Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 131 May the Force be with you

It was a sunny day in California on May 1977, 5, with a comfortable temperature of 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

But even though the weather is so good, there is still a constant flow of cars on California's roads. On days other than public holidays, most people still need to busy themselves with their lives. Only a few freelancers can enjoy the tranquility that life brings at this time.

While people who had finished their night shifts were packing their bags to go home and rest, and those who had just woken up were carrying their bags to go to work, the staff in uniform in the major commercial cinema chains in Los Angeles were already busy sweating.

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

After turning on the power that had already been connected and pressing the rear switch lightly, the words "Star Wars" suddenly popped up on the gray-white screen. With a simple tap on the button on the panel, a flashing PLAY instantly appeared under the title of "Star Wars", followed by the sound of music "Dang-Dang Dang Dang-Dang Dang-Dang Dang-"

This situation made the supervising theater manager smile, and the fact that there were no accidents also made the staff transporting the machines breathe a sigh of relief. They put their hands on their hips and announced that the work was completed, and their curious eyes that moved up and down revealed their confusion to the outside world.

After staring at the Star Wars arcade machine for a while, a young man couldn't help but ask, "Manager, why did our cinema suddenly purchase arcade machines?"

"If I remember correctly, didn't you tell us before that in a place like our cinema, the last thing we should have is an arcade machine? Because it will take away our main business."

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

Although the place under their feet is called a cinema, the share of the box office revenue from movie screenings is only the smallest portion of a cinema's income. The real source of profit is actually the sale of snacks and beverages such as popcorn and soda, with a profit margin of over 80 percent.

Since those drinks and snacks are consumed subconsciously by customers while watching a movie and are not purchased consciously, if a theater wants to make more money, it must ensure that the number of moviegoers continues to increase. In this case, electronic arcade machines that divert the number of moviegoers become the most unacceptable thing in a theater, because people who play games generally don't have time to eat snacks.

The above explanation was the answer given by the manager when the young man asked why their cinema could not use electronic arcade machines to attract customers like dance halls and billiard halls.

He thought it was no problem at the time, but now...

Their cinema actually bought an arcade machine for the first time?
Why is this behavior different from what we said at the beginning?

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

"The greatest significance of its existence is to attract players to go to the cinema to watch movies!"

“This is the arcade machine that can help us make a lot of money!”

“It’s not just any ordinary game console!”

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

That confident tone can bring people a magic called belief.

After hearing his explanation, the young man nodded instinctively, thinking that there was nothing wrong with it.

After all, everyone in the US knows that the Star Wars arcade machine launched by Ethan Jones is a game linked to the Star Wars movie. The naked promotional words are almost written with the words "I am an advertisement" on the face.

But after a few seconds, the young man felt something was wrong again.

If the Star Wars video game is an advertisement for the Star Wars movie, then it can’t be put in a movie theater! If the game is really fun, then a bunch of people will definitely gather at the entrance of the movie theater. When people are playing games or watching others play games...

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

But if the movie is really good but the game is not so good, then wouldn’t it be a waste of money to buy the machine?

More importantly, if neither games nor movies work...

Then wouldn't they just poop in their pants?
When the young man asked what he was thinking, the fat manager's thick neck seemed to be pinched by a pair of invisible hands. He stared at the machine in front of him with a stiff face and looked at it carefully for a few times. Then he turned his head and said unhappily, "Why do you have so many whys?"

“This is the boss’s decision!”

"Go back, go back, go back!"

"Go to your ticket window! Don't bother me here!"

'...'

The sudden anger left the young man a little confused.

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

This situation was seen by an old lady inside. After seeing the young man being scolded, she laughed cheerfully, "Being scolded again? Don't be upset, our manager has a bad temper."

"He thinks that what he does is right. If someone disagrees with him, no matter what they say, he will think that person is wrong."

"Take today's arcade for example. Like you, I am not optimistic about it."

“Put a few arcade machines in the cinema to attract customers?”

"Oh! My! God! This will definitely cause serious damage to our theater!"

"Have you heard about the previous news? Many media have pointed out that there are problems with the movie Star Wars. If our boss is optimistic about it, then he will definitely not release it on Wednesday, because adults need to go to work and children need to go to school today!"

"When a movie needs to use video games to trick people into watching, then the quality of the movie must be very poor. And when people go to the theater because of the game, they will think the movie is rubbish and they will definitely be disgusted with the game!"

"By then—maybe they won't even play the game!"

The young man was stunned by the aunt's chattering.

He really hasn't thought about this direction.

Just when he was about to start a discussion, a "dong dong dong" sound suddenly came.

The fat manager leaned against the glass of the ticket window with a glare on his face.

"I order you not to discuss such matters!"

"If you keep saying that, I'll fire you!"

The fierce tone made the young man shut up, and the old lady shrank her neck in fear. After the fat manager confirmed that everything was fine and turned away, she curled her lips again and said, "Sxxt!"

"It looks like this month's bonus will be gone again."

Although these ticket sellers receive a fixed salary, if there is a blockbuster movie released in the month they work, they will still receive a celebratory bonus from the cinema as they have to deal with a huge flow of customers.

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

The young man, who had been scolded twice, did not dare to say anything about her complaints. He sat there with lifeless eyes, waiting for the arrival of today's work. As he was in a daze, time quietly came to nine o'clock in the morning in the Western Conference time. When the fat manager opened the shutter door of the cinema with great expectation...

The sight of the two or three kittens made the young man hear a sneer.

"Workdays—ah?"

The aunt whispered, "There's still 40% of the screenings? Haha——"

The young man sighed at the mockery and raised his hand helplessly, wanting to greet the first batch of audiences this morning. But before he could take any action, the young men guarding the door of the theater asked the fat manager who opened the door: "Excuse me, do you have any Star Wars games here?"

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

"Yes, this way."

Although these people were not there to watch a movie, the fat manager still welcomed them.

He stepped aside and waved his hand, and the arcade machine with the Star Wars poster on it suddenly appeared.

The brand new machine made the young people's eyes light up. They rushed to the game machine, took out coins and wanted to taste it. When the crisp "ding-dong" sound rang out...

The boundless deep universe suddenly appeared on the screen of the video arcade. 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 veterans in the gaming field. After simply fiddling with the joystick and tapping the button twice, they already understand how to play the game.

"Control a spaceship to attack another spaceship?"

"Oh - that's an interesting setting - but not much."

Amid the clacking sounds, the Millennium Falcon moved left and right at the bottom of the screen;
With the sound of slapping, biubiubiu's white laser suddenly appeared and attacked the enemy army fiercely.

Every time an enemy is hit, a "boom" explosion sound effect will be heard from the speakers of the arcade machine.

After successfully holding off the first wave of enemies, a creepy sentence came out of the speaker -

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

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

Such lines made the young people, who were somewhat disappointed with the game, open their eyes wide.

As they watched, a row of aircraft quietly emerged and launched a counterattack towards the Millennium Falcon below. The dense array of lasers was like a hail of bullets, making it impossible to dodge.

"boom!"

Due to a mistake, the Millennium Falcon operated by the young man was hit by a laser.

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

Just as he was about to accept defeat, another voice came out of the speaker -

"May the Force be with you."

(May the Force be with you.)
Amid the low blessing, 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 drilled into their ears -

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

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

When this scene appeared, no matter whether it was the young people appreciating the game in front of the machine or the friends watching on the side, they were all stunned!
Because they didn't expect that the "Star Wars" game would have such a resurrection effect?
Although North American gamers already knew about the one-coin-three-life setting of the Destiny game in the game Pac-Man, in the game Pac-Man, the so-called resurrection was just a simple replay of the level, and now...

Resurrection with dubbing?

Rebirth and teaching?

What the hell is this?

Oh, that's not right.

"This is so damn cool!"

The second-year student spirit ignited in the eyes of several young people!
"What is this Force?" The friend who was watching the game asked loudly: "Can the Force revive the spacecraft? Or are the shells fired by these spacecraft the Force?"

No one could answer his question.

Because no one knows this joke now.

The young man standing in front of the machine was busy pulling the joystick.

After he carefully defeated the second wave of enemies and dodged the second wave of laser volleys, he took advantage of the transition to wave his right hand, "Yes!"

But unfortunately, he didn't have time to be happy. When he used the same method to eliminate the third wave of enemies as he did for the first two waves, he was stunned by the sudden splitting of the enemies.

Then he discovered that the spaceship that had separated from the main force smashed the Millennium Falcon he was controlling into pieces with lightning speed!
"boom--"

The loud explosion sounded again!

And that bizarre strategy of mutual destruction made everyone stunned!

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

Young people who play games are stupid!
"Damn! This is so cool!"

His friends think this setting is awesome!

Because this game is Star Wars!
When the enemies in StarCraft are slaughtered again and again by players, it would be boring if they could keep themselves in check and not lose their temper, and continue to play those kinds of house games with the players!
Only an irresistible counterattack can carry the topic of interstellar!
When humanoid species can travel between stars, what does a suicide attack matter?
In the quiet and dark forest, this iron-blooded setting is very exciting!

"Oh! Sxxt! Steven Spielberg was right! Ethan Jones is the producer who knows the most about video games in the world!"

"Compared to Star Wars, Atari and MILO games are shit!"

"No wonder Ethan Jones dared to publicly criticize Atari and MILOVA!"

"How can such a performance be slandered? Are there any fun games in this world?"

Exclamations came out one after another.

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

Before long, all kinds of complaints emerged one after another.

The originally quiet cinema turned into a noisy vegetable market amid their shouting.

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

There is no need to share with Hollywood companies!
But the ticket seller just stood by and watched coldly, because in her opinion, these game players were not the target customers of the cinema.

Indeed, in just fifteen minutes, these people had used up all the coins in their pockets.

When they emptied their pockets and stared at the arcade machines with helpless looks, the fact that they had no money forced them to leave the cinema with regret.

"Come to the cinema but don't watch a movie?"

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

The aunt muttered quietly.

Just as she was having fun, eager to see her manager make a mistake in arranging the arcade machines, not long after, the young people who had left before came back.

This time they went straight to the ticket office and asked, "What time is the next Star Wars show?"

"Ten o'clock." The young man replied.

"Give us five tickets."

"That's ten dollars."

The smooth transaction left the ticket seller dumbfounded.

She didn't expect that these guys could actually come up with money!

You know, in the past fifteen minutes, the person who played the least only tossed four coins!
This means their minimum spend is five dollars!
And when the average person spends one dollar on games, can they still afford to watch a movie?

Oh--

This speed of making money is even faster than selling snacks!
When this thought came to her mind, the ticket selling lady immediately shifted her gaze to those people.

Under her gaze, the young people who had bought their tickets went to the game consoles again...

Coin-operated play!

The crisp sound of "pa pa pa" is the special sound of coins falling.

He sighed toward the sky, "Ahhhh!" That was the clarion call of the coming fury.

When the theater staff called them to go and check their tickets, these guys were still a little reluctant to leave.

Judging from his expression, he seemed to regret buying the ticket.

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

"May the Force be with you——"

A roar cut through the sky!
“Watch a movie, watch a movie, watch a movie!!!”

These young people shouted at the game players at the game machines in the cinema hall like crazy:

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

“The Star Wars movies are just as good as the games!”

"Do not--"

“This is absolutely the best movie I have 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 - you really have to watch this movie yourself!"

"Oh yeah! The spaceship on the screen is even cooler than the one in the game!"

The ticket seller was completely confused by the crazy behavior.

But those gamers got what they meant.

"Brother, are you serious?" asked a guy who was not in line for the game but was watching from the sidelines, "Are the spaceships in the movie really as awesome as in the game?"

"It's absolutely true!" the young man shouted after watching the movie, "It's absolutely cool!"

It seemed as if they wanted to prove that what they said was true, but it also seemed more like they wanted 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 seller. She didn't know what was wrong with these young people. They could get so excited just by watching a movie.

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

The crazy shouting turned the cinema into the set of "The Shining"!
They chanted the Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker!
They kept telling the gamers outside the theater how great the movie was!
Even if their behavior is difficult for ordinary people to understand, it doesn’t matter!

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

Although May 1977, 5 was a Wednesday, a large number of audiences still showed up in theaters in various cities that afternoon. Judging from the number of people, it was at least 25% more than usual.

As for where these people came from?
It was obvious from the young face that he had skipped class.

After waiting for two hours and two hours of screenings to end, the excitement of telling each other and crowding around the arcades to play made movie theaters everywhere the most lively places in a city.

The long queue surprised passers-by who had just got off work.

After they ask, get curious, and try...

The phones of police stations in various places were flooded with calls!

"I'm at the Century City Cinema! I need police assistance! We only have three Star Wars arcade machines here! But a lot of people want to play! Now they're all blocking our lobby! We don't have enough staff, and we can't maintain order on site!"

"This is the Long Island Cinema! The people who come here to watch Star Wars have lined up on the street! There are even two rows! Ah, what did you say? Now there are three rows? Oh Sxxt! Now there are three rows! Some people keep cutting in line, some are pushing and shoving, and we can't control the situation! We need the police! We need the police! Come quickly!"

"This is Boston, ah—I was attacked—"

When Evelyn, sitting in the car, witnessed how the cinemas in Los Angeles went from being packed with only Miu Miu and a few others to being packed with people, her face was full of disbelief as she took off her sunglasses.

"Oh-Ethan! This is the movie you said would be a big hit???"

"Yeah!" Ethan, who had been strolling around Los Angeles for a day, nodded with a smile, stared at the crowds 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 can you use this word to describe the current scene???"

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

"Today is Wednesday!"

“It’s not a holiday!”

"Although we have hyped up a lot of topics before, this flow of people, which is more than usual on weekends, is too exaggerated, right? No! This is too shocking!"

The girl was a little incoherent.

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

"Why are they raving about that movie?"

"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 puzzledly.

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

When Ethan witnessed the living history with his own eyes! He saw with his own eyes how "Star Wars" ignited North America in an instant! He was really too lazy to analyze why this movie was successful!
Because it doesn't make any sense.

When something succeeds, even its farts smell good. When the fact of success is in front of the public, people will no longer think about its failure.

Since the public will instinctively give up the ability to think, then why should he, a vested interest, analyze it? Just enjoy it all! Isn't it enough to enjoy the beauty brought by success?

Anyway, this is his victory!

"My dear sister, would you like to go and see the revised movie?"

Ethan nudged the girl.

“Now?” Evelin pointed out the window, very surprised.

"Yeah~ now~" Although he was asking, Ethan had already turned off the engine and got out of the car.

“Let’s go and feel the enthusiasm of the people.”

“Then you’ll find that being sought after is a great feeling.”

Ethan opened the passenger door and extended his left hand to Evelin.

This perverted idea that was difficult for ordinary people to understand made Evelin look at Ethan deeply, then smiled helplessly and shook her head, and handed over her hand.

They lined up in Los Angeles at 5pm, but didn't get tickets for the 10pm show until 6:30pm.

The waiting process is painful, but the screams of cheers make people happy.

They witnessed with their own eyes groups of audiences rushing out of the theater shouting lines from the movie!
I also witnessed an arcade machine being crazily wrapped by fans in three layers inside and outside!
They saw the madness of cleaning out the arcade coin cassettes every three hours!
I also heard the shocking call from the theater after the Millennium Falcon flew over the screen!

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

But even so, there were still quite a few people waiting at the cinema entrance.

They want to play games.

In response to this blockade, 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 the 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 Game!"

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

Evelin burst out laughing at the words she shouted at the top of her lungs.

After seeing the enthusiasm of the North American people, she is no longer surprised.

She laughed because of the theater manager's promise.

As the chairman of Destiny Game and the company's big boss, she knows better than anyone that the people in North American theaters originally thought that 6,000 video arcade machines would be enough to meet the needs of the people.

But now, after the market is booming, you want to place an urgent order?
Oh, this is really-

Evelyn glanced at Ethan.

Ethan understood what she meant and nodded with a smile, "You can add more, but..."

He lengthened his voice.

Evelin, who had already learned bad things, smiled and spoke.

At that moment, they both said at the same time: "It costs more money."

"Hahaha--"

The tacit understanding between the two words made them laugh out loud.

As they boarded the car and headed to the hotel to rest...

In that neon-lit city, their legend is still being sung.

Note: ① In reality, Star Wars was a huge hit when it was shown. Its documentary also showed photos of the year, showing long queues in cinemas on weekdays. That was simply ridiculous. Its total number of viewers was second only to Gone with the Wind, with 180 million in North America.

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(End of this chapter)