Chapter 474: The Team's Masterpiece

A faint light of dawn appeared in the sky. The CinemaScore company's headquarters in Las Vegas was busy. Whenever a major release came out, the company would spend sleepless nights. After years of hard work, the data released by CinemaScore had become increasingly important to distribution companies and the theater market.

Vice President Crowen, working the night shift, stood in the dispatch room, with the phone constantly ringing as the fax machine kept whirring. Emails from across the United States were flooding into Las Vegas. All the statistical data was then compiled into the company's software and database, carefully calculated to produce relatively objective statistics.

By the time the sun was about to rise, Crowen received the first-hand data. It was the preliminary statistics for The Return of the King's early shows and midnight screenings.

He sighed in relief. "Send it to Warner Brothers, the Lord of the Rings studio, and the North American theater alliance immediately."

These were their three major clients, and there could be no delay or negligence.

In Burbank City, at the Warner Brothers studio's Lord of the Rings office, many people had stayed up all night. Just before sunrise was the most difficult time, with Lares sitting by the fax machine, her head resting on the desk, eyes barely open as she nodded off. She looked as though she might fall into a deep sleep at any moment.

Suddenly, the fax machine made an unexpected sound, and Lares shook her head to wake herself up. She picked up the received document, took a quick look, and immediately felt alert.

Just as she was about to leave, the fax machine rang again, slowly printing another document.

Lares looked at the second fax and, as she saw the numbers, the sleepiness immediately vanished. Her energy surged as she grabbed both faxes and ran toward the studio's office.

"It's here! It's here!"

She shouted as she ran into the office, and the other colleagues, who were tired from staying up late, immediately looked up.

"Good news!" Lares said in the loudest voice. "The early show made 6.61 million dollars! The midnight show made 12.26 million dollars!"

"What?" someone asked instinctively.

Lares repeated, "The early show made 6.61 million dollars! The midnight show made 12.26 million dollars!"

"Wow~"

The office erupted into cheers. Everyone raised their hands, some hugging each other or high-fiving, celebrating their third great victory!

"I propose a toast!" someone shouted.

More people responded, "Definitely a toast!"

The entire Lord of the Rings studio was filled with joy and excitement.

In the midst of the celebration, the rising sun found its way into the office, but in the mansion of Chicago, the study that had been lit all night exuded a cold atmosphere.

The fax data just received was already on Roger Ebert's desk.

Although he had mentally prepared himself, when these figures entered his sight, Ebert's face darkened.

Before the film was released, although no one had directly communicated, there had been an unspoken understanding to use Orlando Bloom's incident to smear The Return of the King. Ebert had thought that even Michael Ovitz and companies like Walt Disney would get involved, hoping to bring The Return of the King down a notch.

What he wanted was not much—just to limit the midnight showings to under 10 million dollars. If that succeeded, the film's North American opening weekend would likely not surpass 100 million dollars.

But despite their efforts, last night he had uploaded reviews in hopes of influencing the market, only to see these figures render his efforts useless.

North America's premiere made 6.61 million dollars across 3,000 screenings; the midnight show made 12.26 million dollars across 4,013 theaters!

What did this signify? Ebert knew all too well, especially with the midnight box office breaking North American records. It almost guaranteed that The Return of the King's North American opening weekend would likely surpass Spider-Man!

The figures on another document served as the best proof.

CinemaScore's theater audience approval rate reached an impressive 96%, with an average score of 'A+', IMDb users gave it a 9.7, 28,775 people rated it. The popcorn index stood at an astonishing 97%, and 45 media critics from MetaCritic gave it an average score of 93—an all-time high for the series.

These were all strong indicators that the film's box office momentum would remain robust!

Although Ebert didn't want to admit it, he knew deep down that The Return of the King's commercial performance would certainly surpass The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Their attempts at sabotage during the summer release period now seemed like a joke.

However, he wouldn't give up just yet.

Ebert took a sip of coffee, looked at the two statistical reports, and muttered to himself, "I'll be waiting for you at the awards season, Duke Rosenberg!"

As the sun rose on Friday, Duke's Bentley drove out of the Duke estate. He first dropped Ivanka off at her company, then visited Warner Brothers, and finally arrived at the Lord of the Rings studio.

"Hey, Duke, we've succeeded again!"

"Boss, you did an amazing job!"

"BOSS, you're invincible!"

"Any chance you can reveal if the North American opening weekend will hit 150 million dollars?"

Entering the studio, everyone was full of excitement, and they all greeted their boss. Duke was in a good mood too. Although he didn't say much, he nodded with a bright smile to everyone.

Each person here had made tremendous contributions to the success of the trilogy. As he said during the premiere interview, this was a team effort!

Duke and his production team ensured the film's quality, while everyone here had worked hard on its promotion.

Although the film had been released and the response looked good, Duke hadn't completely relaxed. He was still monitoring the progress of many tasks. This was the final chapter of the trilogy, and it was one of his best opportunities to create a box office peak. The film's reputation was crucial, but promotion could not be neglected either.

Duke was busy at the Lord of the Rings studio until the afternoon. Just as he was preparing to leave, Jamie Johnson knocked on his office door.

"Leaving?" Jamie asked.

Duke nodded. "Ivanka needs me to stop by."

"Well, say thanks to her for me," Jamie said, looking pleased. "The Instant Share website played a big role in the promotion."

"It was a win-win collaboration, wasn't it?"

Both Jamie and Duke smiled at the same time.

"I've got good news for you," Jamie said. "According to the North American theater alliance's data, The Return of the King has maintained 60% occupancy across major chains so far today."

"Good news!" Duke said as he opened the office door. After Jamie left, he added, "Let's have a drink to celebrate when we get the chance."

"I'll be waiting for you."

As Duke drove to Ivanka's company, he made a detour past one of Burbank's famous theaters. Although there were no long lines like during Titanic's release, there were still a lot of people coming in and out. Many of them wore Lord of the Rings merchandise, such as wizard hats, clearly coming for The Return of the King.

Duhamel was the manager of this theater. Since it officially opened this morning, he hadn't had a chance to rest. He hadn't even had lunch.

Despite the theater's preparations, the number of people coming into the theater far exceeded their expectations. The ticketing system was so tight that by 10 a.m., they had to remove The Killing Game from one screening room and replace it with The Return of the King to meet the audience's demand.

However, he had no time to relax. By late afternoon, as many fans rushed in after work, the nine screening rooms were showing The Return of the King in seven of them, yet it still wasn't enough.

Duhamel, a decisive person, ordered his operations manager, "Leave one screening room for other films, and schedule The Return of the King in the other eight!"

After the manager left, Duhamel picked up the phone and dialed the Burbank branch of Empire Entertainment, saying, "I strongly request that starting tomorrow, our theater only show The Return of the King!"

By 8 p.m., the theater hit its peak time, with audiences crowding the lobby and corridors, all eagerly awaiting the film's start. Most didn't even glance at other movies, focusing solely on The Return of the King.

It was so packed that the buzz of conversation could be heard even through windows and doors. Many people had already grabbed the last of the film's merchandise before watching the movie.

Duhamel felt a bit cautious. Large crowds could lead to problems, so he quickly called in office staff to help maintain order with the few security personnel available.

But the excited audience was focused only on the movie. Everything else seemed irrelevant.

Duhamel sighed in relief and returned to his office, where he exchanged emails with other theater managers, confirming similar situations at their locations.

What would the huge audience turnout mean for single-day revenue? Duhamel couldn't help but think about the possibilities.