VOA标准英语2015--Hollywood Studios Roll Out Big Budget Flicks

Hollywood Studios Roll Out Big Budget Flicks¹

Every summer, big Hollywood studios roll out big budget flicks, rich in special effects and celebrity³ actors. These blockbusters attract large audiences to multiplex and luxury movie theaters. Revenues from domestic and international ticket sales of these movie behemoths reach the billions of dollars.

Don't go in the water

The trend for summer superflicks started forty years ago with Jaws⁴.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg scared summer vacationers with this suspenseful⁵ shark attack story featuring a terrifying great white, a killing⁶ machine. Jaws raked in half a billion dollars worldwide, making it the highest grossing film of its time.

The on-screen recipe of thrills and chills continues today.

Avengers? or San Andreas?  The tsunami⁷ of ticket sales at home and abroad towers over the hundreds of millions it took to produce these action mega-flicks. Shown in IMAX and 3D, extravaganzas like these are the offspring of big Hollywood studios and multiplex theaters. Their theme, saving the world from monsters or natural disasters of catastrophic proportions, is rather consistent.

 In San Andreas, a massive earthquake threatens to devour⁸ California  and action superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays a rescue pilot battling against time to save his daughter, while in the process saving everyone else lucky enough to be in his path.  The exceptional 3D visuals make up for what is, to say the least, a mediocre⁹ script. In its opening weekend, San Andreas grossed over $50 million, while Marvel's latest superhero flick², The Avengers: Age of Ultron, a $250 million production, has so far brought in over a billion dollars worldwide. Disaster films are Hollywood's major export as they cross cultural barriers and can excite any audience, while top stars such as The Avengers'  Robert Downy Junior, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth are bankable the world over.  

Favorites return

For the older crowd, Hollywood also invests heavily in productions that hearken back to older film franchises¹¹. This summer, 14 years after Spielberg’s last Jurassic Park installment¹², Jurassic World comes roaring back, with a larger, fiercer T-Rex wreaking¹³ havoc¹⁴.  The film cost $150 million, and the revenues? The sky's the limit. The film's premiere in Washington, DC, featured endless lines of Indomitus Rex's movie fans. Universal Studios will profit not just from theater ticket sales but also from its pricey admission fees to the Jurassic Park theme park in Orlando, Florida, and its movie merchandise in the U.S. and abroad.

Other blockbusters return with mature mega-stars, mainly men, who still hold a spell over movie-goers. They capitalize on the 3D and IMAX film technologies to drive Hollywood's money-making machine. Tom Cruise returns to Mission Impossible – Rogue¹⁵ Nation, to take on, well, a rogue nation. The new MI5 - as the film is abbreviated¹⁶ affectionately - is the fifth of the series and a sure international box office success.

But wait! Arnold Swarzenegger is back, too!

In Terminator Genysis, the fifth installment of the Terminator franchise¹⁰,  Arnold Swarzenegger, soon to be 70, plays the iconic terminator-turned-savior-of-humanity, and proves he can still carry his weight and bring the masses to the theaters.

1 flicks   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• 'I shall see it on the flicks, I suppose.' “电影上总归看得见。” 来自英汉文学
• Last night to the flicks. 昨晚看了场电影。 来自英汉文学

2 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

3 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 suspenseful   

adj.悬疑的，令人紧张的

参考例句：

• If his experiences then had been carefully recorded, it would undoubtedly have made a suspenseful and moving book. 若是把他所经历的事实记录下来，那就是一部充满着大智大勇，惊心动魄的小说。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Lily is an atmospheric and suspenseful tale of love, loss and obsession. 这是一个关于爱情、失落与迷恋的故事，充满情调与悬疑色彩。 来自互联网

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

8 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

9 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

10 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

11 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

12 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

13 wreaking   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Coal mining is a messy business, often wreaking terrible environmental damage nearby. 采矿是肮脏的行业，往往会严重破坏周边环境。
• The floods are wreaking havoc in low-lying areas. 洪水正在地势低洼地区肆虐。

14 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

15 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

16 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。