Middle-earth in film also became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the "Godfather" series' 28 (with the release of "The Hobbit", the series currently has 36 nominations total). Its 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards tied it for most awards won for one film with "Titanic" six years earlier and the 1959 version of "Ben-Hur." It also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating "Gigi" and "The Last Emperor" (which each took 9 out of 9). "The Return of the King" also made movie history as the highest-grossing film opening on a Wednesday and was the second film after "Titanic" to earn
Ben Hur (1907 film) on the publicity of the case and the film, Harper & Brothers published a lavishly designed and illustrated book, "The Chariot Race from Ben-Hur", which excerpted only the race from Lew Wallace's novel. Accompanying the text were color illustrations by Sigismond Ivanowski. Actor William S. Hart, soon after to became a famous silent film cowboy, reprises his role as Messala from the 1899 Broadway premiere and 1900 season Broadway play. Herman Rottger is Ben-Hur against Hart's Messala (in the 1900 play William Farnum, another soon to be famous silent cowboy, portrayed the character). The film is noteworthy as a precedent