Malibu.
Unlike New York, where the chill of spring still lingered, the weather in Los Angeles in March, even in the early morning, was already just right.
A cliffside mansion on the west side of Point Dume State Preserve.
In the ocean-facing bedroom, a gentle breeze, accompanied by the sound of crashing waves, blew into the room from the French windows leading to the terrace.
On the large bed, Kathryn opened her eyes, feeling the cool air brush against her face, so she reached out and fumbled around, finally grabbing another pillow and silently covering her face with it.
A soft chuckle came, and Kathryn's action of covering her face paused, then she angrily jabbed the man beside her a few times with her elbow, like pounding garlic.
It's all this little rascal's fault.
That scoundrel.
How was she going to face Jenny now? And what if the matter got out?
Simon, having been elbowed a few times by Kathryn, also woke up.
The confusion of last night quickly flooded his mind.
He looked around: Janette was resting her chin on one hand, smiling as she gazed at him.
On the other side, Kathryn had buried her face in a bolster, like an ostrich.
"Good morning, Jenny, and Kathryn".
Greeting them, Simon sat up slightly, kissed Janette on the face, and then leaned towards the other side.
However, feeling him approach, Kathryn, startled, raised her hands and randomly thumped him a few times.
Janette chuckled again and said, "Alright, you little rascal, scram, go make breakfast for Kate and me".
Simon quickly put on his clothes and, after getting out of bed, asked Janette, "Honey, I was planning to go to New York today. Tomorrow's your birthday; are you really not going to celebrate it properly?"
Janette waved her hand dismissively: "I already said I'm not interested in celebrating my birthday".
Seeing Janette's little expression urging him to leave, Simon smiled, leaned over, and kissed the woman's cheek again before leaving the bedroom and going to a different bathroom to wash up.
However, the intoxicating scenes from last night still involuntarily flashed through his mind.
Yesterday, Simon had again worked late, having dinner with the director the company had chosen for 'Steel Magnolias' and discussing some ideas about film production.
By the time he returned to Malibu, it was already past eight o'clock.
After getting home, he was alone in his study, conceptualizing the script for 'Batman', when Janette suddenly called, asking Simon to pick her up.
However, he brought back both Janette and Kathryn.
And then, some things just happened.
After breakfast was ready, Kathryn was pulled by Janette to sit in the dining room, but her eyes still dared not meet Simon's.
Simon dished out a bowl of milk and cereal porridge and handed it to Kathryn, then looked at Janette, who had already picked up a slice of bread and was spreading jam on it, and asked, "So, why did you suddenly come back last night?"
Janette took a small bite of bread and said, "Kate and I went to a preview screening of 'When Harry Met Sally', and then I thought of a certain little rascal".
"Oh", Simon smiled and nodded, saying, "How did you like the movie?"
"It's even better than the original script, and the visuals are beautiful. I never knew Manhattan could be so lovely", Janette thought for a moment and said, "And those interviews are very interesting. Are they real couples?"
"They're all actors, but the interviews are real. The crew collected interviews from dozens of elderly couples and selected these snippets", Simon explained, then looked at Kathryn.
Seeing the woman avoid his gaze, he still found a topic, saying, "Kathryn, tomorrow is Jenny's birthday. How about we go to Palm Springs for the next two days?"
Kathryn shook her head somewhat flustered: "No, I have to go back to New York later. The… the movie stuff".
Simon was about to try to persuade her a few more times when he noticed Janette winking at him, so he wisely changed the subject.
After breakfast, even though it was the weekend, Simon was still urged by Janette to go to the company.
He usually continued to work on weekends unless there was something special.
As soon as he arrived at the Daenerys Film headquarters, Simon received a call from ICM.
Julia Roberts had agreed to his request for five film contracts that he had proposed yesterday.
Next, naturally, was the matter of 'When Harry Met Sally'.
Yesterday, the film had preview screenings in 33 theatres across North America.
Simon had just hung up with ICM when Amy Pascal, beaming, came into Simon's office with a document.
"Simon, this is the first day's media feedback that Disney just sent over. The average media score reached 9 points", Amy said, shaking her head slightly, "It's a shame this is the Easter holiday slot. Many critics feel this movie won't be too popular with young people".
"As long as the promotion methods are appropriate, we can always attract audiences to the cinema. Moreover, the proportion of young audiences in the summer blockbusters is also very large, and the competition is even more intense, so we can't keep pushing the release date until the end of the year. Comparatively, I think the Easter holiday slot is more suitable for this film".
Simon said, opening the document Amy handed him.
First to appear were excerpts of some media reviews.
"A very clever romantic comedy, Rob Reiner's bold innovations allow us to see ourselves in the characters". — 'Chicago Tribune'.
"Absolutely not to be missed this Easter". — 'The Hollywood Reporter'.
"Compared to the slyness of Woody Allen-esque intellectuals, I prefer the freshness and warmth of 'When Harry Met Sally'". — 'Los Angeles Times'.
"Meg Ryan's performance is memorable, and the strong chemistry between the male and female leads compensates for all the film's flaws". — 'Variety'.
"Witty and warm, 'When Harry Met Sally' is destined to become a masterpiece of the romantic comedy genre". — "San Francisco Chronicle".
"..."
"..."
Quickly scanning the media review excerpts on the document, Simon's thoughts didn't stop, and he said, "Amy, you just said young people might not be interested in this movie?"
"Yes," Amy nodded and said, "Look at the back. Disney's statistics on the age distribution of the audience for yesterday's preview screenings show that the proportion of viewers under 25 is only 32%. For the Easter holiday slot, if it's a film specifically aimed at teenage audiences, this proportion usually exceeds 50%.
For example, Michael J. Fox's 'The Secret of My Success' last year had a 63% proportion of young audiences under 25. Moreover, although Disney tried its best, 'When Harry Met Sally' still received an R-rating, which will further limit the film's young audience".
Because 'When Harry Met Sally' contains many sex-related topics, and the female lead even performs an embarrassing 'bed scene' in a restaurant, it was ultimately rated R.
The rating committee initially stated that if Daenerys Film cut Meg Ryan's scene in the restaurant and made some minor adjustments to other details of the film, it could basically get a PG-13 rating.
However, both the film's main creators and Simon and Amy unhesitatingly refused.
Everyone felt that keeping that scene would definitely be the highlight of the film.
At this point, Simon thought for a moment and said, "Amy, do you know the story about the person who went to Africa to sell shoes?"
Amy shook her head in confusion.
Simon thought for a moment; he couldn't remember where that story came from, so he simply explained it to Amy, then said, "The situation we're facing now is the same as that salesman's. Many young people aren't interested in 'When Harry Met Sally', which precisely means we still have a lot of market potential to tap.
Think about it, young people might not be interested in romantic themes involving love and marriage, but I believe they will definitely be very interested in some other elements in this movie".
Amy pondered for a moment and then said, "Sex".
"Exactly", Simon said, "'When Harry Met Sally' doesn't have explicit sex scenes, but Meg Ryan's scene is even more suggestive. For the next two weeks, in addition to maintaining normal marketing procedures, what we need to do is use the media to hype up this scene as a topic.
Young audiences are the most curious group and also the group most interested in sex. As long as we heat up this topic, we will definitely be able to attract young audiences into the cinema".
This method of generating discussion and gaining attention by prematurely releasing controversial plot points has been used in many films Simon remembers, such as the leaked footage from 'Lust, Caution' or a certain famous 'horse sex' scene.
Although there was no internet in this era, the concept of media operation is essentially the same, and as long as it is guided properly, this topic can still be easily hyped up through the thousands of newspapers in the United States.
Amy organized her thoughts and quickly said, "Simon, I'll call Disney now to arrange a temporary meeting. Are you going to come along?"
"I have to go to Fox later. Goldberg wants to discuss sequels for 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'Final Destination' with me".
After the first 'Final Destination' was completed, the rights to the film went to Fox, and the same was even more true for 'The Butterfly Effect'.
Although Simon had considered the issue of sequels at the time, getting the revenue-sharing terms for 'Final Destination' from Fox was already very rare, so Daenerys Films naturally couldn't ask for more.
However, although these two series would not have much to do with Simon later on, he couldn't completely wash his hands of them.
Helping Fox with some ideas for the sequels would be considered an investment in goodwill at the time.
After these matters were settled, Simon and Amy each began to get busy.
Although Kathryn claimed she had to rush back to New York at breakfast, the woman still hadn't left when Simon returned home from work.
It wasn't until after Janette's birthday that Simon sent the two women together on a private plane to New York.
On the other hand, after several meetings, Disney also listened to Daenerys Films' advice and began to adjust its distribution strategy appropriately.
With Disney's marketing and distribution network in full swing, Meg Ryan's restaurant scene in 'When Harry Met Sally' quickly became the focus of discussion and even controversy among some media, attracting more and more attention.
As the film's popularity continued to rise, the first week of preview screenings soon ended.
In the new week starting March 11th, a total of six new films were released in North American cinemas.
However, apart from 'When Harry Met Sally', the other new films didn't make much of a splash.
Instead, 'Good Morning, Vietnam', which had been in release for its 12th week, once again took the top spot for weekly box office with $5.9 million.
The cumulative box office for this film had also exceeded $90 million.
In addition, 'When Harry Met Sally' had a first-week box office of $1.68 million, ranking 11th on the weekly box office chart.
On the surface, the film's box office data and chart ranking didn't seem particularly impressive.
However, if one considers that the film was only shown in 33 theatres, this data becomes quite astonishing.
It's worth noting that 'Good Morning, Vietnam', the top-grossing film of the week, was shown on 1,579 screens, with an average weekly per-theatre gross of only $3,700.
In comparison, 'When Harry Met Sally' had an astonishing per-theatre gross of over $51,000, more than ten times that of 'Good Morning, Vietnam'.
While first-week box office data might contain many artificial factors, such as advertising campaigns or special media screenings, as the film entered its second week of release, Disney appropriately expanded the scale of 'When Harry Met Sally' to 37 theatres.
This time, the film's average per-theatre gross not only didn't fall but rose again amidst widespread critical acclaim and heated discussion.
Ultimately, from March 18th to March 24th, 'When Harry Met Sally' once again grossed $2.07 million with a limited preview release of only 37 screens, with a weekly per-theatre box office exceeding $56,000.
With this $2.07 million box office, 'When Harry Met Sally' jumped into the 9th position on the new week's single-week box office chart.
Moreover, on the entire list, other films immediately adjacent to 'When Harry Met Sally' almost all had exhibition screen scales dozens of times larger than this film.
In two weeks, through preview screenings alone, 'When Harry Met Sally' had already accumulated a total box office of $3.75 million, which already surpassed the total North American box office of many small-budget independent films.
As Daenerys Films' first film not primarily created by Simon, the success or failure of 'When Harry Met Sally' was crucial for Simon.
To minimize his influence on this film, Simon didn't even take the title of executive producer.
After 'Run Lola Run', 'The Butterfly Effect', and 'Final Destination', Simon's talent in filmmaking had already been confirmed.
However, everyone knows that the strength of one person is clearly not enough to make a film company grow and thrive.
Therefore, only if 'When Harry Met Sally', a film whose director, screenwriter, and producer had absolutely no relation to Simon, succeeded, would the outside world recognize Daenerys Films' potential, and Simon's eye for selecting film projects would also be acknowledged to a certain extent, in addition to his filmmaking talent.
With millions of dollars in box office accumulated in just two weeks from only thirty-something screens, 'When Harry Met Sally' was already destined to give Daenerys Films a very impressive start to 1988.