Chapter 499: Unwritten Rules

'It won't win! It won't win!'

The live broadcast had temporarily cut to the Kodak Theater floor, allowing a makeup artist to touch up Roger Ebert's face. Yet the famous film critic kept his eyes glued to the large screen in the studio, repeating those words in his head like a curse.

'It absolutely will not win!'

Thinking of the concerted efforts of nearly four hundred professional film critics, the slight apprehension in Roger Ebert's heart gave way to confidence.

He firmly believed that professional film critics wielded massive influence—even absolute dominance—during the awards season. They could entirely dictate who took home the awards!

Less than five miles east of the broadcast studio, the young David Ellison sat in front of a television with his younger sister, Megan Ellison, also tuning in to this year's Oscar Awards Ceremony.

"Is this the director who refused your goodwill?" Looking at the large close-up of Duke on the screen, Megan Ellison scoffed. "These Hollywood paupers actually go against money?"

"He didn't just refuse my funding." David Ellison's dissatisfaction was written all over his face. "He repeatedly rejected my goodwill, and that is what I cannot tolerate!"

"What an arrogant director." Fifteen-year-old Megan Ellison seemed even more hot-tempered than David, every bit the spoiled young girl. "David, you have money. You can just use your investments to steal his projects, steal his theater chains, and steal his release schedules—smash him from the clouds straight into the dirt!"

David Ellison burst into laughter. "Darling, I'm already doing exactly that!"

On the stage of the Kodak Theater, Angelina Jolie tore open the envelope and glanced down, not keeping anyone in suspense.

"The Oscar goes to... The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King, Hannah Serena!" she announced directly.

"Whoa!"

Billy Boyd was the first to clap and stand up. Duke also rose to his feet, applauding as he turned toward his art director. This wasn't Hannah Serena's first time winning an Oscar. Looking rather calm, she hugged the crew members one by one before finally walking over to Duke.

Duke opened his arms and hugged Hannah Serena tightly.

"Thank you, Duke," she whispered. "Working with you has been my greatest fortune."

With that, she turned and strode up to the stage as the background track Minas Tirith played in the Kodak Theater for the first time tonight.

Hannah Serena accepted the Golden Statuette from Angelina Jolie and stepped up to the microphone.

"Thank you. Thank you, everyone. I love working in film, and I love working with a great team. There are many people I want to thank: my parents, my boyfriend, and all my colleagues. I want to give a special thanks to Duke. I still remember when I first applied to join his crew, he told me, 'Hannah, we are going to start a magical journey!' And yes, his words have come true. What I'm feeling right now can only be described as incredible."

Down in the audience, The Lord of the Rings Crew, led by Duke, applauded Hannah Serena.

In the ABC Television Network studio, even beneath a thick layer of foundation, Roger Ebert's face looked slightly green. He had just sworn up and down that Return of the King wouldn't win this Golden Statuette, and the actual result had just dealt him a vicious slap in the face. What was he supposed to say next?

However, as a professional film critic accustomed to hurling insults and vicious attacks, he quickly adjusted his mindset. This was only a technical award. The School was likely just tossing Duke Rosenberg a few consolation prizes, just as they had the previous two times. As long as Duke didn't win Best Picture and Best Director, he would still be a loser, and Ebert would still secure a steady victory. When that happened, he definitely had to rush over to the Oscar venue just to see the look on Duke's face.

"We won!"

The Instant Sharing website was boiling over with excitement. The circles centered around Duke's hardcore supporters were as thrilled as if they had hit the jackpot.

"What a great start!"

"We're going to keep raking in the awards!"

"Return of the King is going to sweep the Oscars this year!"

This successful start indeed continued inside the Kodak Theater. After Pixar Studio took home the Golden Statuette for Best Animated Feature with Finding Nemo, the score of Minas Tirith rang out several more times. Cheers erupted continuously from The Lord of the Rings Crew as they undeniably became the main characters of the night.

Four more Golden Statuettes—Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects—were swept up by the crew. By the time the ceremony was a third of the way through, Return of the King had effortlessly secured five statuettes, successfully winning every single category for which it was nominated!

"We're getting closer to our goal," Ivanka whispered into Duke's ear.

As his partner, she naturally understood the kind of ambitions Duke harbored for this year's Oscars, and she knew that realizing them wouldn't be easy.

Duke smiled at her. "Seven more to go."

Out of twelve nominations, they had already claimed five Golden Statuettes. No one could say for sure whether they would slip up in the upcoming categories.

The Oscars weren't just about solemn awards; they were also filled with teasing humor. Mocking regular people might invite trouble, but poking fun at Washington politicians had always been a staple of the Oscar Awards Ceremony.

The universally recognized leader of the Hollywood Frat Pack, Ben Stiller, stepped onto the stage to the beat of the music.

"God, I can't believe they used this track. It suits me perfectly. Don't you guys think I'm just oozing with leadership charisma?"

The background track playing was the famous Presidential March!

"Over the past year, many celebrities have fallen in love with movies."

At this point, Ben Stiller pointed to the large screen, which displayed a photo of a woman. "For example, Hillary Clinton. Rumor has it she absolutely loves Kill Bill..."

Roars of laughter erupted from the audience.

Jokes aside, the Oscars also loved nostalgia. This perfectly suited the tastes of the School's core members, so every Oscar Awards Ceremony was always filled with long segments of nostalgia.

The Nielsen Statistics Company had been monitoring the viewership ratings for this year's Oscar Awards Ceremony. When Marlon Brando walked onto the stage and the screens at the venue and on televisions all turned to black and white, an executive at the Nielsen Company continuously called out the viewership numbers.

"North America's viewership has dropped from 34 million just a moment ago to 32 million..."

A minute later, the lengthy program commemorating the golden age was still dragging on. The executive called out the numbers again.

"It's now at 31 million!"

He reported the viewership numbers every passing minute. The figures proved that the nostalgic segment truly wasn't very popular—it was practically a ratings killer.

"Thirty million, 29 million, 28.5 million, 28 million... It's about to break the record for the lowest Oscar viewership in the past decade!"

Fortunately, the segment commemorating the golden age ended after a little over five minutes, and the subsequent Best Supporting Actress award slowly pulled the ratings back up.

The School clearly wasn't stupid. Knowing that the audience disliked this type of program, they had specifically arranged for the Best Supporting Actress award to save the situation right after. At the same time, this highlighted the School's stubborn and conservative side: even knowing that nostalgia was unpopular, they stubbornly included this segment in the ceremony, dedicating over five minutes to it.

The moment Renee Zellweger held up her Best Supporting Actress Golden Statuette, the viewership for the Oscar Awards Ceremony finally climbed back over 30 million.

This could be considered an extremely grim situation for the Oscars in the new century. With the free flow of information and the proliferation of entertainment options, the ceremony's ratings had been steadily declining, repeatedly hitting new lows not seen since the 1970s.

In truth, saving the Oscar Awards Ceremony's ratings wasn't difficult. Selecting films with broader audience appeal could easily solve the problem. For example, the most watched broadcast since the 1990s was the 70th Oscar Awards Ceremony, where Titanic effortlessly buoyed the ratings for the entire event.

It was just that the choices made by the School ran contrary to mainstream audiences the vast majority of the time.

Although the Best Supporting Actress award dragged the viewership back above 30 million, it lacked the power to push it any higher. The task of saving this year's Oscar ratings was absolutely not something a film like Cold Mountain, with an audience of only a few million, could shoulder.

When it came to the largest number of moviegoers, was there any film at this year's Oscars that could surpass Return of the King?

Following that, Return of the King continued its sweeping momentum, successfully maintaining the pattern of winning every award it was nominated for. It secured four more Golden Statuettes in quick succession: Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography.

The dominant performance of Return of the King also drove up the ceremony's ratings. By the time Best Cinematography was handed out, the Nielsen Company showed that the viewership had risen to 36 million.

And after the subsequent commercial break, the executive from the Nielsen Company was even more astonished to find that the ceremony's ratings hadn't dropped at all. Instead, they kept rising, edging close to the 40-million mark!

"The next award is Best Adapted Screenplay," his deputy reminded him.

The executive suddenly realized. "No wonder the ratings are steadily climbing. It turns out the director who created this magical journey might be taking the stage!"

On the stage of the Kodak Theater, Sofia Coppola slowly walked up, and many people's gazes shifted toward Duke at the same time.

Sofia Coppola was Duke's best friend in the industry. Everyone in Hollywood knew this. Many even believed that Duke had played a far greater role than Francis Coppola in helping Sofia secure a Best Director nomination.

Given the School's past habits, these people couldn't help but make the connection: did having Sofia Coppola present the award for Best Adapted Screenplay mean Duke was going to win?

Applause rang out in the Kodak Theater. Ivanka was also clapping vigorously for Sofia. Although she didn't understand some of the School's unwritten rules, she faintly sensed that with Sofia presenting the award, their side's chances of winning were much higher.

Over at the Nielsen Company, the displayed viewership numbers had now crossed the 40-million mark!