Although it had faced some negative backlash, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was still performing steadily.
After its opening weekend, the film earned $18.976 million, $20.245 million, $19.337 million, and $19.452 million over the next four weekdays.
After seven days in North America, the film had reached a domestic box office total of $176.5 million.
However, that weekend, DreamWorks' Shrek was set to be released.
As mentioned earlier, although Shrek was an animated film and had a different target audience from The Two Towers, the number of theaters and screens in North America was limited. If The Two Towers occupied one more screen, it meant one less for another film.
So, no matter how different their audiences were, the two films were still competitors.
Interestingly, as Steven Spielberg walked out of DreamWorks' headquarters, he was stopped by reporters for an interview regarding The Two Towers.
Spielberg was generous with his praise, saying, "I've watched Gilbert grow step by step, so I'm not surprised by his achievements today.
He has revolutionized the way horror, action, sci-fi, and even epic films are made.
Without a doubt, Gilbert has profoundly influenced Hollywood as we know it, and I am proud of him."
It was widely acknowledged that Gilbert was a student of Spielberg, and now that the student had achieved success equal to—or even surpassing—that of his teacher, there was no room for jealousy on Spielberg's part.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, who were working with Spielberg on Catch Me If You Can, were also interviewed. Naturally, DiCaprio had nothing but praise for his close friend's film.
"You know, man, Gilbert has always been amazing. He has unparalleled talent, and the success of The Two Towers was inevitable…"
DiCaprio launched into an enthusiastic monologue that nearly overwhelmed the reporter.
Hurriedly, the journalist interrupted and turned to Tom Hanks, while DiCaprio was still eager to continue.
Hanks said, "I worked with Gilbert on Saving Private Ryan, so I know firsthand what an outstanding director he is.
That's why I find the film's success completely expected and unsurprising."
But no amount of praise from Spielberg could change the fact that Shrek was set to release during The Two Towers' second weekend.
What was even worse for DreamWorks was that they were distributing the film independently—without the support of any other Hollywood giants.
That immediately put the major studios on high alert.
Hollywood's biggest studios could afford to ignore smaller players like Lionsgate and New Line Cinema since those companies, no matter how much they grew, would still be considered second-tier.
But DreamWorks was different—it had the potential to become a major studio itself.
The major Hollywood studios cooperated and competed with each other, but there was one unspoken rule they all agreed on: they would not allow any new players to rise to their level.
And so, DreamWorks found itself facing an all-out assault from the Hollywood giants—just as it had many times before.
To ensure The Two Towers had as much room to dominate as possible, Disney and Warner Bros. joined forces. Robert Iger personally called executives at other major studios, urging them to suppress DreamWorks' distribution.
"Ron, we cannot allow DreamWorks to grow stronger. I suggest a full-scale blockade against this movie," Iger told Universal Pictures' CEO, Ron Meyer.
Ron Meyer had once been one of the five founding partners of CAA alongside Michael Ovitz.
However, Meyer and Ovitz had later clashed, leading Meyer to leave CAA and transition into the film industry.
Unlike Ovitz, whose time at Disney had been rocky, Meyer's career in Hollywood had been smooth.
After Universal underwent corporate restructuring and internal chaos, Meyer had successfully secured his position as CEO—and Universal's stable performance had made him untouchable.
The massive success of The Two Towers made Meyer feel a twinge of jealousy—after all, Gilbert had once been part of Universal.
It was only due to the shortsightedness of Universal's previous leadership that the studio had lost a director of his caliber.
But Iger was right—jealousy was one thing, but that was an internal issue among the major studios. DreamWorks trying to join the ranks of the Hollywood elite? That was unacceptable.
So, Meyer gave his assurance: "Don't worry. Universal will do everything possible to limit DreamWorks' reach in theaters, media, and marketing."
Satisfied, Iger exchanged a few more words about the details before ending the call.
Iger and Doug Walter continued lobbying the other studios. With the exception of MGM, which was in decline, the other six major studios all agreed to participate in the suppression of DreamWorks.
As the new week arrived, the major studios' media outlets launched an attack on Shrek, while online trolls were mobilized to spread negative narratives.
Ever since The Two Towers had suffered from smear campaigns by online trolls, Hollywood's major studios had realized the full potential of digital influence.
And now, Shrek became the second film to be targeted.
To make matters worse, Disney was also set to release a similarly themed animated film that year—Monsters, Inc..
So, their online trolls began pushing the narrative that Shrek was a ripoff of Monsters, Inc..
Of course, the two films had completely different plots, but that didn't stop Disney from weaponizing the comparison.
By the time the weekend arrived and audiences were choosing what movie to watch, conversations like these started happening:
"Hey, Shrek is out this week! Should we go see it?"
"No way. I heard it's just a copy of that Disney movie. Let's watch The Two Towers instead."
Of course, some people didn't care whether it was a ripoff or not…
Just like in a past life, when many people didn't care whether Li Ren Chou was plagiarized—so long as it sounded good, that was enough. As long as Shrek was entertaining, that was all that mattered to the audience.
The difference, however, was that Li Ren Chou had indeed copied, whereas Shrek had not. It was simply being smeared.
Beyond online slander, the Hollywood giants also restricted Shrek's theatrical release. As a result, the film opened in only 2,250 theaters during its debut weekend.
At first glance, that number seemed decent, but DreamWorks had originally planned for a 3,500-theater release. Losing 1,250 theaters meant a significant loss in box office revenue—at least tens of millions of dollars.
Even so, Shrek still managed to gross $41.5 million in its opening weekend, securing second place at the box office.
The number one film, of course, was The Two Towers, which dominated its second weekend with a staggering $60.938 million, retaining its spot as the weekend's box office champion.
After ten days in theaters, the film's North American box office had surpassed $200 million, reaching a total of $237.438 million—an even better performance than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Had it not been for the negative smear campaign, The Two Towers might have crossed the $250 million mark within those ten days.
However, there was one common factor between these two films: their merchandise sales were phenomenal.
With animated films, this was expected. Historically, animation box office numbers weren't particularly high—aside from exceptional cases like The Lion King. The real revenue from animated movies came from merchandising.
But The Two Towers had not only achieved an outstanding box office performance, but its merchandise sales were also breaking records.
By the film's second weekend, Gilbert had already traveled with his team to the East Coast, promoting the film in New York.
Coincidentally, a merchandise marketing event was taking place in New York at the time, and Gilbert had been invited to attend. It was a perfect opportunity to strengthen relationships with merchandise distributors.
"Let me introduce you," someone said. "This is Ferdie Collins, the biggest merchandise distributor in the Bay Area."
Gilbert shook hands with Collins. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Collins."
Collins then introduced his girlfriend. "This is Ziyi Zhang, an actress. She was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…"
Gilbert glanced at the woman beside him, who appeared polite and well-mannered. However, he wasn't particularly enthusiastic. Given his status, there was no reason for him to be overly interested in a minor actress.
So, he simply shook hands with Ziyi Zhang before turning back to his discussion with Collins about merchandise.
Ziyi Zhang felt a hint of disappointment—Gilbert showed no interest in learning more about her.
She recalled how, last year, Xu Qing had reportedly spent two months as Gilbert's assistant on The Lord of the Rings set. Who knew what might have happened between them during that time?
Moreover, Xu Qing had even been invited to The Fellowship of the Ring's premiere. When she returned home, she was instantly branded as an "international superstar."
Truth be told, Ziyi Zhang had learned this strategy—gaining overseas recognition before leveraging it back home—from Xu Qing. But she had executed it even more effectively.
Unlike Xu Qing, Ziyi Zhang had starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which had grossed $125 million worldwide. Later that year, she would also appear in Rush Hour 2.
With actual works to support her career, her title as an "international superstar" would carry even more weight.
"How's business in the Bay Area?" Gilbert asked Collins.
Collins looked thrilled. "It's been fantastic. Last week, one of our stores made $150,000 in a single day. The Lord of the Rings merchandise is in such high demand that many items are selling out.
The products we source from China aren't just high-quality; they also come at a much lower cost than manufacturing in North America."
"That's good to hear." Gilbert was satisfied after getting an update on merchandise sales.
In just ten days, The Two Towers had generated $212 million in merchandise sales. According to the revenue-sharing agreement, Gilbert's company, Melon Studio, had already earned over $30 million from merchandise alone.
Gilbert's personal earnings were also substantial. By the time The Fellowship of the Ring had finished its theatrical run, Gilbert had earned a total of $245 million from the film.
That number officially put him ahead of George Lucas, who had made $230 million from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, making Gilbert the highest-earning director of all time.
Of course, like Gilbert, Lucas had his own company—Lucasfilm. But personal earnings and company revenue were separate matters.
So, it was clear that with The Two Towers, Gilbert's income was about to reach even greater heights.
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