The last week of May 1990 quietly concluded amidst the summer blockbusters 'Back to the Future Part III' and 'Firebirds'.
From May 25th to May 31st, the most talked-about film wasn't either of these two, but 'Batman Begins', which officially ended its run in North America.
'Batman Begins' was in North American theatres for a total of 23 weeks, from its release on December 22nd last year until it ended its run on May 31st.
Its total domestic box office in North America ultimately reached $436.86 million, not only setting a new box office record for a Hollywood film's initial release but also surpassing the box office figures of 'Star Wars' and 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial', two blockbusters that had exceeded $400 million after re-releases.
Meanwhile, as of the last week of May, the cumulative overseas box office for 'Batman Begins' had also reached $390 million.
Although most overseas markets have already screened the film, based on the current screening progress in various countries, 'Batman Begins' still has at least $100 million in box office potential overseas.
While it might be difficult for this record-breaking superhero film to hit the $1 billion global box office mark, a global box office of $900 million is already a certainty.
Without considering inflation, a global box office exceeding $900 million propelled 'Batman Begins' to the top spot in Hollywood's historical film box office rankings.
Moreover, it wasn't just the box office; after half a year of release, sales of 'Batman Begins' merchandise had already surpassed $1.5 billion.
Although most countries and regions, including North America, will gradually end their runs, accumulating another $500 million in merchandise sales in the second half of the year poses no problem.
The film's merchandise sales might even exceed the original full-year expectation of $2 billion.
The more impressive the achievements of 'Batman Begins' were, the greater the pressure on Jan de Bont, personally selected by Simon to take over as director of 'The Dark Knight'.
This pressure wasn't just internal; worried fans, concerned that this cinematographer who had never directed a film before would mess up the sequel, would cause a stir every few days.
After the Ygritte portal launched, a dedicated fan group called 'We Don't Want Jan de Bont' even appeared in the online forum section.
To appease fans, Daenerys Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures had to repeatedly hint that Simon himself would remain the helmsman of 'The Dark Knight', and Jan de Bont would merely be an 'executor'.
When Jan de Bont even received death threats from Batman fans demanding his withdrawal from directing, Simon had no choice but to send him away to Melbourne in advance.
Furthermore, Simon could clearly sense a drive within this director, who came from a cinematography background, which gave Simon more confidence in his choice.
'Batman Begins' was the last film related to Daenerys Entertainment from last year, and with its theatrical run ending, Daenerys Entertainment's other films from the end of last year have largely concluded their runs as well.
The earlier 'Scream 2' ultimately grossed $112 million domestically in North America, and its overseas release is also nearing its end, with box office figures roughly at $93 million, bringing its global cumulative box office to $205 million.
While its overall box office performance was not as good as the first instalment, it remains Hollywood's most successful teen horror film series.
'Look Who's Talking', released during the Thanksgiving holiday, ultimately grossed $163 million domestically in North America.
Due to the impact of 'Batman Begins', its box office was slightly lower than initial expectations at the time of its release.
As of the end of May, its overseas box office had accumulated $130 million, with an estimated potential of around $30 million left, bringing its global box office to an expected $320 million.
The fashion documentary 'The House Of Gucci' ultimately grossed $41.63 million in North America.
Due to Gucci's promotion model, which prioritized marketing over profit, its overseas box office figures were even more impressive than its domestic North American figures, exceeding $62 million by the end of May.
A global figure of over $100 million not only naturally made 'The House Of Gucci' the most successful fashion documentary in Hollywood history but also significantly boosted Gucci's brand awareness.
Influenced by 'The House Of Gucci', more than three types of fashion documentaries are already in production in Hollywood, with countless other projects still in the pipeline.
Highgate Films flagship film from the end of last year, 'Driving Miss Daisy', also concluded its domestic run before 'Batman Begins' ended, successfully breaking $100 million domestically, reaching $106.5 million.
Compared to the film's production cost of $7 million, 'Driving Miss Daisy' not only earned Highgate Film a hefty profit but also once again demonstrated the enormous commercial potential of low-budget art-house films.
However, due to the film's strong localized style, the overseas box office performance of 'Driving Miss Daisy' was merely satisfactory.
Despite the halo of an Oscar for Best Picture, as of the end of May, its overseas box office was only just over $26 million, with an estimated total overseas box office potential of around $30 million.
While the end of 'Batman Begins' sparked media discussion, the two new films from the past week were certainly not entirely forgotten
In its opening week, 'Back to the Future Part III' earned $27.76 million in seven days from 2019 screens.
Compared to the second instalment, the box office for this concluding sequel saw a significant drop again, coupled with its mediocre word-of-mouth.
No one expected 'Back to the Future Part III' to have a strong long run, with an estimated total North American box office between $80 million and $100 million.
However, the performance of 'Back to the Future Part III' was actually quite good, at least far exceeding 'Fire Birds', which Paramount had high hopes for to challenge the record of 'Top Gun'.
With the same opening screen count of 2006, 'Fire Birds' only grossed $7.55 million in its first seven days.
In such a competitive summer season, an average per-theatre gross of barely over $3,700 meant that this film would see a significant reduction in screens after two weeks of release, and would essentially be ending its run after a month.
Although there wasn't much discussion in the public media about the behind-the-scenes stories of 'The Rocketeer' and "Fire Birds', it was widely circulated in Hollywood that Paramount had snatched two projects from Daenerys Entertainment at a high price.
And then, both failed.
Moreover, it wasn't just a simple box office failure; the 'loss' of two prime release windows in a row, last year's Christmas season and this year's summer season, would have a significant impact on Paramount's film performance in 1990.
After 'Back to the Future Part III' and 'Fire Birds' led the opening, on June 1st, Daenerys Entertainment's 'Ghost' and Sony's first major blockbuster released after entering Hollywood, 'Total Recall', opened simultaneously.
After the premiere on May 30th, Daenerys Entertainment also ramped up marketing for 'Ghost' on the preceding Thursday.
In contrast, the cautious Sony kept the media reviews for 'Total Recall' under wraps until after its opening.
However, the comparison of critic response for these two films was somewhat unexpected this time.
'Ghost' did not receive the overwhelmingly positive media praise that Daenerys Entertainment's summer opener last year, 'The Sixth Sense', did.
The New York Times directly gave a scathing review, attacking 'Ghost' as 'a cliché and foolish ghost movie, completely incomparable to 'The Sixth Sense''.
In summary, the composite media score for 'Ghost' only reached 7.4 points.
In the past, such a media score would actually be considered good.
But compared to 'Total Recall', which was originally not favoured and even rumoured to have been personally judged by Simon Westeros as likely to fail, the gap was somewhat significant.
Unlike some critics' initial predictions of another muscle-bound hero saving the world film, 'Total Recall' greatly surprised the media.
The Chicago Tribune lauded 'Total Recall' as 'a remarkable breakthrough for Schwarzenegger while maintaining his own style'.
Ultimately, in its opening week, 'Total Recall' grossed a strong 36.08 million US dollars from 2040 screens, with an average per-theatre gross exceeding 17,000 US dollars.
In comparison, 'Ghost' opened on 1521 screens, with a first-week box office of only $19.76 million, and an average per-theatre gross barely reaching $13,000.
Although it still achieved a successful level, it was clearly not as good as 'Total Recall'.
Next, Harrison Ford's crime thriller 'Presumed Innocent' and Disney's re-release of the classic animated film 'The Jungle Book' opened.
Although 'Presumed Innocent' was not an action film, its word-of-mouth was also excellent.
Disney's re-released animated films have always had a very stable audience.
This time, many people felt that Daenerys Entertainment was finally going to fail once.
After all, with not so excellent critic response and a not so impressive opening, many media outlets predicted that the North American box office for 'Ghost' would likely only be around $60 million.
$60 million, for 'Ghost' with a production cost of only $20 million, would certainly not be considered a failure.
But for Daenerys Entertainment, this would be a failure.
Only the Daenerys Entertainment distribution team, which closely followed the feedback from the most direct audience, vaguely sensed that this film might still have a chance to turn things around, much like how 'The Sixth Sense' spread by word of mouth last year, and from the quietly booming sales of the film's soundtrack.
However, no one dared to guarantee such a thing 100%.
To avoid becoming a laughingstock if the news spread, the distribution team for 'Ghost' simply remained silent about this feedback.
On June 9th, inside a luxurious mansion near Paradise Cove in Malibu.
Madonna, who had finished her tour dates in several major West Coast cities and was taking a short break, hosted a celebration party at her Malibu residence.
Additionally, just yesterday, after further discussion with Simon, Madonna's team finally announced a highly anticipated major piece of news for fans: Simon Westeros would appear as a guest guitarist on June 23rd at Madonna's concert at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, a western suburb of New York.
The New York concerts were scheduled to begin on June 20th, with a total of four shows.
The choice of June 23rd was mainly because it happened to be a Saturday, which could attract more fan attention.
Moreover, because Simon confirmed his participation, even before the news spread, Madonna's team sold the TV broadcast rights for the concert at a high price of $6 million, and it was rumoured that a special videocassette would also be released later.
In reality, due to limited rehearsal time, Simon would not be performing for the entire show, nor was a live guitarist needed for every song.
To prevent fans from feeling deceived, relevant information had been released in advance.
However, after the announcement yesterday of the concert dates Simon would be attending, the ticket hotline for the June 23rd concert was still overwhelmed.
From April until now, Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour was already more than halfway through.
Compared to Madonna's previous tour, which grossed a total of $25 million, this time, the tour's total box office revenue has already exceeded $30 million halfway through, with the global tour box office expected to surpass the $60 million mark.
Including various other incomes, Madonna is expected to earn over $30 million from all aspects this year, making her very likely to become this year's highest-earning American actor-singer.
Just from the scale of the current party, it's not hard to see the joy in the heart of this young woman who never hides her ambitions.
Simon and Janette lived nearby and had nothing else to do that evening, so they conveniently came over.
After chatting with Madonna, who was arm in arm with her new boyfriend Warren Beatty, and greeting some other guests who came up to talk, Simon was about to take Janette to the dance floor when he unexpectedly saw Terry Semel and Peter Guber.
One was the head of Warner Bros. Pictures, and the other was the head of Columbia Pictures, and Simon was very curious as to why they would be there.
Especially the two of them together.
It should be known that because of Sony's acquisition of Guber-Peters Entertainment, Warner and Sony almost went to court, eventually settling with Sony paying a huge sum of money.
However, after a moment's thought, Simon wasn't surprised.
To Hollywood, Sony was just an outsider.
No matter how much they argued publicly, big names like Terry Semel and Peter Guber, who had been in Hollywood for many years, were considered 'insiders'.
Speaking of which, if Daenerys Entertainment hadn't quickly established itself, even if Simon were making a lot of money now, to most Hollywood natives, he would still only be considered an 'outsider'.
In March of this year, after Orion Pictures withdrew, Daenerys Entertainment successfully became a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, which controls the American rating system.
This could be said to have very formally established Daenerys Entertainment's position in Hollywood.
After a few warm exchanges, Semel and Guber clearly didn't intend to stay long, so they got straight to the point about their purpose.
It turned out that Sony was eager to prepare several major projects to make a name for itself in Hollywood.
Currently, they were negotiating a new film that Steven Spielberg was very interested in, adapted from the famous novel 'Peter Pan', titled 'Hook'.
In addition to Spielberg, Robin Williams was also expected to join.
Terry Semel and Jon Peters had suddenly sought out Simon personally this time to intercede for Dustin Hoffman.
After breaking his contract with CAA, Dustin Hoffman performed in a stage play in the UK for a year, and this veteran Hollywood star hoped to resume work.
He was also interested in the role of Captain Hook.
However, the first thing that needed to be resolved for this matter was Simon's attitude.
Of the four who were forced to terminate their contracts with CAA last year due to the 'Rain Man' incident, Tom Cruise's career was largely unaffected.
Despite the failure of 'The Rocketeer' at the end of last year, Cruise's starring role in 'Born on the Fourth of July' during the Easter season still achieved good box office results.
Furthermore, he had another racing film, 'Days of Thunder', a collaboration with Paramount, coming out this summer, which was also a very successful commercial film.
Barry Levinson, the director of 'Rain Man', also seemed to have completed his new film 'Avalon' without any issues.
Dustin Hoffman's retreat to Europe, this low-key and submissive state, was actually considered a concession.
With his decades of connections in Hollywood, if he really caused a fuss, he might not benefit but Daenerys Entertainment would certainly suffer some trouble.
Thus, the only one truly crushed was Meg Ryan, who originally had little to do with the 'Rain Man' incident.