The next day, Fox immediately held a press conference, announcing the official launch of 'Terminator 2' as one of Daenerys Entertainment's 10-film plan projects.
Including 'Terminator 2', six of the ten films planned for external collaboration by Daenerys Entertainment have now been confirmed.
The original 'The Terminator' only grossed over $78 million worldwide, yet it instantly established Schwarzenegger's status as a top-tier action star in Hollywood, showing the film's influence. Therefore, the approval of 'Terminator 2' immediately attracted intense attention from the media and movie fans.
James Cameron had already completed the script for 'Terminator 2', and with Daenerys Entertainment and Fox Pictures jointly greenlighting the project, filming is expected to begin mid-year, with a release scheduled for next summer.
After the weekend, preparations for 'The Fugitive' also made a breakthrough.
Harrison Ford officially joined the film, with his salary also confirmed at $10 million.
With male stars like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Harrison Ford continuously breaking the ten million dollar mark for basic salaries, it means that the remuneration for Hollywood A-list stars has officially entered a new era.
The compensation of filmmakers essentially represents their status in Hollywood.
If Simon had not appeared, due to the rapid expansion of the film market and improved economic conditions leading to a massive influx of hot money into Hollywood, the nineties would have been the decade where top filmmakers held the strongest influence in Hollywood. This dominance would have lasted until the rise of special effects films in the new century.
Now, relying on the success of 'Batman Begins', Simon has essentially pioneered a film operation model driven by IP and technology rather than relying on stars.
Of course, most people have not realized this yet.
Entering the new week, although Schwarzenegger agreed to star in 'Terminator 2', Simon still looked into the project 'Kindergarten Cop'.
The 'Kindergarten Cop' in memory cannot be fully considered a dark horse project. Besides Schwarzenegger, the film's director, Ivan Reitman, is also very famous in Hollywood; he is the director of the Ghostbusters series and had collaborated with Schwarzenegger two years prior on the rather unconventional 'Twins'.
What Schwarzenegger's agent mentioned at Joe Roth's party that Arnold was considering starring in was precisely Reitman's new film, 'Kindergarten Cop'.
However, because most people viewed the success of 'Twins' as an accident, Schwarzenegger did not have enough confidence in starring in another family-friendly comedy, which is why he ultimately chose 'Terminator 2'.
After learning about the general situation of 'Kindergarten Cop', Simon abandoned the idea of competing for the project. This was not only because Reitman would have to choose other actors after Schwarzenegger dropped out, but primarily because Universal had already signed the project.
As long as the merger with MCA goes smoothly this year, Simon will effectively acquire this project, making any further effort unnecessary now.
Amidst the hustle, another week quickly passed.
During the week of February 2nd to February 8th, 'Batman Begins' earned another $20.35 million with a 13% drop, bringing its cumulative box office to $347.11 million.
However, the film that received the most media attention this week was still 'Driving Miss Daisy'.
In its ninth week of release, and its second week of wide release, due to the continuous spread of positive word-of-mouth and rising popularity, the box office for 'Driving Miss Daisy' did not decline; instead, it experienced a slight increase, a meagre 0.5%, but still surprising many people.
The single-week box office revenue of $8.18 million suddenly pushed the cumulative gross of this previously inconspicuous film to $27.55 million.
A box office of $27.55 million might seem incomparable to any film at the top of the charts. However, among all 502 films released in theatres over the past year, 'Driving Miss Daisy's gross of $27.55 million placed it 43rd on the annual box office chart for last year, meaning its performance surpassed 90% of the films released last year.
Moreover, this is just the beginning.
After 'Driving Miss Daisy's box office results for the previous week were released, various box office assessment agencies generally predicted that the film's total North America gross was likely to exceed $60 million.
Now, with the excellent box office performance in its second week of wide release, which was almost level with the previous week, and Daenerys Entertainment's move to increase the number of screens showing the film to 1,302 this week, the North America box office potential of 'Driving Miss Daisy' clearly surpasses even the most daring original predictions.
This is likely another $100 Million Box Office Club film.
Furthermore, it is definitely the $100 Million Box Office Club film with the lowest budget cost last year.
While the media was generally focused on 'Driving Miss Daisy', Daenerys Entertainment's 'Pretty Woman', positioned for the Valentine's Day slot, officially premiered on February 9th. Since it was a slow season for movies, the distribution team easily secured 1,563 screens for 'Pretty Woman'.
Compared to the original Richard Gere, the new lead actor Pierce Brosnan had very low visibility, and Julia Roberts was only barely recognizable to audiences in the last two years. The advantage of casting these two actors as leads was that the film's cost was further reduced to only $10 million.
Because the initial internal test screenings received very positive audience feedback, Daenerys Entertainment adopted a strategy of compensating for the lack of actor fame with aggressive promotion. The upfront promotional budget alone reached $7 million, $5 million of which was dedicated to advertising across various platforms.
As long as the film's first week box office met expectations, additional marketing budget would be immediately allocated.
On its opening day, however, 'Pretty Woman' did not receive widespread media approval; the average critic score was only barely passing, even taking into account Daenerys Entertainment's public relations efforts.
Time Magazine bluntly criticized the film as 'a hackneyed Hollywood assembly line production'.
A critic from The Chicago Reader sarcastically commented, 'The male lead pays $3,000, and then they fall in love, how very Hollywood'. Entertainment Weekly similarly criticized 'Pretty Woman' with a mocking tone: "The story suggests that Julia Roberts' character suddenly improved because she met a rich man and even learned to cry at the opera house".
However, these critiques, tinged with the unique superiority complex of intellectuals, ultimately did not affect the film's reputation among the general audience.
Most ordinary people's demands are actually not high, just a simple, relatable story.
Furthermore, 'Pretty Woman's target audience is much broader than that of 'Driving Miss Daisy'.
Coupled with Daenerys Entertainment's relentless promotional campaign capitalizing on the Valentine's Day atmosphere, 'Pretty Woman' grossed $12.47 million during its three-day opening weekend.
Over the subsequent full week, due to the significant increase in moviegoers around Valentine's Day on February 14th, 'Pretty Woman's seven-day opening week box office reached $19.16 million, dethroning 'Batman Begins' from the weekly box office championship after seven consecutive weeks.
In its eighth week of release, 'Batman Begins' experienced a 19% drop, earning another $16.51 million, ranking second. Its cumulative box office reached $363.62 million, steadily advancing toward $400 million.
The third place this week was no longer 'Driving Miss Daisy', but rather a Warner Bros. Pictures action film starring Steven Seagal titled 'Hard To Kill', which grossed $12.14 million in its opening week.
Despite the impact of the two new films, 'Driving Miss Daisy' increased its screen count to 1,302 this week and still achieved an 11% increase in box office, earning another $8.95 million for a cumulative total of $35.50 million.
In a slow box office month like February, and with mixed reviews, 'Pretty Woman's first-week gross of $19.16 million surprised most people. This brought the film more media attention, or rather, controversy.
Meanwhile, among the audience, although some people disagreed with the concepts expressed in the film, the majority of viewers loved the movie and began recommending it to those around them.
Consequently, in its second week of release, despite Valentine's Day having passed, 'Pretty Woman's box office only saw a very slight drop of 5.5%. With $18.11 million grossed in the second week, there was hardly any noticeable decline compared to the first week. In just two weeks, 'Pretty Woman' rapidly accumulated $37.27 million in box office revenue.
Without a doubt, the first box office dark horse of 1990 was born.
And it still came from Daenerys Entertainment, and still from Simon Westeros.
After 'Batman Begins' was released late last year, Simon tried his best to stay out of the media spotlight. To achieve this, Simon spent his 22nd birthday on February 22nd quietly with Janette.
Now, with the renewed success of 'Pretty Woman', media attention shifted back to him.
The first news item to attract media attention was that the Country's richest man, who had just celebrated his 22nd birthday, was getting married to his girlfriend, Janette Johnston, next month.
In fact, media outlets had been stationed in Melbourne for some time, continuously tracking the wedding preparations.
Naturally, the media began discussing various topics surrounding Simon and Janette's wedding, with the most talked-about subjects being Simon's personal wealth and the potential circumstances after their marriage. Due to the age difference between the two, many media outlets were sceptical of the marriage; one article in The New York Times even specifically reminded Simon to sign a prenuptial agreement.
The topic then naturally extended to how much money Simon currently possessed.
$6 billion, this was the well-known authoritative figure announced by the Forbes Rich List.
However, this figure was already from August last year.
What about now?
Following this discussion, The Wall Street Journal suddenly exposed Daenerys Entertainment's full annual financial report for the previous year on February 23rd, the day after Simon's birthday.
Although there were many large expenses for company expansion, due to the continuous substantial revenue generated by Daenerys Entertainment's many successful projects over the past two years, the company's full-year net profit after tax reached an astonishing $531 million last year.
This was indeed a very shocking figure.
Although the financial reports for many American companies for the past year have not yet been released, based on data from previous years, a profit scale exceeding $500 million is enough to place Daenerys Entertainment within the top 50 in the ranking of corporate profits across the United States.
Furthermore, compared to Daenerys Entertainment's short history, all other companies with similar profit levels are decades-old, established giants.
For instance, Motorola.
For the fiscal year ending last September, the total annual net profit of the electronics giant Motorola was only $490 million, which was already its best financial result in recent years.
At the same time, relying on multiple projects last year, especially the post-release operation of 'Batman Begins', many media outlets predicted that Daenerys Entertainment's profit scale might double this year. If that happened, it would undoubtedly be even more terrifying.
It must be known that Daenerys Entertainment is a company 100% personally owned by Simon Westeros.
Even setting aside this year, based solely on last year's profit scale of $531 million and a conservative P/E ratio of 10, the market value of this rapidly rising Hollywood film company is sufficient to exceed $5 billion this year, compared to the $3 billion valuation Forbes gave Daenerys Entertainment last year.
Excluding all of Simon Westeros's other assets, this single item is almost enough for him to maintain his position as the Richest Man in the Nation.
Some people couldn't help but ask: Is Daenerys Entertainment really worth $5 billion?
Film has always been a high-risk business; although performance might be excellent for the past few years, it could fall into a slump subsequently.
However, this doubt was met with the most solid rebuttal almost immediately after it was raised.
Marvel!
That's right, Marvel Entertainment is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment.
The success of just the batman begins project is expected to bring $1 billion in profit to all relevant parties, and this is only the opening project of the DC Cinematic Universe.
Since the first instalment was successful, the massive plan for over 10 films announced recently, under the personal control of Simon Westeros, will certainly easily surpass most Hollywood projects, even if they don't achieve the same opening success as 'Batman Begins'.
Furthermore, the biggest advantage of the DC Cinematic Universe plan is sustainability.
This means that Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner no longer have to bear the strong uncertainty of box office prospects every time, as they would with traditional film projects.
Thus, anyone with a bit of foresight can undoubtedly see the immense potential of Marvel, which is solely owned by Daenerys Entertainment, separate from the DC Cinematic Universe plan.
Just a few years ago, Warner Bros. Pictures planned to sell DC for tens of millions of dollars. Now, after only the success of 'Batman Begins', Steve Ross would not agree to sell, even if offered $1 billion. Moreover, any popular superhero under DC is likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Therefore, Marvel, which also owns a large number of superhero copyrights, is undoubtedly a super gold mine.
This fact alone is enough to support Daenerys Entertainment's value.
In a society where media operates commercially, where there is attention, there are people digging for news.
After The Wall Street Journal's exposé on Daenerys Entertainment's annual financial report garnered attention, another financial magazine, Fortune, suddenly revealed another piece of information that directly ignited public opinion: the data on Simon Westeros's overseas assets registered with the US Internal Revenue Service.
Cash.
$4.5 billion!