電影院快退出歷史舞臺了嗎?

電影院快退出歷史舞臺了嗎?

Toronto's Paradise Theater was a "nabe," a neighborhood movie theater built in 1937. There used to be one every few blocks, but the Paradise was a little classier, designed by an important architect with nice Art Deco detailing. Most of the nabes are gone now, but the Paradise has been lovingly restored and just reopened a few weeks ago. It's showing the new Martin Scorsese film, "The Irishman," a Netflix production we wanted to see. My wife is a true movie lover, and there was no way she was going to watch this on a small home screen. Kelly wasn't sure if she wanted to even see it at the Paradise when it was playing downtown on the big Toronto International Film Festival theater screen, but I convinced her that we should walk down and try out our new nabe.

多倫多的天堂劇院是一座建于1937年的“納貝”社區(qū)電影院。以前，每隔幾個街區(qū)就會有一個這樣的樂園，但這個樂園要漂亮一些，由一位重要的建筑師設(shè)計，有漂亮的裝飾藝術(shù)細節(jié)。大多數(shù)的納貝現(xiàn)在都走了，但是這個天堂已經(jīng)被精心修復(fù)，幾周前剛剛重新開放。它正在放映馬丁·斯科塞斯的新片《愛爾蘭人》，這是Netflix公司制作的一部我們想看的電影。我的妻子是一個真正的電影愛好者，她不可能在一個小的主屏幕上看這個。當《天堂》在多倫多國際電影節(jié)的大屏幕上放映時，凱莉甚至不確定她是否想去看，但我說服了她，我們應(yīng)該走過去試試我們的新納貝。

Paradise Cinema in Toronto, looking all new and bright and beautiful. (Photo: Paradise)

The whole concept of a pair of baby boomers going out to pay to see a Netflix movie on a not-so-big screen in a newly restored single-screen theater at the end of 2019 raises so many questions and issues.

2019年底，一對嬰兒潮一代的人出錢在一家新恢復(fù)的單屏影院里觀看一部不那么大的電影，這一概念引發(fā)了許多問題和話題討論。

1. The theater

電影院

The is the interior of the Paradise set up for a conference. (Photo: Paradise)

First, there's the question of the theater itself. Investor Moray Tawse bought it in 2013 and rebuilt it as a comfortable theater, with a restaurant and a bar. Tawze tells Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail: "The way we designed and outfitted it was to make it a very flexible space. We can capture every area of entertainment that’s available out there. Will it be a great money maker? Probably not. But I think we can make it an interesting hub for the community."

首先是劇院本身的問題。2013年，投資者馬里·陶斯買下了它，把它改建成了一個舒適的劇院，里面有餐廳和酒吧。陶斯告訴《環(huán)球郵報》的Barry Hertz:“我們設(shè)計和裝備它的方式是使它成為一個非常靈活的空間。我們可以捕捉到所有的娛樂活動。它能賺大錢嗎?可能不會。但我認為我們可以讓它成為社區(qū)一個有趣的中心。”

2. 'The Irishman' is no Ironman

“愛爾蘭人”不是鐵人

A movie about a bunch of gangsters getting old. (Photo: Netflix)

This is not a movie for the kids, but it is the ultimate eye candy for baby boomers, with Robert De Niro aging in front of our eyes. The CGI that made all these older actors young again was seamless and perfect. I wish this could be done in real life to me. Al Pacino plays Jimmy Hoffa, whose name may draw a big blank to anyone under 60 but was huge news in the 60s and 70s. It's long, at three and a half hours, and I found it slow moving at times. Had I been watching at home I would have likely bailed out after the first hour. The last half hour, the end of all these lives, could have been cut right out. But there's no question that it's a masterpiece. They don't make movies like this anymore.

這不是一部給孩子看的電影，但它是嬰兒潮一代的終極花瓶，羅伯特·德尼羅在我們眼前變老了。讓所有老演員重新煥發(fā)青春的CGI技術(shù)完美無瑕。我希望這能在現(xiàn)實生活中做到。阿爾·帕西諾飾演吉米·霍法，他的名字對60歲以下的人來說可能是一個空白，但在60年代和70年代是一個大新聞。它很長，有三個半小時，我發(fā)現(xiàn)它有時走得很慢。如果我是在家里看，我可能會在第一個小時后退出。過去的半個小時，所有這些生命的終結(jié)，完全可以被剪掉。但毫無疑問，這是一部杰作。他們不再拍這樣的電影了。

3. Does the movie theater actually have a future?

電影院真的有未來嗎?

Silver City, a Cineplex cinema in the suburbs. (Photo: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler/Grid Engine [CC0 1.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

Canada's Cineplex chain was founded in 1979 with North America's first multiplex, carved out of a parking garage in Toronto's Eaton Centre shopping mall. The screens were tiny, smaller than many people's home TVs today. My dad was an early investor, so I got a stack of passes every year and saw a lot of movies as it took over Odeon and other theater chains in Canada and the U.S. and and grew to 1,880 screens in both countries.

加拿大的Cineplex連鎖影院成立于1979年，北美的第一家多廳影院是在多倫多伊頓中心購物中心的一個停車場里開出來的。當時的電視屏幕很小，比現(xiàn)在許多人的家庭電視還小。我的父親是一個早期投資者，所以我每年都能拿到一大堆通行證，看了很多電影，因為它接管了加拿大和美國的Odeon和其他連鎖影院，并在這兩個國家都發(fā)展到1880塊銀幕。

Yet just last week it was sold to a big British chain that also owns Regal in the States, after trying everything — gaming, VR, high-tech amusements, to keep people in seats. According to the Globe and Mail, "traffic to movie theaters has been slowing everywhere. At Cineplex, attendance has fallen for the past three years." And, the stock kept dropping. But the new owner of the company is optimistic:

然而就在上周，它被賣給了一家在美國也擁有Regal的大型英國連鎖店，在這之前，它嘗試了一切——游戲、虛擬現(xiàn)實、高科技娛樂——來讓人們坐在座位上。據(jù)《環(huán)球郵報》報道，“各地前往電影院的交通都在放緩。過去三年里，電影城的上座率一直在下降。”股票持續(xù)下跌。但是公司的新老板很樂觀:

"There will be a big battle in the streaming arena because of these huge players that are entering now," [Cineworld CEO] Greidinger said. "The theatrical business is not home entertainment. People will never stay seven days at home. We are competing for their free time outside of the house."

“流媒體領(lǐng)域?qū)幸粓龃髴?zhàn)，因為這些大玩家正在進入這個領(lǐng)域，”(Cineworld的首席執(zhí)行官)Greidinger說。“戲劇行業(yè)不是家庭娛樂。人們永遠不會在家里呆七天。我們在為他們爭取額外的自由時間。”

That's wishful thinking. I suspect theaters like the Paradise have a brighter future than the big chains; it can develop a loyal local clientele, and it can program for cinephiles.

這是一廂情愿的想法。我懷疑像《天堂》這樣的影院會比大型連鎖影院有更光明的未來;它可以發(fā)展一個忠實的本地客戶，它可以為影迷編程。

TV technology killed the nabes 50 years ago, and the new technologies are going to kill the movie theater as we know it. Even "Ironman" can't save it.

電視技術(shù)在50年前殺死了nabes家族，而我們所知道的新技術(shù)也將殺死電影院。即使“鋼鐵俠”也救不了它。