Hunting in Hollywood

Another Friday rolls around, and it's June 28.

"Batman: The Dark Knight" has finished its third week of screenings, from June 21 to June 27. The box office drop shrank to 25% compared to the previous week, raking in another $45.13 million.

At the same time, this superhero blockbuster's cumulative North American box office has officially surpassed the $200 million mark, reaching $207.28 million.

First week, one hundred million!

Three weeks, two hundred million!

Such box office records, in many people's view, are likely only to be broken by other films in the DC cinematic universe.

Additionally, last week's Paramount new release, "Ace Ventura 2", brought in a first-week box office of $31.54 million, surpassing Paramount's expectations.

As "Batman: The Dark Knight" begins to rapidly free up market space, the industry is gradually realizing that this unstoppable superhero movie is actually playing a very clear role in stimulating the market.

The week of May 24, which marked the start of the summer season with six new films, saw North American theaters pull in just over $86 million in total weekly box office. But since the opening of "Batman: The Dark Knight" on June 7, the North American film market has reached total weekly box office figures of $179 million, $146 million, and $131 million respectively for three consecutive weeks.

Calculating it out, the total box office for these three weeks, minus the $200 million from "Batman: The Dark Knight", means other films are still averaging about $83 million per week.

Clearly, influenced by the recent viewing frenzy triggered by "Batman: The Dark Knight", many viewers have watched more than one film during this period.

Specifically looking at films from the same period, besides "Ace Ventura 2" which exceeded expectations in its first week, Universal's fire-fighting themed movie "Backdraft", which opened on May 24, has accumulated a box office of $56.11 million over five weeks.

Although the weekly box office has now slipped to around $5 million, "Backdraft's" final North American box office is still likely to hit the $70 million mark.

"Backdraft's" production budget was $40 million. A North American box office of $70 million, along with anticipated foreign box office revenues, should be enough for the film to recoup its production and distribution costs.

Billy Crystal's "City Slickers", which premiered on May 31, has also achieved a cumulative box office of $52.22 million under the shadow of "Batman: The Dark Knight".

Unlike "Backdraft", whose box office has fallen into the $5 million range, "City Slickers" still managed a robust $14.18 million in the past week alone, ranking it third on the weekly box office charts, just behind "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "Ace Ventura 2".

With such box office trends, "City Slickers" is set to easily break the $100 million mark in North American domestic box office.

Not just these mainstream commercial films, Daenerys Entertainment's subsidiary Highgate Pictures' Antarctic documentary "Frozen Planet" has been like a dark horse since its release.

Though it's not a large box office draw, due to its outstanding market performance and being an alternative to the mainstream films of the summer slot, it has garnered considerable media and public attention, maintaining a solid topic of interest even under the shadow of "Batman: The Dark Knight".

Thus, although the weekly box office for this non-mainstream Antarctic documentary peaked at $7.66 million in its second week, its cumulative box office has continuously exceeded expectations.

As of June 27, "Frozen Planet" has achieved a total box office of $31.12 million. This figure is more than ten times its modest $3 million production cost, undoubtedly making it the highest return on investment film of this summer slot.

Moreover, with "Frozen Planet" still earning $4.61 million last week and maintaining a drop of less than 20% over four consecutive weeks, the film's upcoming North American box office has great potential to hit the $50 million mark.

With movies doing well, there is naturally no shortage of failures.

This summer slot's worst-performing film is undoubtedly Bruce Willis's $65 million budgeted "Ultimate Eagle", which has faced both critical and box office failure.

As of June 20, "Ultimate Eagle" has garnered just over $16 million in box office in four weeks, unable to even recoup its marketing costs, with most theaters quickly pulling the film after fulfilling their two to four-week screening contracts.

Other films like Disney's "Horseplay", Fox's "Flop" and Paramount's "Soap Opera" also performed disappointingly.

Universal's latest Spike Lee film, "Jungle Fever", also failed to meet market expectations due to release timing and promotional strategy errors, with its expected North American total box office

 barely surpassing $20 million.

Being a film with an all-black cast limits its international market potential, leaving Daenerys Entertainment only hoping to recoup the full $19 million production and marketing costs through subsequent domestic distribution channels.

The issues with "Jungle Fever" are clear, clashing directly with "Batman: The Dark Knight" in its release window. During the integration period between the two companies, it was difficult to adjust the promotional strategy in time, causing this otherwise well-received film to underperform at the box office.

As Daenerys Entertainment grows larger, Simon Westeros is well aware that such issues are inevitable. He cannot oversee everything himself.

This is also one of the reasons why Simon has recently insisted on streamlining and integrating Daenerys Entertainment's production and distribution teams. Big company diseases are inevitable for any corporate giant, but can be mitigated by an efficient, continuously adjusting team.

On June 28, a new movie box office week begins, and North American theaters are set to release two new films.

Daenerys Entertainment and Fox Pictures' blockbuster "Terminator 2" opens on 2,506 screens.

The sci-fi classic sequel's final production cost was $73 million, with James Cameron ultimately spending $3 million over Simon's set budget cap of $70 million.

Fortunately, this is still much less than the original timeline's budget of $102 million.

Since $73 million was spent, Simon didn't skimp further, requesting Fox to provide a $30 million marketing budget, making the total production and marketing budget still exceed the $100 million mark.

The other new film is Columbia Pictures' gangster movie "Street Boys", opening on only 876 screens, essentially serving as a filler.

Simon spent the morning at Universal City in Burbank reviewing the next phase of the reconstruction plan, having lunch with Nancy Brill who would remain there, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, he drove back to Malibu.

Leaving Universal City, he headed west along Ventura Boulevard for over twenty miles, then turned south into the north-south mountain road leading to Malibu, Route 27. About 5 kilometers along Route 27, he entered a newly paved asphalt road.

This asphalt road leads directly to the administrative area of Daenerys Studios, located at the very tip of the triangle-shaped studio complex, which was originally a mountain trail leading to a water tower. After several months of new development and widening, it now features a two-lane asphalt road.

As Daenerys Entertainment continues to expand, the transportation and housing of Daenerys Entertainment employees have become a concern for the company.

Previously, Malibu's Daenerys Studios only had one exit from the studio area to Pacific Coast Highway.

Although the southern exit leads directly to Malibu to the west and connects to Sunset Boulevard to the east, neither Malibu nor the routes leading to affluent areas like Pacific Palisades, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills are affordable for most Daenerys Entertainment employees. Santa Monica is also a high-cost area.

The situation has become more severe since the merger with MCA.

Because Universal City is in Burbank, most employees live in the relatively more affordable Valley area.

As Simon moves most of the functional departments originally at Universal City into Daenerys Studios, many employees face long commutes.

Previously, to get from Daenerys Studios in Malibu to Burbank, one had to exit the studio's southern gate to Pacific Coast Highway, travel east for a while to the entrance of Route 27, and then head north.

After the construction of the asphalt road connecting the northernmost administrative area of Daenerys Studios and Route 27, employees can save at least 15 minutes of travel time, with the entire route being less than 10 kilometers by car to the northern Valley area.

Moreover, there are many scattered residential communities along Route 27.

With the administrative area's direct northern asphalt road now open, many employees can also choose to buy or rent houses in these affordable mountain communities. They no longer need to drive a big loop from the southern exit, making even walking to work feasible.

From Universal City in Burbank to Daenerys Studios in Malibu, the total distance is about 35 kilometers. In the afternoon, when traffic is relatively smooth, it takes just about an hour.

Simon was not idle in the car; by the time the vehicle entered the administrative area from the northern entrance, he had already finished reviewing the project materials for "The Real Housewives of New York City", which would start filming next month.

Robert Egger was also in Los Angeles recently and came here with Simon from Universal City.

The two got out of the car in the parking lot, and Simon was still holding the materials as they walked towards the office building, flipping back to the front page and asking, "The plot summary is done quite well, but what's the deal with this woman?"

On that page, the woman's name was Kris Jenner.

At last year's end-of-year party at Daenerys Studios

, a woman was also called Kris Kardashian.

Although that's how the original history went, it seemed a bit too fast.

And.

It had become 'The Real Housewives of New York City'.

Robert Egger glanced sideways, a flicker of amusement crossing his expression, glancing at Simon and asking, "You don't know?"

Simon looked even more puzzled: "Know what?"

Robert Egger looked at Simon's expression again, hesitated, then said, "This Ms. Jenner was not originally among the final candidates. However, she's reached out to me several times, implying, um... that she's quite familiar with you. So..."

Egger didn't elaborate, but Simon understood, only able to bitterly smile at how formidable this woman was.

Robert Egger was still somewhat unsure if Simon really knew the woman on the materials, hence his direct question.

And thinking about that woman in her thirties, her posture and figure, Egger thought it might actually suit his boss's taste. Thus, such 'small matters' only needing a hint were something Egger didn't confirm with Simon beforehand.

Seeing Simon close the folder and hand it over, continuing towards the office building, Egger thought for a moment then asked, "Simon, do you need to change people?"

Simon shook his head, smiling, "No need, this woman is quite the handful, really suitable for the program."

Egger nodded, saying no more.

But Simon then added, "I'm stopping in New York for a day before heading to the UK next week; arrange for her to meet me."

Egger was taken aback for a moment before responding again.

The two soon parted ways, with Egger attending a meeting and Simon heading to a screening room inside building one.

He still had two hours in the afternoon, scheduled to attend an internal screening of "Thelma & Louise", which Catherine Bigelow had just finished the final cut.

"The Thelma & Louise" release was set for September 6, with promotional activities already underway, having been completed just two days earlier and scheduled to be sent for MPAA rating next week.

Entering the screening room, the movie was ready to play.

Probably because Simon was expected to attend, the small screening room with over thirty seats was quite lively.

Besides Catherine, the film's producers, and the marketing department staff, "Thelma & Louise's" two lead actresses, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, also made it a point to come, both bringing their boyfriends, who were also filmmakers, Tim Robbins and Renny Harlin.

Tim Robbins was the lead actor from "The Shawshank Redemption" in the original timeline and had previously starred in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts".

Renny Harlin had recently made a name for himself in Hollywood by directing "Die Hard 2" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4", emerging as one of the rising new directors.

Moreover, Renny Harlin's most recent directorial film, "The Rose", was also set to premiere in September, two weeks after "Thelma & Louise", starring Laura Dern, who was inevitably missing out on the new version of "Jurassic Park".

If history remained unchanged, Renny Harlin and Geena Davis would also come together to create a super 'blockbuster' in Hollywood history known for setting a record for movie industry losses with "Cutthroat Island".

So, Hollywood is really quite small.

Simon actually wanted to shoo away the 'irrelevant people' to spend time alone with Catherine.

Of course, that was just a thought.

After greetings, Simon didn't hide his intentions and sat next to Catherine at the back corner of the screening room, then signaled the staff to start the movie.

Catherine wasn't as shameless as Simon, but since it was the last row, it wasn't too awkward.

And, even though she would absolutely deny it to anyone.

But, there probably wasn't anyone in Hollywood who didn't know about their relationship by now.

After a brief moment of embarrassment, Catherine quickly got used to sitting with Simon in public.

A lot had changed over the years; he was even married now, and she had tried to be deliberately distant from him. However, the closeness that had accumulated since they first met hadn't faded because of this.

Being a staunch singleton, Catherine had gradually adapted to her current life.

She had her career, her life, her social circle, and a close little man.

Occasional secret intimacies were enough to satisfy her for a long time.

Although it seemed like he naturally had everything, he never made her feel that possessiveness that women despise.

Alright.

Actually, there really wasn't any man in Hollywood who dared pursue her now.

As the lights in the screening room dimmed, noticing Simon seemed about to put his arm around her, Catherine gave him a glare, whispering, "Don't misbehave, there are people here."

Simon leaned close to her ear with a smile, "Do

 I look like a good guy to you?"

"..."

"Oh, I misspoke, do I look like a bad guy to you?"

Catherine rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore him.

Knowing she was actually quite shy, Simon just made a joke and said, "Let's have dinner together at Point Dume tonight. I'll be away on business for a few days next week and would like you to help look after Jenny. Consider tonight a pre-thank you."

Catherine, reminded of something by Simon's words, teased with a slight tone, "Is it a business trip like last Saturday night to Seattle?"

"Hmm?"

Catherine gave the feigning ignorance Simon another glare, saying, "That night, Jenny said she couldn't sleep and had to call me over to stay with her, and she said you went to Seattle 'on business'."

Simon nodded seriously, "Yes, business, very urgent."

On the screen, "Thelma & Louise" began to play.

Catherine turned her body slightly to the other side.

Planning to ignore a certain someone for the next two hours.

As punishment.

___________________

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