.23 million.
Among the three new films, Orion Pictures' 'Great Balls of Fire!' did not meet expectations. This musical biopic, which tells the life story of American rock singer Jerry Lee Lewis, had a production budget of $12 million and opened on 1,417 screens, but its opening weekend box office was only $6.28 million, and its critical reception was also very mediocre.
In the new year, aside from the unexpectedly successful 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' in February, which grossed $40 million, all other films released by Orion Pictures ended in failure. Due to the continuous deterioration of its financial situation, in February of this year, just three months after 'Pulp Fiction' ended its theatrical run, Orion eagerly released the video tape.
After Simon personally demanded payment from Mike Medavoy at the last party, Orion Pictures continued to delay settling Daenerys Entertainment's share of 'Pulp Fiction's box office. Daenerys Entertainment had been more than generous in tolerating Orion Pictures delaying the settlement for half a year. To prevent Orion Pictures from suddenly going bankrupt and making the share completely unrecoverable, Amy had recently been considering legal action.
On June 30th, a new week began, and 'The Sixth Sense', which Simon secretly had high hopes for, finally premiered.
Compared to 'The Bodyguard's opening scale of over 2,000 screens, 'The Sixth Sense' only had 1,673 screens in its first week. This relatively conservative release strategy was intentionally chosen by Simon, who hoped to leave enough room for the film's reputation to ferment through a smaller screening scale.
Up until its release, the plot of 'The Sixth Sense' remained strictly confidential. Daenerys Entertainment's initial marketing strategy focused primarily on Simon and De Niro, with the traditional goal of simply increasing the film's visibility.
Simon had always believed that the immense success of 'The Sixth Sense' in its original timeline, with over $600 million in global box office, was fundamentally not just due to a simple plot twist. Many other factors, such as the emotional depth the film aimed to convey, were also crucial.
However, the final plot twist between humans and ghosts was undoubtedly an important catalyst for the film's success.
Therefore, during the film's promotion, whether in various press releases or interviews with the creators, there was no mention or hint of the film's final twist. Simon's fundamental strategy was to let the audience discover this twist for themselves, rather than through hints in early publicity.
If people knew in advance that the film would have a 'surprise,' it could even have a counterproductive effect, making some feel that it was 'nothing special'.
After all, similar plots have appeared throughout the long history of cinema.
As for the genre of 'The Sixth Sense', most fans who followed the film before its release could only get a general impression of it being a 'horror film'. Even with the TV trailers released in the final stage, the information audiences could gather was basically only that it was a story between a psychologist and a psychic young boy, with some misleading horror film-specific shots included.
Because 'The Sixth Sense' is fundamentally a pseudo-horror film with a core of family warmth, Daenerys Entertainment did not target teenagers precisely like 'Scream' in its marketing. Instead, it targeted audiences of all ages, which also led to a significant increase in publicity and distribution costs.
While some moviegoers hesitated whether to watch 'The Sixth Sense' immediately due to the film's conservative promotion strategy, the sharp-nosed entertainment media became increasingly curious because of Daenerys Entertainment's strict confidentiality regarding the film's plot and the unusual aspects of its promotional stage.
Of course, many experienced media outlets and audiences believed that both the film's relatively low opening screen count and its low-key promotional marketing only showed Daenerys Entertainment's lack of confidence in 'The Sixth Sense'. In fact, executives within Daenerys Entertainment who had seen the finished film generally lacked confidence in this slow-paced movie.
Los Angeles.
Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters in Santa Monica.
It was Friday afternoon, June 30th, 1989.
In the large conference room inside the office building, the meeting to arrange the company's mid-year financial audit had been ongoing since two o'clock in the afternoon.
All core senior executives of Daenerys Entertainment were present.
The mid-year financial audit, scheduled to begin next month, while not as detailed as the one at the beginning of the year, would still involve the accounting team from Westeros Company to provide oversight. As the head of Westeros Company, James Raybould specifically came from Los Angeles with Robert Iger that morning.
In the past two quarters, although only 'The Bodyguard' among the films released by Daenerys Entertainment unexpectedly became a box office hit, the company's revenue in its two core businesses, film and television, remained very substantial.
In terms of film, besides the new releases in the first half of the year, the domestic releases of blockbusters like 'Scream' and 'Steel Magnolias' from late last year had gradually concluded, and overseas distribution was largely complete. The video sales of 'When Harry Met Sally', released at the end of last year, also achieved very impressive results in the first half of this year, with funds continuously flowing back from all aspects.
In the television sector, the spring seasons of reality shows and TV series such as 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' and 'Survivor' also concluded, and network settlements and advance payments also brought substantial revenue to Daenerys Entertainment.
The total debt of all companies in the Westeros system, amounting to $900 million, meant that Simon needed to repay $200 million in principal and interest this year alone, yet he felt no pressure at all.
Not to mention the huge funds Cersei Capital had just received from the Japanese, just the profits generated by Daenerys Entertainment's 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' program, even with significant concessions made in the new season's contract, were enough to cover Simon's personal debt repayments.
However, even though Daenerys Entertainment's profitability had reached a level that made Hollywood peers envious, Simon had no intention of being a muddled boss. Too many memories from his two lives made him deeply understand one point: for any enterprise to continue to develop and grow, strict financial systems are indispensable.
At five o'clock, the meeting concluded.
The others dispersed, and Simon and James Raybould remained in the conference room to discuss Cersei Capital's affairs.
James was already aware of Cersei Capital's transaction with the Japanese, and the upcoming operations in the domestic junk bond market would require more cooperation from Westeros Company.
The two communicated privately for half an hour before walking out of the conference room together.
Amy hadn't left yet. Hearing that Simon had finished his conversation with James, she walked over from her office.
"Burbank has compiled the daytime attendance data for 'The Sixth Sense,' and some mainstream evening newspapers have also published reviews. Overall, the feedback is very good".
A few days ago, the unexpected box office success of 'The Bodyguard' prompted Amy to inadvertently express her satisfaction, stating that one hit movie grossing over a hundred million dollars a year was enough for a major film company. With the distribution rights for the two key commercial films, 'Look Who's Talking' and 'Batman', belonging to Warner at the end of the year, Amy's words undoubtedly showed that she, too, lacked confidence in 'The Sixth Sense'.
Seeing Amy's relaxed demeanour at this moment, the performance of 'The Sixth Sense' after its release today must have exceeded her expectations.
Simon didn't comment much, just smiled and said, "If there are no other arrangements, let's all have dinner together and chat later".
Amy nodded and walked downstairs with Simon, James, and Jennifer, pulling out her Motorola micro-TAC mobile phone from her purse as she walked. She said, "I think we should remind Rehme to communicate with the media to avoid too many public spoiler reviews appearing in tomorrow's newspapers".
Simon watched Amy dial, then glanced at the Motorola micro-TAC.
After returning from Australia, Simon noticed that Amy, Nancy, and others had started using this palm-sized mobile phone, which could already be called a cell phone. He hadn't paid much attention to it at first. However, looking at it again now, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Hmm….
That's right.
Nokia!