Hunting in Hollywood

While Simon accompanied Janet on maternity leave, the year-end schedule continued without pause.

The day before the baby's birth, the second week of Thanksgiving officially ended.

The three new releases on November 29th—Columbia Pictures' "My Girl," MGM's "GoldenEye," and the Robert De Niro-starring crime thriller "Cape Fear," taken over by Daenerys Entertainment from Universal—did not pose much threat to "Toy Story."

From November 29th to December 5th, "Toy Story" retained the top spot at the box office for the second week, grossing $35.93 million with a modest 23% drop from its first week's $46.73 million.

In its two-week run, Hollywood's first 3D animated film had already grossed $82.66 million.

Under Daenerys Entertainment's tiered distribution agreement, the company could keep over 70% of the box office revenue for the first two weeks. This meant that the $82.66 million in North American box office earnings was enough for Daenerys Entertainment to recoup its total production and marketing budget of $55 million.

Given the typically long lifespan of animated films and the inevitable Christmas season viewing rebound, "Toy Story" was likely to hit $200 million in North American box office, becoming the third film of 1991, following "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "Terminator 2," to break the $200 million mark.

Beyond the box office, "Toy Story" merchandise continued to sell like hotcakes.

Given the current sales momentum, industry analysts predicted that while "Toy Story" might only reach $200 million at the North American box office, its overall profit for Daenerys Entertainment could surpass that of "Batman: The Dark Knight."

After all, Daenerys Entertainment had to share the profits from "Batman: The Dark Knight" with Time Warner, but "Toy Story" was entirely owned by Daenerys Entertainment.

With the film's success, "Toy Story 2" was promptly greenlit.

"The Lion King 2," already in production, also garnered more attention from Hollywood.

The success of the DC film universe had recently spurred a wave of comic IP exploration, but suddenly, Hollywood's focus shifted to 3D animated films.

However, many soon realized that following Daenerys Entertainment's lead in producing 3D animated films was even harder than competing with Disney in 2D animation.

Over the years, only Disney had firmly established itself in 2D animation.

When Michael Eisner took over Disney, he had considered dismantling the declining 2D animation department. The success of re-released Disney classics and the revival of the animation department under Jeffrey Katzenberg's leadership eventually changed his mind.

Before Daenerys Entertainment, the mention of animated films brought Disney to mind, the only studio with a series of successful 2D animated films.

Other studios had long tried to tap into the animation market, including MCA, which produced 2D animated films like "The Land Before Time" and "An American Tail" in the 1980s, but none matched Disney's classics.

For 2D animation, the lengthy production cycle was the main deterrent for other studios.

Traditional 2D animated films were entirely hand-drawn by animators.

Considering a 90-minute film, with 24 frames per second, that equates to 129,600 individual frames, far exceeding the theoretical count due to errors, discarded drafts, and revisions.

A skilled animator could only produce 10 to 20 frames a day. To maintain consistent style, the team size for an animated film had to be kept small.

Thus, pre-1980s Disney animated films had a minimum production cycle of four years.

Despite this, the entry barrier for 2D animation wasn't insurmountable if studios were willing to invest time and money, as there were many talented animators available.

3D animation, however, had a much higher barrier to entry.

At the time, only Daenerys Entertainment had the software and hardware systems required for producing 3D animated films.

Daenerys Entertainment's 3D animation software, image rendering software, and the world's first render farm put it at least five years ahead of the industry.

Even if competitors managed to bridge this gap in five years, producing a 3D animated film would still take two years, totaling seven years of effort.

Moreover, spending millions over seven years with no guarantee of success was a significant risk.

In the original timeline, "Toy Story" premiered in 1995 when similar 3D animation software was emerging.

Yet, after "Toy Story," other successful 3D animated films, like DreamWorks' "Shrek" and Fox's "Ice Age," only appeared post-2000, often with a gap of over five years.

Illumination Entertainment didn't make its mark until more than a decade after "Toy Story."

In 1991, due to limited market capacity, companies like Autodesk hadn't even planned to develop 3D animation software.

Moreover, even if other studios poached talent from Daenerys Entertainment at high salaries, they still faced risks related to time, funds, and technological patents.

Daenerys Entertainment had already built a 'moat' of patents in 3D animation software, rendering software, and various hardware facilities. Core technical personnel had signed non-compete agreements, preventing them from working in the same field for at least three years after leaving.

In short, unless Daenerys Entertainment willingly released its technology and talent restrictions, no other Hollywood studio could produce 3D animated films in the short term.

Simon had no intention of releasing his technology.

As long as managed well, Daenerys Entertainment could monopolize the 3D animation market throughout the 1990s.

Following "Toy Story," the second-week Thanksgiving box office runner-up was "GoldenEye."

Despite Timothy Dalton continuing as the lead, the quality of "GoldenEye" was noticeably higher than previous Bond films, thanks to MGM's stabilized management team and Simon's direct oversight. Consequently, the production cost reached $50 million.

In its opening week, "GoldenEye" grossed $32.79 million. While this didn't match the year's heavyweights like "Batman: The Dark Knight," "Terminator 2," or the nearby "Toy Story," it met MGM's expectations.

For reference, the previous Bond film, "Licence to Kill," had only grossed $34.66 million in North America.

With "GoldenEye" matching "Licence to Kill's" total in just one week, it was promising.

However, "GoldenEye" received an average rating of 7 out of 10, not particularly outstanding. Based on various data points, its chances of breaking $100 million in North America were slim.

With a $50 million production budget and $20 million in marketing, recouping costs would rely heavily on international markets.

Third place on the chart was Paramount's "The Addams Family."

In its second week, "The Addams Family" saw a 33% drop, earning $20.88 million for a total of $52.05 million.

With this trend, its chances of reaching $100 million in North America were still uncertain.

Columbia Pictures' "My Girl," starring Macaulay Culkin, debuted fourth with $14.27 million.

With a $30 million production budget, its opening fell short of Columbia's expectations, and its average rating of 5.6 was unimpressive.

For a holiday comedy, Macaulay Culkin's star power didn't attract enough viewers in its first week, making its future box office prospects bleak.

Daenerys Entertainment's "Cape Fear" opened with $14.21 million, slightly trailing "My Girl" for fifth place.

This Martin Scorsese-directed, Robert De Niro-starring remake had a $35 million budget.

While the opening fell short of expectations, the film received positive reviews, indicating it might have a strong box office run.

As the holiday season continued, Eaglet announced its list of patents to be freely available starting December 2nd.

Though rumors had circulated, the actual implementation caused a significant stir in the industry.

Media reactions varied.

Many praised Eaglet's decision, but some criticized it, arguing that it stifled the potential for alternative widespread internet technology standards.

Furthermore, although Eaglet released core technology patents like HTTP and HTML, it retained control over browser software, email, and online payment systems, ensuring that future competitors couldn't easily match Daenerys Entertainment.

Simon had no intention of stifling competition and planned to gradually license patents like email technology in the coming years.

However, after releasing the patent list, Eaglet didn't rush into phase two of its plan despite media praise or skepticism.

A careful study of the patents revealed that Eaglet's current businesses, including online forums, personal blogs, and online games, could now be freely emulated by other companies.

This level of openness exceeded most expectations, leaving the industry without further demands for the time being.

Three days after giving birth, Janet was discharged from the hospital.

The Johnston family stayed in Los Angeles for about a week before gradually leaving. Janet had hoped they could spend Christmas together, but that wasn't feasible as the Johnston family had numerous commitments.

Just as on the day they arrived at the hospital, Veronica Johnston remained in Los Angeles until the end.

Janet initially hoped that Veronica's interaction with the baby would kindle a desire for her own family. However, over time, she noticed something seemed off.

Veronica was indeed very fond of little Melbourne.

But something didn't feel right.

During their stay in Los Angeles, Veronica visited daily, often holding the baby and staring at him for long periods.

At times, Janet felt as though Veronica wanted to take the baby away and raise him as her own.

This was very strange.

Janet joked privately that if Veronica liked children

 so much, she should have her own.

Veronica, however, seemed to completely ignore such comments.

This left Janet with lingering doubts.

Still, even as smart as she was, it was nearly impossible for Janet to conceive of the actual situation—something so far beyond normal thinking that it required firsthand experience to understand. Otherwise, Janet wouldn't have previously misunderstood the relationship between Simon and her aunt.

Janet wasn't one to dwell on things.

If she couldn't figure it out, she let it go.

After all.

She had already had one child and didn't intend to go through the ordeal again.

It had been a disaster.

Moreover, for Janet, the best part of having the baby was being able to sleep in any position again.

Janet loved cuddling Simon in bed.

However, for the past several months, she felt like there was a 'third party' between her and Simon.

Of course, getting back in shape was now on her agenda.

And she was resuming her pre-pregnancy work.

Westerners didn't have the custom of postpartum confinement. A week after the baby was born, the heads of Cersei Capital began arriving in Los Angeles to personally report on the company's operations over the past six months, bringing a mountain of documents.

The anxiety and restlessness of late pregnancy were gone.

Simon realized that Janet's psychological resilience was much stronger than his.

In summary, after the baby's birth, Janet seemed like a released genie, quickly regaining her pre-pregnancy vitality.

As for the baby, he was treated like a treasure by everyone, with Janet hardly needing to worry about him at all.

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