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 (2016 film) of marketing, were potential causes for the film's underperformance. According to "Variety", the film was unable to expand beyond its core Christian audience. It performed well in areas of the US that are more religious, but did not do as well in more secular regions of the country. As a result of its poor opening, "Ben-Hur" joined various other films set in ancient times to underperform at the box office, especially recent big-budget movies from major studios – "" (2014), "The Legend of Hercules" (2014), and "Gods of Egypt" (2016). "Ben-Hur" depended heavily on foreign markets, especially in Christian offshore