Although there were some disagreements with Disney, the main cast of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was quickly locked in.
Not only was Rebecca De Mornay returning as the primary villain, but the other leads were also the same actors from the original version. After another month of preparation, the film was expected to start shooting in December.
In addition, Sleeping with the Enemy, scheduled to be the earliest of next summer's releases, had already begun filming on the East Coast in North Carolina.
On October 27, with the release of Scream 2 and several other new films, the Halloween season officially kicked off.
Because the previous two years' Halloween releases, Final Destination and Scream, had both been huge hits, Hollywood studios were taking the holiday increasingly seriously, and the season had inevitably become crowded.
Alongside Scream 2, five other new films opened on the same day. Of those, only New World Pictures' Scream 2, Universal's Monstrous Mutants, and Warner Bros.' Notice to the Spirit World opened on more than one thousand screens. The other three new releases were limited to a few hundred screens or, in some cases, only a handful.
Monstrous Mutants from Universal was produced by Ron MacMillan, who had recently left Daenerys Entertainment.
Even though Daenerys Entertainment was collaborating with Universal on Misery, the media still produced a noticeable wave of articles claiming that Monstrous Mutants was trying to ride on Scream 2's popularity. Universal handled the line very deftly and did not stir up any real conflict. This kind of "piggybacking" actually boosted awareness for both films, so Daenerys Entertainment let it slide.
Because of the box office disappointments of the sequels to Final Destination and The Butterfly Effect, Daenerys Entertainment could not help feeling nervous about the commercial prospects of Scream 2.
However, perhaps because the Scream franchise told one continuous story, and not a spin on the "reuse the template, swap out most of the original cast" model of Final Destination and The Butterfly Effect, audience interest in Scream 2 had not dropped much at all.
Combined with Daenerys Entertainment's all‑out marketing blitz, Scream 2 pulled in 22.63 million dollars over its first three‑day weekend. That was already more than the first film had made in its initial seven days.
By comparison, Monstrous Mutants, which told the story of a small town under siege from mutated insects, earned only 5.91 million dollars in the same period. It ranked second for the weekend, but its numbers were less than one third of Scream 2's.
Warner's Notice to the Spirit World opened to 3.55 million dollars, ranking third, and posed no real threat to Scream 2.
Beyond that, the rest of the films on the weekend box office chart were not worth mentioning.
With Janet away for Halloween and Catherine absent from Los Angeles for a long while, and his assistant still living with her uncle's family and spending the holiday with relatives, Simon had no choice but to pick a random industry party and drift through the holiday that way.
Santa Monica.
It was already Thursday, November 2.
At Daenerys Entertainment headquarters, the meeting about Blockbuster's IPO had lasted the entire afternoon.
After several months of preparation, Blockbuster had basically settled on an IPO in January of next year, planning to issue 15 million new shares, roughly 22 percent of the existing total of 68 million. The exact offering price was still being negotiated with Morgan Stanley, which was underwriting the deal, but it was expected to fall between 13 and 15 dollars, raising around 200 million dollars in total.
Based on that projected price range, Blockbuster's valuation had more than doubled from the 400 million dollars when Daenerys had bought in, now approaching 1 billion.
At the same time, Daenerys Entertainment would participate in the offering to ensure its own 35 percent stake in Blockbuster remained unchanged.
Originally, Blockbuster chairman Wayne Huizenga and his early partners had held enough shares combined to counterbalance Daenerys Entertainment. After the IPO, Wayne's stake would drop to 7 percent, and even including those other partners, their combined holdings would be under 20 percent.
With its 35 percent stake intact, Daenerys Entertainment would become Blockbuster's largest shareholder by far, with the strongest voice at the table.
After seeing the Blockbuster executive team off at headquarters, Simon was about to head back to his office when Nancy Braille fell in step beside him.
"Simon, the Ninja Turtles game comes out tomorrow. Speaking of which, that cartridge I gave you last time, have you tried it yet?"
"I've been slammed recently, give me a break. All the feedback I had, I already gave you." Simon walked toward the stairs with his petite female executive, palms up in a helpless gesture. "By the way, did you and Blockbuster's management talk about folding Daenerys Analytics into them?"
Seeing him change the subject, Nancy could only reply, "No. I think the current arrangement works fine. The consulting fees we charge Blockbuster are enough to keep the analytics company running smoothly, and the headquarters gets access to a lot of useful data."
"You are right about that, but once the company is public, shareholders may only see Blockbuster paying hefty fees to a consultant it might not really need. People could start calling it an illegal transfer of benefits."
"Since Blockbuster chose to go public, there will be all sorts of questions even if we do nothing." Nancy did not seem bothered. "And if someone does raise objections, the solution is actually pretty simple. Daenerys Entertainment can just pay to buy out their shares."
Simon paused for a moment, then laughed. "Good idea."
Once you chose to list, scrutiny and criticism from the market were unavoidable.
Simon was not satisfied with holding only 35 percent of Blockbuster anyway. If someone really did jump out to make trouble, Daenerys could simply spend money to buy back more stock.
When they reached his office, Nancy did not wait for Simon to play host and sat down casually in the chair opposite his desk.
Reclining in his leather chair, Simon looked at her. "If it's uncomfortable, don't keep wearing high heels all the time. They're bad for you, you know."
A flash of surprise crossed Nancy's face. She had not expected Simon to notice such a small detail.
Standing in killer stilettos all day was definitely no easy feat. Nancy always sat whenever she could, and in her own office she would secretly slip her shoes off. But she had no intention of admitting that to this younger man. She stiffened her tone. "Not at all. I love high heels."
Simon only shrugged and lowered his head, opening the script for Home Alone that John Hughes had sent over that morning.
Quitting time had already passed, but because of the afternoon meeting and no other plans later, Simon, who was long used to leaving at six or seven, intended to finish reading the script before heading out.
When Simon did not press the topic of her heels, Nancy waited a bit, then asked again, "Simon, do you think our foray into video games can succeed?"
Without looking up, Simon answered with a smile in his voice. "You were the one who handed me that thick proposal and pushed me into investing. Losing confidence already?"
"Of course not. I've done everything I could, and even if it were me, I would keep going even if we failed. The size and profit margins of the video game industry are obvious to everyone." Nancy shook her head. "I just feel like your attitude toward this project is a bit… special."
"How so?"
"For example, you enforce very strict budget discipline on the rest of the company's projects, but the budget for Ninja Turtles has already doubled and you have not said a word."
Simon glanced up at her and nodded. "All right, I admit it, I have taken this project very seriously from the start."
Nancy was not satisfied with that. She pressed on, refusing to let go. "And?"
Simon looked across the desk at the woman leaning forward slightly, curiosity burning in her eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved. "Do you really want to know?"
Feeling the way the younger man was looking at her, Nancy suddenly understood, and instinctively shook her head. "No."
Simon turned his attention back to the script. "Then you should go home and get some rest."
Nancy hesitated, but did not get up. She could not help asking, "Aren't you afraid that acting like this… someday you might, um, pay for it?"
Simon shook his head. "Not afraid."
Hearing that, Nancy was reminded of the private nickname Janet used for a certain someone and murmured something under her breath.
Without another word, she stood and walked out of Simon's office.
In the outer office, seeing Jennifer still dutifully at her desk, Nancy felt a vague prickling of annoyance and walked over. "Jenny, want to grab dinner together?"
Jennifer was surprised by the sudden invitation and politely refused. "I still have something to discuss with Simon."
Nancy stepped up to the assistant's desk. "Talk to him now. I'll wait for you."
Jennifer only shook her head again.
Puzzled, Nancy watched her go, then turned away.
Jennifer straightened the documents on her desk, then stood, knocked, and walked into Simon's office. "Santa Monica Airport just called. That plane gets in at six. Do you want to go take a look?"
The Boeing 767‑200ER he had ordered had been delivered a few days ago, but Simon had immediately sent the aircraft to Australia.
He remembered plenty of stories about private planes being bugged, and even jumbo jets ordered by heads of state turning into giant listening devices. Simon did not trust Boeing, and he did not even trust the American counter‑surveillance teams. Instead, he had Janet arrange a comprehensive sweep of the plane first.
Since it had made it back safely, odds were that everything was fine.
Glancing at his watch, Simon said to Jennifer, "Then we'll go to New York for dinner. We'll stay there tonight."
Jennifer's cheeks flushed. "If we fly out now, it will be around one in the morning by the time we reach the East Coast."
"Oh, I forgot the time difference." Simon thought for a moment. "Then let's go to Hawaii. It will still be evening when we arrive."
Jennifer shook her head. "We don't have a house there. Are you going to stay in a hotel?"
Simon certainly was not about to tell her about the last time he had taken two women to Hawaii for a weekend. His assistant was not like other women, and he did not want to impose on anyone else's place either. So he said simply, "Then we'll just stay on the plane. You've seen the cabin layout. It looks pretty nice."
Jennifer's face went crimson, and she shot him an exasperated look. "I am not staying on a plane. Fly wherever you like. I am going home."