梦工厂CEO详解影坛烂片横行的原因

    暑期来临，随着《美国队长》（Captain America）和《哈利•波特》（Harry Potter ）等大片热映，电影票房全面飘红，你肯定认为好莱坞的高管们此时正沉浸在一片喜悦之中。不过梦工厂动画（DreamWorks Animation）首席执行官杰弗里•卡森博格却对电影产业发起了牢骚。卡森博格表示，虽然观众们成群结队涌进影院，但电影质量却“差得难以置信”。

    上周，在科罗拉多州阿斯彭市举办的《财富》科技头脑风暴大会（Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference）上，卡森博格和与会者坦诚地分享了他的见解。以下是卡森博格经过编辑后的发言：

    现在好莱坞最大的问题在于电影的“市场可能性”（marketability）与“放映性”（playability）之争。这句话的真正含义是指好莱坞一直以来，在艺术和商业、表演和娱乐之间存在某种邪恶联盟。而今天，联盟失去了平衡，太过于偏向商业、娱乐和市场。过去七八个月里上映的诸多电影是过去五年里最糟糕的。他们太差劲了。简直难以置信这些电影会如此之差。

    电影业既有高潮也有低谷，有作用力也有反作用力，当然，电影业也会因此不断改变和调整。现在是一个极具商业精神的时代，我认为电影业随着时间推移，将逐渐恢复平稳。不过，现在确实非常沉闷。

    我们在一直寻求伟大的创意和故事。人们经常会问，你怎么判断一个故事是否伟大？非常不幸，我认为这更像一门艺术而并非科学。我确实知道一些东西就是能引起人们的兴趣，不过这无所谓，这在世界各地都有效。

    在全世界任何地方，当有人微笑着问我“《功夫熊猫》（Kung Fu Panda）是一个怎样的故事？”我每次都会回答，对于我而言，它还算不上一个故事，只是一个很好的创意。不过至少它能引起大家的兴趣，因此我们不妨从此入手。

    只要有好的创意，即使制作不得力，也能获得成功。在动画界，我只知道一部创意很差，但由于完美的制作而大获成功的影片——《料理鼠王》（Ratatouille）。

    相信我，这部片子的创意真的很烂。想想吧，一只半写实主义的老鼠在厨房里烹饪大便吃。只要是精神正常的人，都不会说：“太棒了，这真是个好创意。”这个创意很烂，不过制作得十分出色，而且故事也讲得很棒。事实上，我认为这是当代最好的动画作品之一。

    译者：项航

    With summer in full swing and popcorn flicks like Captain America and Harry Potter opening with robust ticket sales, you'd think Hollywood execs would be beaming. But DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has some beef with his industry. According to Katzenberg, audiences are flocking to theaters, but the quality of the movies are "unbelievably bad."

    Katzenberg appeared at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference last week in Aspen, Colo., where he offered the attendees some frank insight. Here's an edited portion of his comments:

    Today the thing that is probably most askew in Hollywood is the issue of marketability versus playability, and what that really means is that there is this sort of unholy alliance that has existed forever between art and commerce, show and biz. Today, it's out of balance, and it's too much on the biz, too much on the commerce, too much on the marketability. … The last seven or eight months of movies is the worst lineup of movies you've experienced in the last five years of your life. They suck. It's unbelievable how bad movies have been.

    There is an ebb and flow that comes on, and there is an action and there's a reaction to it, and yes, they will change and there will be an adjustment that will get made to that. It's a very entrepreneurial world, and I think you will see that right itself with time. But, right now -- today -- it's a particularly dreary moment.

    We're always looking for a great idea, a great story. You know, people often ask, how do you know if something is a great story, and unfortunately, I think it's more art than science to that. I do know that there are some things that just catch people's interest and it doesn't matter -- it works anywhere anyplace in the world.

    I have to say every time I ever said the words "Kung Fu Panda" wherever I was in the world, somebody would smile and say, "What's that about?" That to me is a good idea. It's not a story, but at least it's something that is going to intrigue people, and it's a place to get started.

    You can have a good idea and bad execution and have a success. I only know of one time that I can think of in the field of animation where somebody had a bad idea and had perfect execution and the movie was breathtaking: Ratatouille.

    I assure you this is a bad idea. Let's have a semi-realistic rat in a kitchen cooking shit to eat. No one in their right mind is going to say, "Well, that's a good idea." It's a bad idea, but it's so beautiful in its execution and such a great piece of storytelling. And actually, I think it's one of the great pieces of animation of our time.