Chapter 474: A Team's Masterpiece

A hint of pale light appeared in the sky. CinemaScore's headquarters in Las Vegas bustled with activity. Whenever a major production premiered, the company spent a sleepless night. After years of hard-fought growth, the data published by CinemaScore had become increasingly vital to distribution companies and the theater market.

Crown, the vice president on the night shift, stood in the mailroom. Operators constantly fielded incoming calls, and the fax machines hummed without pause. Emails poured into Las Vegas from all over the United States. All the statistical data they contained was aggregated into the company's specialized software and databases, where careful calculations produced relatively objective statistics.

Just as the sun was about to crest the horizon, Crown obtained the first-hand data: the statistics for the advance screenings and midnight screenings of Return of the King.

He let out a long breath. "Fax this immediately to Warner Brothers, The Lord of the Rings Studio, and the North American Theater Alliance."

These were three of their major clients; there could be no delays or neglect.

In Burbank City, inside The Lord of the Rings Studio at Warner Studios, many people hadn't slept a wink all night. The hours just before dawn were the most exhausting. Laris sat in front of the fax machine, her head propped on the desk, nodding off like a chick pecking at grain. Her bleary eyes were half-open, looking as though she might fall into a deep sleep at any moment.

Without warning, the fax machine suddenly rang. Laris shook her head to wake herself up, picked up the received document, and glanced at it. She was instantly energized.

She was just about to leave when the machine rang again, slowly printing out another fax.

When Laris saw the numbers on the second fax, her drowsiness vanished without a trace. Her mind instantly kicked into overdrive. Grabbing both faxes, she sprinted toward the studio's duty office.

"We got it! We got it!"

She shouted as she ran, bursting into the office. Her colleagues, drained from pulling an all-nighter, immediately looked over.

"Good news!" Laris announced at the top of her lungs. "The advance screenings made $6.61 million! The midnight screenings made $12.26 million!"

"What?" someone asked instinctively.

Laris repeated herself. "Return of the King made $6.61 million in advance screenings! And $12.26 million in midnight screenings!"

"Whoa!"

Cheers suddenly erupted in the office. Everyone threw their hands in the air. Some hugged, while others high-fived to celebrate their third great victory!

"I propose a toast!" someone shouted.

More people responded, "We definitely need a toast!"

The entire Lord of the Rings Studio plunged into a boiling frenzy of celebration.

While The Lord of the Rings Studio welcomed the rising sun amid jubilation, a cold gloom emanated from a study that had been lit all night in a luxury mansion in Chicago, where the sun had already risen.

The newly received fax data was already sitting on the desk in front of Roger Ebert.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Roger Ebert's face still darkened when his eyes fell on the numbers.

Before the film's public release, several parties had maintained a tacit agreement without ever communicating directly: they used the incident involving Orlando Bloom to smear Return of the King as much as possible. As Roger Ebert saw it, with several Hollywood companies like Walt Disney and figures like Michael Ovitz making a move, they should have been able to drag Return of the King down a notch.

He hadn't wanted much—just to restrict Return of the King's midnight screening box office to under $10 million. That alone might have kept the film from breaking $100 million in its North American opening weekend.

Yet after all their fuss—after he had uploaded his review last night the moment he returned in an attempt to sway the market—everything had fallen flat in the face of this data.

North American advance screenings: 3,000 showings, $6.61 million. North American midnight screenings: 4,013 theaters, $12.26 million!

Roger Ebert knew exactly what this meant. The record-breaking North American midnight screening box office almost certainly foretold that Return of the King's opening weekend in North America would likely surpass Spider-Man!

The data on the other document was the best proof.

CinemaScore's theater audience approval rating was a staggering 96 percent, with an average audience grade of "A+". On the IMDB website, 28,775 users had given it a score of 9.7. The audience approval Popcorn Index sat at 97 percent, and on MetaCritic, 45 media journalists had given it a score of 93, the highest in the series.

All of these were powerful guarantees that the box office would maintain a strong trend!

Even though he didn't want to admit it, Roger Ebert knew full well that Return of the King's commercial data was bound to surpass The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Their sniping during the summer season was little more than a joke.

However, he wasn't going to give up just like that.

Roger Ebert picked up his coffee and took a sip. Staring at the two statistical reports, he muttered, "I'll be waiting for you during awards season, Duke Rosenberg!"

Just as the Friday sun climbed into the sky, Duke's Bentley drove out of Duke Manor. He first dropped Ivanka off at her company, then made a trip to Warner Brothers, and finally arrived at The Lord of the Rings Studio.

"Hi, Duke! We succeeded again!"

"Boss, fantastic job!"

"Boss, you really are invincible!"

"Can you give us a hint? Will the North American opening weekend break $150 million?"

When he entered the studio, every employee had excitement written across their faces as they enthusiastically greeted their boss. Duke was also in a great mood. Although he didn't say much, he nodded to each of them with a brilliant smile.

Everyone here had made enormous contributions to the trilogy's success. Just as he had said during an interview at the premiere, this was a team's masterpiece!

Duke and his production team guaranteed the film's quality, but everyone here had done a massive amount of work promoting it.

Even though the film had premiered and the reception looked excellent, Duke didn't entirely relax. He continued to monitor the progress of various tasks. This was the conclusion to the trilogy, as well as one of his best opportunities to hit a box office peak. The film's word-of-mouth was crucial, but promotion could not be ignored either.

He stayed busy at The Lord of the Rings Studio until mid-afternoon. Just as Duke was getting ready to leave, Jamie Jensen knocked and walked in.

"Heading out?" he asked.

Duke nodded. "Something came up on Ivanka's end, so I need to head over."

"Well, tell her thanks for me." Jamie Jensen was in an excellent mood. "The Instant Sharing website played a significant role in the promotion."

"It's a win-win collaboration, isn't it?"

Jamie Jensen and Duke laughed at the same time.

"Let me tell you some good news," Jamie Jensen added. "According to data provided by the North American Theater Alliance, from the start of the day until now, Return of the King has maintained a sixty percent attendance rate across mainstream theater chains."

"That is good news!" Duke pulled the office door open, and after letting Jamie Jensen step out, he said, "Let's grab a drink to celebrate when we have the time."

"I'll hold you to that."

While driving toward Ivanka's company, Duke intentionally detoured past a famous theater in Burbank City. Although the theater didn't have the kind of massive lines seen during Titanic, an enormous number of moviegoers were streaming in and out. Many of them were wearing Lord of the Rings merchandise, like wizard hats, making it obvious they were there for Return of the King.

Duhamel was the manager of this theater. Ever since they officially opened for business this morning, he hadn't taken a single break. He hadn't even found the time to eat lunch.

Even though the theater had prepared contingency plans, the sheer number of moviegoers walking through the doors during the workday on a Friday vastly exceeded their expectations, leading to a severe ticket shortage at one point. Starting at ten in the morning, he had no choice but to pull the scheduled screenings for The Killing Game and switch those auditoriums over to showing Return of the King. Only then did he manage to alleviate the audience's urgent demand.

However, he had absolutely no chance to relax. After just one morning, the Return of the King merchandise that had been stocked for the entire day was completely sold out. Duhamel had to call the Burbank branch company to request more inventory, but the branch was also facing supply shortages. Merchandise was in short supply at nearly every theater in the Burbank area.

Fortunately, through his connections, he got in touch with a chain distributor named Peter Coe. The man agreed to supply him with a portion of inventory at a premium price, which temporarily solved the merchandise problem.

By evening, Duhamel faced yet another test. A massive swarm of movie fans, fresh off work, flooded into the theater. Even though seven of the theater's nine auditoriums were currently showing Return of the King, it still wasn't enough.

Duhamel hadn't become the theater manager without being decisive. He shouted directly at the head of the operations department, "Keep one auditorium to cycle through the other movies, and schedule the remaining eight for Return of the King!"

Once the head of operations left, he picked up the phone, dialed the branch company's number, and submitted a direct request to the boss of the Regal Entertainment Burbank Branch Company: "I strongly request that starting tomorrow, our theater only screens Return of the King!"

Time ticked away by the minute. Around eight o'clock in the evening, Duhamel's theater hit its peak audience capacity. The chain theater's lobby and even its corridors were packed with moviegoers waiting for the film to start. These people didn't spare a single glance for any other movie; their entire focus was on Return of the King.

There were simply too many people. Even through the windows and doors, Duhamel could clearly hear the buzzing hum of their overlapping chatter. What was more, many people walked right over to the concession stands before even watching the movie and completely wiped out the meager remaining stock of merchandise.

A trace of vigilance rose in Duhamel's mind—large crowds were prone to accidents. He quickly gathered the clerical staff in the office and sent everyone out to assist the handful of security guards in maintaining order.

However, the crowded moviegoers clearly weren't focused on one another. They were merely waiting for the movie they wanted to see the most to begin, disregarding absolutely everything else.

Duhamel let out a sigh of relief. He returned to his office and exchanged emails with the managers of several other theaters; the situation was largely the same across the board.

With so many moviegoers, what kind of single-day revenue would this bring in? Duhamel pondered the question.