France, Euro Disney in the eastern suburbs of Paris.
After riding the Indiana Jones roller coaster, the couple wearing matching Mickey and Minnie T-shirts left the attraction and wandered around until they found a grassy lawn. They walked over together.
Pushing Simon down onto the grass, Janet casually removed the sunglasses from her face and comfortably lay on the man's chest.
Fully equipped with baseball caps and sunglasses, dressed like any ordinary couple you might see anywhere, they had spent the entire day playing wildly inside the Disney park. Although they inevitably drew some hesitant glances, they ultimately weren't recognized.
It was already evening.
The summer sunset fell upon the two of them, carrying just the right amount of warmth that made one feel pleasantly lazy.
Rubbing against Simon like a little kitten, Janet said, "How about we skip Cannes tonight?"
Simon reached out to wrap his arms around the woman's waist and nodded without hesitation. "Sure."
Today was May 18, a Monday.
The 45th Cannes Film Festival had opened on May 7 and the closing ceremony would be held tonight.
It had been quite a while since they last visited Europe, so quite a few matters had accumulated here that needed handling.
Taking advantage of the film festival, Simon had flown over with Janet last Friday.
They spent Saturday in Florence, Italy, flew to Helsinki, Finland yesterday, and with today being a free day and a Monday with relatively fewer tourists, Simon brought Janet to the recently opened Euro Disney.
It could also count as personally experiencing how a Disney park operated.
Built over six years at a cost of five billion dollars and covering nearly twenty square kilometers, Euro Disney had officially opened on April 12. In the roughly one month since then, the actual visitor numbers had been less than half of what Disney initially projected. The enormous losses and heavy debt burden on the theme park had left the once ambitious Disney executives in a rather awkward position.
Euro Disney's poor start had very clearly impacted the Osaka Universal Studios project currently in preparation.
The most direct effect was that the Osaka municipal government had finally softened its stance recently. They no longer insisted on converting all the land into shares of Osaka Universal Studios and instead agreed to half cash and half stock. According to the plan basically finalized on the Japanese side, the Osaka government's final stake in Osaka Universal Studios could be reduced to around five percent.
For Simon, Euro Disney's failure also brought him many warnings.
The Disney park on the outskirts of Paris had largely been built under the influence of Tokyo Disney's massive success. Back then, Disney's management had been filled with almost blind confidence in the project. As a result, the planning and construction of Euro Disney had been quite aggressive. The initial budget of one billion dollars had ballooned continuously until it reached five billion.
European countries had also racked their brains competing for this theme park project that could bring many positive effects to the economy and employment.
Such aggression and blindness had undoubtedly led to very serious consequences.
The poor opening was only the beginning.
In Simon's memory, Euro Disney, later renamed Paris Disney, had basically never turned a profit in the decades after opening.
Under continuous losses, all the initial investors suffered heavy losses.
Moreover, given the disastrous consequences of bankruptcy and liquidation for such a massive project, Disney had no choice but to continuously inject funds to keep it operating.
Lack of detailed market research in the early stages, excessive optimism leading to loss of budget control, failure to implement localization that fit the market, and so on. These major mistakes in the planning and construction of Euro Disney were all things that the upcoming Osaka Universal Studios needed to be extremely vigilant about.
As Simon pondered this, he suddenly thought of something else.
In the original timeline, even during the relatively sluggish years around the turn of the new millennium, Disney had remained a Hollywood giant, a comprehensive media group with enough capital strength to subsidize Euro Disney.
However, in the current Hollywood, due to the rise of Daenerys Entertainment, Disney had been noticeably suppressed.
For example, Pixar, the 3D animation studio that had maintained Disney's long-term dominance in animated films, had been acquired by Simon very early. Toy Story had also become an important IP under Daenerys Entertainment.
In addition, some of Disney's 1990s box office hits like Pretty Woman and The Lion King had also been snatched away by Simon.
Miramax, which had originally been an important Disney label, remained an obscure small workshop.
Even Disney's crucial 2D animated film business had been restricted in production scale because Simon's early acquisition of Pixar prevented the shift from hand-drawn to digital animation technology.
It could be said that although Disney's current operations among Hollywood studios were still decent, it no longer possessed the strength to swallow up Capital Cities/ABC.
The wave of consolidation in the American media industry had already begun.
If Disney could not expand on its own into a comprehensive media group, within the industry's trend toward resource concentration, this long-established film company that had operated independently for many years would likely end up being swallowed by other large media groups.
Twenty or thirty years later, the most powerful major Hollywood studios, whether Disney, Warner Bros., or Universal, were all attached to vast media systems.
Upstarts like Lionsgate, because they remained independent, had never truly stood alongside the traditional major studios. They would become popular for a few years with one or two hit series before quickly fading away.
Moreover, internal instability had already appeared within Disney's current management.
In the original timeline, Disney's sluggish period around the turn of the millennium had officially resulted from damaging internal management struggles.
High-level infighting would undoubtedly further hinder Disney's development.
Simon couldn't help considering that perhaps one day he could bring this old studio into the fold as well. Or let it sink completely into silence like the former United Artists, RKO, and later MGM.
A heavy burden like Euro Disney would undoubtedly serve as an excellent assistance in pushing Disney's decline.
While he was lost in thought, a pair of small hands suddenly reached over, cupped his face, and rubbed it vigorously, interrupting his train of thought.
Simon pretended to bite one of the hands, but the two little paws fearlessly pounced together. He quickly closed his mouth.
Dissatisfied, Janet pinched the man's face a couple more times before letting him go. She propped herself up on his chest with both arms and stared at him with her beautiful eyes. "Stop thinking about things. Think about where we should go play tomorrow instead?"
Simon wrapped his arms around the woman's slender waist as she lay on top of him. "How about we go visit Château Latour tomorrow?"
Janet nodded, then remembered something. "Dad specifically reminded me last time to help prepare some red wine for David's wedding at the end of the year."
Although the old man had always been dissatisfied with David Johnston's fiancée, his face-conscious personality remained the same as ever.
Simon ran his fingers lightly across the woman's waist and pretended to feel pain. "Just pick some decent ones. The really good stuff would break my heart."
Janet let out a couple of threatening hums, looking every bit like a little wife whose elbows were clearly turned outward.
However, after meeting Simon's gaze for a moment, Janet suddenly looked puzzled. "You really don't seem to mind at all?"
Simon feigned displeasure. "In your heart, am I really such a stingy person?"
"Of course not."
As Janet spoke, she tilted her head slightly, seeming to ponder seriously.
Simon wanted to imitate how the woman had just rubbed his face, but Janet suddenly attacked and bit his hand.
After some playful wrestling, Janet quieted down again and suddenly said, "I get it now."
"Hmm?"
"You really seem to treat the Johnston family as your own family."
Simon's heart skipped slightly, but his expression showed nothing unusual. He replied naturally, "You are my family, of course."
"No, no!"
Janet shook her head, looking as if she was tangled up with some crucial question.
Simon stood up, pulling her up with him. He kissed her on the face and leaned close to her ear. "Let's head back. Are your breasts feeling full today? I'll help you take care of it."
Janet's face instantly flushed red.
She had given birth to the little one last December. It had only been half a year. After sending the child to Australia and no longer needing to breastfeed personally, she frequently faced this somewhat troublesome issue.
As the man led her toward the park exit, Janet still shot him a sideways glance.
Such an obvious attempt to change the subject was really too clumsy.
However, that previous question was truly puzzling.
Moreover, this feeling had appeared more than once. It seemed there was always some mental blind spot that was very hard for her to figure out.
After six years together, she understood him better than anyone.
Deep down, he was almost like someone from another planet, carrying a kind of cold detachment toward the world he lived in.
Over so many years, only a handful of people had truly entered his heart.
Yet she had felt more than once that in many matters, he treated all of her family members as his own.
The subtle difference would probably go unnoticed by most people, but she sensed it keenly.
For example, when interacting with Patrick Johnston, there had been several times when she could feel that his attitude toward Patrick was exactly like how one would treat an unreliable younger brother. He complained when he should, lectured when necessary, and sent him away when he got impatient.
There was none of the politeness one would show a brother-in-law. Instead, it was similar to how she, as the older sister, usually treated him.
And there were other things.
Mm.
Small annoying details.
Aside from having the experience and knowledge accumulated from two lifetimes and over a dozen people, Janet was definitely smarter than Simon. She just rarely showed it.
Sorting through the many details stored in her mind, she vaguely felt like she was about to grasp something, but always fell just a little short.
What exactly was missing?
Before they knew it, they had gotten into the car and were heading back to the estate in the western suburbs of Paris together.
Once home, Simon seemed to have forgotten the wicked thoughts he'd had earlier at Disney, and Janet once again set aside the question that had been quietly bothering her for a long time.
As the couple entered the villa, A-Girl Alison Norris came over and handed Simon an invitation. It was from the Broccoli family, hoping Simon could attend a party they were hosting in London the following evening.
Clearly, the Broccoli family wanted to talk to Simon about the 007 matter.
After the previous fallout, Simon had already decided to shelve the 007 series for a few years. The Broccoli family choosing to back down now was already too late. Simon had no intention of changing his decision.
He casually tossed the invitation aside. Janet began instructing the staff to prepare dinner while Simon went to his study. He sent an email to Amy Pascal in Los Angeles and the executives in Japan handling the Osaka Universal Studios project, sharing some ideas that had come to him at Disney.
Any layout involving Disney might be a long-term plan spanning five to ten years. Osaka Universal Studios, however, was an important move for Daenerys Entertainment in the theme park sector.
The success of Tokyo Disney and the lessons from Euro Disney's failure provided more than enough reference for this upcoming theme park.
After sending the email, Simon opened the box office data report for North America from the just-concluded weekend.
Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon 3 had opened last Friday. Over its first three days, it earned 33.24 million dollars across 2,510 screens. The first-week box office was projected to reach around 45 million dollars.
Just a few years ago, a 45 million dollar opening weekend would have been enough to break some box office records. Now that wide saturation releases had become common, this number seemed quite ordinary for a major blockbuster. In fact, if Wonder Woman releasing on June 5 only earned 45 million in its first week, the film would be considered a failure.
They had originally planned to fly to Cannes tonight to attend some parties after the film festival closing ceremony. Since Janet suddenly didn't want to go, Simon canceled the trip.
However, Simon had still received the festival award results immediately.
The Palme d'Or at the 45th Cannes Film Festival had been awarded to The Best Intentions, a film written by Swedish cinema master Ingmar Bergman based on his parents' experiences.
There was no doubt about Ingmar Bergman's cinematic talent.
However, in Simon's view, this award result was more of an acknowledgment of the filmmaking master.
Daenerys Entertainment's entry this year was an adaptation of a novel by British author E. M. Forster titled Howards End. Starring Hollywood actors Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, and Helena Bonham Carter, the film had received unanimous praise from the media during its screening at Cannes.
However, although Howards End had entered the main competition, it ultimately came away empty-handed.
Ingmar Bergman's screenplay winning an award had already been somewhat anticipated.
Daenerys Entertainment had performed quite prominently at major film festivals in recent years. At this time, it was still in a phase of keeping a low profile, similar to the Oscars in March.
Although their own film hadn't won anything, Ira Deutchman, head of Highgate Pictures who had personally come to Cannes as usual, had already begun contacting the rights for several award-winning films this year, including The Best Intentions and The Little Thief's Spring.
Several years ago, Simon had already planned for Highgate Pictures to replace the position Miramax once held in Hollywood. He intended to promote foreign films in North America with even greater effort.
The rise of Hollywood in recent years had already made filmmakers in various overseas countries feel a clear threat.
By vigorously supporting the entry of overseas films into North America, Daenerys Entertainment could both serve its own interests and greatly alleviate overseas markets' resistance toward Hollywood, or at least toward films produced by Daenerys Entertainment.