Simon was in his duplex apartment on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side.
After tossing and turning and socializing late into the night, Simon still woke up at 6 AM in New York and started preparing breakfast for the two of them.
Today was Friday, October 6th, 1989.
Planning to stay on the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' set for another day, Simon and Janette were set to leave again. Daenerys Entertainment had many things that required Simon's attention recently, and Janette also needed to return to the Melbourne headquarters to personally oversee this operation.
Moreover, since the impending crisis in the US junk bond market had been confirmed, staying in New York for too long could easily lead to speculation, which was not a good thing.
Their next reunion would be in early November, when the Boeing 767 they had ordered from Boeing was due for delivery, and both of them should have finished their most pressing tasks.
After breakfast, Janette rushed to Westeros Company in Midtown, while Simon met up with Jennifer. He first dropped his female assistant off at the Daenerys Entertainment New York branch building in Greenwich Village, listened to some work reports, and then hurried to Brooklyn in eastern Manhattan, where 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' was being filmed.
It was still 6 AM in Los Angeles, but the box office data for the previous week had already been released.
From September 29th to October 5th, in its 14th week of release, Daenerys Entertainment's 'The Sixth Sense' took in another $5.09 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $275.06 million.
'Uncle Buck', released on August 11th, also entered its 8th week, earning another $3.26 million in a single week, with a cumulative box office of $57.02 million. With an estimated box office potential of about $10 million more, 'Uncle Buck' was projected to become John Hughes' second-highest-grossing film in recent years, second only to 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.
'The Bodyguard', the earliest summer blockbuster, saw a small rebound in its box office data in recent weeks, which had already begun to wind down, due to the recent dispute between Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records over revenue sharing. Last week, it earned another $0.51 million, bringing its cumulative box office to $118.31 million.
'The Bodyguard' currently had only 286 screens showing it, and it was highly likely that its domestic box office would break the $120 million mark before it left theatres.
Additionally, in September, Highgate Films successively released 'Sweetie' and 'The Women On The Roof', which they had acquired from the Cannes Film Festival. The two films were released on September 8th and September 22nd, respectively.
Ira Deutchman had already developed an effective radial distribution model through the distribution of films like 'Metropolitan', 'Some Girls', and 'Heathers' in the first half of the year. This strategy involved a small-scale opening in central cities like New York and Los Angeles to test market reaction, followed by gradual expansion to other cities.
Jane Campion's 'Sweetie' was given targeted marketing in the three major cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. After receiving media recognition for its preview, Deutchman decisively invested $300,000 in promotional and distribution fees in these three cities.
'Sweetie' opened on September 8th with 26 screens and achieved an excellent first-week performance, grossing over $19,000 per screen, with a total box office revenue of $0.51 million in seven days.
Considering the film's target audience, Highgate Films' distribution team predicted that 'Sweetie' had the potential to reach a total North American box office of $5 million.
Highgate Films only paid a $500,000 advance to acquire 'Sweetie', and even with increased overall promotional and distribution costs, they could keep it under $1 million. Although they would have to pay the production company 50% of the net box office profits in the future, all subsequent revenue from video tapes and television broadcasts would belong to Daenerys Entertainment, making this project a modest success.
As for 'The Women on the Roof', Highgate Films did not seek media approval. Instead, they promoted the film's lesbian elements and sensual scenes. Deutchman even arranged for the two female leads to appear in a local New York adult-oriented men's magazine.
To cater to the American audience's dislike of subtitles, Highgate Films specifically produced a meticulously dubbed version of this Swedish film.
Highgate Films invested a total of $300,000 in film acquisition, dubbing, and promotion/distribution. 'The Women On The Roof' opened in New York on September 22nd with 11 screens, grossing $230,000 in seven days. Based on a $100,000 promotional investment in New York alone, this had already recouped its costs, and its box office of over $20,000 per screen was even better than 'Sweetie'.
However, in its second week of release, with the same number of screens and still limited to New York, 'The Women On The Roof' saw a 36% drop in box office from September 29th to October 5th. Its box office curve was far less resilient than 'Sweetie'. It was projected that after several months of long-term release, its North American box office would likely reach around $3 million.
Speaking of which, these two small ventures by Highgate Films were almost insignificant compared to Daenerys Entertainment's blockbusters like 'The Sixth Sense' and 'The Bodyguard'. However, Simon did not underestimate them at all. He always maintained the attitude that a $500,000 business and a $50 million business should be viewed equally.
After all, a large tree with only a trunk and no branches and leaves is destined to wither. These 'small businesses' were actually the branches and leaves of Daenerys Entertainment.
What's more, no one could be sure whether these inconspicuous branches and leaves might suddenly one day grow into another towering tree.
In addition to domestic box office, this week's report also included some overseas box office data for 'The Bodyguard'.
In this era, the overseas distribution of Hollywood films generally lagged behind domestic releases by more than three months. Daenerys Entertainment was also very cautious about the overseas distribution of 'The Sixth Sense'. Therefore, among the three summer films, only 'The Bodyguard' gradually entered overseas markets in September.
The dispute between Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records over 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack had been widely publicized during this period. Under Daenerys Entertainment's unyielding and strong stance, Arista Records had no choice but to accept Daenerys Entertainment's financial audit last week, which was now nearing completion.
On the other hand, the complete halt of 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack sales did not impact the film's box office as many had imagined. This controversy not only stimulated a small rebound in domestic box office but also sparked strong curiosity among overseas audiences for 'The Bodyguard' due to its intense topicality.
Since its earliest release in the UK on September 8th, the film has accumulated over $86 million in the past month in countries where it has opened, such as the UK, Spain, and Italy. This is even without its release in major box office markets like Japan and France.
From memory, the box office distribution of 'The Bodyguard' was heavily skewed towards overseas earnings, with its North American box office barely exceeding $100 million, while its total overseas revenue approached $300 million. It now appears that this film will once again replicate the original's box office distribution pattern.
With its overseas box office unaffected, Daenerys Entertainment naturally held more leverage in its dispute with Arista Records.
Because of this leverage, when Simon returned to Los Angeles for the weekend, Arista Records, after completing the audit, deposited a total of $38.25 million in cash into Daenerys Entertainment's account, of which $7.53 million was Arista Records' payment of overdue compensation to Daenerys Entertainment.
Daenerys Entertainment also proactively made some 'concessions,' not publicly disclosing the specific amount of the settlement reached by both parties, which was a way to save face for Arista Records.
However, everyone in the industry was probably well aware of this matter. Daenerys Entertainment's strong stance through 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack also served as a powerful warning to all other studios collaborating with Daenerys Entertainment: if you try to swallow Daenerys Entertainment's interests in a collaboration, Daenerys Entertainment will never compromise, even if it means a mutually destructive outcome.
Los Angeles.
Fox Studios in Century City.
In the two weeks since Simon left, Fox Pictures had quickly completed the preparations for 'Sleeping with the Enemy', the first of 10 projects. The film was expected to be released in the prime slot of June next year, so all aspects were given the green light, and filming could begin later this month.
In comparison, among the other three films to be released next year, 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle' was scheduled for late July or early August next year. The competition at the tail end of the summer blockbusters would not be as fierce, making it suitable for a thriller that relies on word of mouth for a long run, while also avoiding competition with 'Sleeping with the Enemy', which is also a thriller.
The release date for 'Misery' was tentatively set for Halloween at the end of October next year. After this year's 'Scream 2', the third instalment of the series would be paused for a year, thus avoiding internal competition at that time.
'A League of Their Own' was tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving next November, which would allow it to avoid 'Home Alone' in December.
The remaining 6 of the 10 films would likely be released gradually in 1991 and 1992. Simon also privately admitted to many that these first four films were not the main focus; the real 'blockbusters' were definitely coming later.
After a morning meeting for the production of 'Sleeping with the Enemy' and a shared lunch, Simon was about to return to Santa Monica when Joe Roth called him back to his president's office within the studio.
The two sat down, and Roth handed him a document, saying, "Simon, this is the copyright transfer agreement for 'Terminator.' Hemdale's initial offer was $3 million plus 5% of the film's net profits from all channels. We negotiated with Hemdale for a month, and the $3 million copyright fee remained unchanged, but the profit-sharing percentage was revised to 5% of the film's net box office profits".
Simon took the copyright transfer agreement from Roth and flipped through it.
The $3 million copyright transfer price, while not reaching the exorbitant price Simon had secretly paid for the Tolkien Middle-earth series earlier, was still very high. Having received this money, Hemdale probably no longer hoped for too much in terms of profit sharing, which is why they agreed to change 5% of the net profits from all channels to 5% of the net box office profits.
Net profits from all channels and net box office profits are completely different concepts. Anyone with a slight understanding of Hollywood accounting rules knows that Hollywood films usually do not show a profit on paper, let alone simply a box office profit.
Putting down the agreement, Simon asked Roth, "What about Cameron?"
Joe Roth shook his head: "Cameron insists on directing himself. Simon, I think we can just do it ourselves without him."
Simon asked, "So, have you seen Cameron's sequel script?"
Joe Roth nodded: "I've seen it, it's pretty good".
Simon shrugged, saying, "I've seen it too".
They looked at each other for a moment, then both gave a wry smile.
Since they had seen Cameron's sequel script, unless they completely abandoned the idea of the liquid robot, if they tried to cut Cameron out, they would be sued later. Although Joe Roth said it was 'pretty good', he clearly knew the pivotal role of that liquid robot.
Therefore, completely cutting Cameron out would be extraordinarily difficult.