Chapter 100: This is My Mia

After Monday, thanks to a strong push from Fox Studios, the media narrative about "The Butterfly Effect" shifted significantly within just a few days.

Compared to subjective media reviews, the general public seems more influenced by tangible data.

First week's box office: $21.69 million.

A modest 17% drop in the second weekend.

An average audience rating of 7.7.

All of this undoubtedly shows that the quality of "The Butterfly Effect" was far from the poor reception it initially received from critics. Guided by Fox's deliberate media influence, the public gradually realized that the overwhelming negative reviews of "The Butterfly Effect" might have been a targeted smear campaign.

Later, an article published by News Corp's "New York Post" further convinced many of this theory.

Returning to March, a sudden media skepticism about Simon was reported by a "New York Times" freelancer, Mark Hollington, who had recently purchased a brand-new Ferrari.

The question then arose.

Mark Hollington's previous income was not nearly enough to afford such an expensive car.

Where did the money come from?

Was it possibly an illicit payment for attacking a young prodigy?

As a major gossip tabloid, the "New York Post" is known for its sensational news. To avoid libel lawsuits, the article didn't directly accuse Mark Hollington, but it was suggestive enough to guide the audience in a certain direction.

Facing accusations from the "New York Post," Mark Hollington cooperated very 'helpfully' by immediately coming forward to rebut, claiming the sports car was bought on installment and not paid in full, thus there was no 'extra income.'

Perhaps not wanting to stir more controversy, the "New York Times" did not publish Hollington's clarification, which appeared instead in another paper, "The Daily News."

This ignited even more media frenzy.

As is well-known, "The Daily News" and the "New York Post," two equally unscrupulous newspapers, are fierce competitors and frequently engage in public disputes, often dragging each other's owners, Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman, through the mud.

With Hollington's clarification appearing in "The Daily News," the battle lines were drawn anew.

Such media spats rarely result in any conclusive outcome.

But Hollington was the one who ended up unlucky.

As the controversy escalated, his involvement in the smear campaign against Simon Westeros was bizarrely proven through this tangle.

Until April 24th, Friday.

Due to the shifting media perspective and Fox Studios' intensified marketing campaign, the box office decline for "The Butterfly Effect" over the whole second week narrowed to just 15%, earning an additional $18.28 million.

In two weeks, "The Butterfly Effect" reached a total box office of nearly $40 million.

This nearly $40 million box office propelled "The Butterfly Effect" to the fourth highest-grossing film of 1987, trailing only behind "Run Lola Run," "Lethal Weapon," and a Disney film released in January, "Cruel Destiny."

Meanwhile, Simon, busy with a myriad of tasks, collaborated with Fox Studios again by appearing on NBC's "Tonight Show," where he spent a few minutes discussing the creative inspiration behind "The Butterfly Effect."

Despite his contractual obligations to promote the film, Simon is the type who dislikes public appearances.

However, Peter Saunders, the show's host, directly offered Simon a check for $300,000, and mentioned that Fox Studios would pay Simon a bonus if the film's North American box office exceeded $100 million.

With such incentives, Simon naturally cooperated as best he could.

Simultaneously, after a visit from Michael Ovitz, Robert Redford responded the next day, willing to accept an offer of $500,000 plus a 5% profit share.

After last Saturday's party, Madonna and her husband thought it over for a few days and also responded, agreeing to cameo as the characters Little Rabbit and Little Pumpkin. The agreed-upon terms were that the couple would together take $500,000 in salary.

Additionally, Simon agreed to write a song for Madonna's new album later in the year.

With these agreements in place, "Pulp Fiction" now boasted Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, and John Travolta as part of a stellar cast, with Madonna and Sean Penn's star power also significant.

With a budget of $8 million, such a formidable cast was assembled, which delighted Orion Pictures enough to hold a press conference on Thursday to announce Simon's new project "Pulp Fiction" and the list of major stars participating.

Later that afternoon, at Daenerys Studios' headquarters in Santa Monica.

In Simon's office, dressed in a white blouse and black pencil skirt in a typical office lady style, Meg Ryan carefully served coffee to Simon and Amy before exiting.

Holding her coffee, Amy, looking at Meg's departing figure, commented to Simon, "She seems a bit afraid of you, making a woman afraid isn

't a good sign."

Meg had officially started her 'nine-to-five' job at Daenerys Studios these days.

Simon simply wanted to help Meg return to the state a 26-year-old woman should be in through a structured life, without expecting her to do any substantial work, thus he arranged for her to work alongside Susan as his secretary.

Hearing Amy's comment, Simon, who was browsing through a thick stack of actor profiles, merely shook his head slightly and said, "It's not fear, it's probably awkwardness."

Having encountered him unexpectedly twice, it would indeed be awkward.

Amy didn't quite understand Simon's explanation but just smiled and didn't pursue further.

Seeing Simon return to scrutinizing the actor profiles, Amy noticed a novel placed near her on his desk, picked it up out of curiosity.

Simon always had a book or two at hand these days, a habit Amy found commendable. Not giving it much thought, as someone who had achieved so much at such a young age, it seemed entirely natural for him to maintain a reading habit.

Thinking to herself, Amy glanced at the title of the book in her hands, "Forrest Gump" by Winston Groom. Although she didn't recognize the author, she figured the books Simon chose were unlikely to be poor and began flipping through it with interest.

Noticing Amy's actions, Simon explained while continuing to look through the profiles, "Amy, these days I'll have Jonathan negotiate some scripts, novels, and remake rights for me, but for now, we'll keep them under Westeros Corp. You know, there's more money on the books there, but eventually, we'll produce them ourselves."

Having acquired substantial capital, Simon was also starting to pursue projects he had been interested in since returning to this era, aiming to secure the movie rights to many potentially popular films early on.

Seeing an almost literal goldmine, not pursuing it would be a disservice to himself.

Amy nodded, understandingly. Any slightly ambitious movie company would try to amass some rights, and Simon's actions were no surprise to her.

Daenerys Studios had only the operational funds Simon had initially loaned and the production budgets for "Final Destination" and "Pulp Fiction." Handling this endeavor would definitely be beyond its capabilities, hence Westeros Corp would need to step in.

Chatting casually, Simon quickly selected a female actor's profile, pressed the call button on his desk, and summoned Susan Landis. Noticing Amy's curious look, he handed her the profile, saying, "Here, this is my Mia."

Amy took the profile, glanced at the name.

Nicole Kidman.

Who is she?

This thought flashed through her mind as she glanced at the photograph, then turned to Simon, "There's a video tape of her performance, shouldn't you at least watch it?"

Simon shook his head, "No need to waste time."

As he said this, Susan walked in, and Simon pointed to the profile in Amy's hand, "Send this actor's profile to Jonathan, tell them they have two days to get her signed with WMA. Also, for the role of Jules, the black actor, I'm not satisfied with the candidates the agencies have recommended; tell them to find more options, fame doesn't matter. And the taxi driver too, sultry, seductive, with an accent—I think I made myself clear. No need to recommend anyone local, look in Europe."

Amy handed the profile to Susan, listening to Simon's string of instructions, smiled helplessly, and shook her head, realizing she could hardly predict her young boss's thoughts.

Simon was also feeling helpless.

Having secured a group of big names, he was left with just $1 million to select other actors, and the film still had many roles unfilled.

The important role of Jules, originally played by Samuel L. Jackson, was one Simon hoped the actor could reprise. But currently, Samuel L. Jackson's whereabouts were unknown.

In an era without the internet, searching for an unknown was extraordinarily difficult.

Even finding Mia was a challenge.

Simon initially wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to audition, not minding if it was a bit pricey.

However, after a simple audition, Simon discovered a serious problem.

John Travolta was nearly 1.9 meters tall, while Michelle Pfeiffer was just over 1.7 meters. The height difference between them was so significant that it distorted the composition on screen, making it impossible to perform the classic twist dance scene.

After Michelle Pfeiffer, Simon added a height requirement of at least 180 cm to the casting conditions.

With "Pulp Fiction" scheduled to start filming in July, Simon had much to do. After a brief selection process, he decisively chose Nicole Kidman, whom he was familiar with.

Once Susan left the office, Simon checked his watch, asking Amy, "Wasn't it supposed to be at three o'clock?"

Amy also checked the time, "Maybe I should call to check."

As they spoke, the office door was knocked again, and Meg Ryan peeked in, "Mr. Westeros, Ms. Pascal, Mr. O'Brien has arrived."

Both stood up to greet the newcomer.

At the office entrance.

A middle-aged white man with a round face, around forty years old, also entered, apologetically extending his hand to Simon and Amy, "Sorry, Mr. Westeros, and Ms. Pascal, I ran into some trouble on the way."

Listening to the man's typical British accent, Simon walked over with a smile and shook his hand, "No worries, Danny, just call me Simon."

Amy also shook hands with the man, exchanging brief pleasantries.

Simon signaled Meg Ryan to bring in some more coffee, and the three settled down in the sitting area, naturally taking measure of each other.

The middle-aged man, Dennis O'Brien, was a film producer, partnered with former Beatles guitarist George Harrison in a film company called HandMade Films.

George Harrison had founded this company in 1978 to finance a friend's film project.

That friend's film, produced on a budget of $4 million, earned $20 million at the North American box office alone, propelling HandMade Films into prominence, followed by successful releases such as "Time Bandits" starring Sean Connery. Over the years, it had become a well-known independent production company in the UK.

However.

HandMade Films had recently faced a significant setback with "Shanghai Surprise," starring Madonna and Sean Penn.

With a budget of $17 million and a North American box office return of only $2.31 million, it was likely that the revenue didn't even cover the marketing expenses of the distributor, MGM.

Despite the recent global economic boom and massive capital influx into the film industry, HandMade Films hadn't gone bankrupt due to the failure of "Shanghai Surprise" but had instead reached out to Daenerys Studios through Madonna's connection, showing interest in "When Harry Met Sally."

The resurgence of "The Butterfly Effect" had broken the ice for "When Harry Met Sally," which had been previously ignored. Over the past week, not just many second and third-tier film companies but also the major studios had re-expressed interest in "When Harry Met Sally."

However, Simon had other plans.

Daenerys Studios wouldn't be able to establish its distribution network in the short term, and while "When Harry Met Sally" would still need to partner with one of the major studios for marketing and distribution, Simon planned to maintain absolute control over the project by co-investing with some independent film companies.

By securing some initial funding, the project could be kickstarted.

Once Simon completed his stock index futures transactions later in the year, Daenerys Studios could inject further funds into the project. Additionally, with the success of "Run Lola Run" and "The Butterfly Effect," even with co-investments, Daenerys Studios had the confidence to demand a larger share of the profits.