While Simon was in Ukraine, the 52nd Golden Globe Awards took place in the USA on the evening of January 28th, West Coast time.
In the past year, as of December 31, 1994, the total box office in North America not only surpassed the $6 billion mark for the first time but also set a new record at an astonishing $6.61 billion. This was a 15.3% increase compared to the $5.73 billion total box office in 1993.
Anyone with even a slight understanding of the North American film market could appreciate how impressive this figure was.
Historically, the North American film market had shown steady growth with rising ticket prices and the recovery of the film industry, but the annual growth rate rarely exceeded 10%. For instance, in 1993, the total box office was $5.36 billion, a mere 6.9% increase from 1992.
In both past and future history, only in years when phenomenon-level blockbuster films like E.T. or Titanic emerged did the annual box office growth exceed 10%.
1994 was another such year.
Without delving into other details, last year was the first time in Hollywood's history that four domestic films each surpassed $300 million at the box office: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Forrest Gump, Toy Story 2, and Suicide Squad.
The domestic box office champion, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, grossed an astounding $416 million.
Although Toy Story 2 and Suicide Squad, released at the end of the year, had not yet crossed the $300 million mark by December 31, this did not diminish the explosive growth of the 1994 film market.
Starting with Four Weddings and a Funeral and Ace Ventura at the beginning of the year, to summer hits like Stargate and True Lies, and finally year-end releases like Interview with the Vampire and The Mask, the market was flooded with successful films.
Moreover, Hollywood increasingly felt the overwhelming influence of Daenerys Entertainment Group over the past year.
By December 31, among the top ten films of the year, only Clear and Present Danger from Paramount was unrelated to Daenerys Entertainment. The other nine, including Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, Forrest Gump, Toy Story 2, Suicide Squad, True Lies, The Conjuring, Heat, The Haunting in Connecticut, and Stargate, were all connected to Daenerys Entertainment.
Additionally, five other films that crossed the $100 million mark, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Speed, Romeo is Bleeding, Interview with the Vampire, and The Mask, didn't even make it into the top ten due to ongoing screenings.
Despite the significant rise in the total annual box office in 1994, the dominance of these blockbusters squeezed the market space for other films. Some movies that historically should have been big hits, like The Gambler and Maverick, saw their box office revenues shrink by as much as 50%.
It can be said that Simon, as a major influencer, has pushed Hollywood into an era where the top films dominate the box office, severely compressing the market for mid- and low-tier movies.
Even though Simon deliberately slowed the development of comic book movies, this trend was unstoppable.
Fortunately, since the new era had just begun, the situation hadn't yet deteriorated to the point where only comic book sequels could survive. Excellent films like Forrest Gump, Heat, and Four Weddings and a Funeral still had room to realize their market potential.
Meanwhile, the low-budget art film sector in Hollywood, supported by Simon through Highgate Films, also maintained a considerable market space.
The list of nominees for this year's Golden Globe Awards shows that 1994 was a year of great success for both commercial and art films. In addition to the pinnacle of art films, Forrest Gump, other strong contenders this award season included Four Weddings and a Funeral, Natural Born Killers, Little Women, Legends of the Fall, Nell, Bullets Over Broadway, and many others.
Whether in terms of commerce or art, Daenerys Entertainment's "Year of the Gods at the Movies" lived up to its name.
This year's Golden Globe Awards had one significant change: many of the winners were explicitly reminded beforehand not to thank Simon in their acceptance speeches.
This practice will likely continue throughout this award season and in many seasons to come.
Simon plans to become an invisible figure, yet this does not hinder Daenerys Entertainment's films from shining brightly at this Golden Globe Awards.
The two core awards for Best Motion Picture in the Drama and Musical/Comedy categories went to Forrest Gump and Four Weddings and a Funeral, respectively—both produced by Daenerys Entertainment.
Other significant awards included Best Director, two Best Actor awards, and one Best Supporting Actress award. Even in the television categories, ongoing series like Friends, Desperate Housewives, and ER also won several awards.
Both Daenerys Entertainment and the Golden Globe Awards committee had considered balancing the results. However, in such a stellar year, denying the recognition of excellent films for the sake of balance would seem too contrived.
During the three-hour Golden Globe Awards ceremony, Eaglet Portal provided live coverage of the results and introduced a real-time audience discussion feature.
According to audience feedback, this year's Golden Globe Awards had fewer controversies than in previous years.
Ukraine is ten hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast.
When the Golden Globe Awards began, it was already 4 a.m. on Sunday in Rivne.
Simon woke up at 7 a.m. to the complete list of award winners as the after-parties in Los Angeles were getting underway.
During his morning run, Simon briefly glanced at the results and simply instructed one of the A-girls to send a congratulatory card in his name to each winner—a move he picked up from Michael Ovitz.
After all, no one ever resents a kind gesture.
At breakfast, there was an additional guest at the table, Eve Bessonovskaya.
Women naturally tend to compete with each other.
After her first night, this tall Ukrainian woman obediently followed Simon's orders, 'resting' in the master bedroom for the entire day. Then, under the watchful eyes of the other women in the villa, she managed to secure Simon's company for a second night.
When Simon called her out this morning, her blush extended from her face down to her neck as she buried her head in the pillow, too embarrassed to face anyone. Still, she didn't linger in bed, though she kept her head lowered during breakfast, avoiding eye contact with the others.
After breakfast, one of the A-girls briefed Simon on the day's schedule. Just as they were about to depart, Celia remembered something and sat beside Simon, using it as an excuse to hand him a document as the convoy started moving.
They were headed to the southwestern outskirts of Rivne that morning.
Simon planned to build an airport there so that his private jets could land directly in Rivne. Moreover, as the city developed, the demand for commercial flights would also increase significantly.
Since it would be a small city airport with just one main runway, including hangars and terminal facilities, Simon had allocated a budget of $15 million, considering local Ukrainian prices. This figure was somewhat high, but Simon didn't intend to cut corners since it would be his personal facility.
The Rivne regional government had no money to invest in the construction of such an airport.
Therefore, the planned city airport would be fully funded and owned by Sergei Komorov's Ordak Company. In the future, as the city developed and the need for airport expansion arose, Simon planned to sell a portion of the shares to local Ukrainian investors.
Running an airport requires more than just money—it needs manpower.
However, in Ukraine, this was the least of the concerns.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine inherited a staggering 2,160 aircraft of various types from the former Soviet Union. Such a massive air force also meant a matching scale of highly trained personnel.
Now, due to insufficient funds, many aircraft were left to rust in abandoned military bases. In Simon's memory, over a decade later, the number of aircraft in the Ukrainian Air Force had dwindled to a fraction of the original 2,160, leading to the loss of many skilled personnel.
Therefore, not only would this city airport benefit from this pool of talent, but the military-themed amusement park planned for construction this year would also feature realistic aircraft experience projects.
Regarding the military-themed amusement park, Simon initially expected some challenges. However, in reality, many high-ranking officers from various Ukrainian military districts proactively reached out to secure supply contracts for personnel and materials.
Tanks? No problem.
Aircraft? Also no problem!
Warships? Well, Rivne isn't coastal, but there's always the option of a lake.
The reason for such enthusiasm was Simon's promise of equity.
The Westeros system planned to hold only a 40% stake in the military-themed amusement park and did not intend to control it. The remaining 60% would be split—15% for the Rivne regional government in exchange for 20 square kilometers of land, and the other 45% would be up for grabs.
As a result, this theme park became a major project that Kyiv authorities couldn't easily veto.
In tough times, compared to smuggling weapons, this was a legitimate and steady source of income.
Especially after the theme park planning team resolved the biggest moral issue associated with the project, other concerns seemed to dissipate.
Previously, Kyiv authorities were mainly worried that establishing such a park with national resources would invite international ridicule and
public resentment. The planning team, however, easily addressed this by promoting it in the name of peace.
Peace was a prevailing global trend following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
No matter the reality, the world seemed to believe that humanity had entered a new era of peace.
It was inevitable that weapons would be put away and horses released to graze.
Ukraine's establishment of a military-themed amusement park was intended to help visitors appreciate peace by experiencing the horrors of war.
Thus, the park was preemptively named the "Ukrainian Peace Military Theme Park."
If anyone questioned it, the response would be: "Don't you love peace? Or do you want war?"
In the car heading towards the outskirts of Rivne, Celia handed Simon a completely handwritten agricultural loan application.
Maxim Noskov, the father of Ekaterina Noskova, one of the three remaining girls at the villa, was hoping to secure an agricultural loan from Simon to help restore agricultural production in Rivne and surrounding regions.
Modern agriculture is highly dependent on production inputs.
The sharp decline in Ukraine's grain production in recent years was mainly due to this factor.
After the collapse, Ukraine quickly implemented land privatization reforms, distributing land to every citizen and turning many large state-owned farms into private joint-stock companies. This overly aggressive reform, without considering the national context, led not only to the serious loss of state assets but also to the collapse of the country's agricultural production system.
Although people received land, most farmers lacked the capital needed for agricultural production. Many ended up farming in near-primitive conditions—scattering seeds and hoping for the best.
When Simon first visited Ukraine last August, his most striking impression was the vast tracts of farmland between Kyiv and Rivne that were either fallow or overgrown with weeds due to a lack of machinery, pesticides, and fertilizers—everything modern agriculture requires.
Without these resources, land alone could not yield much.
Last night, at a dinner party at the southern villa for core members of the Westeros system in Ukraine, Maxim Noskov, who managed Westeros' fertilizer operations in the country, made a memorable impression on Simon. Unlike others who dressed lavishly to attend the party, Maxim wore a simple, clean but faded light gray Lenin-style suit.
Simon, who had been paying attention to his key executives in Ukraine, knew that Maxim was genuinely modest, not just putting on a show.
This former Soviet Navy lieutenant had spent the past six months painstakingly working to resume production at the fertilizer plant he took over from Simon, determined to save every job there.
Sergei Komorov had suggested that Maxim first lay off staff at the local plant and other newly acquired fertilizer factories, but Maxim refused. Losing a job in such tough times would have dire consequences.
However, Maxim didn't treat Simon, his benefactor, as an easy mark. He imposed salary cuts on all employees, while he himself only took the bare minimum needed to support his family.
Now, as Simon looked at the handwritten agricultural loan application, he realized that people like Maxim were the faint candlelight of hope in a nation plunged into turmoil—small yet striving to cast more light during a dark period.
Every country, every nation, has people like this.
Unfortunately, in this particular country, the darkness is too thick, the night too long, for one or two candles to make much difference.
Simon admired such people.
However, he did not plan to approve the agricultural loan request.
Simon was not a savior, nor did he bear any responsibility to revive this country.
Moreover, while Simon did not doubt Maxim's sincere intentions in applying for the loan, he was skeptical about whether the loan would truly be used for agricultural production.
The involvement of many individual farmers made it difficult to ensure that the loan wouldn't end up in someone's pocket or be diverted elsewhere, especially with collective farms. After all, when problems arise, it's hard to know whom to hold accountable.
In two lifetimes, Simon had heard of enough similar cases, even if he hadn't experienced them directly.
Simon could certainly use the Westeros system's intelligence network in Ukraine to monitor the situation, but he didn't want to expend the resources or effort.
Trust is fragile and unpredictable.
While the intention behind providing the loan might be to help others, strict oversight and harsh penalties could unintentionally create many enemies, making it not worth the risk.
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