Chapter 505: Legend

Although Duke and Ivanka had some friction, and the paparazzi staking out Duke Manor had photographed her leaving by car late at night, the focus of the American media and public the next day still revolved entirely around the Oscars. As the biggest winners of this Oscar Awards Ceremony, Duke and The Return of the King were undoubtedly the center of attention.

"The biggest surprise of this year's Oscars is that there are no surprises!"

This was the headline on the Washington Post's entertainment page, reviewing last night's Oscars.

"The biggest surprise of the 76th Academy Awards is 'how few surprises there actually were.' The film The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King swept Sunday night's Oscar Awards Ceremony, winning 12 Golden Statuettes, including Best Director and Best Picture."

"Duke Rosenberg's The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King had already approached $1.6 billion in global box office revenue. The film won every single award for its 12 nominations, surpassing the records set by 1997's Titanic and 1959's Ben-Hur. This is a night that belongs to The Lord of the Rings Crew and Duke Rosenberg!"

It wasn't just the Washington Post; the entertainment sections of the Big Three Newspapers all focused entirely on the Oscars.

"Last night, Pacific Time, the 76th Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. The results yielded no upsets, with all major awards going to the heavy favorites predicted by the public. The most astonishing part was that The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King actually won in all 12 categories for which it was nominated, breaking the record of 11 Golden Statuettes held by Titanic and Ben-Hur, and achieving a miraculous 100 percent success rate!"

"When Best Director winner and Explosion Maniac Duke Rosenberg accepted the 11th Golden Statuette from Tom Cruise, the whole world held its breath. Although this young director narrowly missed the record for the youngest Best Director, no one can deny his greatness. Hollywood has officially entered the era of Duke Rosenberg!"

— Los Angeles Times

"The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King sweeping the Oscars was exactly what everyone expected. For director Duke Rosenberg, this was undoubtedly an 'unbelievably ecstatic night.' This is a great personal victory for Duke Rosenberg, as well as a victory for commercial cinema!"

— New York Times

Almost all mainstream media used words like "legendary" and "greatness" to describe Duke and The Return of the King's harvest at the Oscar Awards Ceremony.

It wasn't just North American and Western media. Across the ocean, the movie channel of a certain National Television network also followed the ceremony, even broadcasting it on a delay.

As the award ceremony drew to a close, the program commented:

"Steven Spielberg has announced the Best Picture winner, and The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King takes the prize! The Kodak Theater is boiling over! The famous director Duke Rosenberg, much beloved by our audience, has achieved a truly magnificent victory. The recognition of the Oscar Trophy officially cements him as one of the finest film directors on this planet!"

"With this, The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King breaks the award records of Ben-Hur and Titanic with its 12 wins. It sets a new Oscar success rate record by winning 12 out of 12 nominations. Combined with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring's 13 nominations and 3 Golden Statuettes, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers's 6 nominations and 2 Golden Statuettes, The Lord of the Rings series has received a total of 31 nominations and 17 Oscar awards. This sets a brand-new nomination and winning record for a film series, completely burying the legendary record of 28 nominations and 9 Golden Statuettes held by The Godfather trilogy!"

Back in China, the renowned Movie View magazine published a special report focused specifically on Duke and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

"On the afternoon of February 29th, Pacific Time, this year's Oscar ceremony kicked off without any suspense. As the director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Duke Rosenberg was the most prestigious man on Earth that day."

"This director, who boasts the highest net worth in the world, lifted a Golden Statuette three times in one night—Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay. He is the indisputable winner!"

"As the victor of this year's Oscars, The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King belongs to the kind of 'spectacle cinema' that Duke Rosenberg built using visual effects technology. Because technical awards are presented to several staff members simultaneously, The Lord of the Rings 3 took home over 20 Golden Statuettes that night alone."

"I don't know exactly what kind of specific economic picture it paints for the trilogy to achieve over $4 billion at the global box office. But I do know that this magnificent fantasy trilogy, which premiered successively in Mainland China, has earned a total nationwide box office of over 250 million RMB!"

"To this day, I cannot forget the memories Duke Rosenberg's Lord of the Rings Trilogy etched into my movie-watching experience. The sensation of being absolutely dumbfounded from start to finish by the spectacles on the widescreen is unprecedented—perhaps this is the charm of Hollywood, the charm of American blockbusters."

"Without a doubt, Duke Rosenberg is becoming a master of cinema, a true master. The means of expression his visual language provides are always the most genius and the most soul-stirring."

"This director, known by the Chinese transliteration Duke Rosenberg, may be an American, but he is perhaps the American director we are most familiar with. Did you know? Including The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, his career directorial box office has accumulated over $7.5 billion. He has successfully surpassed James Cameron, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg to become the number one box office earner in world cinema!"

"What is even more astonishing is that he accomplished this in a mere twelve years with just ten films!"

"If Duke Rosenberg's biggest regret prior to this year was the lack of recognition from heavyweight awards, then at this Oscar Awards Ceremony, the king finally returned, and Duke Rosenberg assumed his rightful throne!"

"Fortunately, this coming June, the newly crowned Best Director will bring his latest work, Taken, to Shanghai for the Shanghai International Film Festival. This quintessential Duke Rosenberg action film will see a simultaneous release in China and the US, and thanks to the time difference, Chinese audiences will actually see this masterpiece before American audiences!"

"We look forward to the arrival of director Duke Rosenberg and his new work!"

No matter how you looked at it, the influence of the Oscars in North America and around the world could not be underestimated. Aside from the immense glory, those unprecedented 12 Golden Statuettes would directly translate into economic benefits.

Talking about money in relation to the Oscars might seem particularly vulgar, but looking at all the major Hollywood studios, especially Miramax and the Weinstein Brothers—why did they vie for Oscars? Was it really just for art and glory?

Any normal person could easily figure that out.

The most direct feedback of the Oscar effect on The Return of the King was in the data.

The fact that this film was still hanging on and hadn't been completely pulled from North American theaters was largely thanks to the great efforts of its distributor, Warner Brothers. The film had dwindled to fewer than 300 theaters, but on the day after the Oscar Awards Ceremony, The Return of the King's North American theater count expanded once again, reaching a massive 1,500 locations!

Most importantly, a considerable number of moviegoers, swayed by the 12 Golden Statuettes, flocked to the theaters to watch the film again. This caused its single-day box office, which had dropped below $10,000, to soar past $500,000 in one fell swoop. Furthermore, twelve days after this expanded release began, the North American box office figure, which had long been stalled at over $590 million, finally crossed the $600 million mark!

Although this resurgence was just a flash in the pan, The Return of the King ultimately became the second film in history to surpass $600 million at the North American box office and $1.6 billion at the global box office.

By mid-March, The Return of the King ended its theatrical run in North America, its final global screening region. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy's theatrical journey, which had created a series of brilliant achievements, came to a complete end. The most successful film franchise in history was thus born.

The Fellowship of the Ring: $473.15 million in North America, $1.13214 billion worldwide.

The Two Towers: $521.32 million in North America, a towering $1.31288 billion worldwide.

The Return of the King: $604.55 million in North America, $1.61015 billion worldwide.

The trilogy raked in a total of $4.05517 billion!

And this was only a fraction of the films' revenue. Even though many merchandise items were still on sale and some had yet to be released, the total merchandising revenue for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy had already surpassed $3 billion by mid-March 2004!

In late March, The Return of the King's DVDs officially went on sale globally. They were still divided into a $19.90 standard edition and a $39.90 deluxe edition. First-week sales hit a staggering $165.77 million in North America and $312.88 million worldwide!

This was far from the end for the DVDs. Duke and Warner Brothers planned to wait two to three years before releasing a trilogy box set—complete with 120 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and a total runtime of nearly 12 hours—to continue their wealth-gathering journey.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was even available for pay-per-view on the sharing website's newly launched video-on-demand feature, though given the current internet conditions, the viewing quality was mediocre at best.

Although Duke and Ivanka's relationship hadn't worsened, it hadn't improved much either. However, both were relatively level-headed individuals who rarely brought personal conflicts into their work.

As time passed, the Oscar fever gradually faded. Duke casually tossed those Golden Statuettes into a display cabinet at Duke Studio. To him, glory belonged to the past, not the future. He still had a very long road ahead of him, and he never once considered stopping his advance.

Plans for DC, Marvel, Transformers, and more were already lined up on his desk.

An old era had passed, and a brand-new era was about to arrive!