Chapter 377: Full of Passion

"This is the hottest day in the United States so far in 2001. NBC brings you this live report from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The second quarter has just ended, but this Super Bowl is already destined to go down in history..."

In the living room of Duke Manor, Duke sat patiently in front of the television. Tina Fey walked over, carrying a pot of black tea.

"Is it almost halftime?"

"It's about to start." Duke accepted the black tea she handed him. "Thank you."

Tina Fey sat in the armchair next to him. She had no interest in the game itself.

"I heard Britney Spears is performing during the halftime show."

"Do you like her?" Duke found that slightly surprising.

Having worked by his side, Tina Fey had seen the hidden reality behind the glamorous halos of countless massive stars. How could she like a teen idol?

"Did you not know?" Tina Fey thought for a moment, confirming she hadn't mentioned it to Duke before, then said, "Many consider Britney the next Madonna. She's the hottest young singer right now. Nancy and CAA's Eno Martin are both trying to poach her."

Duke nodded. Britney's value was undeniable. Currently at the absolute peak of her popularity, she was inevitably a highly sought-after commodity for the talent agencies.

However, given the pop princess's terrible emotional intelligence, he wondered which agency she would ultimately choose.

On the television, the halftime commercials hadn't started yet. The sports commentator continued to ramble on.

"In the first two quarters, the Ravens' defense has completely dominated. The Giants have advanced a pitiful 71 yards, with five forced turnovers and four sacks! Most incredibly, both offensive units showed flashes of brilliance, completing three touchdowns in thirty-six seconds and breaking the record for the most touchdowns in the shortest amount of time..."

Also sitting in front of a television, Norman Hiller chugged his beer, quietly waiting for the commercial block belonging to Hollywood and its movie trailers.

Even as he waited, Hiller's brows remained tightly furrowed.

He loved Duke Rosenberg's films, particularly The Matrix series. He had spent the last few years eagerly anticipating a sequel, but all he could do was wait bitterly, because the director who created the sci-fi masterpiece had run off to New Zealand to produce The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings was a property that many directors wouldn't even dare touch!

Just as Hiller was dwelling on this, the commercial break finally arrived. First came a series of product ads, followed by Hollywood's allotted time. Summer Season releases like Pearl Harbor, Shrek, Tomb Raider, and Fast & Furious appeared one by one. Even films slated for the Thanksgiving and Christmas windows like Monsters, Inc. and A Beautiful Mind released short trailers.

Was The Lord of the Rings not planning to run an ad during the Super Bowl? Hiller's frown deepened.

The release date for The Fellowship of the Ring had been announced long ago—set for the weekend before Memorial Day in the Summer Season. Duke's films hadn't just pioneered the use of Super Bowl ad time for Hollywood; in the years since, any film of his releasing during the Summer Season had never missed the Super Bowl halftime show. Fans of Duke had grown accustomed to waiting for halftime to catch the first trailer.

Right at the very end of the Hollywood ad block, Hiller finally saw the imagery he had been waiting for. Amid roaring flames, a massive, incredibly sinister-looking metal gauntlet wore a golden ring. The band of the ring bore etched text he couldn't read.

A deeply magnetic female voice resounded.

"One Ring to rule them all!"

After a few shots showcasing The One Ring, the footage grew increasingly dark. Within the shadowy hues, an immense army marched toward the volcano ahead. These were two heavily equipped forces. Even without having read the original books, Hiller could easily tell from their appearances that they were men and elves!

Then, the view shifted to the front lines of the allied elven and human forces. An even more massive army came charging over the hills and plains. The camera zoomed closer and closer until extreme close-ups appeared—ugly, vile, filthy...

They were Orcs! With their jaws stretched wide to reveal razor-sharp teeth, they rushed the allied formation, looking ready to devour everyone alive!

However, they were met by a dense storm of arrows!

"God, their armor and weapons are beautiful!"

The camera pulled back to the elves' main formation, and Hiller's eyes instantly went wide. Hordes of elven warriors drew their bows, firing volleys of long arrows that brought down countless Orcs.

The shot slowly widened out into a panoramic view. The number of combatants on both sides was impossible to count. The colossal battlefield stretched endlessly toward the horizon, locked in vicious combat everywhere you looked...

"Oh, my! Oh, my..."

Hiller didn't even know what to say anymore. He had been a movie buff for a full ten years and had watched countless films, including more war scenes than he could remember. Among the historical epics was Gladiator, which had released last summer. After seeing the opening battle sequence of that film, he had thought it was intense and grand enough. But compared to the clash between the Orcs and the human-elf alliance in this trailer, it was extremely weak!

Going purely by the scale of the battlefield, the sheer ferocity, and the sprawling panoramic display, this trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring completely blew Gladiator out of the water!

What an unbelievably magnificent epic spectacle!

But this was only a thirty-second trailer. Just as Hiller's emotions reached a fever pitch, it was already coming to an end.

It showed that golden ring again. As if it had a life of its own, it sank toward the bottom of a riverbed. That magnetic female voice sounded once more.

"Things that should not have been forgotten turned to dust. History became legend. Legend became myth... and The One Ring has been quietly waiting..."

Finally, the film's release date appeared on the screen.

"The One Ring has been quietly waiting..." Hiller muttered to himself. "Yeah, waiting for the right director to turn it into an amazing movie!"

He sat there in a daze for a long while before finally turning off the TV.

"Now I have to start waiting, too!"

In that moment, just like so many others who had seen the trailer, Norman Hiller temporarily set aside his obsession with The Matrix and decided to wait for the premiere of a fantasy epic called The Fellowship of the Ring!

Those who supported Duke were waiting for the trailer, and those who opposed him were waiting for it just the same.

As a hardcore fan of the books who had actively led protests ever since The Lord of the Rings trilogy began filming, Brad Miller had planted himself in front of the TV early. He didn't even care that the New York Giants team he supported was being completely suppressed by the Ravens. He only wanted to see what kind of hideous mess this director—famous worldwide for generating explosions and destroying Earth—was going to make of his beloved Lord of the Rings.

The One Ring, the war, men, elves, Orcs... they all appeared on the television screen one after another. Over the course of those brief thirty seconds, Brad Miller went from feeling initially dismissive to staring with wide eyes. The final alliance between men and elves that he had pictured in his mind countless times was actually unfurling right in front of him with shocking realism. In fact, the footage was a thousand times more authentic, majestic, and magnificent than he had ever imagined!

Brad Miller's eyes grew a little red. Only a die-hard fan of the books could understand exactly how he felt at this moment. It was pure thrill—the thrill of a dream finally coming true!

Still, he was an experienced man. The moment the trailer ended, he thought of the countless literary works that Hollywood had utterly ruined. The turbulent excitement in his heart gradually settled, and he recovered his calm.

However, even Brad Miller himself didn't realize that his heart was now brimming with anticipation, longing for that weekend right before Memorial Day to hurry up and arrive. He needed to see exactly what the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings was truly going to look like.

Would it be as polished, as magical, and as epic as the trailer? Or would it be reduced to a chaotic pile of garbage!

Up in an office building on Wilshire Street, Beverly Hills, the Artists Management Company had not taken Super Bowl Sunday off. To a rallying Michael Ovitz, even though they had steadily poached numerous clients from CAA, ICM, and William Morris, Artists Management Company was still just a newcomer compared to those giants of the entertainment agency world. Every single minute and second was incredibly precious to his firm.

Of course, leading a business centered on Hollywood, Michael Ovitz also watched the Super Bowl halftime commercials. This Summer Season featured two films releasing that his company had packaged. Even if there were no genuinely strong competitors on those specific opening weekends, taking the broader Summer Season into account meant that practically every major blockbuster released was in direct competition with his projects.

To become a winner during the Summer Season, one couldn't merely do their own job well; understanding the competition was absolutely mandatory.

When it came to the Summer Season, Fast & Furious was just an inconspicuous small-scale production, and Michael Ovitz had no intention of investing excessive resources into it. Artists Management Company's main focus for the summer was still Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor.

Post-production on the wartime blockbuster wasn't entirely finished yet, but after watching the trailer personally cut by Michael Bay, Ovitz still nodded in great satisfaction. The trailer was absolutely explosive and perfectly suited the theater-going atmosphere of the Summer Season. That spiraling bomb point-of-view shot—mimicked right out of The Rock—seemed to carry enough momentum to completely overpower Duke Rosenberg.

After seeing the trailer for Pearl Harbor, Michael Ovitz's mood improved considerably. Yet, upon seeing The Lord of the Rings trailer appear at the very end, his soaring spirits instantly plummeted straight back into the gutter...

What an astoundingly colossal war scene that was!

Michael Ovitz had read the original books. Tolkien hadn't written a terribly detailed description of the allied battle between elves and men at the foot of Mount Doom. But the visuals displayed in the trailer were enough to make a person's soul tremble!

As a seasoned industry veteran, Michael Ovitz remembered clearly that the entire history of Hollywood epics had never seen such a massively complex, sprawling cold-weapon warfare sequence!

Duke Rosenberg was undeniably Duke Rosenberg.

He could only sigh in resignation.