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
Shadows (1959 film) change his ways in the first version. In his December 1959 manifesto "A Call for a New Generation of Film Makers", Mekas said that "Shadows" was the start of a new movement which would inspire independent filmmakers, energize the flagging avant-garde film scene, and triumph over the commercial Hollywood film industry. Even so, he was upset that the film had been reworked. In January 1960 he wrote in his movie review column in "The Village Voice" that the 1959 version was commercialized, "just another Hollywood film", and that everything he had praised in the first version had been "completely destroyed."