2020年经济学人 电影院危机(1)

Business

商业版块

Cinemas

电影院

Curtains

无法摆脱的困境

Audiences may be ready to return. Will they have anything to watch?

观众们可能已经准备好回归电影院了。那他们有什么影片可看呢？

It is turning out to be a long intermission. Cinemas across the West closed in March and, despite attempts to reopen in the summer, the box office has not recovered. From October 9th Cineworld, the world’s second-largest chain, will temporarily shut its 536 Regal theatres in America and its 127 British outlets¹. AMC, the biggest, will cut the opening hours at some Odeon cinemas in Britain.

事实证明，幕间休息时间的确很长。所有西方电影院都于今年3月份关闭了，尽管它们试图在夏季重新开放，但票房并未恢复。从10月9日起，全球第二大连锁影院电影世界将暂时关闭其在美国的536家帝国影院以及英国的127家影院。全球最大的连锁影院AMC将缩短英国部分奥迪安影院的营业时间。

Early in the pandemic the problem was audiences. In March Disney’s “Onward” flopped² as people refused to breathe recirculated air with a crowd of strangers. Business got harder when governments ordered theatres to shut, or imposed profit-crushing closures of refreshment³ counters and caps on capacity.

疫情初期，问题在于观众。3月，由于人们拒绝和一群陌生人呼吸循环空气，迪士尼出品的《1/2的魔法》扑街了。政府下令关闭电影院，强制关闭利润颇丰的零食柜台，并限制客流量，企业愈加艰难。

As countries have eased restrictions⁴ and audiences prepared to return, cinemas are finding little to show them. In China, where covid-19 seems under control, studios have resumed pumping out hits. But Hollywood will not risk premiering costly⁵ blockbusters while many markets, including New York and California, remain closed, and cinema-goers wary⁶. Most big titles have been postponed⁷. The last straw for Cineworld was the decision on October 2nd by MGM and Universal Pictures to delay “No Time to Die”, James Bond’s latest caper⁸, from November until April 2021. No big release is planned until Christmas Day, when Warner Bros’ “Wonder Woman 1984” will ride to the rescue.

随着各国放宽限制，观众们准备回归，电影院却发现没什么影片能够上映。在中国，新冠疫情似乎得到了控制，各大影院已经恢复了影片的上映。但是好莱坞显然不会冒险首映巨制大片，毕竟纽约和加州等多地的影院市场仍处于关闭状态，电影院的观众也非常谨慎。大多数的大片全都延迟上线。米高梅和环球影业在10月2日决定将詹姆斯·邦德的最新电影《007：无暇赴死》的上映时间从11月延迟到20121年4月，这成为压倒电影世界的最后一棵稻草。在圣诞节之前，大片都没有上映计划，而华纳兄弟的《神奇女侠1984》将于圣诞节当天赶赴救场。

1 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 refreshment   

n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点

参考例句：

• He needs to stop fairly often for refreshment.他须时不时地停下来喘口气。
• A hot bath is a great refreshment after a day's work.在一天工作之后洗个热水澡真是舒畅。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

6 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

7 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

8 caper   

v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏

参考例句：

• The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。
• The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。