天災人禍多 2023年療癒電影打敗超級英雄片

Hollywood’s movie factories run on conventional wisdom — entrenched notions, based on experience, about what types of films are likely to pop at the global box office.

關於何種類型電影可能會在全球票房爆紅，好萊塢的電影工廠仰仗傳統智慧，也就是基於經驗的根深柢固觀念。

This year, audiences turned many of those so-called rules on their heads.

今年，觀眾讓許多所謂的規則栽了跟頭。

Superheroes have long been seen as the most reliable way to fill seats. But characters like Captain Marvel, the Flash and Ant-Man failed to excite moviegoers. Over the weekend, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which cost more than $200 million to make and tens of millions more to market, arrived to a disastrous $28 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada. Overseas moviegoers chipped in another $80 million.

超級英雄長期被視為高朋滿座的最可靠途徑，但諸如驚奇隊長、閃電俠和蟻人等角色，都未能打動觀影群眾。在周末，斥資逾2億美元製作、還砸下數千萬美元行銷的「水行俠失落王國」在美國、加拿大的票房銷售額堪稱災難，落在2,800萬美元。海外觀眾另外貢獻8,000萬美元。

In the meantime, the biggest movie of the year at the box office, “Barbie,” with $1.44 billion in worldwide ticket sales, was directed by a woman, based on a very female toy and spray-painted pink — ingredients that most studios have long seen as limiting audience appeal. An old movie-industry maxim holds that women will go to a “guy” movie but not vice versa.

同時，年度最賣座電影「芭比」在世界各地的票房達到14.4億美元，該片由一名女性執導，奠基在一款極為女性化的玩具，以及噴漆式的粉紅色上，這些元素向來被大多數片廠認定會限縮對觀眾的吸引力。電影業一句老生常談認為，女性會去看「男人的」電影，但反之則否。

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” collected $1.36 billion, a second-place result that also stunned Hollywood; studios have a troubled history with game adaptations. “Oppenheimer,” a three-hour period drama about a physicist, rounded out the top three, taking in $952 million and contradicting the prevailing belief that films for grown-ups are not viable in theaters.

「超級瑪利歐兄弟電影版」吸金13.6億美元躋身第二，同樣震驚好萊塢；對於遊戲改編電影，片廠的歷史紀錄堪慮。長達3小時、關於一名物理學家的時代劇「奧本海默」位列第三，進帳9.52億美元，背離「給成年人看的電影，在戲院裡行不通」的盛行觀念。

“Without question, change is afoot — audiences are in a different mood,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers. “The country and the world are not in the same place. We’ve had seven years of divisive politics, a severe pandemic, two serious wars, climate change and inflation. Moviegoers seem less interested in being overwhelmed with spectacle and saving the universe than being spoken to, entertained and inspired.”

「無庸置疑，改變正在發生，觀眾的心境不一樣了」，發行票房數字相關通訊刊物的影業顧問葛羅斯表示，「我國和世界處境已變。我們歷經7年的政治對立、一場嚴重疫情大流行、兩個嚴峻戰爭、氣候變遷和通貨膨脹。觀影者比起醉心於視覺奇觀、拯救宇宙，似乎較有興趣聽人訴說，受到取悅與啟發」。

Comscore, which compiles box office data, projected Sunday that North American ticket sales for the year would reach about $9 billion, a 20% increase from 2022.

彙整票房資料Comscore公司周日預測，2023年度北美票房銷售額會達到約90億美元，比2022年增加兩成。

Worldwide ticket sales are expected to exceed $33 billion, an increase of 27%, partly because of a surge in Latin America.

全球票房銷售額預期會超過330億美元，增加27%，部分原因是拉丁美洲的票房躍升。

Hollywood’s climb back from the pandemic is expected to stall in 2024. With fewer movies scheduled for release — studio pipelines were disrupted by the recent strikes — ticket sales will decline 5% to 11% next year, according to projections from Gower Street Analytics, a box office research firm.

好萊塢走出疫情的谷底回升預計會在2024年放緩。根據票房研究公司高爾街分析機構預測，片廠生產線受到近期的罷工阻擾，排定發行的電影變少，該年度票房的銷售額將隨之衰退5%到11%。

烏克蘭陸戰膠著 但以無人機在海上取得戰果

Bouncing over choppy waters, the Ukrainian sea drones fanned out and sped toward the Russian warship in a swarming tactic that military experts say has proved lethal and effective against what had been a dominant naval power on the Black Sea.

烏克蘭海上無人機飛過波濤洶湧水面，呈扇形散開，以蜂擁戰術向俄國戰艦衝去。軍事專家表示，事實證明，這對於曾主宰黑海的俄國海軍艦隊是致命且有效的。

From the safety of a room hundreds of miles away, the drones’ pilots pushed forward joysticks to accelerate, steer and swivel deck-mounted cameras, keeping their target in sight. Russian sailors opened fire with heavy machine guns.

在數百英里外的安全房間內，無人機操作員向前推動操縱桿，讓無人機加速和行進，並旋轉安裝在機上的攝影機，讓目標一直保持在視線範圍內。俄軍水兵則用重機槍開火。

A brief sea battle between men and drones erupted over several minutes, according to an account from the Ukrainian drone operators. One drone sped so close to its target, they said, that when bullets struck the 500-pound warhead it was carrying, the explosion breached the hull of the Russian corvette patrol ship, the Sergey Kotov.

根據烏國無人機操作員描述，這一場人員和無人機爆發的短促海戰持續數分鐘。他們說，一架無人機非常接近目標，當子彈擊中該機攜帶的500磅彈頭時，爆炸也擊穿俄軍巡邏艦「柯托夫號」船體。

“When we hit the target, the whole team, of course, was filled with emotion,” said the operator of the drone. The pilot asked to be identified only by a nickname, Thirteen, while describing the battle at sea Sept. 14, one of dozens of such engagements over the past year, according to the Ukrainian military, using drones built by Ukraine.

這架無人機的操作員說：「我們擊中目標時，整個團隊當然都情緒激昂。」這名操作員描述這場9月14日的海戰時，要求只以暱稱13稱呼他。烏國軍方指出，這是過去一年他們使用烏克蘭製無人機進行的數十次戰鬥之一。

Such attacks have been a rare bright spot in a disappointing year for Ukraine with no frontline breakthrough on the ground.

對烏克蘭而言，在前線沒有任何突破的令人失望一年裡，這類攻擊是罕見亮點。

“We were screaming and congratulating one another,” the pilot said, describing the mood among the drone operators in September.

這名操作員描述無人機操作員們9月時的情緒，表示：「我們當時尖叫並互相祝賀。」

The use of the sea drones highlights a path forward for Ukraine in its fight with Russia that has been promoted by the White House and embraced by the Ukrainian leadership. The idea is to supplement weaponry provided by Western partners with armaments produced domestically by Ukraine, including innovative systems like the sea drone fleet.

使用海上無人機，凸顯烏國與俄國作戰時前進的道路，美國白宮推動這個想法，也被烏國領導層採用。這個想法是用烏國國內製造的武器，包括海上無人機隊等創新系統，來補充西方夥伴援助武器。

Some in the U.S. military want Ukraine to pursue a “hold-and-build” strategy — to focus on holding the territory it has now and building an ability to produce its own weapons over 2024.

美國軍方有些人希望烏國採取「守成並蓄積實力」策略，專注於守住現有領土，並在2024年建立能力生產自己的武器。

With a Ukrainian offensive now stalled, and little chance for advancing on land, the goal would be to create enough of a credible threat with long-range drones and missiles that there would be an opportunity for meaningful negotiations with Russia at the end of next year or in 2025.

隨著烏國攻勢如今陷入停滯，在地面推進的機會很小，這個策略的目標會是用長程無人機和飛彈創造足夠可靠的威脅，以便有機會在明年底或2025年和俄國進行有意義的談判。

Ukrainian sea drones, said Thirteen, the pilot who helped cripple the Sergey Kotov, have cleared a swath out to 200 or so miles from the Ukrainian coast. “It’s possible to push them back,” he said. “Russia’s reign on the Black Sea is over.”

協助擊毀俄軍巡邏艦「柯托夫號」的操作員13表示，烏克蘭海上無人機已清除距離烏國海岸200英里左右的區域，「有可能擊退他們，俄國對黑海的宰制已經結束」。