Wherever The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers went, it was always the center of attention.
During the promotional tour, Gilbert and the main cast appeared on several well-known North American talk shows to promote the film.
Naturally, The Oprah Talk Show wouldn't miss such a hot topic. They repeatedly invited Gilbert to appear on their show and even planned a deep dive into his life story.
To that end, the show's producers considered inviting Naomi Watts, Cameron Diaz, and even Gwyneth Paltrow to join the program.
Gilbert refused, as did Naomi Watts and Cameron Diaz.
Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, was a different case—difficult, but only from the producers' perspective. The woman's diva attitude was notoriously hard to deal with.
It just so happened that when the show's team approached her, she was in a bad mood. She completely lashed out at them, berating them on the spot.
Then, in front of the media, she publicly declared, "I'd rather die and rot in a gutter than appear on that show."
She went on to trash Oprah, accusing her of exploiting guests' painful pasts for the sake of ratings.
Now that Oprah wanted to ride on her fame? No way.
In some ways, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't wrong. Oprah just hadn't expected her diva attitude to be this extreme and ended up taking an unexpected loss.
Of course, Oprah couldn't exactly argue back—that would be beneath her and damage her reputation.
Previously, The Oprah Talk Show had invited Gilbert multiple times, all of which he had declined.
His reason for refusing was quite simple. It wasn't because he feared Oprah digging into his past—unless she somehow knew he was reincarnated, there was nothing to be afraid of.
The main reason was that The Oprah Talk Show catered primarily to middle-aged housewives, who were not Gilbert's target audience.
Appearing on the show wouldn't be particularly beneficial to him, but it would allow Oprah to capitalize on his fame.
However, while middle-aged housewives weren't his audience, young women and professional women certainly were.
So instead, Gilbert chose to appear on a different talk show, one focused on young women's lifestyles. The host of the show was an endearing, chubby man who happened to be a die-hard fan of Tom Cruise.
On this program, Gilbert had an enjoyable conversation with the host.
Knowing exactly what the audience wanted, Gilbert brought in Orlando Bloom as a guest.
That move was incredibly effective. As soon as the Elven Prince appeared, the female audience practically lost control. One particularly excited fan broke through security, ran up to the stage, and grabbed Orlando Bloom in a passionate kiss.
It took security quite some time to pull her away, but even then, she kept screaming, "Ahhh! Legolas, I love you!"
Though she was eventually escorted out, she had already become the star of the show. Many envied and admired her boldness.
Orlando Bloom, however, remained composed—he was used to this kind of attention by now. With experience under his belt, he was no longer the inexperienced young actor he once was.
On the show, Orlando Bloom spoke about his experience working on The Lord of the Rings series.
"It was absolutely incredible. For me, it was like a dream come true.
At the time, I had no idea why Gilbert chose me—I was genuinely surprised. But I'm incredibly grateful to him."
Gilbert added, "I cast Orlando Bloom because, first and foremost, his appearance and demeanor fit the role perfectly. But beyond that, Orlando is incredibly hardworking.
Legolas had a lot of action scenes, many of which were extremely difficult, yet Orlando rarely used a stunt double. He performed most of the stunts himself.
In the process, he suffered multiple injuries just to deliver the best performance to the audience."
The crowd gasped in amazement, followed by a wave of sympathy.
"He works so hard! I'm going to cry…"
When this episode aired, it became the highest-rated broadcast in the history of the talk show, achieving nationwide popularity.
After its second week in North America, The Two Towers was now set for its international debut.
This time, Warner Bros. went all out with its marketing strategy. The film would premiere in 33 countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
The massive success of The Two Towers in North America had already reached audiences worldwide. Moreover, The Fellowship of the Ring had laid a solid foundation for the franchise across the globe.
As a result, The Two Towers became the most highly anticipated movie in the global market—without exception.
Of course, that didn't mean promotional efforts could be neglected.
After wrapping up its North American promotional tour, the entire cast split into two teams. Gilbert took Anne Hathaway, Ian McKellen, and others to Europe.
Meanwhile, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Elijah Wood led the promotional efforts in Asia and Oceania.
The film's overseas release happened to coincide with the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Though The Two Towers wasn't officially entered into the festival, the team coordinated with the organizers and secured a special screening slot.
The festival's organizers likely believed that screening The Two Towers would generate some buzz for the event.
However, they didn't anticipate just how overwhelming the buzz would be.
Interestingly, that year's Cannes Film Festival opened with Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman.
Conveniently, after attending Moulin Rouge events, Nicole Kidman could also participate in The Two Towers screenings—an ideal arrangement.
That said, the three major European film festivals had always been skeptical of Hollywood, and Moulin Rouge as the opening film wasn't particularly well-received.
At Cannes, after briefly reuniting with The Two Towers cast, Nicole Kidman shared her plan with Gilbert.
She intended to travel to China with Tom Cruise to promote Moulin Rouge.
At the time, aside from Gilbert's films, no Hollywood director or star had ever attempted to market their work in China.
If Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise made the trip, they would be breaking new ground.
This was further proof that the rise of the Chinese market had made many in Hollywood recognize its value.
Moulin Rouge may not have made much of an impact, but when The Two Towers was screened, it completely overshadowed every other film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Two films that Cannes had heavily promoted—The Piano Teacher and The Son's Room—were largely ignored.
During their screenings, theaters appeared noticeably empty.
The reason was simple: the audience had flocked to see The Two Towers instead.
Things even escalated to the point where fans, unable to secure tickets for The Two Towers, got into physical fights. This incident was reported by the media.
With The Two Towers dominating the festival, France's Cahiers du Cinéma magazine published an editorial:
"The Cannes Film Festival committee made a grave mistake by inviting The Two Towers to Cannes.
Did they naively believe that European cinema could suppress a Hollywood blockbuster? Wake up—Europe has long ceased to be the center of the film industry."
While calling Hollywood's global dominance an invasion might be an exaggeration, the fact remained that it had no real competition worldwide.
Ever since the New Wave movement, European cinema had been unable to challenge Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Le Figaro criticized both the Cannes organizers and the European films, arguing that the festival had utterly humiliated European cinema.
The paper went so far as to say that The Two Towers had trampled European films into the ground.
It called for European filmmakers to stand up and resist Hollywood's encroachment.
What Le Figaro didn't realize, however, was that behind the scenes, Cannes organizers were negotiating with Gilbert, inviting him to serve as a jury member for the following year's festival.
Since it was just a jury role with minimal obligations—and given the favor Cannes had shown The Two Towers—Gilbert didn't hesitate to accept the offer.
At the same time, Cannes also invited Gilbert to hold the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the festival the following year. Gilbert agreed.
When Le Figaro learned of this, the newspaper published an impassioned editorial lamenting, "European cinema is doomed."
Later, Gilbert accepted an exclusive interview with Le Monde, where he stated:
"The future of European cinema is entirely in the hands of European filmmakers themselves.
I once heard a saying: the greatest crisis isn't external—it's internal.
Of course, I hope European cinema continues to flourish. My friend Sophie Marceau has always told me that Europe has many outstanding filmmakers.
They are an integral part of the film industry and play a crucial role in its progress."
These remarks helped ease some of the hostility from European filmmakers, but they didn't stop The Two Towers from achieving phenomenal success across Europe.
In its opening week in the UK, The Two Towers grossed $34.3 million, breaking the country's domestic box office record.
In France, leveraging the Cannes buzz, the film triumphed despite the French Minister of Culture once again urging the public to resist Hollywood's influence.
French moviegoers cast their votes with their wallets—The Two Towers grossed $25.45 million in France.
Germany also performed well, with the film taking in $27.79 million, while Italy contributed another $12.5 million.
Other European markets collectively added $26.88 million to the total.
By the end of its opening weekend, The Two Towers had raked in an astonishing $126.92 million across Europe, surpassing its North American debut.
And this was just the beginning.
The film didn't just explode in Europe—it also saw massive success in Australia, South Korea, Japan, and even mainland China.
By the end of its first overseas weekend, The Two Towers had grossed $185.3 million internationally.
Meanwhile, in its third North American weekend, the film earned another $38.506 million.
Including weekday earnings and prior totals, its North American box office had now reached $302 million.
Adding international earnings, the film's global box office stood at $487 million.
For most films, reaching $400–500 million worldwide would already be considered a massive success.
But for The Lord of the Rings series, this was merely a milestone.
Everyone knew The Two Towers was destined to be another billion-dollar blockbuster.
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