Chapter 458

Friday, January 3, 1992.

In the new box office week, when people begin to work after the festival, the box office of a series of films in the end of the year has dropped significantly.

From January 3 to January 9, the box office of "flash" fell by 49%, down to $27.12 million from $53.18 million last week.

However, in three weeks, the cumulative box office of "flash" also quickly reached $153.16 million.

With a box office base of $27.12 million in the third week, it's no problem that "flash" continues to earn $100 million. The total box office in North America can easily exceed $250 million, becoming the second place in North America in 1991.

After the new year, the box office of toy story, which has been in a very stable trend, also dropped by 43% this week, falling to $7.79 million in a single week, with a cumulative box office of $166.83 million.

After that, "Captain Hawk", "the assassination of Kennedy", "007's golden eye" and other films all fell by 40% to 50% this week.

Of course, according to the law of box office in the past, after the deep drop this week, according to the media reputation and audience popularity of these films and other factors, the box office drop next week will be readjusted to a level similar to that of the popular schedule at the end of the year.

Overall, this is just a drop in the box office size of the popular schedule.

After finishing some work accumulated by danielis entertainment at the end of last year, Simon flew to New York on January 6, and was busy with the final preparation before the construction of the westero building in the following days.

The specific design work of westero building is in the charge of SOM architectural design firm, a famous architectural design firm in North America. The design firm of Leslie whitter's family, David Johnston's girlfriend, has also thought about it. Simon can't, for personal reasons, hand over the design of such an important building to a medium-sized company with little experience in super high-rise building design.

The design of super high-rise building is not only simple for ordinary people to see the shape, but also involves a series of complex professional problems such as structure, load-bearing, earthquake resistance, ventilation and so on.

In contrast, SOM architectural design office, founded in 1936, has a very deep high-rise building design experience.

At the same time, the construction of westero building is also contracted by the long-standing Iron Lion Gate real estate construction company.

For ordinary people, the reputation of iron lion gate is not so loud. However, a series of projects undertaken by this engineering and construction company are familiar. The twin towers of the world trade center were built by iron lion gate.

In addition, iron lion gate has also built Disney World in Florida and a large number of Hilton hotel projects around the world.

The choice of SOM architectural design firm is entirely Simon's personal will, but there are other factors in the choice of iron lion gate.

In short, iron lion gate is equivalent to a local leader in New York's real estate industry.

This engineering and construction company was founded at the end of last century. Under the management of the Speer family, the controller behind the scenes, it has established a complex network of political and commercial circles in New York. Behind the iron lion gate, there is even the Rockefeller family. The current and former leaders of iron lion gate also served as the chairman of the New York real estate Union.

The final design of westero building is 622 meters high and 139 floors.

It includes 135 floors above ground and 4 floors underground.

Simon and Janet's residence will occupy the top 50 meters of the building's entire 10 floors. The apron platform of the original Avenger building is also preserved in this building, which is also the most difficult part of the construction of westero building.

The height of 622 meters is 200 meters higher than the height of 443 meters of the Empire State Building and 417 meters of the No. 1 twin tower. Once completed, the westrow building will become the tallest building in the world.

Such a skyscraper destined to become a landmark can make any architectural design firm famous, and also make any engineering construction company famous. As an old brand of New York, Iron Lion Gate will not let such an important project fall into the hands of other contractors.

At the beginning, the news of the westero building project was just released, and the Iron Lion Gate took the initiative to get in touch with Simon.

Simon doesn't have the intention to fight against such a local snake. What's more, iron lion gate is qualified to build the building. After several negotiations, the contract was signed last year.

In return, iron lion gate also provided a lot of help in the construction approval of the westero building.

However, although the main construction task is entrusted to iron lion gate, Simon will not trust each other completely because of the old qualification of this engineering and construction company.

Similar to the Empire State Building, Simon hopes that the westero building can also stand for a century.

Therefore, all the details of the project should not be lost.

For this purpose, westero has organized a special financial supervision team to monitor all the expenses of the westero building project in real time in the next five years.At the same time, Simon also organized a technical expert group in Australia through the Johnston family's contacts, from building materials to structural engineering. Over the next five years, these people will be based in New York, keeping an eye on all the details of the construction of the westero building.

The two teams work together to ensure that the construction party will not have any opportunities to drill holes.

After a busy week, we reviewed all the details of the planned building and signed a series of contracts from building materials procurement to accident insurance. The preliminary preparation of the project was finally finalized. The demolition of six buildings between 59th Street and 60th Street East of Madison Avenue in Upper East District will officially begin next week.

It is estimated that it will take two months to demolish the original six buildings and complete the subsequent cleaning.

In order to complete the building, Simon has invested more than 400 million US dollars, including the expenses of purchasing the land, the design cost of SOM, the construction deposit of Iron Lion Gate, the building materials purchase contract and so on.

Because Simon has put forward the highest requirements for all the details of the westero building, the five-year construction cycle, and the subsequent annual expenditure will not be less than $200 million.

After the completion of the construction, the internal water and electricity decoration and so on, is also a big expense.

Overall, the total budget of westero building is likely to reach more than $1.6 billion, which is undoubtedly the highest budget cost single building in history.

In the original time and space, the overall cost of the New World Trade Center, which was rebuilt with the highest standard, was only US $3.1 billion.

That building started in 2006, 14 years later.

Now it's 1992. The dollar is very valuable, and most of the rich in the United States are worth less than $5 billion.

January 11, Saturday.

After a busy working day, Simon came to East Hampton, long island, from Manhattan in the morning to visit Steve Ross.

At the end of last year, Steve Roth, who had been fighting prostate cancer for five years in private, relapsed again and recently began chemotherapy.

Simon also knows that Rupert Murdoch and Sam Redstone, the media tycoon of the same age, will die this year, if not by accident.

Rose is 65 years old.

For people who have reached the top of the social pyramid, 65 is not a big one.

Murdoch and leishidong, who are similar in age, are still in control of their media empire even after nearly 30 years.

For an ambitious person, losing to time is undoubtedly a great regret.

Rose was very happy with Simon's visit. He had told his family to prepare a big lunch in advance and invited some guests to accompany him.

After a busy lunch, Steve Roth and Simon stroll around the East Hampton manor, sending the others away.

As one of the best summer resorts for the rich in New York, East Hampton, which is still in the coldest season of the year, is not so eye-catching. Recently, there happened to be a snowfall, covering up the weeds and dead trees, and there was a vast white scene of decline.

After putting his hands in his windbreaker pocket and chatting about the DC movie universe, Simon looked around again and said, "it's quiet enough here, but it seems too cold. Steve, I suggest you go to Los Angeles, where the climate is more suitable for self-cultivation."

Steve Ross also wore a thick black windbreaker and a hat.

Chemotherapy has left him with little hair left.

"I prefer the east coast. Besides, Time Warner's headquarters are here. You know, Simon, I can't leave these days."

Of course Simon knows.

Just a year later, the news that rose will earn $79 million a year through his 1991 job has once again become a hot topic of media controversy. Moreover, after last year's merger, rose drew up a 10-year salary agreement for himself, which will continue to be implemented even after his death.

Simon can feel that the cumulative annual salary of more than $100 million for two consecutive years, as well as the 10-year salary contract, has obviously been the rhythm of Ross's arrangement.

The disadvantages caused by the merger of Time Warner have not been completely eliminated. Rose's huge annual salary has undoubtedly aroused strong dissatisfaction from other factions within Time Warner.

With so many memories in his mind, Simon certainly knew the horror of cancer.

Huge wealth can ensure that a person will not have financial burden after suffering from cancer. However, cancer is difficult to cure after all, and the disease varies from person to person. Some people can survive for decades after suffering from cancer, which is completely the same as normal people, but some people are aggressive and come to the scene of life in the twinkling of an eye.

In the current situation of Ross, a more comfortable environment will not help.

Simon and rose don't really have a deep friendship. However, this media tycoon, who started from scratch and takes both black and white, does have a strong personality charm and is good at wooing and making someone like him.

Clint Eastwood has been working only for Warner Bros. for the last ten years, which is influenced by rose. Spielberg even regarded rose as his father. The original Schindler's list was specially dedicated to rose.Although the number of contacts is not much, rose also gives Simon a very worthwhile feeling.

They continued to walk for a while, and Rose's wife came to call her husband and Simon back to the villa. Now rose's body is not suitable for staying outside in the cold for a long time.

Back in the warm living room, they sat down on the sofa in front of the fireplace, and rose said, "one more thing, Simon, I hope you can help."

Simon nodded to rose.

"Well, I hope that next, well, Terry and Bob can take over my current CEO position together. I've already said hello to Steven and them. Of course, if they can get your support, it will be easier for them to take over time warner."

Terry and Bob that rose talked about are Terry Semel and Robert Daley, two cronies that rose has cultivated over the years.

Terry Semel has been CEO of Warner Bros. in recent years, and Robert Daley is in charge of Warner Bros.'s communications business.

In Simon's memory, after Rose's death, Time Warner's CEO was Terry Semel and Robert Daley.

Denise entertainment now has a very close cooperation with Time Warner. In last year's stock issuance, Simon also bought 1 million shares of Time Warner. Although the proportion is very low and there is no voting right, Simon westero owns Time Warner, which itself means too many things.

As a result, Simon does have the strength to support the successor rose wants to promote.

In addition, helping Terry Semel and Robert Daley get on top will certainly help Denise Entertainment's follow-up cooperation with Time Warner.

At least, there will be no unexpected changes in the DC movie universe.

Now that Terry Semel and Robert Daley are co CEOs of Time Warner, Simon certainly doesn't mind giving the favor, so he nodded seriously and said, "no problem, Steve. I'll support them then. What about the chairman? "

Rose laughed helplessly when he heard the question.

Now in Time Warner, rose is the chairman and CEO.

Putting Terry Semel and Robert Daley in the position of CO CEO is probably the limit of Rose's layout.

"Chairman, probably Levin."

Gerald Levin, the core executive of the original era company system, is also an important shareholder of Time Warner.

At the beginning of the merger, Gerald Levin was one of the important promoters of the negative side of the times.

However, due to paramount communication's involvement, the merger of Warner Bros. by time company is almost reversed. Many senior executives of time company system have not gained much power and interests after the merger. Ross and Levin's good personal relationship deteriorated.

Because of Rose's suppression, Levin now has only one position of vice chairman with little real power.

However, in the event of Ross' death, Gerald Levin, combined with the power of the original company system, and perhaps the senior executives in Warner who have been dissatisfied with Ross for a long time, wants to get the position of chairman, which is indeed better than Terry Semel and Robert DALY.

Simon actually had some bolder ideas, such as merging Time Warner.

However, this idea is just thinking.

It is already the limit that the anti-monopoly laws and media industry laws and regulations in the United States can tolerate to control MGM by holding shares on the sidelines.

Even if the control of the media industry is further opened, it will be very difficult for danilisi entertainment to merge with Time Warner.

What's more, Denise entertainment itself needs competitors.

Time Warner is just right for such a competitor in the future.

Of course, more may be superficial.

Time Warner, with its constant internal disputes, is unlikely to compete with danielis entertainment.

Steve Roth's initiative to compromise and plan to relinquish the position of chairman to Gerald Levin can just create some excuses for the "confrontation" between Denise entertainment and Time Warner.