VOA慢速英语2020--新冠疫情将永远改变好莱坞

The Pandemic Is Changing Hollywood Forever

More than 100 years ago, the New York Times published a story titled "No New ‘Movies' Till Influenza¹ Ends." The story described the spread of the Spanish Flu across the United States.

Today, as another pandemic spreads, the future of movies is again being questioned. But unlike 1918, many new American movies have been released during the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the films, however, did not arrive in theaters. Instead, they were released on streaming services, which permit people to watch movies on television through the internet.

Until now, the new releases were small productions, not the big budget films Hollywood depends on to make profits. But that is changing.

Last month, the Walt Disney Co. experimented with the $200 million movie Mulan. The film was released on its streaming service. Disney will also release the Pixar film Soul on December 25 on its streaming service. And WarnerMedia said last week that Wonder Woman 1984 would be released on HBO streaming and to theaters at the same time.

Much remains² unknown about how the movie business will survive the pandemic. But it has become increasingly clear that Hollywood will not be the same. Just as the Spanish Flu changed the movie business by shrinking the number of moviemakers, COVID-19 is remaking Hollywood. It is reorganizing an industry that has already seen major changes over the past 20 years.

Long-time producer Peter Guber is president of Mandalay Entertainment and the former chief of Sony Pictures. "It will be a new studio system. Instead of MGM and Fox, they're going to be Disney and Disney+, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, HBO Max and Peacock," he said. All of those companies have streaming services.

Many of the changes in 2020 are related to the pandemic, but not all. Several studios are creating new business deals and partnerships³ because of streaming.

The conglomerate⁴ WarnerMedia owns Warner Bros., which was founded in 1923. It is run by Jason Kilar, who formerly⁵ ran the Hulu streaming service. Last month, Disney head Bob Chapek announced a reorganization of the company to strengthen its streaming operations.

Universal Pictures is owned by the conglomerate Comcast. It pushed hard to change its longtime agreement with theaters that movies must be shown for three months before they can be streamed. Now, it is only 17 days.

Many see the pandemic speeding up changes that have been coming for 20 years.

Chris Aronson is head of distribution for Paramount⁶ Pictures.

"All this stuff that's going on now in the business was going to happen, the evolution is just happening faster than it would have. What would have taken three to five years is going to be done in a year, maybe a year and a half," he said.

Meanwhile, big media companies are fighting for popularity⁷ in the streaming market. Right now, the market's top players are Netflix and Amazon. Other streaming services - including Hulu, Disney, Apple and others – are seeking to expand their share in the highly-competitive market.

The second-level players see the pandemic as an unusual chance to expand their growth.

Paramount and Sony Pictures do not have their own streaming services to show their movies. Instead, they have sold some of their movies to Netflix or Amazon. Eddie Murphy's Coming to America 2 went to Amazon for a reported $125 million. Paramount is holding some of its big budget films until 2021.

Director Patty Jenkins made Wonder Woman 1984 for WarnerMedia. The company has decided⁸ to release the movie for streaming in the United States, but for theaters in Europe and China.

"At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else," Jenkins wrote on Twitter.

"The way movies are made and distributed, certainly at the studio level, has been really in need of change and hopefully this will bring it on. But when people hear that, it's like... now theatrical⁹ is dead. I personally feel that's garbage," said Ira Deutchman. He is an independent film producer and a Columbia University professor.

Deutchman believes that after a year or so of virus-related restrictions¹⁰, people will be happy to leave their homes and visit a theater. But, the days of the billion-dollar movie, like 1997's Titanic¹¹, may be over.

"If you're going to be in this business, no matter what you do or where it plays - whether it's streaming or in cinemas - you're going to make hits and you're going to make flops¹³," says Mandalay's Guber. "The idea is to make more hits than flops."

Words in This Story

conglomerate – n. a large company with many different areas of financial interest

distribution – n. the act of sending something to a business or organization

evolution – n. the slow movement of things

joy – n. great happiness

garbage – n. things that are thrown away, or a stupid idea

flop¹² – n. a book, play or movie that is considered a financial failure

1 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

5 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

6 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

7 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

10 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

11 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

12 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

13 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网