Chapter 463: Hollywood in Turmoil

"A one-take?"

After the banquet ended, Duke shook his head at Tina Fey's words.

"Don't worry about him."

Duke then turned to Emma, the housekeeper.

"If anyone like that shows up again, just have Bru and the others throw them out."

"Let's go back and get some rest."

Duke led Ivanka out of the banquet hall and headed toward the living room. After a full night of socializing, both were inevitably a little tired.

Pouring two glasses of water, Ivanka sat down beside Duke and leaned against him.

"What's a one-take?" she asked curiously.

"A one-take means the camera never cuts," Duke explained briefly. "On a true one-take film, there's absolutely no room for a blown take. If one person makes a mistake, everyone has to start all over from the beginning. It's incredibly difficult to shoot. What Hollywood usually calls a one-take generally refers to a movie made up of exceptionally long continuous shots."

True uncut, unedited films were exceedingly rare, and not a single one had ever achieved widespread fame.

While the one-take was a technique highly praised by industry professionals, Duke had zero interest in it. Setting aside the difficulty, the lack of editing alone doomed such a film to be a slow-paced arthouse picture.

He had never considered investing in or directing an arthouse film.

Following the banquet, with post-production on Return of the King finished and its release still a long way off, Duke could briefly step away from his busy schedule to accompany Ivanka on a vacation. He planned to start in Hawaii and travel the globe from east to west, stopping in the world's most famous cities before returning to North America around Christmas.

Naturally, there was no need to visit New Zealand or Australia, two countries where they had already spent so much time.

Duke and Ivanka left North America, but the rollout of tie-in products for The Two Towers did not slow down in the slightest. As November arrived, the film's official soundtrack hit the market, and the Lord of the Rings Concert kicked off once more. Both generated even more hype than they had during The Fellowship of the Ring.

The situation was obvious. With the successive releases of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, each more spectacular than the last, audience anticipation for Return of the King had reached an unprecedented high.

"This is a good thing, David."

As the new awards season approached, critics from all over were beginning to converge on Los Angeles. Roger Ebert was speaking to the chief film critic for The New Yorker, David Denby.

"The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment when the film fails to meet them."

David Denby picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

"Don't forget," he warned. "This is Duke Rosenberg. As much as I dislike him, I have to admit that his vulgar films cater perfectly to the tastes of the unrefined masses."

"Why were the first two installments of The Lord of the Rings so successful?" Roger Ebert asked, then immediately provided his own answer. "The most important factor, without a doubt, was the realistic special effects and the epic scale of the scenes."

Seeing David Denby nod, Roger Ebert continued.

"The Two Towers pushed special effects and epic set pieces almost to their absolute limit. If Duke Rosenberg fails to surpass himself in Return of the King—or even if he merely maintains the standard of The Two Towers—it will inevitably spark dissatisfaction among the audience. And that will be our opportunity!"

David Denby pondered for a few seconds.

"Don't forget, Roger, our influence during the summer season is already quite small," he said.

"True enough," Roger Ebert laughed. "However, there must be a lot of people in Hollywood who want to see him and Warner suffer. Are the other studios really willing to watch Duke Rosenberg take a three-peat for the year, or let Return of the King become the next Titanic?"

"If any cracks show in the film, the other studios' attacks will surge in like a tidal wave. It's practically inevitable!"

Roger Ebert seemed to have recovered his eighties glory, speaking with high-spirited vigor. "And our main job will be to snipe him during the awards season. As long as the professional film critic community exists, we cannot let him win Best Director!"

Just as Roger Ebert said, the major Hollywood studios all knew that a massive box-office blockbuster was currently brewing, just waiting to detonate in next year's summer season. Judging by the impact of the two blockbusters that had already dropped, the sheer explosive power of next year's release was bound to be staggering. Anyone with an ounce of sense would do their best to steer clear of it.

"Has Warner's release schedule come out yet?"

In a Universal Pictures office, a rather heated Ron Meyer spoke to the head of the distribution department sitting across from him.

"I don't care how you do it, get me the exact release date for Return of the King as soon as possible!"

"Our people are already working on it." The executive sounded quite helpless. "Warner Brothers needs to consult with Duke Rosenberg regarding the release date, but Duke went on a world tour with his girlfriend. He won't be back in North America until late December at the earliest."

"A world tour?" Ron Meyer looked like he was about to lose his mind. "Call Nancy Josephson! I don't care what methods you use; you have one week to find out exactly when Duke intends to release that film!"

The executive walked out of the office in helpless resignation. Ron Meyer grabbed his cup and took a massive gulp of water, finally feeling the pent-up anger in his chest begin to subside.

He could not really be blamed for his anxiety. For next year's summer season, Universal Pictures had three high-budget films slated for release: Van Helsing, Bruce Almighty, and Fast & Furious 2. To avoid cannibalizing their own box office, these three films had to be spread across May, June, and July. Without knowing the release date for Return of the King, Universal could not lock down exact dates for any of them.

However, going by the pattern of previous years, Return of the King was bound to hit in May. His plan was to throw Fast & Furious 2 into May as well. After all, it was a niche genre film with a relatively modest budget. As long as they placed it one or two weekends away from Return of the King, it would not take too massive a hit.

Even though the 2002 Thanksgiving and Christmas box office window had not opened yet, many studios were already preparing for the 2003 summer season. Walt Disney was one of them. As the executive president in charge of the company's motion picture affairs, Dick Cook was facing a dilemma similar to Ron Meyer's.

Disney also had major productions slated for next year's summer season, and they were all massive tentpoles with budgets exceeding a hundred million dollars. They could not afford the slightest misstep.

Over the past two years, the epic fantasy genre spearheaded by The Lord of the Rings had quietly begun to surge in popularity, and the major studios were rushing to capitalize on the trend. For instance, Universal Pictures had produced Van Helsing, while Walt Disney's bandwagon entry was Pirates of the Caribbean.

Dick Cook did not actually have much faith in Pirates of the Caribbean, but Disney had already poured a fortune into it. Even if he lacked confidence in the project, he could not let it crash head-on into Return of the King. A copycat taking on the very juggernaut it was trying to emulate—the outcome would be painfully obvious.

Their other film fared a bit better. The target audience for Pixar Studio's Finding Nemo was vastly different from that of Return of the King, so the impact would be smaller. Furthermore, in accordance with North American screening and viewing habits, animated features during the summer season usually released in mid-to-late May or early-to-mid June. Finding Nemo would definitely land in one of those two windows; the final choice depended entirely on whether Return of the King was scheduled for early May or late May.

His phone suddenly rang. Dick Cook broke off his train of thought and picked up the receiver.

"Cook!"

Steve Jobs's voice sounded through the earpiece. "I'm calling to let you know that Finding Nemo will be completed on schedule! I also want to remind you—when you set the release dates, keep us as far away from that madman Duke Rosenberg's movie as possible! I refuse to let a Pixar Studio production clash with that lunatic in the summer season!"

"Steve, I was thinking the exact same thing," Dick Cook said helplessly. "The problem is that right now, we have no idea when Return of the King is actually coming out."

"Let me remind you of something. Duke is a shareholder in Marvel."

Hearing Steve Jobs's words, Dick Cook's eyes immediately lit up. After hanging up, he dialed a number. Once he learned that Twentieth Century Fox had shifted the release date of X-Men 2 to early June, everything suddenly clicked into place.

Just like The Two Towers, Return of the King was surely slated for an early May release.

Dick Cook breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about the recent undercurrents surging through Hollywood, he shook his head again.

A film that had not even premiered yet, merely through its scheduling, was enough to throw all of Hollywood into turmoil. Other than Duke Rosenberg, who else could pull that off?

He was certain that while countless people were praying for Duke Rosenberg to fail, not a single one of them dared to pit their own film head-on against Return of the King.

In Dubai, after receiving Nancy Josephson's call, Duke had a brief discussion with Doug Walter. Return of the King was officially locked in for the very beginning of next year's summer season, and he immediately announced the news on Instant Sharing.

"How should I thank you?"

Inside the presidential suite of the Sailboat Hotel, Ivanka was lying on her stomach across a thick, soft blanket, staring at her laptop screen. The message Duke posted had been up for barely half an hour, yet it already had over fifty thousand views. She could not help but turn her head and raise an eyebrow at him.

Duke was lying flat on his back beside her. Just like Ivanka, he was not wearing any clothes. His eyes, originally staring at the ceiling, shifted to Ivanka's pale, arched rear, then slowly tracked upward until they finally settled on her full, vibrant red lips.

Seemingly noticing Duke's gaze, Ivanka slowly ran her soft pink tongue over her lips...

"Are you seducing me..." Duke muttered. He shifted over next to her, speaking right against those ruby-red lips. "Can we go another round, darling?"

Ivanka leaned in and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. Her kisses trailed down like raindrops—along his jaw, down his neck, over his chest—until her long blonde hair draped completely over his lower stomach.