You remember them. People like Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Nicolas Cage – putting their faces on the movie posters would sell tickets. No more. Once the safeguard of Hollywood’s most profitable movies, A-list[佼佼者] celebrities[名人] are finding their stock[声望,评价] fading at the cinema, where concept is trumping[胜过] stars and story may actually matter.
Consider: Knight and Day, the $117 million adventure with Cruise and Diaz, was to be a summer hit. Instead, the film opened in third place with $20 million. Cage’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice could use some magic. Roberts couldn’t save the fate of Duplicity.
Even Matt Damon, when essentially[本质上] reprising[重复] his role as Jason Bourne注1, couldn’t lift the $100 million Green Zone above $36 million.
Among the top ten movies of the year, only Johnny Depp’s Alice in Wonderland and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man 2 could claim big revenues[收入] from star power.
What gives[(口语)出了什么事]? Television and tabloids[小报] have made stars an everyday sight, and moviegoers with limited funds may need something more than an A-list face to convince them to spend the $15.
Inception, for instance, has succeeded despite essentially removing Leonardo DiCaprio from the poster. “Leo’s name is in very small font[字体], and it’s clear they’re selling the concept and filmmaker (Christopher Nolan),” says Jeff Bock, analyst for an industry tracking firm. “They sold that on concept.”
A risky concept. Dan Fellman of Warner Bros. says competing studio executives[经理主管] tried to scare him off opening a brainy film in the summer.
“The timing seemed right,” Fellman says. “People want a movie to go to Starbucks afterward and talk about. I thought they’d want to do that as much in summer as in fall, and we knocked it out of the park注2.”
The rise of comic-book movies could be considered as a harbinger[预兆] of trouble. Despite having five different stars in the cape, from Michael Keaton to George Clooney to Christian Bale, every Batman movie has opened at No. 1. “Batman showed that you could put almost any star behind the mask and they’d work,” Bock says.
Hollywood critic Scott Mantz says that while the trend worries Hollywood’s richest talent, it’s good for the movies.
“Look at Star Trek, look at The Hangover,” he says of two relatively starless hits last year. “People don’t need to recognize the face. They need to connect to the story.”
你记得他们。像朱莉娅·罗伯茨、汤姆· 克鲁斯、卡梅隆·迪亚茨、尼古拉斯·凯奇这些人——只要把他们的脸摆在海报上,电影就能卖座。
这种情况一去不复返了。一线明星曾经是好莱坞最赚钱电影的保证,但他们对电影业的影响力如今逐渐减弱。现在是概念胜过明星,故事才是王道。
看看这些例子:克鲁斯和迪亚茨主演、耗资1.17亿美元的冒险故事片《危情谍战》本应成为暑期大热。然而该片上映第一周只拿到第三位,票房仅有两千万美元。凯奇的《魔法师的学徒》看来也要施点魔法才行。即使罗伯茨也救不了《口是心非》的命运。甚至当马特·戴蒙继续在《绿色地带》中出演相当于森·伯恩的角色,也未能让这部耗资1亿美元的电影的票房超过3600万美元。
在今年十部最佳电影当中,只有约翰尼·德普的《爱丽丝梦游仙境》和小罗伯特·唐尼的《钢铁侠2》能靠明星的力量卖个满堂红。
发生什么事了?电视和小报让明星成了日常一景。仅靠一线明星已经很难说服拮据的电影迷们掏出15美元(去看电影)。
比如《盗梦空间》,即使实际上他们将莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥从海报上除去,电影仍然大获成功。
“莱昂的名字印得很小,显然他们卖的是故事和电影人(克里斯托弗· 诺兰),”杰夫·博克说。他是一家行业跟踪公司的分析员。“他们卖的是故事概念。”
一个冒险的概念。华纳兄弟公司的丹·费尔曼说,竞争公司的老总们都试图让他知难而退,不要在夏天推出一部“用脑”的电影。
“时机似乎刚刚好,”费尔曼说。“人们希望看完电影之后可以到星巴克再讨论一番。我认为他们无论在夏天还是秋天都想这样做,而我们成功了。”
可以说漫画电影的兴起是这一问题的先兆。尽管五位明星都穿上过斗篷——从迈克尔·基顿到乔治·克鲁尼再到克里斯蒂安·贝尔——每部《蝙蝠侠》电影都能稳坐首周票房第一位。“《蝙蝠侠》证明你让任何一个明星戴上面具,电影都可能成功,”博克说。
好莱坞影评人斯科特·曼茨说,虽然这种趋势让好莱坞最有钱的人才非常担忧,但对电影来说是好事。
“看看《星际迷航》,看看《宿醉》,”他提到去年两部没什么大牌明星的热门电影。“人们不需要认出那些脸孔,他们需要的是与故事产生共鸣。”
注1:贾森·伯恩是系列电影《谍影重重》的主人公。
注2:指棒球的全垒打(最典型的全垒打是把球打出球场外野最后面的全垒打墙外,并且球飞出去时是在界内),比喻做事成功。有关棒球的习语可查看/article/words/1/201010/3365.html