On the day of the premiere, after two years of hype surrounding The Guardian Expedition and The Two Towers, the long-built excitent and passion of movie fans seed to find an excellent outlet. Over 100,000 fans gathered in Los Angeles, celebrating the premiere in a festive atmosphere.
To get an early view of The Return of the King and catch a glimpse of the stars, fans camped out overnight, setting up tents to secure pri spots.
By 8:30 AM, thousands of fans had crowded the Hollywood Walk of Fa leading to the TCL Chinese Theatre. Wearing wizard hats and cloaks, the streets of Los Angeles had transford into a Middle-earth, with fans dressed as hobbits, elves, and orcs everywhere.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy had shown imnse influence, with the dia enthusiastically covering the event. Nearly 500 journalists from around the world ford a large reporting group.
Los Angeles City Hall also fully supported the event. Mayor Helen Clark had authorized a fan parade through the city’s main streets and held an official welcoming ceremony for the cast at City Hall before they headed to the Chinese Theatre for the premiere.
The streets of Los Angeles were filled with posters of The Lord of the Rings characters, and a giant 8-story banner hung at the Highland Center.
As cast mbers walked the red carpet, the atmosphere reached a fever pitch.
A great start often signals massive success, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King had everything going for it—timing, location, and people!
"I’m just a representative of a huge team, and I’m grateful to all the partners who contributed to this project!"
During an interview, Duke only said this, leaving enough for the dia to write about. The premiere was set to dominate most entertainnt dia headlines the following day.
Because the parade had delayed things, after the group took a joint photo, Duke and Charles Rowan led them directly into the theater to await the film’s start.
anwhile, fans gathered on the streets of Los Angeles quickly dispersed, heading to the nearest theaters. Alongside the premiere, there were 3,000 advance screenings, and no fan wanted to miss seeing the final Chapter of the trilogy at the first opportunity.
Due to it being a Thursday workday, Brad Miller arrived a bit late at the cinema. Only five minutes before the film began, he hurried into the hall. Upon entering the large auditorium that seated over 500 people, he found it packed to the brim, with no empty seats in sight.
Standing at the entrance, Brad Miller was certain the occupancy rate was over 90%. But after walking around the aisle to find a seat, he quickly revised his estimate. He spotted a seat in a corner, and the theater was nearly full—occupancy was likely at 99%!
Having walked around, he sat in the corner, thinking to himself.
In a Beverly Hills cinema, Oliver Stone arrived early and chose a slightly forward seat. With his status and fa, he could have attended the premiere, but he didn’t want to. Firstly, The Lord of the Rings studio hadn’t invited him, and secondly, his project had been obstructed by Duke Rosenberg.
Since Gladiator and the release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a worldwide epic film craze had swept Hollywood, and Oliver Stone was involved, aiming to bring the life of Alexander the Great to the big screen. The Anchor Bay Entertainnt company had raised over $150 million for the project, and they had reached an agreent with Warner Bros. for the film’s distribution.
However, not long ago, Warner Bros. had rejected the film’s distribution. Oliver Stone learned that during Warner’s board review, it was Duke Rosenberg’s strong opposition that led to this decision.
With no distributor, Oliver Stone was sowhat frantic. Although he had many grievances with Duke, he was making an epic film and knew the strength of The Lord of the Rings. He ca to see how The Return of the King could elevate the epic film genre and what inspiration he might gain.
As the evening darkened, a car stopped in front of the Roo Cinema in Chicago. Roger Ebert walked slowly out of the car and entered the theater to pick up his pre-booked ticket, heading toward the largest auditorium.
Upon entering, Roger’s brows furrowed slightly. Although he was ntally prepared, seeing the massive crowd still made him uneasy. This high occupancy rate almost certainly ant that the director he despised would achieve another great success.
However, his imdiate concern was finding an empty seat.
The theater was packed, and Roger walked through two aisles before finding a seat. He asked a young man sitting near the aisle, "Excuse , is this seat taken?"
"Sorry, soone’s sitting here," the young man replied without any further reaction.
Roger didn’t leave but subtly turned his body so that the light overhead illuminated his face. His distinctive features made him a recognizable figure in the Chicago area.
"Is there sothing wrong?" the young man asked, noticing Roger hadn’t left. "This seat is taken!"
"I..." Roger opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when soone in the front row overheard and turned around, standing up with excitent.
"Are you Mr. Ebert?" the person asked.
At this, Roger instinctively raised his chin. "Yes, it’s ."
"It’s so great to et you!"
The person turned to their companion and nudged them, "Go sit in another seat."
Then, they turned back to Roger. "There’s an empty seat here, Mr. Ebert, you can sit here."
Roger nodded lightly, walked over, and felt a strange sense of satisfaction. His face and na still carried weight.
"Hello, Mr. Ebert."
As Roger sat down, the man in his forties took out a notebook. "My na’s Kunitz. I used to be a big fan of your film reviews. Can you sign for ?"
Roger automatically ignored the "used to" part and signed his na in the notebook.
"Hello, I’m John..."
The younger man sitting beside Kunitz extended his hand. "It’s such a pleasure to et you, Mr. Ebert."
"Hello, John," Roger nodded gently.
These two seed genuinely like his supporters, talking about his past achievents, especially his Pulitzer Prize, before the film started.
A smile slowly appeared on Roger’s face. As the older generation of fans gradually exited the market, those born in the 1980s beca the mainstream of the cinema industry. When he went to the theater now, he no longer attracted attention or complints. But today, he felt a glimpse of his forr glory.
See? I’m not out of date, am I?
His face, once tense from watching a film by the director he despised, now displayed a smile.
At the TCL Chinese Theatre, Duke had no ti to relax during the pre-show period. People around him kept coming over to greet him. His mother, who had just arrived from New York, seed to have sothing to ask him.
"Duke, I heard you and Ivy went to Stockholm?"
This was sothing Duke had never ntioned to anyone, but when his mother asked, he nodded and confird, "Yes, Mom. Ivy and I just went on a world tour..."
He felt Ivy gently squeeze his arm, realizing that she hadn’t leaked the information.
"Did you et Nathan Lant?" his mother asked again.
Duke smiled lightly, taking his mother’s arm. "He invited us over for dinner. Ivy and I had dinner there."
"Mom, do you still keep in touch with him?" he asked, feeling puzzled.
His mother nodded. "After you beca famous, he occasionally sends emails."
She gently patted Duke’s hand and sighed. "After all these years, so things are just in the past. There’s no need to turn them into enemies. If you’re willing, you can associate with him without worrying about ."
Duke didn’t respond, only shaking his head firmly.
If Nathan Lant had approached him, of course, he wouldn’t have avoided him. But he had no interest in eting him voluntarily.
His experiences were extraordinary, and the bond with his mother had been built over ti. Soone like Nathan Lant, who had disappeared for over twenty years, couldn’t possibly be a person with any emotional significance to him.
That person would only be a passerby in his life.
His mother seed to understand his thoughts and quietly said, "You decide what to do."
The lights suddenly dimd, and the overhead lights went out. Both Duke and his mother focused completely on the film about to begin.
"It’s starting!"
Behind them, in about ten rows, Jones and Kunitz had finally squeezed into the premiere, looking as excited as children.
The film, in typical Duke style, didn’t have a long opening credit sequence. After the Warner Bros. and Duke Studios logos flashed by, the film imdiately began with the destruction of Isengard by the Ents. Gandalf, now the White Wizard, confronted Saruman, the forr head of the White Council.
There was no grand opening battle, as the excitent of the previous two films had already captivated the audience’s patience. This was just a small confrontation. In the original story, Saruman, who had been exiled, t a more tragic fate, killed by Gríma Wormtongue, who was then shot in the heart by Legolas.
In typical Western culture, no matter the traitor, they would et a grim end. This change was made to align with current cultural values.
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