In recent years, every time Duke's films are released, internet trolls have been stirring up trouble online. Compared to Rotten Tomatoes, which focuses more on professional reviews, IMDb has a broader audience and greater influence among movie websites, making it a major target for these trolls.
From The Matrix to The Fellowship of the Ring, IMDb has been infiltrated by Duke's trolls, initially flooding the site with positive reviews and high ratings. Although the scores dropped to 9.2 and 9.1 for the two films after the trolls withdrew and more viewers watched, it definitely had an impact during the film's release.
However, trolling isn't exactly a secret or sophisticated tactic; other companies had noticed it. For example, last year during the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, there were rumors targeting Billy Boyd and Ian McKellen, which were clearly the work of a competitor's trolls.
But compared to Duke's trolls, who were established earlier, larger in scale, and more professional, the others didn't even compare.
The internet, after all, is an open platform. Even if Duke had the advantage of foresight, others would still use it to their advantage.
In a lounge at his villa, Duke stood behind Tina Fey, his assistant, who had logged into IMDb and opened the page for The Two Towers.
"I saw it at 9.6 this morning!" Ivanka said, sitting beside Tina Fey, her eyebrows furrowed. "It's already dropped to 9.4!"
No movie can please every viewer. Even Duke's fans have some who don't like fantasy films. As more people watched, the ratings tended to drop.
But the speed at which The Two Towers' ratings had fallen was too fast!
Not just the rating—there was a flood of negative reviews.
"Too many unnecessary scenes, the story is weak, and the special effects, the only selling point, were just average."
"The story claims to be multi-threaded, but the director's storytelling skills are tragic, turning the entire film into a hodgepodge designed to operate like a commercial movie, clunky like a beast that can only charge forward. In the end, even innocent Aragorn was dragged down the cliff."
"I still don't understand what was so great about it after watching."
Tina Fey glanced at Duke, who nodded. She closed IMDb and opened his personal website, where a wave of negative reviews had also appeared.
"Really inexplicably popular, stupid story. The slow pacing nearly put me to sleep. How did this get such good reviews?"
"The main characters' emotional moments all had close-ups of their eyes and tears. Several storylines were awkwardly pieced together. Doesn't anyone think the story was clunky? And seriously, there's no need to release a third one, it's just so boring."
"Pretentious and forced plot. Ugh, the whole film felt so shallow…"
At this point, there was no need to continue reading. Duke could tell this was the work of trolls.
Clearly, someone was targeting his film.
Duke thought for a few seconds, then said to Tina Fey, "Notify Nancy and Panny Kallis to head to the Lord of the Rings studio, and also Jamie Johnson from Warner Bros."
He then leaned down and kissed Ivanka on the cheek. "Sorry, darling, I can't be with you today."
"It's fine," Ivanka smiled understandingly, gesturing toward the small yacht docked outside the window. "Jian will be over soon. I'll go out to sea with her. You can go handle things."
Duke nodded and walked over to the intercom to have the driver prepare the car.
In less than three minutes, Duke and Tina Fey were in a car, leaving Duke's estate to head to the Lord of the Rings studio in Burbank.
Tina Fey was still dialing numbers to stay updated on the latest developments online, while Duke was considering how to respond.
Frankly, there was no perfect solution. Even in his previous era, when a flood of negative online reviews appeared, the choices were either hiring trolls to counterattack or hiring a professional company to manage the damage. The internet is an open platform, and no one can completely control it. Some comments are inevitable.
Duke knew very well that, aside from him, Lionsgate had already made extensive use of internet trolls in their marketing for The Blair Witch Project. This wasn't mysterious or sophisticated—other Hollywood companies had learned from it. It was only natural for others to use it against him.
Would anyone really think that internet trolls are secretive or sophisticated? Not in North America, where the internet is highly developed and has penetrated every corner of life. The methods used by trolls are similar to gossip-driven tabloid sensationalism.
Duke never foolishly thought trolls could be his secret weapon. That's simply unrealistic.
When he used trolls to attack others, he also considered how to respond if one day others turned them against him.
Though there wasn't a perfect or effective solution, Duke had prepared some countermeasures.
When they arrived at the Lord of the Rings studio and everyone gathered, Duke led Tina Fey, Panny Kallis, Jamie Johnson, and Nancy Josephson into the conference room and instructed everyone else not to disturb them.
"The situation is clear," Panny Kallis said, flipping through the materials she had prepared. "Although the IDs behind these negative reviews are from all over the U.S., this is definitely a premeditated, organized effort."
Jamie Johnson frowned and turned to Duke. "You've got the whole of Hollywood, and even across the U.S., using these tactics—don't you have a good solution?"
"These past few years, other companies have been learning from us," Nancy Josephson interjected. "Several films released last year and in the first half of this year have shown signs of rating manipulation on IMDb and other sites."
Duke nodded. Not just now, but even ten years ago, rating manipulation on IMDb was still rampant.
Nancy Josephson's gaze fell on Duke. "So, what should we do?"
What exactly is an internet troll? Essentially, they are paid internet users who spread content for hire. These content pushers and commentators are often employed by PR firms or competitors of the target company. They are active on popular social media platforms, forums, and blogs, attempting to influence public opinion.
These paid content creators usually post favorable comments for the employer's products and services while disparaging competitors. Most "internet trolls" use multiple fake identities, and some even use automated tools to speed up the dissemination of biased opinions.
In fact, mandatory real-name registration would significantly reduce troll activity, but obviously, neither Duke nor Warner could enforce this.
Thinking for a moment, Duke said, "Let me list a few things. Feel free to add if you think of anything else."
"First, we identify malicious troll accounts on the websites we control. Specific methods include analyzing posting frequency, IP addresses, repetitive content, and suspicious accounts. We can delete these negative comments either automatically or manually."
"Another method, one I'm not fond of, is that if people can pay to spread rumors, they can also pay to remove them. I'm not sure if there are companies in North America that offer this service?"
"The best way, however, is for us to be strong enough. The weakness of trolls is that they rarely have real followers. In the era of online media, they can't effectively target truly powerful individuals or projects. Their main tactic is to stir up the emotions of netizens and create an atmosphere of negativity about the other side."
"Therefore, our trolls need to be deployed when necessary to guide online public opinion. I'm sure you've all seen the latest statistics. I believe The Two Towers is strong enough on its own to attract a large number of supporters. These supporters are our other force. Our people need to find ways to guide the supporters of the film to become spontaneous promoters online, and opponents of the malicious forces!"
To use a phrase from his previous world, Duke intended to turn the supporters of The Two Towers into organic promoters.
Duke was confident that there were many who disliked The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but there were far more who supported it passionately!
Meanwhile, at the artist management headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Martin Bob and Michael Ovitz were also monitoring online developments.
"In just one morning, The Two Towers has run into big trouble."
Martin Bob, looking up from his laptop, seemed quite pleased. "IMDb's rating has dropped from 9.6 to 9.3, and it's still falling. By tonight, it'll likely fall below 9!"
"We can't take this lightly," Michael Ovitz said cautiously. "Let's keep our people monitoring the film."
Over the years, he had seen enough to know that a reconciliation with Duke Rosenberg was impossible. The two had been entangled for nearly ten years, and without a massive benefit, their conflicts could never be resolved.
So, when the Artist Management Company set up a network publicity department, they directly used The Two Towers as practice, and the results so far were quite effective.
Martin Bob, flipping through websites, suddenly asked, "How did negative comments end up on Duke's personal website and the official Lord of the Rings trilogy site? I thought our network department wasn't targeting those sites?"
Michael Ovitz smiled slightly. "You missed something, Martin. Do you think other Hollywood companies will watch The Two Towers make a killing without doing anything? Don't forget, Duke Rosenberg and Warner Bros. have already tarnished the reputations of Disney's Pearl Harbor, Paramount's Tomb Raider, and Universal's Fast and Furious. Do you really think they'll just stand by and let Duke Rosenberg and Warner Bros. continue to dominate the summer box office?"