Made in Hollywood

The long queue lined up from the east to the west of Nokia Plaza. Countless people crowded here, forming a peculiar landscape. Even so, there were still people joining the queue. They were willing and even willing to wait in long queues. Because the DVD release of "The Two Towers" is just around the corner, the films that once triggered the craze for American movies can be bought back and treasured by them.

Mixed in the queue, Kunites stood on tiptoe and looked ahead. He had been queuing at Nokia Plaza since 3am. , Before his arrival, a lot of people had gathered on the Nokia Plaza, and many of them came to line up with tents.

"This is a Duke movie..."

Behind him, Jones, who came with him, kept saying, "We should have come to line up last night, I can't wait."

"It's just over a hundred people." Kunites's mentality is very stable, after all, he is also old, "It will be our turn soon."

He asked Jones, "Do we buy the regular or the deluxe suit?"

Jones didn't even think about it, he said, "Of course it's a luxury suit, don't you forget, the luxury suit in the advertisement has a special cut of "The Return of the King", the film won't be released until May, it's only February, I can not wait anymore."

"I can't wait."

Kunites is also very curious to know what kind of final chapter Duke will send after such a wonderful two-part series.

At 8:30, the audio and video store on Nokia Plaza opened on time. After waiting for about 20 minutes, Jones and Kunites were put into the store by the third batch. Like everyone who entered the store together, they did not go see others. They headed straight to the Two Towers DVD counter and picked up a $39.90 luxury set from the shelves.

After paying the bill, he walked out of the video store. Kunites looked into the distance. As the video store opened, the line did not shorten. Instead, it stretched longer.

This is the first day the DVD of "The Two Towers" goes on sale. I'm afraid it will sell another astronomical figure, right?

With this thought in mind, Jones and Kunites got into the car and hurried home. They couldn't wait to see what "The Return of the King" looked like.

The black Chevrolet left Nokia Plaza at a rapid pace, and just ten minutes later, it stopped at Brencott Street. Kunites did not go home, but walked into his home with Jones, because it was closer and he could see what he wanted to see earlier!

Turn on the TV and play the DVD. Fast forward all the way, "The Return of the King" finally revealed its true colors.

Jones and Kunites kept their eyes wide open, even though footage of a majestic white city loomed over the hills in the first episode. The eyes were full of incredible, Minas Tirith should look like this.

next moment. Their mouths were also opened, and it was a panorama of the battlefield. The cavalry charged in a wedge shape, rushing towards the boundless orcs...

The cavalry charge in Helm's Deep was too great to add. But compared to the lens in front of me, it's really nothing!

The camera swept through the orc phalanx, half-orcs, trolls and even mammoths, it is simply a large collection of monsters, people can't stop worrying that humans can win? Can Baicheng hold on? How much courage must mankind muster to face such a catastrophe?

Then there is another scene of a war. The human army gathers in front of the black gate, the black gate opens, and the Mordor army bursts out, surrounding the human beings...

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die..." Jones murmured, "I'm going to die! As long as I think about three months before I can see this movie, I really don't want to die!"

With that said, Jones was about to play it back, but was stopped by Kunites, "Don't watch it again, I'll be like you again, God, I've never wanted time to go faster than I do now."

The two of them sat on the sofa and suddenly didn't know what to say. Although the video clip in the DVD was only a little over three minutes, it was so wonderful that words couldn't describe it.

After a full five minutes, Jones suddenly became gritted his teeth, "Such a wonderful film, the Oscar only gave seven nominations, it's too much!"

"What's more, out of the seven nominations for The Two Towers, I'm afraid I can only win one or two consolation prizes." Kunites also looked resentful, "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been discriminating against Duke. !"

"Curry..." Jones seemed to think of something, "If this Oscar Duke still comes home empty-handed, I think we should do something for him, he has dedicated so many wonderful movies to us, every production is first It's all about our needs, and I think we..."

"Yes, that's it!" Kunites' eyes gradually brightened. "We can't speak out on the media, but we can call on more people to support Duke on the Internet."

"If Oscar still refuses to recognize Duke after The Return of the King, we will call on people to protest and tear down the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! They owe Duke!"

…………

"What the academy owes me?" Duke laughed. "They don't owe anyone."

He stood up, walked around the terrace, looked at the dark night sky and said, "At least the old men in the academy don't think they owe anyone anything."

"This Oscar..." Ivanka asked.

Duke shrugged her shoulders, "We'll continue to run with you."

Although "The Two Towers" won seven nominations including best picture, best sound, best director, best sound editing and best visual effects at the 2003 Oscar nominee luncheon last week, it was destined to Still have to make soy sauce.

"That can only wait until next year?"

The sea breeze was a bit strong, and Ivanka stood up and took Duke's coat and put it on him.

"Next year is the best chance." Duke tightened his clothes. "After next year, it will be difficult to win the best director statuette again."

His production style has been decided, and it will not be the kind of director that the Academy likes, or even the type that is discriminated against.

There were footsteps outside the terrace, and Tina Fey walked in with a document and handed it directly to Duke, "Warner Bros. just faxed it over, and the first-week DVD sales statistics are out."

Ivanka looked interested, "How much?"

"Break the record again!" Tina Fey said with a smile.

Duke opened it and looked at it. In the first week of the DVD release of "The Two Towers", in North America alone, 6.1 million sets of the $19.9 regular package were sold, and more than 1.1 million sets of the $39.9 deluxe package were sold, accumulative sales in North America. At $147.22 million, it easily surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring's $132.5 million first-week sales.

"Is the movie coming out soon?"

Even as a layman, Ivanka knows that the DVDs have been released, and "The Two Towers" must have reached the end of the theater.

In fact, the popularity of the film has basically dissipated, and North America still maintains a total of about 400 theaters in major cities. To a certain extent, it is for Oscar nominations.

Now that the nomination list has been announced, there is no need for the film to continue to be screened.

It's just that Duke didn't expect that the final theater line would last until the eve of the Oscars. The reason is very simple. After many fans were attracted by DVDs, they found that special effects and big scenes were completely two different feelings on the big screen and TV. Many people chose to re-enter the theater and feel the impact of the huge epic again.

And even the most prejudiced people have to admit that neither "The Fellowship of the Ring" nor "The Two Towers" are fast-consuming popcorn movies.

A week before the Oscars, "The Two Towers" completely disappeared from North American theaters, and the North American box office finally stayed above $521.32 million, which was also the second film in North American film history to exceed $500 million at the box office.

In terms of overseas markets, except for a few small countries that bought out the film's screening rights, "The Two Towers" was basically down, with a total global box office of 1.31288 billion US dollars, successfully surpassing "The Fellowship of the Ring" and sitting on the top of the global box office. The throne of two.

"The Two Towers" was a huge commercial success, but at the subsequent Oscars, it was one of the losers again. Even without a strong competitor like "Chicago", the film just won the best sound editing. and two consoling technical awards for best visual effects.

However, Duke didn't care too much, after all, it was only the second part.

"I said you won't win."

When he was walking out of the Kodak Theater, Duke met Roger Albert. To be more precise, the other party seemed to be waiting for him at the exit. The most famous film critic in the United States, although his voice was very low, But he didn't hide his hostile attitude, "I won't be this time, and I won't be the next one."

Duke just smiled faintly, "Then we will have to wait for the results next year."

Watching Duke walk away unconcernedly, Roger Albert ignored the glances from others, walked out of the Kodak Theater, took out his phone, dialed a few numbers, and walked towards a cafe in the center of the Highlands go.

The cafe was not far away. After walking for only ten minutes, Roger Albert pushed open the door and entered. After a little searching, he saw several other famous film critics sitting together, and hurried over to sit together.

"We won again."

Todd McCarthy, a full-time film critic for The Hollywood Reporter, is in a good mood and has been waiting for this day since someone moved their cake.

"We can't relax." David Denby is still more cautious. "Don't forget, next year is the key. If he succeeds next year, everything we have done in the past two years will become a joke."

"He won't succeed!" Roger Albert said decisively. "It is true that we have less and less influence on commercial films, but this is awards season, and it is our last position!"

Everyone was vaguely headed by him, and Roger Albert said, "This Oscar is over, and our work is not over yet. We can remind the Academy in advance what choices to make next year!" (To be continued~ ^~)

PS:   Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!