VOA标准英语2010年-Movie Theater Construction Booming in

As China's middle class grows, the demand for entertainment is being met with a boom in cinema construction. In a country where 300 million people are said to be able to afford movie tickets and where many want to see films like "Avatar" in new plush multiplexes, real estate developers and theater owners are getting to work.

While Chinese movie makers¹ have been prolific² in recent years, now the Chinese are becoming avid³ movie goers and there's a boom in movie production.

Recently, director Dayyan Eng brought Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey to China to shoot a bilingual comedy. Eng says the multi-million dollar investment in the film shows that the number of Chinese into movies is on the rise.

"As more movies that people in the big cities are watching," Eng said. "My feeling is, you know, more and more of the audiences there get a taste of other types of movies out there."

 

China's economy has been developing at breakneck speed. More disposable income means a greater demand for entertainment.  In 2009, box office revenue grew by 43 percent to $1 billion.

Nowadays, many people here are ready to spend upwards⁴ of $6 for a movie ticket.

And that makes movie theaters - in shopping malls - an attractive investment.

Many developers paying high prices for real estate want a multiplex to help cover the cost. They hope to draw that new middle class demographic, says Savills Real Estate's Matt Brailsford.

"Shopping centers are huge in China. Fifty-thousand square meters is considered a tiny shopping center, which anywhere else in the world is considered a pretty significant center," Brailsford said. "So, if a developer has 100,000 square meters to let, having an anchor tenant⁵ in a cinema take quite a bit of that space off their books is handy."

Today, China has only 4,000 movie screens. That's one for every 75,000 moviegoers, just one-tenth the number of screens in the United States.

Yang Liu is Managing Director of Huayi Brothers Media Corporation,  a production house and movie distributor. The company opened its first multiplex theater in mid-June, becoming the latest firm to expand into movie houses.

"China is underscreened. There's a demand for cinemas, and anything that will help increase the cinema going, improve the cinema going environment, will ultimately be a positive stimulus⁶ for the film production business," Liu stated.

As China recovers from the recession, movies could fuel consumer spending. The government forecasts a 61 percent jump in gross ticket sales this year, which could turn the nation's new silver screens into boxoffice gold.
 

1 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

3 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

4 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

5 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

6 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。