As the release date of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King approached, more and more fans traveled to China to visit the filming locations.
The local authorities were clever and held several Lord of the Rings garden festivals to attract a large number of fans.
In recent years, with the global success of the Lord of the Rings series, the number of tourists traveling to China increased year by year, though this was all relative.
After joining the World Trade Organization, the local government further opened its entry policies and negotiated visa-free agreements with several countries, yet it still wasn't very convenient.
As a result, several relevant departments collaborated to develop a 144-hour visa-free policy.
This meant that a foreign tourist, starting from the moment of entry, would have 144 hours of visa-free time, which could be used for travel.
In the previous life, there was also a 144-hour visa-free policy, but the biggest difference between that one and this was that this one allowed travel to other cities, as long as it was reported in advance.
The former policy only allowed tourists to stay in the city where they landed and then required them to travel to another country or city.
This version didn't have such restrictions; tourists could finish their visit and simply return home.
Of course, this approach might come with certain potential risks.
But in the face of massive economic benefits, those risks were not a major concern as long as proper oversight was implemented.
Old Tian had now moved up from the Big Scissors to a higher-level department as a boss, and he had always been committed to promoting the development of the film industry.
He used to think movies were just movies, but after seeing how Hollywood operated, he realized there were so many profit models in film.
For instance, with the Lord of the Rings series, the revenue generated by merchandise alone made him green with envy, not to mention the tremendous benefits it brought to tourism.
However, in China, there was a key issue to consider when it came to merchandise piracy.
In North America, DVD sales were extremely strong, but in China, the Lord of the Rings DVDs were largely pirated.
This wasn't surprising, considering how expensive the official ones were and the differences in purchasing power across regions.
North America's current market had been developed over many years to reach where it was.
"We must provide good service and make sure foreign tourists feel right at home, understand?" Old Tian said as he inspected tourist sites across different locations.
The local person in charge patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, we will absolutely ensure excellent service and full logistical support."
"Very good," Old Tian said, feeling fairly satisfied.
He was walking at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain through the Hobbiton village, one of the most popular attractions, teeming with foreign tourists.
Local residents didn't even need guidance from the authorities they spontaneously brought out small goods to sell.
These finely crafted goods were very popular. Though they were expensive by local standards, for foreigners, they were incredibly cheap.
Clothing, jewelry, shawls, and various snacks and foods were all in high demand.
Around the Hobbiton village and extending to the ancient city, the area had developed a complete tourism system.
At a time when the tourism concept hadn't yet become widespread, this place was already quite ahead of the curve.
No one could say for sure what the future would bring, but at the very least, during this period, the flood of tourists each year brought undeniable revenue to the region.
On the way back after the inspection, someone suggested, "Old Tian, isn't the third Lord of the Rings movie about to premiere? Why don't we invite them to host the premiere here in China?"
It was a great idea, and Old Tian was tempted, but he ultimately shook his head. "That's impossible. Gilbert won't agree."
"Why not?"
Old Tian explained, "For now, the biggest market for The Lord of the Rings is still in Europe and North America. Our market here just isn't big enough—they wouldn't go to all that trouble."
At that time, the highest-grossing film in mainland China was The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with a box office of 320 million RMB. The second highest was also from the Lord of the Rings series, The Fellowship of the Ring, with 289 million.
During those years, even Chinese-language films breaking 100 million RMB was a challenge. After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the era of blockbusters began, and box office numbers would likely keep climbing.
Although the Chinese market was getting more attention, it still wasn't enough.
So Gilbert wouldn't even consider holding the premiere in China maybe in the future, but definitely not now.
After the New Year, the release date for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King drew even closer.
During the Super Bowl in February, a new 30-second trailer for The Return of the King was released, featuring the first glimpses of the Battle of Minas Tirith and the Black Gate.
Although it was only a few seconds, the grandeur and intensity of the scenes were enough to fuel fans' imaginations for a long time.
At the same time, the Oscar nominations were also announced. The Two Towers received six nominations.
But everyone knew the Academy wouldn't give out awards for the second film in a trilogy. Next year would be the time for The Lord of the Rings to sweep the Oscars.
After jointly acquiring and holding shares in Melon Studio, Warner Bros. and Disney had an even closer working relationship this time was no exception.
Warner Bros. planned for simultaneous release in major markets like the UK, France, and Germany, alongside North America. There was no longer a need to wait a week or two like before.
When the news broke, if nothing else, the local fans were thrilled.
Previously, they'd read in newspapers about how wildly popular the movie was in North America and felt jealous. And they had to wait so long it was like having ants crawl all over them, itchy and impatient.
But now they could watch it at the same time as North American audiences. No more envy.
As usual, Gilbert led the Lord of the Rings cast in attending the Oscars and co-presented the Best Picture award with Ian McKellen.
This year's award ceremony exuded a strong sense of political correctness. Among the nominees for Best Actor were two Black actors.
This isn't to say that Black actors being nominated is a bad thing, but Denzel Washington and Will Smith's performances simply weren't as strong as some of the other actors who didn't get nominated.
The Academy forced their nominations in for the sake of correctness.
And the final winner turned out to be Denzel Washington, which shocked everyone.
Pre-ceremony favorites Russell Crowe and Sean Penn had both delivered better performances than Denzel Washington, but the award still went to him.
If Denzel Washington's win was still somewhat understandable, then Halle Berry's victory was downright unacceptable.
Nicole Kidman was also nominated for Best Actress with Moulin Rouge, but ended up losing to Halle Berry.
This Australian actress has quite a temper. At the after-party, she complained to Tom Cruise and Gilbert:
"Damn political correctness. If I had lost to Judi Dench or any of the others, I could have accepted it.
But losing to her? I just can't understand."
Gilbert raised his glass and exchanged a glance with Tom Cruise, then smiled helplessly: "Nothing we can do, Mary. The Academy has to consider the Black movement and maintain balance."
"To hell with balance," Nicole Kidman muttered lowly, loud enough for only the three of them to hear: "Fucking n****r!"
"Hey!" Gilbert warned the fiery-tempered actress, "This is a public setting be careful someone might overhear you."
"I'm only saying it in front of you two," Nicole Kidman replied while taking Tom Cruise's arm. She added regretfully, "Too bad you didn't win Best Director tonight either."
"Yeah," Gilbert didn't really mind. After all, the Best Director award wasn't taken by a Black director.
But even if a Black director had taken it, Gilbert wouldn't have cared much.
He had said it before: the Academy was never going to give full recognition after just the second film.
So it was the other directors who had more reason to be upset.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers won Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects, and nothing else.
But media outlets were already predicting that the third film would definitely be recognized. Because if even the third one wasn't, then the Oscars would no longer be trusted.
So Gilbert remained calm. He had already won Best Director before, and there was nothing to be too tense about.
After the Oscars ended, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers officially ended its North American run, with a final box office total of $586 million in North America.
The international markets were also mostly finished. Only a few regions were still screening it, but the remaining earnings were negligible.
In the end, the film's global box office totaled $1.558 billion, temporarily ranking second in film history.
It was said to be temporary because other films could surpass The Two Towers at any time—like The Return of the King.
As the release date approached, Gilbert also began to get busy.
His social media presence became more active, and he appeared frequently in the media.
Not only that, Gilbert even organized a livestream though it was in text and image format, it still attracted over a million fans to join.
In this era, live video streaming wasn't feasible yet, but live text and image streaming was technically simple.
During the livestream, fans could submit questions to Gilbert, and he would answer them.
Of course, the questions were filtered by the staff running the stream Gilbert couldn't possibly answer all the questions from over a million fans.
During the stream, Gilbert focused on sharing the difficulties of filming The Lord of the Rings, from preparation to filming to post-production.
A fan asked: "Director Gilbert, do you usually go online?"
"Of course I do. I pay close attention to fan feedback. Creating movies that fans love is my goal."
This answer made fans very happy. It showed that Gilbert truly cared about them how considerate!
Another fan asked: "The battle at Helm's Deep in the second film was amazing. Will there be even more spectacular scenes in the third movie?"
"Absolutely. The Battle of Minas Tirith and the Battle of the Black Gate are both on a whole new level beyond Helm's Deep. I hope you'll enjoy them."
Gilbert's answer made fans even more excited for the film.
The livestream lasted over two hours and was the first time since the birth of the internet that a film was promoted in this kind of interactive livestream format.
The results were pretty good. A rough estimate showed that more than two million fans visited the livestream and interacted with Gilbert.
This innovative promotional method opened the eyes of other film studios.
Gilbert he always finds a way to come up with something new.
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