菲爾·康崔諾

In the last issue of CineChina， I wrote about high expectations for Gravity. I'm happy to report that the film has now exceeded even the most optimistic expectations—both commercially and artistically.

在上一期《電影中國》中，我曾撰文對《地心引力》寄予厚望。我很高興地向大家報告這部電影如今甚至超出了最樂觀的預(yù)期值——無論是在商業(yè)上還是在藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域。

As I write this article， Gravity has earned more than $430 million in North America—and thats before it opened theatrically in China. We are optimistic that the film's performance in China will be very strong， and that it will move well past $500 million globally as a result.

當(dāng)我正在寫這篇文章時，《地心引力》已在北美贏得了4.3億美元票房——這還在沒有進入中國影院。我們樂觀地相信此片在中國的表現(xiàn)會非常強勁，預(yù)計將收獲遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)5億美元全球票房的好成績。

Groundbreaking works of art like Gravity don't come our way every year. If they did， well， then they wouldn't be truly groundbreaking. Every once in a while a film comes along with the power to completely shatter genre expectations in such a way that similar films released after it cannot avoid comparisons. I feel bad for new films set in space that open after Gravity. It will be extremely difficult for any effort to match the impact that Gravity has had. Of course， that won't stop Hollywood from trying. One thing that Hollywood is good at is copying success stories. Unfortunately， they don't know when to stop copying and the result is that certain genres begin to come across as boring because the market is full of lazy efforts to cash in. Just look at what happened after the first Paranormal Activity film hit theaters and started to make a lot of money. There were several films released soon after， and now a genre that was once exciting is being made fun of by people in the industry as well as paying moviegoers. I'm worried that if too many films try to copy Gravity its legacy will weaken. That's often an unfortunate side effect of great success.

像《地心引力》這樣突破性的藝術(shù)作品不是每年都會有。如果他們真是這樣，好吧，那也不會是真正的石破天驚了。時不時地，會冒出一部有實力的電影，徹底打破體裁預(yù)期，以致之后面世的同體裁電影總避免不了被與之做比較。我替那些在《地心引力》之后亮相的太空科幻類新電影感到遺憾。這類電影再努力也難與《地心引力》的影響力匹敵。當(dāng)然，這不能阻止好萊塢繼續(xù)嘗試。好萊塢拿手好戲之一就是復(fù)制成功的故事。不幸的是，他們不知道什么時候該停止復(fù)制，結(jié)果某些體裁開始變得很無趣，因為市場內(nèi)已滿是偷懶取巧急功近利。看一下電影《靈動：鬼影實錄》上映賺得盆滿缽滿之后發(fā)生了些什么事。有幾部電影馬上跟風(fēng)而至，鬧得一個曾經(jīng)激動人心的體裁如今卻被業(yè)內(nèi)人士及付費電影觀眾所取笑。我很擔(dān)心，如果太多電影一哄而上復(fù)制《地心引力》，其后續(xù)影響力將會被削弱。這通常是巨大成功后不幸的副作用。

Anyway， the aim of this article is not point out Hollywood's flaws， but rather to celebrate a moment when the filmmaking community took a chance on something new and exciting and it paid off. The value of Gravity to the general well-being of our industry cannot be underestimated. It's important to remember that movie theaters now face more competition than they ever have before from more viewing options at home. As a result， many moviegoers want to walk out of a theater feeling like they experienced something that they couldn't possibly achieve while sitting on their couch. Gravity is giving customers around the world that very feeling.

無論如何，本篇的目的不是要剖析好萊塢的缺陷，而是要慶賀這個時刻，因為電影制作界大膽嘗試了新穎而又令人振奮的題材，且獲得了回報?！兜匦囊Α返膬r值對于我們業(yè)界的體裁發(fā)展前景來說是不容小覷的。重要的是要記住，電影院面臨著在家里更多的觀賞選擇，比以往的競爭更激烈。結(jié)果，許多影迷走出影院，都期待體驗到了一些坐在家中沙發(fā)上無法比擬的感受。而《地心引力》恰恰給了全世界觀眾那樣非凡的感覺。

Ive already seen Gravity two times in theaters and I know that I want to go back at least one more time. The first time I saw the film， it was an IMAX 3D showing. I was blown away just like everyone else. （Of course， my fear of heights made the experience even more intense.） The second time I saw the film， it was just in 2D. While I still had a great time watching it， the 2D version just didnt compare to the IMAX 3D version. Gravity is a film that is meant to be seen on the biggest screen possible. I feel bad for anybody who misses out on the experience， and its the job of everyone in this industry to use Gravity as an example of how superior the theatrical experience is to watching a movie on a television， tablet or a cell phone.

我已經(jīng)在影院看過兩遍《地心引力》，我想我至少還會再去一次。我第一次看這部電影，是IMAX 3D版本的。我像其余每個人那樣大為震撼。（當(dāng)然，我的恐高癥使體驗更強烈。）我第二次看的電影只是2D版本。雖然我仍觀賞得津津有味，但2D版本絕對不可與IMAX 3D版本相提并論?！兜匦囊Α肥且徊吭揪驮撛谧畲蟮你y幕上觀賞的電影。誰錯過這種體驗，我都為他感到遺憾；我們每一個從業(yè)人員都有責(zé)任，以《地心引力》為例告訴大家，優(yōu)越的電影院體驗遠(yuǎn)勝在電視、平板電腦或手機上觀看電影。

The notion that movie theaters are simply not necessary is one that needs to be stopped quickly. It doesn't help that media often likes to embrace the negative side of that argument. Members of the American media especially love to write articles about the death of movie theaters， and they aren't willing to let facts get in the way of their lazy efforts to speak negatively about an industry that is still very healthy. When movies like Gravity come along， those same writers speak as though a groundbreaking work has single-handedly brought the movie theater industry back from ruin. This kind of writing is an unfortunate result of a media climate that rewards negative stories over positive ones. After all， a lot of Internet users clearly seem to think that a negative headline is often more interesting than a positive one. We could all stand to be a little more positive about an industry that has provided such great memories and will continue to do so in the years to come.

“電影院根本沒必要”的想法需要趕緊打住。媒體通常偏好消極爭論觀點，這沒有任何益處。尤其是美國媒體們愛寫判定電影院將消亡的文章，他們罔顧事實，惰性消極地唱衰這個仍然健康向上的產(chǎn)業(yè)。當(dāng)《地心引力》面世以來，那些相同的作者又大放厥詞，仿佛一部突破性的杰作便力挽搖搖欲墜的電影院產(chǎn)業(yè)。之所以這樣的文字不幸橫行，那是因為媒體風(fēng)氣就是傾向消極報道、而非積極報道。畢竟，許多網(wǎng)絡(luò)用戶顯然似乎認(rèn)為負(fù)面消息往往比正面消息更有趣?？磥?，我們每個人對行業(yè)的立場都可以稍微積極些，畢竟行業(yè)提供了如此美好的回憶，并會在今后的歲月里繼續(xù)奉獻(xiàn)精彩。