Simon believed that as long as the Hearst family had not lost their minds, the matter would end here.
A family with a century of history might be deeply rooted, but it could also lose its edge.
The current Hearst Group was unlikely to recklessly make a 'groundbreaking' move like instigating a war between the USA and the West. When faced with an opponent who didn't play by the rules and was strong enough, they would inevitably be cautious, like porcelain not wanting to clash with tiles.
Moreover, this time the opponent was not just a tile but more like an iron lump.
In the following days, news came from North America that William Hearst III had fired most of the household servants, and the matter was not only exposed in the newspapers but also led to attempts at lawsuits.
Clearly, the Hearst family had also realized the situation.
Of course, while Hearst spent $1 million to bribe people around Simon, Simon could bribe people around Hearst to send gifts to the Hearst family for much less.
There were also newspapers focusing on strange stories reporting that a couple from San Francisco was abducted by aliens during a date and woke up in a remote port town in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, sitting in their original car.
It was winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and Tierra del Fuego was within the Antarctic Circle.
The couple, who had reportedly been in a coma for a week, woke up extremely weak and nearly froze to death. Many residents of the port town confirmed seeing the white Toyota car with San Francisco plates and the disheveled couple.
However, the news quickly faded without widespread dissemination.
It seemed as if a large hand was stopping the matter from escalating, with even the photos taken by the residents of the port town being bought, and the identities of the couple never being revealed.
Apparently, it was another case of the evil government monopolizing news of alien abductions.
Traditional media couldn't get more information, but many online forums dedicated to mysterious events discussed the matter in great detail, with some even calling for the federal government to reveal the truth.
Naturally, there was no response.
Simon and his wife arrived in Melbourne on June 15 and left on June 25.
Meanwhile, another week of box office results from June 18 to June 24 passed.
In its third week, "Superman" saw its weekly decline narrow to 32%, earning another $41.33 million and easily retaining the weekly box office crown, with a cumulative three-week total of $214.76 million.
The second place on the chart was not the highly anticipated "Last Action Hero" but the increasingly popular romantic film "Sleepless in Seattle," starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. This romantic film, which opened in 2,369 theaters, earned $33.81 million in its first week, with an impressive per-theater average of $14,000.
The most complex feelings in Hollywood were likely caused by the cost of "Sleepless in Seattle."
Despite Tom Hanks' $8 million top-tier salary, the film's final cost was only $25 million.
With just its first week's box office surpassing its production cost, and considering the long-term appeal of romantic films, its $33.81 million opening suggests that its total domestic box office will likely exceed $100 million. Daenerys Entertainment and Disney could make a significant profit just from the domestic box office.
In stark contrast was "Last Action Hero," which ranked third on the weekly chart behind "Sleepless in Seattle."
With a production cost of $85 million and a $30 million marketing budget, its first-week box office was only $21.93 million, with a per-theater average of less than $10,000.
The film also received poor reviews.
Media predictions suggested that "Last Action Hero" would see a second-week box office drop of over 40%, with a total domestic box office likely around $50 million.
With a total investment of $115 million and a projected $50 million domestic box office, a significant loss for the project was unavoidable. Even with Arnold Schwarzenegger's strong international box office appeal potentially doubling the overseas box office to $100 million, Columbia Pictures would still only recoup about $60 million, bearing a loss of at least $50 million for the year.
As "Last Action Hero" faced a huge loss, Sony could no longer leave this heavily-invested movie company alone and sent a task force to Los Angeles. Hollywood media predicted that Peter Guber, in charge of Columbia Pictures, was not far from stepping down.
The last new release of the previous week, "Guilty as Sin," opened with a first-week box office of $11.69 million. Given its 1,517-screen release, its per-theater average of $7,705 was not bad but far below the success of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" three years ago.
Based on its opening box office and reviews, the film's total North American box office was estimated at around $30 million.
"Guilty as Sin" had a production budget of $12 million. With a projected $30 million domestic box office, the film would make a profit, though not meeting New World Pictures' expectations for a summer release.
On June 25, the day Simon returned to North America, three more new films were released for the summer season: Disney's "Life with Mikey" starring Michael J. Fox, MGM's "Malice" starring Nicole Kidman, and Gaumont's Tina Turner biopic "What's Love Got to Do with It."
"Life with Mikey" and "Malice" were typical summer blockbusters, but Simon was more interested in Gaumont's "What's Love Got to Do with It."
Tina Turner, a rock star in her fifties, was a classic example of late success. As a mixed-race African American and Native American, she debuted at 16 but didn't achieve major success until the early 80s when she was in her forties.
She then dominated the 80s, even appearing in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" with Mel Gibson.
However, "What's Love Got to Do with It" didn't focus on her post-fame life but on her 16-year tumultuous marriage. At 16, she married her mentor Ike Turner, who abused her throughout their 16-year marriage. After a final violent confrontation, Tina left him, even though she received no financial settlement from the marriage.
When many thought she would fade without Ike Turner's resources, she made a stunning comeback in her forties, becoming even more successful.
"What's Love Got to Do with It" was one of Tina Turner's best-selling singles from the 80s, perfectly fitting the movie's theme and title.
Music biopics were an important genre in Hollywood, but the failure of Oliver Stone's "The Doors" two years ago was still fresh. When "What's Love Got to Do with It" was greenlit, the Gaumont team was unsure of its success, with a budget of $15 million—modest by Hollywood standards but significant for Gaumont, known for low-budget arthouse films.
Simon personally approved the project, taking a risk.
With little information about the film in his memory, it evidently didn't achieve blockbuster status. However, even if it failed, Gaumont could handle the loss.
Due to uncertainty about its box office potential, "What's Love Got to Do with It" opened on only 107 screens, a very conservative strategy for the summer season.
However, the film exceeded expectations.
In its opening weekend, it had an impressive per-theater average of over $17,000, and from June 25 to July 1, it had a per-theater average of $33,000, grossing $3.61 million from just 107 screens.
In comparison, Disney's comedy "Life with Mikey," with over ten times the screens (1,366), earned just $4.39 million in its first week.
Nicole Kidman's "Malice" performed the best among the three new releases, grossing $16.38 million in its first week, surpassing MGM's expectations, with a total domestic box office projected between $40 million and $50 million. With a production budget of $20 million and a marketing budget of $8 million, "Malice" would likely recoup its costs just from domestic box office.
For older films, after two consecutive weeks of over 30% drops, "Superman" saw its fourth-week decline narrow to 23%, earning $31.83 million and retaining the weekly box office crown for the fourth consecutive week. Its four-week total reached $346.59 million.
With this week's three new releases not being particularly strong, "Sleepless in Seattle" saw only a 21% decline in its second week, earning another $26.72 million.
In its first two weeks, "Sleepless in Seattle" reached a total of $60.53 million, making the project profitable. The film's total domestic box office was now projected to be between $120 million and $130 million, becoming another 1993 domestic hit.
With the success of "Sleepless in Seattle," the classic romantic film "An Affair to Remember," frequently mentioned in the movie, saw a surge in VHS sales.
In just two weeks, "An Affair to Remember" sold 300,000 tapes, with over 200,000 of them sold or rented through Blockbuster, thanks to Nancy Briar's optimized corporate information feedback system.
Of course, the biggest winner was Fox, which held the rights to "An Affair to Remember."
Selling 300,000 tapes in two weeks, with the heat from "Sleepless in Seattle," the total sales of "An Affair to Remember" tapes were expected to reach 2 million, earning Fox millions in profit. "The Hollywood Reporter" even joked that "An Affair
to Remember" might be Fox's most profitable film this summer.
In Simon's view, this was almost true.
Fox had four new releases planned for this summer, but the first 3D animated film "Once Upon a Forest" had already failed, and the other three weren't remembered as box office hits.
On July 2, North American theaters entered the most important week of the summer, with Independence Day falling on a Sunday. As usual, moviegoing would see a significant increase this week.
Daenerys Entertainment's self-invested and distributed "The Firm" was released this day, opening in 2,393 theaters.
Two other major films were released:
Fox's "Rising Sun," starring Sean Connery, with a $35 million budget, opened in 2,177 theaters.
Columbia Pictures' TriStar's comedy "So I Married an Axe Murderer," starring Mike Myers, with a $20 million budget, opened in 1,731 theaters.
In addition, after its first week's per-theater average of $33,000, Gaumont's "What's Love Got to Do with It" expanded from 107 to 863 theaters, with plans to reach about 1,500 theaters next week.
With increased competition, "Superman," which held the weekly box office crown for four consecutive weeks, was finally pushed to second place.
However, due to increased moviegoing during the Independence Day week, "Superman" saw only a 19% decline, earning $25.76 million in its fifth week and reaching a total of $272.35 million. It was expected to surpass $300 million within the next two weeks.
Warner Bros.' distribution team adjusted "Superman's" total domestic box office projection to between $350 million and $370 million.
Among the three new releases on July 2, Sean Connery's "Rising Sun" and Mike Myers' "So I Married an Axe Murderer" seemed poised to be the biggest hits, but it was Keanu Reeves' "The Firm" that topped the box office, pushing "Superman" off the top spot.
In its first week, driven by the popularity of the original novel and Daenerys Entertainment's $20 million marketing budget, "The Firm" earned $36.18 million in its first week, with a strong per-theater average of $15,000.
From his early roles in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" to his recent performance in "Point Break," Keanu Reeves successfully portrayed a conflicted and struggling lawyer in "The Firm."
With "The Firm's" success, Hollywood media speculated that Keanu Reeves had replaced Tom Cruise as the new leading man.
With "The Firm" on track to surpass $100 million at the box office, this seemed likely.
Despite his success in "Top Gun," Tom Cruise's career had been on a decline, and he had no new releases this summer.
Sean Connery's "Rising Sun" ranked third, behind "The Firm" and "Superman," with a first-week gross of $22.08 million. Its future box office prospects depended on its staying power.
Mike Myers' "So I Married an Axe Murderer" was a complete failure.
In its first week, it grossed only $5.36 million, with a per-theater average of less than $3,000, far below expectations. It was expected to leave theaters within two weeks.
Mike Myers had hoped the film's box office performance would give him more leverage in negotiating his salary for "Wayne's World 3," but with its failure, he lost any bargaining power, becoming even more constrained.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]