Malibu.
July 10, Monday.
In the villa on the west side of Point Dume, Simon woke at exactly six, right on schedule for the new week.
He and Janet had stayed up late on the phone poring over cabin designs for the Boeing 767, and the bedroom floor was still littered with faxed schematics from Melbourne.
Once he'd decided on a 767, Simon had contacted Boeing right after returning from Melbourne.
He'd promptly sent their sales rep straight to Australia to deal with Janet on the details. His only firm decision had been the model.
The newest variant was the 767-300ER. Simon chose the 767-200ER instead.
The 200ER was slightly shorter and carried less payload than the 300ER, but its range was virtually identical easily capable of trans-Pacific flights over 10,000 kilometers. It was the same model he'd been chartering for years.
The real deciding factor was runway requirements. Fully loaded, the 200ER needed just 1.7 kilometers to take off, most airports worldwide could handle it. The 300ER required 2.4 kilometers, ruling out many smaller cities. On his last European trip, both Cannes and Florence had runways under two kilometers.
Model settled, Boeing quoted $60 million.
Janet's first move upon meeting the rep was to haggle. Simon wasn't a bulk buyer ordering ten or twenty planes, but as a public figure, his personal purchase would be priceless advertising worth more than many fleet deals.
Private-jet pricing was negotiable anyway.
After talks, they closed at $50 million nearly twenty percent off. That was airframe only; interiors and customizations were extra.
Simon was never stingy with money, but he hated being taken for a fool. Saving the cost of a top-tier mansion on the deal delighted him. Contracts signed, assembly and fit-out included, delivery was slated for November.
He dressed, tidied the scattered drawings, and the bedroom was pristine again.
Jennifer's doing.
With Janet in Melbourne and Catherine in New York, Jennifer oversaw all the properties in Malibu, Palisades, Beverly Hills, and Janet's villa on the east side of Point Dume. She scheduled weekly professional cleanings; Simon never had to lift a finger.
The two New York places were currently under Catherine's watch; when she was away, Gucci USA president Angela Ahrendts stepped in.
In Europe, after the Gucci acquisition, Sophia had planned to ditch the leased Falcon 50 to cut costs. In the end, they kept it for quick hops between cities to manage Simon's growing portfolio of properties.
Janet had warned him early on that too many empty houses would fall into disrepair. Regular meticulous upkeep removed that worry.
Wash, workout, shower.
Seven o'clock.
Out the door on the dot.
Breakfast at a nearby restaurant, where he also met the Point Dume estate's construction lead to review progress on the "Iron Man villa." Simon treated it the same as the planned Westeros Tower, an artistic masterpiece built to the highest standards. He was in no rush, embracing slow, meticulous craftsmanship for perfection.
Breakfast done, he headed to Santa Monica.
In the car, Simon opened the Los Angeles Times and scanned the front-page index.
Skipping headlines like The Sixth Sense and Defies Drop, he found "US-Iraq Business Forum Concludes Successfully" and flipped straight to international news.
The Sixth Sense was now in its eleventh day. Simon had done everything he could; opening week had exceeded even his highest hopes. The rest was out of his hands.
The just-concluded US-Iraq Business Forum, however, had held his close attention.
The eight-year Iran-Iraq War had ended last year, leaving Iraq's economy and infrastructure in ruins.
Saddam had enjoyed enthusiastic Western support to sustain the fight. Reconstruction would require the same "partners."
And they were eager.
Though billed as a US-Iraq forum, oil giants from America, Britain, France, and beyond had all converged on Baghdad.
Over two weeks, Iraq sought $40 billion in Western aid to revive its economy.
The allies were generous with strings. Iraq must privatize or largely privatize its oil sector so Exxon, BP, Shell, and others could "better" develop the resources and rebuild the country.
Geological surveys from the eighties pegged Iraq as the world's largest untapped oil reserve outside the Soviet Union, less total volume than Saudi Arabia but enormous potential.
Saddam wasn't stupid enough to hand over his nation's lifeblood.
No oil, no Iraq.
The forum ended without substantive agreements, only polite smiles all around.
Simon watched coldly, knowing this was likely the opening chapter of stories that would unfold over the next two decades.
At Santa Monica, he went straight to Daenerys Effects headquarters to finalize CG revisions for Batman with the team.
Jennifer was already waiting.
He tasked her with gathering more on the US-Iraq forum and took his daily schedule from her.
Morning was locked in. Lunch with Jonathan Friedman.
Afternoon, starting at one:
Toy Story production check, one hour.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game demo, one hour.
Brief mid-year audit update, half hour.
Blockbuster chairman Wayne Huizenga visit, half hour.
Rough-cut screening of Angels in the Outfield with creative discussion, two hours.
Six o'clock: working dinner with Amy.
Plus a stack of documents to review tonight at home.
Walking into the building, Simon finished scanning the schedule as Jennifer handed over the weekend box-office report.
He skimmed it, then shifted focus to the day ahead.
While Simon stayed calm, the rest of Hollywood was anything but after seeing the weekend numbers that morning.
July 7–9: The Sixth Sense withstood pressure from every new and holdover release. Instead of dropping, it rose 6.8% from opening weekend, adding $24.73 million.
Some predicted its second-week weekday share would normalize to 60–70%. Yet $24.73 million still crushed even Daenerys's most optimistic internal forecasts.
In ten days, domestic total: $66.08 million.
By comparison, Ghostbusters II had tumbled hard in week two; its ten-day total was only $58.76 million. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (excluding previews) hit $67 million in the same span, but with a 27% second-weekend drop versus The Sixth Sense's rise.
Lethal Weapon 2 opened second with $20.38 million.
Without The Sixth Sense's dominance, Warner Bros. would already be planning victory parties.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (third week) took third with $9.43 million, cumulative $59.24 million, massive profit on an $18 million budget.
In its sixth week, The Bodyguard dropped 27% to $5.76 million fourth place. The critically savaged romance had reached $93.69 million in five and a half weeks—$100 million imminent.
Last week's leaders Ghostbusters II and The Karate Kid Part III both cratered and fell behind The Bodyguard.
Ghostbusters II plunged 41% to $5.26 million (fifth), cumulative $85.52 million.
Outside the top five, Weekend at Bernie's opened seventh with $4.5 million, behind Indiana Jones.
The surprise for Simon was Sex, Lies, and Videotape. On just 517 screens, it earned $3.93 million in three days, projected opening week over $6 million.
Honestly, Simon had hoped it would flop. A $6 million opening meant per-screen averages in blockbuster territory. Art-house films often held exceptionally well.
It could match or exceed the original timeline's total.
Media reactions over the weekend convinced him the film had genuine audience draw beyond awards prestige.
He wasn't crushed over missing a $20–30 million domestic earner, but it irked him.
At $1.2 million budget, $30 million domestic would outprofit many $50 million tentpoles.
Daenerys's early interest was no secret. Success for Sex, Lies meant fiercer competition for every future project and script.
The Bodyguard's unlikely triumph after a decade of industry rejection guaranteed Hollywood would keep close tabs on Daenerys for years.
Simon tracked Sex, Lies; the rest of Hollywood obsessed over The Sixth Sense.
"Why is it working so well?"
"Someone mentioned a similar idea…"
"Cast breakdowns."
"Can we lock the kid for his next film?"
"Are we just going to let Daenerys keep dominating?"
…
Simon worked methodically. The chatter spread relentlessly.
Time waited for no one.
July 14: new week's numbers.
Predictions of normalized weekday share proved correct.
Second full week: down 9% to $39.26 million.
Still, many felt a complicated mix of emotions. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's second full week had been $30.85 million; Ghostbusters II's was $19.92 million.
Even after adding screens, The Sixth Sense averaged $20,352 per theater, higher than either blockbuster's best opening week.
The strength earned another 379 screens, pushing total to 2,308.
Only two wide releases this week: United Artists' Licence to Kill (007) and Disney's reissue of Peter Pan.
A big-budget Bond entry would normally dominate, but against The Sixth Sense's momentum and the franchise's recent decline it posed little threat.
A classic animated reissue was even less concern.