Chapter 1546

Long island, East Hampton.

After finishing his work last night, he came here to watch a group of girls dancing and stayed at a nearby manor at night. It always reminds Simon of a group of women with the word "no morning".

Unknowingly, another winter is coming. Recently, the first snow has fallen on Long Island. Standing outdoors, because it is vast and sparsely populated, it is easy to make people feel that the sky is vast and everything is vast.

It's hard to avoid getting up late.

Reflecting the outdoor snow scene, he walked around the manor, returned to the restaurant in the villa, and just sat down, a woman came in with the waitress who delivered the meal. Simon was looking through a box office report of the past weekend. When he saw the woman approaching, he looked up and took a look. It was the sister of fish brocade and mulberry picking. The woman's face was ruddy, but she looked timid.

Simon didn't signal her to sit down with him. He just asked, "what's up?"

The fish brocade glanced at the waitresses nearby until they put down their breakfast and left. "Mr. westero, I, I want to go to Canada to see my son."

Simon nodded, "well."

The woman blinked and asked, "Mr. westero, did you agree?"

"Well," Simon nodded again, "get out."

It was confirmed from Simon that the fish brocade looked a little happy, and then thought of something. He said sadly, "Mr. westero, you, I mean, Miss Chen, she may not agree. Can you tell her?"

Simon frowned slightly, looked up at the woman around him, raised his hand and patted on his knee: "come on."

The fish brocade immediately knew that she was talkative and dared not resist. She came forward carefully, and was immediately held by the man on her lap. Then he continued to silently read the information in his hands full of English and numbers. He also picked up the tableware and ate slowly. She could only shrink her body as much as possible and might as well hinder him.

I haven't had breakfast yet. I'm inevitably a little hungry.

Simon ate some lamb chops, took a cup of warm milk and took a sip. Then he remembered one thing and asked the woman with attractive fragrance in his arms, "how old is your son?"

Little fish brocade swallowed his saliva. Hearing this problem, he felt inexplicably guilty. After a pause, he said, "ten... Seventeen years old."

Simon seems to remember: "Xiaoqing said, you have two sons?"

The fish brocade was more guilty and nodded gently.

Simon didn't let her go: "where's the other one?"

The fish brocade hesitated and dared not lie, but whispered, "Twenty three."

Simon shook his head: "they are adults and not children. What are you going to see? Can't they take care of themselves?"

The woman's eyes were red and pitiful. She turned her head and looked at Simon begging: "Mr. westero, please, Xiaoguang and Xiaoyi. They haven't been far before. This time... Please."

Simon saw that the woman began to cry. Because he was in a good mood, he opened his eyes and said, "OK, go, Xiaoqing said it was me."

The woman immediately turned her grief into joy and twisted her body in Simon's arms: "thank you, Mr. westlow."

Simon looked slightly sideways: "is it just verbal thanks?"

The woman's tears didn't go away, but she turned shy again, but she came together and kissed Simon on the face.

Simon smiled and motioned to the wide table: "climb up and put on my favorite posture."

Women still do it obediently.

Simon turned a page of the document in his hand, looked up, shook his head and said, "turn around and face me... Good."

With a charming beauty as a seasoning, breakfast is more pleasant.

After breakfast, Simon set off to fly back to the west coast.

This is November 8, 1999.

Monday.

Because of the fierce competition at the end of this year, the Thanksgiving schedule in North America was opened last Friday. Simon read the official North American box office data of the past weekend at breakfast.

On November 5, three days ago, the painting of Mount Everest in China was lively. At the same time, there were four new films in North America, one of which was from gaomen film under danilis entertainment. Anthony mingella directed the new film, genius Ripley.

After Simon was only willing to give a budget of $30 million, the creative team failed to invite motor students to participate. One of the two men in the new version, Jude Law in the original version and the other, played the protagonist of Ripley, was finally determined to be Christian bell, the former Nolan version of "Batman".

Christian bell is a child star. He has played Steven Spielberg's empire of the sun for a long time. He is only 25 years old, but he has more than ten years of acting experience. Although he has always been a second-line actor, his acting skills are absolutely excellent. Moreover, Bell's degree of dedication is also well known.

This time, because the images of Bell and Jude are quite different, in order to adapt to the setting of the story, bell, who belongs to the awl face, not only gained some weight, but also wore a special braces throughout the process, so that when the role was finalized, coupled with the cooperation of Jude law, who also aroused the desire to play, Simon didn't recognize who was who at a glance. He just felt that the two male protagonists were really alike.

Besides the two heroes, the heroine, who once belonged to the role of Gwyneth Paltrow, naturally fell to Vanessa Johnson this time.

The final film effect is obviously beyond the past.

In the original Damon version, motor doesn't look like a liar with high IQ. After all, it's more suitable to play Ryan who was saved. Well, it's the kind who is not very smart. The result is that the whole film, watching motor students change their identity and shuttle between different groups, has no ease at all. On the contrary, it is clumsy and embarrassing everywhere.

This time, when bell was replaced, Simon was impressed by the sample film in the shooting process. Bell's acting skills and thorough investment exploded too many motors. Ella doichman, President of gaomen film, who watched the sample film together at that time, directly said that he could win at least one Oscar nomination for bell this time.

The early premiere on November 3 lifted the ban on word of mouth the next day. Compared with the 8.5 comprehensive media score of mingra's last British patient, this time, "genius Ripley" got a classic score of 9.2. Bell's performance was specially mentioned by most film critics, which obviously added a lot to this excellent score.

With a good reputation, the strong publicity of danilis entertainment and the popularity of the original novel itself in the west, the first weekend of painting, 2746 screens and four new films competing at the same time, "genius Ripley" quickly made a box office of US $21.45 million in three days.

It didn't reach the $10000 average in the first weekend, but it must be no problem in seven days. Moreover, it has been the best result of four new films this week, not only surpassing the other three new films this week, but also replacing the ghost nun in last week's Halloween schedule, ranking first in the weekend box office list.

It is expected that the box office of "genius Ripley" will reach about 32 million US dollars in the first week.

The once gifted Ripley, as the key award winning film of Miramax in 1999, won more than $80 million at the box office in China. This time, even if the competition at the end of the year is fierce, it is no problem that the new version of gifted Ripley still reaches $80 million at the box office.

Moreover, the overseas box office of the original is very general because of the failure of the Oscar.

This time, although danilis's award focuses on the Christmas Chicago, even if it doesn't rely on the awards, it's just the quality of the film itself and danilis's perfect overseas distribution network. Simon believes that this new version can at least achieve the box office equivalent to that of the mainland overseas.

Then, the whole box office week from November 5 to November 11 was no accident.

The highly acclaimed "genius Ripley" successfully reached the top seven days a week. The production cost of this crime drama is $30 million, and the publicity expenditure is only $10 million. The box office finally reached $32.79 million, and successfully won the first place in the weekly box office list.

The second place was won by the first song "ghost nun", the latest branch of the universe last week, and the film collected another $30.98 million the next week. In two weeks, the cumulative box office was $87.33 million, which is expected to exceed $100 million next week.

In addition to the two own films, the third place is an animated film produced by Disney. It is not an old Disney fairy tale, but an animated film adapted from a classic game in cooperation with Nintendo, Japan, "fairy treasure dream".

At the same cost of $30 million, the box office of animated films here reached $19.14 million in the first week, ranking third this week.

Then, the fourth place was taken back by danilis. The American version of strange talk of women's high continued to earn $8.37 million in the third week of release, and the cumulative box office of the film reached $51.73 million.

The other two new films on November 5, one from paramount and one from fox, ranked fifth and sixth respectively, but the opening box office was only $7.46 million and the other was only $6.83 million, which was basically the result of two-week exit.

Then.

On November 12, dinner came.

The large-scale films with more than 1000 screens opened this week are one less than last week, but the volume is bigger and bigger.

First, there is another 3D animated film, racing story, produced by danilis entertainment. The production cost of the film reached US $100 million. The publicity and distribution resources jointly invested by danilis headquarters and many surrounding manufacturers are equivalent to US $50 million, which can be called a big deal. Hasbro, which has been officially incorporated into danilis system, has also made a heavy bet this time, A full set of peripheral toys related to the animated film was launched on a large scale in advance.

The number of screens for the film is 3041.

Not too high, because animated films pursue a long-term, as long as the reputation is not too bad, they can go all the way through two year-end schedules.

Then, MGM's latest 007 masterpiece still refers to the naming mode of 007 series, coupled with Simon's slight intervention. This time, it is Casino Royale 007, which has been out of order compared with the ghost Party of 007.

The film tells the story of James Bond's further pursuit of the truth after the appearance of the ghost party in the last film. To a certain extent, it refers to the former Casino Royale, but there are also considerable changes.

Meanwhile, compared with the $75 million cost of the previous 007, the budget of 007 Casino Royale also reached a new high, reaching $90 million. MGM has invested $50 million in the publicity budget for the film, with 3776 screens.

The third film comes from Columbia film, which is now affiliated with Westinghouse Electric. Moreover, it happens to have some "roots" with Simon. It is the air force one that Simon quietly let Chris Lee down at the beginning.

Because of Simon's optimism, although danilis was no longer involved according to the original tacit understanding, he boldly invested $80 million in the budget. This publicity momentum is also quite huge, and the number of screens for painting reached 3563.

Three new films and three super heavy bombs. Considering that steel bone 2 will be next week, we can imagine how Hollywood studios feel about this crowded schedule at the Shura level.