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The risky business of remakes
電影翻拍有風險
Unhappily ever after
從此不再幸福
What “Snow White” can teach Hollywood
《白雪公主》能讓好萊塢得到什么教訓
“Snow white”, Disney’s live-action remake of a beloved animated film, had an icy reception before its release in cinemas on March 21st.
《白雪公主》是迪士尼對一部深受喜愛的動畫電影的真人翻拍，在3月21日影院上映前遭遇了極度冷淡的回應。
A trailer posted three months ago has earned just 60,000 likes and over 1m dislikes.
三個月前發布的預告片僅獲得6萬個點贊，卻有超過100萬個不喜歡。
“If I saw this movie on a plane I would still walk out,” grumbled one YouTube user.
“就算在飛機上看這部電影，我還是會摔門離去。”一位油管用戶抱怨道。
“We thankfully have the technology nowadays to make the animation look worse than the original from 1937,” groaned another.
“感恩我們現在的電影技術可以讓這部動畫變得比1937年的原版更糟糕。”另一個人抱怨道。
Among the remake’s many sins are seven in particular: the dwarves, who have been cheesily rendered with computer-generated imagery (CGI), after a row over whether it was politically correct to have actors with dwarfism in the roles.
在這部翻拍作品的眾多罪過中，七個小矮人尤為突出：小矮人是俗氣的電腦生成圖像（CGI），之前想讓患有侏儒癥的演員出演這些角色，但關于這一做法是否政治正確引發了爭論。
(In the face of criticism, Disney recast the film’s dwarves as “magical creatures”—whatever that means.)
（面對批評，迪士尼將電影中的小矮人重新塑造為“魔法生物”——也不知道這是什么意思。）
There is also the issue of Rachel Zegler, the actress chosen to play Snow White, who panned the original film as “extremely dated” and said that the prince “literally stalks” the princess.
另一個問題是瑞秋·澤格勒，即被選中扮演白雪公主的女演員，她曾猛批原版電影“極其過時”，并表示王子“簡直是在跟蹤”公主。
It turns out fans do not like it when a remake’s heroine villainises the classic film that inspired it.
事實證明，翻拍電影的女主角把啟發翻版的經典電影妖魔化，這種女主角不會得到粉絲的喜愛。
By respinning familiar tales, remakes can offer studios a surer path towards commercial riches.
通過重新演繹熟悉的故事，翻拍作品可以讓電影公司更有把握地獲得商業成功。
In the amount of pushback and controversy it has faced, “Snow White” is unusual.
但《白雪公主》不太一樣，這部電影受到了大量抵制和爭議。
But in another way the film reflects a current trend, which is for studios to reach further back in history for source material.
但另一方面，這部電影也反映了當前的一種趨勢，即電影公司正在從更久遠的歷史中尋找素材。
From 2020 to 2024 the average age of the source films that new remakes were based on was 35.
從2020年到2024年，新翻拍電影所依據的原版電影的平均年齡為35年。
That is about 13 years older than from 2011 to 2015, according to our analysis of data from The Numbers, a film website.
根據本刊對電影網站“電影數據”的數據分析，這比2011年至2015年大約多出13年。
What makes for a successful remake?
什么因素造就成功的翻拍？
It is a question on the minds of many Hollywood executives, as well as cinephiles.
這是影迷們，更是許多好萊塢高管思考的問題。
To answer it, The Economist analysed 200 remakes released since 1995; each had a minimum of 5,000 ratings on IMDB, an online movie database.
為了回答這個問題，《經濟學人》分析了自1995年以來發布的200部翻拍電影，每部電影在電影網絡數據庫IMDB上都至少有5000條評分。
(Our analysis only includes remakes of films, not adaptations of books.)
（分析僅包括電影翻拍，不涉及書籍改編。）
Three lessons stand out.
有三點經驗教訓尤為突出。
First, it is not enough to use state-of-the-art special effects; computer-generated imagery needs to be handled carefully.
首先，僅僅使用最先進的特效是不夠的，電腦生成圖像要謹慎使用。
Of the 20 worst remakes (as measured by IMDB audience ratings), half are horror films, in part because of their use of unconvincing special effects.
在20部最糟糕的翻拍電影中（根據IMDB觀眾評分衡量），有一半是恐怖片，部分原因在于使用了不夠逼真的特效。
In the fifth-worst-rated, a remake in 2005 of John Carpenter’s cult classic “The Fog” from 1980, a supernatural, vengeful fog descends on an island town off the coast of Oregon.
評分倒數第五的電影是2005年對約翰·卡朋特導演的1980年經典邪典電影《夜霧殺機》的翻拍，在翻拍中，一場超自然的、充滿復仇意味的濃霧降臨在俄勒岡海岸附近的一個島嶼小鎮上。
Cheap shocks substitute for tension: viewers have complained that the fog moves too quickly and that ghosts in the fog (never clearly visible in the original) are hokey, a complaint also made by viewers about the dwarves in the new “Snow White”.
廉價的驚嚇橋段取代了驚悚張力：觀眾們抱怨濃霧移動得太快，霧中的鬼魂（在原版中從未清晰現身）顯得很假，新版《白雪公主》的觀眾們對小矮人也有同樣的抱怨。
Second, comedies come with grave risks.
第二，喜劇有巨大的風險。
This is the worst-performing genre for remakes, earning an average IMDB rating 1.5 points (out of ten) lower than the originals.
喜劇是翻拍作品中表現最差的類型，IMDB平均評分比原作低了1.5分（滿分十分）。
Comedy remakes also tend to make the least at the box office.
喜劇翻拍作品的票房表現也往往是最差的。
Not a single one significantly outshines the original film it was based on, according to audience ratings.
根據觀眾評分，沒有一部翻拍喜劇明顯超越原作。
It may be that viewers of comedies and horrors crave an element of surprise, which is hard to offer in a faithful remake, because audiences already know which gags and gasps to expect.
也許是喜劇和恐怖片觀眾渴望看到驚喜，這是忠實原版的翻拍作品很難提供的，因為觀眾已經知道會看到哪些笑點和驚嚇。
The best remakes get their inspiration from abroad.
第三，最好的翻拍作品往往從國外汲取靈感。
Since 1995 about a third of the top remakes have been based on foreign source material, including six of the top ten.
自1995年以來，大約有三分之一的最佳翻拍作品是基于外國素材改編的，包括前十名中的六部。
So are the only two remakes to have won Academy Awards for Best Picture: “The Departed” (2006), based on a Hong Kong film, and “CODA” (2021), based on a French-Belgian one.
獲得奧斯卡最佳影片獎的唯二兩部翻拍電影也是基于國外素材：一部是2006年的《無間道風云》，改編自一部香港電影；另一部是2021年的《健聽女孩》，改編自一部法國和比利時合拍電影。
Unfamiliarity with the originals may mean that audiences come in with lower expectations and without any attachment to the original.
對原作的不熟悉可能意味著觀眾帶著較低的期望，并且沒有任何原作情懷。
Take “Bugonia”, starring Emma Stone, set to be released in November.
以艾瑪·斯通主演的《拯救地球》為例（該片定于11月上映）。
It is an English-language remake of a South Korean film; instead of a male chief executive, the new story centres on a female one.
這是翻拍自韓國電影的英語作品，新版不再以男性CEO為中心，而是聚焦于一位女性CEO。
However, audiences, lacking knowledge of the original, are unlikely to kick up a fuss about the change.
然而，由于觀眾們對原作缺乏了解，因此不太可能對這一改動大吵大鬧。
The same cannot be said of the new “Snow White”, which seems destined for an unhappily-ever-after ending.
新版《白雪公主》則不是這樣，它似乎注定會迎來一個永不幸福的結局。
