Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 131 May the Force Be With You

It was a sunny day in California on May 1977, 5, and the temperature of 25 degrees Fahrenheit made people feel extremely comfortable.

But even if the weather is so sleepy, the highways in California are still full of cars. On non-public holidays and non-holiday days, most people still need to be busy with their own lives. Only a few freelancers can work on the road. This is the time to enjoy the tranquility that life brings.

And when the people who got off the night shift were packing their luggage and preparing to go home to rest, and everyone who just got up was carrying their handbags and preparing to go to work, in the major commercial chain theaters in Los Angeles, the staff wearing uniforms were already busy at this moment. sweat profusely.

They are dragging brand new electronic arcade machines to the ticket window as requested by the manager.

Turn on the power supply that has already been pulled up, and lightly press the rear switch, the words "Star Wars" popped up on the gray-white screen, and a simple tap on the button on the panel, a flashing PLAY appeared instantly Under the title of "Star Wars", immediately, the sound of "Dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-" echoed.

In such a situation, the theater manager in charge of supervision smiled, and the fact that there were no accidents also relieved the staff who transported the machine. They announced the end of the work with their hands on their hips, and the curious eyes shaking up and down revealed to the outside world that they Puzzled in my heart.

After staring at the electronic arcade machine of "Star Wars" for a while, a young man couldn't bear it anymore and asked, "Manager, why did our cinema suddenly purchase arcade machines?"

"If I remember correctly, didn't you tell us before that electronic arcade machines should not be placed in places like our movie theaters? Because it will take away our main business."

Although Xiaonang is only 20 years old this year, he is already a senior employee of this theater. He has come to the theater to make a living after graduating from high school, and he has recognized the money-making projects here in the past few years.

Although the place under their feet is called a movie theater, the box office share obtained from movie screenings is only the smallest revenue of a theater. The real source of profit is actually the sale of popcorn, soda and other snacks and drinks with a profit rate of more than 80.00%.

Since those beverages and snacks are used subconsciously by customers who enter the theater while watching the movie, they do not come to buy them subjectively, so if the theater wants to earn more, it must ensure that the number of moviegoers continues to increase. In this case, Electronic arcade machines that divert the number of moviegoers have become the last thing that can exist in movie theaters, because people who play games generally don't have time to eat snacks.

The above explanation is the answer given by the manager when the young man asked the manager why their movie theaters cannot use electronic arcade machines to attract customers like dance halls and billiard halls.

At the time he thought it was okay, but now...

For the first time, their movie theater bought an arcade machine?
Why is this behavior different from what you said at the beginning?

"What do you know? This is a promotional arcade machine released with the "Star Wars" movie!"

"The greatest significance of its existence is to attract players into the theater to watch movies!"

"This is the arcade machine that will help us make a lot of money!"

"It's not an ordinary game console!"

The fat manager happily explained the reason for purchasing the arcade machine.

That swearing tone can bring people a magical power called belief.

After hearing his explanation, Xiaonian nodded instinctively, feeling that there was nothing wrong.

After all, everyone in Mimi now knows that the "Star Wars" electronic arcade machine launched by Ethan Jones is a linkage game of the "Star Wars" movie.Chi Guoguo's promotional words almost didn't have the words "I'm an advertisement" written on his face.

But within a few seconds, Xiaonian felt something was wrong again.

If the "Star Wars" video game is an advertisement for the "Star Wars" movie, it can't be placed in the movie theater!If the game is very fun, there will inevitably be a crowd of people gathered at the entrance of the cinema. When people are playing games or watching others play games...

What about the theater inside?
Is anyone else going to the movies?

And if the movie is very good and the game is not good, then wouldn't this machine be bought for nothing?

What's more, if games and movies don't work...

Didn't they just pull up their pants?
When the young man humbly and studiously asked what he wanted in his heart, the fat manager's thick neck seemed to be pinched by a pair of invisible big hands. He stared at the machine in front of him with a stiff face, and then he lost his temper. He turned his head and said, "Why do you have so many?"

"This is the boss's decision!"

"Go back, go back!"

"Stay at your ticket window! Don't bother me here!"

'...'

The sudden anger made the young man a little confused.

Wanting to keep his job, he shut up decisively and got into his ticket window.

This situation was fully seen by an aunt inside. After seeing the boy being scolded, she laughed cheerfully, "Being scolded again? Don't be unhappy, our manager is just that bad-tempered."

"He feels that what he does is right. As long as others disagree with him, no matter what others say, he will think that those people are wrong."

"Take today's electronic arcade as an example. I'm just like you. I'm not optimistic about it."

"How many arcade machines will be placed in the cinema to attract customers?"

"Oh! My! God! This will definitely do a serious disservice to our theaters!"

"Have you heard the previous news? Many media have pointed out that there is a problem with the movie "Star Wars". If our boss is very optimistic, then we will definitely not put it on Wednesday, because today's adults need Go to work, kids need to go to school!"

“When a movie needs to use things like video games to trick people into the theater, then the quality of the movie will be very poor, and when people enter the theater because of the game, they think the movie is rubbish. They will definitely be disgusted with the game!"

"When the time comes—they might not even play games!"

The young man was taken aback when he heard the aunt's chatter.

He really hadn't thought about this direction.

And just when he was about to open his mouth to discuss, the voice of "dong dong dong" suddenly came.

The fat manager glared and leaned on the glass of the ticket window.

"I order you not to discuss such things!"

"If you keep talking like this, I will fire you!"

The fierce tone made Xiaonian shut up, while the aunt shrank her neck in fear. After the fat manager confirmed that nothing happened, she turned around and left, she curled her lips again and said, "Sxxt!"

"It seems that this month's bonus will be gone again."

Although these conductors are paid dead wages, if there is a blockbuster movie in the month of work, they will still receive a celebration bonus from the theater if they have to face a huge passenger flow.

The bonus amount may not be much, but it's better than nothing, right?

Regarding her complaints, the young man who had been scolded twice didn't dare to say anything, and sat there with blank eyes, waiting for the arrival of today's job, and under his daze, the time came quietly At nine o'clock in the morning western time, when the fat manager opened the shutters of the theater full of anticipation...

The figure of two or three kittens made the young man sneer.

"Workday-on?"

The aunt whispered: "There is still 40.00% of filming? Heh——"

This taunt made the young man sigh, and he raised his hand helplessly, wanting to receive the first batch of audience this morning, but before he could make a move, the young men guarding the entrance of the theater rushed towards him. The fat manager who opened the door asked, "Excuse me, do you have Star Wars games here?"

"I heard from media reports that Ethan Jones' new game will be released in North America today together with the movie? The location is the movie theater where you can watch "Star Wars"?"

"Yes, this way."

Although these people didn't come to watch the movie, the fat manager still welcomed them.

Get out of the way, wave your hand, and the electronic arcade machine with the poster of "Star Wars" suddenly appeared.

The brand-new machine brightened the eyes of the young people who came because of it. They flocked to the game machine one after another, took out the coins and wanted to taste them, and when the crisp 'jingle' sounded...

The endless and deep universe suddenly appeared on the screen of the electronic arcade machine. A circular aircraft appeared at the bottom of the screen, and opposite it was the endless imperial army.

Those who can play games at this point are definitely experienced users in the game field.With a simple fiddle with the joystick and a couple of taps of a button, they've figured out how the game works.

"Control the spaceship and hit the spaceship?"

"Oh—the setting is kind of interesting—but not much."

In the rattling sound, the Millennium Falcon moved left and right at the bottom of the screen;
Under the sound of slapping, biubiubiu's white laser suddenly appeared, attacking the enemy army brazenly.

Every time an enemy is hit, there will be a "boom" explosion sound effect in the speaker of the electronic arcade machine.

After successfully defending the first wave of enemies, a penetrating sentence came out of the speaker——

"You don't know the power of the dark side!"

(You know nothing about the power of the dark side!)

Such a line made the young people who were a little disappointed in the game widen their eyes.

While they were watching, a row of aircraft quietly emerged and launched a counterattack towards the Millennium Falcon below. The densely packed lasers were like a hail of bullets, making it impossible for people to dodge.

"boom!"

One mistake, the Millennium Falcon controlled by the young man was hit by a laser.

The horrific sight made him scream, "Sxxt! My spaceship!"

And just when he was about to accept failure, another voice came out from the speaker——

"May the Force be with you."

(May the Force be with you.)
In the low voice of blessings, the Millennium Falcon, which had disappeared due to the explosion, flashed twice on the screen and reappeared. At the same time, a voice of instruction also entered their ears——

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them."

(Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them.)
'! ! ! '

When this scene appeared, regardless of whether it was the young people tasting the game in front of the machine or the friends watching from the sidelines, they were all stunned!
Because they didn't expect that the "Star Wars" game would have such a resurrection effect?
Although in the game "Pac-Man", gamers in North America already know the setting of one coin and three lives in the game of destiny, but in the game "Pac-Man", the so-called resurrection is simple Just replay the single level, but now...

Resurrection and dubbing?

Rebirth and teaching?

What the hell is this special code?

Ah no——

"This special code is simply too cool!"

In the eyes of several young people, the soul of Secondary School was ignited!
"What is this force?" The friend who was watching the game loudly asked, "The force can revive the spaceship? Or are the shells fired by these spaceships the force?"

No one could answer his question.

Because no one knows about it now.

And the young man standing in front of the machine couldn't stop himself from pulling the rocker.

After he carefully defeated the second wave of enemies and avoided the second wave of laser salvo, he took advantage of the transition and waved his right hand, "Yes!"

But unfortunately, he was not happy for a while. When he eliminated the third wave of enemies according to the number of the first two waves, the sudden division of the enemy army made him stunned.

Immediately afterwards, he discovered that the spaceship that had escaped from the main force smashed the Millennium Falcon he was controlling into pieces with lightning speed and jingle-like momentum!
"boom--"

The strong explosion sound appeared again!

And that weird style of play that kills everyone is stunned!

"Fxxk you!!! How could there be such an attack!!!"

Young people playing games are stupid!
"Damn! This is too handsome!"

His little friends think this setting is Niubi Plus!

Because this game is Star Wars!
When the enemies in the interstellar world are slaughtered by the players over and over again, if they can still maintain a good self-restraint and continue to play that kind of little game with the players, then it will be boring!
Only a furious counterattack can carry the topic of interstellar!
What is a suicide attack when humanoids are capable of interstellar travel?
In the quiet and dark jungle, this kind of iron-blooded setting is very touching!

"Oh! Sxxt! Steven Spielberg is right! Ethan Jones is truly the most knowledgeable producer of video games in the world!"

"Compared to "Star Wars", Atari and Mirov's games are like shit!"

"No wonder Ethan Jones dared to publicly anger Atari and Mirov before!"

"Can it still be slandered with this kind of performance? Are there any fun games in this world?"

The sound of exclamation came out continuously.

After witnessing the actual effects of "Star Wars" with their own eyes, the few remaining people stopped watching and took out the coins in their pockets and threw them into the idle arcade machines beside them.

After a while, various complaints appeared one after another.

The originally quiet theater turned into an extremely noisy vegetable market amidst their shouts.

This scene made the fat manager very happy, because every crisp sound represented 25 cents in their theater, and this money...

There is no need to share with the Hollywood company!
But the aunt who sells tickets is on the sidelines.

Because in her opinion, these gamers are not the target customers of the theater.

The same is true. In just 15 minutes, these people played all the coins in their pockets.

When they emptied their pockets and stared helplessly at the electronic arcade, the fact that they were empty made them leave the movie theater regretfully.

"Come to the cinema and not watch a movie?"

"Then what's the difference between this and the game hall?"

Aunt whispered.

And just when she was holding the mentality of watching the fun, eager to see her manager overturning the arrangement of the arcade layout, it didn't take long for the young people who had left before to come back.

This time they went straight to the ticket booth and said, "What time is the nearest Star Wars?"

"Ten o'clock." Xiaonian replied.

"Give us five tickets."

"Ten dollars in total."

The happy transaction made the ticket sales lady a little dumbfounded.

She didn't expect that these people could still spend money!

You know, in just 15 minutes, the person who played the least of them also cast coins four times!
That means their smallest spend is five dollars!
And when the average person spends a dollar to play games, can they still shell out money to watch movies?

Oh--

This kind of money making speed is faster than selling snacks!
When this idea appeared, the ticket sales lady immediately shifted her gaze to those people.

Under her watchful eyes, those young people who bought the tickets went to the game console again...

Coin Play!

The crisp, snapping impact is the special sound of coins falling.

Ah ah ah ah ah a long sigh, that is the horn of anger for a comeback.

When the theater staff greeted them to go to check the tickets, these guys were still a little bit reluctant.

Looking at the appearance, it seems that I regret buying the ticket.

But two hours later, when they came out of the theater...

"May the Force be with you—"

A roar pierced the sky!
“Watch a movie watch a movie watch a movie!!!”

These young people yelled at the players next to the game consoles in the cinema lobby as if they were going crazy——

"Stop playing games! Stop playing games! Go to the movies! Go to the movies!"

"The Star Wars movies are as good as the games!"

"Do not--"

"This is absolutely the best movie I've ever seen in my life!"

"As long as you watch the movie, you will know what the words in the game mean! I really want to spoil it, but—this movie really has to be seen by yourself!"

"Oh yes! The spaceship on the screen is more handsome than the one in the game!"

The ticket sales aunt who looked like she was acting like a madman was stunned.

But those gamers got what they meant.

"Brother, are you serious?" The guy who was watching from the sidelines asked, "Is the spaceship in the movie as powerful as the game?"

"It's true!" The young man shouted after watching the movie, "Absolutely handsome!"

It seemed to want to prove what they said was true, but it was more like wanting to relive the shock just now. After shouting, they rushed to the ticket window to continue buying tickets.

"Give me five more Star Wars!"

The drug-like behavior scared the ticket sales lady. She didn't know what these young people were going crazy, but she could be so excited just watching a movie.

But as time went by, more and more people entered the theater...

That crazy shouting directly turned the theater into the set of "The Shining"!
They chanted the Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker!
They kept telling the gamers outside the theater the bullpits of the movie!
Even if it is difficult for ordinary people to understand their behavior, that's okay!

Because this kind of crazy thing didn't happen in Los Angeles!
When the first batch of gamers and fans walked out of the theater at twelve o'clock in the morning Eastern Time, the catharsis of running and shouting spread like wildfire to every corner of America.

Although May 1977th in 5 was a Wednesday, there were still quite a few audiences in theaters in various cities that afternoon. Judging by the number of people, it was at least 25% more than usual.

As for where these people come from?
That young face looked like he had skipped class.

After waiting for two hours and two hours of screenings to end, the excitement of running around to tell each other, besieging the arcades and rushing to play, directly made movie theaters all over the city the most lively places in the city.

The long queue made the passers-by who just got off work look surprised.

After waiting for them to inquire, to be curious, to try...

The telephones of the police everywhere have been exploded!

"This is Century City Cinemas here! I need police assistance right now! We only have three Star Wars electronic arcade machines here! But a lot of people want to play! Now they are all jammed in our lobby! We are understaffed, not at all It is impossible to maintain order at the scene!"

"This is the Long Island Movie Theater! We've got Star Wars people lined up on the street! Even two! Oh, what did you say? Three now? Oh Sxxt! Three now! Some people are not Stopping and cutting the queue, some people are pushing and fighting, we can't control the scene! We need the police! We need the police! Come quickly!"

"This is Boston, ah—I've been attacked—"

When Evelyn, who was sitting in the car, witnessed with her own eyes how the theaters in Los Angeles developed from a few people to full, she took off her sunglasses and her face was full of disbelief.

"Oh - Ethan! Is that what you said the movie was going to blow up???"

"Yeah!" Ethan, who had been wandering around Los Angeles for a day, nodded with a smile, staring at the flow of people outside the window, and said, "This is what I call a big explosion."

At the same time, he also smiled and asked, "Evelyn, do you think this scene is spectacular?"

"Spectacular??? How do you use this word to describe the current scene???"

Looking at the flickering lights of the police car, Evelyn said loudly: "Can this kind of scene be called spectacular? Ah, what I mean is, this special thing is obviously a miracle!!!"

"Today is Wednesday!"

"It's not a holiday!"

"Although we have hyped up a lot of topics before, isn't this kind of crowd flow that is more than usual on weekends too exaggerated? No! This is too shocking!"

The girl is a little incoherent.

At the same time, she was also very puzzled, "Why do these people like "Star Wars"?"

"Why are they touting that movie like crazy?"

"why?"

The girl couldn't figure it out.

Ethan, who was holding the steering wheel, raised the corner of his mouth.

"Why?" He repeated his sister's question in confusion.

Then he smiled with emotion: "Because it's called "Star Wars", it's as simple as that."

When Ethan witnesses living history firsthand!See for yourself how Star Wars ignited the North American scene in an instant!He really didn't bother to analyze why this movie was a success!
Because it doesn't make any sense.

When something is successful, it smells good even if it farts.When the fact of success is in front of the public, people will no longer think about its failure.

Since the general public will instinctively give up the ability to think, then a person with vested interests like him should analyze it!Enjoy it all!Wouldn't it be over to enjoy the beauty brought by success?

Anyway, this is his victory!

"My dear sister, would you like to see the revised film?"

Ethan pestered the girl.

"Now?" Evelyn pointed out the window, very surprised.

"Yeah~ it's now~" Although he asked, Ethan had already turned off the engine and got out of the car.

"Let's feel the enthusiasm of the people together."

"Then you realize that it's a great feeling to be popular."

Ethan opened the co-pilot's door and extended his left hand to Evelyn.

This perverted thought that ordinary people can't understand made Evelyn take a deep look at Ethan, then shook her head with a helpless smile, and passed her hand over.

They lined up in Los Angeles at five o'clock in the afternoon, but they didn't buy tickets for ten o'clock until 06:30.

The waiting process was painful, but the cheering and screaming was joyful.

They witnessed groups of audiences rushing out of the theater shouting lines from the movie!
I also witnessed an electronic arcade machine being frantically wrapped by fans on three floors inside and three floors outside!
They saw the madness of cleaning out an arcade coin box every three hours!
I also heard the shocking call of the Millennium Falcon flying across the screen and in the auditorium!

When they squeezed out of the cinema again, it was already twelve o'clock at night.

But even so, there are still many people at the entrance of the theater.

They want to play games.

Regarding this kind of siege, the manager on duty held up a loudspeaker and kept explaining his difficulties.

"Everyone! Today's business is over! Please come back tomorrow!"

"I know you guys want to play games, but we can't put arcade machines at the door just yet."

"Please give me some time, tomorrow! I promise to solve this problem!"

"At the same time, I also promise you! We will order more arcade machines from Destiny Games!"

"Please believe us, there will be more figures at the entrance of the theater soon!"

The hoarse words made Evelyn burst out laughing.

After seeing the enthusiasm of the North American people, she no longer made a fuss at this moment.

The reason why she laughs is because of the promise of the theater manager.

As the chairman of Destiny Games and the big boss of the company, she knows better than anyone else that those people in the North American theater chain thought that [-] electronic arcade machines were enough to meet the needs of the people.

But now, after the market is overwhelmed, do you want to add orders urgently?
Oh, it's really—

Evelyn glanced at Ethan.

Ethan, who understood what she meant, nodded with a smile, "It's okay to add orders, but..."

He stretched out his voice.

Evelyn, who had learned it badly, smiled and said.

At that moment, the two said at the same time: "We need to pay more."

"Hahaha--"

The tacit words made the two of them laugh out loud.

And when they boarded the car and went to the hotel to rest...

In the neon-flashing city, their legends are still being sung.

　Notes: ① In reality, "Star Wars" exploded when it was screened. In its documentary, it also showed photos from that year, and the movie theaters queued up to watch movies on weekdays. That is simply nonsense.And its total number of viewers is second only to "Gone with the Wind", with [-] million in North America.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)