Under the powerful operation of the Westeros system, in less than a week, another version of the story about the attack several years ago, one that was closer to the truth, appeared in the media.
The legal team personally assembled by Janette quickly filed civil lawsuits against Matthew Broderick and the other six for malicious defamation of character, demanding compensation ranging from $10 million to $50 million.
Mark Stein and the other five were sued for $10 million each, while Matthew Broderick was sued for $50 million.
Careful media outlets noticed that $10 million was clearly a baseline, and Matthew Broderick's $50 million compensation was exactly 10 times his current net worth.
Moreover, even if Matthew Broderick and the others' exorbitant demands were to win and receive full compensation, the amount would still be well within Simon's ability to pay.
In comparison, if Simon were to win this lawsuit, it would mean that Matthew Broderick and the other six would not only lose all their current assets, but the remaining debt would also make it very difficult for them to recover for the rest of their lives.
Furthermore, after losing the lawsuit, there was a high probability that the six would face imprisonment.
In addition to counterattacking in the media, Simon's legal team also applied to the Santa Monica Police Department in Los Angeles, requesting a reinvestigation of the attack that occurred in the summer of 1986, in order to prove the innocence of the parties involved and reveal the truth to the public.
When the Los Angeles Times exposed this news, Simon immediately gained a very large advantage in public opinion.
If Simon Westeros did not have enough confidence, he would not have proactively requested the local police department to reopen the investigation.
In such a high-profile event, under the close and pervasive scrutiny of the media, even with Westeros's immense influence, the local police department would not dare to act in any way that showed favouritism.
Although no detailed case files were left at the time, because many people were involved, it was not difficult to investigate the full story, even after four years.
Therefore, when the Santa Monica Police Department in Los Angeles held a press conference to publicly announce the official reopening of the investigation into the original assault case, the six individuals who had been very active in front of the media clearly showed a moment of confusion.
Mark Stein, who had his dentures re-fitted, even fiercely attacked the Santa Monica Police Department during an interview, claiming that it was impossible for them to investigate the real truth, and that it would only be the truth that Simon Westeros wanted.
When pressed by reporters, Mark Stein's logic was that Simon Westeros possessed immense wealth and powerful influence, enough to manipulate the investigation results.
Simon's legal team had not yet responded, but such an attack clearly angered the Santa Monica Police Department, and thus quickly drew an official rebuttal.
Immediately after, the Santa Monica Police Department publicly announced a major breakthrough in the case.
The baseball bat.
Although no formal case was filed at the time, the baseball bat from the night of the attack was preserved, but had been gathering dust in a corner of the police evidence room for years.
The attack left a deep impression on the police officers who responded and the doctors who rushed to the rescue, especially the baseball bat tightly clutched in the boy's hand at the time.
Many clearly remembered that it took a great deal of effort to finally pry the baseball bat from the boy's grasp.
At the public press conference, the Chief of the Santa Monica Police Department personally showed reporters the baseball bat, which had a large amount of DNA traces from Simon Westeros and five other teenagers.
Although no further information was provided, the media immediately made their own interpretations.
The high-quality oak brand baseball bat had a market price of $200 at the time.
Not only that, but the baseball bat also had the signatures of two baseball stars.
Given Simon Westeros's identity as a temporary supermarket clerk at the time, even if he could barely afford the $200 price of the baseball bat itself, it would have been impossible for him to obtain celebrity signatures.
Therefore, the baseball bat could not have belonged to Westeros.
Since the baseball bat did not belong to Simon Westeros, the claim by Matthew Broderick and others that Simon Westeros attacked the six of them with a baseball bat was difficult to establish.
However, Mark Stein, one of the six young men, once again made outrageous statements to the media, firmly denying that the baseball bat belonged to them, and accusing Simon of possibly not being able to afford the baseball bat, but likely stealing it.
Just after Mark Stein made these remarks, several of his old acquaintances successively came forward to testify that the baseball bat was indeed Mark Stein's own, and that it was a personal item Stein cherished very much.
Because it had the signatures of two baseball stars, he often showed it off to others.
Subsequently, Mark Stein changed his statement again, admitting that the baseball bat was indeed his, but claimed that Simon Westeros had initiated the attack, and that the bat was taken from him while he was using it for self-defence.
This contradictory and almost nonsensical sophistry caused a large portion of the media and public who had originally sided with the group of six to change their attitudes.
Amidst the turmoil of the assault case, the news of Daenerys Entertainment reaching a settlement with the three major unions seemed to be less captivating.
However, the industry was still closely following this matter.
Before the lawsuit settlement, the first thing that happened was the resignation of George Kirgo, president of the Writers Guild of America, West.
Immediately after, Daenerys Entertainment publicly announced that it would temporarily abandon its plan to build a film and television production base in Toronto.
Finally, the three major unions and Daenerys Entertainment signed an almost unconditional settlement agreement, and then withdrew the lawsuit.
When this lawsuit, which could have hindered Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of MCA, was settled, everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to the East Coast of the United States.
As December began and Christmas gradually approached, Simon Westeros and his wife, Janette Westeros, attended the White House's annual grand banquet for members of Congress, media reporters, and social elites.
The day after the banquet, Simon Westeros also accepted an invitation from the President to hold a thirty-minute public meeting with President George Bush in the Oval Office of the White House, primarily discussing the economic problems currently facing the United States and their solutions.
This was naturally a show, as Bush hoped to reverse his negative image of not caring about American domestic affairs.
What Simon gained was the Department of Justice's approval for Westeros's acquisition of Bell Atlantic.
A week before Christmas, after reaching some restrictive agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission regarding Nokia and other matters, the two government agencies successively approved Westeros Company's application to acquire Bell Atlantic.
On December 20th, after quietly completing the year-end settlement, Westeros Company officially transferred its overseas funds from Cersei Fund Management Company back to the country, and paid a huge tax amount of $2.29 billion in one lump sum.
The New York Post on the East Coast and the Los Angeles Times on the West Coast simultaneously exposed an oversized check for $2.29 billion used by Westeros Company to pay taxes, and joked that this tax check was enough to be included in the Guinness World Records.
Westeros Company also did not miss this opportunity to shape its public image, emphasizing through the media that most of this money was earned overseas, and that Simon Westeros's tax payment, almost without any tax avoidance methods, was a manifestation of a strong sense of social responsibility.
The day after the two major print media platforms exposed Westeros Company's tax check, on December 21st, the last working day of the week before Christmas, Westeros Company officially signed an acquisition agreement with Bell Atlantic.
At the press conference that day, James Raybould, the president of Westeros Company who participated in the signing ceremony, also additionally announced that, in view of the current economic situation in the United States, as a socially responsible company, Westeros Company publicly guaranteed that Bell Atlantic would not undertake any layoffs within the next year.
Not only that, but as Bell Atlantic strengthens its investment in mobile communications and internet services, Bell Atlantic is expected to create at least 1,000 additional jobs in the coming years.
Such a public promise once again earned Westeros Company a great deal of goodwill from the media and the public.
After the agreement is signed, Westeros Company is expected to gradually complete the cash settlement for Bell Atlantic shareholders within two weeks after Christmas.
In Hollywood, after 'A League Of Their Own' was released on November 23rd, as of December 20th, its box office quickly accumulated to $70.33 million within four weeks of its opening.
In the week from December 14th to December 20th, 'A League Of Their Own' had a weekly box office of $10.92 million.
Although the weekly box office might drop below $10 million starting next week, this film about women's baseball is already certain to join the $100 million box office club.
'Dances With Wolves', which finished its seventh week of release, had a cumulative box office of 49.56 million US dollars.
Although it was far from 'A League Of Their Own', the box office curve of this film, which had already garnered six important nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, was very stable.
Robert Altman's Venice Golden Lion award-winning film, "'Short Cuts', which opened on December 7th, had an initial screen count of 613.
Relying on its excellent word-of-mouth and the superb publicity and distribution of Highgate Film, it garnered $7.38 million at the box office in its first seven days.
In its second week of release, the number of screens for 'Short Cuts' was appropriately increased to 823, and its box office also saw a reverse decline, reaching $8.63 million.
As an intricately linked ensemble film, this movie, which showcased a slice of life of ordinary Los Angeles citizens, had a final budget of only $8 million because it did not use big-name stars and many of the participating actors only received basic salaries.
Within two weeks, the film's total North American box office of $16.01 million had already recouped all of its production costs.
Simon originally did not have high expectations for the box office of 'Short Cuts', with an initial estimated total North American box office of only around $20 million.
However, judging from the box office curve in the first two weeks, the film's total North American box office is likely to challenge the $50 million mark.
However, although the box office of 'Short Cuts' exceeded expectations, Daenerys Entertainment had no intention of adjusting its awards season public relations strategy.
'Dances With Wolves' will still be the focus of this year's Oscar campaign.
Even so, "Short Cuts" still successfully received three Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Moreover, the Golden Globe Committee also planned to specially establish a 'Special Ensemble Cast Award' specifically to honour the film's brilliant portrayal of ensemble acting.
After a brief period of glory in the late 70s, Robert Altman was almost forgotten in the early 80s due to the failure of several consecutive films, and was once only able to work in European cinema.
With the success of 'Short Cuts', this veteran director re-entered the mainstream Hollywood spotlight, and his career began to flourish again.
Facing offers from other studios, Robert Altman remained unmoved.
Although he did not sign multiple contracts at the time, he still publicly expressed his eagerness to continue collaborating with Daenerys Entertainment on his next film.
On December 21st, amidst the festive atmosphere, the film most anticipated by Simon this year, 'Home Alone', officially premiered.
Under Simon's personal arrangement, the film opened on 2,676 screens, making it the film with the highest number of opening screens at the end of 1990.
The film's publicity and distribution campaign also far surpassed other holiday-themed films of the same period.
Before its opening, the advertising and publicity budget alone had already exceeded $12 million, with an overall publicity budget reaching $15 million US dollars.
It was evident that as long as the film's box office met expectations, subsequent budget investments could easily exceed the film's final production cost of $18 million.
However, the competition this Christmas season was also quite fierce.
Besides 'Home Alone', there were three other new films that opened on over 1,000 screens: Universal Pictures' new film 'Kindergarten Cop', starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (who replaced Arnold Schwarzenegger after he pulled out), Brian De Palma's new film 'The Bonfire Of The Vanities', and the comedy film 'Almost An Angel', starring Paul Hogan, the lead actor of the 1980s blockbuster series 'Crocodile Dundee'.
MGM's Cold War spy film 'The Russia House', starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, also opened on over 700 screens.
Finally, there were four other new films with small-scale releases, ranging from a few screens to two or three hundred screens each.
In total, in the week of December 21st, the number of new films released in North American cinemas reached nine.
Having successfully acquired Bell Atlantic, Simon spent the Christmas week with Janette at their Greenwich estate on the East Coast.
Because it was Christmas, Sophia Fessey also came over, planning to take a week-long vacation.
Perhaps because she had always hoped to have a baby, Janette was very fond of Sophia's two children, and everyone even had lunch together on Christmas Day.
Regarding the acquisition of MCA, with the biggest obstacle, the lawsuit from the three major unions, resolved, Daenerys Entertainment resumed contact with MCA management.
The United Nations had issued an ultimatum to Iraq, demanding that Iraqi forces withdraw from Kuwait by January 15th of next year.
Simon knew that this was also Daenerys Entertainment's last chance to easily acquire MCA.
Once the war ended in a crushing manner, and the US stock market quickly rebounded, this matter would face further complications.
However, on the surface, Daenerys Entertainment's team continued to work methodically, not showing any signs of urgency.
After all, Simon, who had a complete grasp of future economic trends, very much hoped to finalize this acquisition before the outbreak of war, and MCA's side felt the same way.
The few wars the United States had experienced after the two World Wars had almost all had a negative impact on the domestic economy.
Therefore, American experts and media generally predicted that once war broke out in the Middle East, it would definitely mean another decline in the US stock market.
If the conflict in the Middle East became a long-term quagmire like the Vietnam War, the US economy would be further exacerbated.
Therefore, both Daenerys Entertainment and MCA shareholders actually hoped that the acquisition would be finalized before January 15th of next year.