电影院快退出历史舞台了吗?

电影院快退出历史舞台了吗?

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.

多伦多的天堂剧院是一座建于1937年的“纳贝”社区电影院。以前，每隔几个街区就会有一个这样的乐园，但这个乐园要漂亮一些，由一位重要的建筑师设计，有漂亮的装饰艺术细节。大多数的纳贝现在都走了，但是这个天堂已经被精心修复，几周前刚刚重新开放。它正在放映马丁·斯科塞斯的新片《爱尔兰人》，这是Netflix公司制作的一部我们想看的电影。我的妻子是一个真正的电影爱好者，她不可能在一个小的主屏幕上看这个。当《天堂》在多伦多国际电影节的大屏幕上放映时，凯莉甚至不确定她是否想去看，但我说服了她，我们应该走过去试试我们的新纳贝。

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，一对婴儿潮一代的人出钱在一家新恢复的单屏影院里观看一部不那么大的电影，这一概念引发了许多问题和话题讨论。

1. The theater

电影院

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."

首先是剧院本身的问题。2013年，投资者马里·陶斯买下了它，把它改建成了一个舒适的剧院，里面有餐厅和酒吧。陶斯告诉《环球邮报》的Barry Hertz:“我们设计和装备它的方式是使它成为一个非常灵活的空间。我们可以捕捉到所有的娱乐活动。它能赚大钱吗?可能不会。但我认为我们可以让它成为社区一个有趣的中心。”

2. 'The Irishman' is no Ironman

“爱尔兰人”不是铁人

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.

这不是一部给孩子看的电影，但它是婴儿潮一代的终极花瓶，罗伯特·德尼罗在我们眼前变老了。让所有老演员重新焕发青春的CGI技术完美无瑕。我希望这能在现实生活中做到。阿尔·帕西诺饰演吉米·霍法，他的名字对60岁以下的人来说可能是一个空白，但在60年代和70年代是一个大新闻。它很长，有三个半小时，我发现它有时走得很慢。如果我是在家里看，我可能会在第一个小时后退出。过去的半个小时，所有这些生命的终结，完全可以被剪掉。但毫无疑问，这是一部杰作。他们不再拍这样的电影了。

3. Does the movie theater actually have a future?

电影院真的有未来吗?

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连锁影院成立于1979年，北美的第一家多厅影院是在多伦多伊顿中心购物中心的一个停车场里开出来的。当时的电视屏幕很小，比现在许多人的家庭电视还小。我的父亲是一个早期投资者，所以我每年都能拿到一大堆通行证，看了很多电影，因为它接管了加拿大和美国的Odeon和其他连锁影院，并在这两个国家都发展到1880块银幕。

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，它被卖给了一家在美国也拥有Regal的大型英国连锁店，在这之前，它尝试了一切——游戏、虚拟现实、高科技娱乐——来让人们坐在座位上。据《环球邮报》报道，“各地前往电影院的交通都在放缓。过去三年里，电影城的上座率一直在下降。”股票持续下跌。但是公司的新老板很乐观:

"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."

“流媒体领域将会有一场大战，因为这些大玩家正在进入这个领域，”(Cineworld的首席执行官)Greidinger说。“戏剧行业不是家庭娱乐。人们永远不会在家里呆七天。我们在为他们争取额外的自由时间。”

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.

这是一厢情愿的想法。我怀疑像《天堂》这样的影院会比大型连锁影院有更光明的未来;它可以发展一个忠实的本地客户，它可以为影迷编程。

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.

电视技术在50年前杀死了nabes家族，而我们所知道的新技术也将杀死电影院。即使“钢铁侠”也救不了它。