外刊双语：迪士尼高层巨星回归？

原文标题：
The entertainment business
Disney’s surprise sequel
Hollywood’s biggest studio brings back its leading man. But the real problem is the script
娱乐业
出乎意料的迪斯尼系列片
好莱坞最大的电影制片商的主角回归，但问题的根源在于剧本

Hollywood is suffering from the brutal economics of streaming
好莱坞面临流媒体经济的残酷现实

[Paragraph 1]
FILM CRITICS often complain that the box office is overrun with sequels. Now so are studios’ head offices.

电影评论家们对影院里充斥着的系列片怨声载道。现在他们对公司总部的人事变动也不满意。

On November 20th Disney announced that Robert Iger, who ran the company for 15 highly successful years until he stepped down in 2020, would go back into the spotlight for a second act as chief executive.

11月20日，迪士尼宣布，罗伯特·艾格将回到幕前再次担任首席执行官一职。艾格曾经营迪斯尼15年，那是成功的15年，直到2020年才卸任。

Bob Chapek, who lasted less than three years in the role and had presided over a 40% drop in Disney’s share price this year, was sent sloping back to his trailer.
鲍勃·查佩克担任CEO不到3年，而今年迪斯尼股价下跌了40%，现在他要回炉再造了。

[Paragraph 2]
As any producer knows, a good leading man can make all the difference.
所有制片人都明白：一个好的主角可以改变一切。

Mr Chapek turned out to be a B-lister; Mr Iger, who transformed Disney’s fortunes, is a megastar.
查佩克最终成了二线明星；艾格曾经改变了迪士尼命运，他是一位巨星。

But the creatives in Hollywood and the investors on Wall Street expecting a rapid turnaround at Disney should think again.
但如果好莱坞创作者和华尔街投资者预期迪士尼会迅速扭转局面，他们还应该再想想这件事。

The main problem is not at the top, but in the fundamental changes to the movie industry brought about by streaming, which have hurt every studio.
主要问题不在高管层，而是流媒体给电影行业带来的根本变化，伤害波及每个电影公司。

It will take every bit of Mr Iger’s star power to turn the business back into a blockbuster.
为了让这家公司重新成为业界翘楚，艾格需要使出洪荒之力。

[Paragraph 3]
Mr Chapek was pelted with rotten tomatoes from the beginning.
查佩克一开始接手时，公司就是一个烂摊子。

The pandemic, which shut cinemas and theme parks, was hardly his fault. But he frequently fluffed his lines.
新冠导致电影院和主题公园关闭，这并不是他的错。但经常念错台词（业务能力不强）就是他的错了。

Unlike Mr Iger, a sunny former weatherman who charmed actors and directors, Mr Chapek, who rose through Disney’s theme-parks division, annoyed Hollywood’s highly strung creatives, some of whom threatened to sue when their films went straight to streaming.
艾格是一位阳光的前任气象员，曾吸引过无数演员和导演。查佩克在迪斯尼的主题公园部门中脱颖而出，但他与艾格不同的是，他惹恼了好莱坞神经高度紧张的创作者，有些创作者威胁说，如果他们的电影直接进入流媒体，他们就会起诉。

He was no better at handling politicians. When Florida passed a law muzzling talk of sexuality and gender identity in classrooms, Mr Chapek at first took no position, then opposed it—managing to infuriate liberals and conservatives alike.
查佩克在政治方面的处理方法并不高明。那时候佛罗里达州通过了一项法律，即禁止课堂上讨论性取向与性别认同。查佩克一开始并没有表态，后来反对该法律--成功地激怒了自由派和保守派等人。

Relations with investors soured; this month a poor set of earnings blindsided Wall Street.
他与投资者的关系也恶化了；本月，一系列糟糕的业绩报告令华尔街猝不及防。

Disney’s stock rose sharply on news of Mr Iger’s return.
艾格回归的消息使迪斯尼股票大幅上涨。

[Paragraph 4]
Yet for the most part Mr Chapek was following the script left to him by Mr Iger, who had hand-picked him as his successor.
然而，艾格曾亲手提拔了查佩克为继任者，查佩克也很大程度上遵循了艾格留给他的剧本（策略）。

The priority of both was to shovel premium content onto Disney+, the streaming service launched in 2019 under Mr Iger.
两人的首要任务都是将优质内容推到Disney+上。Disney+是在艾格领导下2019年推出的流媒体服务平台。

The approach has paid off, winning Disney more streaming subscriptions even than Netflix, which entered the business 12 years earlier.
这一策略也确实卓有成效，为迪士尼赢得了更多的流媒体订阅用户，甚至超过了早12年进入该领域的网飞。

But it has proved far less profitable than the theatrical and cable-TV industries that historically sustained Disney, along with its parks.
但事实上，它的利润远不及迪斯尼赖以生存的影视剧、有线电视和主题公园业务。

Consumers can easily switch once they have binged on the latest series, meaning that ever more content is needed to keep them on board.
消费者一旦沉迷于最新系列剧，就容易转移注意力，这意味着需要更多的内容才能把他们留在平台。

Meanwhile, new rivals like Apple and Amazon have bottomless budgets.
与此同时，苹果和亚马逊等新的竞争对手财大气粗有无限的预算。

Last quarter Disney’s streaming division lost $1.5bn, twice as much as a year earlier.
上个季度，迪士尼的流媒体业务亏损15亿美元，是去年的两倍。

[Paragraph 5]
These problems are being felt across Hollywood.
整个好莱坞都感受到了这些问题的存在。

Netflix has lost more than half its market value this year. Indeed, Disney is better placed than most of its rivals.
今年，网飞市值蒸发了一半多。事实上，迪士尼比大多数竞争对手处境要好。

For now Disney+ is subsidised by the still-profitable parks and cable networks (the latter fast declining).
目前，Disney+得到了主题公园和有线电视部门的资助（两者都有赚钱效应，但后者正在快速下降）。

And the company expects its streaming business to break even in 2024. It is sure to be among the survivors of the streaming wars.
迪斯尼预计其流媒体业务将在2024年实现收支平衡。在流媒体大战中，迪斯尼肯定是幸存者之一。

For others things look dicier. Warner Bros Discovery told investors earlier this month that streaming was proving tougher than expected.
对其他竞争对手来说，问题更棘手。本月早些时候，“华纳兄弟探索”公司告诉投资者，流媒体比预期要艰难。
NBC Universal, part of Comcast, and Paramount Global are unlikely to survive in their current form. (Some speculate that they may even be swallowed by Disney—if Disney itself is not first swallowed by Apple.)
康卡斯特旗下的NBC环球和派拉蒙环球不太可能以目前的形式生存下来。（有人猜测，它们甚至可能会被迪士尼吞并--前提是迪斯尼本身没有被苹果吞并。）

[Paragraph 6]
As households and advertisers tighten their belts, things will only get harder in Hollywood.
由于家庭用户和广告商都在勒紧裤腰带过日子，好莱坞的情况将只会变得更糟。

Mr Chapek may not be the last corporate leading man to bite the dust as things worsen.
随着事态的恶化，查佩克可能不是最后一位下台的企业高管。

Having a star chief executive can certainly help. But studios are in for disappointment if they think that a change at the top is going to alter the brutal reality of Hollywood’s new economics.
迪斯尼有一位明星CEO当然会起到作用。但如果电影公司认为换高管就可以改变好莱坞新经济的残酷现实，那么他们肯定会大失所望。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量657左右）
原文出自：2022年11月26日《TE》Leaders版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
罗伯特·艾格（Robert A. "Bob" Iger），1951年2月10日在美国纽约长岛出生，是一位美国商人。曾任迪士尼公司首席执行官。现任华特迪士尼公司执行主席兼董事会主席 。2022年11月21日，董事会任命罗伯特·艾格接替鲍勃·查佩克（Bob Chapek）为首席执行官，任期2年。

2022年3月8日，美国佛罗里达州议会两院通过了一项共和党提出的反同法案，该州公立学校将禁止在课堂上讨论性取向和性别认同的话题。该法案受到了大量的批评，部分民众认为其极具歧视性和误导性。

【重点句子】（3 个）
Mr Chapek turned out to be a B-lister; Mr Iger, who transformed Disney’s fortunes, is a megastar.
查佩克最终成了二线明星；艾格曾经改变了迪士尼命运，他是一位巨星。

Consumers can easily switch once they have binged on the latest series, meaning that ever more content is needed to keep them on board.
消费者一旦沉迷于最新系列剧，就容易转移注意力，这意味着需要更多的内容才能把他们留在平台。

As households and advertisers tighten their belts, things will only get harder in Hollywood.
由于家庭用户和广告商都在勒紧裤腰带过日子，好莱坞的情况将只会变得更糟。