美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Black Panther' Success Proves That Movies With Black Actors Can Do Well Internationally

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Over the long weekend, a lot of people saw "Black Panther."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

LETITIA WRIGHT: (As Shuri) Hey, look at your suit. You've been taking bullets, charging it up with kinetic¹ energy.

SHAPIRO: It broke box office records. The movie performed well not just here in the U.S. but in increasingly important foreign markets, too. NPR's Andrew Limbong reports this success helps prove a certain myth wrong.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE²: The myth is that international audiences don't go see movies directed by and starring black people. This notion is trotted³ out in movie trade publications. It's cited as a reason there aren't more big-budget black films being made. Here's George Lucas on "The Daily Show" back in 2012 talking about his difficulty with the studios in producing "Red Tails." It was directed by Anthony Hemingway, a black man, about the Tuskegee Airmen.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DAILY SHOW")

GEORGE LUCAS: They don't believe there is any foreign market for it.

LIMBONG: But here's the data courtesy of Jeff Bock with the box office analyst⁴ firm Exhibitor Relations.

JEFF BOCK: "Black Panther" opened with 169 million over the traditional three-day.

LIMBONG: That is not including Presidents Day, which other countries don't have. Now, it's a little tricky⁵ to compare international numbers, says Bock, but...

BOCK: You look at "Thor: Ragnarok." That opened with 107 million international. "Doctor Strange" opened at 86 million.

LIMBONG: Bock says "Black Panther" on its own is operating at "Avengers"-level box office pull. Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted, quote, "the world has embraced 'Black Panther,' which has obliterated⁶ expectations, broken records and shattered myths." So is this myth that black films don't do well overseas finally dead? Here's Gil Robertson, president of the African American Film Critics Association.

GIL ROBERTSON: I don't think that conversation is closed, but it's closing.

LIMBONG: He notes recent successes like "Get Out," which made 78 million at the foreign box office, and "Hidden Figures," which made 66 million, not to mention the F. Gary Gray-directed "Fate Of The Furious," which made over a billion internationally. Then again, films starring black people have been making money overseas for decades.

ROBERTSON: Obviously Will Smith films and Eddie Murphy movies have been cracking the box office overseas for years. But yet those films were sort of seen as exceptions.

LIMBONG: But he says "Black Panther" could have a stronger hand in quashing this myth not just because it's doing so well but because its blackness was central.

ROBERTSON: I mean, my goodness, it was one of the blackest films I've ever seen, and I'm a black film critic, so (laughter)...

LIMBONG: Keep in mind, these big international numbers we've been talking about - all before "Black Panther" opens in huge markets like Russia, Japan and China. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

1 kinetic   

adj.运动的；动力学的

参考例句：

• There exist many sources of energy both potential and kinetic.存在着许多势能和动能的能源。
• The kinetic theory of gases is the best known example.气体动力学理论就是最有名的例子。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

6 obliterated   

v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭

参考例句：

• The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 炸弹把那座建筑物彻底摧毁了。
• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。 来自《简明英汉词典》