2019年经济学人 迪士尼创新策略:翻拍经典动画的真人版电影(1)

 

Disney goes back to the future

迪士尼：回到未来

An old new world

旧的新世界

Live-action remakes of classic cartoons are one of the most lucrative¹ innovations in cinema

经典动画片的真人版翻拍是电影界最赚钱的创新之一

In January 1991 Jeffrey Katzenberg, then chairman of Walt Disney Studios, sent a 28-page memo² to his colleagues. Entitled “The World is Changing: Some Thoughts on Our Business”, it lamented³ that the studio had lost its way. The finances were sound—Disney had outdone its competitors at the box office the year before—but Mr Katzenberg felt the company was unduly⁴ focused on blockbusters. It should be less fixated on big budgets, big names and whizzy effects, he urged, and concentrate on developing original ideas and executing them well. “People don’t want to see what they’ve already seen,” he said. “Our job is not to count on recycled formulas, but to create and develop fresh, new stories.”

1991年1月，时任华特·迪士尼工作室董事长的杰弗瑞·卡森伯格向同事们发送了一份28页的备忘录。备忘录题目为《世界正在改变：业务畅想》，哀叹工作室正迷失方向。一年前，迪斯尼在票房上超过了它的竞争对手，尽管财务状况良好，但卡森伯格认为工作室过于关注大片。他敦促道，不应过度关注巨额预算、明星演员和技术特效，而应注重发展创意并将其执行。“人们不想看已经看过的，”他说。“我们的工作依靠的不是循环公式，而是创新发展令人耳目一新的故事。”

His advice now seems quaint⁵. Of the ten most expensive films ever made, Disney is responsible for six. In 2012 the studio hired Alan Horn as its chairman after a successful stint⁶ at Warner Brothers, where he had devoted⁷ a hefty share of the budget to a handful of “event films”, such as the Harry⁸ Potter series. If the average American only sees around five movies a year, he reasoned, they are most likely to opt⁹ for “something of high production value, be it because of the story, or the stars involved, or the special visual effects”.

他的建议在现在看起来很奇怪。史上最昂贵的10部电影中，迪斯尼出品了6部。2012年，在华纳兄弟娱乐公司，阿兰·霍恩投入大量的预算用于少数“事件电影”，如《哈利波特》系列，大获成功后，迪士尼工作室聘请阿兰·霍恩担任董事长。他推断，如果一个美国人平均一年看大约五部电影，那么最有可能选择的是“高产值的电影，无论是故事本身，还是出演的明星，亦或是特效”。

That approach can backfire. One calculation by Stephen Follows, a film consultant¹⁰, implies that half of Hollywood productions with budgets over $100m lose money. When Mr Horn arrived at Disney, it was lurching towards two of the worst-ever box-office flops¹¹. “John Carter” (2012) and “The Lone¹² Ranger” (2013), a pair of untried action stories, lost around $200m each. But since then the studio seems to have found a magic formula: extravagant¹³ remakes of animated¹⁴ fantasies that audiences already love. Discounting Mr Katzenberg’s dim view of blockbusters can evidently be risky¹⁵, but big bets seem safer if film-makers eschew¹⁶ his yen¹⁷ for novelty, too. Or so Disney’s recent record suggests.

这种做法可能适得其反。电影咨询师斯蒂芬·福洛斯的一项计算表明，预算超过1亿美元的好莱坞影片中，有一半是赔钱的。霍恩先生来到迪斯尼时，正值两部影片几乎沦为史上票房最差。《异星战场》（2012）以及《独行侠》（2013）是两部没有经验的动作片，每部亏损将近2亿美元。但从那以后，工作室似乎找到了一个神奇的公式：以全新的方式改拍观众喜爱的动画片。忽视卡森伯格对大片的悲观看法显然是有风险的，但如果电影制作商避开对新奇事物的渴望，那么大片似乎更安全。至少迪士尼最近的票房表明了这一点。

1 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

2 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

3 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 unduly   

adv.过度地，不适当地

参考例句：

• He did not sound unduly worried at the prospect.他的口气听上去对前景并不十分担忧。
• He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.他辩称法律的约束性有些过分了。

5 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

6 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

9 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

10 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

11 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（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：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

12 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

13 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

14 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

15 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

16 eschew   

v.避开，戒绝

参考例句：

• Eschew fattening foods if you want to lose weight.你如想减肥，就不要吃致肥的食物。
• Good kid should eschew bad company.好孩子应避免交坏朋友。

17 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。