Three Hundred and Eighty-Four - It's the Internet! The Future Is Coming.

"Hey, boss."

There was a knock on the door of the manager's office. The conductor Ramon Miller opened the door and said in a hurry: "You'd better go out and take a look. The ticket window and the front desk are going to be busy."

"Aha?" Sam Mills stood up from behind his desk and followed the conductor out of the office in confusion.

As soon as he entered the ticket hall, he understood what had happened. There were long queues at both ticket windows, and the same situation was at the sales window.

This scene made people think that they had remembered the wrong date. Usually only on Saturday and Sunday mornings, movie fans who had worked all week would go into the theater in groups, provided that there was a hit movie.

Unable to think about the reason, Sam Mills suppressed all doubts, trotted behind the front desk, and opened a ticket window to divert the fans who were queuing up to buy tickets.

"Three copies of "The Matrix," thank you." A Mexican boy handed over a handful of change.

"Wait a moment, I'll issue a ticket for you right away."

Skillfully issue the ticket, give the change, and then the next person. After seven or eight consecutive movie fans who bought "The Matrix" passed by, a relatively unconventional voice suddenly penetrated his ears.

"Hey man, two recent Hulk shows."

"Okay, the latest show of "The Incredible Hulk."" Sam Mills raised his head and found that it was a white couple. He took the money and repeated the other party's request before preparing to issue the ticket.

This is the first "Hulk" movie ticket sold today at his ticket window.

"No, Honey, let's watch "The Matrix."

The girl's loud objection also made him stop what he was doing and raised his head to look at the young pair again.

"The newspaper said that "The Incredible Hulk" is just a knock-off. How can it be as cool as "The Matrix" written by Wayne himself? Honey, didn't you realize that the other people in the front came here for "The Matrix"? "

The girl's reason was quite convincing, and the boy was hesitant for a moment, but he was still trying to convince the other party. "Jenny, but the male protagonist of "The Matrix" is Guy. This is so disgusting..."

"That's better than a poor imitation." The girl rolled her eyes and said without any scruples: "At least "The Matrix" is the work of Wayne Greenberg, and the movie is definitely not lacking in excitement."

"Okay." Although he was a comic book fan, the boy still chose love. He turned to the window and said again: "Excuse me, man, please give me two copies of "The Matrix" from the latest show."

"No problem, two recent screenings of The Matrix."

Comments like this appeared countless times throughout the morning, and Sam Mills heard it countless times. Most of the time, "The Matrix" won.

Of course, there are also many movie fans who come directly for "The Incredible Hulk". After all, this is the most popular monster in this summer's movie.

When there was no longer a line outside the window, Sam Mills looked at the time and saw that it was already close to 12 noon. He thought about the unusual flow of people in the morning and was still a little confused.

But he can be sure that during the whole morning, the attendance rate of every performance of "The Matrix" will not be less than 60 to 70%. This attendance rate is definitely considered to be very high.

Moreover, most of the fans who bought "The Matrix" came in groups, which was in sharp contrast to the fans who bought "The Incredible Hulk".

"Could it be another phenomenal R-rated movie..."

Muttering softly, he reached out and closed the temporarily opened ticket window. In the same situation, it's hard not to think of "Joker" back then.

That movie suddenly broke out without any preparation in the theater. Then he shook his head unconsciously. The traffic of "The Matrix" was indeed very large, but compared with "Joker" a few years ago. There's still a lot left to be desired.

After considering the situation in the morning, he estimated that there would only be more movie fans in the afternoon. When he was about to go back to the office and seize the time to rest for a while, the chatter of several movie fans who had just left the show stopped him in his tracks.

"What a shit movie! This is so different from the Hulk we imagined."

"Yes, no wonder Wayne said it was a copy. Damn it, I actually fell asleep out of boredom later on!"

The two young men kept cursing the film and walked past Sam Mills. This aroused his curiosity as to how bad the film could be to make fans disappointed like that.

At the same time, a burst of fierce applause came out, and "The Matrix" in another theater also ended at the same time. The applause not only spread through the auditorium to the outside, but also lasted for a long time.

"It's been like this all morning." The ticket inspector appeared next to him and said with a tired look on his face: "After every scene of "The Matrix", you can hear the applause of a large number of fans, without exception, Sam, this This film will create a miracle."

"Every game?" He looked at the ticket inspector in surprise.

"Yes, every game!"

Before the two could continue chatting, the door of the screening room was pushed open from the inside, and a large number of movie fans lined up and walked out. Many people had flushed faces, and some friends were talking about the plot among themselves.

"Neo is so cool. God, I wish I could buy one of his trench coats."

"And sunglasses."

"And a cell phone."

"Don't you think Trinity is the coolest?" A fan's words instantly resonated even more.

"Yeah, oh my God, she has such a great body."

When the heroine Trinity was mentioned, there was a sudden sound of swallowing.

Groups of people passed by the two of them, and Sam Mills only now discovered that the peripheral shops inside the theater were already crowded with moviegoers who had just come out, and there were more people queuing outside.

After all the people had passed by, he seemed to suddenly wake up and immediately ran to his office. He didn't bother to close the door. He directly picked up the phone on the table and dialed the number of the head office. This is not just a special situation in one theater. Similar situations have occurred in countless theaters across North America. Just after noon, the phones at the headquarters of the three major theater chain companies began to ring frequently.

Starting from Friday afternoon, as if there was a tacit understanding, the three major theater chains have jointly increased the scheduling rate of "The Matrix" and added more screens to screen the film.

In the center of the city with a huge flow of people, some theaters are so crazy that every fifteen minutes or so, there will be a screening of "The Matrix".

Around two o'clock in the afternoon, the phone of Warner Bros.'s distribution department also began to ring frequently. These were only calls from small theaters and large chain companies, and they went directly to the CEO's office.

"...No problem, 800 copies will be sent out tonight, okay, that's it."

Jeff Robinoff hung up the phone with a snap, looked at Bruce Rosenblum who was sitting at the desk, and both smiled cheerfully.

"The problem with copying is okay, but at worst the factory will have to work overtime for printing! But the peripherals..." Bruce Rosenblum frowned when he said this. "Now the phone number of the distribution department is almost overwhelmed with replenishment calls. We have to think of a way."

"I didn't expect it to explode so quickly." Jeff Robinov sighed and said, "How long can our inventory last?"

"It can only last until around Monday at most. If we follow the sales trend this morning, we may be sold out on Sunday. Mainly sunglasses, Neo's windbreaker, various pendants, and yes, even expensive mobile phones. Fans are asking.”

"I remember it was just a prop...wait a minute." Jeff Robinov stopped mid-sentence, and the two of them thought of a solution almost at the same time.

"I'll contact the mobile phone manufacturer right away. Believe me, someone will be interested." The distribution director stood up and prepared to leave. The sooner the better, because Warner Bros. was not prepared enough at the beginning and obviously underestimated the film. .

"be quick."

There are many reasons for the sudden explosion of "The Matrix". I am afraid that even Wayne himself underestimated the influence of Greenberg's name. Coupled with the audience's reputation brought by early test screenings, word of mouth spread, and fans became more interested in it. Curiosity about this film is at its highest.

If you observe carefully, you will also find that there is a characteristic of the movie fans who came to watch the movie on Friday. More than 90% of them are young people. To be more precise, they are all young people between the ages of 20 and 28.

This situation did not attract attention during the day. It was not until most people got off work in the evening that more young people poured into the cinema, which aroused the curiosity of the media. Everyone wanted to know what was the reason that drove a large number of young people to People flocked to watch the movie.

Young people walk into theaters in groups, and then excitedly sneak into surrounding stores, which has become a unique scene. Even in Los Angeles, which is in the hottest time of the year, people wearing black trench coats are frequently seen on the streets. , a man wearing big sunglasses.

When the noisy night was over and Wayne had just gotten up and walked into the restaurant, Nina revealed the mystery of why the young man walked into the theater.

"Boss, you are going to give Daisy a raise." The assistant lady was surprised in her tone. She put a report on the dining table and explained excitedly before he picked it up and looked at it.

"It's the Internet! Daisy is simply a genius! She mobilized young people in the fan organization and released a lot of information through the Internet."

Yes, only a large number of young people have access to the Internet. They don't care about media gossip reports. Ignoring authority is the main characteristic of contemporary young people. They only believe in the information they get personally.

Wayne was also shocked and dumbfounded. Even he himself had never thought that the first movie to use the Internet to promote would be "The Matrix". It started by accident. Daisy would never know this. means nothing.

Thinking back to the content in "The Matrix", he suddenly realized that all of this was as if it had been arranged by God.

"Call Warner Bros. now and ask for more publicity investment in this area!" At this moment, he wanted to give himself a slap in the face. No one in the world understood the influence of the Internet better than him, but he was habitually ignored.