hunt hollywood

"This is the best, Mr. Westeros, I just thought that you might not like to use two things at once."

"So, do you mind if I take a stake?"

"I just need to keep 30% of the shares."

"Smart decision, I will give you 500 million US dollars, and I will take 70%. Of course, this is not to buy your shares, but to inject capital. This money must be spent on the company's operation and expansion. By the way, about timber exports, I can also introduce you to some business here, in Ukraine, one of my companies over there happens to be trying to get into furniture manufacturing."

Even including the plantation in northern Angola, Victor Merisis’s net worth is less than 100 million U.S. dollars. Simon spent 500 million U.S. dollars to buy 70% of the shares of the import and export trading company under the name of Merisis. The middle-aged man It's a big deal.

Victor Merisis did not promise Simon any more verbally. Hearing him talk about Ukraine, he also took the initiative to remind him: "Mr. Westeros, I think Ukraine should not lack forestry resources. Importing timber from Africa , it’s not worth it.”

When Merisis said this, Simon added another point to the other party in his heart. If it was someone else, he probably wouldn't remind him of this.

Smiling, Simon said: "Of course there is no shortage of ordinary wood in Ukraine, but there is no variety of top-grade wood in the African virgin forest over there. What they need is exactly these."

When Simon went to Ukraine at the beginning of the year, he suggested that Sergei Komorov try the field of furniture OEM, because Ukraine happened to have rich forestry resources, and the cost was relatively low.Komorov implemented Simon's suggestion very well. Not only did he shut down a heavily polluting paper mill and turned it into a furniture processing plant, he also successfully obtained an OEM order from IKEA a few months ago.

Not only that, in order to get involved in furniture manufacturing, Sergei Komorov personally led a team to various Western European countries for more than a month of investigation, and was inspired by it. While fighting for IKEA OEM orders, he also registered an independent The home furnishing brand owned by Oldeke Company just mentioned in a phone call that Simon had a name-naming addiction, and he named it Katrina (Katrina) company himself, which is still his preferred strategy for naming women.

The name did not refer to the "Game of Thrones" in memory. Simon first thought of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, and planned to name the company in reference to "Victoria's Secret". However, Yekaterina Linna's English name is Catherine. The name is a bit long. It does not conform to the law that companies with simpler names are more likely to succeed. Finally, they chose 'Katrina', which is still not short, but it is easier to spell and remember than 'Catherine'.

Because it is an Eastern European company, under the traditional prejudice, it is definitely not easy to open up the planned Western European market. If it is positioned at the low-end, it may be limited to a corner of Ukraine. Therefore, Simon suggested that Catalina Company start with high-end custom furniture, first Make a name for yourself and follow up.

Sergey Komorov specially recruited a furniture designer from England for this purpose.

The company is still in the preparatory stage and plans to launch the first batch of products by the end of the year.

For high-end custom furniture, excellent design is one aspect, and real materials are more important.Speaking of this, wood such as rosewood, batty, and chicken wings that have grown for thousands of years in the virgin forests of Africa are definitely the top raw materials for solid wood furniture, not to mention that Africa still has a very large stock of various types of sandalwood.

Simon and Victor Merisis talked for an hour and sent each other off. It was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Leaving get off work on time has little to do with Simon.

Merisis left, and Amy Pascal came to Simon's office again, and the two discussed the preparations for Universal Studios Europe.

The negotiations between Daenerys Entertainment and the Italian government on the establishment of Universal Studios Europe near Rome have come to an end, and the agency team of the current group has begun to purchase land around Rome.

At this stage of the matter, it is difficult to keep the news absolutely secret.

Recently, land prices in areas around Rome that may be used to build Universal Studios have soared, and some speculative capital has also quietly joined the rush to buy land, planning to make a fortune after the news is made public.In order to reduce the cost of land acquisition as much as possible, Daenerys' team made two plans, which are located in the west and south of Rome.

Unlike Universal Studios in Los Angeles and other places, Rome is located on the great plain in the middle of the Italian peninsula. Large land resources are not scarce, and the west and south of the city are suitable for building Universal Studios.Although a hemorrhage is unavoidable, under the choice of two, some people want to cash out their high land, so they can only take the initiative to make concessions.

Of course, on the surface, it is second-tier and first-tier, and there will definitely be tendencies.

Both Daenerys executives and the theme park team hope to build the theme park in the west of Rome, between Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and the main city of Rome, so as to obtain the most convenient transportation environment and the maximum passenger flow.If there is really no agreement on the western plot, the southern plan will be launched.

At the end of the day's work, it was already past six o'clock in the afternoon.

Simon returns to Point Dume Manor, and a guest comes to the house, Celia Miller.

Celia did not go to New York during this period, so Celia could only fly to Los Angeles to report some work matters to Simon. The daytime was not arranged, so she simply chose night. Military affairs are generally considered the private affairs of the Westeros family. , there is nothing wrong with discussing at home.

As for the fact that Celia will definitely stay at Dumei Point Manor, it is not special.

The most indispensable thing in Dumei Manor is the guest room.

Except for the shell villas, most of the villas overlooking the cliffs on both sides of Cape Dume Manor, which looks like a B2 bomber, have been preserved after a large-scale enclosure in recent years, and it is no problem to entertain hundreds of guests at a time.Of course, Simon has never been the kind of person who is too hospitable, and the number of parties held at home is very few, let alone invite too many guests.

The dinner was still being prepared, but there was no immediate talk about business.

When Simon arrived home, Janet and Celia were sitting on the sofa next to the seaside glass curtain wall of the Shell Villa, drinking coffee and chatting. They seemed to be more familiar than Simon, but in fact it was the same. Many things about Weijia private army, Janet Te is also watching, especially after the private intelligence team of the Westeros family and the private army of the Wei family began to merge, women need to take care of more things.

As soon as he sat down by the curtain wall, his precious son ran over with two black-backed teal ducks.

Some time ago, the little guy wanted to raise ducks, so Simon found two wild duck eggs for the child. They were the kind that were about to hatch, and they hatched successfully a week ago. With her natural habits, she successfully recognized her mother.

Well, it should be Dad.

These days, my son and the two little ones are inseparable, and they have named them, one is Jack and the other is Emma. I can't tell which one is which Simon, and I don't know whether the gender is right or not. Anyway, they are my son's pets.

Regardless of.

When he came close, he called out to his father, and he did not forget to greet Celia politely. Then the little guy picked up a duckling and said to Simon, "Daddy, Emma has grown up a little bit today."

Simon took the little duck with a smile, and hugged his son on his lap. Just as the father and son said a few words, another little duck chirped next to him. Janet, who was sitting next to Simon, had already put 'Jack 'Caught it up, playing with it with great interest, women have no resistance to little furry things.

Of course, it's impatient to keep Janet.

Only responsible for playing.

Seeing that his mother began to ravage his little baby again, Melbourne didn't dare to snatch it. Obviously, he had a failure experience, so he could only look at his father pitifully.Simon was also helpless to Janet's favorite way of holding the duckling's wings to listen to the sound. He reached out to save the little thing, and hugged him and took the two ducklings away from him under the sign of his son's eyes.

Mom is horrible.

Chapter 837 Layout Korea

Celia Miller came to Los Angeles this time mainly to discuss with Simon the various details of the formation of the Wei family private army.

The plan started at the beginning of the year, and the plan has been prepared for more than half a year, and it has been quietly implemented recently.The training base is mainly in Ukraine, but Simon does not intend to select too many Ukrainians this time, but expands the scope of recruitment to Eastern Europe, North America, Africa, and Latin America, basically casting a net around the world.

There are many benefits to avoiding soldiers coming from a certain area that is relatively concentrated.

Maintain loyalty to the greatest extent, reduce the possibility of encountering infiltration, eliminate the hidden danger of forming gangs, and so on.

Recruitment conditions are 16-year-old male juveniles, orphans are preferred, and after passing the background check and physical examination test, they will first receive two years of cultural course training and preliminary preparatory training.

This process is primarily to develop language skills, as well.

Most importantly, brainwashing.

Two years later, another group will be eliminated. When they reach the age of 18, they will start regular military training. The time is still two years old, at the age of 20. Except for being eliminated again in this process or a small number of advanced training, others will start to join Wei Jia served in the private army and signed a formal employment contract with a period of 20 years and retired at the age of 40.

It is not a taboo to raise a private army in Western countries. Back then, the Rockefeller family had its own private army. Nowadays, many mercenary companies are actually private armies.

The Rwandan war last year has made the existence of the Weijia private army an established fact.

This time, as long as the operation is done properly, even if it is exposed, there is no need to worry about it. Simon did not plan to cultivate tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops, let alone train thousands of private troops at one time, but still adopted strategy, Eastern Europe, North America, Australia, and Africa will put a little emphasis on it.

Even if there are only 200 people in a batch, it will be 2000 people in ten years.

And so on and on.

The most important thing is to form a sustainable training mechanism.

Supplemented with ordinary mercenaries recruited from other channels, it is enough to ensure that the Westeros family has a powerful violent machine when needed.

After talking with Celia, it was already ten o'clock in the night.

The guest room arranged for women is in the cliff villa next door. Simon personally sent Celia away from the Shell Villa and went to the master bedroom upstairs. Janet, who has never been able to bear staying up late, is already asleep, but Jennifer is still sitting on the bed. The head waited for Simon while flipping through the magazine.

After washing, Simon went to bed and came between the two women. Janet, who felt Simon's breath, came over naturally, moaning and pulling the man to lie down as a pillow for herself.

The female assistant reached out to turn off the bedside lamp, also lay down and walked over, and said softly to Simon: "The room for the two babies is ready, you can take a look after you get up tomorrow."

Simon agreed, and stretched out his hand to embrace the female assistant.

Jennifer leaned on Simon's arm and said, "Sophie really wants to send the two babies here?"

"That's what I said, but it may be like you were at the beginning." Simon said, and asked again: "Do you feel that you can't take care of it?"

"No, I'm just worried that I won't take good care of it."

"How is it possible, you take good care of the three little ones and you teach them very well. Seriously, it's hard to say what Jenny and I would have taught the children without you. You know, neither of us has raised The talent of a child."

Jennifer remembered that Janet always robbed the ducklings in Melbourne recently, she chuckled, and then said: "That's why you two can get together, you are the same person in your bones."

"Oh, what about you?"

"I, just like the book said, big girl."

"To be precise, it's the big girl who warms the bed."

"It's not cold in Los Angeles."

"It seems that you still haven't learned the essence of Chinese."

"Hehe, it's too difficult, and I don't have so much time. By the way, Moore will start kindergarten next month. Do you think there should be more Chinese courses?"

Born in December 1991 in Melbourne, he will be 12 years old by the end of the year, already at school age.

In recent years, the female assistant has been in charge of running a school for the little ones in Malibu. The private school for the high-level children of the Westeros system started operation last year, and plans to provide a full range of education from kindergarten to middle school. The little guy will officially start school next month.

In fact, starting from babbling in Melbourne, both Veronica and Jennifer started early education for the little ones, and Simon once considered completely family education for the children.

Finally dismissed the idea.

To let children enter school, learning knowledge is actually secondary. The main thing is to contact the outside world and master various skills in dealing with people.

Because of Simon, the little guy has been receiving Chinese education in recent years. At this time, when the female assistant asked, Simon said: "No, adding Chinese courses may make other parents feel uncomfortable, but of course you still have to learn Yes, as before, hire a tutor for Moore."

Over the years, people around him have experienced too many peculiarities in Simon and are used to them.

However, to the outside world, even though he already has great fame, power and wealth, Simon still tries not to show too many things proactively unless necessary.

Chinese is one of them.

The two chatted in low voices for a while, and noticed Jennifer's little hand scratching back and forth on his chest. Simon understood, smiled and pulled away from Janet on the other side, stretched his arms around the slender and soft body of the female assistant, and put it close to her ear. Bian whispered: "Come by yourself, don't wake up Jenny."

Entering August, the North American summer vacation has come to the second half of the end.

A box office week spanning July and August, the most eye-catching thing is the box office comparison of the two new films "Future Water World" and "The King of Fighters", which started drawing on July 7.

耗资1.75亿美元的《未来水世界》，7月28日到8月3日，首周七天票房进账最终只有2519万美元，意外地输给了米高梅出品的《格斗之王》。

The production cost of the action movie "King of Fighters" adapted from the video game "Mortal Kombat" is only 1800 million U.S. dollars. At this stage, it is not even considered a medium cost, and it still has a strong B-movie style. However, it is such a movie The movie, in its first week of production, unexpectedly won a box office of 3275 million US dollars, surpassing the opening score of "Future Water World" by as much as 700 million.

According to the step-sharing agreement signed by MGM and the theater chain, the studio can get 90% of the box office share after deducting the basic expenses of the theater chain in the first week, which is actually equivalent to about 75% of the total box office in the first week. In the first week of the painting, MGM recovered a total investment of 2500 million US dollars in production and publicity.

This success is not accidental.

Simon began to pay attention to fighting games when he developed the "Teenage Turtles" video game earlier, and achieved success. Therefore, the game department of Daenerys Entertainment has paid special attention to the production and distribution of such games in recent years. With the prophetic advantage, in 1991 After completing the overall acquisition of EA at the end of the year, the game department annexed Midway, a game production company in Chicago, in early 1992.

This just so happens to be the developer of Mortal Kombat.

In 1992, the first "Mortal Kombat" was released, and 90 sets were sold in one year, which was not up to the level of several popular series of Daenerys' game department, but it was also a good success.

However, this is actually far lower than it used to be.

Simon can't remember how many "Mortal Kombat" sold in the original time and space, but it must have been more than one million, and even later rivaled the "Street Fighter" series.

After Simon personally paid attention to it, the game department paid more attention to the sequel. After two years, Midway finally released "Mortal Kombat 2" three months ago, and Daenerys Entertainment also spared no effort in marketing and promotion. In early May, in time for the summer vacation, it began to hit the shelves. As of the release of "King of Fighters", within three months, the sales volume of "Mortal Kombat 5" has exceeded 2 sets.

The sales curve of video games is different from the box office of movies, but more like music records, which are often still hot for one or two years.

The sales volume has already exceeded 50 sets within three months of its launch, and the game department predicts that the total sales volume of "Mortal Kombat 2" will reach about 300 million sets in the next two years.

Another explosion of Daenerys game was born.

MGM's film adaptation of this game is actually a collaboration, and it has successfully benefited from the release of "Mortal Kombat 2". It only invested 700 million US dollars in the publicity budget, and the effect achieved is no less than that of other games. The film has an advertising investment of 2000 million US dollars.

Simon has always been very cautious about adapting games to movies.

Because there are too many cases of tragic failures, but very few successes.

Therefore, for the adaptation of "Mortal Kombat", he actually handed it over to MGM with the idea of ​​transferring risks. Otherwise, Daenerys' New World Pictures could have produced it by itself. a dark horse.

With an opening price of US$3275 million, even if the follow-up trend of the popcorn movie is not too strong, the domestic US$7000 million will definitely not be able to escape, and it will be a big hit overseas.

Compared with Warner Bros., which is deeply in the quagmire of "Waterworld", and Disney, which has stumbled in Stallone's "SWAT", it is only a "King of Fighters", and MGM can be said to have a good income this summer. , not to mention "Leadership", which has a budget of 1200 million US dollars and earned 2307 million US dollars in the first week, is standard.

For Daenerys, handing over the adaptation rights of "Mortal Kombat" to MGM is definitely a misstep.However, in the end, it can be regarded as a field that does not flow to outsiders.

Like last year's "Alien", with the release of the first week's box office results, MGM immediately announced the establishment of a sequel to "The King of Fighters", and publicly stated that it will still adhere to the low-to-medium-cost strategy.

In addition to the two new films, among the many old films, the most important "Jurassic Park 2" this summer, in the 9th week of its release, the box office collected another 807 million US dollars, and the single-week box office officially fell into the range of 3 million US dollars. The cumulative box office reached 8176 million US dollars, and continued to steadily move towards the 4 million threshold.

"Apollo 13", which was released during the Independence Day holiday, received a solid $5631 million in its first week, and its recent trend has been quite stable.

7月28日到8月3日的上映第5周，《阿波罗13号》单周票房跌幅为29%，再收1278万美元，累计票房1亿4357万美元.上映到现在，大致可以确定《阿波罗13号》本土票房在1.7亿到1.8亿美元之间。

The final domestic box office of "Wisdom 6", which has been completely canceled in June, is 3 million US dollars. The local box office of "Apollo 1.76" is basically the same as this blockbuster Easter comedy.

If there were other blockbuster films from other studios on the annual box office list last year, Daenerys Entertainment has completely demonstrated its dominance since 1995.

So far, the four films "Jurassic Park 2", "The Man From Earth", "Wisdom 3" and "Apollo 13" that have crossed the threshold of the [-] million box office club are all produced by Daenerys Entertainment , and this time all are wholly-owned projects that are not foreign cooperation.

In addition to Daenerys, although there are films such as "Die Hard 3" and "Ghost Horse Elf" that have temporarily entered the top ten of the annual list, the combined box office of these films is not worth a single "Jurassic". Ji Park 2", this situation, as Simon remembers many years later, other studios broke into the top ten movies, the combined box office is not as good as Di Bao's "Star Wars" or "Avengers" .

The oligarchy is completely formed.

On August 8th, a new box office week opened in the second half of the summer vacation.

Like MGM's release strategy, in order to avoid a series of blockbusters in the early summer period, many projects of other studios are placed in this period.