After discussing various matters with his assistant, Simon welcomed Danny Morris, the president of New World Pictures, into his office.
The Easter weekend, which begins this Friday, was fast approaching.
Danny Morris's visit was to discuss several projects, including "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear," set to open during the Easter weekend, and other ongoing initiatives of New World Pictures. However, the primary agenda was a strategic move to completely undermine the already struggling New Line Cinema.
In recent years, New Line Cinema has been on a downward spiral. They lost several hit projects like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to Daenerys Entertainment, and their dominance in the horror genre has been challenged by New World Pictures' aggressive push into the same market. New Line, which once rose to prominence with "A Nightmare on Elm Street," has been faltering.
At the start of the year, Simon took measures to discourage Time Warner from acquiring New Line, cutting off a crucial lifeline for the ailing company.
It's important to note that New Line thrived after being acquired by Time Warner in 1993, which provided the steady financial and media support necessary for its later successes with films like "Rush Hour," "Austin Powers," and "The Lord of the Rings" series.
Similarly, Miramax flourished under Disney, becoming a leader in the art-house film scene.
In contrast, smaller independent studios that try to remain standalone without the support of a large media conglomerate often face significant risks and generally have a short-lived presence.
New Line's success in the 1980s with the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series made it the envy of many mid-tier studios. But with the rapid downturn of the American economy in recent years and Simon's intentional or incidental strikes, New Line's frantic expansion efforts failed to yield a new blockbuster franchise, leading to its decline.
Back in the day, the $1.8 million gamble on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" paid off handsomely, transforming New Line from a small distributor of low-budget B-movies into a capable mid-tier studio.
As New Line teeters on the brink of collapse, its head, Robert Shaye, has once again pinned his hopes on "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
This time, New Line has brought back Wes Craven, the director of the original film, with a $12 million budget to create "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," the seventh installment in the franchise since 1984. They allocated an additional $5 million for promotion, and chose April 9th, the week of Easter, as the release date, directly competing with "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear."
A total investment of $17 million may be insignificant for Daenerys Entertainment, but it's New Line's last stand.
According to the data collected by Danny Morris, "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" must reach at least $50 million in domestic box office revenue to help New Line manage its debt due this year and alleviate its financial pressures, allowing it to continue surviving in Hollywood.
Before being acquired by Daenerys Entertainment, New World Pictures was a direct competitor to New Line in the movie business.
Both companies operated in the low-budget genre, focusing on horror and B-movies. New World Pictures had its own attempt at emulating "A Nightmare on Elm Street" with its "Hellraiser" series.
However, New World never managed to produce a blockbuster as successful as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and eventually had to be acquired by Daenerys Entertainment.
Danny Morris, having been a high-ranking executive at New World Entertainment, wasn't surprised by Simon's efforts to undercut New Line.
Hollywood is, after all, a limited playing field.
Eliminating New Line, which operates in a similar niche, may open up more space for New World Pictures, while preventing New Line from potentially creating another hit franchise that could compete with New World.
Every strategic move needs a plausible reason.
Targeting New Line without cause would attract unwanted attention from industry peers.
Conveniently, New Line's recent efforts to promote "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" have entangled "Scream" in their marketing strategy.
Both franchises were directed by Wes Craven, but the "Scream" series is far more popular than "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
In an attempt to capitalize on "Scream's" success, New Line included suggestive phrases in their advertising, like "New Nightmare, giving you a scream-filled Easter," and Wes Craven himself hinted in an interview on "The Tonight Show" that "New Nightmare" combined elements from both the "Nightmare" and "Scream" franchises.
A public protest from Daenerys Entertainment about New Line's marketing strategy or a lawsuit could inadvertently boost "New Nightmare's" publicity.
However, rumors quickly spread within Hollywood about Daenerys Entertainment's dissatisfaction with New Line's tactics.
With the pretext in place, some actions could be justified.
New Line aimed to secure over 2,000 screens for the opening of "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," but due to Daenerys Entertainment's maneuvers, they ended up with only about 1,300 screens.
In terms of marketing, "New Nightmare" couldn't match the promotional power of "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear," which was releasing on the same day. The $5 million budget for "New Nightmare's" release campaign was further hampered by Daenerys Entertainment's interference, leading to lackluster promotion. Some theaters, influenced by Daenerys, even refrained from displaying posters for "New Nightmare."
As a result, even before the movie's release, Hollywood could sense "New Nightmare" was headed for failure.
To turn the tide, "New Nightmare" would need to achieve unexpectedly phenomenal reviews.
However, not only were audiences likely weary of the long-running horror series, but under the influence of Daenerys Entertainment's expansive media network, New Line's hopes for a breakthrough in reviews were slim.
In the office, after listening to Danny Morris's update, Simon thought for a moment and said, "We can give a heads-up to traditional media, but Eaglet's portal should avoid publishing negative articles intentionally. Instead, just let 'Wes Craven's New Nightmare' disappear from the portal, with no coverage at all."
Deliberately using their media platforms to target a single movie would be too obvious.
Simon valued Eaglet's portal's credibility highly.
Danny Morris nodded in agreement and then asked, "Also, Simon, New Line has accumulated a lot of valuable film rights over the years. Should we make a move?"
Simon shook his head, saying, "Let's wait until 'New Nightmare' is released. No one can be certain about its box office performance before the opening. Additionally, our goal now is to ensure that New Line doesn't find another way out after 'New Nightmare.'"
As an independent mid-tier studio, New Line's primary funding has traditionally come from bank loans. Currently, with its massive debt load, the company can no longer secure bank funding. Thus, its options are limited, with the best outcome being an acquisition by another major Hollywood studio, becoming a subsidiary.
With the Time Warner route blocked by Simon, there are still other studios that might consider acquiring New Line.
Daenerys Entertainment's objective is to prevent this and push New Line towards bankruptcy and liquidation.
After wrapping up his work for the day, Simon returned to Dume Point at around six in the evening.
Unnoticed, Aria, an Indian woman who transitioned from Janet's yoga instructor to a member of the Westeros household staff, greeted him. After a brief conversation, Simon headed to a beachfront living room in the villa.
Inside, Janet lay lazily on the couch, engaged in a video call with Melbourne on the other side of the world. The wall-mounted projector displayed the scene from across the ocean.
Given the time difference, it was likely noon in Australia.
In the video, Veronica was feeding Melbourne, who was now over a year old and starting to eat more solid food.
At the dining table, the little one squirmed restlessly in Veronica's arms, constantly trying to grab things. Simon walked in just as the toddler was nearly crawling onto the table.
Seeing Simon enter, Janet immediately teased, "Mel, Daddy's home. Be a good boy and eat, or Daddy will spank you."
Simon chuckled and sat down beside Janet, playfully swatting her on the bottom before nodding toward the big screen.
The camera was positioned just above the projector, providing a wide-angle view from a distance.
Veronica noticed Simon's playful swat on Janet and, with a slightly awkward smile, nodded to him while wiping the toddler's mouth. She softly asked, "How was your day?"
Since taking care of Melbourne, Veronica had become much more relaxed and normal around Simon. Even the cold, 'ice queen' demeanor, as Janet once described it, had softened considerably.
Simon understood the reasons behind this change.
Holding onto Janet's small hand as she leaned over his back, Simon replied, "It was good. How about you?"
Veronica, clearly uncomfortable with small talk, murmured a response. Then, perhaps realizing it wasn't enough, added, "Mel learned a new word today."
Looking down at the child in her arms, she tried to coax him into speaking.
Despite frequent video calls, the little one seemed indifferent to his parents on the big screen. Ignoring Veronica's attempts, he finally clambered onto the table and grabbed a condiment bottle, instinctively trying to put it in his mouth.
Janet, draped over Simon's back, couldn't help but laugh and egged Veronica on, "Auntie, let him be. A little taste of salt might teach him a lesson."
Veronica didn't follow Janet's advice. She gently lifted the child and, instead of taking the bottle away, simply prevented him from
sprinkling salt into his mouth.
Seeing this, Janet pouted in disappointment and chided, "Auntie, you're too soft on Mel."
Veronica sat back down at the table, cradling the child, who soon lost interest in the condiment bottle and tossed it out of view, producing a series of clattering noises. She gazed affectionately at him and replied softly, "Mel is still so young. It's natural for him to be a bit mischievous."
The conversation meandered on for another ten minutes as they finished feeding the child.
Veronica mentioned she would take the child out for a walk since he loved being outdoors, and the video call ended.
As the screen dimmed, Janet remained perched on Simon, their cheeks close together. She remarked, "Since I'm pregnant, I was thinking about bringing Mel back to care for him for a while."
Simon, nuzzling her soft cheek, agreed, "That sounds good."
"But Auntie really enjoys taking care of Mel. If we bring him back, what about her?"
Simon paused, then casually suggested, "She could come too."
Janet's teeth playfully nibbled Simon's ear.
Feeling the gentle pressure of her teeth, Simon quickly surrendered, "Forget I said anything."
Janet relented, letting go, and continued resting on him, "Actually, I thought about asking Auntie to help out. The East Coast is pretty much just Raeburn watching over things, and that's not ideal. You know, Auntie used to handle the family's finances, so she's perfect for it. I could bring Mel back for a while too."
As she spoke, Janet peeked at Simon's reaction, then hummed a bit and added, "But I won't let you get away with it."
Simon wisely chose not to take the bait, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "What do you want for dinner? I can ask them to prepare it."
"I've already made arrangements."
Janet let the subject drop as Simon changed the topic. She added, "The negotiations between Eaglet and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley aren't going very smoothly."
"The leverage is on our side. If necessary, we can offer the shares to Salomon or Bear Stearns. Even First Boston is very interested."
"But that won't have the same impact."
"We can't afford to compromise. I've conceded a lot over the years, and with our strong financial position, there's no need to keep backing down."
Initially, with "Run Lola Run," Simon broke into the industry but let Orion take most of the profits.
He subsequently collaborated with other studios, carefully avoiding conflicts in the financial markets, and last year, even opted out of the significant opportunity during the pound crisis.
Innumerable times over the years, Simon has willingly stepped back.
Janet, having been by Simon's side throughout, understood his strategic decisions. She pressed her cheek against his again and said, "Only fools think you should've been more aggressive. If you were constantly losing out, how could you be the world's first hundred-billionaire?"
Simon smiled back, "I prefer people thinking they can easily take advantage of me. But as we expand the Westeros company, resistance will increase because we'll be stepping on more toes."
Initially, Hollywood viewed Simon as a promising new talent who could bring in substantial profits, lowering their guard.
Suddenly, it seemed, Daenerys Entertainment had become a behemoth, surpassing traditional studios.
In the new tech sector, the fresh market had no established interests at stake, allowing smooth growth.
However, as the Westeros system continues to expand, this smooth sailing will inevitably hit rough waters.
It's not just traditional media groups like Hearst growing wary of internet platforms; seeing the vast potential of the internet, traditional capital will also aggressively move in.
Simon's stakes in Cisco and AOL have already reached safe thresholds. For Eaglet, which is poised to become a giant in the internet realm, Simon is also willing to make concessions, not only through this financing round but also with plans for future spinoffs.
Still, the parts he's willing to share will be shared. But for what he doesn't want to relinquish, Simon will hold his ground firmly.
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