Chapter 475: The Movie-Watching Craze

"Congratulations, Duke."

In CAA's office in Century City, Ino Martin dialed Duke's number as soon as he came in on Saturday. "I really don't know what else to say other than congratulations. 'Return of the King'... Well, if you have time, we should play golf together. See you."

After hanging up the phone, Ino Martin glanced at the person sitting across from him, one of his top clients—Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Guess Duke himself probably doesn't even feel it anymore." Leonardo, who had gained some weight, said with a hint of sarcasm, "It's funny how some fools can't even tell the situation and still think they can attack 'Return of the King!'"

Though the words were veiled, there was a subtle warning in Leonardo's tone. He knew a little about what had happened recently. Although his agent hadn't really taken action, whether or not he had stirred things up was another matter.

Ino Martin chuckled. Facing someone like Leonardo DiCaprio, a super A-list star, even at his prime, Michael Ovitz wouldn't have much leverage.

Yes, he could ignore Leonardo, but if the actor wanted, he could fire him. As for the penalty fees, countless Hollywood agencies would gladly pay them for him. Besides, without the cooperation of large media companies, it would be hard for him to harm Leonardo too much.

CAA was still the largest entertainment agency in the U.S., but Ino Martin wasn't foolish enough to be arrogant. Even if CAA tried something, Hollywood's film companies wouldn't cooperate with such a super A-lister?

Moreover, Leonardo was CAA's flagship, a powerful tool for the agency to push bundled services.

With Leonardo's involvement, it made sense for CAA to deploy its staff on a project.

As for whether Leonardo's words earlier hurt his feelings, Ino Martin hadn't even considered it. Since he became an entertainment agent, he'd tossed the concept of face into the Pacific Ocean.

Besides, he knew Michael Ovitz was also in talks with Leonardo, trying to pull him into Martin Scorsese's new project.

"Alright, Ino, that's it for today." Leonardo stood up. "I've got a round of golf with Duke."

Watching Leonardo DiCaprio leave, Ino Martin sighed. Recently, he'd only secretly nudged things along, not expecting Leonardo's reaction to be so strong. It seemed like his relationship with Duke Rosenberg was really good?

Since Martin Bob stepped down, the relationship between him and Duke had quickly cooled. They had been brought together by a common enemy, and with that enemy gone, there was no longer any common ground. Meanwhile, that director had grown closer to his current rival, Pat Kinsley.

Though the Hollywood film market share was continuously growing, the speed wasn't fast, and the total market share was still the same. Duke Rosenberg wouldn't collaborate with CAA. There was bound to be competition between them, and at the right time, Ino Martin wouldn't mind subtly pushing back, dealing a blow to this invisible rival.

However, after seeing the box office statistics for the previous day, Ino Martin couldn't help but smile bitterly. Duke Rosenberg's strength couldn't be shaken by such little tricks.

Just for Friday alone, he pulled in $40.35 million, a result that left all those who had schemed embarrassed.

After seeing this number again, Ino Martin made up his mind: he would never be as foolish as Martin Bob and Michael Ovitz to go head-to-head with Duke Rosenberg.

"Leo, are you really planning on changing your image?"

Putting away his golf club, Duke returned and sat under an umbrella. Leonardo was spinning his glass in his hand. He looked up and replied, "I'm not like you, who can force the Academy into a corner. If I want an award, I have to take more concrete actions."

He suddenly mentioned another person. "I ran into Sally the other day, she almost looks like a different person."

"Oh? What kind of different person?" Duke asked curiously.

Leonardo made a few gestures with his hands. "She shaved her eyebrows, and now she's... well, she's gained some weight..."

Since coming to the golf club, Duke had noticed that Leonardo was starting to lean toward a more obsessive drive for awards. He had tried to give some advice, but Leonardo had already reached the peak commercially, and it was almost impossible for him to surpass it. The Academy Award naturally became his biggest pursuit. Duke's words had little effect.

This was about someone else's career and future, and Duke couldn't do much more. Moreover, Leonardo's status in Hollywood wasn't lower than his. Although they were friends, Leonardo wasn't going to take orders from him.

Duke knew very well that he didn't carry any naive halo. After giving some advice and seeing Leonardo's persistence, he gave up.

Leonardo, wanting to change the topic, started talking about Duke's "Return of the King."

"Even Cameron couldn't do what you've done." Leonardo looked at Duke with a playful smile, as though something particularly interesting had happened. "Duke, you've forced the Academy to make a choice."

Duke shrugged. "I haven't forced them."

"But they have to make a choice." Leonardo said enthusiastically. "If they want to maintain their traditional stance and continue ignoring you and 'Return of the King,' not awarding major prizes to non-realistic films, it'll not only be criticized by the public, but also protested and boycotted by countless fans. It will affect their proclaimed fairness..."

Duke just smiled but didn't say anything.

Leonardo continued, "If they give the major Oscar to you and 'Return of the King,' that'll be even more interesting. This is a non-realistic film, and the Oscars have never had such a situation."

"You seem to enjoy seeing them struggle?" Duke tilted his head and looked at him.

"Of course." Leonardo said with confidence. "I want the Oscar because I've reached the peak commercially, but that doesn't mean I like those people. I really want to see them squirm."

"I suggest, Leo," Duke stood up, "after you win the Best Actor Oscar, just toss it in the trash at home. That way, the looks on those old guys' faces will be even more interesting."

Leonardo's eyes lit up immediately. "That's a great idea."

Though Duke was relaxing, playing golf with Leonardo, the publicity for "Retrun of the king" didn't slacken. In this era of rapidly rising networks, the influence of traditional media could not be overlooked, especially some movie fan-focused media, which became an important battlefield for the film's publicity.

While critics were downplaying "Return of the King," their voices were drowned out by the huge promotional budget and media hype.

Especially for professional media outlets like "The Hollywood Reporter," the front-page headlines were almost all related to "Return of the King."

"'The Lord of the Rings' is originally a long and grand epic fantasy. After watching the premiere of 'Return of the King,' I can finally rest easy—Duke Rosenberg did not disappoint anyone. He delivered even more thrilling scenes in the third chapter, while maintaining a high level of continuity with 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers.' This made the trilogy a flawless masterpiece that no one can deny as the perfect representation of the original work!"

"The success of 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy cannot be separated from the depth of the original work, a lifetime of wisdom from Tolkien, which guarantees the brilliance of every movie; but the movie's success relies more on the unique talent of director Duke Rosenberg."

"This young director may not have the genre-bending genius of Quentin Tarantino or the humanistic insight of Steven Spielberg, but he has astounding creativity and integration skills. His overall ability is even more outstanding!"

"In fact, the more famous the original work, the harder it is to adapt, especially for a monumental work like 'The Lord of the Rings.' Adapting it is nearly an impossible task, but Duke Rosenberg has done it almost perfectly. I don't believe anyone could do it better, and I also don't think any other director would dare to guarantee they could do it better than Duke."

"For this alone, if he doesn't win the Academy Award for Best Director, it would be a loss for the Oscars. There are plenty of directors who can make 'art films' that are well-received, but there are very few who can turn 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy into a spectacular, classic fantasy masterpiece. Even if Duke isn't one of a kind, he's certainly among the very few."

"In this sense, Duke Rosenberg, whose character is as strong and unyielding as Aragorn, should be as universally acknowledged and respected as King Elessar in the film."

"Finally, I want to say, the three-year wait was not in vain. 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' is as grand as its name suggests, delivering a perfect answer. To witness Duke and his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy create a miracle, we feel lucky and fortunate!"

The media guides public opinion, public opinion drives the audience, the audience watches the movie, which stirs up high emotions. These emotions spread through the crowd, eventually creating overwhelming word-of-mouth. This word-of-mouth spreads everywhere, leading more people to the theaters, creating a positive cycle.

On Saturday, the North American cinemas experienced the most frenzied movie-watching surge since 2003. Nearly 7 million spectators flooded into theaters across North America, all with one goal—watching the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "Return of the King."

Not only in North America, but since "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" had caused strong reactions worldwide, "Return of the King" was also released in over 70 countries and regions overseas, sparking a movie-watching craze everywhere.

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