Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Due to their concerns about "Wonder Woman" and the overall trend in the Hollywood film industry, the neighboring Michaels, Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz, spent the night discussing countermeasures almost sleeplessly after returning home.

While all eyes in Hollywood were on "Wonder Woman," Simon was in Australia.

The filming of "Superman" had recently begun, with the primary location set in Sydney, Australia, rather than Melbourne this time.

Moreover, "Wonder Woman" was released simultaneously in Australia and North America, making the Australian film scene quite lively during this period.

After attending the premiere of "Wonder Woman" on Wednesday, June 3, Simon and his wife departed on June 5 and arrived in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon local time.

Since they were in Australia, their first priority was to visit the little one.

To make it easier to care for the child, Veronica had moved out of her high-rise apartment in Melbourne and bought a villa by the Yarra River, not far from the Johnston family mansion and Simon and Janet's little place in the northern suburbs of the city.

Raymond Johnston adored his grandson and had even set up a room for the child in the mansion.

When Simon and Janet arrived, they quickly made their way to the nursery in the Johnston mansion to see their little one.

Six-month-old Melbourne Westero was now able to sit and crawl. Compared to the little wrinkled thing he was at birth, he was now a fair and tender baby, irresistible to anyone who saw him.

Janet immediately scooped up the child she often affectionately referred to as her 'little nuisance,' engaging in a tender, cooing conversation. Despite not having seen each other for over a month since Easter, the little one didn't seem shy and responded to his mother with matching coos.

After interacting with the baby for a while, Janet handed him over to Simon.

The baby studied the man in front of him, perhaps recognizing him vaguely, and didn't resist. He even reached out with his tiny hand to grasp Simon's collar. When Simon asked if he missed his daddy, the baby responded with a couple of well-practiced coos.

Veronica, standing beside the family of three, watched Simon talk to the baby. She seemed to want to say something but remained silent, a look of contentment in her eyes.

After playing for a while, the baby quickly grew tired and fell asleep.

They placed the little one in his crib, leaving the nanny to watch over him while the three adults left the room.

There was still some time before dinner, and besides Raymond Johnston and his wife, Anthony Johnston and his family were also there, gathered in the mansion's living room discussing recent events.

After Australia lifted industry restrictions on foreign investments in the telecommunications sector last year, the Westero system had established a foothold in mobile communications, internet services, and the Egret portal over the past year.

In recent years, influenced by Japan's economic downturn, Australia's economy also entered a recession, even experiencing a bond market crash similar to North America's. The Qintex Group, which had acquired MGM, collapsed due to insolvency, leading to its founder Christopher Skase's flight and subsequent events.

Amid the overall economic downturn, the rising tide of the new technology industry made the Australian government increasingly attentive to this sector.

Of course, this was partly due to the behind-the-scenes efforts of the Westero system and the Johnston family.

Last month, the Australian Federal Parliament passed a bill to promote the information industry, with the government planning to invest 10 billion AUD over the next five years in infrastructure related to the information industry. This bill also included numerous incentives for talent, taxes, and other aspects to support the industry.

In the U.S., the Information Superhighway Act, influenced by the Westero system's lobbying, had entered the congressional agenda early. However, its passage and implementation were at least a year away.

Europe, still dealing with ongoing turmoil, had little capacity to focus on this emerging sector.

Therefore, Australia's bill to promote the information industry became the first national-level policy document in this field.

Due to its limited market size, the scale of Australia's information industry could never be too large.

However, taking this early step to gain an advantage in the new technology field could bring unexpected benefits to the country.

Aside from the information industry, the conversation also turned to the film industry.

In the '80s, for cultural reasons, Australia provided substantial support to the film industry, leading to the creation of George Miller's "Mad Max" series. The emergence of the Hollywood Australian contingent also had roots in the country's strong backing for the film industry.

However, such policy support was not as beneficial as the advantages brought by the production of blockbuster films in Australia.

In the original timeline, the "Lord of the Rings" series not only turned New Zealand into the Middle-earth desired by fans worldwide but also made this small southern hemisphere country one of the most renowned film production bases in the world.

Australia's situation was almost identical to New Zealand's back then.

Apart from "Wonder Woman," which couldn't be filmed in Australia due to location constraints, the DC movie universe projects, including "Batman: The Beginning," "The Dark Knight," "The Flash," and the newly launched "Superman," were all filmed in Australia. Much of the post-production work was also completed there.

Driven by the DC movie universe series, Australia quickly formed a film industry base centered in Melbourne. Coupled with favorable tax rebates and relatively cheap labor and material costs, other Hollywood studios increasingly chose to make films in this country.

With the internet industry, mobile communications, and film industry all flourishing in Australia, various companies within the Westero system had secured a significant presence in these fields.

This was essentially a form of penetration!

Simon's next goal was to use the Johnston family as a front to venture into Australia's core mining resources sector.

Once this was accomplished, Simon would wield significant influence over the country.

June marked winter in the southern hemisphere, but coastal cities like Melbourne experienced mild winters due to the temperate maritime climate.

Simon and Janet spent the weekend in Melbourne, even going skiing in the nearby mountains on Sunday. On Monday, Simon headed to the "Superman" set in Sydney to follow up on the film's progress.

With Sydney and Melbourne being only about 700 kilometers apart, it was just a short flight by private plane. Therefore, Simon worked in Sydney during the day and, if there wasn't anything too pressing, would fly back to Melbourne at night.

Meanwhile, the box office data for "Wonder Woman" kept rolling in from North America.

Supported by high popularity and excellent reviews, "Wonder Woman" grossed $19.21 million on its opening day, surpassing the entire weekly box office of "Far and Away" in just one day, reaffirming the phenomenon-level status of DC movie universe films in Hollywood.

After the first three days of the opening weekend, the superhero film grossed $61.39 million, easily surpassing all the summer movies released in May.

When Simon returned to North America after a week in Australia, the first week's box office for "Wonder Woman" was officially out.

$91.12 million!

Fueled by the explosive success of "Wonder Woman," the total box office for the week of June 5-11 in North America reached $162.86 million.

However, with "Wonder Woman" claiming more than half of the weekly box office, other films released in previous weeks like "Lethal Weapon 3," "Sister Act," and "Far and Away" all saw box office drops exceeding 30%.

Due to its weaker reviews compared to "Lethal Weapon 3" and "Sister Act," and its less appealing subject matter, "Far and Away," starring Tom Cruise, had already opened far below expectations. This week, its box office drop was even more severe, at 46%, with second-week earnings of only $8.39 million, down from $15.62 million in the first week.

With a total of $24.01 million in two weeks, and the weekly box office dwindling to just over $8 million, low attendance meant theaters would likely pull "Far and Away" after its two- or four-week contractual period. Therefore, even if the box office decline slowed, the film's total North American box office was unlikely to exceed $40 million.

However, Columbia Pictures had invested a total of $90 million in production and marketing for this project.

Even without considering time costs, "Far and Away" needed to gross about $60 million in North America to recoup production costs through subsequent overseas releases, video channels, and TV platforms.

With a North American box office under $40 million, Columbia Pictures was unlikely to recover the $90 million investment over the 5 to 7-year effective distribution cycle of the film.

Tom Cruise, already seeing a decline in popularity, was severely impacted by the failure of "Far and Away."

Next, this Hollywood star would have to return to the low-budget field.

Low-budget films could indeed offer big returns, but out of the hundreds of low-budget films made in Hollywood each year, fewer than one in ten achieved this.

Moreover, according to convention, Tom Cruise would only have two more chances to fail.

If his next two films didn't become hits, his status as a leading star would decline.

Watching Cruise's recent struggles, many in Hollywood had mixed feelings and couldn't help but have more respect for a certain young man.

However, Simon was no longer concerned with this.

The three DC movie universe films released so far, "Batman: The Beginning" opened with $82.39 million, "The Dark Knight" with $102.07 million, and "The Flash" with $72.86 million.

With a $91.12 million opening, "Wonder Woman" ranked second in opening week performance among these four films, second only to "The Dark Knight."

Moreover, "The Dark Knight" clearly benefited

 from being a sequel.

Excluding sequel effects, "Wonder Woman" had the highest opening week among "Batman: The Beginning," "The Flash," and "Wonder Woman."

Being a female-led film, "Wonder Woman" faced a lot of skepticism before its release. Now, the $91.12 million opening week shattered many expectations.

The licensing agreement stipulated that "Wonder Woman" was co-financed by Daenerys and Warner Bros., with Daenerys handling distribution.

Even with half the investment in the film, Terry Semel jokingly complained to Simon during a call about his bias.

With "Wonder Woman" opening over $90 million, a North American total over $300 million was almost certain.

Among the three series premieres, although "The Flash" grossed $250 million in North America, its opening and total box office were clearly the lowest.

Compared to the recently launched "Superman," which Simon personally followed to Australia, Simon was almost 'hands-off' with "The Flash."

Moreover, comparing "The Flash" and "Wonder Woman," the sales of related merchandise showed significant differences.

With "Wonder Woman"'s release, the simultaneous soundtrack featuring Diana Prince's theme music sold 870,000 copies in the first week, with total sales expected to easily exceed 10 million copies.

Merchandise like character dolls and Wonder Woman's weapon replicas far outsold "The Flash" merchandise.

The special edition Amazon Warrior full set figures, limited to 10,000 sets and priced at $1,000 each, sold out within a week, bringing in $10 million alone.

Was Simon biased?

Of course.

Initially, Simon's proposal to exchange half the investment rights of "Superman" for half the investment rights of "The Flash" and "Cyborg" was a good deal, but Warner ultimately rejected it.

To maintain the DC movie universe's cohesion, Simon accepted these two heroes and invested enough effort as a producer with significant say.

However, expecting him to put as much heart into "The Flash" and "Cyborg" as he did with "Batman," "Wonder Woman," and "Superman" was unrealistic.

After the first week, on June 12, two new films hit North American theaters: Warner Bros.' "Twin Dragons" and Columbia's TriStar's "Universal Soldier."

"Twin Dragons" was a typical buddy comedy, while "Universal Soldier" was an action film starring Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

However, given their modest opening scale, both films were essentially relegated to 'cannon fodder' status following "Wonder Woman." "Twin Dragons" opened on 1,140 screens, and "Universal Soldier" on 1,281 screens. Combined, their opening scale was still smaller than "Wonder Woman."

Warner Bros. and Columbia likely wanted to maintain a presence in the summer market but lacked confidence in these films, leading to this release strategy.

However, under the overwhelming popularity of "Wonder Woman," the two films failed to make any significant impact post-release.

With weak new releases, the market remained dominated by "Wonder Woman."

By the end of the second week, "Wonder Woman" saw a modest 25% drop, grossing another $68.39 million.

In two weeks, the superhero blockbuster had accumulated $159.51 million, surpassing all other 1992 releases to date and taking the top spot on the annual box office chart.

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