Friday morning, Kirkland drove out early to pick up his girlfriend, Harley, and her friend Lisa, heading straight to a theater.
Since the theater was a bit far, Harley complained, "The theater for the screening is so far away? It's almost in the Black community."
Kirkland changed lanes and said, "There's no other choice. In our city, this is the only theater showing it. It's not like it's a big movie; having a theater show it is already good enough."
Sitting in the back seat, Lisa leaned over and said, "I wonder what those three encountered. I hope the videotape will give us answers."
Kirkland and Harley both nodded.
The three had been following the Blair Witch case closely and had heard that the repaired videotape would be shown in theaters. They had agreed early on to go watch it together.
The car stopped near an old theater, and Lisa suddenly pointed towards it, saying, "Look! Look! So many people!"
Harley turned to look, and although the theater hadn't opened yet, there was already a long line stretching down the street. It looked like there were hundreds of people, some of whom were wearing T-shirts with "Blair Witch" written on them, along with the images of the three college students.
"So many people are interested in this."
Kirkland remarked, urging, "Hurry up and get out of the car! I checked, this theater isn't big, it can only hold two hundred people. Let's not miss out on getting good seats!"
The three quickly got out of the car and joined the long queue, which extended far along the sidewalk.
"So many people are paying attention!" Kirkland estimated roughly, "There are probably around one hundred and twenty people in line."
In just a few minutes, more than ten people had joined behind them.
Among them, standing behind Lisa, were several boys wearing baggy pants, with multiple piercings on their ears and noses.
"I wonder if those three unlucky ones are still alive?"
These boys were discussing, "Is there really a witch on the videotape?"
"Where in the world would there be witches?"
"Haven't you watched TV programs? The legend of the Blair Witch is true. Her story has been circulating since 1785..."
"The Maryland police are a bunch of idiots. It's been since 1994, and they still haven't found any clues."
As if discussing a highly anticipated real-life case, the boys were all talking about how real it was.
The long line was buzzing with discussions, and everyone was very concerned about the fate of the Blair Witch and the three college students.
In downtown Los Angeles, near the old Chinatown.
It was close to 8:30 PM, and Peter Johnson stepped out of the break room, getting ready to open for business.
Peter Johnson was the owner of this twin-screen theater, and the theater was like his home. He usually lived inside the theater, but in the past two years, business hadn't been good, and he had to cut down the staff to just five people.
A few employees had already come in through the back door.
"Will, come with me to open the door!" Peter Johnson called out and headed towards the theater door.
Even before he reached the tightly closed main door, he heard a buzzing sound outside, like countless flies buzzing around him, making it chaotic.
Peter Johnson was a bit puzzled. What was going on? Were people queuing outside for the opening? Titanic had already finished its run, hadn't it?
Will rushed over from behind and opened the glass door first, then pulled up the metal roller shutter.
The chaotic voices rushed towards Peter Johnson like a towering wave, catching him off guard. By the time he had steadied himself, the crowd had already surged in through the door.
There were too many people. Even though some had come in, when Peter Johnson looked outside, the long queue still stretched for hundreds of feet.
What was this? He was a bit puzzled. There wasn't a popular movie this weekend, was there?
Peter Johnson thought of a possibility. Were all these people here to see Blair Witch? But there were two theaters. One was showing Warner Bros.' "Eyes Wide Shut," and the other was showing "Blair Witch."
Surely not all these people were here for "Blair Witch"?
"Will! Hurry up and help!"
There were too many people, and Peter Johnson quickly reminded Will, who seemed a bit dazed.
In any case, having so many customers was a good thing!
"Three tickets for Blair Witch!"
"Two tickets! Not for 'Eyes Wide Shut,' for Blair Witch!"
"Five tickets for me, for Blair Witch!"
"Blair Witch..."
These messy voices all reached Peter Johnson's ears. He suddenly realized that all these people were here to see Blair Witch?
Turning back, he saw more people joining the long queue, and some of them even had "Blair Witch" written on their clothes...
One auditorium couldn't accommodate so many people!
Peter Johnson went to the ticket booth and glanced at the electronic screen. Dozens of tickets for Blair Witch had been sold, but not a single one for Eyes Wide Shut.
Just a brief thought, and he went into the back office to observe for a while. There was no one buying tickets for Eyes Wide Shut at all.
He immediately picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Embassy Pictures? This is Peter Johnson from the Flowing Water Theater in Los Angeles. I need to add another copy! Yes, add another copy! The sooner, the better! I hope it can be delivered this morning!"
With only two hundred theaters nationwide showing Blair Witch, it was completely unable to meet the demand of the public's two-month discussion. Almost every theater showing Blair Witch had long queues at the ticket counters.
And it wasn't just in the morning; even in the afternoon, it was the same!
The public's curiosity and desire for exploration continued to be fueled by the media's publicity and discussions among themselves, and it was finally about to erupt.
After finishing the work at the videotape store, Arthur went to a theater on Long Island that was showing Blair Witch, also planning to see the legendary videotape.
"Sorry, sir." The ticket attendant apologized with a smile. "We're sold out."
Arthur pointed to the electronic screen and asked, "What about the tickets for 10:00 PM? What about those tickets?"
The ticket attendant smiled professionally again. "Sorry, sir, but all the tickets for Blair Witch tonight have been sold out!"
Arthur grabbed his hair in frustration and said again, "Tomorrow, I want to buy tickets for tomorrow!"
In another theater in Brooklyn, New York, which was also showing Blair Witch, it was too far away. Even if he rushed over, there probably wouldn't be any tickets available based on the situation at this theater.
He had to wait until tomorrow night, and it was truly maddening!
Arthur bought tickets for the earliest showing tomorrow, planning to rest well tonight and come early tomorrow morning.
In Burbank, at the Embassy Pictures office.
The sky was already dark, but all the offices in the company were brightly lit, with many employees working overtime.
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
The two service phones in the company had been ringing continuously since the afternoon.
"Hello, this is Embassy Pictures." The female operator's voice was sweet. "How can I help you?"
"Copy! I need a copy! Deliver the copy immediately! I'm stuck in the office with some audience members who refuse to leave until they see Blair Witch."
The operator wiped her sweat and said, "Please leave your phone number and contact information..."
The other phone rang, and the male operator next to it just picked it up when he heard an urgent voice saying, "This is Christopher. Tell Garcia to deliver two copies to me immediately. I want to show Blair Witch in all three of my theaters!"
The requests for copies had been coming in all day, and the two operators quickly summarized them and sent them to the CEO, Garcia.
"Thank goodness we prepared 300 copies," Garcia said excitedly as he looked at the statistics. "I'll have someone contact the theaters right away."
He pressed the intercom button and called in a manager, giving him the list and asking him to confirm each one.
David Villia licked his dry lips, his voice a bit hoarse as he asked, "Are we going to succeed?"
Garcia looked at Ronan's calm face and said, "Based on today's summary, the preview should be fine." He asked Ronan, "Should we start printing more copies?"
Ronan glanced at his watch and said, "The theater system has sped up its data statistics this year. We'll have today's box office figures after midnight. It's less than an hour away. Let's wait for the box office data first and then determine how many copies to print."
No one objected, and they all patiently waited for the first day's box office results.