Chapter 394: Melodramatic Love Triangle

"Legolas! Legolas! Legolas..."

Even the most rabid moviegoers couldn't compare to deeply infatuated female fans. The crew's motorcade was completely surrounded by them, trapped in front of Temple Square unable to move an inch. Under no circumstances could they step out or roll down the windows now, or the situation would spiral out of control.

Duke turned to look behind him. The car carrying Orlando Bloom was barricaded so tightly that breaking out was impossible.

Fortunately, the police had maintained order at the scene the entire time, keeping the situation from taking a turn for the worse. However, the cars carrying the rest of The Fellowship of the Ring cast were soon surrounded as well.

"We won't be leaving anytime soon."

Looking out through the windshield, he saw the road was completely choked with fans.

The only saving grace was that the car he and Tina Fey were riding in hadn't drawn much attention.

Compared to the frowning bodyguard in the passenger seat, Duke was in a great mood. Since there was absolutely nothing else to do at the moment, he simply started discussing work with Tina Fey.

He had already received the box office data. An unprecedented number of opening theaters had brought in an unprecedented opening weekend box office. The dazzling figures for The Fellowship of the Ring proved just how much powerful marketing boosted a film's market prospects, and showed that all the gimmicks Duke had tirelessly orchestrated hadn't been in vain.

With future box office returns in mind, he would continue leading the entire crew in stirring up more buzz.

After discussing the box office for a moment, Duke asked, "Tina, do we have the opening weekend merchandise sales data yet?"

"I just received it while you were doing the press junket." Tina Fey grabbed her briefcase, flipped through it briefly, and pulled out a document. "Do you want to see it now?"

The road outside was practically gridlocked.

Duke pulled his gaze back. "Just give me the summary."

"This is just a preliminary report from Warner Brothers." Turning a blind eye to the throng of fans outside the window, Tina Fey got straight to the point. "Over the past three days, not counting our licensing royalties from McDonald's and Pepsi, merchandise for The Fellowship of the Ring has sold a total of around 31 million dollars in North America!"

Duke's eyes immediately lit up. "What are the best-selling items?"

"The One Ring pendants sold about 5.4 million dollars, making them the top seller. In second place is the Evenstar Pendant, bringing in roughly 3.8 million dollars. Then there are the Legolas action figures and dolls at about 3.5 million dollars, followed by the Arwen figures and dolls at around 2.6 million dollars..."

Pausing there, she looked up at Duke. "The troll models based on your cameo also made it into the top ten in sales."

"Looks like I'm pretty popular, too," Duke noted in a good mood.

What Tina Fey mentioned was just a tiny fraction of the film's massive merchandise lineup. This fantasy epic simply had too many marketable products. Even ignoring The Lord of the Rings Studio's ongoing character licensing negotiations with major manufacturers, there were over five hundred products directly tied to the movie.

"There is one other thing," Tina Fey added. "Supply for the hottest items is running a bit tight. Warner Brothers is already going all out to produce and distribute more."

Just like with box office returns, no one could guarantee whether a movie would be a hit, and the same applied to merchandise. Without clear prospects for profit, major Hollywood studios would never rashly pour massive funds into producing merchandise, let alone predict exactly which products would be the most popular.

Because of this, when any film was released, the amount of merchandise prepared by the production and distribution companies was actually quite limited.

Given Warner Brothers' strength, as long as they saw a profitable outlook, the supply shortage would quickly be resolved.

After being besieged there for nearly forty minutes, the motorcade finally began to inch forward. They left the sea of people at Temple Square behind and returned to their hotel.

But The Fellowship of the Ring cast had no time to relax. After a brief rest, they hurried to an NBC studio in Salt Lake City to participate in a nationwide broadcast.

Fortunately, Duke didn't have to attend. However, he was keeping an eye on another front: the Fox Family Channel was airing a special on The Lord of the Rings tonight. According to their prior agreement, they were going to drop another scoop to the public.

After dinner, Duke called Ivanka Trump, who had returned to New York. She seemed exceptionally interested in how the movie was doing. Duke gave her a brief update. Shortly after he hung up, the Fox Family Channel special began.

The program didn't actually feature anything too groundbreaking—such novel content wasn't suitable for the Big Four Television Networks anyway. Most of what aired consisted of behind-the-scenes footage and audience interviews.

In short, the goal was to show people in North America—and any other country or region where the program aired—just how phenomenal and popular The Fellowship of the Ring really was.

"A great film might lack a dashing, charismatic idol as the lead. It might lack a jaw-dropping budget, or it might lack overwhelming media hype. But it will never lack a hard-working, innovative, and dedicated crew. The success of The Fellowship of the Ring is the collective victory of an entire team."

Paired with behind-the-scenes clips from various departments, the program used a voiceover to reel off a series of statistics, continuing to stoke the audience's interest in the film.

"Data speaks louder than words. Let's look at some numbers."

"During production, the film went through a total of 2.45 million feet of film. It required 1,600 pairs of hobbit feet, over 750 specially trained horses, over 2,900 handcrafted suits of armor, more than 30,000 handmade daily props, over 4,800 weapons such as swords, axes, and shields, and upward of 15,000 costumes. The production involved over 26,600 actors, more than 2,400 behind-the-scenes staff, 380 CGI artists, 125 speaking roles, and 82 tailors and cobblers. They shot at over 400 real locations in New Zealand, and 10,000 spectators at a cricket stadium roared to provide the sound effects for the Uruk-hai. The first installment alone utilized a record-breaking 1,600-plus visual effects shots!"

Of course, this actually encompassed all three films in the trilogy. But even so, it remained the largest-scale production in cinematic history!

One could easily imagine just how complex and demanding producing such a film must have been.

Without a tightly knit team that had worked together for years, combined with Duke's total devotion to the project, completing a magnum opus like The Lord of the Rings trilogy would have been impossible.

Success was never born of luck. To achieve this moment of triumph, Duke had led his team through nearly five years of grueling effort!

Therefore, when Memorial Day Monday passed and the North American box office for The Fellowship of the Ring predictably broke the 100 million dollar mark, no one was surprised.

Even Michael Bay felt it was a given.

Standing in the Artists Management Company office building, he looked down at Los Angeles through the glass windows. His long face appeared unusually calm, as if he didn't care at all about the numbers Michael Ovitz was reading off behind him.

24.26 million dollars—that was the box office figure The Fellowship of the Ring pulled in on Memorial Day alone.

3.12 million dollars—that was the North American box office his own Pearl Harbor had grossed on the exact same day.

Even taking into account numerous variables like differing release dates and theater counts, the gap between those two numbers was so massive that all external factors could be entirely ignored.

"The situation isn't terrible."

Martin Bob's voice came from the sofa. "Pearl Harbor has already crossed 120 million dollars. Hitting the 140 million dollar production budget line at the North American box office shouldn't be a problem. As for the overseas market, several authoritative agencies project the international box office to reach around 300 million dollars. That way, even if we can't fully recoup the total 200 million dollar investment through the box office alone, it will still ease the subsequent cost pressure. The film can absolutely turn a profit through merchandise."

Michael Ovitz sat there without saying a word, though his expression was rather sour.

The situation was crystal clear. Pearl Harbor was just another Godzilla. Even if it managed to turn a profit for Touchstone, it fell completely short of expectations. For a fiercely ambitious man wanting to build a second CAA from scratch, it offered little help.

Perhaps the only real benefit was signing the long-faced director currently standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

The commercial atmosphere in Hollywood was only growing stronger these days. Only blockbuster hits capable of pulling in massive profits could allow the Artists Management Company to stand out from the fierce competition.

Michael Bay's grasp of commercial elements was undeniably outstanding. But compared to Duke Rosenberg, the gap was simply too wide—exactly like the difference in word-of-mouth and box office receipts between their respective films.

Looking at Michael Bay's back, Michael Ovitz suddenly recalled something someone had once said to him: the Little Explosion Maniac could never compare to the true explosion maniac!

Ovitz slowly closed his eyes. In truth, if he could just poach Duke Rosenberg, the Artists Management Company could immediately drag itself out of the mud and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of ICM, CAA, and William Morris.

The problem was, he had managed to poach the Little Explosion Maniac, but what could he possibly offer to poach Duke Rosenberg? And if he did manage to bring in a Duke Rosenberg who refused to cooperate with their all-in-one packaging service, what use would that be to the Artists Management Company as a whole?

Furthermore, what could he even use to tempt the man?

Beautiful actresses? Forget the B-list and C-list actresses hoping for an overnight shortcut to the top; even Hollywood's most elite leading ladies probably wouldn't turn Duke down.

Money? Everyone knew Duke Rosenberg was a billionaire, likely wealthier than the entire Artists Management Company combined.

Power? He was already one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood. Would he really bow his head to a hardliner like himself?

Michael Ovitz couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. Duke Rosenberg seemed to be a problem with no solution.

"Martin..." He turned his head and instructed his deputy. "Do not put our new packaging projects in the same release window as his work! If his movie opens in the summer season, move our project to the Christmas slot! If he wants a Christmas release, we push ours to the following summer season!"

Martin Bob nodded mechanically.

Until he found the right project, Michael Ovitz had no intention of going head-to-head with that summer season madman again.

Michael Bay turned around. "That's enough for today. I'm heading back."

He didn't go home. After leaving the Artists Management Company, he headed straight for the nearest movie theater, planning to watch The Fellowship of the Ring one more time. Right now, he genuinely fell short of Duke Rosenberg. So, he just had to keep working hard—there would eventually come a day in the future when he surpassed him!