Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 129 Sir! It’s time to defend the food!
In fact, when Ethan set his entrepreneurial goal as video arcades, he had considered North American movie theaters as his target customers. Firstly, movie theaters have fixed business locations and stable customer flow, which meet the standards for placing video arcades; secondly, in his previous life, major movie theaters already had a variety of arcade machines.

During his school years, he was drawn to a New York movie theater by the name of Tom Cruise, where he watched the abysmal The Mummy.

However, although the movie is rubbish, the "Mummy" game consoles released in theaters are quite interesting. IMAX and HTC have jointly produced a VR version of the monster-killing game, with rich experiences in more than ten venues, allowing players to fight against the endless army of mummies together with Tom Cruise.

In addition, he vaguely remembered that in his hometown in the East, there were many arcade machines in major cinemas, including claw machines that sold items in disguise, basketball machines for people to play, and fishing game machines that were placed for profit...

It was precisely because these arrangements were still fresh in Ethan's memory that two years ago, when he first started working with Atari, he was really looking forward to the green snake occupying North American theaters.

There is no way, who makes businesses like such large and stable customers?
But after he followed Jobs in delivering goods for a month, he was surprised to find that the demand for video arcade machines among his target customers was not great.

When Snake was being sold, only a few dozen theaters in North America purchased this arcade machine. The subsequent Pac-Man was a little better, but the market share of the game was still limited to only a hundred theaters.

This fact puzzled Ethan. He didn't understand why a popular entertainment venue like a movie theater would reject a product with a very high profit margin like an arcade. He didn't find the answer at the time, but after Fox came up with the publicity and promotion plan, Ethan, who discovered the problem, asked what he was thinking.

It was not until then that he learned the truth from people in the industry.

"Ethan, your question is very simple."

The fat Fox executive looked at Ethan with a smile and said, "Why don't North American theaters purchase a large number of video arcade machines? That's because we don't allow it. Not only does Fox not allow it, but other theaters such as Warner, Universal, Disney, Columbia, and MGM also don't allow it."

"Why not allow it?"

“The reason for this problem is actually simpler.”

"Because we all know that when video arcades enter North American theaters, our movie box office will suffer a huge impact."

That's right!

This is the key reason why "Snake" and "Pac-Man" were not purchased in large quantities by theaters!

Because Hollywood giants have seen the power of video games!

They are afraid and want to protect their own interests!
Before the advent of video arcades, movies were the cheapest form of entertainment in North America.

The miracle of $200 million box office of "Gone with the Wind" was achieved by nearly 200 million moviegoers from North America. This can even be called a textbook example of small profits but quick turnover.

Although movie ticket prices in the United States have increased over the years, compared with other forms of entertainment, the price of just over one dollar is still extremely cheap.

Unfortunately……

Ever since the advent of video arcades, movies have become less cheap!
Perhaps many people would think that an arcade game that costs tens of cents to play and lasts for a few minutes at most is more expensive than a few hours of visual enjoyment, but this is not how it is calculated.

Because a few dozen cents actually represents a lower threshold for playing.

At the same time, video games have the advantage of transparency that movies do not have.

In life, many people spend a dollar to go to the cinema, only to find that they have been deceived by Hollywood's propaganda. Not only have they wasted two hours, but more importantly, they have also paid to eat shit.

Electronic arcades are different. When they appear openly on the streets, people who want to experience the game can watch others play it first and then choose whether to play it themselves.

When the two advantages of low threshold and wide choice appeared at the same time, the discerning people in Hollywood naturally realized that the product of electronic arcades would definitely kill the movie industry. So when Nolan Bushnell wanted to sell Atari, Universal and Disney contacted him and tried to enter the market.

Before they enter...

It is absolutely intolerable that those game companies would extend their hands into our backyard!
After Ethan finished listening to the fat supervisor's description, he felt a little emotional, because this unrelated conflict of interests was indeed not what he had considered at the beginning.

The leak of these inside stories also made Ethan somewhat excited, because he knew that if Fox had not been desperate and eager to recover all the tens of millions of dollars invested in "Star Wars", they would never have been leading him wholeheartedly like they are now.

Of course, at the same time, a doubt arose in Ethan's heart.

Is Fox's leading the way a violation of industry rules? After all, the threat of banning North American theaters from purchasing video arcade machines was a joint decision made by several major Hollywood companies, and now that Fox has taken the lead in breaking this tacit agreement, won't this cause other companies to attack it?

But when he asked this question, the fat manager of Fox burst into laughter.

"We, Fox, are breaking the rules?"

"Oh Ethan, if the other families dare to say that, we will definitely tear their mouths apart!"

"What are the rules of the trade?"

"Industry rules are nothing more than companies in an industry feeling that they can't make money through malicious competition, so they are forced to sit down and have a good discussion, trying to use rules to protect their own interests!"

"If there is a company that can break out of the vicious cycle of malicious competition..."

"Then he will definitely break the rules!"

"And, judging from the current situation, Warner was the first to break the industry rules, right?"

“They bought Atari!”

"Although Atari is currently making home consoles, no one can guarantee that they will not turn around and make video arcades. When Warner is a big step ahead of us in the field of video games, the thing we other companies want to do most is to take a knife and stab them all to death!"

"If you can sell video arcade machines in theaters and force Warner's tens of millions of dollars of investment to go down the drain, then I believe that Universal, Disney, Columbia, and MGM will all agree with it! Or... they may not actually show up, but they will definitely help you behind the scenes, not to help you succeed, but just to disgust Warner!"

"Besides, there is a benefit to doing this."

"That means we don't have to worry about subsequent attacks from Warner and Philips."

"When your response makes them feel uncomfortable, they will definitely try to regain the lost face. In this case, once you release the game, they will definitely smear it like crazy."

"If your customers are still retail investors like before, they will definitely be influenced by public opinion. After all, not every customer can come to California to see the machine. But if your customers are large companies like North American cinema chains with thousands of stores, then they will be easier to communicate with. As long as you reach an agreement with the boss, all the stores will definitely stock the product!"

…………

The conversation that took place a few weeks ago was still fresh in Ethan's memory.

At that time, he was smiling like a flower, because he knew that he was not fighting alone.

After greeting the owners of North American cinema chains, the group wasted no time and sat down in the Fox screening room to review the movie "Star Wars".

then……

Ethan discovered that the joy from his previous life that had been buried for many years finally appeared.

After Spielberg's revisions and Industrial Light & Magic's post-processing, the movie "Star Wars" finally had its own color. After the logos of 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm flashed by, the backward words in the starry sky made Ethan smile.

The one without the title of 'Part 4 A New Hope' is the purest first-generation movie.

The opening plot of Darth Vader hunting down Princess Leia is a standard narrative technique for Hollywood commercial films, which gets to the point quickly and accurately, letting the audience know who the good guys and the bad guys are.

When the opposing sides are clear, the public’s viewing experience will be very good, because they will read the story told by the director based on the good or bad of the characters.

The content of the movie "Star Wars" is also very simple. It tells the story of a Galactic Empire in a distant galaxy. Their establishment was not glorious, so even after the establishment of the country, there was still a resistance alliance to fight against them. In order to destroy the resistance, the Galactic Empire built a weapon called the Death Star, which is powerful enough to destroy a planet.

In order to prevent the Galactic Empire from using this super weapon, the leader of the resistance, Princess Leia, stole its intelligence, and was captured by the dark lord of the empire, Darth Vader, while escaping. But before that, the princess hid the Death Star's design and distress message in a robot named R2-D2, and sent it to the planet Tatooine to ask for help from the legendary Jedi Knight Obi-Wan.

In the process of seeking help, the robot met a boy named Luke Skywalker. During a rush, the boy found Obi-Wan and learned about his life experience. His father was a Jedi Knight, but was later killed by Darth Vader. Obi-Wan invited him to join the rebels, but Luke refused. However, when Luke returned home, he found that his uncle and aunt were killed by the imperial soldiers who were searching for robots, so he decided to follow Obi-Wan to save the princess. In the process, they hired a bounty hunter named Han Solo and boarded the opponent's Millennium Falcon...

To be honest, the plot of "Star Wars" is not profound. If I have to describe it, it is the most classic Hollywood hero script, that is, the protagonist encounters a problem, the protagonist wants to solve the problem, grows in the process, and then simply exaggerates the family and kinship, and finally explodes to kill the villain.

Its whole selling point is the special effects.

From the perspective of a viewer, Ethan thinks the special effects of this movie are excellent. Even after watching it again many years later, he can still praise George Lucas' imagination.

But I don’t know why, after watching this movie, all the bosses of North American theaters looked troubled, with their brows furrowed, as if they hadn’t pooped in seven days.

“Will the audience really like this movie?” Richard Smith, the owner of GCC, said, leaning on the sofa in the screening room with both hands. “The story is complete, but there is nothing new.”

Ted Mann, the owner of Mann Theatres, nodded and said, "Yes, I thought this was a movie similar to Planet of the Apes, where science fiction is just an embellishment and the real discussion is about the humanities, but... I didn't expect it to be like this..."

AMC boss Stanley Durwood did not hide it, saying: "The movie looks too colorful, with too many lights and explosions, and I don't understand why it is like this."

"If it's an action movie, then I can understand it, but science fiction movies... Aren't science fiction movies nowadays all about discussing the inner meaning of life?"

At this point, Stanley Durwood also turned his attention to George Lucas.

"George, this is not the first time we have met. Your previous film, American Graffiti, was very good... I always thought you were a smart director because you studied with Francis (Coppola), and he made a great movie like The Godfather in front of you, so... Can you tell me why you want to make a movie like Star Wars?"

"Do you really think..."

“Will this movie be liked by the audience?”

When this question came up, everyone at the scene turned their eyes to George Lucas.

Facing everyone's stares, Lucas, who no longer had the confidence he had before, pursed his lips and said, "I..."

He hesitated for a moment, and then stopped talking.

After a series of setbacks, he actually didn't know whether his movie was good enough.

Ethan, who witnessed the scene, smiled and patted him.

That caring gesture attracted everyone's attention.

Finding himself the focus of the whole audience, Ethan did not keep anyone in suspense and said directly:

"You think this movie is not good, that's normal."

"Because this movie is made for people who have fantasies."

"You think it's a science fiction film, but it's actually a fairy tale drama that depicts the heroic dreams that ordinary people have had..."

It was not until then that Ethan finally understood why no one was optimistic about the movie "Star Wars".

Because when a group of industry insiders are looking for profundity in a fairy tale drama, and when a group of theater owners are looking for the core in those hardcore movies, they will never be able to understand "Star Wars" in their lifetime!
What is Star Wars about?
That's how the poor boy Luke Skywalker picked up his father's lightsaber to save the world!

The whole story is the kind of cool plot that ordinary people love to read!
The whole movie is full of classic special effects!

When Luke Skywalker gained the power of the Force and cut down those evil stormtroopers...

Want to be a hero! Ordinary people who dream of reaching the top of the world will feel great!
In this case, let some bosses who are only concerned about money and practitioners who are full of hatred and grudges review this movie?

Isn't this just like the blind man telling the deaf man that he saw the mute singing?

Until this kind of movie is successful, they won't know what ordinary people really need!

And Ethan...

I'm too lazy to talk to them anymore.

Ethan showed his firm attitude, and the theater owners and Fox executives were silent. They looked at each other for a few times, then smiled and asked Ethan to show his arcade. After all, all the bosses at the scene came for the electronic arcade.

They don't care about the movie "Star Wars" at all. They just want to break through the blockade of Hollywood giants and get a piece of the pie in the gaming field.

This was indeed an uncomfortable fact, and Ethan knew that he was powerless to change it. He shook his head and stood up to go on stage. At this moment, Lucas pulled him down.

"Thank you." The bearded man said in a low voice.

When he looked into his eyes, Ethan saw tears in his eyes.

But that was only fleeting, the bearded man blinked his eyes and then gave a thumbs up.

"come on."

This response made Ethan laugh.

Stretch out your right hand and strike it.

"Give me five!"

The crisp sound was heard by everyone. Perhaps they had already heard from Fox about the excellence of the game, so the bosses did not rush. Instead, when Ethan came on stage and showed "Star Wars" to everyone, the performance was not inferior to that of "Pac-Man", which made them very satisfied.

Oh no!
It gave them a great surprise!
“How much is this machine?”

After Ethan introduced the machine, AMC boss Stanley Durwood asked decisively: "Is it two thousand dollars like Pac-Man? If so, give me a thousand."

"We have more than 500 theaters at AMC, and we can put two or three in urban areas and one in rural areas."

"Oh, by the way, can I get a discount if I buy so much?"

"One thousand and fifty?"

"After all, your original copy of Snake only sold for twelve thousand?"

Such words made everyone at the scene burst into laughter.

Richard Smith, the boss of GCC, waved his hand and said, "Oh Stanley - Snakes sell for twelve thousand, that's because they're circuit board games!"

"That kind of game doesn't have much technical content, so it's normal that the price is not high."

"And now it's the CPU era!"

"If you still want to buy the arcade machine at the price of a circuit board, then you really have no sincerity at all!"

"If you can't afford it, just tell us earlier and don't waste our time here!"

"Who can't afford it? It's just two million, isn't it? It's easy for us AMC!" AMC's boss Stanley Durwood was immediately unhappy when he heard this mockery and said, "We AMC want one thousand units, how many can you GCC take?"

“You have more cinemas than we do!”

"You can't buy less than us, right?"

Although the AMC boss was a bit provocative, the GCC boss ignored him.

He smiled and said to Ethan, "Before the movie is released, I hope there will be a thousand arcade machines in my theaters. This should not be difficult for you guys to play Destiny, right?"

"After all, most of our theaters are in California."

AMC and GCC just had a brief argument, and then took away two thousand video arcade machines. This kind of relaxed and pleasant decision is rare in the world.

At the same time, this number also made Ted Mann, the owner of Mann Theatres, a little panicked.

When his old friend Richard Smith finished speaking, he also quickly said, "We at Mann Theatres want 2,000 units, an average of three units per theater!"

"I've learned about your company, and I know that you definitely can't deliver the goods to your door in a short period of time, so I can ask those theater managers to drive directly to your factory to pick up the goods!"

"But at the same time, I also have a request, which is that you can no longer sell the Star Wars arcade machines to other companies or individuals. Our North American theaters must enjoy the unique game bonus!"

When these words came out, whether it was the bosses of AMC and GCC who had already spoken, or the businessmen of small and medium-sized cinema chains who had not yet expressed their opinions, they all nodded in unison.

They thought this was a great idea!

There is no way. We are all in Hollywood, and everyone knows that the best business is to monopolize special codes. When a game is related to a movie, it is reasonable to let it appear in the theater. First, it can help advertise the movie, and second, it can allow the audience to play the game immediately after watching the movie. When this kind of business that can sell tickets by looking up and collect money by looking down appears, they don't want others to come and share it!

As for this suggestion...

Ethan just smiled and said, “Although the three of you asked for 4,000 units, I think the remaining bosses will definitely not be able to ask for another 4,000 units, right?”

'? '

No one understood what Ethan meant.

Ethan did not keep the secret and continued, "It's not that I'm conceited, but the sales of the games I created have never been less than 12,000 units."

"Snake is not there, but Pac-Man is higher."

"And now, everyone knows that I, Ethan Jones, have a new game."

"In this case, even if you don't buy, other merchants will buy a lot of it."

"So, if you want to monopolize, then show some sincerity."

"I'll make 20,000 of them, and you guys can take them all."

"If you agree, I can guarantee that I will not sell arcade machines to the public within a year!"

That's right!

Although Ethan knew that the North American cinema owners in front of him were the best customers he could find at the moment, he was still not prepared to lick these people!
This is not only because he knows that "Star Wars" will be a hit, but also because he is very confident in his reputation! He firmly believes that with the support of "Snake" and "Pac-Man", this new game called "Star Wars" will definitely sell better!

Moreover, after he had taken great pains to catch the popularity of "Star Wars", what he wanted to do most was not just to sell a machine, but to ride on the tide of the times and set a new record for the sales of the "Star Wars" arcade machine! At the same time, he told everyone -

His MIRO and Atari are garbage!

They can only engage in verbal battles because they can’t sell more arcade machines than me!
Then in this case...

Does the North American cinema owner want to monopolize the industry with thousands of arcade machines?
hehe--

My Lord! The food has been answered!
And when Ethan openly stated that he was the stronger party in this negotiation...

All those bosses who had dared to criticize the movie have now fallen silent.

Because they knew what Ethan said was true.

In the past few years when they weren't around, Ethan had sold out the arcade just from retail sales.

Now, they are literally begging Ethan to allow Star Wars arcade machines to enter theaters.

If Ethan disagrees and sells the films recklessly, the cinema will be the one that suffers in the end.

After all, when the gaming buzz came out, they had to show the movie anyway.

Thinking of this, theater owners in North America also began to look around.

After a brief eye contact, they said they needed a private space for a brief discussion.

Ethan agreed to this reasonable request.

Since it was already dinner time, he took Lucas's arm and asked him to take him to Fox's cafeteria to get some food. When he returned to the screening room, the owner of the North American theater chain had also made a decision.

"The most we can take is 6,000," said Ted Mann, owner of Mann Theatres.

"And all 6,000 units must be delivered before May 25, which is before Star Wars is officially released. The latest delivery date cannot be later than 12:00 a.m. on May 24, Western Time."

"At the same time, we hope that you can't sell Star Wars arcade machines for three months after the official release of the movie and the game."

"If you agree, we can give you a 40 percent advance within a week."

“For the rest, we will pay cash on delivery.”

Such words made Ethan laugh.

He loves this kind of compromise!
But he didn't like this time.

"One month at most." He said, "I can only let you send it for one month first."

"You have earned several times the profit in this month. Even if I continue to sell arcade machines, you have the geographical advantage of occupying the cinema."

"At the same time, you must promise me that in the first week of the movie's release, the screening volume of Star Wars cannot be less than 50%!"

"I only need this week, because the results will prove everything."

"If you can agree, then we will sign the contract directly."

Yes!

This is the real reason why Ethan is discussing cooperation with North American theater owners!
The previous version of "Star Wars" was not directly launched in North America.

Because no one was optimistic about the film, all major theaters screened it on a small scale. After the movie became a big hit, they expanded the number of screenings to satisfy the hungry fans.

But in this life, Ethan doesn't want to wait anymore!
When he named the game "Star Wars", what he wanted to see most was——

Games and movies, take off together!
If "Star Wars" is not popular for a long time, it would be disrespectful to the reputation he has accumulated with "Snake" and "Pac-Man", and to "Star Wars", the number one IP in America!

As for why he is so anxious?
Very simple!
He can do other things slowly and leisurely.

But to strike your opponent, you must achieve success with lightning speed!
Now that I've thrown my fist——

Then you must use the power of one punch to knock your opponent into the ground!

Note: ① The game "The Mummy" mentioned in the article has only been displayed in IMAX theaters in New York and Los Angeles. ② "Space Invaders" is the first arcade game that has become popular in bowling alleys, dance halls, and billiard halls in North America. It is also the first arcade game that has really entered gas stations, movie theaters and other major public places. North American movie theaters did not dare to promote arcade games before because they were threatened by Hollywood. As for the point where the balance was broken, it was indeed when Warner officially acquired Atari. ③ "Star Wars" is a fairy tale. This is what Lucas said in an interview with "Time" on May 77, 5. Please don't criticize me for this. This is not what I said. The original sentence is 'A film for a generation growing up without fairy tales'. ④ There are three types of theaters in North America. The first type is commercial theaters, which are now chain theaters. The second type is drive-in theaters, which are open-air movie screenings where audiences drive to watch. The third type is independent theaters, which NBA's Shaquille O'Neal has opened before. It is a place where art films and foreign films are screened. These three cinema chains together make up tens of thousands of screens, and among them, only commercial cinema chains show Hollywood movies at the same time, so don’t think that the 30 screens sold at one time in the article are too few, I actually added 1200 to this number. It’s a moderate exaggeration, please understand.

PS1, no more.

PS2, I have a lot of things to do tomorrow. I will try my best to write. If I can’t write, see you on the 9th.

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(End of this chapter)