In Simon's duplex apartment on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side.
After days of nonstop travel, and another night of late socializing, Simon still got up at six in the morning in New York and personally prepared breakfast for the two of them.
It was already Friday, October 6.
He planned to spend one more day on the set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After that, he and Janet would leave again. Daenerys Entertainment had a lot of matters that needed Simon's attention, and Janet had to return to headquarters in Melbourne to personally oversee the operation targeting the U.S. junk bond market.
Also, since they had basically confirmed a crisis in the U.S. junk bond market was imminent, staying in New York for too long could easily make people connect the dots, and that was not a good thing.
Their next reunion would be in early November. The Boeing 767 they had reserved would be delivered right on time, and the most urgent items on both their plates should be handled by then.
After breakfast, Janet headed to Westeros Company in Midtown. Simon met up with Jennifer, first dropping her at Daenerys Entertainment's New York office building in Greenwich Village and listening to a few quick work updates. Then they hurried to Brooklyn, on the east side of Manhattan, since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was being shot in Brooklyn.
In Los Angeles it was still six in the morning, but the previous week's box office numbers were already in.
From September 29 to October 5, in its fourteenth week, Daenerys Entertainment's The Sixth Sense pulled in another $5.09 million. Its cumulative domestic gross had reached $275.06 million.
Uncle Buck, which opened on August 11, was now in its eighth week. It added $3.26 million for the week, bringing its total to $57.02 million. With roughly another $10 million in potential left, Uncle Buck was projected to become John Hughes's second highest grossing film in recent years, trailing only Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
The Bodyguard, which had opened earlier in the summer, was already winding down, but because of Daenerys Entertainment's revenue dispute with Arista Records, its box office had seen a small rebound in recent weeks. Last week it earned another $510,000, pushing its total to $118.31 million.
The Bodyguard was still playing on 286 screens. Before it left theaters, its domestic gross had a strong chance of crossing $120 million.
In addition, in September, Highgate Pictures released Sweetie and The Women on the Roof, both acquired at Cannes. They opened on September 8 and September 22 respectively.
After distributing films like Metropolitan, Sisters, and Heathers earlier in the year, Ira Deutchman had refined an effective "radiating" release strategy. Start with small openings in core markets like New York and Los Angeles to test the waters, then gradually expand outward.
Jane Campion's Sweetie received targeted marketing in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. After strong preview buzz and favorable press, Deutchman decisively committed $300,000 in promotion across those three cities.
Sweetie opened on September 8 on 26 screens, and in its first week it posted an excellent per screen average of over $19,000. In seven days it earned $510,000.
Given the audience profile, Highgate's distribution team projected a North American total of around $5 million for Sweetie.
Highgate had only paid a $500,000 advance to acquire the film. Even with the increased marketing, total distribution spending could be kept under $1 million. While they would still owe the producers 50 percent of net profits from the box office, all later revenue from VHS and television would belong to Danerys Entertainment. It was a solid little win.
As for The Women on the Roof, Highgate did not pursue critical acclaim. Instead, the marketing leaned hard into the film's lesbian elements and erotic scenes. Deutchman even arranged for the two female leads to appear in a locally published men's magazine in New York with a distinctly adult angle.
Because audiences generally disliked subtitles, Highgate also produced a carefully made dubbed version of the Swedish film.
Highgate spent a total of $300,000 across acquisition, dubbing, and promotion. The Women on the Roof opened in New York on September 22 on 11 screens, earning $230,000 in seven days. Based on about $100,000 in promotional spend in New York alone, it had already recouped its costs, and its per screen average of more than $20,000 was even stronger than Sweetie.
However, in its second week, with the same screen count and still confined to New York, The Women on the Roof saw a steep 36 percent drop from September 29 to October 5. Its legs were clearly weaker than Sweetie. After a few months of long play, its projected North American total was around $3 million.
Compared to Daenerys Entertainment's hits like The Sixth Sense and The Bodyguard, these two small Highgate deals were almost negligible. Still, Simon did not look down on them at all. He always treated a $500,000 business with the same seriousness as a $50 million business.
If a big tree has only a trunk and no branches, it is destined to wither. These "small deals" were the branches and leaves of Daenerys Entertainment. Besides, no one could predict whether one of these seemingly modest branches might someday grow into another towering tree.
Beyond the domestic numbers, this week's report also included partial overseas results for The Bodyguard.
In this era, overseas releases typically lagged behind domestic by more than three months. Daenerys Entertainment was also very cautious with the overseas rollout of The Sixth Sense, so among the three summer films, only The Bodyguard had begun opening abroad in September.
Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records had been fighting loudly over the revenue split on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Under Daenerys Entertainment's unyielding stance, Arista had no choice but to accept a financial audit last week. The process was now nearing its end.
At the same time, the full stop in soundtrack sales did not hurt the film's box office the way many people had expected. The controversy not only triggered a small rebound at home, it also stoked overseas curiosity. Starting with the United Kingdom's opening on September 8, over roughly one month, the film had already grossed more than $86 million across markets that were open so far, including the UK, Spain, and Italy. This was without major territories like Japan and France.
In Simon's memory, The Bodyguard was always a film where international revenue carried the biggest share. Domestic just cleared the $100 million line, while overseas came in close to $300 million. From the current trend, this film was on track to repeat that pattern.
Since the overseas box office was unaffected, Daenerys Entertainment held even more leverage in the dispute with Arista.
Because of that leverage, when Simon returned to Los Angeles over the weekend, Arista, after the audit was completed, wired a total of $38.25 million to Daenerys Entertainment, including $7.53 million in compensation for withheld and delayed payment.
Daenerys Entertainment also made a small "concession." They did not publicly disclose the settlement amount, leaving Arista a sliver of face.
But within the industry, people basically understood what had happened. Daenerys Entertainment's hard line over the soundtrack sent a powerful warning to every studio currently collaborating with them. If anyone tried to swallow Daenerys Entertainment's share, Daenerys Entertainment would rather take mutual damage than compromise.
...
Los Angeles.
Century City, Fox Studios.
During the two weeks Simon had been away, Fox had quickly completed preparations for the first of the ten projects, Sleeping with the Enemy. It was slated for a prime June release next year, so everything was fast tracked. Production could begin later this month.
By comparison, the other three films set for next year were being scheduled as follows.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was projected for late July or early August. That timing was less crowded, suited a suspense film that could build word of mouth and play long, and it also avoided direct competition with Sleeping with the Enemy, which was also a thriller.
Misery was tentatively set for late October, around Halloween. After this year's Scream 2, the third film in that series would pause for a year, so there would be less internal competition.
A League of Their Own was projected for November around Thanksgiving, avoiding December's Home Alone.
As for the remaining six of the ten, they would likely be spread across 1991 and 1992. Simon had told many people that these first four were not the main event. The real "heavy bombs" would come later.
After a morning production meeting for Sleeping with the Enemy, everyone ate lunch together. Simon was about to head back to Santa Monica when Joe Roth stopped him and brought him back to Roth's office on the Fox lot.
Once they sat down, Roth handed Simon a document. "Simon, this is the rights transfer agreement for The Terminator. Hemdale's initial ask was $3 million plus 5 percent of all channel net profits. We negotiated with them for a month. The $3 million stayed the same, but the percentage was changed to 5 percent of theatrical net profits."
Simon took the agreement and flipped through it.
A $3 million rights fee was already very high. It was not quite the absurd price Simon had once paid like a sucker when quietly acquiring Tolkien's Middle earth rights, but it was still expensive. Once Hemdale got that money, they probably did not expect much upside, which was why they agreed to swap 5 percent of all channel net profits for 5 percent of theatrical net profits.
All channel net profits and theatrical net profits were two completely different concepts. Anyone who understood even a little Hollywood accounting knew that Hollywood films often never "show" profit on paper, especially not profit from the theatrical run alone.
Simon set the document down and asked, "What about Cameron?"
Roth shook his head. "Cameron insists on directing it himself. Simon, I think we can drop him and do it on our own."
Simon asked, "Then have you read his sequel script?"
Roth nodded. "I've read it. It's pretty good."
Simon shrugged. "I've read it too."
They looked at each other for a moment, then both smiled bitterly.
Since they had both read Cameron's script, unless they completely abandoned the liquid metal robot concept, trying to cut Cameron out would just invite a lawsuit. Roth might have said "pretty good," but there was no way he did not understand how crucial that liquid metal idea was.
So if they wanted to ditch Cameron entirely, the difficulty was not small. It was enormous.