"William Fredkin can't do it, Tom, "The Exorcist" was really outstanding, and "The French Drug Trafficking Network" is also classic enough. However, Fredkin has been just spending his time over the years, and what "Midnight Bell" needs is a type of breakthrough that is very different from traditional Hollywood horror films."

Inside the office of Daenerys Cinema.

Simon is discussing the director candidate for "Midnight Bell" with New World Pictures president Danny Morris.

Although William Fredkin is the husband of MGM head Shirley Lansing, who understands that Danny Morris is the first to mention that Lansing is definitely a human factor, Simon still rejects it without hesitation.

After "The Exorcist" and "The French Drug Trafficking Network" that year, William Fredkin has the richest resources in Hollywood, but has not directed a movie that performed well in word of mouth and box office for more than a decade.

Danny Morris was not optimistic about William Fredkin, and continued, "So, what about Simon and Wes Craven?"

"Wess is better at plasma films and is completely inconsistent with the style of this movie."

"Jonathan Demi?"

Today is Wednesday, October 9th.

"The Silence of the Lambs" directed by Jonathan Demi has been released on August 9 for eight and a half weeks. Just last weekend, the cumulative box office of the classic horror film, replaced by Sandra Brock and Robert Duval, happened to exceed the $100 million mark, reaching $102.71 million.

Simon thought for a while and nodded, "Joe can be used as an alternative. However, "Midnight Bell" focuses very much on creating the atmosphere of the camera and soundtrack, and I hope the director will be better in both aspects."

Danny Morris smiled and said, "Simon, if that's the case, you are the only one who is the most suitable."

"Actually, I feel that way," Simon shrugged, "but, unfortunately, I don't have time."

Danny Morris just mentioned it casually and then said: "Wes Craven has refused. Next, there is Joe Dante. However, if it is scheduled for Halloween next year, Dante's schedule will definitely not be available."

Joe Dante became famous by relying on "Pizza" in the 1970s and "The Little Monster" in the 1980s. Just so happened that Daenerys Entertainment's "The Supernatural Sixth Sense" sold at the box office last summer, Simon chose Joe Dante.

Because they are already famous directors, the two parties only signed a film contract.

Although the industry understands that Simon is the key to the success of "The Sixth Sense" in the Supernatural Sense, because of the global sales of this film, Joe Dante was still snatched away by other studios and is still full of schedules until now.

It seems that the only way to continue to enable Jonathan Demi.

However, Simon still had some concerns.

"Midnight Bell" will be a new style that is completely different from traditional Hollywood horror films. However, these veteran directors have basically formed some of their own fixed styles, and it is very difficult to achieve a breakthrough in style.

Thinking for a moment, Simon said: "So, Danny, you can sift out some relatively young directors, and I will stare at this project myself. So, the director should have enough plasticity."

After hearing what Simon said, Danny Morris nodded quickly.

Simon was directly responsible for this project. At this time, the boss said he would stare at it himself, which means he would spend more energy on this project.

In this way, the director will be younger and have less qualifications, but will be more obedient and more useful and more malleable.

After discussing this matter, Danny Morris looked at his memo and continued: "The next one is the heroine..."

Simon waved his hand and said, "I have given Nicole Kidman the heroine, you can just negotiate a contract with her agent."

Danny Morris stopped and could only nod.

I feel sorry for those actresses who have racked their brains to get this project recently.

In the original American version of "Midnight Bell", the heroine was Nicole's best friend Naomi Watts. The actress didn't know where she was. It just so happened that Simon decided to let Nicole serve as the spokesperson for Van Clerk Arpels, so she handed over this project that was expected to be sold to the other party.

"Midnight Bell" is a heroine-oriented movie. Although it is a horror movie, as long as it sells enough, it will definitely help Nicole Kidman improve his fame and stabilize his status.

Continuing to discuss some details, the two people's topic turned to other projects of New World Pictures.

One hour later, Danny Morris left, and Ella Deutchman rushed over.

As of last weekend, the cumulative box office of "The End of Flowers" directed by Catherine reached US$25.41 million in four and a half weeks of release. Due to the continued fermentation of reputation and a slight decline, the single-week box office of this film remains around US$4 million, and is expected to exceed the US$40 million mark before the downgrade, which is enough to recover the entire production and promotion costs of the film.

Since he decided to voluntarily give up the Oscar competition next year, Simon has made "The End of the Road" the focus of next year's Oscar application, mainly to accumulate an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Catherine.

Awards are not expected.

Barbara Streisand's "The Stunning Times" is scheduled to be released at the end of the year and will also be the Oscars next year.

Therefore, next year's Oscars are very hopeful that two female Oscar winners will appear at one time. Just work a little and hype the topic, with Hollywood's politically correct attributes, the first female Oscar winner will be about to emerge.

Catherine is certainly unable to compare with Streisand, who has a wide connection in Hollywood.

If you forcefully fight, it is not impossible. However, Simon did not have the idea of ​​fighting for Catherine. On the one hand, it was Daenerys Entertainment's established strategy. On the other hand, missing this Oscar will not be unhealthy for Catherine. After all, women's background is insufficient and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future.

After talking about the Oscars, Simon and Ella Deutchman discussed several key projects of Gaomen Pictures next year.

Basically, it was also selected by Simon himself.

One is the copyright obtained after acquiring Global, called "Smelling the Fragrance and Knowing the Women".

This is a project that remakes from an old Italian film "Woman's Fragrance" in 1974. The original version in my memory is starring Al Pacino, and there is also a tango dance that has been talked about by movie fans for many years.

Simon does not intend to change the lineup of "Smelling the Fragrance and Knowing the Woman", the film will be the main feature of Gaomen Pictures' 1992 year-end schedule.

Another work is somewhat ‘alternative’, called “Crying Game”.

This Neil Jordan-directed film tells a very tortuous and complex love story.

The "Crying Game" in my memory triggered a movie-watching craze in North America because of its bizarre flip, and finally won a box office of more than $60 million with a cost of about $3 million. Therefore, it is also one of the reversal works of Miramax, a North American distributor.

It was the movie's big sale that Miramax caught Disney's attention and eventually became a part of Disney.

Now, Miramax is basically unsustainable, and Simon will not give the Weinstein brothers such an opportunity again.

Neil Jordan, the director of "Crying Game", has been preparing for this project for several years. After Gaomen Pictures took over, the specifications of the film did not increase, and the budget cost was still $3 million.

However, because Daenerys Entertainment is interested in it, the project negotiations naturally attracted the attention of other studios.

In order to finalize this project, Daenerys Entertainment also agreed to Neil Jordan's 10% net profit share in North America.

If "Crying Game" can get $60 million in North American box office in the original time and space, according to the agreement, Neil Jordan can get another $2 million to $3 million in dividends.

Simon agreed to the plan.

Although two or three million US dollars is also a huge sum, it is still insignificant for Daenerys Entertainment's expected income. Moreover, this relatively generous share plan can also attract more other filmmakers to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment.

As the entire Westeros system becomes larger and larger, Simon is increasingly inclined to attract talents through profit sharing.

In this world, money will definitely never be made. Through profit sharing, many people can be tied to the Westeros system to form a community of interests.

After Ella Deutschman left, the female assistant knocked on the door and walked in, holding a stack of cards similar to a bank card in her hand: "This is just sent to San Francisco."

Simon took the card, took the female assistant's little hand and sat down beside him, and then looked at the object in his hand.

After half a year of development and preparation, the card in hand is actually the consumption point card that Igrit Company will launch recently. The point card has only two denominations, $10 and $50.

This shows the caution of the Egret management team.

In the plan, this consumption point card will be sold through Internet cafe channels and Blockbuster chain stores that are gradually spread across the country. Although American Online has sold the Internet cafe industry, the Westeros system still maintains a strong influence on it. Blockbuster belongs to Daenerys Entertainment's own channel. The current chain store size is close to 3,000, which is simply the most suitable retail distribution network.

In fact, it is not just a point card for consumption, but with the opening of the Igrit app store, the Igrit online payment tool ypay will also be launched at the same time. Users of the Igrit portal can apply for special online consumer credit cards through Bank of America and Citibank, two banks that have signed agreements with the company.

Jennifer sat quietly next to Simon, waiting for the man to play with the consumption point card in his hand for a while, and then said: "The official product launch will be held next Monday, and then the Igrit App Store will be officially opened.

Simon nodded.

In private, he has actually experienced the internal beta version of the online app store. The app store focused on PC games in the early stage, and there were not many application software. Jeff Bezos had contacted Bill Gates. Microsoft's operating system is definitely not good, but he hoped to sell the Office series of app tools on the app store, but was rejected by his classmates.

However, Simon is very optimistic about the prospects of the app store.

In the computer field, developing an operating system is not as difficult as imagined. The real difficulty lies in creating a software ecosystem that matches the operating system. Otherwise, no matter how outstanding or smooth your operating system is, if you lack application software, everything will be useless.

On the other hand, technical talents in the industry who can develop software can actually be described as unknown. In the past, the software that restricted these people's enthusiasm was mainly developed, which was difficult to promote and sell.

Distribution through physical sales is definitely a very expensive thing.

Now, Egret has provided a platform, a platform that can bring profits to developers, which can naturally enhance developers' enthusiasm.

In the longer term, Igret's online application store can be made and can even greatly affect the popularity of an operating system.

In fact, this time, Egret's online application store will only be developed for users of two types of operating system, one is Microsoft's Windows and the other is Apple's Macintosh. As for the old Dos system or other non-mainstream operating systems on the market, Egret's application store will not provide support.

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, this choice of the Igret portal is also destined to affect the user's tendency.

Users who purchase computers, considering choosing other non-mainstream systems, may not be able to obtain support from the Igret Portal, and will naturally take the initiative to turn to Windows and Macintosh.

even.

If one day, the Egret app store closes Apple's Macintosh version...

Of course, this is just an idea.

Even if he is already a major shareholder of Microsoft, Simon will not do this easily, or, it is precisely because he is a major shareholder of Microsoft that Simon cannot do this.

Apple's market value has been rising this year, with its recent highest point approaching $8 billion. However, this will also be Apple's "peak" in the 1990s, and next, the company will only go down.

It is actually beneficial to keep Apple and avoid Microsoft from completely monopolizing the market and encountering various troubles. The original schoolmate in the middle of the time and space chose to inject capital into Apple at critical moments, which is also due to this consideration. Including Intel's later support for Amd, it is also the same.

After playing with the card in his hand for a while, Simon said to the female assistant beside him: "You arrange it, we will go to the new product launch together next Monday."

Jennifer blinked a few times, then let out a small nod.

Monday passed and may be back that day.

That's it, it's night.

Simon smiled, knowing that the female assistant actually wanted to go there together on the weekend, so she turned sideways and kissed her on the cheek, and said, "You know, Jenny has been in more than seven months. She is in a bad mood recently. I don't plan to leave Los Angeles for a long time in the next few months."

Jennifer nodded again.

Seeing the quiet and gentle look of the female assistant, Simon was also moved and reached out to hug her.

Jennifer was hugged by Simon and subconsciously shrank his neck, but his body quickly softened and let the man kiss his neck, whispering: "Ms. Brill...is coming soon."

Simon ignored it and simply pushed the female assistant on the sofa.
Chapter completed!