"First film in history to gross over $100 million on its opening weekend, first director to break $100 million on the opening weekend!"
"Without a doubt, Duke Rosenberg became the first person in North American history to break $100 million on a weekend box office!"
On that same Monday, the media went almost crazy, placing the news of The Two Towers' opening weekend box office surpassing $100 million on the front page of newspapers. This was a monumental event in North American cinema history, undoubtedly more attention-grabbing than any foreign news, like Prince William's visit.
The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and countless other mainstream newspapers all prominently featured Duke's portrait and The Two Towers' poster. The front pages were filled with various praises.
"Ten years as a director, Duke Rosenberg's path to greatness..."
"No one can compare, today no one can rival Duke Rosenberg, great works, great director!"
"$103 million, Duke Rosenberg reigns supreme in the market again!"
Not only the media, but the public also responded strongly. This was the first movie in North American history to surpass $100 million in its opening weekend!
"Congratulations, Ivanka."
"Your boyfriend is truly amazing."
Ever since Ivanka sat in the library's computer room, she hadn't had a moment of peace, with people coming over to quietly congratulate her. She was aware of Duke's influence among young people, but her feelings were quite complicated.
The prevailing emotion was certainly joy. Even though the congratulations were directed at Duke, she felt proud.
However, mixed with that joy was a slight bitterness, a sentiment that people like Ivanka, who had a strong sense of ambition, couldn't avoid. At the same time, it motivated her to work even harder.
Ivanka logged onto Duke's website and opened the The Two Towers section. The comment board had practically exploded.
"The first film to break $100 million on its opening weekend, of course only our Lord of the Rings and the Explosion Maniac could achieve this!"
"Looking back at Hollywood in the past ten years, it's clear that Duke achieving this result is entirely expected!"
"Is anyone in the Chicago area still going to see The Two Towers? I'm going for the third time in a group..."
Next, Ivanka went to IMDb and casually looked at the ratings. The score was stable at 9.2, and the negative reviews were few and far between.
After seeing all this, she logged in with her admin privileges to her instant sharing site and immediately noticed something unusual.
On the homepage, there was a short message with images that had been replied to and pinned at the top, with 170,000 views!
Ivanka frowned. As of yesterday, the total registered users on the site were only in the tens of thousands. How could a single post have such an enormous number of views?
Her first thought was that it could be bot traffic, but instant sharing was a small site, not worth flooding with fake activity.
However, after seeing the image and the poster, Ivanka revealed an understanding expression and a sweet smile. The post had been made by Duke's account, and the content was about the much-anticipated Return of the King!
She moved the mouse and opened it. Ivanka understood that her boyfriend was helping her. Although there were only two or three images of the Black Gate and the Battle of Minas Tirith, the content was simply titled "Two Major Battles in Return of the King," but given The Two Towers' success, it easily attracted a large number of viewers.
"True to his usual style," Ivanka murmured while looking at the images.
The images were of battlefield panoramas, densely packed with both sides in combat. Especially the forces of Mordor, where not only were the Ringwraiths flying on their beasts overhead, but one could also vaguely see massive trolls, and in the background, the silhouette of a mammoth could be spotted.
It was at that moment that Ivanka noticed the top-right corner of her admin panel. The site's registered users had surged from tens of thousands to 250,000!
Even the most oblivious person could understand the huge impact Duke and The Lord of the Rings had on the site—this was like 9/11 for blogging.
Duke did this to leverage his massive popularity at the moment to push Instant Sharing into the spotlight and speed up its development. Just as he didn't want to follow others' paths and sought to acquire Christopher Rokencott's script, he wanted to see how far this site could go.
Would it remain one of the countless drowned websites, or soar like the great ones of the past?
On that Monday, Hollywood was abuzz, not just with major companies, but also many actors, directors, and producers who strongly reacted to the first film in history to break $100 million in its opening weekend. Some even gave interviews to the media.
"I once went head-to-head with Duke's work and know what kind of terrifying pressure that is."
Leaving DreamWorks' headquarters, Tom Cruise was stopped by reporters and spoke about his well-known buddy, saying, "No one wants to face Duke's films during the summer blockbusters. I'm not at all surprised by his success. Don't you think it's normal?"
Steven Spielberg, standing next to Tom, also gave an interview. The veteran said, "Among Hollywood's younger generation of directors, Duke is the undisputed leader. He's created one excellent work after another, and the methods he uses in action, sci-fi, and fantasy films are groundbreaking. He has profoundly influenced Hollywood filmmaking."
Meanwhile, Duke and his crew became the targets of many talk shows' invitations.
"This is a formal invitation from the Oprah Winfrey Show."
In the hotel room, Tina Fey placed several invitations in front of Duke. "Oprah Winfrey has invited you to her show for the third time."
Duke nodded but showed no intention of agreeing. Instead, he looked at the PR manager across from him, who was the professional in this matter.
Panny Kallis took the invitations, casually flipped through them, and then put them back, directly advising, "Reject them all."
"Reject them all?" Duke asked.
"Yes, Duke. Apart from the Oprah Winfrey Show, these other programs are completely beneath your status. Appearing on these shows would lower your prestige."
Upon hearing this, Duke thought for a moment and nodded slowly.
Panny Kallis continued, "Although The Two Towers broke $100 million on its opening weekend, there's no need for us to rush out for a publicity stunt. The box office draw has never been an issue for your films, and the film itself is excellent. Warner Bros. doesn't need us to add anything to their campaign."
"The only worthy one is Oprah Winfrey's show."
As Panny Kallis said this, she shook her head. "Ninety percent of the audience for her show is homemakers over thirty-five. Maybe others need the support of housewives, but your films..."
Duke couldn't help but laugh. His films had never been the type for housewives. Back in the early 90s, Nancy Josephson had already warned him about this. It was unrealistic to expect older housewives to support his action-packed films.
No matter how good the film, it couldn't please everyone. His films were never meant for that audience.
As for the fame Oprah Winfrey's show could bring, it was dispensable. Every show has its target audience, and for Duke now, Oprah Winfrey's show was like a useless garnish.
What did Oprah Winfrey think? With Duke's current status, he didn't need to care too much.
"I got another piece of information." Panny Kallis suddenly turned serious. "Oprah Winfrey's people have gone to the Middle East and Northern Europe."
Duke frowned slightly. "What's she planning to do?"
"Probably to take measures for you appearing on her show." Panny Kallis said. "Even if you refuse, if she manages to bring in someone else, it would still create a sensational episode."
Anyone who watched Oprah's show would know that she always played the role of the understanding, compassionate figure, shedding light on the guest's past scars and sometimes even shedding tears with them. Her signature embrace was legendary.
But how did she always manage to uncover celebrities' hidden sides? Was it really her magic words?
Of course not!
As everyone knew, each episode was meticulously designed, and before the planning, Oprah Winfrey's team would conduct extensive research. For instance, if a celebrity had suffered abuse from their father in childhood, that father would likely appear on the show, and the celebrity's wounds would be exposed for all to see. Oprah would then play the role of the sympathetic savior...
While The Oprah Winfrey Show seemed like a heartfelt program, the process of creating and preparing the show had nothing to do with good intentions.
After hearing what Panny Kallis said, Duke already had an idea of what Oprah Winfrey was up to.
Although his mother never mentioned it, and he hadn't investigated it himself, Duke vaguely knew that his father had been moving between Northern Europe and the Middle East.
But how hard would it be for a talk show to invite someone who hated publicity and didn't need the money?
Duke instructed Tina Fey to reject all invitations, including Oprah Winfrey's. Then he put the matter out of his mind. Even if Oprah Winfrey brought in his estranged father, he didn't care. After all, his father had disappeared almost thirty years ago.
If Oprah Winfrey managed to find him, Duke would be curious to see what his father had become after thirty years.
With the talk show discussion over, Duke and his team embarked on their U.S. promotional tour, continuing to build momentum for The Two Towers. Everywhere they went, they stirred up a whirlwind of excitement, driving up box office numbers and digital sales.
...
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