疫情之下美国汽车影院迎来“第二春” 收入不减反增 'Blast from the past’: Some drive-in movie theaters are making a comeback amid coronavirus

受新冠肺炎疫情的影响，全球多地的影院都已关门停业，但是汽车影院反而客流量大增，收入逆势上涨。专家分析称，这是因为人们想找回正常生活的那种感觉。

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the closures of movie theaters across the US and the delay of coveted 2020 blockbusters like Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” and MGM’s James Bond film “No Time To Die.”

新冠肺炎疫情已经导致美国各地的影院关门，2020年最受期待的一些大片推迟上映，比如迪士尼/漫威的《黑寡妇》和米高梅的《007：无暇赴死》。

But that does not mean going to the movies is out of the question.

但这不意味着去电影院看电影是不可能的事。

Drive-in theaters throughout the US have not only remained open, but have seen spikes in revenue as consumers desperately look for ways to escape their houses while abiding by the rules of social distancing.

美国各地的汽车影院不但继续营业，而且收入还大幅增长，因为消费者迫切地在寻找既能出门又不违反社交隔离规定的方法。

Andrew Thomas, for example, owner of the Showboat Drive-In Theater in Hockley, Texas, saw a 40% increase in sales revenue two weeks ago, and a 95% increase this past week, just by showing the same two movies: Disney and Pixar’s “Onward,” and the Universal Pictures horror film “The Invisible Man.”

举例而言，美国德克萨斯州霍克利的演艺船汽车影院两周前营业额增长了40%，过去一周又增长了95%。该影院的老板安德鲁·托马斯只放映两部电影：迪士尼/皮克斯的《觅法奇程》和环球影业的恐怖电影《隐形人》。

“Everyone is looking for a way to feel normal and this is a way of being safe,” Thomas said. “I spend all day answering emails from people who never heard of us before, because they are trying to find something to do.”

“每个人都在寻找生活如常的感觉，这样做能给自己带来安全感，”托马斯说，“我成天都在回复电子邮件，联系我的人之前都没听说过我们这家影院，他们试着找点事情做。”

Drive-ins are also allowing other companies to be “reborn” as well.

汽车影院也让其他公司得到了“重生”。

Darrell Landers, founder and CTO of Ultimate Outdoors Entertainment, an outdoor movie-screen rentals company, told CNBC that his company has lost a substantial amount of revenue since the coronavirus led to mass public closings. Landers’ company survives off of bringing large groups of people together to watch movies outdoors.

主营户外电影屏幕租赁业务的终极户外娱乐公司的创始人和首席技术官达雷尔·兰德斯告诉CNBC说，自从新冠病毒导致大批公共场所关闭后，他的公司已经损失了一大笔收入。兰德斯的公司的收入主要来自人们组团在户外看电影的活动。

But UOE has since refocused on its mobile drive-in theater business, which has been intact for 12 years, utilizing its LED screens to allow movies to be watched at all times of the day.

但是终极户外娱乐公司如今将重点放在汽车影院业务上，这块业务已经保持了12年，该公司的LED显示屏让人们全天都可以看电影。

“Showing movies during the day outside is a new concept, and we are using the LED screens to test-drive movies at other times than just at night,” Landers said. “So the drive-in is sort of a rebirth and a way for us to replace some of the income that we lost.”

“白天在户外放映电影是一个新概念，我们现在用LED显示屏测试在夜晚以外的时间放映电影，”兰德斯说，“因此可以说汽车影院让我们重生了，借此也可以填补一部分收入损失。”

And now business is booming.

现在他们的生意好极了。

According to Thomas, the Showboat Drive-In Theater owner in Texas, even with the inevitable return of movie theaters across the nation, consumers will not immediately feel safe returning to auditoriums in such big masses, which makes drive-ins a much more viable option.

德州演艺船汽车影院老板托马斯表示，即使全国影院最终必将重新开放，消费者也不敢立刻成群地回到电影院，这使汽车影院成为一个更加可行的选择。

With movie theaters possibly staying shuttered for a majority of the summer, Thomas is asking big studios to consider releasing their coveted summer blockbusters with drive-in theaters.

今年夏天的大部分时间电影院可能会一直开不了门，托马斯请大制片厂考虑在汽车影院上映他们备受期待的暑期大片。

“People will come because they want that sense of normalcy,” he said.

他说：“人们会来看，因为他们想要那种生活如常的感觉。”

Besides “Black Widow” and “No Time To Die,” Paramount Pictures delayed the release of “A Quiet Place Part Two,” the anticipated sequel to John Krasinski’s 2018 horror film that grossed more than $340 million worldwide. Universal pushed back the ninth installment of The Fast & Furious franchise, “F9,” until April 2021; its 2017 predecessor, “The Fate of the Furious,” grossed over $1 billion worldwide. And Warner Bros. announced that “Wonder Woman:1984” will not be released until August; it was supposed to debut in June.

除了《黑寡妇》和《无暇赴死》外，派拉蒙电影公司还推迟了备受期待的续集《寂静之地2》的上映，约翰·卡拉辛斯基导演的2018年恐怖电影《寂静之地》在全球收获超3.4亿美元（约合人民币24亿元）票房。环球影业将《速度与激情9》的上映时间推迟到2021年4月，上一部《速度与激情》（2017年）全球票房超10亿美元。华纳兄弟公司宣布原本计划在6月上映的《神奇女侠1984》推迟到8月上映。

The coronavirus has brought a lot of uncertainty to the global economy, and the future of the movie business is unknown at the moment. But one certainty remains: “The desire for people to somehow recapture the singular, irreplicable, communal big-screen movie theater experience in any way they can is a testament to how important the moviegoing experience is,” said senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore. “Particularly during these obviously trying and unprecedented times.”

新冠肺炎疫情给全球经济带来了很多不确定性，电影业的未来目前也是未知数。但是有一件事是肯定的：“人们渴望以任何可能的方式再次享受一起在电影院看大屏幕电影的那种非凡、不可复制的体验，可见看电影的经历是多么重要，”市场调研公司Comscore的高级媒体分析师保罗·德加拉伯迪安如是说，“尤其在这样艰难的前所未有的时刻。”

communal[kəˈmjuːnl]: adj. 公共的

英文来源：CNBC

翻译&编辑：丹妮