On the other side of the Pacific, Milijian, a small town on the west coast.
Saturday was another week's rest day. Leonard got up early in the morning, had breakfast and then went out.
As a standard homebody, short and fat Leonard usually doesn't go out on weekends.
Unless there is a new movie or the latest episode of a comic, I will rush to the cinema or comic book store as soon as possible.
"Hi, Leonard." Jim, his neighbor and best friend, also happened to be out. The two of them were going to the Blockbuster store in town today to buy some DVDs.
It’s almost the end of August, and the four-month period starting from May, the most popular summer season of the year, has ended.
Hollywood usually releases DVDs about three months after their release, and several movies released in May have started to be released on DVD.
Driving to Blockbuster, the two talked about the goals of the trip, and Leonard asked.
"Jim, have you decided what you want to buy?"
"I want to buy two copies of "Star Trek", one to read and one to collect, and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". How about you Leonard?"
"Then I will buy "Star Trek" and "Terminator 4". I think the Illuminati is also interesting, and I plan to buy "Angels and Demons" as well."
"Walter?"
Jim looked like you're crazy. He was tall and thin and almost hit his head on the roof of the car when he was so excited.
"I'm sure your mother will burn it!"
"Angels and Demons" is created by the original cast of "The Da Vinci Code". "The Da Vinci Code" depicts Jesus as a mortal, married and had children, and was accused of blaspheming the sacred status of Jesus. When it was released, it caused a global stir
Christians protest.
This movie, made by the same director, was boycotted by the church as soon as it was launched. The crew was not allowed to go to the Vatican to shoot, so the crew had to go to a location in the Vatican.
The content is that there is an organization called the Illuminati, which wants to overthrow the church and bomb the Vatican. Although it was stopped, it also attracted protests from many believers.
However, not everyone is religious. Some people think bombing the Vatican is particularly cool. Leonard is one of them, even though his mother is a devout Christian.
However, Leonard didn't take it seriously.
"Whatever, I like movies, and she doesn't know that the CD of "The Da Vinci Code" is still well hidden at home."
"Your mother must regret giving birth to you."
"But she can't push me back, like in The Butterfly Effect."
The two of them chatted and laughed all the way to the entrance of Blockbuster in the town. On Saturday morning, many new movie DVDs were on sale, and there were still a lot of people.
Milijian's DVD market is the largest in the world. When DVDs of popular movies are released, DVD stores across the United States will experience a surge.
Although it has long been possible to watch movies online, for 85% of Milijian people, they are more willing to rent or buy DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
Of the other 15% of people, 10% will choose TV on demand, and only 5% will choose online viewing and digital downloading.
After shopping around in the store for a long time, the two of them had a bunch of CDs in their hands when they checked out. Leonard even got a complete set of six "Star Trek" TV series on CDs.
Jim looked at the pile of CDs and asked curiously, "Leonard, why did you buy another set? Don't you already have two sets?"
Boss Stewart explained, "It is exactly 40 years since the end of the first original series in 1969. This is a collector's edition released to commemorate the 40th anniversary. Jim, don't you buy a set? You are a loyal fan of "Star Trek".
"
Jim was confused and asked, "Didn't I buy the 40th anniversary edition in 2006?"
Ahem...
"2006 commemorates the 40th anniversary of the original series, and the 2009 Collector's Edition commemorates the 40th anniversary of the end of the original series."
Stewart spoke calmly and quickly calculated all the prices on his hands.
"The Original Star Trek Series" started airing in 1966 and ended in 1969. There's nothing wrong with saying that.
As loyal fans of this series, the two immediately paid for it.
Stuart took the money with a smile, counted it, put it in the drawer, and was about to make change.
But then I thought about it and took out a few more CDs and stuffed them into their hands.
"I have some good things here. DVDs of very exciting Chinese movies, especially "Jaws", scared the more than 100 million viewers over there so much that they didn't dare to go into the water for the entire summer vacation, and the entire country's beaches were flooded.
The tourism industry is bankrupt, and the remaining money is just enough for these four CDs, so I will give them to you."
Chinese movies?
"Jaws"?
The two of them lowered their heads and looked at the CD of "Jaws". A shark surfaced on the calm sea, but its entire body was shrouded in darkness, looming, only a pair of ferocious eyes seemed to be shining with a ghostly light.
More than 100 million viewers dare not enter the water?
National seaside tourism industry bankrupt?
Chinese people are too cowardly!
It happened that the two of them had made an appointment with some friends to go to the beach on Sunday, and they happened to watch a shark movie before going to relieve their boredom.
"Stuart, thank you."
"Bye, there will be a batch of new discs next week, and the "Terminator" series trilogy commemorative edition will also be on sale. I will leave two copies for you then, remember to come early, otherwise others will snatch them up."
After waving to the two people who were leaving, Stelter took out a few more DVDs of Chinese movies.
There are really idiots who buy this thing, and I want all four of them.
But after looking at the shelves in the store, there was no room left to put them.
He put it back in the drawer again. Anyway, there were only three copies of each of the four movies. After selling four copies, there were still 8 chapters left. In order to promote it, the distributor kept the purchase price at a very low price. The four copies sold had already made a profit.
Poor Colombia was deceived by the Chinese again and bought four Chinese movies at once.
Shaking his head, Stewart continued to look at every customer in the store, looking for the next fat sheep. After all, there were not many people as careless as Leonard and Jim.
...
Leonard and Jim went back to their respective homes. As a standard dead house, they spent the next day lying at home, eating snacks and watching movies.
Until four o'clock in the afternoon, I watched three movies in a row. When Leonard was changing the CD, he suddenly saw the CD cover of "Jaws" again, and after thinking about it, he took it out and put it in.
Lie down on the sofa for a while, and prepare to see what kind of movie can scare 100 million Chinese people into fearing to get into the water.
However, he didn't feel nervous at all about watching a horror movie, and he still ate his snacks leisurely.
The movie opens with a group of young men and women wearing swimsuits having a party at the beach in the evening, with a bunch of young couples chasing and quarreling.
Average build.
Immediately afterwards, a shark attacked the girl in the sea without warning. The sea surface returned to calm with screams, and the sea water continued to wash away the blood completely.
A sudden attack is normal.
Leonard commented again in his mind that there were no particularly big highlights, but it was still watchable.
During the day, the girl's mutilated limbs were found on the case, with densely packed little crabs crawling on them.
Mirkin's horror films have always been famous for their gore. This level still didn't scare Leonard, but he suddenly felt that the snacks in his hands no longer tasted good.
Next, the shark hides under the water, coupled with just the right music to simulate the heartbeat of the shark, making people beat the drum in their hearts.
There was a crash, the water surface tumbled, and the little boy was bitten by a shark, but he still didn't see the whole shark.
At that moment, Leonard was frightened by the sudden attack and subconsciously leaned back on the sofa.
He began to get nervous. The shark that continuously hurt people but never showed its face was like a ghost wandering in the sea, making him stare at the sea unblinkingly, looking forward to the next time the shark hurts people.
The 90-minute movie ended quickly. As Li Guangjie roared, the bullet shot out and hit the oxygen bottle in the shark's mouth.
There was an explosion with a "boom", and the shark's body was gone.
"yeah!"
Leonard lightly shook his fist. Frankly speaking, the missing shark still frightened him a little bit.
But after the shark was killed, the fear was naturally gone.
When the movie ended, he also got up from the sofa and planned to change the plate.
However, before I could get in front of the TV, the camera suddenly turned.
On the calm sea, a great white shark that was much larger than the one that was killed appeared. It kept spinning in place, then stared at the coast for a few seconds, then turned around and swam toward the deep sea.
"F**K!"
The sudden arrival of the shark caused Leonard to curse and take a step back involuntarily.
Just in time, Jim came to borrow the CD.
"Hey Leonard, have you seen those Chinese movies just now? What do you think?"
"It's okay. I watched the movie "Jaws" and it wasn't scary at all."
Leonard curled his lips and said it was ordinary.
Jim smiled and said, "Then let me have a look. I'm quite curious about how timid the Chinese people are."
"OK, but you may be disappointed. This movie is not scary at all."
After lending the CD to Jim, Leonard thought about it and decided to watch the other three Chinese movies first.
...
The next morning, the two met in front of their home. They rented a sailboat with a few friends today and were going to go out to sea.
As soon as they met, Leonard said hello. "Hey Jim, how about that Chinese movie? I told you it wasn't scary at all."
Jim shrugged, "I've never seen such a bland horror movie. I didn't expect that 100 million Chinese people would be too scared to go into the water. It seems that the Chinese people are too timid."
Leonard smiled and said, "Let me tell you, next time I have to settle the score with Stewart for fooling us."
"No, let's settle the score with him!"
"hehe."
"hehe."
The two smiled and drove to the beach, where their friends were already waiting.
Five or six young men and women went out to sea on a sailboat. It couldn't be more comfortable to go out to sea at this time in late August. There was a lot of joy and laughter on the boat.
However, there was a rough white girl who looked at Leonard and Jim constantly looking at the sea. She couldn't help but put her head in and asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"
"nothing."
The two of them turned around, spoke in unison, and glanced at each other again.
I must not let Leonard/Jim know that I will be scared after watching a Chinese movie.
Leonard smiled awkwardly, "I just saw a beautiful fish swimming past here. It was colorful and beautiful."
"I also saw new varieties that I have never seen before." Jim agreed.
"Where?" The girl looked towards the sea curiously.
"It seems to be missing. He must have wandered away."
Leonard pretended to look around.
She didn't see any fish, so the girl didn't care, so she suggested going into the water and swimming.
As the two looked at the calm sea, they couldn't help but recall the scene in "Jaws" where the shark repeatedly attacks humans mysteriously.
But everyone else had gone into the water, and they didn't want to be too different, so they also went into the water.
As soon as they got into the water, the two of them suddenly felt that the scenes in the movie were becoming clearer and clearer in their minds, and they felt like a light on their backs, making them feel uncomfortable.
After swimming for a while, Leonard suddenly noticed a sharp thing floating on the sea not far away and swimming towards them.
Take a closer look, why does it look so familiar?
Suddenly I remembered, that's not...
Leonard felt nervous and turned around hurriedly.
However, it is impossible to just watch a shark movie and then encounter a shark in the sea the next day. How can it be so outrageous? Even Jesus would not arrange such a coincidence.
Whose prank is this?
The first target of suspicion was Jim, and Leonard became furious.
He turned towards the "shark" again and dived into the water.
If you take a closer look in the water, you will see that big dark mass in the distance, that figure, isn't that...
"F**K!"
Leonard opened his mouth wide and was frightened out of his wits. He used all five limbs, turned around in a panic, and swam wildly towards the sailboat, still shouting.